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Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
Been watching some DS9 recently. I don’t have nearly the love for this show that some trek fans do. It’s good and goes some interesting directions (war, bajorans/cardassians, race, Dukat, Garak) but it’s clearly a step down from TNG. Some of these episodes are TNG S1 bad. And they don’t have the excuse of being from the late 80s on a shoestring budget being written by Gene Rodenberry’s idiot lawyer. When it was good, it was really good. But when it was bad, it was really bad.
From the ferengies cross dressing to some of the awful romantic relationships to odo being a traitor annd everyone forgetting in 10 minutes, the hilariously bad Kai Vedic stuff etc.
But the worst thing DS9 cursed us with was Section 31. They somehow were simultaneously so grossly incompetent as to be comedic but also omnipotent to a level that belonged in a bad Michael Bay movie. Made all of starfleet look like a bunch of morons. Worse yet they thought it was such a brilliant idea they put it in one of the reboot movies. Ugh.
It’s too bad because there’s so much to like about this series. But section 31 really represented the beginning of the end of classic trek and led directly to godawful garbage like discovery.
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Its tough, because DS9 did a really good job of turning Star Trek on its ears. I liked it better the TNG. Thinks weren't all clean in the Federation, Not all of the Federation flew around in luxury hotels. There was crime, and scams, and corrupt Star Fleet officers and organization, and incompetent officers.
Ships got damaged in combat, People died horribly and dirty in ground combat.
That's what I liked about it. The feeling that the Roddenberry Federation was a bit of a facade, and a con, and that the Federation was capable of great damage due to their arrogance and interference.
In TNG ships didn't take damage, they shook a bit, but at the end of the episode all the consoles worked, the carpet was still clean, the replicator still served ice cream, the toilets flushed.
In deep space 9 ships felt like they were dying, there were fires, and exploding consoles and bodies lying around the bridge.
I didn't like voyager, but I give them massive credit for exploring the dying ship concept and the stubborness to obsessiveness of Captains in the two part year in hell.
TNG changed that in the movies a bit, especially in First Contact, but it felt big movie forced.
Even trauma was easy to get over with. In TNG Picard gets kidnapped and altered by the Borg, he supposedly kills hundreds of thousands in his borg controlled rampage. But one visit to his "Brother" and a drunken brawl healed all wounds.
To me, at the end of that episode they could have done amazing work with a battered enterprise and a traumatized captain and crew. And a crippled fleet with the Romulans or Klingons trying to take advantage. And section 31 trying to seize power in the background to more militarize the federation. It could have been a great dark season with a ton of unique storylines.