Which alien race did DS9 do the best episodes with?

Out of the major races that have been in other treks which ones do you think they made the best stories with. These five are the obvious candidates.

Bajorans

cardassians

klingons

ferengi

trill

I would pick the cardassians as they had the most interesting characters with which to tell their stories like garak,dukat and damar. Also their ending was tragic even after all the horrible stuff they did during the occupation.

 

DS9 added depth to many races and introduced a few new interesting ones (especially the Jem'hadar and Vorta). The Cardassians seem to be the obvious choice, IMO. Not only did they get good storylines, deep culture and clever dialogue, almost every character was perfectly cast. The Klingons had a lot of development over TNG, but they got beyond the honor/dishonor dichotomy. Trills were the biggest disappointment: most of the episodes focused narrowly on the experience of being joined, which does not define the culture and society as a whole.

ETA: they really fumbled with the Ferengi at the end. At least Quark and Nog ended up being great characters.

 

I feel like saying cardassians also, but I might be influenced by my own taste because their a favorite. But yeah, the casting was great and the stories interesting, lets just say they had ingredients for success.

I liked DS9 so much because they would actually explore races instead of just taking a peak every so often. Don't get me wrong, other shows did great stuff. But I felt like DS9 explored the races more then the other shows, and really got into it.

 

Cardassians, definitely.

Although they had some very good Klingon episodes as well.

 

Don't forget the Changelings!

 

^ I've never much cared for the Founders, except for Odo. They were arrogant jackasses who massacred millions in the name of the Dominion. I have no sympathy for them.

 

I don't feel that the Changelings were very well defined, outside of Odo. We got to see very little of Changeling society and culture, only dealing with their paranoia. And the best line about the Changeling experience was cut:

"I lived with the colony until my friends died, and their children died, and I got tired of watching people die. I lived 100 years as a tree, and then I migrated and lived as a cloud."

 

Gotta say Cardassia was really the alien race that was fleshed out the best in the Trek universe. You can really see what makes these people tick, the back history is there to make you see why they're that way, and there's so much depth compared to the majority of the one dimensional aliens we get.

 

Oh yes, other species were better developed and defined. No doubt. But I liked the mystery about the changelings. I liked that they didn't give us too many details. The mystery is part of the intrigue about them for me. I liked the fear. I liked the wonder. I loved Odo and his self discovery. I loved to hate the Female Changeling (in the same way that I loved to hate Dukat and Winn). And I still didn't trust her at the end of the series. Her signature didn't convince me. I personally loved the paranoia too. I think it gave the series and edge.

Just thought the changelings were worth a mention here at least, especially if the Trill are on the list.

 

I love the changelings, the only reason i didn't list them was because i was mentioning aliens that had also been in other treks. if you want to include ds9 originals then yes changelings,vorta and jem hadar were all great in my opinion.

 

I thought DS9 did a spectacular job with the Ferengi and Cardassians, but a very poor job with the Bajorans. Still don't a good grasp on what they're all about.

But in general I agree--the Cardassians. We learned a great deal about them, not only in terms of detail but actual depth. It all fit together into a whole. Like what Cardassian mysteries are like. And how they look upon family. I believed in them.

 

Its unfortunate that there were no Bajorans who were recurring characters to be promenade shopkeepers or civil servants. Indeed, within the recurring cast, the only person in the Bajoran service on the station was Rom.

 

Cardassians!!!!!
Klingons (followed what TOS movies and TNG started, but handled them well)
Ferengi (they literally reinvented them)
Jem Hadar (very menacing and worthy adversaries of the Federation AND Klingons)

Also agree, they sort of dropped the ball on Bajorans as a whole. While I get that they were a mash up allegory to the French Resistance of WW2, the Jews post WW2 and the foundation of Israel, and even the IRA, they just seemed a little TOO HUMAN to be a distinctive alien race. Had they not had wrinkles on their noses, they could have just as easily been written as a long-lost human colony.

One other thing they dropped the ball on was why didn't Bajor support and even give refuge to the Maquis? The Maquis were freedom fighters fighting against the Cardassians for taking their lands, just like Bajorans. Would have made a great story line to see tensions between the Federation and Bajor, over the Federation's pursuit of the Maquis, and appearing to side with the Cardassians against their own people. Something like that should have been outrageous and appalling to every Bajoran, and Kira should have been far more critical of Sisko.

 

Oh, my bad! Obviously I didn't read carefully. Sorry!

 

I think I'd have to agree with the consensus.

The Bajorans were fairly well defined in terms of their secular society and tragic past, but since their almost entirely undefined religion was clearly the single most important piece of their culture, they never achieved the same depth as other races.

The Klingons gained a great character in Martok and some interesting glimpses into Klingon ship life and Klingon marriage, but otherwise they served mainly the same purposes they always had on other shows. I do however absolutely love the fact that Ezri confronted Worf about the Empire's serious lack of intellectual honesty, and that he actually did something about it. A shame the show ended there, as I would love to have seen the new and improved Klingon Empire.

The Romulans were one of my favorites on DS9, allowing themselves to trust the Federation a little more through the alliance, and I loved seeing the Romulans and the Klingons trying to get along with each other. Unfortunately, their screen time was still relatively limited.

The Ferengi had some great moments, and some less great ones. They proved wonderful mirrors against Federation society, but I don't think they ever really achieved real depth as a society either.

The Cardassians got by far the most detailed attention, and some of the best characters in the entire show. I love how easy it is to believe the extremely unexpected character arcs. Garak turning out to be a badass spy raised in the Obsidian Order - Dukat scheming his way into command of all Cardassia. I thought it was amazing the way I hated Damar with such a fiery passion in season six, and yet actually felt myself rooting for him by the end of the show.

I would have loved to see that sort of story.

 

Definitely Cardassians. Plus, how many Bajoran episodes were there that didn't involve the Cardassians?

 

Bajorans, Cardassians and Klingons. They started of great with the Ferengi, but ultimatly dropped the ball.

 

Dominion, thus Jem'Hadar and Vorta

 

Cardassians and then Bajorans. We learned a lot about both species throughout all 7 seasons, but I think the Cardassians ended up being more interesting due to the rebellion in Season 7. Damar was my favorite recurring character. I loved seeing his transformation from Dukat's first officer to the powerless ruler of Cardassia to the brave leader of the rebellion.

 

I always thought the Bajorans were an allegory of the Palestinians, occupied by a foreign power with an ancient claim.

I'm glad someone else liked the Romulan portrayal in DS9.