It was almost a toss up between TNG and ENT. I went with TNG overall because it was a bit more consistant in quality than ENT's 3rd.
Although it's one of the show's weakest seasons, I think I have to go with DS9. It was an uneven season but it had a lot of powerful material that provided A LOT of setup for what was to come. There was also great payoff during the season as well, however, particularly with the fall of the Obsidian Order.
TNG wins for the reasons stated by the original poster. TNG 3 was the season that saved the franchise after an absolutely horrid first 2 years. To this day whenever anyone goes on a tear about Enterprise's first 2 years as being the worst Treks ever I always reply "Too young to remember the 'golden years' of TNG seasons 1 and 2, eh?" TNG season 1 got the bye because it was the first new Trek in years, but by season 2 I was ready to say to hell with it. Season 3 also started out weak, but sometime during the course of it, things started to turn around and people began caring again. For 2nd place I have to say Enterprise's year-long Xindi arc, which I consider a noble and not totally unsuccessful experiment in doing a type of story that Trek had never done (and no the Dominion War arc on DS9 doesn't count because it went on for so long it ceased to be a viable "arc" save for the last half-dozen or so episodes of the series; it was the same as trying to define a Korean War "arc" for MASH - the war became part of DS9's setting). Cheers! Alex
I had to go with DS9; I was able to see DS9 progress through the seasons wheras there were already 5 seasons of TNG available when I caught up, so the seasons blur.
TNG wins for me, with DS9 in second place. a pretty distant second place, but they did have some gems in their third year, particularly 'The Adversary'.
TNG and DS9 are tied for me. And I must admit that what I saw of the Xindi arc seemed to actually be pretty cool. Probably the secnd best part of the series after the last season.
TNG easily. It had the biggest turn around. Season One and Two of TNG were entertaining but extremely uneven and largely pretty weak. TNG s3 was kind of like humanity learning to stand erect and work with rudimentary tools Season Three of Star Trek was uneven. Season Three of DS9 was really the same show as the first two seasons but with a warship. Voyager was . . . It was Voyager. Enterprise was never worth watching so I have no opinion on the third season except I'm sure it was stupid.
When I read the thread title, I was thinking "Oh TNG all the way" then when I opened the thread, I was actaully kinda suprised alot of others felt the same way!
TNG So many good episodes, including the Romulan two episode arc, Sarek, Yesterday's Enterprise, Booby Trap, and all leading up to Best of Both Worlds. It was the season that made TNG into a great series from the previous two.
TNG-3: It was the best because it was pretty consistent with a lot of nice strong standalones climaxing with the best Trek episode ever-BoBW ENT-3: It wasn't as low-key and character-driven as TNG-3 but it had a nicely compelling plot arc, some nice sci-fi elements, suspense, intrigue, interesting aliens with the Xindi, a great guest star in Degra and the final stretch of episodes were almost as good and thrilling as DS9's Final Chapter. DS9-3: I thought this was a season all over the place with a lot of mediocre stuff-Meridian, Fascination, Distant Voices, The Abandoned, The Search II, Family Business, Prophet Motive etc. The Dominion got very little screentime after the season premiere. This was the chance for the series to have the spotlight to itself yet it didn't shine like it wanted to. VOY_3: I almost bailed with this season. Rise, Favorite Son, Coda, The Darkling, The Q& The Grey etc. Just way too much garbage. The show got better towards the end and Scorpion I salvaged it.
TNG DS9 VOY ENT (The slow first half holds it back, otherwise I'd rate it above VOY's good but not great 3rd season) TOS
I was a bit underwhelmed by DS9's season 3 back in the day. "The Search" was disappointing and anticlimactic, and, as said, there were quite a few mediocre episodes throughout the season, like "Meridian", "Distant Voices" etc. This was especially bad because then, the only way to watch those episodes for me was to buy the UK VHS videos... it was pretty horrible to realize you basically wasted alot of money for episodes you'd hardly watch ever again. DS9's 2nd season was much more promising and consistent in its quality. TNG's 3rd season was amazing. It felt like a totally new series (like DS9 did with season four). Every episode was solid with neat special FX and interesting plots. So TNG for me. But DS9 in close second, because of heavy hitters like Past Tense, Improbable cause, The die is Cast, Explorers and Defiant. I hated ENT's 3rd season and I honestly don't remember VOY's