This isn't a new article, but this quote is (to me) a brilliant description of the series:
Full article here.
Full article here.
DS9 in a nutshell
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I sometimes think that TNG is closest to 1st season TOS, DS9 2nd season TOS, and VOY 3rd season TOS.
Good analogy!
The article was right on the nose and makes me want to watch it all over again, though I did that once last year sometime. Need to watch TNG HD first.
The article was right on the nose and makes me want to watch it all over again, though I did that once last year sometime. Need to watch TNG HD first.
DS9 in a nutshell: Sheer awesomeness 
I've always felt that way, that Battlestar Galactica took the darker elements of DS9, distilled them, and put them in a serial format.
I like DS9, but I felt that some of the war elements seemed totally at the behest of the writers, and therefore those eps are not worth re-watching.
I'm not sure what you are getting at with this comment. Television is dominated by writers, and showrunners tend to come more from the writing corps than elsewhere. DS9 was no exception, where both showrunners, Michael Piller and Ira Steven Behr, were writers. In fact, ISB co-wrote almost every episode in which major elements of DS9's overall narrative were introduced, especially those concerning the Dominion War.
TNG sometimes suffers from its idealism. DS9 deals more realistically. You have personality conflicts, you have a war that the characters tried to stop and couldn't. And it wasn't over in a couple of episodes. It was a strong arc. I know I say this a lot, but DS9 made a lot more sense to me post 9/11.
And in my spiritual life, DS9 helped me. When I look at what kind of Christian I'd prefer to be... I want to be like Major Kira.
And in my spiritual life, DS9 helped me. When I look at what kind of Christian I'd prefer to be... I want to be like Major Kira.
DS9 summed itself up in the epilogue pretty elegantly.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I'm not sure a lot of those people watched the show, the conjecture being that they avoided it due to, you know, the Star Trek part being right in the title
I think what the writer meant was...if you are going to convince your friend to watch a Star Trek series, but your friend doesn't like Star Trek, then this series would probably be enjoyed most by said friend out of the spin-offs.
I'd go so far as to say that DS9 was a deconstruction of TNG. It deliberately took its parent shows unerring idealism, and shone a mirror on it through the prism of showing that not everybody in Star Trek's universe is living the life of riley like the privleged few in the Federation are. DS9's Starfleet characters generally came at problems from the same perspective as their counterparts on TNG, but the situations and morality they encountered was often something which required lateral thinking that officers aboard a starship doing routine missions in routine places probably never have to face. It's a much more, shall we say, relatable viewpoint for members of the audience who aren't quite so caught up in the positivity that other Star Trek shows (but particularly TNG) expoused. The darker themes and the faux-serial nature of the show means it could hold an appeal to a wider audience.
I've seen more than a few what I'd called ''non-Trekkie'' friends who've gotten caught up in DS9 on DVD and loved it, but who could never commit to any of the other shows.
I've seen more than a few what I'd called ''non-Trekkie'' friends who've gotten caught up in DS9 on DVD and loved it, but who could never commit to any of the other shows.
DS9 is direct a challenge to Roddenberry. Eddington, Maquis challenges him. Luther Sloan, the federations indispensable machiavellian, challenges Roddenberry. The emphasis on hard, troubled, stationary station life as to oppose starship life challenges him. That for me is DS9.