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DS9 looked "cheaper" than Voyager

Cancellation threat may be somewhat exaggerated, but the studio was concerned enough about DS9 to tell them to shake things up and bring more viewers, which was why Worf was brought aboard in season 4.
 
Cancellation threat may be somewhat exaggerated, but the studio was concerned enough about DS9 to tell them to shake things up and bring more viewers, which was why Worf was brought aboard in season 4.

Must be those same concerns that brought Seven on to VOY.
 
Not surprising at all, both DS9 and VOY's third seasons consisted mostly of filling the 26-episode quota and not really advancing the series as a whole. They both had to shake things up in their fourth seasons.
 
Not surprising at all, both DS9 and VOY's third seasons consisted mostly of filling the 26-episode quota and not really advancing the series as a whole. They both had to shake things up in their fourth seasons.
I guess you missed the escalating Dominion threat.
 
^ We never even see a Jem'Hadar after "The Search" until Season 4.
While I appreciate the fact the writers didn't want to overdo the Dominion and make them unwelcome (like the Borg become on VOY), they sure did fill out Season 3 with yet more Bajoran politics stories.
Season 4 really amped up the action and drama and character interactions, which is why I find it to be the strongest season.
It doesn't help that my opinion is clouded on Season 3 for the fact it has some of the dullest episodes in the entire franchise - Meridian, Distant Voices, Shakaar
 
We dod see another Jem'Hadar in season 3 in "THE ABANDONED". Not only did we learn how they were created, but also their maturation cycle and that they were addicted to the White, and created that way. Not to mention we see their view of the Founders in his interactions with Odo. I thought it was a good look at a very interesting species.
 
I won't even argue with the "filling the season" thing. Stand-alone eps do not equal filling space.

Anyway, I was flicking through The Making Of DS9 the other day and while they have only estimated budgets, they do talk about how DS9 was inherently a more expensive show than TNG. If nothing else, they have more background performers (many in prosthetics) wandering around all the time.
 
^ We never even see a Jem'Hadar after "The Search" until Season 4.
While I appreciate the fact the writers didn't want to overdo the Dominion and make them unwelcome (like the Borg become on VOY), they sure did fill out Season 3 with yet more Bajoran politics stories.
Season 4 really amped up the action and drama and character interactions, which is why I find it to be the strongest season.
It doesn't help that my opinion is clouded on Season 3 for the fact it has some of the dullest episodes in the entire franchise - Meridian, Distant Voices, Shakaar

Well "Brigadoon" sorry "Meridian" is definantly one of the weaker episodes of the season.
 
'Bajoran politics stories' are some of the best. They give more context to the immediate setting of the series and station.
And many of those were cardboard episodes with over-acting and exaggerated dangers. Granted, some were great, but i wanted to gouge out my eyeballs every time Kai Winn and "Bajoran Dukat" had a scene together in Season 7.
 
And many of those were cardboard episodes with over-acting and exaggerated dangers. Granted, some were great, but i wanted to gouge out my eyeballs every time Kai Winn and "Bajoran Dukat" had a scene together in Season 7.

I think you will find the Bajorans were written and treated differently after season 3 for sure but I even noticed a change in season 3. They stopped being written as a downtrodden race living on a damaged world because of what the Carddisians did to it, to being a religious people living in a world that basically became a utopia. The Occupation was never forgotten but the world had improved and you did start to see less Bajoran politics stuff. I myself didn't like it and sort of equate it to the sort of hand wave of the Maquis blending in to fast on "Voyager." Unlike "Voyager" though after a middling season 3, which I admit is better than I use to think it was, the show found a new grove with the Dominion stuff and the characters of course were always great and they kepth adding debt to them. "Voyager" I think also had terrific characters but the stories sometimes failed them and the Borg stuff got old and kind of boring and failed where the Dominion stuff, didn't

Jason
 
Like it had a lesser budget, especially during the space battles. Voyager CGI and models looked crisp and up to date even by today's standards but DS9 it looked kind of pixelated even later on in the series.

...speaking of 'cheaper', a divergent thread on comparisons between DISCO & DS9 fleet battle CGI & the quality of the rendering got me thinking about them "flying toaster" type background graphics of both Excelsior & Miranda-classes.
What was up with that? I happened to recently catch a repeat of the series finale episode on some channel playing on TV & I was like, jeezus, what is with the 500 Excelsior & Miranda's floating in the background like wallpaper? I mean, the Excelsior wasn't even the refit, it was Sulu's original version. And the Miranda-class hull design would be like, 100 years old.
But I get it though...it's the future. It's Starfleet, it's the Federation. Space is big. The ships tend to last forever. But in a massive fleet engagement against the Dominion, you would think there'd be at least a couple Ambassadors sprinkled in...or New Orleans-class from the Zenkethi War. I know some non-canon novels wrote them in but I had hoped the CGI budget would've at least put some in during the series run.
 
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The First Contact ships (Akira, Steamrunner etc) were used a lot though it was more fun so see the Miranda and Excelsior ships blow up.
 
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