Is DS9 worth binging?

[Bad Thoughts]

The approach to watching television in the contemporary world doesn't lend itself well to DS9 (and to a certain extent, Voyager and Enterprise). There is a lot of focus on plot, and characters are interesting only in so far as they embrace the extremes of action. All ten of the episodes are supposed to be important in that they all tell the same story, but in truth only three are essential. The season premier sets up this season's story. The penultimate episode pushes the dramatic tension. The season finale is the action packed resolution. I often feel that series mid-season are just treading over the same ground. This pattern was very apparent in the second season of Silo: even though there was action in the revolt plot, the actual dynamics between characters was unchanged. Everyone was just angry. DS9 characters evolved with nuance. All the Cardassian characters (at least one of whom was considered to be made part of the regular cast according to rumors) faced questions about the authoritarianism of their society in culture. Some of them gradually moved away, but rather than incorporate idealism, they simple became more pragmatic. Some of them eventually reach a democratic outlook. However, one character (name withheld for the OP) who snaps back to that authoritarianism. Yet he had never changed. He had shifted with the times as the fortunes of Cardassia changed. He was never 'redeemed', nor did he try. He was always an ass. Yet there are people who think that his reversion was random, probably because of looking only at the plot and not the character moments.

 

[korblborp]

Hell, Morn on DS9 got more development than some of the DISCO characters. And he never spoke a single word.

what do you mean, he talked everyone's ears off (especially bad for quark) XD

 

[bdub76]

mmm love the continuing misuse of the term "filler".
and if people are making lists of the "correct" episodes to watch like this, and eschewing all others, then they are also not "bingeing". and this is especially a poor way to watch something for the first time.

Do you think someone today has the attention span to watch every single episode of DS9 from start to finish without stopping and moving on to something else? There is way too much content. It's paced as shows were in the 90s. And the show takes several seasons like TNG before it really hits its stride.

The reduced lists really help people get through it.

I finished a binge of it during lockdown watching every episode, and I had started and stopped it several times before. I even watched the first couple of season when it originally aired. I wouldn't recommend binge watching it today. It works better to watch an episode or two a week, not an episode or two every day.

 

[fireproof78]

you think someone today has the attention span to watch every single episode of DS9 from start to finish without stopping and moving on to something else?

I didn't have it in the 90s or now. It's always a mix.

 

[bdub76]

I didn't have it in the 90s or now. It's always a mix.

When some says binge watch to me, I take it to mean watching non-stop from start to finish, rather than a gradual pace over time with other stuff watched in between.

 

[fireproof78]

When some says binge watch to me, I take it to mean watching non-stop from start to finish, rather than a gradual pace over time with other stuff watched in between.

I get it which is why binging is stupid to me. I'm sure I'm an outlier as even my wife enjoys binging shows but ugh, what a chore that represents to me.

Nevermind that Deep Space Nine wasn't really built for binging. Feel like it's like scarfing down a whole pint of ice cream and not tasting the flavor.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Do you think someone today has the attention span to watch every single episode

So not what, but who: DS9 isn't the problem, but people are.

 

[Lord Garth]

In 2019, I re-watched every single episode of TNG, all four TNG Movies, and every key Seven of Nine episode of VOY before Picard started. If I had a day off from work, I watched several. If I didn't, I always tried to work in one or two every day.

But I did watch other stuff as well. Let's just say there are 24 hours in a day and I found a way to make use of all of them. I got what I needed to get done first, put in my work day, then watched TV. It also helps that I'm an insomniac. Most people aren't.

If I weren't doing my Re-Watch Thread, I would've binged DS9. I would've been done with the re-watch a long time ago. But I enjoy taking my time with it and alternating with B5. And my pace is whenever I make the time for it.

DS9/VOY, YouTube Reactors, they're now effectively my substitute for New Trek.

 

[korblborp]

When some says binge watch to me, I take it to mean watching non-stop from start to finish, rather than a gradual pace over time with other stuff watched in between.

and not a heavily curated list -subject to someone else's taste- of "important" episodes. a gradual watch is also fine, nobody HAS to binge. which i think is part of the problem, people seem to think they have to binge everything, because many streaming shows just drop the whole thing at once, or nearly so, and they need to know so they can talk about it with people, and they apply that backwards, even if they grew up with traditional tv scheduling.

o you think someone today has the attention span to watch every single episode of DS9 from start to finish without stopping and moving on to something else? There is way too much content. It's paced as shows were in the 90s. And the show takes several seasons like TNG before it really hits its stride.

without taking a break or watching something else that takes your fancy? no of course not. but it's not the show's fault. and i don't think it's really attention span so much as impatience. and nowadays, shows almost don't have *time* to hit their stride before they're over.


i got through all of sg1 in less than a month a couple of years ago, and tng, voyager, and enterprise
meanwhile i have been nursing a rewatch of Babylon 5 since last January, where the last several times, it only took a couple of weeks. sometimes a show clicks and sometimes it doesn't.

I wouldn't recommend binge watching it today. It works better to watch an episode or two a week, not an episode or two every day.

and that's perfectly fine. the issue isn't people wanting or not wanting to binge, it's people having a wrong idea of what filler is and not actually wanting to watch the show, just a highllight reel. and with episodic shows from before the 10-episode season streaming paradigm, if you're only watching a handful of episodes a season, you are not really getting the thingies of it. it's different if you've already seen it a bunch of times.

 

[bdub76]

In 2019, I re-watched every single episode of TNG, all four TNG Movies, and every key Seven of Nine episode of VOY before Picard started. If I had a day off from work, I watched several. If I didn't, I always tried to work in one or two every day.

But I did watch other stuff as well. Let's just say there are 24 hours in a day and I found a way to make use of all of them. I got what I needed to get done first, put in my work day, then watched TV. It also helps that I'm an insomniac. Most people aren't.

If I weren't doing my Re-Watch Thread, I would've binged DS9. I would've been done with the re-watch a long time ago. But I enjoy taking my time with it and alternating with B5. And my pace is whenever I make the time for it.

DS9/VOY, YouTube Reactors, they're now effectively my substitute for New Trek.

I watch about an hour of TV max a day. My day usually ends with: taking care of the dog, working out for an hour, cooking dinner, watching one hour of TV, and then reading for one hour before going to bed. I'll watch movies on the weekend. Binge watches take me a while. I'm alternating between Penny Dreadful and The Following, and I haven't finished either of their first seasons. I'm sick today, so I'm not doing much of anything.