One Season too Many?

[JoeD80]

Berman was vehemently against the 6-episode arc at the start of Season 6, and also against the 10-episode arc at the end of Season 7.

Where did he say that? In the Deep Space Nine companion Berman said:

I think that the potential for the serialization - or near-serialization - of the show was always there.
...
Ira and I once sat down and we came up with over thirty characters who'd appeared on the show that the average fan wold be very familiar with. That's unheard of on other Star Trek shows. So once you had the tapestry of all these different characters, and you had all of these different stories that were kind of weaving in and out, I think it sort of begged for more of a serialized format.

and also said about the ending arc:

We knew there was no way that we were going to be able to tie this up in one two-hour finale. So rather than try to tie up every loose thread in the few hours, we thought, 'Why not look at the last third of the season as a continuing, building conclusion to the seven-year story?'

Sounds like he was all for it.

 

[Opus]

DS9 was too short IMO. I thought they could have continued, moving some characters on (like Sisko, Worf, Odo and O'Brien) but kept others while bringing new characters onto the show. It would also allow for those characters to come back on occasion while moving the story arc forward to bringing Bajor into the Federation.

 

[Scotty]

My only problem with season 7 (which I enjoyed a lot actually) is the introduction of another Dax. The writers went to a lot of trouble to develop her character, when there essentially wasn't any need for a new character at all, as the supporting cast was huge. In fact, she detracted from the overal story. I really disliked the Ezri-Bashir-Worf love triangle for one, and the writers spend at least three entire episodes to flesh out her character.

 

[Avon]

one season too many? yes. there's probably about a season's worth of crap to be cut from seasons 1 and 2.

 

[Too Much Fun]

one season too many? yes. there's probably about a season's worth of crap to be cut from seasons 1 and 2.

I was about to say something similar. I'm re-watching the series right now, and I find that it's VERY slow going for the first three seasons. This is one reason why after I finished season 1, I was so bored that it took several months before I could motivate myself to continue watching the series with season 2.

Once I got back to the show, my interest increased mildly, but even in season 2 and 3, it was a rough ride. I don't think the show really took off until season 4. This was the point where they'd start to have many strong episodes one after the other, not just an occasional very good one (and even those were not so great), then a bunch of weak ones. TNG took a long time to get going too, but at least it was only 2 seasons, and even season 2 has some classics.

3 seasons is way too long for a show to take before it reaches its potential. If I had watched the show during its original broadcast, I may have quit before season 4. I consider 5, 6, and 7 very solid in general, aside from a few terrible plot points and the rare poor episode. That's why I wouldn't consider season 7 one season too many. If only season 4 was season 1 and season 7 was season 4 . The ratio of great episodes to poor episodes would be much better. Throw in one extra season (to give it the standard 5 year run) and we'd have one hell of a consistent series.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

They could have cut the crap episodes and gotten five solid seasons but TV producers didn't think like that back then. Network TV didn't do total serialization.

 

[Tulaberry whine]

I've noticed that one of the problems with a show like DS9 increasingly relying on an arc is that viewers eventually are only interested in the arc. The show becomes are victim of its own success in that respect. For DS9 that has meant that many fine episodes that were broadcast towards the end of its run get criticised and sidelined simply for not being arc episodes.

However, DS9 was never Babylon 5. For the first five years of DS9 the so called arc was one of its weakest aspects. With too few exceptions (eg, Jem Hadar, Improbable Cause), the early arc episodes ranged from mediocre (eg, Apocalypse Rising, The Adversary, Way of the Warrior (there, I said it!)) to downright terrible (eg, Broken Link, The Search Part 2). The writers would be foolish then to rely on the arc for an entire season. And when you get terrible episodes like Sons and Daughters and Extreme Measures at times when the show couldn't get more arc-based, I start to think they had already pushed their luck too far as it was.

I thought season 7 overall was pretty strong and never quite understood many of the criticisms directed at it. Yes, there were a few rough patches, but when was DS9 ever perfect? Episodes like Take Me Out to the Holosuite, Chimera, Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang, Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges, Once More Unto the Breach and It's Only a Paper Moon showed there was more to DS9 in its final season than the Dominion War. And that's how I always liked it.

And I think Ezri ended up being more compelling and memorable as a character than Jadzia ever was (and I liked Jadzia). She was asked to carry a couple of awful episodes when she was first introduced and that understandably soured her impression in the eyes of many fans. But she ended up being one of the best things about season 7 in my opinion.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I didn't actually say it, but the last few posts made me remember that I did think the increase in episodes related to some sort of major story arc (beginning with "Way of the Warrior") had a lot to do with DS9's big improvement from season 3 to season 4. On the other hand, I also loved a lot of self-contained episodes like "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" and "Trials and Tribble-Ations". Whether the episodes were part of serialized arc or standalones, I think the writing was just generally sharper starting with season 4.

 

[Tomalak]

Does no-one like the Dukat arc in season 7? Personally I thought it was fantastic. Sure, I loved Dukat prior to Waltz, when he was arguably a more complex, layered character, but the season 7 stuff is brilliant. I love that he decides in his emotionally damaged mind to set himself against Sisko as the anti-Emissary, so he can help the Pah-Wraiths destroy Bajor. It made perfect sense to me, and I thought Covenant was a great episode for Kira as well as Dukat.

The scenes with Winn in the final arc are some of my favourite in the whole series. I always thought Winn was the best of DS9's villains, so I was delighted when she was given such a crucial role in the end of the series. Winn and Dukat literally in bed together? Brilliant.

Perhaps it's the "religion" thing. People don't like Star Trek dealing with this sort of thing, verging on the supernatural. I never had a problem with it either, the "Prophets" are clearly established as powerful aliens from the very beginning, and they are integral to the show. Another good call to tie them in to the end of the series as well, just as TNG brought Q back to link up with Encounter At Farpoint.

It's not all flawless, but I was never disappointed, and I honestly don't know how I'd improve the narrative of season 7. Obviously you could in hindsight cut the episodes that didn't really work - but for me that's only really Prodigal Daughter, which was a late, rushed script.

There was a huge amount to do in the last season - end the war, deal with a load of recurring characters, solve the Prophet-Pah Wraith conflict, and also introduce a new main character - but I thought it worked remarkably well.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I think some people like it, but I sure don't. I thought the Dukat and Winn stuff was the worst thing in season 7. I would have enjoyed the season a lot more without them doing what they were doing (either because they're not around at all, or they're doing something else).

My heart just sank every time the show would cut back to Dukat and Winn. I liked the other stuff going on, but their story line really dragged the proceedings down for me. Just really cheesy stuff.

 

[Navaros]

Where did he say that?...Sounds like he was all for it.

Berman may not have said it, but others such as Behr and Moore have said it in various places. I believe Behr's comments on the DVD extras may be where I've seen Behr confirming Moore's account of this matter.

Here is Moore talking about this matter:

http://movies.ign.com/articles/444/444306p8.html

IGNFF: Was there anything you can recall where the battle was fierce in taking it to Rick?

MOORE: I remember when we got into the Dominion War, Rick was adamant at first that the war would only take 3 or 4 episodes at the most, and we just said, "Sure!" We lied. We said, "Oh yeah! Okay! No problem!" And we just knew that once we got the ball rolling that we'd never wrap it up in 3 or 4 episodes, so that was just trickery.

 

[Angel4576]

I dont want to make a blanket statement, but it seems to me that people on this forum generally agree that season seven of DS9 had major problems, and was the worst one.

Just shows that it takes all sorts. Personally, I'd rank season 7 as one of the best. Much preferred NdB to Terry Farrell, and Casey Biggs was brilliant as Damar towards the end.

The first season was the worst, but even then, you had Duet.