Eh, There's a lot to like about DS9 and a lot that ruins it for me.
My opinions:
The Bad:
- The first three years were terrible. The majority of the stories were sub-par.
- The Doctor is a perfect storm: BY FAR the most annoying, the worst written and most poorly acted character in any ST. The actor is hard to look at, he can't act and his constant whining "Kahmandah" in that accent makes me reach for the fast forward button every time he's on the screen for more than a few seconds. I i dislike this character so much, I skip episodes where he plays a prominent role. He's sour and he thinks he's far more moral and generally better than everyone else. I guess it explains why they eventually had to make him artificially "better" than everyone else.
- Odo is an unlikable one-dimensional character. At least 90% of the time. He seems to dislike everyone he comes in contact with. The only time I could stand him is early on, when he seemed to have a tiny affection for Quark. He thinks he's better than everyone else. He's self-serving, needy, and a traitor, even to his own kind.
- Kira is an unlikable one-dimensional character, a non-stop broken record of occupation this and occupation that. At least 60% of the time, to be fair. Another character who seems to be filled with hate for everyone she comes in contact with. Its no surprise that she and the sour Odo found each other.
- Vic Fontaine. I mean really? This whole nauseating plot line gets skipped on re-watch. The character is ridiculous, as are the other character's interests in the whole farce.
- Kassidy Yates: I loved Penny Johnson in The Larry Sanders Show. Here she does not play the part well, I think the part of Kassidy Yates was entirely miscast. Depending on my mood I may or may not fast forward when she's on screen for too long.
- The Bajorans: What a G-D whiny race of pathetic, inferior people. They were obviously intended to be portrayed as a deeply artistic, spiritual, and peaceful race, but those things were said but never shown. The spiritual leaders were greedy opportunists, the people whiny, self-serving and hostile with more than their fair share of all-about-me weirdos and fanatics.
The good:
- Worf. The show started to gain momentum when he joined. A testament to how dull and one-dimensional the original characters are.
- The Dominion War: The show had no direction, this gave it one. Although the Cardassians "joining" the Dominion made little sense to me from what I know of the Cardassians.
- The whole "Emissary of the Prophets" plot thread throughout the series. I enjoyed all the episodes that explored this. One thing that bothered me though: Sisko was obviously the Emissary, he was obviously in contact with the Prophets, he obviously had multiple visions, and there were the orbs given to Bajor by the prophets... So when one of the characters said that they "didn't believe in the Prophets" it seemed forced and stupid. The existence of beings living in the wormhole that became part of Bajoran life and culture through prophecies and visions was an obvious fact. Disbelief was irrelevant and an obvious writer's device.
- How the 'Emissary' plot thread was ultimately resolved.
There were several really good stories, but this is my least favorite ST because of so many dull and unlikable characters.
My best-of list, with *** being my favorite episodes.
01 "Emissary" ***
02 "Paradise"
02 "Blood Oath"
03 "Meridian"
04 "Explorers"
05 "The Visitor" ***
06 "Little Green Men"
07 "Homefront"
08 "Accession"
09 "Hard Time"
10 "Apocalypse Rising"
11 "Trials and Tribble-ations" ***
12 "Rapture"
13 "Children of Time"
14 "Call to Arms"
15 "In the Pale Moonlight" ***
16 "The Reckoning"
17 "Time's Orphan" ***
18 "Tears of the Prophets"
19 "Image in the Sand"
20 "What You Leave Behind" ***
Actually, the only thing that hinders my
intense love of all things DS9 is the Bajoran religion/prophets, etc. The prophets themselves are interesting as a species but the spiritual nature of it (and them and Sisko and the Bajorans) is just too much sometimes (even though, despite all that, I still loved the final Winn/Dukat storyline). Clearly, a lot of this comes from own personal bias but I just find it hard to believe that a worldwide theocracy would be a space-faring civilization, much less one which became so
before even the Cardassians. I really like Major Kira but I despise her religious side. For a perfect example, there's this exchange between Kira and Odo in the episode, "Accession," that always makes me cringe:
*********
ODO: Major. Come to see Akorem speak?
KIRA: The Emissary's first public appearance? I wouldn't miss it.
ODO: I'm surprised to hear you call him that.
KIRA: Why? Akorem Laan was, is a great man. He's been with the Prophets for over two hundred years, and now they've sent him back to us.
ODO: Yes, but two days ago you believed Captain Sisko was the Emissary.
KIRA: Well, he made it clear he wants to step aside.
ODO: Does that mean he never really was the Emissary?
KIRA: No.
ODO: But they can't both be.
KIRA: I don't know. What do you want from me, Odo?
ODO: Forgive me, Major, I don't mean to be difficult, but your faith seems to have led you to something of a contradiction.
KIRA: I don't see it as a contradiction.
ODO: I don't understand.
KIRA: That's the thing about faith. If you don't have it, you can't understand it, and if you do, no explanation is necessary.
*********
WHAT? That is not a response. That's a deflection. So, Kira just blindly believes and does whatever, without pause or introspection? Am I, as a viewer, supposed to admire or feel contempt for her?
