Worf and the Improvement of DS9

[Navaros]

DS9 did not improve after Worf's arrival.

In a way, it became worse because it wasted a Season on a pointless Klingon War that went nowhere instead of focusing on the Dominion, which would have been much better.

DS9 improved as of the Season 2 finale, when the showrunners decided to ditch Bajoran politics (for the most part) and instead focus on the Dominion. In other words, the improvement of the show had already happened way before Worf arrived in Season 4.

Like the Dax characters, Worf does not really fulfill any necessary function on the show. None of them have any legitimate reason to be included in the cast. Unlike the Dax characters, however, Worf is not inherently annoying and grating to watch/listen to.

So other than sidetracking Season 4, the addition of Worf had no effect-good or bad-on DS9.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

I almost completely agree with this - almost, because there are things in late season 6 and in season 7 that were disappointing, and I certainly wouldn't put season 7 on par with seasons 5 and 6, much less above.

I would put season 7 as the best season of DS9. Season six was rather aimless after the Occupation arc. The Occupation arc was outstanding but after that we got a lot of filler or weak episodes--Change of Heart, Resurrection, Who Mourns for Morn, Wrongs Darker..., Times Orphan etc. There were also very little focus on the Dominion and too much on the boring Worf/Dax romance. Dax got an underwhelming sendoff.

Season Seven did a good job with the Final Chapter with its epic storytelling and the way it pulled together outstanding threads from the series. It also managed, to take the time to do some episodes that were nice little valentines before all hell broke loose such as Take Me Out to the Holosuites, Badda Bing Badda Bang. The show I thought was really coming into its own this year. It took that extra step that seasons 5 and 6 toyed with but didn't go all the way.

I thought Season 7 was an improvement on Season 6 as well. Season 6 for me felt kind of aimless after Sacrifice of Angels and too many of the episodes felt inconsequential, whereas I thought 7 had more great episodes. There's a trade-off - Season 7 had some deeply silly plotlines, too much holodeck and some of the characters and relationships kind of went off the rails in my eyes, but overall I liked it better. Season 5 was the best though.