Shark Bytes

The best of all Star Trek series. It had a beginning, middle, and end, and told a story of Shakespearean depth.

If only Jay had used the word "shiznit" one more time, he might have convinced me. But sadly, I remain in the camp that this show never ever jumped the shark.

Shiznit did, though. With Jay's last post.

Yeah I must agree that Deep Space was not as good as the other's...although I will always put it over Enterprise - that shiznit should not have been made AT ALL!!! The best part about Enterprise was the end of the last episode when the credits rolled (ROFLMAO!). But DS9 just never grew on me. the Dominion war was cool, but then it got lost in the Changeling stuff. The chosen one plot - COME ON!!! And then that shiznit lasted through out the series. I loved the actors and actress' but hated the storylines.

It began slow, but became the greatest of the Star Trek series, and one of the greatest television shows of all time. It's a pity this brilliant series got overshadowed by its cousins (VOY and TNG), because if it hadn't it would be remembered today as a classic, just as much as TOS and TNG were.

This was the Star Trek I grew up with and it's my favorite. I think it went down hill with the addition of Ezri, but the thing that really really really bothered me was the exclusion of anything Jadzia in the series finale. I remember watching it and thinking, OMG.

I watched the pilot of all the Trek shows except Enterprise and I have to confess that DS9 was the first show I EVER consciously made my mind up to give up on immediately. I did catch a few episodes now and again but actually preferred Voyager at the time which I also had to give up on for other reasons. The order in which things were established:
1. Captain Sisko was so...wooden in his portrayal yet at times I thought he was channeling Shatner! ( I regret this now because I'm watching the series on Spike and have come to appreciate his style.)
2. Major Kira: What an annoyingly augmentative woman from the get go. While I could have overlooked this given that it's nice to see a strong woman in a major role it was the basic storyline behind her character and the whole show that ticked me off:
3. The Cardassian occupation and withdrawal from Bajor. The only thing that differentiated the plot from the Nazi takeover of Europe during the second world war was the fact that the Cardassians had got off relatively easily. The justifications for the actions/characterization of Kira were based entirely on what I imagine a pissed off Jewish person would have felt or gone through having to make nice with the American baby-sitting Federation who let the Germans get away with all those bad things. This would not have been so bad but for the fact that it was established so quickly and certainly in the first episode with that irritating one-dimensional attitude. Many space stories are often patterned after this real world conflict it's become pathetic in it's unoriginality- and off-putting. I just saw the episode where the Cardassian file clerk masquerading as an internment camp leader exposed his true identity and felt saddened- if I had seen that episode a little bit sooner I would have given this show a chance back then- despite the fact that he had to die instead of getting the (logical) emergency medical attention.
4. Catsuits: Kira's uniform was basically a cat suit- I understand that you need the obvious 'hot bodied' female for the sake of the young male segment of the viewers but it was a bit obvious. You just have to look at the constable's outfit to see that a tunic was available for Bajoran military clothing. If she liked catsuits so much she could have worn a proper one off-duty.
5. The other characters didn't inspire much interest: The doctor was such a pretty boy but looked like he might be fun. The Trill science officer was bland but charming and carried herself well- I was happy that the show didn't have an android or a dryly overdone Vulcan on board. The constable came across with no feeling but that was o.k. given that he was a new alien that we had to find out more about. The Cardassian tailor/spy was an excellent element but was being characterized as gay/bi from the onset- that idea would have made more sense if they had done it with one of the human crew. It was creepy so early on. The Ferengi bartender and his people were without question the most entertaining of the lot but it just wasn't enough to make me want to watch this show till a decade after it went off the air.
Now I'm reading all this b.s. about comparisons to other shows at the time, criticisms about bringing in characters from the other shows and the direction of the plot and have this to say:
a. The writers of these kinds of shows are trying to provide entertainment for the masses that can appeal on many levels based on concepts and ideas established from the original series. There is bound to be overlap of ideas and outright copying in some cases- who cares as long as the plot is realistic, the actors do good performances, and there is logical continuity and consistency.
b. Bringing in the other characters adds familiarity and ties in the series better- not to mention gives work to consistently fine actors.
c. Gene Roddenberry may have had a vision of what he wanted for the future of the franchise but today's writers have other ideas and it is their right to express their own visions. The Bajorn religion played a big part in DS9 as many of the plots came out of the conflict that religion brought on- he might have wished that people of the future didn't have to deal with religion but that would have thrown away far too much potential material for stories. As well, bringing in a spaceship and having an outright war being fought is also a natural direction for the series to take- it's ridiculous to think you can ignore space all around you when you live in space among other races that live in space and have their own agendas!
And finally- there's only so long you can keep a series going given that your heart may not be in it as a writer or an actor- the two go together hand in hand. Based on what I have been reading- as I am watching the series with new eyes and haven't seen 80% of the episodes- I think the writers were already visualizing the final days as discontent from the Dax actress led to her leaving the show and they chose to waste a great character villain to close off the shows run.

This is by far the best of the Star Trek TV Series, followed by TNG, TOS, ENT and lastly and definitely least VOY (just ask Robert Beltran). Anyway in conclusion, for anyone to prefer Voyager to this must be a clinically insane brain dead imbecile. Although I must concede I wasn't enamoured with the Ezri character, but unfortunately I believe the actress who played Jadzia wanted to leave. Also for anyone to hate Worf WTF!!!?? just seems weird and alienesque. As for Sisko being "the chosen one" I believe he was actually the Emissary, which to me is more upmarket and less tacky.

One of the best written, best acted, most morally complex television shows ever made. Just the Quark/Garak speech (it's insidious/ just like the Federation) is enough to put it over the top for me as the greatest of all Trek shows. The fact that sometimes the heroes could be morally ambiguous, that there wasn't any neat reset button to fix things, and the real focus on human frailty and true courage make this IMHO, one of the two best television shows ever made (along with MASH). Never Jumped

I must say, I still have this show on my TiVO. Maybe it's just to erase the memory of the weakest Captain ever, Jonathan Archer. Ben Sisko was a great Captian, father and friend. He ran a tight ship and had many layers.

I enjoyed seeing his relationship with Jake and it really reminded me of my relationship with my father. A single dad that could speak to his kid and relate was such a positive image especially for a black man.

I did expect Avery Books to be more aggressive earlier especially after he came off of the Spencer for Hire and A Man Called Hawk series but he evolved into the Ben Sisko (especially after he shaved his head!)

My favorite episode was the one where Ben was pulled into time and Jake aged and Ben would come back ever ___ years. It showed the pain of losing a father and the love of a son with his eventual sacrifice of his own life to bring him back to his childhood.

As you see, I loved this show and the great writing and the honesty to the Star Trek legacy while honoring the diversity of a world and hope to be future universe.

Voyager is a show that was one of the few, the rare, reverse jumps in television history. Because the show really sucked horse balls when it first hit the airwaves (the only memorable thing about the first 5 years was Q getting punched by Sisko, with no real follow up) There was some weakness with the entire Dominion War, but finally Fontana and Braga got it right (unlike Voyager and Enterprise) and you could actually care about what happened to the characters during the war.

I stopped watching when Terry Farrel (Jadzia) left the show. Worf was bad enough. Then I heard about Sisko being the chosen one, and all the other really stupid sounding stuff like the Dominion war and I never went back to watching it again. At this point I wouldn't even illegally download the shows.

how could anybody dislike that they tried to make it more political, dark and more like babylon 5? this is by far the best star trek show ever, even better than TOS.

When they made Sisko the chosen one.

This is my favorite show, ever. But it definitely jumped the shark sometime between Vic Fontaine and when Ezri came on. I never liked Jadzia, and I didn't miss her, but bringing on Ezri was so forced and inane that I really lost interest quick. Among the most irritating things about TNG and Voyager were the lame 'holodeck episodes' and I was happy that DS9 mostly avoided this until Vic Fontaine. Maybe they pulled him out because they had run out of ideas by the end - that much was clear - but this is still a great series owing to the huge cache of interesting recurring secondary characters like Kai Winn, Garak, and Dukat. Have you ever seen that in Voyager?

A great show.

My favorite episodes: first season's "Duet" and the sixth season's hilarious "His Way".
"Duet" was a flawless,finely-tuned script. The episode's guest villian was amazing. I felt I was watching live theater, not episodic television. Amazing.

I enjoyed the spiritual overtones throughout the serious. I'm surprised some studio exec didn't try to nix that aspect of the show. Very unique. Won't see anything like that again on TV.

Also, I loved the father-son relationship between Benjamin and Jake. They showed us what fathers and sons SHOULD be. An excellent model for all dads and their sons to follow.

At its peak, DS9 was the best of the Star Trek series. It was supposed to be a sort of Gunsmoke in space. For a time, it was just that. At the end, it had lost a lot of its steam. Way too much emphasis on the war with the founders. The best episodes were right on the station involving Quark and Odo.