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ost_uid0]Well, I first saw DS9 back in 1997 on a German satellite channel. Since it was dubbed in German, I barely understood anything and since it was season 1, all I saw was a bunch of humans, Bajorans and Cardassians standing around and arguing. Also, the cast looked kinda... silly to me,
Especially Sisko and Kira, with their horrible first season hairdos. So, without understanding any dialogue, I wasn`t particularly impressed with what I saw.
Thankfully, several years later I managed to get some episodes on CDs. The first episode I saw was The Changing Face of Evil. Heh. My friend had CDs with only season 7. So I got myself this episode, to see if the series is any good. And of course it was good. It was [i
ost_uid0]brilliant[/i
ost_uid0]. I mean, episode 20 of season 7... all the fascinating storylines and wonderfully developed characters in it... I was blown away. So I naturally got myself the entire season 7 (minus The Dogs of War and What You Leave Behind 1 & 2, unfortunately), watched it and absolutely loved it.
Then I saw season 1 and 2, and I also loved it. Season 3 didn`t impress me very much the first time... The second time I saw it, however, I loved it. Weird.
And of course, since the beginning of this year, I`ve been watching the entire series, almost every day... and I`m really enjoying almost ALL of the episodes. It really is THE best Trek series. The evidence is quite simple - the biggest number of great, interesting, compelling characters. And the fact it never ran out of steam, it was strong in season 7 just like in seasons 4, 5 and 6 (whereas TNG declined in quality quite noticeably in its own season 7...). Now, I love TNG, it`s fantastic, and TOS is adorable, and Voyager is the first Trek series I saw and I also love it and it will always be the "special" series for me, because thanks to Voyager I made a gruelling effort to obtain episodes of all the other series and copies of the movies...
...but DS9 is, in my opinion, definitely the deepest, most complex and simply the best Trek series. All of the main characters got an equal share of episodes to grow, and all of them used that opportunity excellently, plus the enormous number of marvelous supporting characters - Dukat, Weyoun, Garak, Martok, Kai Winn, Nog, Rom, Damar, Ziyal, Vic Fontaine, Eddington... and of course, the relationship between Odo and Quark, which is the most bizarre and fascinating "friendship" between two characters I have ever seen. Nothing beats Odo and Quark antics,
The best episodes... hmm... there are plenty, but offhand... there are, of course, the all-time classics - Duet, Emissary, The Search, Trials and Tribble-ations, In Purgatory`s Shadow/By Inferno`s Light, Call to Arms, Favor the Bold/The Sacrifice of Angels, Far Beyond the Stars, In the Pale Moonlight (definitely the best episode of the series), Tears of the Prophets, Shadows and Symbols... and presumably the finale is also great (I just haven`t seen it yet).
Along with them, I was quite impressed by Dax, Paradise, The Maquis, Tribunal, The Jem`Hadar, Life Support, Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast two-parter, To the Death, Body Parts, Little Green Men, Apocalypse Rising, Looking for the par`Mach in All the Wrong Places, Rapture, For the Uniform, In the Cards, Waltz, Statistical Probabilities, The Magnificent Ferengi, His Way, Chimera, Badda-bing Badda-bang, Treachery, Faith and The Great River, Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges... and of course The Changing Face of Evil, my first one...
There are two things, however, that I cannot forgive DS9. First is a certain episode called Ferengi Love Songs, which is simply the most boring and pointless episode of all Trek, and second is the terrible underuse of the Romulans. Was it really necessary to make three or so Ferengi episodes and not a single Romulan one in seasons 1, 2, 4 and 5? Okay, In the Pale Moonlight, Shadows and Symbols and Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges were great, but still... definitely not enough Romulans.
Okay, I`m done.
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