Deep Space Nine

Hey, he's been trying to get me into DS9 but after sitting through three hours of it, I really don't want more. I don't like that show and that's it (sorry, all DS9 fans). /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Then again, I'm not a Trek watcher at all - the whole "style" or "feel" of those shows (hard to explain but everything from uniforms to the way characters talk) is not to my taste. Of course, I have only ever seen about 3 eps of TNG, half of Enterprise's pilot (so boring to me that I couldn't watch the whole thing) and one movie (Generations, I think) but that's enough for me to have an opinion. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I'd be willing to sit through some boring hours, waiting for stuff to get better, if the characters seemed even a bit interesting but if they don't grab me at all - if not a single one of them seems interesting to me - then I don't see any point in it.

Anyway, other than admitting that I've never got into Trek and probably never will, either, I don't intend to do any Trek-bashing on this board or anywhere else, so no need to start flaming me. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

DS9 and Buffy are my favorite shows. You're all mad people!

Poor Antony. We shouldn't shatter so many illusions at the same time for the poor man. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

This illustrates quite well, however, why genre shows are doing so lousy lately. Even in a group like this one (all B5 fans) we don't all watch Buffy or DS9 or Odyssey 5, etc.

It would be truly weird, not to mention impossible, if we all did - if all "genre" fans liked every "genre" show. Quite sad, too.

Deep Space Nine is definitely my favorite Trek show, but I still like B5 better. Plus, it's been a long time since I've seen a DS9 episode. Only Voyager (urgh) plays on one of my local affiliates. If I remember correctly, TNN has the rights to show DS9, but as far as I know, they are still only showing TNG.

I loved DS9's large cast of regular and recurring characters, better stories, and continuing story arc. Of course, none of those things rellay kicked in until the 3rd season and didn't really get great until the 5th or 6th season.

While DS9 didn't have a stand-out actor as good as Patrick Stewart on TNG, the acting on DS9, overall and on *average*, is better than all other Treks. Also unlike other Treks, almost everyone on DS9 was given something consistent to do and brought something meaningful to the show.

I know it's been said by some that the DS9 cast probably could not stand on it's own in a movie, but I don't think it would have the same problems that TNG has on the big screen ("What do we do with Crusher & Troi? Can we give any good lines to anyone other than Picard & Data?"). It would, however, have the problems of "How do we get Sisko, Odo, O'Brien, and maybe even Worf back? Since the Dominion War is over, what *new* threat can *come to* DS9?".

It's starting to get expensive buying DVD's, especially when I watch too much TV already. I've gotten the first 3 seasons of Buffy and will continue to get those (gotta have season 5; season 7 is shaping up well so far too), but I don't think I will get Angel on DVD, at least not right away. I've seen TNG enough that I don't even need to have it on DVD, especially since I rarely watch the repeats on TNN now. I might get some of the DS9 DVD's, but I probably won't bother with the earlier seasons.

Because of really bad time slots in my area, I didn't get to see as much of the last 2 years of DS9, and those are the ones I want to see the most because of the heavy Dominion War content. I'm not sure I liked the Klingon rebellion storyline of season 4, so the fifth or sixth season might be the best time for me to start collecting the DVD's, if at all. Maybe years down the road, if TV gets really bad and the DVD's get cheap, I might go back and pick up seasons 3 & 4 too.

Man, can I babble on forever or what?

Kribu, I'm just saying that our tastes in shows are so fragmented that the ratings just aren't there for us.

But the way things are going, I doubt good ratings make a real difference any more. Crusade was cancelled before the first episode aired. Farscape was cancelled despite being the proud and highly acclaimed original work of the skiffy channel.

On the bright side, electric bills will be going down. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Farscape was cancelled despite being the proud and highly acclaimed original work of the skiffy channel.

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Not just acclaimed but also supposedly under contract for a fifth season.

Hyp, I understand what you mean but still, I think it would be horrid if everyone liked everything they were shown. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif The problem is not that people's tastes are fragmented, the problem is that not enough people watch scifi & fantasy shows in general. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

On the bright side, electric bills will be going down.

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Depends... mine has gone *way* up since I realised there was nothing on TV that I wanted to watch. The computer takes a lot more electricity than the TV! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Good point, Kribu. I was thinking about the reading-a-book thing, but I, too, seem to be on the computer the more I am not watching tv. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

DS9 and Buffy are my favorite shows. You're all mad people!

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Well, I didn't like DS9 but do like Buffy, so I guess I'm only half-mad. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

<ul type="square">[*]TOS: Thumbs Up
[*]TNG: Thumbs Up
[*]DS9: Thumbs Down
[*]VOY: Thumbs Way the Hell Down
[*]ENT: Thumbs Sorta Down

[*]B5: Thumbs Way, Way UP
[*]Crusade: Thumbs Way Up
[*]Rangers Pilot: Thumbs Down

[*] Buffy: Thumbs Up
[*] Angel: Thumbs Up
[*]Brimstone: Thumbs Way Up
[*]SG-1: Thumbs Up
[*]Farscape: Thumbs Up
[*]Firefly: Thumbs Up (after seeing the aired pilot)
[*]Andromeda: Thumbs Down
[*]Crossing Over With John Edward: Thumbs Way the Hell Down
[*]Tremors-The Series (based upon the promos and what I think they can/will do) Thumbs Down
[*]Dream Team (based upon the promos and what I think they can/will do) Thumbs Down
[*]Scare Tactics (based upon the promos and what I think they can/will do) Thumbs Down
[/list]

Well, I didn't like DS9 but do like Buffy, so I guess I'm only half-mad.

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Guess that puts us in the same boat then. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Anyhow, she asked me how I could "dislike" a show I'd never watched. I used inexact language there.

I have tried to watch Buffy. I have heard great things about it. I never made it through an entire episode.

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you sound like me a few months ago. i tried to get myself "hooked" with buffy twice before i actually started to enjoy it, mainly because i too had heard many great things about it and a lot of my friends love it. i too usually stopped before reaching 20 minutes of the episode, and i think my problem was thinking of the "demon of the week" (which are most silly and stupid i must say) as the main part of the show.

the demons are not the point, but the thing is they bring very fun and interesting situations. like some ep in which a telepathic demon makes Buffy a telepath (hearing everything that everyone is thinking) for a while, or an ep of s4 were another one makes the characters´ fears come true.

i know it all sounds pretty stupid at first, but with a few episodes you really fall in love with the characters, even those you hate at first sight (faith and cordellia are two examples of this). And it has an arc, not as good as b5, but characters change and some situations arent resolved untill the end of the saeason. which means you dont watch it knowing "everything´s gonna end good for the characters".

im thinking about buying the Angel DVDs, but im not completely sure cause ive never seen an episode of it. ive heard its a much more adult show with characters more mature than Buffy´s, with "adult angst instead of teenage angst", which is why i think im gonna like it. but does the arc start directly from season one, or starts in season two like Buffy?

I like DS9 alright, but I wouldn't say it was my favourite of the new versions. Voyager had some really good stories, but was mediocre overall. TNG had some great stories, some gripping plots and even the bad ones were ok. DS9 was more extreme. The good ones were really good and the bad ones were really bad. The one with the Vulcans playing baseball is unwatchable, while "The Way of the Warrior" was better than the last two ST movies.

I'm sure I would have loved Ds9, and that's why I plan on picking up the last three seasons.

My main problem was the syndication time (7 on saturdays) sucked, so I only picked up maybe 5 episodes a year, and considering they had such a tightly packed arc, I was often lost.

What I did see, I loved (but like you guys tought, the ferengi stories were weak and the early jake ones). It was nice to see a trek show that could be dark and even sometime daring. I remember what I liked about the first few seasons the best, were the Odo arc stories--those eps were almost like mysteries. I guess they let VOY take up the mundane and overused plot-lines (let me say for the record that IMO VOY S3 and 4 were both very good for any trek show).

TNG still wins in my book, but I hope that after watching more of DS9 it will come close.

Phil

i know it all sounds pretty stupid at first, but with a few episodes you really fall in love with the characters, even those you hate at first sight (faith and cordellia are two examples of this).

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Xander /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif, though I've never been able to stand him. He did come in handy in last Season 6 finale ("Grave"), though.

At the risk of spoilers, people how don't like Buffy, should start out with Becoming 1 & 2 (Season 2 episodes 21 & 22). These are two damned good episodes, and will give you more of a feel of the quality of the show.

This post contains incrediably mild spoilers for S1 of Angel and S7 of DS9. Just so you're aware.


In my opinion, Angel is becoming the better show out of the two.

The arc doesn't start straight away, though some foundations are set. Most of the first few episodes are Monster of the Week stuff, though, as with Buffy, the main characters are so appealing, and believable, that they carry you through this. Then, once the good guys and bad guys have been established, the arc starts building, almost deceptively slowly. Til the last few eps where it's just bam!bam!bam! with the plot (that's the best way I could think of putting it!)

From then on, there are only a few standalone episodes, with most of the time given over to the arc, much in the same way as Babylon 5.

If you want to maybe try and and catch one or two episodes to give you an idea of what to expect, I would advise the two-parter 5x5 and Sanctuary, in which an old Buffy character turns up in the Angelverse. (I'll say nothing more for fear of spoilage) They're amazing episodes showcasing the talent of the show, in acting, writing and directing.

As for DS9, I think it was my favourite Trek, but I just started to lose interest by the time season 7 trundled around, and when they sacrificed 6 years worth of brilliant Garak characterisation, just so that bloody Ezri could "find her place" I just stopped watching altogether.

I have to agree. I liked Ezri overall, but I felt that he whole part of season 7 was who was she going to end up with?

I also agree that Garak was pretty much completely wasted in season 7, even though he was back on Cardassia helping to defeat the Dominion. What a great character he was, and what great acting by Andrew J. Robinson!

That Dax thing confused the heck out of me. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Season 7 spoilers perhaps
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I think they rushed the whole Dax thing that last season. I mean, you bring in a whole new character that is actually the same character that we've known all along and try to immediately hook her up with someone. The whole Quark, Bashir thing competing over her was kind of strange, and then she goes and hooks up with Worf.

I think Robinson did a great job with Garak as did Biggs with Damar. DS9 as a whole had a lot of great acting and character interactions and relationships. It obviously got better after the first couple seasons before the arc really got started.

Sure, if you like imitations go ahead and get DS9.
On the other hand there were some really weird real world coincidences: both DS9 and B5's resident babe (not that B5 ever had any real babes) left at the end of the penultimate season.