I know there probably has been a bunch of threads on it but I just finished watching it. Great series. It took me a while to adjust to Sisko but that series really took off after the first couple of years. As a complete series, I thought it was better than Voyager. Unlike Voyager, I thought it had a very good closing. Star Trek: Enterprise was pathetic compared to those two. I'm sad I finished it. Any suggestions on old Sci-fi series I can dig up besides Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly?
Babylon 5, which some think forced DS9 into a better story. I think both are great in their own ways. Legend of Galactic Heroes is an anime sci fi that started in the late 80s and ended 10 years later. It's not flashy or fast paced, but I still highly recommend it if you like subjects on politics, philosophy, democracy vs authoritarianism, history, strategy and tactics. Not your typical show. Torrent for it
All the best shows are ensemble shows. This show had such a strong one that justified all the years on the air. It wasn't just superficial changes in the characters that kept it fresh. Each actor really took command of their parts and I'm sure in every similar case of ensemble shows, their performance drove the currents of the plot. You can definitely tell that the same writers do BSG. It's not about spaceships and lasers, its about people who just happen to be in space. Sometimes Sisko overacts, but man what a voice Avery Brooks has. I know a guy who did some Shakespeare thing in Jersey and got to take a pic with him. I'll bet half the cast didn't appreciate or know about the Sisko. I recently re-watched the first season of Sliders with the O'Connell. Back before every week one of the characters was a rock-star or something far-fetched and hard to believe, much less to personalize. I hear Quantum Leap is fun. The X-Files is amazing if you haven't seen it from the beginning (which I just finished). Band of Brothers is intense storytelling.
I never watched the entire series but those seasons I did watch there were some really beautiful moving episodes. I've only watched Star Trek: The Next Generation and I don't remember it having characters and story lines with that kind of depth. The first 2 seasons of Farscape were darn good. It was shot in Australia with a mostly Aussie cast, you definitely get a different vibe from it. You don't even notice there are puppets around - they're human-like. They got too too cute and quirky the last couple seasons but there were still several outstanding episodes. It was canceled and ended very abruptly. There was a miniseries (?) a couple years later that tried to close the series (I wasn't too crazy about it) but overall it was an inventive, enjoyable series.
DS9 is my all-time favorite show. A question for those that watched Babylon 5: does it get better quickly? I watched the first disc of season 1 on dvd, and couldn't bring myself to watch any more after that.
Great show. Great characters. Quark and his Ferengi acquaintances could have carried a sitcom. Section 31 likewise could have been a totally badass spinoff series.
I totally agree, but then I think about the Lone Gunman X-Files spin-off. I loved those characters, but I had to force myself to finish the season/series. Sometimes for whatever reason, the writers or actors just cannot figure out together why the characters are interesting and they have to resort to "jumping the shark." Very contrived stuff. Like every movie has to have a love story subplot.
Farscape was awesome...the miniseries was rushed for sure. The DS9 where Sisko is confessing to being involved in the assassination of the Romulan ambassador and framing it on the badguys....possibly the best Star Trek episode ever.
Yes, they spend the first few episodes trying to establish all the characters. In my opinion it picks up with the "soul hunter" episode, which is when the audience gets tipped off that there is a much larger story arc then just the day to day operation of a space station.
You're not a treasure hunter are you, Locke? If you didn't get that, I'm just a huge nerd and its not important. If it's John Locke, then I admire you unconditionally. I'm HAYJON02, bc I was in high school once.
?? DS9 is easily the best of the star trek series. certainly the first two were more groundbreaking, but the continuation of plot lines from episode to episode were unique to this series. voyager would have been far more successful if it had implemented this tactic in it's writing (outside of the obvious quest to get home).
BTW, I just re-watched the first two episodes from season 1. It's amazing how much the people aged and morphed over the 7 seasons. Jake Sisko grew almost 2 feet. Quark had a different look early on (I think his nose was bigger). Odo acted young and spry. Sisko & Kira had completely different looks. Bashir was just a shallow, flirty doofus the first couple of seasons before his character became a lot more serious. Great great show. Anyone who likes sci-fi and hasn't seen DS9, do yourself a favor and start from the beginning. Not that it starts off bad, but stick with it if the first few episodes don't do anything for you. The show improves a lot as the plot goes on through the seasons. BTW, please keep the suggestions coming for other good shows from the past I and others may have missed. I'm thinking about going through The Next Generation but I don't want to be disappointed after experiencing DS9.
B5 is my favorite, but you definitely have to give some time to adjust. It's filmed in a different style, but as the storyline develops it becomes very compelling.
Definitely give Farscape a whirl. It's a must-see, IMO. Also, check out Torchwood. Starts out kind of meh, but gets much better in the 2nd season. And, of course, if you haven't seen either Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, I absolutely recommend both those shows, too.
Seasons 2..3..4 are the highlights of the series. Several characters move, die, and evolve. When I watched the first season on channel 20, I thought it was crap (Star Trek fanboy). I thought a character change made the show look like it was on it's last throes. But since I was starved for sci-fi, I kept watching and it was a nice surprise. The Next Generation is Voyager on steroids. DS9 is an anomaly with long story arcs (which I like). TNG is like a liberal utopia while DS9 goes into how the realities of that utopia crack under the surface of war and annihilation.
Thank god for SpikeTV, the star trek channel. I have watched and rewatched the entire series for both DS9 and Voyager several times. DS9 is the better series in terms of story, but Voyager has the best characters - The Doctor and Seven. DS9 also has good characters, Kira, Odo.. but my favorite is Nog. He by far evolved more than anyone else on that show - from a school dropout to a lieutenant in starfleet.
