Don't get me wrong, I love the original Star Trek and even The Next Generation. But as far as I am concerned Star Trek peaked on television with the creation of Star Trek Deep Space 9. DS9 was the aggressive younger brother in the Star Trek family that wasn't above getting into a little scuffle every few weeks.After the success of Star Trek:TNG Paramount was looking to cash in one more time on the Star Trek phenomenon. In what turned out to be a stroke of genius the shows creators chose to tell the story of an immobile star base and it's complement rather than the tried and true model of Captain and crew exploring the galaxy. This would have profound affects on the composition of the stories you could tell.
Having effectively eliminated their ability to beam down to a new planet every week and explore new cultures DS9 was forced to build their narrative in a more serial format. With plots taking place over the course of several episodes. Previously in the Star Trek universe this was a rarity. If you watched a random episode of The Next Generation the status quo was maintained so rigidly that your only indication as to which season you were watching was the status of William Riker's beard.
Plots on Deep Space 9 were both deeper and much darker. As the series wore on the political situation in the Federation deteriorated and the Federation found itself embroiled in a long drawn out war. Gone were the days of the saccharin sweet space exploring Federation, and DS9 did a great job of showing the ravages of war on every level.
Excellently conceived and well-written the show just gained steam season after season. And to satisfy those of us who wanted to see some bad ass space ship fights the Federation went ahead and stationed the USS Defiant at the station. As far as Star Trek ships go this was my all-time favorite.
The show also benefited from one of the stronger casts. Captain Sisko is right up there with Kirk and Picard in my list of Captains. Avery Brooks played him to perfection as we meet (then) Commander Sisko, a nearly broken man struggling with the loss of his wife. As time passes we get to watch as he gradually recovers from this tragedy. This frailty added a humanity to this character that his sometimes cartoonish predecessors had never been able to show.
The other real standout amongst the cast was Michael Dorn. Reprising his role as Worf, the shows reliance on character development served him well. The once one-dimensional Worf was allowed to become something far ore fascinating. His role as a Klingon outcast was examined and we got our first in-depth look into Klingon society (wow, that was a NERDY sentence).
I looked back at the ratings for this show, and they were surprisingly strong. It was the #1 show in syndication for several years of its run. But I can't help but think that if I walked up to a stranger on the street and asked if they knew who Captain Sisko was the answer would be "no".
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