One of the things that Jason Inman and I have in common (aside from a certain rugged beardy handsomeness and growing up on the cow-strewn plains of Kansas) is our shared realization that ‘Star Trek: Deep Space 9’ is unequivocally the best of the Trek franchise. Don’t get me wrong, Captain Picard is a personal hero for his philosophical, balanced view of the world and of conflict, and there’s nothing quite as wonderful as a Kirk/Spock/McCoy verbal sparring match, but the ensemble cast and consistent tone of Deep Space 9 just hits a lot of the right buttons, making it my personal Star Trek Preference. I maintain that the worst of Deep Space 9 is better than the worst of Voyager, Next Generation or Trek Classic, and in some rare cases, a bad DS9 is still superior to some good Voyagers. (Janeway still rocks, though.) Heck, I’m sure there are even Pine/Quinto Trek believers amongst the Faithful Spoilerites, leading us to today’s final frontier query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced “Kee-rah Neh-reese”) even has some love for Archer and the crew of NX-01, especially given their unceremonious finale, asking: Which flavor of Trek is YOUR Star Trek Preference?
9 Comments
I have to say The Next Generation. That’s the series I followed as it came out and Picard is my captain of the Enterprise.
ST:TNG
I would agree and argue that DS9 is on top for characterization – if you look into the main cast the only baseline humans were Miles and Benjamin. The stories regarding relationships among cast members from alien races were close to Roddenberry’s vision – if Star Trek was meant to be the “Wagon Train” in the stars, then DS9 was that awesome western town where the stagecoaches stopped.
I’m with you two. DS9 remains my favorite Trek. After that comes TOS, Voyager, Enterprise, and TNG. Sisko is my favorite fictional character, too! JMHO!
What Wayne Hall said. Enterprise based on the 3 seasons I could get UPN. I still enjoyed ST:TNG, but I can re-watch DS9 and not feel like stopping the show (as I have for ST:V and ST:TNG) because I’ve seen the episode before. For me the re-watch-ability is a key factor.
DS9 is by far my favorite. The first season is kind of hard to rewatch, but once it picks up momentum the series sucks me in just as it did all those years ago when it originally aired. I do enjoy the other Trek entries, but DS9 just hits a special stride, tackling stories that wouldn’t quite fit in the other entries of the franchise while also looking at interesting cultural differences and exploring a less shiny and clean side of the Trek universe.
However, my favorite Trek characters are actually from my two least favorite entries of the franchise: Trip from Enterprise, and the EMH Doctor from Voyager.
Babylon 5 ;P
So I guess Deep Space 9, although the original series set the gold standard.
DS9 Absolutely. Even the recurring guest characters got significant, entertaining and believable development. Garak… Rom… Nog… Dukat… Damar (in the final season)… Martok (aka best klingon?)
They even (barely) got away with replacing Jadzia Dax in the final season. I was all prepared to hate Ezri, but damned if they didn’t sell that character to me as well.
Also, just to say it again: Garak, Garak, Garak, Garak.