Deep Space Nine was the best star Trek show.

I concede his point that the story arcs, deep character development, and thought provoking dilemmas were all highly rewarding for loyal viewers, relatively few in number though we may have been. I recall feeling empathy for Odo, it was as if I too was lost and conflicted. I remember my amusement at Quark’s mischief, as if he were as much my ironic friend as he was Odo’s. I remember my admiration for Sisko, who through wisdom, cunning, courage, and strength always lived up to the challenge of being both Captain and Emissary. I remember my undying crush on Jadzia Dax, “old man” though she may be. I remember fretting over the fate of the Alpha Quadrant once I understood the true magnitude of the Dominion threat. In short, I will not be arguing that DS9 was bad or boring, because I actually did rather like the show. But here’s the big problem for my opponent: I also remember feeling something else, and worse, I’m not the only one. I remember feeling a bittersweet anguish that could probably better be expressed in classical Romulan, but which I am limited to approximating with these English words: “My beloved Next Generation has run its course, and all I have left now is this eclipsing shadow of a once radiant magnificence. DS9, this fading echo of a glory that once was. ” My friends, the true contenders for best Star Trek series can only rightly be The Original Series (TOS) or The Next Generation (TNG). DS9 was the runt of the litter who lived long, but never really managed to prosper. Let us first consider the only three major points raised by my opponent. Confronting Social Issues Pro admits that the other series have confronted controversial topics, but then quickly brushes aside the value of those occasions by pointing out the consistency with which DS9 did so. Not so fast. By the time Ben Sisko was installed as the African-American Captain of an abandoned Cardassian space station, issues like integration, interracial courtship, and blacks in leadership positions had largely already been settled in mainstream America. By contrast, when Uhura and Kirk kissed in TOS episode “Plato’s Children,” NBC officials were extremely resistant to airing that version because they feared the controversy. It was only by taking a stand, and deliberately sabotaging every take of the kiss-less version of the scene that Bill Shatner and Nichelle Nichols were able to get the historic black-white interracial kiss put on TV. [1] Additionally, TOS movies casually depicted people of African and Asian ancestry in extremely important positions, such as Admiral Cartwright, who obviously outranks both James T. Kirk and Ben Sisko, and did so as far back as 1986. [2] Characters Pro contends that “in DS9 every single character that plays any sort of role in the storyline develops”. While that may be true, the characters still end up not being as memorable or interesting as they are in TNG or TOS. The complex relationships between Spock and McCoy as well as Riker and Worf were each critical to building tension and driving the story in their respective series. The dynamic between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in particular clearly deserves the description “Legen-wait for it-dary”. Perhaps most importantly, a fairly large sampling of fans provided by Ranker. com does not even have a single DS9 character in the top 10. Jean Luc Picard, Data, Spock… the “best” characters are all from other series, mostly TOS and TNG. [3] Ben Sisko ranks a pultry 31st, taking his rightful place just behind Pavel Chekov. Dystopian Setting This point is both incorrect and irrelevant. The Maquis were hardly the first Federation personnel to violate Starfleet Command. James T. Kirk routinely violated direct commands from his superiors. In Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, there was a comparable, but more insidious, more duplicitous, more dramatic, more shocking, and more consequential coup by traitorous officers - and it happened two years before the first DS9 episode was aired. The war with the Dominion was probably one of the more interesting features of the DS9 storyline. Nevertheless, the intrigue of TNG Klingon and Romulan storylines could compete, even if they managed to do so on a free-standing episode basis. I submit to the reader that “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” for example, was every bit as dark and filled with the torment of moral dilemma as what we can find in DS9 [4]. Furthermore, the Borg threat matches and trumps the one imposed Dominion, and does so without being so long and drawn out. In Summary I have demonstrated how all of the points which my opponent listed as favoring DS9 on closer inspection actually favor my contention that DS9 is inferior to TOS and TNG. TOS and TNG were both groundbreaking and essentially created and defined the world of Star Trek, while DS9 was little more than a sequel which followed closely on the heels of it’s better cousin. At the time it was better than nothing, but let’s not get carried away and pretend it was the “best. ” 1) . http://en.wikipedia.org... 2) . http://en.memory-alpha.org... 3) . http://www.ranker.com... 4) . http://en.memory-alpha.org...