While making my way through the only Star Trek series whose re-runs had never really matched my TV watching, Deep Space Nine, I've had a few interesting surprises. First of all, I'm becoming pretty attached to the show.
I'm just making headway into season two, and it's taken a long, long time to get this far. Season one was rough, and only started to turn the corner towards the end. Eventually, though, something wonderful happened: I started to like the characters.
You know how when you first start watching the show, even more so if you've already heard little snippets of information about it, you're always trying to guess which characters you're going to like? I'm always picking sides within the first five minutes. It takes a lot of time and development to sway me from these early biases, but a few characters in Deep Space Nine are starting to wear me down.
My initial impressions were that I hated Sisko. Star Trek fans will be happy to know that this feeling stuck. To this day I can't understand what possessed them to hire that actor. Anyway, I had also decided against Major Kira, feeling that she was one of those poorly done strong female types(Lookin' at you, River Song). I liked Odo 'cause he seemed cool and Quark because... well, I challenge anyone to not like Quark. Ferengi, man, that's where it's at. I swear it has nothing to do with the fact that he was in Buffy for a couple years. Nothing at all. I loved Dr. Bashir simply because I'd heard him be compared (with a grimace) to the great Baltar of Galactica, and Dax because I've always been a hardcore Star Gate Gal.
Then as the first season progressed (roughly), Odo seemed less great, Dax was getting boring, and the show didn't seem to know how to focus on anyone but Sisko and Kira. Towards the end of the season, things started to change. First of all, the relationship between Odo and Quark is quite possibly my favorite part of the show. It's pulled off extremely well, and the lack of Sisko makes for some great acting. It's one of the best frenemy bromances I've seen.
Through a lot of hard work on her part, I'm actually warming up to Kira. Kinda. Sorta. Sorta-kinda. I still dislike her a lot, and find many of her little Bajoran rants and tantrums boring and worse, aggrivating. But I'm starting to like HER. Also, Bajoran clothes are fucking great, I'm loving the 90s Sci-Fi hippie look. It being probably the only fashion I'd ever get behind, I really can't see it coming back (not that it ever came) any time soon.
While watching the show today I had a strange thought- I really wanted to watch Battlestar Galactica again. It's then that I realized that Deep Space Nine is really a corny 90s version of that sci-fi drama that started really well, before getting really confused.
In an era of light and fluffy science fiction shows, Deep Space Nine is more gritty, the Federation feels out of place on the old Cardassian station. I love O'Brian, in likeness to the Chief he adds a lot of realism to the station with frequent mechanical problems (also- Kaeko meets Boomer, anyone?). There's also the heavy use of politics, which yes, is a common theme in most Star Trek shows, but none more so than in DS9. Then there's that general feeling of being forced into an unlikely and very unstable situation. Even similarly weird and cokey religions are used.
Plenty of 'lols' to be found in this comparison since Ron Moore's Battlestar Bible thingy places a lot of stress on NOT being like Star Trek, it seems as though BSG was more of a modern twist on an old Trekkie idea, Deep Space Nine.
But here's hopin' that DS9 continues it's trend of getting better and better with time, unlike it's successor.