I should just drop this one in and run, right?
Okay, okay. I grew up watching reruns of the original series in the late 70s as both my parents were fans of the show during its original run. We were all excited for The Next Generation when that landed in 86 and rightly so. It hasn’t aged well in a lot of ways but that’s kind of just how Trek is in some ways. As much as I liked, TNG, it was stuck in the same place as so much TV from that time in being episodic (and syndication practically required that).
So when Deep Space Nine arrived and felt like a good complement to Babylon 5 to me with each going with different approaches, it took a couple of seasons but DS9 quickly became my favorite of the shows and the only one that I can binge rewatch. It was also the last Trek that I watched until the arrival of Discovery, which with its first two seasons is jockeying for the top position in my list now that it’s moving forward again.
DS9 will always be my favorite but I lamented with it and Voyager and Enterprise (and Discovery) that they missed out on the central piece of what should have been done. I don’t mind a few shows in a particular era at the same time, but there really needed to be a time leap forward, a new Next Next Generation show, so that it wasn’t stuck in the same mindset. Which is why I’m enjoying the fact that CBS has given up on films for the time being and has opted to explore 3188 with Discovery, the TNG era with Picard, and the TOS era with the Pike series. I understand the allure of expanding on the familiar, but the draw of the new is what really entices me.
DS9 was new and groundbreaking for Trek in different ways than I wanted, however, which is why I stays at the top of my list.
PS: Lower Decks is solid and has one of the best season finales. But I was sticking to live-action.
Bonus Question: Which one do you rate the lowest?
