Some totally random and unfocused thoughts on DS9:
I'm just starting Season6 of DS9 now and I'm rather enjoying it. I'm not sure exactly at what point I zoned out back in the day but I don't remember seeing Nog and Rom being regular members of the crew and I really like those two (or Martok?). I'm not sure I remember Odo being solid for a time either. But then I do remember enjoying the Weyoun performance, so maybe I was dipping in and out toward the end. Whenever it was, I think I dropped out just before DS9 was finally getting good
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A big reason for my dissatisfaction with DS9 was B5 being my favourite show at the time and the comparison only made DS9's deficiencies more obvious. Even during the early stages of the Dominion conflict and preceding Klingon war, DS9 never commits to long form story telling and drops in and out of the threats at random. For the record, I think Discovery has gone too far the other way. Another comparison that bothered me then and still does, is the poor way scale is established. Rare shots like this...
...kind of take me by surprise as the station feels so small in the way it's shot. The Enterprise-D feels so much bigger. B5 was always at great pains to establish the scale by showing us how small OPs was in the overall scale (I still don't know where OPs is on DS9 and it's relative scale), showing vast interior matte paintings, showing multiple varied locations, showing starships being boarded and loaded/unloaded (something DS9 has never done beyond showing an airlock), having whole different climate zones and sectors. It has characters taking long lift rides and walks (something almost never done in DS9). Most crucially it has characters frequently talking on vidscreens to each other within the station (again something I don't think DS9 ever does) which helps to imply the station is so big that you can't just walk up to the person. In DS9 you are given the impression that OPS, medical, Odo's office, Garek's shop and Quark's are within a few steps of each other (because they probably were on the set). It's a nitpick but one that niggles me.
The best thing about DS9 is the interesting conflicted characters. Seeing how Garek, Quark, or Dukat will react to a given problem and where their loyalties lie is fascinating. e.g. When Dukat and Kira were almost friends for a time was totally believable, just as believable as when they become bitter enemies again.
One last thing that stuck in my mind... what the hell were they thinking in that episode when Sisko went to the mirror universe and screwed mirror Dax!? It's weird on two levels. She's an exact duplicate of his best friend and mentor, so there is that problem and mirror-Dax thinks he is somebody else, so it's more than a little creepy. I know it's briefly addressed in a later episode when miror-Dax slaps him.