DS9 or Voyager? (1 Viewer)

[Jason_V]

DS9, hands down. Much, much better:

Written
Acted
Special Effects
Music
Simple Ideas

Voyager catered the to the lowest common denominator, ie. young adult males who wanted to see Seven's chest and lots of explosions. DS9 didn't put Kira in a head scratching uniform (or Dax for that matter) nor did they rely on action. Yes, the Final Chapter had more than its share of explosions, but it was the end of a war.

DS9 is much more about the characters and the long-term than Voyager. Voyager is "wham bam, thank you ma'am".

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I've always heard rumors that their was animosity between Kate Mulgrew and Jerri Ryan and that is probably why.

 

[Shem Kellogg]

neither. nothing since has held a candle to TNG. thread closed.

 

[Scott Kimball]

Star Trek has never been "real sci-fi." Gene Roddenberry never intended it to be anything more than a space western.

Certainly, TNG tried the hardest to be "real sci-fi." DS9 tried to be geo-political and cultural - then turned to the war for more action. Star Trek TOS was Wagon Train Redux. Voyager was Trek's anemic little sibling, crossed with a weak variant of "Lost in Space."

-Scott

 

[Chris_C]

DS9 was well written and acted. Avery Brooks was a great captain, and I'm not taking anything away from any of the others. If you like stories that may not resolved at the end of the hour, this is your show. I am trying to be objective, but I will say that I would vote for this being the best of the modern treks, even if I really enjoyed TNG and can find a few redeeming qualities in Voyager.
Either way, I hope you enjoy your choice.

 

[Will_B]

DS9. Despite the pompously booming voice of the captain, DS9 was a better written show, with similar efforts at being dramatic and weighty like Next Gen was.

However DS9 had a more rightward tilt than Next Gen in terms of being really pro-war and stuff (indeed, eventually the show turned into an epic warfare show), which wouldn't have happened on Next Gen. So in some ways it doesn't even feel like a Trek show, aside from the recognizable aliens and uniforms. But if you can accept it as just another possibly corner of the Trek universe, it is nice.

DS9 will also lend itself much more towards box set viewing thanks to its long story arcs.

Voyager by contrast became known for its "reset button" in which none of the events in any episode had any particular effect on the characters. Among the Voyager episodes there are a handful of excellent episodes, but they're few and far between, with no long story arcs to get you there.

(And speaking of captains with annoying voices, the Voyager captain has been described as sounding like Katharine Hepburn on helium).

 

[DaveGTP]

I generally stay out of ST thread, but this one sounds applicable to me (a non-trekkie). I loved TNG when I was in jr. high/highschool - I watched all of it, all 7? seasons. I absorbed quite a bit of DS9 as well (like 3 seaons or so, on and off).

Nowadays I would say Babylon 5, but I don't want to start a fight with the Trekkies


DS9 is often cited as the most story driven and most thought provoking. I watched up to after the Dominion war started (the period when it was overlapping B5 - I watched both until B5 got moved to 1am). I liked DS9 plenty.



Personally, I watched Voyager during its first season (and part of its second season). I could never stand the show. I tried to like it. It turned into the typical brainless sci-fi I can't stand, IMO. I'd rather watch paint dry than watch Voyager. No offense. :p)

Don't let me fool you, though. I even saw ST:Nemesis in the theater when it came out (I went with my Trekkie buddy). Sure, I looked around to make sure no one saw me going in...

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Rex,

The Klingons are aggressive.

The Vulcans are logical.

The Romulans are deceptive.

The Ferengi are greedy.

The Borg are relentless.

Can you characterize the Cardassians with a single word?

Obviously, all of the above alien races were developed, to some degree, beyond the one-dimensional archetypes I've mentioned. Worf, K'Mpec, Gowron, and Martok are just a few of the great, multi-dimensional Klingon characters we've seen over the years. But the Cardassians never fit into a simplistic archetype to begin with. Would a Klingon's discussions with Bashir about literature have been as fascinating as Garak's?

 

[Joseph Bolus]

DS9 by far.

BTW, if you liked TNG, you'll *love* Seasons 4,5, and 6 of DS9. Worf came aboard at the beginning of Season 4, and there are plenty of Klingon-driven episodes in the remaining seasons. Also, the main crew of DS9 gain access to the Defiant, a very nice war ship with cloaking technology, to run around in. (Hence, they are no longer stuck on the Space Station "day-after-day" as someone stated above.) Seasons 5,6 and 7, which deal with an escalated Dominion war, include some of the best action-based Star Trek space fights ever (even including the movie series!)

Here's my personal ratings of the individual Seasons of TNG, DS9, and VOY:

TNG - Season 1: 4.5/10
TNG - Season 2: 6.5/10
TNG - Season 3: 10/10
TNG - Season 4: 9.5/10
TNG - Season 5: 10/10
TNG - Season 6: 9.0/10
TNG - Season 7: 7.5/10

DS9 - Season 1: 7.5/10
DS9 - Season 2: 8.5/10
DS9 - Season 3: 9.0/10
DS9 - Season 4: 10/10
DS9 - Season 5: 10/10
DS9 - Season 6: 10/10
DS9 - Season 7: 9.0/10

VOY - Season 1: 6.5/10
VOY - Season 2: 6.0/10
VOY - Season 3: 6.5/10
VOY - Season 4: 6.0/10
VOY - Season 5: 7.5/10
VOY - Season 6: 7.5/10
VOY - Season 7: 7.5/10

 

[ScottRichard]

DS9 gets my vote as the best of all the trek series, and I never watched it until a few years ago. I loved TOS and TNG and had only seen a few episodes of DS9 when it was still on the air, and just never really got into it. Then Voyager came on and I really liked it at first, but then I could barely make it through Season 2--it just started to bore me. Then I decided to check out DS9 since I really had never given it a chance. I just finished the final season on DVD, and this series just blew me away!! Aside from the main characters, the very large cast of secondary characters were just amazing. I also completely agree with the above poster about the cardassians being the greatest trek aliens--so many shades of gray. I think DS9 did so much more than the other trek series in fully developing the klingons and especially the ferengi. As I've said, I love TNG too, but I see it as more of an adventure series, and I really didn't feel like very many of the characters were much different at the end of the series than they were at the beginning. I did start watching Voyager again around the time 7 of 9 came aboard and watched it until the end. It was okay, but I really haven't had the inclination to watch it again.

 

[Yee-Ming]

I'm still only on S3 of DS9, and so far it's not bad, but not stellar. But I have the really good stuff to look forward to, yes?

Voyager. Hmmm. I watched a few eps of S1 when it first aired her, gave up, and tried again when they'd reached S5. Much better, but as others have observed it did turn into the 7of9/Doctor show. When the run ended they restarted from the beginning, and since by now I was familiar with the characters it was easier to watch the rubbish being served up in the first two seasons. Save for the Seska arc, I'd imagine that you can watch just the pilot, Caretaker, to get familiar with the setup, maybe the next one or two after that, then jump straight to S3.

What is it about latter-day ST and the first two seasons? ST:TNG was pretty poor in the first 2 seasons as well, especially S2 (but that was no doubt affected by the writers' strike), and DS9 was also somewhat uneven, some good stuff (e.g. Wire as aforementioned), but some pretty forgettable stuff too.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Ira Steven Behr (DS9's head writer) once expressed his fear that his epitaph will read "He really made the Ferengi work." I think he will be remembered for much more than that.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

DS9. It's just better, full stop. Most of the time with Voyager, I would get halfway through the story and just not care about how the story would resolve itself. DS9 had good stories, interesting characters, and excellent acting.

The first couple of seasons of DS9 are not great, but it develops into (in my view) the best of the Trek-universe series.

That's some pretty high ratings for Voyager. I would probably drop a point or two.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I would agree Voyager improved a lot in its later seasons, largely because the focus shifting from the cardboard characters to Seven and the doctor, who had some depth. THe finale still sucked, though.

 

[Kai Zas]

Jadzia and Worf... way better than Troi and Worf.

(Has nothing to do with Voyager, but I had to say it.)

It has been said a couple of times here, but I'm just gonna chime in. DS-9 is superb on DVD. Quite an investment, but the sets realy shine together.

I'm not buying Voyager. Way too expensive for what it's worth.

 

[PhilipG]

Militaristic?
Fascistic?

 

[Rob Gardiner]

I understand there was a VOYAGER episode that portrayed the Cardassians as one-dimensional fascist archetypes.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

What I was trying to convey there was that,IMO, Voyager didn't have a single season as bad as TNG's first season; but in their best years they just barely approached the quality of DS9s' worse year.

Voyager did have very nice production values; and, overall, I really enjoyed most of the crew. (Especially the holographic doctor and 7o9.) The series just never fully lived up to its enormous potential; and you have to point the finger firmly in the direction of the writers for that.

The show can still be enjoyed on many levels, though; it simply pales in comparison to most of TNG and almost all of DS9.

Or, to put it another way, DS9 was more than worth the $89.95/season that I paid when it initially arrived on DVD. I felt as though I got a very good return on my entertainment dollar investment for that series. Voyager is simply not worth that kind of dollar investment. However, at a $69.95/season price point, (and perhaps $49.95 for the 15 episode first season) I would be collecting it.

 

[Todd Hostettler]

I always saw them as Humanity's black sheep half-brother. Trek’s commentary on the “nature vs. nurture” debate.

They shared many of our best attributes but just grew up in a crappy environment. Kind of like us… if Hitler had won. well rounded, three dimensional thinkers with a deluded moral center.

And yes, definitely the most rounded of ST’s aliens. Except for maybe Morn.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Excellent example! It is a testament to the skill of DS9's writing staff that we learn more about Morn, a character with no dialogue, than we do about Harry Kim!!