DS9 - Thoughts on season 7
Jan. 14th, 2007 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thalia_seawoodWhen DS9 was first aired, I used to watch the show on a regular basis. Since many episodes were already released in English, before there were on TV, I even bought a lot of tapes. (Oh my, 10 years ago, the price for a video tape with only 2 episodes was quite high.)
To cut a long story short: I loved that show. My love, however, fizzled out around season 6 since I just didn't care for how some characters were developed. (I was so unhappy with the treatment Dukat got or that Jadzia was chronically underused as a character.)
Anyway, my husband got me the complete DS9 DVD box and I watched a couple of season 7 episodes today.
Now the show isn't bad. There are still interesting story lines. However, there are some things that just rub me the wrong way.
What offends me the most is the attitude that overall the officer of DS9 know better and are smarter than the aliens, that their moral decisions are the rights ones and usually they are also stronger/the better fighters.
As far as I remember this attitude wasn't that strong in the earlier seasons, but in season 7 I find it very obvious.
One example for me is Kira going to Cardassia with Damar and Garak to help the Cardassians to be successful resistance fighters. First of all, wouldn't the Cardassians be able to figure this out by themselves?? We're always told that they are smart and pragmatic, but here Kira gives them some basic advice that seems to be a huge revelation to them.
Then there's this scene where Damar, Garak and Kira are stuck in the cellar of Tain's house. Damar and Garak are just resigned to their fate and it's Kira who tells them to do something. I mean how likely is that? Garak is a schemer by nature! He would scheme!
And don't get me started on the scene where Kira beats up a Cardassian soldier without any effort. Yep, she's a good fighter, but she's consistently a better fighter than trained Cardassian soldiers twice her size - I just want her to not win so easily every single time.
I also don't like Sisko. I'm usually the kind of fan who brings an open heart to all the characters. Those characters that I don't love, I appreciate. Well, Sisko... I just want to kick him. He is such a righteous character that I find him extremely annoying.
And the scene where Cassidy tells him she's pregnant and that she's worried about losing him. And Sisko tells her that he's the Emissary and that nothing bad can happen without him knowing about it. Gah! It's just so vain and overconfident.
(There's one Sisko episode I love and that's "In the Pale Moonlight", because here he has to face that he's not so perfect after all. Too bad he goes back to his self-righteousness again pretty quickly.)
I don't know. I think I'm mostly disappointed because DS9 doesn't realise it's potential in the end. I always feel cheated when minor characters aren't treated consistently. Garak is one of my favorite, unfortunately, the writers have a hard time handling him sometimes. It's my comfort that he also gets some of the best written episodes. :-)
To cut a long story short: I loved that show. My love, however, fizzled out around season 6 since I just didn't care for how some characters were developed. (I was so unhappy with the treatment Dukat got or that Jadzia was chronically underused as a character.)
Anyway, my husband got me the complete DS9 DVD box and I watched a couple of season 7 episodes today.
Now the show isn't bad. There are still interesting story lines. However, there are some things that just rub me the wrong way.
What offends me the most is the attitude that overall the officer of DS9 know better and are smarter than the aliens, that their moral decisions are the rights ones and usually they are also stronger/the better fighters.
As far as I remember this attitude wasn't that strong in the earlier seasons, but in season 7 I find it very obvious.
One example for me is Kira going to Cardassia with Damar and Garak to help the Cardassians to be successful resistance fighters. First of all, wouldn't the Cardassians be able to figure this out by themselves?? We're always told that they are smart and pragmatic, but here Kira gives them some basic advice that seems to be a huge revelation to them.
Then there's this scene where Damar, Garak and Kira are stuck in the cellar of Tain's house. Damar and Garak are just resigned to their fate and it's Kira who tells them to do something. I mean how likely is that? Garak is a schemer by nature! He would scheme!
And don't get me started on the scene where Kira beats up a Cardassian soldier without any effort. Yep, she's a good fighter, but she's consistently a better fighter than trained Cardassian soldiers twice her size - I just want her to not win so easily every single time.
I also don't like Sisko. I'm usually the kind of fan who brings an open heart to all the characters. Those characters that I don't love, I appreciate. Well, Sisko... I just want to kick him. He is such a righteous character that I find him extremely annoying.
And the scene where Cassidy tells him she's pregnant and that she's worried about losing him. And Sisko tells her that he's the Emissary and that nothing bad can happen without him knowing about it. Gah! It's just so vain and overconfident.
(There's one Sisko episode I love and that's "In the Pale Moonlight", because here he has to face that he's not so perfect after all. Too bad he goes back to his self-righteousness again pretty quickly.)
I don't know. I think I'm mostly disappointed because DS9 doesn't realise it's potential in the end. I always feel cheated when minor characters aren't treated consistently. Garak is one of my favorite, unfortunately, the writers have a hard time handling him sometimes. It's my comfort that he also gets some of the best written episodes. :-)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-26 08:15 pm (UTC)I liked TNG, but found the characters in DS9 to be more diverse and complex. In TNG, most characters are unfortunately very static plus everyone on Picard's crew is usually right/morally superior. I loved Picard though; regarding guest stars Q and Lwaxana Troi were my favorites - they always stirred up things very nicely.
IMO, TNG also got better and better with each season whereas DS9 had its highlights earlier and then lost a lot of its charm. But that's my personal opinion and I'm sure other people feel differently.