In contrast to TNG, DS9 had a pretty good year. They managed to avoid ‘awful’ entirely, and only three ‘bad’ episodes (*Melora*’, *Rules of Acquisition* and *Profit and Loss* – two out of three Ferengi heavy too). The other side of the spectrum was even better, with 9 good or very good, and 7 excellent (*Necessary Evil*, *Crossover*, *The Jem’Hadar*, *Cardassians*, *Whispers* and *The Wire*). Even TNG Season 6 only managed the same number at the top of the scale.
By now DS9 has established itself very clearly, and is starting to head in a new and interesting direction. There’s been a lot of serial story telling this year, and personally I find that a lot more engaging than monster of the week.
The main weakness has been a few areas of the ensemble that just aren’t working – mainly Quark (with a couple of exceptions), Nog and Jake. Everyone else has had at least one ‘out of the park’ episode (well, probably not Dax).
Overall this is a very, very good season of TV. I think it’s not quite up to TNG Season 6, but there isn’t anything else that has been as good.
So that takes the leaderboard to:
– TNG Season 6
– DS9 Season 2
– TNG Season 3
– TNG Season 5
– TOS Season 2
– TNG Season 4
– TOS Season 1
– DS9 Season 1
– TNG Season 7
– TNG Season 2
– TAS Season 1
– TOS Season 3
– TAS Season 2
– TNG Season 1
That’s 332 watched, 14,858 minutes down, 45.57% complete. 52,982 words written. 405 to go. Next, DS9 Season 3, the start of Voyager, and a movie.