Mike and I just finished Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and intend to start watching Next Generation but I must say I'm feeling a little apprehensive. The more I read about ds9 the more it seems (according to well-respected trekkies/trekkors) it had the best developed over-arching storyline and "dark" themes out of any star trek series.
Although the finale didn't floor me, it has big shoes to fill and I fear that nextgen just won't live up to it's hype with it being just another space-exploration series without any inter-personal character conflicts between the intergalactic races. DS9 utilized various plots which developed along with the personalities and disposition of characters, who's interaction with each other had consequences and rewards which yielded evident growth in their personalities. This level of character development is often overlooked in television (and in as much of the other Star Trek series I've seen), character development may occur although it's often limited to the archetype the character is intended to fulfill. Rarely do we really see characters having to challenge their own ideologies which effect every decision they make onward. For example, although Worf himself serves to defy Klingon stereotypes but straddle the line between traitor and patriot to his people, he himself could easily fall into and self-induced stereotype by becoming simply a figure of shallow defiance. However, Worf's struggle to maintain the tradition of his race and his personal valor with his dedication to his lifes work is constantly challenged and in need of balance. Worf, although is a strong and headstrong character no doubt, is faced with having to re-define his moral obligations throughout the whole series, even to the very end.
One of the most appealing attributes of DS9 was it's use of real-life war strategies which develop throughout all seven seasons and beg for reflection on the concepts of war and what it does to societies, much like the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. There are practices used and challenges faced in DS9 which occur during war as we know it today. The brutality of wars image is not necessarily as jarring and unsettling as in Battlestar but it is apparent nonetheless. The fascist cruelty of the Cardassians who exhibit a more insidious and complex face of evil is far more layered and psychologically derivative of real life-evil (Hitler and the Fascist ideology) than many fictional villains.
Like any good sci-fi should, DS9 begs its viewer to reflect on dozens of questions concerning war, racism, sexism, capitalism, fascism and peace. It's an extremely well executed (not to mention highly entertaining) lens through which we engage ourselves with these more challenging concepts and complications of modern life. In the historical practices of other-worldly humanoids lie the embodiment of capitalism/sexism (the Feringi), religiously-driven oligarchy (the Bajorans), the people-fearing imperialist (the Dominion). In DS9 we delve into the relationships (sometimes pleasant, sometimes disastrous, always complex) and conflicts between these ideologies and upon that reflection there lies a potential framework for our capacity for tolerance and peace which, even in the 24th century, remain to be the only solution to these now-primitive but deeply complex problems that plague humanity.
