I just finished DS9, and I'm sad to know that we'll never get anything like it again

Don’t feel bad. You can just do what the rest of us do and watch it over and over again for the rest of your life. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched DS9, TNG, VOY, and TOS. Even ENT and TAS. dozens and dozens. I even put on episodes when I go to sleep as background noise.

For ever and ever…

So you watch nothing else? Just TNG, DS9 and VOY take forever to rewatch!
- Oh, I watch plenty of other stuff. But when I have nothing to watch, I put those on.
I couldn't get into voyager for some reason

Well, there is a crowdfunded documentary (which I even funded years ago) whose name is based on the last episode of the show "What we left behind" and where you can see interviews with the cast and the original writers imagine what an eight season might have looked like.

It's nice and they remastered several scenes of the show in high definition, so it's worth a watch.

Then you can rewatch it over and over again. I'm doing my third rewatch right now. I have only rewatched TNG once and no other series is as amazing as DS9 to me (though I have rewatched several individual episodes across all series)

I know Andrew Robinson has written a novel about Garak, A stitch in time, which I understand is well regarded and Garak is such an interesting character that sooner or later I'll check it out.

We feel your loss, but you should celebrate because it was so well put together and it had a charm no other series really had.

A stitch in time is a great read. Andrew even narrates the audiobook if you like those.
- Yes, seconding the recommendation for A Stitch in Time and it’s wonderful to hear “Garak’s” voice again if you do the audiobook. I also really enjoyed the DS9 documentary!
@ConstipatedWatson @NullaFacies i love that documentary.

You can watch the original version, Babylon 5. That's pretty good too.

The original idea for the premise, quite certain. The original version is a bit of a stretch.
- There was a court case over this. The court found that it wasn’t true that DS9 was based on Stryczynski’s pitch.
  
  I was at a con in the early 90s shortly after DS9 had its first season. Rick Sternbach came out. He did an entire slide show of all the production design evidence they’d submitted to the court. They’d working on developing models for a space station for a show for a long time before. He had huge numbers of drawings. The big thing was the decision to switch from a Federation built mushroom shaped station to an alien design.
I finally suffered through the first 4 seasons of Babylon 5 this year. While there are good moments, the production values, writing, and acting are just not on a level with DS9. It felt like watching a big 3 network soap opera in space a lot of the time, with that same type of acting style. A couple of characters were great, but that's it. DS9 was just a better made show all around. Babylon 5 proves that you can have great ideas, but if the entire production situation doesn't come together in an equally high quality way, you aren't going to get an equally good result that will hold up over time the same way.

If you're looking for a great book about DS9 I cannot recommend A Different Trek by David K. Seitz highly enough.

Thank you!

It took some time to find its voice but when it did it became so amazing. You’re right there won’t ever be something like it. DS9 was sophisticated and nuanced.

Just compare it to modern Star Trek. In DS9 when the characters learn about Section 31 it’s a multi episode story and several characters almost go crazy from the realisation of what that actually means for the Federation.

In Discovery, everyone knows about Section 31. It’s a bunch of special ops badasses that interfere in sovereign societies’ politics and that’s A okay.

Deep Space Nine is the most idealistic Star Trek, even moreso then TNG. Don't get me wrong I love both, but for the characters of TNG utopian idealism is easy. DS9 on the other hand tests its characters ideals. Its about maintaining Utopia in the midst of overwhelming adversity. Its characters question their idealism, sometimes they even compromise it, but in the end they are not found wanting. Its aspirational AF especially for the times we are living in.

Unfortunately it seems like for some of the lesser creators in charge of modern Trek cough Kurtzman cough all they took away from DS9 is darkness and edge. They are cynical and don't really understand or appreciate the importance of idealism in Star Trek. They just saw Sloan as some kind of badass superspy and probably thought Bashir was lame and didn't understand his problem with Section 31. At least it seems like positive Idealism has been re-injected into Trek through SNW. We as a society need it now more then ever.

never get anything like it again

That isn't quite true until you've finished these four episodes of the pseudo-canon radioplay Alone Together where Garak and Bashir Quarantine from Space Covid.

DS9 is excellent TV. Battlestar Galactica is up there too. I had similar feelings when I finished the series. Voyager is also very good. If you like sci-fi, Stargate is also seriously good.

It’s sad to see what happened to Avery Brooks. He’s totally off the deep end. He wouldn’t (or couldn’t) appear on the DS9 reunion movie, What We Left Behind.

What happened to Avery? I can't seem to find on google
- He started saying some very weird things in the media, then stopped acting entirely and dropped off the map. Occasionally people would reach out to him to see how he’s doing and what he’s working on. Here is one interview William Shatner tried. It’s bizarre, but I can only find a small clip now. Avery kept answering in songs and riddles, as though mocking Shatner.
I fuckin love Stargate. I watched SG1 right after I finished DS9.
- The premise is so simple and endlessly flexible. They explore ALL the sci-fi tropes (some I’m sure they created). Great actors and characters. I always had a soft spot for Richard Dean Anderson.

Now watch what it was based on!

(Babylon5)

Hey, I just got here to mention B5, too.

Not ST, but this is how I felt with The Expanse. I haven't watched DS9 yet, but now may be a good time.

I'm still trying to motivate to watch the last season of The Expanse. I was blown away by the first 4 seasons, was a bit 'meh' about season 5, and now it's just sitting there waiting for me
- Go read the books! The show is ultimately unsatisfying as it doesn’t cover the last arc of the story, but the last season was good
You really need to give the first season or two some lenience. Don't skip it. Just recognize that as others have said it takes awhile to find its voice, and IMO for some of the actors to grow into their characters.

Just like Riker, you need to be patient until Sisko grows his beard.

There’s a quite long series of novels that follows on from DS9, starting with Avatar books one and two.

Later they intertwine with Next Gen, Voyager, and (briefly) Enterprise continuation novels too.

But that series was wrapped up a couple of years ago after Picard started, because the TV series contradicted the novels, and the publishers wanted to get back into sync.

I really enjoyed following along with the continued adventures of the ds9 crew.

There is a series of DS9 books from one of the shows writers but it isn't canon and is contradicted by more recent content.

Nothing a good rewatch can't fix

cool pic OP but why tf was Ezri included over Jadzia??

Assuming it's official material, contract issues. When Terry left the show, they no longer had likeness rights for her. Hence no Jadzia, not even in the flashbacks in the final ep. The studio either wasn't willing or just couldn't afford what she was asking. This is all hearsay but I trust the source (greatest gen podcast).
- Based on a reverse image search, it seems to be regional cover art for the finale episode. As you say, Jadzia was out by then, so Ezri makes sense.
  
  As for the original question, it still seems an imperfect choice for the main image of a thread about the series as a whole.

where's og dax

That would be the worm. I'm assuming you mean jadzia. Pedantry mode off.

For me it takes about 7 years and I can hardly remember anything and can watch it again.

Try the Orville. It's a bit more humorous but VERY much in the star trek spirit, more than modern Trek does anyway

Kind of funny info: The Orville is what got me into Star Trek; back in 2017, I was very eager as a Seth MacFarlane fan for the new show. After the season 3 delay (Covid-19, Fox 'cancelling it' and moving it to Hulu, etc., while waiting, I started watching Star Trek, starting with TOS and then TNG and this year, DS9.

There are Orville comics that are canon, and a book written by Seth MacFarlane that is also canon :)
- I feel like Seth MacFarlane would totally approve of this. The Orville was basically a love letter to 90's trek so I think it's really cool people have used it as a entry way into Trek.

I just finished it last week! I've been struggling through all the other shows and can't get into it like I did ds9.. so I started rewatching it last night and let me tell you... it's better the second time around!!

I agree that the second time around is great.

It's my favorite series. Gun to my head, I'll take it over TNG, but barely. Diverse cast of characters, great stories. Even when the dominion war came along we still got plenty of monster of the week episodes. And of course, DS9 had something no others series can come close to: Garak.

I need to watch DS9 again...

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Give it some years and there will be an endless stream of generated content.

Also, reality is starting to imitate fantasy. Current conflicts promise to become as entertaining, albeit with less compassion and hope. But that could be cause to help reality become like it (again).