Mike86

Just my opinion but Enterprise is way underrated by most Trek fans if you ask me. Personally I'd easily choose watching it over both Deep Space Nine and especially Voyager. I think it had a somewhat rocky start but grew into a decent series and if it had been allowed more seasons could have gotten even better. Let's not forget that it took a couple of seasons for The Next Generation to find its footings too.

actionjackson29

Don't tell Paramount but I'd pay full price for DS9, and I'd buy Voyager as a thank you.

hdnmickey

I also believe Enterprise is undrerrated. I'll take any of it over the bulk of the first two seasons of TNG and most of Voyager.

Tracer Bullet

You'd be surprised at how popular DS9 is now--it's been 20 years and so many people have discovered it on DVD and streaming. This is anecdotal, so take it for what it's worth, but people at cons go nuts for DS9. Word also is that DS9 streaming has been huge on Netflix.

As for the Trek powers-that-be... they're all gone. CBS Home Video is basically all that's left, and they WANT to do DS9 on Blu-ray.

Josh Z

I don't have specifics on that show, but it wouldn't surprise me. If a character stands in front of a window with a star field in the background, that was a green-screen shot. Many of the computer panels were green-screened in as well.

A couple of years ago, a VFX firm put a demo reel on YouTube that showed how surprisingly much green-screen work was done on shows you'd never expect, like Law & Order or Ugly Betty.

DaveyJoe

I'd actually buy DS9 before TNG if it was available.

hdnmickey

And I believe there was far more of those window and panels shots in the other ST franchises. I get they exist, but going on memory, I just don't think DS9 had as many as the others. What it did have was shots of Odo transforming, and later on, a lot of effects shots involving the Defiant ship. I don't even remember them showing the outside of the station as often as the other series showed the ships flying from here to there. The one exception I can think of was ships going through the worm hole, but even that wasn't in every episode.

Tracer Bullet

DS9 is 20 years old. All that green screen stuff is relatively new.

Mike86

I know Deep Space Nine has its fans, but I've always thought of it more as having a cult following like someone else mentioned. It seems like when it initially aired it wasn't very popular but after it went into syndication and DVD is when more fans cropped up. I guess I always thought it was somewhat boring myself and I didn't really care for many of the characters except when O'Brien and Worf were added but they were more TNG guys that seemed to be added to get some more fans to watch. The best stuff on the series was The Dominion War but it seemed like that didn't really pick up until later in the show's run.

Wolf359

I'm wondering how anyone could think DS9 didn't have a lot of effects.

The last three years in particular were almost nothing but effects shots of huge fleet battles.

hanshotfirst1138

There's a subset of Trekkies who're DS9 fans called "Niners," apparently. Wish B5 would have streaming popular resurgence too, but so it goes

hdnmickey

O'Brien was basically there form the start.

Personally I think the show being more serialized was way ahead of it's time. Probably would do much better now.

Jay G.

From the first episode of DS9. While I was watching the Season 6 BDs of TNG, I noticed that Miles just sort of vanishes mid season due to him starting up on DS9.

Mike86

I was mistaken then I guess. I thought he joined around the third season or so.

Josh Z

It was common on sci-fi shows like this by the time of DS9's later seasons. I've seen BTS footage of Babylon 5 made around the same time and there are green-screens everywhere.

Tracer Bullet

B5 pretty much pioneered that sort of thing, and it was borne out of necessity because they had fairly minimal standing sets. The technique was simply not used on DS9 to any great degree.

hanshotfirst1138

It's still finding its feet, but the second season of TNG, which I revisited recently, is actually pretty good.

Mike86

The first two seasons or so of TNG are the weakest but even at its worst it overall still was a good series.

hdnmickey

It was on DS9, not TNG, but I think there was an episode that covers his decision to leave the Enterprise in favor of DS9? The DS9 pilot?

hdnmickey

Seems like I have watched special features that covered the filming of many episodes and it looked like it was almost all based around practical sets of the station.

hdnmickey

For me, there are some good to great episodes in S1 and S2. But also too too many really bad ones. The Child, The Dauphin, and Manhunt just to name a few.

hanshotfirst1138

Season one was pretty bad for the most part, though it improved as it went along. "Arsenal of Freedom" is pretty solid, and there are some above average episodes like "Conspiracy," "The Neutral Zone," "Symbiosis," "Skin of Evil," and "Heart of Glory," which are all OK. Season two has a few weak spots, but shows a marked improvement. "The Measure of a Man" and "Q Who are among the series' very best, "The Emissary" is pretty damn good, and there are other good ones. "Peak Performance" is underrated, "Where Silence Has Lease" is alright, and "Elementary Dear Data" is pretty good. But it's once they got to season three and brought on Piller, Moore, and the rest that the show really soared.

Tracer Bullet

"Skin of Evil" is an abomination.

Really S1 isn't worth watching unless you're a huge Trekkie. Season 2 gets lumped in with season 1 but it's much better.

hdnmickey

Yes, that tar monster episode was terrible. Not only was the voice acting over the top ridiculous, it took out the only eye candy the crew had.

I do enjoy the other two Q episodes in S1. But the bulk of S1/S2 rarely ever make any top episode lists for anybody. I think that says a lot given it's 2/7 of the series.

davidh777

Yeah, I think the serialization plays better for binge-watching than weekly drop-in watching.