Deep Space Nine is very much just more Star Trek with a lot of the same things to love and the same drags. Getting the negative out of the way first, most episodes do not need the full hour time slot. Many episodes would feel more effective in a half hour time slot, and the show feels stretched to fill out the full hour. There is no better example of this padding than the intro sequence. It feels so long and all we get is a rotating image of Deep Space Nine.

Given the stationary setting of Deep Space Nine, the show mostly focuses on particular types of stories with the social and political dynamics of the Bajoran and Federation relationship and trade through the wormhole. There are a few away mission style missions mixed in as well, but we spend most of our time on Deep Space Nine. This mostly just shifts the format from the Enterprise going somewhere, to stuff coming to Deep Space Nine. The cast of characters is mostly good, Odo and Dax are standouts and both unique and very interesting characters with evolving backgrounds. Kira, Sisko, and Quark are all fairly standard characters that work well with the types of stories the show wants to tell (and of course it is nice to see O’Brien again). My least favorite character is Dr. Bashir, who is often annoying and not nearly as interesting as past doctors.

There are some standout episodes in the first season. “Dax” has a classic trial style episode that examines justice and existence in the context of a multi-lifespan species. “Progress” examines those left behind by industrialization. “If Wishes Were Horses” is a strange but delightful one where characters thoughts manifest and create a whole bunch of conflicts around the station. There are a bunch of episodes reflecting on religion, mostly focused on Bajoran and Federation dynamics that are mostly strong, including “In the Hands of the Prophets” as the standout. On the other hand, we do get an annoying Q episode with “Q-Less”, which is kinda as annoying as other Q episodes from past series. And it would not be Star Trek without some episodes that toe the lines into nonsense like “Move Along Home” with the board game made real. All in all I am looking forward to more Star Trek Deep Space Nine and working through the rest of the series.