The DS9 marathon on SpikeTV is currently in its third day and will continue until Friday. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed watching these episodes the first time around. This is definitely the best of all StarTrek -- especially in the first three seasons, which comprise most of the marathon.
Each episode is a well-written, self-contained morality play within a gradual exposition of moral mysticism. DS9 isn't on the Gene Wolfe level; but it strikes me as sharing some common elements with Wolfe fiction. Although DS9 contains the gobbledegook science of the rest of the StarTrek family, that stuff doesn't take center stage -- the way it does in other ST series'. DS9 is all about life histories and moral choices of its characters -- who are decently and consistently well-acted. I think the stories are closer to stage drama than to TV action drama.
I pronounce this to be good, classic science fiction (or science fantasy, if you will).
DS9 was, and still is, my favorite Trek -- less nostalgia value than the original, of course; it couldn't be otherwise -- but far and away the best writing, best plotting, deepest characterization, richest stories, most meaningful stories, overall, of any Trek. And increasingly so as it went on (like pretty much all sf series, the first season or two are the weakest).
I miss not having cable tv these days, so can't see the reruns, but sooner or later.
(See, it's not hard to take a few seconds to make a comment. ;-))
The non-anonymous Gary Farber (Of course, this is one of many things I hate about LiveJournal; it's all about pointing people inwards instead of outwards; in this case, I can't post my own name, even; would it kill them to allow that? Yes, because it goes against what they're trying to do, which is, essentially, capture people.)
I miss not having cable tv these days, so can't see the reruns, but sooner or later.
(See, it's not hard to take a few seconds to make a comment. ;-))
The non-anonymous Gary Farber (Of course, this is one of many things I hate about LiveJournal; it's all about pointing people inwards instead of outwards; in this case, I can't post my own name, even; would it kill them to allow that? Yes, because it goes against what they're trying to do, which is, essentially, capture people.)