An Ode to Star Trek: Deep Space 9
May. 20th, 2009 01:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunardreamed(Disclaimer: this was written late at night, when I tend to ramble and can't do proper proofreading, but I couldn't sleep until I got it out.)
The new Star Trek movie is, of course, all over my flist. My feelings about it are lukewarm. I haven't seen it, yet, so they may heat up, but now I'm kind of "meh". I'll see it, of course; I've seen everything produced in Star Trek, but I never was a big fan of TOS (liked the TOS movies, though, better than the TNG ones (go fig)), I thought that Enterprise was acceptable independently, but lacking as a prequel, and I generally think of prequels as unsatisfying.
This is about singing the praises of a series that I thought was vastly superior to the rest of the Star Trek series, and vastly under-appreciated (which is why it is my solemn duty to appreciate it).
From a storytelling point of view, DS9 was superior not only to the other series, but to most other TV shows. It had characters that were solid and real, who developed and evolved consistently and believably throughout the show. It had an underlying theme that held strong throughout its seven year run (trivia: TNG, DS9, and Voy all had seven year runs, planned ends, and had 26 episodes per season for all but one season each - no I don't know why that matters to me). The storyline for each season was able to be new, while building on the previous season, so that the whole series pulled together into a complete story. And finally, DS9 stayed solid through the end of its seventh year. By which I mean that it didn't drag on with tired stories, tired actors, and tired viewers wishing it had made a graceful end much earlier. The end was graceful - grim, hopeful, meaningful, and tragic, yes - but also timely, strong, and fulfilling. It bowed out at the top.
DS9 was one of the rare shows where the whole thing was good. I've liked the other Star Trek series, but in pieces, if that makes sense. There were things about each of them that were good, even consistently good, but there was enough that was lacking to make it so the whole thing was only average. When discussing the merits with my friend, he would say TNG was the best because you couldn't beat Captain Picard, but he couldn't name more awesomeness in the show. That was it. In DS9, it was kind of the reverse. There were bad parts - bad characters, bad episodes - I might even concede that it lacked awesomeness in the sense of a singular character or moments that I would cheer over. But when you put the whole show together, it was awesome. It wasn't a brief high of delight, it was a sustained satisfaction that survived after the credits rolled. Do you know what I mean? Most movies and shows are like that, awesome in the thrill of the moment and the immediate aftermath, but that level of delight doesn't hold out in the long run. You still like it years later, but the thrill is gone.
Maybe DS9 is more like those good movies and novels that you don't squee over. Your enjoyment is more introspective, calmer; even your love of it has more depth.
DS9 is one of the view shows that I won't read fanfiction for because it left me completely satisfied. (There are shows I don't read ff for because I don't care, but that's another post.) I've said that I read fanfiction for "mediocre" shows, by which I've meant that I was left wondering "what if" or "what was __ thinking" or wishing the writers had done this and what were they thinking.
With DS9, there was nothing left to tell. I don't mean that everything was answered or that there was no wondering what might have been. But sometimes you can tell too much. In reality, there are no neat endings, everything isn't tied up. As a story, when DS9 was done, it was done, for the viewer too. Of course the characters would have had lives beyond the end of the story, but the story was done, and it was time to leave it in peace.
The story was told in a way that I didn't care what other directions it could have gone. AUs are one of my favorite genres of fanfiction, and I didn't care about what might have been for DS9. What was was not only good, it was right, in the way only the original author can be right. Does that make sense to writers and readers out there? I mean, readers can wish a story went one way or another, but the story can only be "right" the way the author writes it. With TV shows, I've never felt that was true. They tend to make too many continuity errors, too many different writers jerking the story about, each season can be like a whole new series, too much corporate interest inhibiting the story. DS9 never felt that way for me.
I watched it after having been a fan of the movies, TNG, and Voy (Ent hadn't premiered yet and I hadn't gotten around to forcing myself to sit through the hammed up acting and dated special effects of TOS), so I didn't expect to enjoy DS9 as much as I did. I thought it would be like the other shows. I had fun with them, yes, I've got every episode and movie, but I've never loved them the way I loved DS9.
The new Star Trek movie is, of course, all over my flist. My feelings about it are lukewarm. I haven't seen it, yet, so they may heat up, but now I'm kind of "meh". I'll see it, of course; I've seen everything produced in Star Trek, but I never was a big fan of TOS (liked the TOS movies, though, better than the TNG ones (go fig)), I thought that Enterprise was acceptable independently, but lacking as a prequel, and I generally think of prequels as unsatisfying.
This is about singing the praises of a series that I thought was vastly superior to the rest of the Star Trek series, and vastly under-appreciated (which is why it is my solemn duty to appreciate it).
From a storytelling point of view, DS9 was superior not only to the other series, but to most other TV shows. It had characters that were solid and real, who developed and evolved consistently and believably throughout the show. It had an underlying theme that held strong throughout its seven year run (trivia: TNG, DS9, and Voy all had seven year runs, planned ends, and had 26 episodes per season for all but one season each - no I don't know why that matters to me). The storyline for each season was able to be new, while building on the previous season, so that the whole series pulled together into a complete story. And finally, DS9 stayed solid through the end of its seventh year. By which I mean that it didn't drag on with tired stories, tired actors, and tired viewers wishing it had made a graceful end much earlier. The end was graceful - grim, hopeful, meaningful, and tragic, yes - but also timely, strong, and fulfilling. It bowed out at the top.
DS9 was one of the rare shows where the whole thing was good. I've liked the other Star Trek series, but in pieces, if that makes sense. There were things about each of them that were good, even consistently good, but there was enough that was lacking to make it so the whole thing was only average. When discussing the merits with my friend, he would say TNG was the best because you couldn't beat Captain Picard, but he couldn't name more awesomeness in the show. That was it. In DS9, it was kind of the reverse. There were bad parts - bad characters, bad episodes - I might even concede that it lacked awesomeness in the sense of a singular character or moments that I would cheer over. But when you put the whole show together, it was awesome. It wasn't a brief high of delight, it was a sustained satisfaction that survived after the credits rolled. Do you know what I mean? Most movies and shows are like that, awesome in the thrill of the moment and the immediate aftermath, but that level of delight doesn't hold out in the long run. You still like it years later, but the thrill is gone.
Maybe DS9 is more like those good movies and novels that you don't squee over. Your enjoyment is more introspective, calmer; even your love of it has more depth.
DS9 is one of the view shows that I won't read fanfiction for because it left me completely satisfied. (There are shows I don't read ff for because I don't care, but that's another post.) I've said that I read fanfiction for "mediocre" shows, by which I've meant that I was left wondering "what if" or "what was __ thinking" or wishing the writers had done this and what were they thinking.
With DS9, there was nothing left to tell. I don't mean that everything was answered or that there was no wondering what might have been. But sometimes you can tell too much. In reality, there are no neat endings, everything isn't tied up. As a story, when DS9 was done, it was done, for the viewer too. Of course the characters would have had lives beyond the end of the story, but the story was done, and it was time to leave it in peace.
The story was told in a way that I didn't care what other directions it could have gone. AUs are one of my favorite genres of fanfiction, and I didn't care about what might have been for DS9. What was was not only good, it was right, in the way only the original author can be right. Does that make sense to writers and readers out there? I mean, readers can wish a story went one way or another, but the story can only be "right" the way the author writes it. With TV shows, I've never felt that was true. They tend to make too many continuity errors, too many different writers jerking the story about, each season can be like a whole new series, too much corporate interest inhibiting the story. DS9 never felt that way for me.
I watched it after having been a fan of the movies, TNG, and Voy (Ent hadn't premiered yet and I hadn't gotten around to forcing myself to sit through the hammed up acting and dated special effects of TOS), so I didn't expect to enjoy DS9 as much as I did. I thought it would be like the other shows. I had fun with them, yes, I've got every episode and movie, but I've never loved them the way I loved DS9.