Important Poll: B5 vs DS9

[Guynemer]

-Jrabbit, you're just... wrong, regarding DS9. And B5, by the way; Lost is clearly our last, best hope for televised science fiction.

[-Jrabbit]

DS9 had one-dimensional characters and very uneven writing. They gave the best actor in the cast (Auberjenois) a character with, literally, no personality. The Ferengi were fun and well imagined, but the series never really developed the cross-cultural promise of the space station setting -- something that Bab5 did routinely and, for the most part, quite well. And it took them forever to realize that they had to get off the space station to create some action-based stories. Frankly, it felt desperate and forced.

I was a huge fan of the original Star Trek (yes, I'm that old) and NextGen (best of the bunch). I wanted to love DS9, but they just bored me to tears.

Bab5 was a new universe, with depth of relationships between people AND cultures, a nice mix of storytelling and action, notably better writing and acting (well, except Sheridan), and continuity of multiple story lines across seasons. When you consider that both series were based on a space station concept, it's really not close. Bab5 FTW.

Oh, and I'll take Galactica over Lost.

[Zoid]

Claim is invalid without pics and/or links.

Google it. The truth is out there...

[Straybow]

Her name was "7 of 9," not "5, 9"

5 was better.

[Lord Avalon]

TOS > DS9 > TNG

I found TNG rather boring at the start. I missed the friction between the characters in TOS, and the conflict/battles with aliens. In TNG they talked their way out of problems. They needed the frakking counselor to tell them the aliens were pissed off. Duh! All that talk might be good IRL, but it makes for lousy TV, IMO. I want action! Raise shields and arm the frakking phasers!

There were too many episodes with Q, and too many episodes contemplating their navels on the frakking holodeck.

That said, the later Borg episodes were good. But where was that all the years before?!

[BeBMan]

DS 9 > TNG > TOS. Fact!

[EPW]

There are a lot of sha(i)tty episodes in TNG and TOS. TOS is extremely sexist( --- ) and annoyingly religious (--) in 2nd season. TNG has Wesley Crusher( --- ) and Counsler Troi ( -- ). However, TOS does have Spock (+++++) and McCoy(++), and TNG has Data (+++) and Worf(++) . Kirk and Picard both have their merits, but I'll give Kirk a (+) edge over Picard for general awesomeness. TNG gets a bonus (++) for more good episodes than bad ones, while TOS gets a (++) bonus for being humorous. TOS has better movies (+++) and tribbles (+), TNG has the Borg (++). Thus, TNG > TOS.

Overall: BSG>>B5>DS9>>TNG>TOS>>>>>>>>>>>>>Voy>Ent >>>>British Crap

[BeBMan]

Ent is clearly >> Voy

BSG

Never watched Firefly...how does it fit in here?

[EPW]

Firefly only has one season, big deduction

BSG>>B5>DS9>FF>TNG>TOS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Voy>Ent >>>>British Crap

[rah]

Odo may have been ok, but it's kinda hard to tell given that he only had one emotion in 7 years.

classic. I think they continued the tradition on Boston Legal.

[DrSpike]

Both great shows. I thought B5 had a more rounded portrayal of the future, with drug problems and homeless people etc. The races were pretty believable too, with good and bad sides in nearly all cases (even the Minbari could be included because they are pretty closed-minded). DS9 did this better than the other trek shows but not as well as B5 in my view.

However, I think this thread is coming down a little too much on the B5 side. Arguably, at it's best (Shadow war, season 3 and start of 4) B5 was better than DS9, but it was noticeably less polished than DS9, with the story lurching around a lot over the last one and a half seasons, and taking a while to get going. It's a real mixed bag, with two almost standalone seasons and three great seasons in between.

Seasons 4-7 (the darkest and most real) DS9 are as good as B5 overall I think, because of the consistent quality of the episodes and the strong story arc around the dominion war.

[PLATO]

B5 hands down.

This thread should have ended after this post...the final and definitive answer to the question asked.

As your bro would say, rah....

CASE CLOSED!

[rah]

The current score of 14 to 3 kind of sums it up.

The main problem is I think most people gave up on DS9 prior to season 4.

[EPW]

Both great shows. I thought B5 had a more rounded portrayal of the future, with drug problems and homeless people etc. The races were pretty believable too, with good and bad sides in nearly all cases (even the Minbari could be included because they are pretty closed-minded). DS9 did this better than the other trek shows but not as well as B5 in my view.

However, I think this thread is coming down a little too much on the B5 side. Arguably, at it's best (Shadow war, season 3 and start of 4) B5 was better than DS9, but it was noticeably less polished than DS9, with the story lurching around a lot over the last one and a half seasons, and taking a while to get going. It's a real mixed bag, with two almost standalone seasons and three great seasons in between.

Seasons 4-7 (the darkest and most real) DS9 are as good as B5 overall I think, because of the consistent quality of the episodes and the strong story arc around the dominion war.

I liked season 1 of B5 alot. Sure it was more episodic than 2-5 but thats what is needed to get to know the races and the characters before the action begins. Season 1-3 of DS9, while the episodes were decent, didn't go anywhere. And even seasons 4-6 were mostly standalone episodes. Really, it wasn't till halfway through season 7 that you had a true serial style.

[rah]

Season 1-3 of DS9, while the episodes were decent, didn't go anywhere.

Yep that sums it up and describes why I gave up on it around the end of season 3.