How Would You Recommend DS9 To A New Viewer?

Personally, I'm not sure that I WOULD recommend DS9 to a new veiwer. I love it, it's easily the best Trek IMO, but I think something would be lost without seeing some of the things that got their start on TNG there.

 

That's sort of why my wife decided to move onto TNG after watching DS9.... even though she already got through to season 2 in Voyager.

She said she wanted to see some of the background story of O'Brien and Worf, since she was familiar with those two characters.

 

My default is that series should always be watched in order first. If it's an episodic show like TOS or TNG, then skipping to the well-regarded episodes is not detreimental to the viewing experience. For something like DS9, B5, or even SG-1, it is better to experience the show in order because there is a beginning, middle, and end with early episodes setting things up for later.

In the case of DS9, "Emissary" should be enough to intrigue any eventual fan, and the early seasons offer so many great character moments and background elements that make the later seasons so much richer. Skipping to "The Jem'Hadar," "The Way of the Warrior," or even "Duet" gives those episodes less meaning and context.

 

I'm not sure. I tried that on TNG and found that it actually was detrimental - you watch the famous classics, then have little motivation to watch the other episodes. Better to watch in order and take the crap with the good stuff, I say!

Selling DS9 to a new viewer, I'd avoid over-emphasizing the Dominion War. Sure, it's good, but there's so much more to the show than that.

 

If you want I can be judgemental and snooty instead, as one of my high stature should be to others on this forum. For example, I could criticise you for using the word "hi" instead of "high".

Ironically, as someone that believes jumping in at the end of season 3 is the wrong way to do things... that's pretty much how I became a fan of the show.

I was young when DS9 started airing here, I would have been 7 or 8, and even though I was a fan of TNG I never set out to watch it, I'd only watch it if I saw it was on while flicking through the channels. When Emissary first aired it would have been on a Sunday night while I was at my grandmother's house and my uncle was watching it, and I remember certain things such as Sisko and Jadzia walking around in the wormhole. After that I remember seeing bits and pieces of other episodes from the first two seasons: Captive Pursuit, Dax, The Passenger, Move Along Home, The Nagus, Battle Lines, The Storyteller, Progress, Dramatis Personae, Melora, The Alternate, Armageddon Game, Whispers, Paradise and Crossover. I don't remember much and I didn't love DS9 at the time, I remember preferring TNG because it had a robot man. But DS9 was Star Trek, so I was a fan by default.

Meanwhile, my brother and sister started going to a Trek fan club that aired new episodes months before they aired on TV by bringing VHS tapes over from America, and they told me about an exciting new Trek series called Voyager. It sounded awesome, so I started to go with them, and I think the first episodes I saw at that club were Heart of Stone, Heroes and Demons and Faces. Yes, my introduction to the Dominion and the Changelings was through Heart of Stone. It's a miracle that I ever managed to see them as badasses. For some reason I missed out on a lot of season 3, the next episodes I remember seeing were Facets and The Adversary. I thought that they only got the Defiant in that episode and that's why Sisko was made a captain.

Then came the following week where they aired The Way of the Warrior and The Visitor. That made me into a Niner. After those episodes DS9 surpassed my love for TNG, and Voyager was never able to catch up. I still missed out on a number of episodes in seasons 4 & 5, and then the club seemed to break down. After that I watched from A Call to Arms right up to WYLB as it aired on TV without missing a single episode. (That got me into the habit of watching new Trek, so I watched seasons 4-7 of Voyager as well along with all of Enterprise.) I caught the rest of DS9 in reruns and the final bit that I saw was ironically in Emissary, the bit where O'Brien leaves the Enterprise, when I bought the DVDs.

What are the odds? Well, they're 30800:1, but that is a reasonably high number.

 

GB:

Hey, whatever makes you happy, my friend.
It's your universe, and I am not going to argue with that.

I know what I know and it works for me.
And let's just leave it at that.

 

That's not the way things are supposed to go. We're supposed to continue arguing over this pointless thing until it becomes a bitter, personal feud, then we we spread it across the board, into threads that have nothing to do with the subject. Then we start insulting each other until we get warned by the mods, but we keep it up until one or both of us is banned. Then we make a new account and come back to the board just to keep the feud going.

That's how this thing between Anwar and myself started, back when I was called V'GER SUX. I was referencing the probe from TMP, but he took it the wrong way and now we're blood enemies.

 

If you have never watched TNG, watch it first.

It would help to be a big Star Trek fan. I think DS9 was more loved by people who are Trekkies (or Trekkers, personally I like Trekkie), rather than casual fans.

The show must be watched in order. Although many are stand alone episodes, the series is in serial format.

Enjoy.