The WiC rankings: Every single Star Trek show ranked worst to best

1. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 1993 – 1999

The question I always come back to with Deep Space Nine is “How did this get made?” Deep Space Nine goes against what many fans understood to be the spirit of Star Trek. It depicted a space station outside Federation space that was jointly administered by the Federation and the Bajorans, so half the main cast were not Starfleet and didn’t share Starfleet’s ideals. This must’ve scared some fans, who thought it was turning away from Star Trek’s utopian vision of the future. And if it scared the fans, it would’ve certainly scared the suits.

Previously, Starfleet and the Federation’s ideals usually shone through when Captains Kirk or Picard got to lecture the aliens of the week. But on Deep Space Nine, Starfleet and the Federation constantly butted heads with people who simply thought and acted differently. Star Trek is about hope for a more enlightened future, and seeing that enlightenment challenged made it all the more meaningful. I’d argue that DS9 doubled down on the philosophy that we love Star Trek for.

Another thing we love Star Trek for is the diversity. And I don’t just mean depicting different varieties of real-life human people (though it did that too), but tolerance and understanding for alien life, which can show us the way to tolerance and understanding for others in the real world. DS9 actually explored how alien species might live and think differently. DS9 let us into the minds of the Ferengi, Klingons, Bajorans, and Cardassians, and even had whole episodes taking place on those species’ homeworlds.

It’s often said that DS9 broke with tradition by having multi-episode arcs. This is true, but the vast majority of episodes were still one-and-done stories. For the most part, It wasn’t the plot arcs that unfolded over multiple episodes; it was the themes and underlying plot elements. Being on a space station and not having to shoot off to another strange new world every week meant that DS9 could give its themes and elements space to breathe. On DS9, stories unfolded in their own time. They were neither rushed nor unnecessarily dragged out, which makes it the number one most satisfying series to watch.

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