Beware S3 E8: “Meridian”–put me off DS9 for like 6 months.
Yes, I totally agree. But the ST:Original Series, (or Kirk Trek as I’m now calling it) had the best series finale ever! Kirk swaps consciousness with a bitchy woman. Awesome stuff. It really tied all the series plot threads together.
What?
To be fair to Kirk Trek, when they made their season 3 finale, they probably didn’t know for sure if they were gonna get canceled or not and probably hoped they were not. Besides, Kirk Trek didn’t have any series plots.
That is true. Back then I think it was pretty rare to have any plot in any TV series that span from one episode to the next. Episodic style was the rule of the day. Can you imagine going back in time to say 1967 and putting on a show like BSG, Heroes, the Sapranos or anything like that on TV?
I can very well imagine that: way more miniskirts! 1967 FTW!
Yeah, but 1967 Heroes would have to star Hayden Panettiere in random collection of cells form. Way less watchable.
Not to seem like I only like RDM stuff 
but I did pick DS9 (as did most people I see). TNG is a close second and at some point I would have put TNG over it, but looking back… DS9 had stronger pluses with the longer arcs, a higher level of difficulty (the station doesn’t go anywhere, no Rodenberry at the helm, a darker edge to rosey vision of the federation), The cast really grew on me, the visual effects really were nice tho you could tell they had to trim down for bidget overruns. Unlike the other serieseseses(sp?), DS9 felt the most epic. It was the rough kid on the block with something to prove.
The main reason I loved the show, DS9 had the most satisfying ending of any ST series and pretty much of most sci-shows. It had a nice wrap up and finality to it. We got some time with all the characters and their storylines paid off in a really nice way. It had it all. It was a warm goodbye, a tearful farewell, a climatic end, and a satisfying victory all in one. Booya.
Which is really sort of ironic, since there was so much less on TV back then. I can guarantee that most people watched things week by week without fail, so it wouldn’t have been too difficult to follow a story arc. I just wonder why they didn’t do such storylines in most shows, since serials were still popular in movie theaters and soap operas ruled daytime TV. Maybe men back then couldn’t handle the serialized format like kids and housewives could.
Y’know, I don’t know no why that is. Probably just a “We’ve never done it that way” thing. TV didn’t get episodic in primetime until around the time of DS-9.
Well, prior to that episodic TV were soap operas. Dallas, Falcon Crest, Dynasty type of shows. Didn’t really hit the geek demographic til B5 and DS9. Space: Above and Beyond tried and failed. It’s sorta the norm now with DVDs and such. With the soap opera format, it’s difficult to gauge good and bad episode since their part of an “arc”. Now instead of ‘that was a great episode’ it’s ‘I really liked the Dominion/Shadow War thread’.
From what I know, they got as much screwed by their network as Firefly, it’s certainly not the writers’ fault that like they tried to do an arc and couldn’t pull it off, certainly not.
I’m trying to remember who, but there is a guy who wrote a book analyzing the way story lines in popular culture have become more complex over time, and then concludes that it means that we are learning (as a group) to be more able to follow complex storylines. It’s the guy who was promoted as the video games make you smarter person…
… and I found him, he’s the author of Everything Bad is Good for You - Stephen Berlin Johnson.
Oh I don’t mean that the show was badly done. I meant what you said. The network dropped them. I thot the show was pretty good and really wished it
stayed around. I especially liked that the enemy was very alien and hidden from the audience. Made them more menacing.
It was the same network. If it’s not the Sci Fi Channel screwing over a sci-fi show, it’s got to be Fox. Millennium, Wonderfalls, Futurama, even The X-Files, in a way.
Speaking of X-Files, has anyone heard news about the upcoming film? Good? Bad? What’s the story? Is Mulder on some Reservation smoking the peace pipe with some medicine man? Does Scully still cut up bodies?
It’s really odd. I’ve seen nothing about this movie, online or on TV. I can’t help but think that that doesn’t bode well. 
I just saw the the tail end of the Trailer on T.V. Couldn’t really follow what was happening. I’m looking forward to the movie. I haven’t really been into X-files since it went off the air. Might be a good reason to go through the entire series.
I wasn’t a fan. I got interested before the last film came out and quizzed some X-files fan friends. They said it was all about the conspiracy and mystery. To me, I wondered about the intrigue and payoff. When I saw the film, I was like well that pretty much wraps it up. Then they continued to make episodes. I watched but really lost interest with the whole Scully pregnant and no Mulder.
I wonder what Carter has up his sleeve?
I was kind of dipping in and out of the final seasons after the movie as well. It did pretty much payoff most of the larger story arc. I too was not a fan of Mulderless X-Files.
It really was a cultural phenomenon. It started when I was in college. Friday nights, at a university that was always at or near the top of the list of party schools, and virtually no one I knew went out or did anything until after the show was over. It took precedence over beer. It was that good.
Then they continued to make episodes. I watched but really lost interest with the whole Scully pregnant and no Mulder.
That’s sort of what I meant about Fox screwing over the show. It was a huge cash cow, and they refused to let it go. So the story just kept stringing us along, resolving everything and then coming back with a whole new twist, until they basically drove it into the ground. Even the most loyal among us started jumping ship long before the show was actually over.
I wonder what Carter has up his sleeve?
I’m sure he wonders the same thing. :rolleyes:
It’s really a shame too, because some of the episodes in the last season were really pretty good. It’s just that they weren’t really The X-Files anymore, when the main characters were rarely-seen guest stars. They should have let it die when Duchovny got out, instead of putting on the grim puppet show they did in its place.