One of the first divisive points is that this show is formulaically unlike what came before it, primarily in its veering away from being largely anthology. In all the other shows, it was common that whatever affected the ship or the crew one episode would have been swept under the rug and forgotten by the next. Each episode was self-contained, and the writers essentially hit a big reset button between each. Voyager is potentially most guilty of this. While all the shows did have returning or continuing stories between episodes sporadically, it was generally considered to be episodic. DS9 changed this, with a strong emphasis on continuity between episodes. The show took a long-term approach to story arcs, which still continued with the episodic feel.
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A lot of DS9 episodes were one-off stories, but they often continued on from one another, allowing for season-long stories to play out in the background. The show managed to juggle these well, but the issue came with fans of the show not enjoying the overall, often political background arc. They had grown accustomed to jump-in, jump-out episodes. Now faced with a show that required their full attention and didn’t let viewers miss an episode, some fans felt uncomfortable with the change. (This, of course, was a time before on-demand viewing TV binges.)
The next issue was that despite DS9 being made after TNG, there was a weird sense of datedness about the show. This is more of an issue with modern-day viewers who have grown accustomed to high-resolution viewing experiences, but still put off a lot of fans at the time. Looking back now, TNG still looks old, but there is a clean and crisp aesthetic about it, in part due to the heavy remastering it has undertaken over the years. It was shot on film, so improving the quality even years after first shooting is still possible. As long as the original film is still intact, it can continue to be remastered years after being produced. DS9 was not shot on film, and while it most likely looked better at the time, this method also resulted in an inability to remaster using traditional methods. It’s still possible, with various YouTube videos showing people digitally remastering scenes from the show into 4k (which look great). However, it’s still not common practice, as digital remastering is a fairly intensive process that’s only been made possible in recent years. This, in some sense, could be seen as a good thing. DS9 was always meant to be a dirtier, more realistic portrayal of the Federation, on the fringes of their space and often left to fall apart on their own, rather than being in the paradise of the Federations inner circle. It makes the grittier viewing experience feel more authentic, but still make it somewhat inaccessible to modern viewers.
While these two reasons are important, potentially the biggest diving factor for fans was the overall storyline. For many fans, things started rocky. Sisko is a great character (flaws and all) and a great opportunity of representation for the 90s. He was not afraid to show compassion and love to his son. However, there was a distinct lack of proper science fiction, and the relationships between the main characters felt forced. This criticism mostly came from people who had grown to love the friendships and camaraderie between the TNG crew. They found themselves with new faces, and expected to like them right off the bat.
Things got better, with some great episodes along the way. People really appreciated the fleshing out of the once annoying Ferengi race. Eventually, the show reached its prime. It featured fantastic episodes such as “Hard Time” where O’Brien hallucinated 20 long years in a prison, and the fantastic story arc of Nog, returning to the proper world of sci-fi at last. Things were good, but then with everything happening with the Dominion war things began to get very political and war-focused, something that felt very unusual for Star Trek. Viewership divided here. Some really loved the new, darker approach to the series. Others, who were looking for utopian escapism, lost interest.
In the end, the show was a mixed bag of various risky elements that people ever loved or hated. It prioritized continuity, which was great for those who enjoyed the long, slow-playing story arcs and narratives. But for anyone who didn’t, it was entirely inescapable. It took a while for anything to get going, and true lovers of traditional sci-fi found these moments in DS9 fleeting, as the show returned quickly to the political quagmire of war. Another big issue people had with was that until this point, Star Trek was all about exploration and discovering new worlds and civilizations. While this is a large part of the previous shows, it is arguably not what the Franchise is all about. Instead, it was all about telling futuristic allegorical stories to explore deep-rooted societal issues of today, something DS9 did masterfully. The show was both brilliant and terrible because it messed with the sacred formula of the franchise (and was responsible for one of the most tragic deaths in the history of science fiction). The much-needed change was potentially ahead of its time, and altered the franchise forever, but it upset those who loved Star Trek just the way it was.
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