Greentext

Yes. Start with TNG, it establishes that era of Trek. DS9 is very much a spin-off.

I watched it this year for the first time. Got a bit slow at points but I enjoyed it.

For context I much preferred Babylon 5 back in the day as it had big story arcs.

It’s difficult for me to answer in an unbiased way because I grew up watching the shows during their original run and I generally watch one or two of the series runs each year. I watched TOS earlier this year and am presently part way through VOY. Did TNG last Christmas, might do DS9 this Christmas. I’ve got history with these here shows.

It might be better to watch TNG first to see what Roddenberry was going for and see how he set the Star Trek “rules” so to speak before you see how they were broken in DS9 as that might have more impact. TNG might seem a little quaint after watching DS9.

As for Voyager… VOY is effectively an alt-TNG and not really distinguishable but also not offensive if you throw out the space salamanders and similarly horrid episodes. VOY started with the premise of being a series about a ship on its own trying to get home and having to deal with limited resources and always scrambling for fuel and water or whatever, but that sense of desperation lasted about 3 episodes before it reverted to TNG Part 2. It could have really been something but they didn’t have the guts to push any boundaries. Battlestar Galactica 2004 feels like that concept done correctly before it kind of went off the rails when they forgot what show they started with, but I digress.

I think you’d appreciate DS9 more by letting TNG set the stage. DS9 also primarily occurs chronologically after TNG for the most part, with some overlap in the early seasons, although that barely makes a difference in the narrative. Watch TNG for the vision, watch DS9 for the vision rearranged, and bear in mind that these are 30 year old shows before CGI was common place. There will be some racism and sexism in the early TNG episodes and the VFX will be spotty, but these are classics for a reason.

Great times!

Introducing my daughter to Trek this year, just wrapped up S4 of DS9 a few weeks ago and S3 of Voyager the week after.

We have a few more months of golden age Trek... soaking it in.

Turns out I have been hallucinating when Nog is listening to Vince Fontaine and sharing a room with Jake.

This whole time I remembered that as a Wesley episode.

Honorable mention to Tarkalean tea

What about my comment implied I didn't realize that? Anyways, Raktajino was also consumed a lot on Voyager. Its strange that Quark focused on Root Beer in light of all the other stuff people drink, other than, hey, this is the only carbonated thing they drink that's not caffinated or alcoholic ... but that wouldn't be true either?

He did say "Starfleet" drink a lot of it, not "humans", so maybe it is just that pupular with Vulcans, Andorians, Tellerites, etc.

I'm still smarting from the betrayal that is Diet Barq's

I liked them the same, but I could name more episodes that I enjoyed and Voyager than DS9

Mark Alaimo doesn't get enough credit for being a solid anchor for the series.

Dude has chops.

It's not TIFF. This isn't NASA imagery. PNGs do alright on compression for photos.

(at least I hope NASA hasn't captured images of Quark)