5. The Dominion War - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
In the original Star Trek series, creator Gene Roddenberry masterfully crafted a future humanity could hope for. No poverty, no hunger, no racism, and a healthy (for the most part) relationship with our intergalactic neighbours. When developing a spin-off from the original series set almost 80 years in the future, Roddenberry was adamant that those ideals remain in place for Star Trek: The Next Generation. "The Great Bird" held steadfast in his insistence that there be no space battles in his shows. It came as somewhat of a surprise to see the direction that the Next Generation spin-off Deep Space Nine was going at the end of its second season. War was coming in the form of The Dominion. For all intents and purposes, the Dominion is the Anti-Federation. Instead of being built on a foundation of cooperation and peaceful exchange of ideas, the Dominion is built on oppression, fear, and intolerance for non-conformity. During the 2 years of war between the Federation Alliance, the Dominion and its allies (the season 5 finale and the final two seasons) there were hundreds of millions of lives lost, planets devastated, and lots and lots of somber episodes: most of them were incredibly dark in tone. Dealing with the toll war takes on one's soul, losing family, friends, and colleagues. It was an epic conclusion to the most compelling Star Trek series of all-time.
