8. The First Two Seasons
Each of The Next Generation era shows had their growing pains. Deep Space Nine has its share of horrendous episodes during its first two seasons, as anyone who has seen
Move Along Home will attest to (having it be the last thing I ever saw was the only thing stopping me from plucking my eyes out). Still, the good episodes in those early days were often very good ... and hinted at the show Deep Space would become. Not everyone got the hint, though. While Next Gen and Voyager improved upon their early episodes, they never radically changed the established Star Trek formula. At the beginning of its run, DS9 held to that same formula - wacky spatial anomalies, the alien of the week, or the thinly veiled allegory about the latest social issue. Then, the
Dominion came. By the end of the third season, DS9 became an epic, serialized story about a galactic war that put the Federation's values to the test. Seasons four through seven almost felt like one, epic novel - even if it occasionally took a break for the wacky spatial anomaly (Season six's
Time's Orphan is another eye-plucker). I'm sure Trek fans who tuned out after Deep Space's early years were surprised, even confused by what it had become. Those fans probably didn't stick around for long.