I'm glad you are giving it another try.

If you keep analyzing DS9 that deeply, you wont make it to the end, it's only going to get worse.

I'm up to season 4 myself. My library recently got the whole set. I can't believe its been 20 years.

I've always had the sneaking suspicion that the Ferengi were supposed to be Space Jews.

I nearly quit when it was revealed that only Federation officers have access to replicators, and thus, by extension, the benefits of a post-scarcity economy. That pretty much confirmed my suspicion that the Federation is, in fact, a hellish Communist dystopia which duckspeaks paeans to progress and liberation, while all wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of the ruling Party elite (in the Federation's case: the military-industrial juggernaut, Starfleet itself.) At least when Starship Troopers gave us a fascist space empire, it didn't try and hide the nature of the beast under a feel-good sheen of hippie rhetoric.

Still, it's a good show, it's well written, and there's some real drama and tension in some of these episodes. Like the Maquis intro; I am still unwilling to cut the Federation any slack for it's conduct towards the Maquis, but I can at least appreciate Sisko's role now.

Wait until you get to ancient Bajoran warp flight assonauts, and start questioning why Cardassian borders are so unintuitive (and completely unguarded) in relation to their homeworld for absolutely no reason.

Oh, I'm looking forward to it!

Also, in the Mirror Universe, since it was established that Prime Universe travelers like Kira and Bashir were to be killed on sight, why didn't anyone, you know, try to kill them? At first I thought Kira and Bashir's identity was going to be Mirror Kira's secret - she is the only one who "knows the truth" and blah blah blah you better play ball Prime Universe Kira or else. But then, like, two minutes later, Mirror Kira's flaunting Prime Kira all around the station. And Bashir goes to the FUCKING PROMENADE and starts running his mouth off about his identity to anyone who'll listen! Nobody even bats an eye! I kept expecting a Klingon, a Cardie, or hell even Mirror O'Brien, to up and kill one of them, but no. Nothing. Nobody gave a shit, despite the fact that Mirror Kira had quite clearly established for us that it was a Mirror's solemn duty to kill any Prime they came across.


And why didn't Mirror Sisko have a goatee?!

And I like how they didn't even bother to try rescuing Mirror Quark, despite the fact that he was the most heroic person on the station. Ties back in to the racist point above!

Best Star Trek ever, pretty much. The vast majority of the series is good. The last season has some uh, creativity. I tried to get my lady friend to watch it all, and we did until about three episodes into season seven. I still love it, though. And it only gets more awesome from season three.

Bashir's secret backstory is going to make you angry for a billion reasons.

Twitch, i assume by more awesome you mean that Ronald Moore started taking better notes from Babylon 5 (and maybe stole a script or two)

As far as "Space Jews" go, there are a couple contenders, depending on what you're looking for. Ferengi fit the greedy stereotype but that's it. On the other hand, Bajoran society looks an awful lot like Judaism, with even their own recent Holocaust.

The Ferengi are always written at least somewhat for laughs (and sometimes entirely for laughs), but they do get their licks in about humans and their unearned sense of superiority. Yeah, Ferengis may be greedy as all hell, but they don't have a history of nonstop warfare and genocide, and they aren't just a shower and a hot meal away from savagery. Humans may look down on Ferengi, but Ferengi pity humans.