It seems to me, on a mystery show, you need to swap one mystery out for another. How much more interesting would it have been if, instead of introducing the bland and forgettable Windom Earle, finding the Black Lodge was  part of the Laura Palmer investigation? When Cooper finds it we have this sequence, but also with…

Oh nutty guys. You kill me. :)

If you say so, Newt.

No, there are all kinds of things I like that are not TNG. I don't like it because it's not very good.

Yeah, but you lose your crying foul privileges.

I think the first season is probably the best. They were just trying to be TNG on a station. Milque toast, but harmless and mildly competent. We all (by that I mean I and the people I knew back then) knew it was dullsville at the time but be watched it anyway and were entertained. Hey, look! It's Q and Vash and…

The Cage comparison is certainly interesting. Never thought of it before. But it's true - they both have super illusion aliens calling up troubled pasts in order to heal the wounded hero. The only difference is the B plot and there's no reluctant damsel in distress.

Wow, look who's being snide now.

And just like in 1993 DS9 gets a ride off of the popularity that TNG already built up. Lets see if that viewership drops off at the same rate too.

I'm not a B5 fan, per se. I've seen it once in the original run. I do agree the acting was pretty terrible in B5 with the exception of J'Kar and Mulari. But I wasn't complaining about the DS9 acting (except Brooks), I was complaining about the characters. They play the bad roles they're given just fine.

I couldn't find that. But I did find out she's a "Kitchen Witch" now. She cooks about as well as she acts. http://www.youtube.com/watc…

I don't know. I don't remember it very well. I do remember I didn't care much for B5 until mid season two. B5 is also the only show I can think of with a really strong prequel (In the Beginning).

But Captain, I… uh… I don't want an ale… oh… ok.

My favorite part of The 4400 was how people kept saying "The forty-four hundred" over and over and over again. Did that show get an ending?

If I recall, though, none of the Picard/Borg stuff ever really came up again. This would have been a cool guest star on TNG so we could see not everyone likes the Picard, but as the main focal trait of a new character on a 7 year long show it's a lot of wasted time.

He's pissy about his Terrible Secret™. I don't want to say what it is, but I'm sure you know what I mean. And I know he hated the way his character evolved on the show.

Have you ever seen B5, Zack? It's not a great show, but it's good and it's interesting to compare to DS9. In fact it would be difficult to critically watch DS9 without having seen B5 as well just for context.

I'll never forget the one where Worf starts protesting Risa or the one where Vedik Berial gets his brains removed. I mean, there was a lot of forgettable stuff, but when it was bad it burned into the mind.

You and I have a similar experience. I know a lot of Trek fans in meat space - including Bay Area member of TrekBBS -  and they either have never seen the show or really hate it. Another friend of mine was watching it on Netflix for the first time and gave up at season four because he just lost interest. I still just…

DS9's pilot is probably the best Trek pilot, but comparing something to Encounter at Farpoint, Broken Bow, and Caretaker is hardly a challenge. There are a lot of problems in the pilot that won't change much. Dax will always be kind of bland and her "old man" talk will never really seem credible. Keira will always be…