Has DS9's Perception Changed After 19 Years?

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine debuted on January 3, 1993, and it immediately polarized the fan base. It was so dark and so different in every way from either the original Star Trek or Star Trek: The Next Generation that many fans tuned in or tuned out, and loved it or hated it… immediately.

A show that unfolded on a space station at the edge of a wormhole, with precious few starships, barely any beaming up and down, and next to no space battles? A main crew that didn’t get along and boldly went… nowhere, and explored… nothing? A seemingly unending, diverse gallery of recurring pot-stirring characters? Stories about politics and discord and, later, a controversial and extended war arc? An African-American commanding officer? Grungy, claustrophobic sets?

This was most definitely not your parents’ Star Trek – and that was surely the goal of the show’s creators/executive producers, Rick Berman and the late Michael Piller, as well as Ira Steven Behr (who made an indelible mark as a writer, co-executive producer and showrunner). Nineteen years later, the debates still rage on: Was DS9 different just for different’s sake? Was it the best or the worst of the Star Trek spin-off shows?

So we put it to you:

What are your strongest memories, pro and/or con, of DS9?

Do you think Gene Roddenberry would have loved or loathed DS9? (Remember, Berman informed Roddenberry of his plans for DS9 shortly before Roddenberry’s death in 1991, and Roddenberry’s wife, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry gave her de facto blessing by appearing on the show as her TNG character, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.)

How has the perception of DS9 changed since the show premiered 19 years ago?