In graduate school, there was one professor who would occasionally make leading references to science fiction characters and topics, inviting responses from the class. I (or my fellow-nerd Adam) would inevitably respond, fleshing out the partial reference, after which the professor would deftly pivot and claim “Of course, I don’t know anything about those sorts of shows.” We referred to this as the Geek Check.

Most of the professor’s soon-to-be-disavowed references were to Star Trek, a show that I actually never watched until my junior year of college. I didn’t find much worth watching in the original series (Sacrilege!) or the initial episodes of Next Generation, and in fact didn’t care much for Voyager or Enterprise, either. Rather, almost all of my affection for Star Trek stems from the Next Generation (particularly after they hit their stride in the third season) and the Best Trek Evarrr, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Like the Next Generation, DS9 didn’t really hit their stride until the third season. The early episodes after the pilot were particularly bad (among the worst of the entire show). In fact, I initially stopped watching the show partway through the first season, having given up on it at the end of episode 18. Which was too bad, because the subsequent episode (Duet) was the best of the first season and a harbinger of great things to come.

The initial critique of DS9 (which I was guilty of myself) was that by situating the show on a space station, it would become static and boring (as opposed to the wrinkled-forehead-of-the-week rotating alien show on TNG and the original series). I was also put off by the alleged pretensions of being a “grittier” trek and the heavy-handed allegory of the post-occupation first season. I didn’t give a damn about Bajor. I was actively bored by the thick-necked Cardassians. I wanted Avery Brooks to stop over-enunciating Ev Ry Lit Tle Thing He Said, and I wanted Nana Visitor to take some valium. Oy.

But then a funny thing began to happen. After I stopped watching, I kept hearing from my more-faithful geeky friends that the show was “getting better.” And as it turns out, it was. When I tuned back in, I found that the show was developing quite nicely, and with the exception of painful first-season throwbacks (“Meridian,” anyone?) the show was building tremendous momentum, particularly after the introduction of the Dominion at the end of the second season (but foreshadowed considerably before that).

Now, the Bajorans were interesting, the Cardassians became sympathetic, fascinating, horrifying, and noble, in turn, and the main cast began to grow into their roles... and actually grow beyond the caricatures of the first season (with the exception of Brooks, who actually succeeded in winning me over by over-acting even more. On-the-edge-of-crazy worked well for him, as did the bald/goatee combo, which signified his return to Hawk-ishness). But what really shocked me was how deep their bench turned out to be: Like no prior Trek, DS9 took minor characters and developed and developed and developed them. Characters like Nog, Dukat, Damar (!), and especially Garak ALL initially seemed inconsequential, and all had fascinating character development arcs.

Of course, great writing was the root of DS9’s success. It’s unsurprising that many of them have gone on to write for, or even run, some of my subsequent favorite shows (Particularly the new Battlestar Galactica). Ron Moore, in particular, really came into his own on the show, dazzling me with intricate multi-episode (multi-season, in fact) tales of political intrigue, betrayal, redemption, loss, and triumph. And it certainly helped that CGI had advanced to such a degree that the special effects on the show were leaps and bounds ahead of any prior sci fi show (and many movies, for that matter).

If you’re interested in starting to watch the show, I’d actually suggest starting with season 2, and then going back to watch season 1 after you have already decided you like the show. Spike TV is showing reruns, and of course there are always DVDs. Come fail the Geek Check with me.