With the exception of the one departure into the very very bad ([*Ferengi Love Songs*](http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com/archives/2012/08/trekathon-469-ferengi-love-songs-ds9/)) and a couple of other bad eggs (*Let He Who is Without Sin* and *Empok Nor*) it’s been a very good year. My ratings have actually put 13 of the episodes as very good or better, half the season.
A lot of the broader ‘arc’ plot this season has been spent ditching the old Klingon plot, and transitioning gracefully into the Dominion/Cardassia plot. We’ve seen a lot of changes in direction for this show – but the setup now is pretty good, perhaps (starting with the resolution of the cliffhanger) they can just stick with it now?
The big plot stuff has come at the cost of character stuff this year. Odo and Kira have both had a fair amount of development, but beyond that we’ve just had a ‘very special’ episode or two that have had unfortunately little repercussion beyond the immediate episode. Worf has done a little better than before, but this has come at the cost of development for Dax, as she ends up only being used to advance the Worf plot.
So, just how good was this year? It’s actually pretty darn close to DS9 Season 2 and TNG Season 6. But it’s really more ‘great’ than ‘superb’ at the top end, so I think I’ll just put it at the top of the second bracket. So that gives us:
The very best of Trek:
– TNG Season 6
– DS9 Season 2
Strong performers:
– DS9 Season 5
– TNG Season 3
– TNG Season 5
– TOS Season 2
– TNG Season 4
Mixed bag:
– TOS Season 1
– DS9 Season 2
– DS9 Season 1
– VOY Season 1
– TNG Season 7
Not good:
– DS9 Season 3
– VOY Season 3
– TNG Season 2
– TAS Season 1
– VOY Season 2
– TOS Season 3
– TAS Season 2
– TNG Season 1
That’s 480 watched, 21,471 minutes, and 65.85% complete. 74,536 words written. 257 to go. Now let’s see how they do resolving that cliffhanger.