First off, I'm not a Trekkie/Trekker/whatever you want to call it. I have to state that from the outset, lest people think I'm prone to attending conventions, speaking Klingon, and kneeling at the shrine of Roddenberry. I will admit that am a Star Trek fan, I'm familiar with the Star Trek universe and I watched most of the shows and movies, but I'm not a hard-core fanatic. My Star-Trek viewing is selective; I've never watched an episode of the original Star Trek, and I doubt I ever will. I've seen all of the modern movies, some of the older ones, and I watched some of Voyager and very little of Enterprise. The two main Star Trek shows I really watched were The Next Generation (TNG), and Deep Space Nine (DS9), and for my money, Deep Space Nine was/is the best Star Trek series ever produced. TNG admittedly has the more iconic crew (thanks mostly to Captain Picard, Worf and Data) but DS9 had more interesting characters and situations and was a much more interesting show for it.The initial setup for DS9 can come across as a bit confusing if you're not a sci-fi fan or if you're not familiar with Star Trek. I've taken some of the following text from the Wikipedia article:
There's an oppressed planet (Bajor) occupied by oppressors (the Cardassian Union) for 50 years. As DS9 begins, the Bajorans have successfully expelled the Cardassians from their planet, and are seeking to join the Federation both to help recover from the occupation and to protect against Cardassia trying to re-conquer them. The Bajorans thus invite the Feds to help them run a former Cardassian Space Station that the Cardassians had called "Terek Nor" and which the Federation renames "Deep Space 9". The Feds send Commander Ben Sisko and other Federation officers to help run the station alongside his Bajoran counterpart, Major Kira Nerys and her officers. During the first episode which does a good job of setting up all the characters and interactions, they discover the first stable wormhole ever found and discover that it is inhabited by beings who are not bound by normal space and time. To the strongly religious people of Bajor, the wormhole aliens are their gods (the Prophets) and the wormhole itself is the long-prophesied Celestial Temple, where they reside. Sisko himself is hailed as the Emissary of the Prophets, through whom the Prophets primarily act. This provides the basis for a long-lasting story arc. Sisko initially considers his role as a religious icon with open discomfort and skepticism, referring to the Prophets simply as "wormhole aliens" and striving to keep his role as commander of the station distinct from any religious obligations that the Bajorans try to place on him. Later, he becomes more accepting of his role and, by the end of the series, he openly embraces it. The political and religious implications of this on the Bajorans and its spiritual leaders (most notably, Winn Adami) also provide a central arc that lasts until the end of the series.
The concept of basing the show on a space station meant that by necessity, people would have to interact with each other, there would be conflict, and that conflict wouldn't always be external. One of the weaknesses of TNG was that almost every episode was self-contained and didn't refer to what went on before. No one ever changed much, if at all. The Federation was almost always right, everyone on the Enterprise was in harmony, and there wasn't any doubt that the Federation was the cat's pajamas. DS9 threw a whole lot of that into the trash, and I thought that was a good thing. It was by far the most diverse cast in Star Trek history, both on the show itself and in real life. On the show, the main cast included Sisko the first black Starfleet commander (later Captain), Quark (a Ferengi bartender), Odo (a Changeling Security officer), Dr. Bashir (an English Doctor of Arabic descent), Jadzia Dax (a Trill science officer), Kira Nerys (a Bajoran First Officer), and Miles O'Brien (an Irish Chief Engineer) plus his Japanese wife. Later on, Worf joined the cast from episode 4, and he was a great addition. In addition, there was a significant Cardassian presence with Gul Dukat, arguably the greatest Star Trek villain ever, plus Elim Garak, a plain simple tailor...not. Furthermore, you had other Ferengi and Bajorans and many others...it was just a lot of different things going on.
This diversity helped to make DS9 the most interesting and dramatic of all the Star Trek series. It allowed for more serialized action, and helped to expand the Star Trek universe to give a better sense that there's a lot more going on there than what you get to see on the Enterprise. Plus, the growth and change in all the characters was a great thing to see, and the entire concept of the Dominion War provided a chance to see the Federation in true war footing, not just a skirmish here and there as you would see in TNG. DS9 also showed a more realistic Federation in a realistic world, having to get its hands dirty and sometimes having to set aside its idealistic ideals to survive. The best episodes that illustrate this reality are "In The Pale Moonlight" and "Inter Armin Silence Leges" which are both in Season 6. In addition, there is a lot of emotional impact in this series with the increased characterization. Best example of that is Season 4's "The Visitor" which is arguably the most highly regarded episodes of any Star Trek series. Furthermore, this is the only Star Trek series that ever took a look at racial issues, religious issues, and things which TNG seemed to indicate weren't a problem in the 24th century. I appreciated that DS9 said "nuh-uh; we still have those problems here!"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the show that took the elements of a great drama series, and successfully applied it to the Star Trek Universe. It wasn't always successful, there are some real stinker episodes (usually based around the Ferengi) but it was willing to give anything a try. DS9 ran for seven seasons. Seasons 1 and 2 are decent, with more middling episodes than standout ones but there are a few great episodes there, chief among them being "Duet" in S1. Season 3 begins a gradual increase in quality with the addition of the "Defiant" and the Dominion threat, S4 jumps up even more with the addition of Worf, and S5 is probably the best of the seasons. S6 and 7 have a slight decline due to the necessary serialization of the Dominion War, but the quality remains high. If you've never watched Star Trek but want to see a good drama show, this is the Star Trek show to watch.
One caveat; I love Sisko, but I admit that Avery Brooks has a tendency to overact...
How the Romulans entered the Dominion War (Picard wouldn't have done this, but then they'd all be dead)
Some non-Federation commentary on the Federation
This fan-trailer does a great synopsis of the series
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