I'm always perplexed when this conversation comes up. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is underrated!" "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has some of the best scenes and you wouldn't expect it!" At this point, all I can do is shake my head because, of course, it has great scenes. Of course, it's fantastic. It's arguably the best show Star Trek ever made.
It's not the black sheep, underrated, or any of these other kitsch buzzwords. Saying anything about Deep Space Nine being a surprise in any way is like saying Tom Brady was one of the better quarterbacks that no one ever talked about.
No, we talk about Deep Space Nine all the time, because it's in contention for 'GOAT' (greatest of all time) status. Not just in Star Trek, but in science fiction history. I could probably make a case for it being in the top 100 shows of all time.
When we get to that level of conversation, we're not talking about "sleeper hits", "dark horses" or "shows who deserve their flowers". No, that's like saying, "I just found this great pizza place no one ever talks about; have you heard of Pizza Hut?"
Yes, have you? Deep Space Nine is that good, and we don't need to lie to anyone to talk about it. DS9 is one of the best shows ever, so why are we still "shocked" that an episode as good as "In the Pale Moonlight" is on the show?
According to CBR, arguably Star Trek's magnum opus of television is in the "least expected" series. What? According to who? Deep Space Nine has never not been beloved. It was a ratings dynamo, moved a bunch of merch, and made a metric crap ton of money. Thanks to it landing on Netflix in the late 2000s, it found yet another new fanbase who raved about this show.
This show has existed for 32 years, and no one has been surprised at how good that series was for 30 of them.
They're not wrong in their love or desire to re-watch "In the Pale Moonlight", it's truly one of the best Star Trek episodes ever. It's harder to watch if you're unfamiliar with Deep Space Nine's serial format in their later seasons, but it's still pretty good even if you're not aware of the backstories in play.
Do you know what Star Trek show I wouldn't expect an all-time episode from? Star Trek: The Animated Series. Maybe even Discovery, Picard, or Lower Decks. Name-dropping the Michael Jordrdan of Star Trek shows, and then pointing to the Wayne Gretzky of episodes and going "who would have thought" nearly 30 years later is a tired troupe.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine deserves the respect of being the franchise's staple series. Or at least the one in the running. Let's stop being "shocked" that Deep Space Nine is that good when they're routinely at the top of everyone's "Best Star Trek Series" lists.