DS9 has longer plot arcs than TNG. In TNG, something nearly cataclysmic could happen in one episode, and everything would be back to normal in the next episode.

DS9 has longer plot arcs than TNG. In TNG, something nearly cataclysmic could happen in one episode, and everything would be back to normal in the next episode. Picard is my captain, and TNG is what I think of when I think of Trek. But, DS9's writing was in a different league. The way the characters and the plot developed together was great. Some of the episodes were uncharacteristically dark for the Star Trek universe (introduction of Dukat's daughter, Garak and Odo, etc.) In TNG, the only credible existential threat was the Borg, and you really only felt that for a couple of back-to-back episodes. The Borg were awesome, but DS9 had greater sustained dramatic tension. And the camp episodes! When DS9 did silly, they did it up right--with frickin' evil mirror universe characters and tribbles!