Full Sensor Sweep

How do Star Trek (The Original Series, Genration [ING] and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [DS9] stack up to one another? This chart compares key elements. Plus, some reasons to keep your eye on the new series, Star Trek: Voyager [SIV].

TOS

TNG

DS9

STV

ATTitude

Swashbuckler moralizing. Wreak a little havoc, chase alien tail, zap guys in rubber monster suits, tack on a lesson at the end.

Beneficent imperialism. Spread Federation touchy-feeliness throughout the galaxy. HOlster those phasers--you have to think to solve problems.

Grumpy. Bicker incessantly with co-workers. Repair machinery.

Spunky. Try to uphold the values of the Federation, but don't be afraid to try to kick a little alien butt.

Atmosphere

Retrofuturistic, moderately campy and a touch psychedelic. Classic Trek brilliantly conjures up the 23rd century with colored lights, fog machines, shiny clothes and inventive music.

Gleamingly high-tech. A dazzling array of computer screens, holographic projections and multihued spatial anomalies--just the stuff to make you proud of what our descendants will accomplish.

Stygian. Designed by nasty Cardassians, the DS9 space station is all dark battlements and clanging metal. The new tenants' attempts to install a shopping mall only make the place gloomier.

Federation-standard sleekness makes room for incongruously primitive elements. The lost Voyager falls back on cooking to supplement its food replicators.

Sex Appeal

The Secondary Directive: Alien women from primitive societies will wear fur bikinis, alien women from advanced societies will dress like Sixties go-go dancers.

Should bodacious Betazoid Deanna Troi, a practicing therapist, wear such low-cut outfits? Is it true what they say about Klingon men?

For a woman who's part slug, Jadzia Dax is pretty hot. How far down do those spots go, anyway? Major Kira seems like she'd rather hold a whip than a phaser. And when are we going to see those holosuites in action?

Tom Paris morphs Kirk's smooth moves. Half human, half Klingon B'Elanna Torres spent part of the Voyager Premiere popping out of a bathrobe, which should tell you something.

Aliens

It takes guts to insist that a dust mop, a giant pancake or a piece of fabric can be a viable alien life-form. Too bad Klingons are basically big white guys wearing shoe polish and Fu Manchus.

An endless procession of oddly shaped ears, noses and foreheads. The real creativity, though, is in the exploration of alien psychology.

Obviously, all that make-up on Odo is meant to distract us from the fact that he's just Clayton from Benson.

Obviously, all that make-up on Neelix is meant to distract us from the fact that he is just pete from Benson

Actors with Alien-Sounding Names

DeForest Kelley

Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner

Nana Visitor, Armin Shimerman, Siddig EI Fadil, Rene Auberjonois Cirroc Lofton

Roxann Biggs-Dawsor

Acting

The way William Shatner chews scenery, it's a wonder he never got Styrofoam poisoning. The rest of the cast isn't much better. There's so much ham it's no surprise that the Enhterprise crew includes no Jews.

Invariably refferred to as a Shakespearean actor, Patrick Stewart earns his praise. He can even outemote Shatner: Compare his "There are four lights!" with Shatner's "I am Kirok!" Data is superexpressive for an emotionless being.

A very even cast. All capable, though no one stands out.

The cast may be a trifle stiff, but Kate Mulgrew as the first female Trek captain and Tim Russ as her Vulcan sidekick are top-notch.

Best Invention

The transporter. Originally, a money-saving device to avoid having to film a spaceship landing evbery episode. But imagine life without the phrase, "Beam me up, scotty."

The holodeck. Television you can live inside, and an irresistible plot device. Fittingly, the holodeck is based on transporter technology. Now if we could only kill Picard's alter ego, Dixon Hill.

Latinum (i.e., deep-space dough). Rifts in the space-time continuum are fine, but good old-fashioned cash lust is DS9's single best contribution to the Trek universe.

What did you say that new warp drive runs on?