Lemme ramble about Deep Space 9 for a sec
What I like about DS9 specifically is how it shows Star Trek species through individuals who aren’t aligned with Starfleet. In previous series if there’s a non-human in the cast they’ll be thoroughly loyal to Starfleet, which influences how they represent their species towards the audience.
Odo, Quark and Garak in particular have no need for the humans or even actively dislike them, but are not directly opposed to them. For the first time in the universe we get a perspective of Starfleet from a source that is outside them while living with them. So now and then they’ll mumble and complain about things such as Starfleet’s naivety or deceptively friendly behavior, which calls Starfleet’s values into question while they were usually presented as the ultimate good in previous series.
Garak in particular has frequent philosophical debates with Bashir, letting the audience understand the Cardassian point of view, even if they don’t agree with it.
I dunno, it’s good shit.
(via demilypyro)
