In reply to:

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But the supporting actors were often phenomenal: Max Grodenchik as Rom, Andrew Robinson as Garak, Jeffrey Combs as several characters, J.G. Hertzler as Martok, Louise Fletcher as Kai Winn, and, especially, Marc Alaimo as Dukat.

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Dukat and Garak were/are two of my all-time favourite trek characters. I'm not entirely sure why. Dukat was at best amoral and at worst actively evil, but somehow worked as a character far better than the vast majority of trek people. Garak was just damn good fun. In fact, thinking about it most of the opponents to star fleet were both more interesting and more believable than many of the 'good guys'.

Sisko was a much more human character than Picard was most of the time, flaws and all, and Janeway just makes me want to hit her. The only characters on Voyager I ever really found interesting were the Doctor and Seven (and not just for the two most obvious reasons )

I've been watching the original series recently, and the thing that stands out compared to much of the later efforts is that, despite Shatner's acting and the by todays standards rather sad sets and production, the stories were well worth watching. Some of it is a bit laughable, but that is largely 30 years of hindsight. At the time, I remember being quite impressed.

Looking at the list of authors who wrote for the original series, it's striking how many either were or became respected SF writers. Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Theodore Sturgeon, Fredric Brown, Harlan Ellison (The City on the Edge of Forever, possibly the best episode of all), Norman Spinrad, etc. They are all now considered some of the best. In thirty years, how many of the current crop of writers will be known in this way?

pca