If you have tried watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, or Voyager from the very beginning, you might relate: I generally did not get past the first few seasons of TNG or VOY because the storytelling felt too stuttered, episodic, and lacking a central threat. As for DS9, I avoided it entirely until much later, because the early seasons felt like a slower, weaker version of Babylon 5.
For me personally, seasons one and two and in some cases even season three were largely unwatchable. The lack of direction, recurring antagonists, and lasting consequences meant there was nothing pulling me from one episode to the next. Rather than feeling like the early stages of a long journey, those seasons felt like experiments that never quite committed to a destination.
This is not just a matter of taste. There are clear structural reasons why early 1990s Trek struggles to engage and why it often feels like a train moving forward without any clear destination.
Slow Starts Were Almost Standard
All three shows share a remarkably similar pattern in their early years.
- TNG (Seasons 1–2): Stiff morality plays, inconsistent characterisation, and very little sense of danger. The cast chemistry had not settled, and many episodes feel like isolated lessons rather than steps in a larger journey.
- DS9 (Seasons 1–2): Heavy on politics and Bajor’s recovery, but with no tangible long-term antagonist. Episodes often feel static, despite strong ideas.
- VOY (Seasons 1–3): A fantastic premise undermined by caution. Consequences rarely stick, resets are frequent, and the journey through the Delta Quadrant feels oddly directionless.
Early Trek was built to be syndication-friendly. Episodes had to be watchable out of order, which meant long-term arcs were deliberately softened. The result is storytelling that moves, but does not build.
The Villain Problem
A major reason the early seasons feel unfocused is the absence of a persistent, meaningful antagonist.
- TNG: The Borg are introduced, then largely disappear. Even The Best of Both Worlds, one of the franchise’s finest moments, is only a two-parter before the show resets.
- DS9: The Dominion exists only as rumour and distant threat early on. Cardassians linger, but without urgency.
- VOY: The Kazon are positioned as recurring antagonists, but lack ideological weight or menace.
Without a villain that returns, escalates, and matters, stakes feel temporary and momentum evaporates.
The Borg Are a Perfect Example of the Problem
Star Trek: The Next Generation’s handling of the Borg perfectly illustrates why the early seasons often felt unfocused and uncertain.
What is often overlooked is that the Borg were not originally conceived as the cybernetic humanoids we now recognise. Early production concepts imagined them as a far more alien, insect-like species, only later evolving into a cybernetic collective. Practical constraints, including budget, makeup limitations, and filming logistics, played a significant role in reshaping the idea.
Creative evolution is not inherently a flaw, but in this case it highlights a deeper issue: the Borg were not planned from the outset as a long-term, franchise-defining antagonist.
Their early appearances feel exploratory rather than foundational. Even after The Best of Both Worlds, which is one of TNG’s strongest and most iconic stories, the Borg largely fade back into the background. There is no sustained escalation, no persistent pressure on the Federation, and no sense that this existential threat will meaningfully shape the series moving forward.
Instead, the pattern repeats. A powerful concept is introduced, delivers a dramatic peak, and is then quietly set aside in favour of self-contained episodes. The train surges forward briefly, only to return to wandering the tracks without a clear destination.
Had the Borg been conceived and committed to earlier as a recurring or seasonal threat, TNG’s early years might have felt far more purposeful. Even intermittent appearances could have provided momentum and narrative continuity. Instead, they became another example of early Trek introducing compelling ideas before the series was structurally prepared to build upon them.
Even Seasonal Villains Could Have Helped
What makes this more frustrating is that the shows did not need full serialisation to fix the problem.
Even seasonal villains would have helped enormously.
- TNG could have benefited from a defined adversary per season, rather than philosophical conflicts that vanish by the next episode.
- DS9 could have introduced a more concrete Dominion presence earlier, giving weight to its political storytelling.
- VOY desperately needed a cohesive Delta Quadrant threat to anchor the journey.
A seasonal antagonist would have:
- Given each season a clear destination
- Raised tension without breaking episodic structure
- Made consequences feel earned
- Encouraged viewers to stay invested week to week
Instead, the early seasons often feel like exploration without purpose.
Other Sci-Fi Shows Proved This Could Work
What makes early Trek’s hesitation more noticeable is that many other science fiction series, both before and during the same era, established their primary antagonist early on, giving viewers a sense of direction even if the full arc took years to unfold.
Babylon 5 is the obvious comparison, making its long-term threats clear from the outset and ensuring that even weaker early episodes felt like part of a bigger plan. Other genre shows similarly introduced a dominant opposing force within their first season, allowing tension and anticipation to build organically.
The key difference is clarity. Even when those early episodes were uneven, audiences could see where the story was heading. There was a destination on the map.
By contrast, early TNG, DS9, and VOY often felt unwilling to commit to an identifiable enemy, leaving viewers to follow the journey without knowing what or who it was building toward.
This is not about demanding full serialisation from episode one. It is about giving the audience a reason to stay on the train.
Consequences That Do Not Stick
Even when major events happen, the shows are reluctant to let them linger.
Picard’s assimilation should have reshaped TNG permanently, but the series quickly returns to business as usual. Early VOY does the same, undoing scarcity, trauma, and conflict almost immediately. This lack of follow-through reinforces the sense that nothing truly matters long term.
DS9 and the Babylon 5 Comparison
Early DS9 inevitably invites comparison to Babylon 5 and not always favourably.
Both are station-based, politics-heavy, and morally complex. The difference is that Babylon 5 launched with a planned five-year arc, so even weaker episodes felt like they were building toward something. DS9, early on, feels undecided, torn between episodic Trek traditions and long-form ambition.
That uncertainty was a major reason I avoided DS9 until much later. At the time, it simply did not feel worth pushing through.
Why Early Viewership Was Not Brilliant
Given all of this, it is no surprise that early viewership struggled.
- There was no binge culture
- Viewers had to commit weekly
- If the first few episodes felt aimless, people simply stopped watching
Syndication allowed these shows to survive slow starts, but many fans only discovered them later, through reruns or once later seasons finally gave the stories direction.
When the Train Finally Finds Tracks
- TNG finds focus through the Borg and later Romulan arcs
- DS9 fully embraces long-form storytelling with the Dominion War
- VOY gains clarity through Seven of Nine and more defined external threats
Once villains persist, consequences stick, and character arcs matter, the wandering train finally starts heading somewhere.
TL;DR
- There is no clear destination
- Villains arrive too late or too sporadically
- Consequences reset instead of build
- Episodic structure undermines stakes
Once each show commits to direction, escalation, and continuity, the storytelling improves dramatically, but getting there can be a slog.
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