O'Brian was a breakout character because he could act circles around half the main TNG cast. Even though he's a fairly normal character, his DS9 version is still more nuanced than the cast to TNG precisely because he's not superhuman and without imperfection.
I can't dispute that Troi suffered from piss poor acting but most of the cast was miles ahead of him...
NO PUN INTENDED
His character was an annoying runt and his wife was even worse. The only thing his actor was good at was the Irish accent which gave him inflection.. not actual quality.
Speaking of which, Dorn, whose acting had improved halfway through TNG was already playing with a full deck by DS9. His key character difference in DS9 is that from the very beginning his story isn't some Klingdon pride parade. He's not allowed to kill his brother, something Picard would have allowed (hell, it comes up when he asks Riker to kill him in TNG). By not allowing him to do whatever the fuck he pleases in the name of heritage, and even cutting him off from the empire, they were allowed to drive home an internal conflict of Federation vs. Klingon within him. You know, nuance.
True, because the whole Klingon pride parade went to Dax instead..... LOL
Worf was an awful character, all he did was get beat up on TNG. He couldn't win a fight. The Klingon vs. Federation fight was so superfluous.. the whole show was mad people fighting mad people fighting more mad people and it got old to have these neverending wars.
Jake didn't save DS9 every other episode, he wasn't some chosen uber child, he wasn't even a main character. And you think he's even close to as bad as Wesley? Not to mention that they found a pretty good child actor. Stared in bad episodes? You mean like the one about him trying to save his father in alternate future, one of the most critically acclaimed episodes in the show's run?
The child actor was in like 5 minutes of that episode. It was some old guy doing the quality acting in what was one of the very, very few good serious episodes.
Wesley was a terribly written character but at least he bugged off pretty quickly. Jake sat around staring at girls, being bored, trying to be tough, but generally just being a sockpuppet to whatever alien/conman was on that week and whining a lot.
Can you honestly prefer Riker over Kira, when the former's character development stopped at womanizer? Visitor wasn't the best actress on DS9, but even she could act circles around Frakes.
I could say the same thing about Bashir. All he does is chase girls, get rejected, and chase more. Finally by season 7 he bones Dax2. Frakes is not the best actor but at least he doesn't look like (irony) an alien when he smiles.
Kira's story was generally her pining away for some guy, her sleeping with some guy, some guy dying, her fighting some people angrily, rinse and repeat.
As a girl, I have to say she is my least favorite Trek main character female.
You still haven't addressed Neelix, a character honestly worse than Jar Jar Binks and without the good sense to reduce his role as the show went on (unlike Jar Jar). I really wish I could call Janeway the worst captain in Star Trek history, but there is stiff competition from Archer. With the exception of the Doctor, all the characters on Voyager are bland and they can all fall for the same bad writing decisions. Harry Kim ironically stands out the most, being the most impotent and bland.
Neelix was most definitely not worse than Jar Jar 4-6WereBetterMoviesWithoutQuestion. He played a role in interacting with the aliens Voyager had never met before, and though his character was generally placed in the unsavory roles (jealous lover, godfather to everyone under 18 they picked up), his actor at least played the role well.
Janeway was a solid captain, she got the ship home, blew crap up, and didn't afraid of Borg superhubs.
Bakula also played Danny the Cat in Disney's Cats Don't Dance. Watch the series and try to view it without seeing Archer dancing around singing.. which probably could have improved the series.
There's always a neglected character. The Doctor and Seven had some of the best development over time, Paris went from a ladies' man to a family man, and Chakotay stopped chanting Native American tribal songs every episode. Good changes.
The dynamics between Tuvok and Neelix were quality humor.
Easily the best character on DS9 was the comic relief guy, Quark. Everyone else just sort of fades into the background of a mediocre show. Shame, huh?
