There are reasons why DS9 had the best characters. And I agree 100% that overall DS9 has the best character/cast. The simple reason is that it was a space station. They weren't traveling around the galaxy to see new and unknown things to take the highlight of the episode and therefore the characters had to be of a higher overall quality since they needed to carry more of the show. There is also the fact that the series was much more serial than TNG or TOS. Due to this nature the writing had to take into account the day to day dealings with the characters and how it would carry over to the episodes down the line. Additionally, the main cast was larger because the number of "distractions" compared to space exploration was much smaller. The emphasis due to the setting had to be on the characters to carry the show and this required more character development for more characters. For TOS and TNG this wasn't an issue because the same few characters could use small variations of the same character traits applied to differing situations and it didn't seem as repetitive because the situation and the background changes regularly. It was the exact opposite for DS9.
That all said, it took them a few seasons for DS9 and the characters to evolve into the great show it was. I didn't watch it first run simply because much of the first two seasons bored me and it wasn't what I was looking for in a Star Trek show. It wasn't until much later after the series was finished that I sat down to watch and re-watch the series that I enjoyed it.
But I still don't understand the love for Voyager. That show was so screwed up from the beginning. Like DS9 it was supposed to be a more serial show and should have had more focus on character development. While the scenery changed the focus was supposed to be small in nature and center on the ship and those aboard. Instead what we got was mostly monster of the week with little change overall. I don't think there was any significant character development outside of the holographic doctor. Even when they would toss in a good character development episode, the next week none of the development was there as if the character was reset back to factory settings. Everything which made DS9 good and should have been applied to Voyager was completely ignored. It's the reason why I've watched the series through once and have never gone back to it unlike any of the other finished Star Trek series.
That all said, it took them a few seasons for DS9 and the characters to evolve into the great show it was. I didn't watch it first run simply because much of the first two seasons bored me and it wasn't what I was looking for in a Star Trek show. It wasn't until much later after the series was finished that I sat down to watch and re-watch the series that I enjoyed it.
But I still don't understand the love for Voyager. That show was so screwed up from the beginning. Like DS9 it was supposed to be a more serial show and should have had more focus on character development. While the scenery changed the focus was supposed to be small in nature and center on the ship and those aboard. Instead what we got was mostly monster of the week with little change overall. I don't think there was any significant character development outside of the holographic doctor. Even when they would toss in a good character development episode, the next week none of the development was there as if the character was reset back to factory settings. Everything which made DS9 good and should have been applied to Voyager was completely ignored. It's the reason why I've watched the series through once and have never gone back to it unlike any of the other finished Star Trek series.