Star Trek

Ok, I admit it . . . I'm into Star Trek again. Like, big time :-s At first it was just the DS9 boxset, but thanks to Virgin 1's afternoon repeats of Voyager I'm now totally hooked on that for the first time too . . . .
What is it about Star Trek? I've always had a fondness for sci-fi, but Star Wars, Stargate, Twilight Zone and the others never had ths type of grip. And I must admit that I'm not a huge fan of the 'tech' episodes with the alterate timelines, or weird alien of the week etc. I guess all sci-fi has that totally escapist feel (unless it's the bleak, future earth type). Also, there's a type of deep friendship and romance in sci-fi which is kinda sweet but that would seem totally melodramatic and daft in any other genre - some of the Trek male friendship episodes are just so . . .gay. Which I would be totally fine with, only the conservative producers really don't intend them to be. Although playing 'spot the alternate story the Voyager actors who want gay storylines are trying to show us' can be pretty fun.
I guess what I'm tring to say is that I don't like Star Trek for the reasons I'm meant to like sci-fi. I like ST:NG because I adore both Patrick Stewart and Captain Picard, find Geordi very sweet, and Data rather attractive. The storylines are or the main part fluffy and cosy, and that's fine with me. I like DS9 for totally different reasons. DS9 is full of incredibly well-developed characters - pretty much every single one changes dramatically in the seven years, and has a large backstory to boot. You really only have to mention Sisko to me, or Kira, or Odo, and it's like being back with old friends. Plus, unlike most other Trek, it has an ongoing storyline that runs almost throughout. And not in the 'we're still exploring/heading home, let's stop off at yet another alien planet' sense, but in a way that means you have to keep track of the political alliances, ideologies and religions of a number of alien races and reoccuring characters from about series 2 onwards. The usually holy Starfleet is splintered and far from perfect, and so much of real history and American ideology is explored through fairly provocative stories - the writing is in a different league.
As for Voyager - well, who couldn't love that cast? They just sizzle with chemistry, and they make Trek look like so much fun, even when they're dying . . . it had some really underveloped character archs and misguided romantic pairings (Chakotay/Seven - :-s), it really should have got with the 24th century and introduced those gay storylines, and I'm still not too keep on the alien/phenomena a week thing . .. but when it was at it's best it was hilarious.
Just don't mention Enterprise.
75 days until the new film is out in dvd . . . I'm still hoping the hype will lead to another TV series being made, I'm worried that one day soon I'll have seen all the episodes :'(