Ever since the rebirth of my Trek fandom over two and a half years ago, The Hubby and I have sought escape, solace and entertainment in watching Star Trek episodes that we have never seen. Trust me, thats a lot of television, as the only show I ever really watched consistently when aired was Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Due to an incredible sale in early 2008, we purchased the entire Trek canon on DVD. We started by watching the entire four-season series of Star Trek: Enterprise.

In my previous column, I have commented on that series on multiple occasions, but I will state for those of you reading this that I really liked "Enterprise."

Well, for the most part.

There are some truly brilliant episodes and then there were episodes that generated so much anger in me, I thought Id turn to the Dark Side. (Yes, the 501st almost got a new member.)

Capt. Archer wasnt just a flawed man. In my opinion, he made some truly evil decisions, and for a fan of Trek that fell in love with Jean-Luc Picard, I had a hard time watching Archer victimize an innocent ship and its crew and leave them stranded in space in order to save his own species. Worse - I think theyre still stranded out there. He never did go back to rectify his mistake. What a jerk.

Where was I?

Oh! Right! DVDs!

Well, The Hubby and I have taken the last year or more to watch all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Were only 10 episodes from the end of the series after watching Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang last night.

And I have to tell you, "Deep Space Nine" truly went where no Trek had gone before, and now I understand why the creators of "Enterprise" thought making a deeply flawed hero might be a good idea.

War adds conflict, which of course creates drama. DS9 is packed with wartime metaphors and some really incredible drama. The first few seasons of the series made for some of the best television I had seen in quite a long time. Episodes like Duet gave TNGs Chain of Command a run for its money - excellent explorations of what war can do to people.

And Capt. Sisko shows that hes not above cheating in the episode In the Pale Moonlight, which gave me a lot to chew on as a fan. Would Picard have resorted to lying to another faction in order to win a war against a more formidable enemy? Do I hate Sisko because hes so human? Should I have been so hard on Archer?

Then I realized, thats what I love about all of Star Trek. Its not perfect. Its not meant to be. It was a show designed by a man who wanted to teach people moral lessons by showing us a future that was possible.

Even James T. Kirk cheated. He thumbed his nose regularly at the Prime Directive - he just usually found a way to avoid breaking it before the episode was over.

Well, back to DS9 :

Sisko has been a good captain and a good man, and for the most part hes trying to do whats right in the middle of a universe that has gone wrong around him. Does he fall into the traps of what war can do to a person? You bet he does. Do I hate him for it? Not really.

I found myself more heartbroken for Sisko than I was for Archer (who still needs to go back and return the warp coils to those poor stranded people! I think thats the difference between the two characters. Both are flawed, yet somehow I think Ben Sisko would have hunted those people down to make sure that they got home OK. Archer simply forgot about them - or worse - didnt care.)

I have to say, Picard is still my favorite captain, namely because hes so inspiring. Hes a character youre supposed to want to emulate.

Its not that I wouldnt want to emulate Sisko. Its just that I would never want to be placed in his shoes and have to make some of the same decisions.

And when you can make me feel for someone who has knowingly done wrong, for the right reasons, then youve done an amazing job at writing.

Im looking forward to the last 10 episodes. Its not like I dont know how it ends, but Im curious as to how it all actually plays out.

After all is said and done, I think Im going miss not having any new DS9 in my life ...

... and that, is the greatest compliment I can give to any show, Trek or not.