I think I've tried to binge watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at least twice before via Netflix as a streaming service and once in the Netflix DVD rental days but I've always abandoned the attempt to finish all seven seasons well before I reached the halfway point. As for the original and re-run broadcasts via traditional TV back in the 90s, I never devoted much time to it and would often chose something else to watch if available. I've had too many issues with it from the get go.
First, there's the overall darker theme. It seemed every episode I watched dealt with conflict and adversity, not to mention the whole war crimes undercurrent of the series' background story regarding the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. The original script writers, I'm pretty sure, were going for a similarity in context with the IRL Nazi occupations and their Jewish question actions, but oddly enough, only a few years after the end of this series, I see a stronger similarity with the IRL US occupation of Iraq. I could build an entire post on that theory.
Then there's the actors playing the main cast. I freakin' hate Avery Brooks' acting. He's alternately statue/robotic-like or inappropriately bossy. His interactions with his character's son are the most cringeworthy thing I've ever seen. What little I've seen of him outside this role, I've also found odd, quirky and confusing. Rene Auberjonois' Odo continues the cringefest. The actor's natural closet case attributes (bitch, please!) squeezed into a bombastic hyper-paranoid security chief and the creepy makeup on his face (shape-shifter vague is what they were aiming for) are almost farcical. And don't get me started on Nana Visitor. Bitchy Female Manager Syndrome to a tee.
But the main issue I have, as I now have wrapped up the first season (again) and have a few episodes to compare, is the vast amount of boring blowhard "blah blah blah" and tiny amount of well-placed "pow bang zap." Yes, Star Trek isn't like Star Wars. It's not about the overuse of action and visuals, it's the plot structure, vision and understanding. Well, so far it's a lot of, and I mean, way too much, exposition without a good pay off.
If memory serves correct from the last times I've viewed episodes, I think these issues do get better with later seasons. May the Prophets make it so. At the rate I'm watching, I'll finish well into the new year. A new year we can only hope is less dystopian than DS9 so far and way less negative than this year.