I actually feel TNG lost a lot of humor and levity and amusing banter after season 2. I know I'm in an extreme minority when I say I prefer the first two seasons of TNG over the rest. Yes most of the great, classic episodes are from season 3 on, but the filler in between became much less enjoyable. Too serious and dour for the middling forgettable plots being presented. Picard smiled more in the first 2 seasons than the rest combined.

> Most of the Q episodes too

Those were the worst Q episodes though (granted "I am NOT a merry man!" might alone have made Qpid worth it). Q was at his best when he was taken seriously by the crew, not treated as an annoying but harmless diversion.

As far as DS9 ripping off B5, there are some surface level similarities, but in the end the shows and characters and plot are very different and since the usenet wars of the 90s seem like a lifetime ago I think the shows can stand on their own without bringing up JMS's butthurt.

I was more saying that B5 as well did not take itself too seriously in the day-to-day, despite the very serious and deep themes the show explored. That show had plenty of time for stupid jokes and amusing banter. A lot of people found the acting on it to be too cringe/soapy. Well maybe that's why I enjoyed TNG season 1-2 so much...