In the 90s series too, especially the women.

In Voyager, every main cast member is wigged to some extent, even if just false sideburns. Except apparently the Doctor who grew his own pointy sideburns and was clearly not bewigged on top.

Robert Picardo talked about this on I think a podcast I listened to several years ago, so sadly I can’t link to the source as I don’t recall where it was.

It reminds me of DS9 in that sense. SNW season two seemed to alternate between really dark episodes and really light episodes.

Anything by Una McCormack. Especially DS9, but not exclusively.

A Stitch In Time, by Garak, is also generally considered top of the class.

If there are only seven people on the ship, why have they turned all those lights on?

It felt totally natural to me watching it first time round. It’s part of DS9’s thing to be about a group of people who stay in one place and have lives and relationships. And it’s part of DS9’s thing to throw in stuff and let it grow if it works.

It balances against the harsh darkness of the main storyline, and in a 26 episode series you can’t just bash out war after war after war episode - everyone needs a break.

Probably also helps that it’s likely cheaper than other stuff to produce and means they can save some budget for a space battle in another episode.

It’s been a while since I watched it… but weren’t the Augments in season 4 also?