Star Trek

About ds9 for example being "dark" i just want to know what makes a movie,show dark?

As i understand ds9 is drama not a dark show and by what most of you say is dark i consider the old italian movies dark i remember a scene of such movie...

Where they show murdering people and mutilating them, their bodies in full detail and you know how the old movies look 60-70 or even earlier i dont know the name and year of this movie and you know how character are clumsy brutal and not talking and raping,killing and such for no reason other then their mental state...

That's actually a very good question -- I think it's different for everybody; but I think it's a certain mood or atmosphere, and a "dark" show would tackle subject matter that a more lighthearted show might shy away from. Example I know that The Merchant of Venice is classified as a "dark comedy", and if you look at something like a dark comedy, you can see the kind of subject matter that they tackle.

Another example might be the 1980s film A Fish Called Wanda. Which is a very funny movie, but deals with criminals and death and other subject matter which could be really quite macabre -- and perhaps even considered bad taste if it had been treated differently.

Basically I think a dark show is one that takes the more shady aspects of the world around us, and brings that to the fore. As to which is a dark series, I think any TV series has the potential to get very dark on occasion. Perhaps I explained badly? But I'm not sure that there is a real definitive answer.

I think there are some very dark themes in some TOS episodes and in some of the charatcers and alien races of other shows.

For example the whole concept of the Borg is really horrific to contemplate.

I think "dark" shows are not upbeat ones.  There some funny "dark" comedies--about death, murder, etc.

I agree with ServalanFan, in that TNG was more upbeat, while DS9 was a bit more gritty.