31% Of People We Surveyed Said This Was Their Favorite Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Character

(Welcome to Survey Says, a feature where we conduct a movie-related survey for a random group of people and explain why they're completely right, completely wrong, or somewhere in-between.)

Of all of the "Star Trek" series, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" digs the most deeply into the lives of its characters. The series was derided by some as being a "soap opera in space," as the crew didn't go exploring brave new worlds and storylines often focused on interpersonal relationships. But that turned out to be nonsense. These days, the characters of "Deep Space Nine" are deeply beloved, and even the characters you'd expect to be one-note are surprisingly fleshed out. 

We surveyed 619 people in the United States, asking them to pick their favorite "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" character from six of the more popular characters, and the results were a bit surprising. 

Coming in first with an overwhelming 31% of the votes is everyone's favorite Ferengi bartender, Quark! Portrayed by Armin Shimerman, Quark is a businessman first, a bartender second, and a brother third, but beyond that, don't expect too much. He's a conniving survivor, though over the show's seven seasons he develops a conscience and some new friendships — even if both are against his will. One of the series' greatest strengths is its commitment to complex characters, and Quark is one of the best. He's funny, he tells it like it is, and he has the best fashion sense of anyone in the 24th Century. 

Speaking of fashion sense ... the least popular character in our poll was the ship's tailor, Garak (Andrew J. Robinson). Garak was even more complicated than Quark, as he was a former Cardassian spy and interrogator who was exiled from his homeland. While many of Quark's negative traits were simple things like selfishness or greed, Garak's are infinitely more complex due to his long life of trauma while serving a war-loving civilization. 

The second most popular character after Quark was his arch-nemesis, Odo (René Auberjonois), the ship's shapeshifting security officer. One of the series' best episodes sees Odo and Quark crash-land together on a mountainside without any fancy technology or rations, and they must work together to survive. Somehow, these two totally disparate characters manage to make it up the mountain, though there's quite a bit of arguing along the way.

First mate and former freedom fighter/terrorist Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) earned 16% of votes, Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) earned 14% of the votes, and the most important man in Starfleet, Miles O'Brien, earned about 12%. If you're wondering why Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) wasn't one of the options listed, it's because no one else would have even stood a chance. Who can compete when they have only one lifetime against eight?