That's interesting that you say S9 was your favorite overall, then Mike reinforces that with his latest version of his rating system that currently has it highest overall by a smidge. I know S10-12 have always been very lightly regarded (and I agree with Todd that S12 is an abomination but I bought it anyway for the sake of being completist!) but would never have guessed that the season immediately preceding the start of that run was so highly rated. I'll have to take another look at the episode list to see how many personal favorites are in there.
Thanks to everyone for their comments.