#Geordi and Data OBVIOUSLY

[scribefindegil]

*slaps roof of the Enterprise* this baby can fit so many queerplatonic headcanons!

[mostly-natm]

Sunbathing and reassurances! ☀️✨🐱

[dilsdelights]

just got a zap in my brain. a thought placed in my mind as if by god. body worship daforge.

[kilgarraghforever]

Data's poetry is objectively great. No one on the Enterprise has any taste.

[andromedaexile]

I did a PowerPoint night with my friends and they were on board with my Star Trek smash or pass until I brought up a photo of Morn

[r0zzk1ll]

kind of a coincidence that geordi naturally has trouble with women and he was with aquiel that one time but she was never mentioned ever again (GEE I WONDER WHY), and data had a girlfriend but immediately lost her after trying too hard (GEE I W

kind of a coincidence that data hyperfixated on media with two characters that are basically gay for each other and then told geordi "can u be the watson to my sherlock please please please please p" and he went "ok!" and then they cosplay said characters like they AREN'T in a relationship like okaayyy

kind of a coincidence that geordi's the chief engineer and a total nerd and data is the most technologically built lifeform on the enterprise (and also a total nerd), so of course geordi is his doctor, and obviously there's sexual tension bc he's literally playing with his wires like come on

kind of a coincidence that data only really gets visibly nervous/worried whenever geordi is in danger ("i have no emotions mcgee when geordi is in trouble") and geordi is overly aggressive/tense whenever data's off on his own/something happens to him

KIND OF A COINCIDENCE THAT GEORDI'S SO-CALLED WIFE IS NEVER MENTIONED OR EVEN NAMED IN PICARD!!!!!! JUST A THOUGHT TO PUT OUT THERE

what isn't a coincidence though is that they're literally polar opposites in every way and made to be soulmates totally not homoerotic best friends

just look at how they fucking look at each other for example like good god merge your quarters already freaks

[probablyautistic-definitleygay]

ok before I get totally infected by the Bashir Brainworms I just gotta say that i love Data so much. he’s a machine with a human soul. he’s a human made of wires. he has a heartbeat. he’s curious. he’s autistic. he gets drunk. he loves to paint. he’s ambidextrous. he doesn’t pick up on social ques. his quarters are decorated with trinkets from his friends. he has a evil twin brother who got the reverse trauma. he misses his father. he values all life. he writes odes to his cat. his teeth are in great condition. he accidentally seduces people. he has dreams. he has nightmares. he is susceptible to finger traps. he’s a culture of one. he organises his closet by colour and function. he’s a cowboy. he’s canonically handsome. he sits up at 90°. he forgets to blink. he hovers outside conversations. he’s a Lieutenant Commander graduating class of ‘78. he tries so very much to sneeze. he can fly the Enterprise all on his own. he’s being so brave. he can sing. he’s so silly. he can be genuinely terrifying. he can pinch the barrel of a gun shut with two fingers. he wears a little visor when he plays poker. he went on trial for his own life and personhood and right to choose and won. he wonders about getting married someday. his voice is perfect. he’d love quiz bowl. he’s asexual. he’s programmed in multiple techniques. the first person he slept w was a lesbian. he keeps a hologram of her at his desk. he grieves. he’s been suicidal. he chose to stay. he glows in Geordi’s VISOR. he gets the emotion chip and immediately crashes out. he does standup comedy. he could take over the Federation in an afternoon but he just wants to play poker instead. he willingly violates the Prime Directive so he can save a little girl’s life. he can easily lift five tons with one hand but carries Spot with the same care as you would a baby. the only difference between him and a human is his physical form. he’s anxious. his side profile is gorgeous. he can control the rate of his hair growth. he fears he’s alone in the universe but considers the crew his family. he’s kindhearted. he’s gentle. he gives second chances. he has so many questions. he does drag. he loves his job. he’s immortal. he’s mortal. he’s genuinely funny as hell. he’s a poet. he’s a telephone. he makes a fedora look good. he hates Sigmund Freud. he twitches like a bird. he’s curious about romance. he can pry open metal doors with ease. he enjoys botany. he infodumps constantly. he plays the violin AND guitar. he gets kidnapped. he cares deeply. for 23 years he never knew what a friend was until he met Geordi. he joined Starfleet to help others. he loves Sherlock. he cosplays. he imprints on every small child he meets. he’s a cat dad. he’s a single father. he loves his daughter. he can breathe underwater. he once lost all memory and his first instinct was to help others. he’s made of circuits and wires. he’s so very warm. he looks damn good in a suit. kids love his peculiar swag. he’s a mafia boss. he values all life. he roleplays for fun. he cries when he reunites w Spot. he doesn’t understand hatred but he understands revenge when his family is hurt. he has an unwavering sense of justice. he’s a professor at Cambridge. the Enterprise is his home. he’s empathetic. he owns at least seven cats. he was fully willing to destroy the emotion chip bc he would not forsake his best friend‘s safety. his greatest desire is to be human. he says he has no emotions but he so so obviously does. he is a machine he is a person he is a microwave he is conscious he is alive he is sentient he’s my specialest little angel he’s my android husband he’s my sweet cheese he’s my good time boy he’s my dearest love he’s my favourite blorbo.

“this is your man?” yes he’s made of tripolymer composites and friendship <3

[multi-fandomedfreak]

Star Trek TNG // Kissing Headcanons

Authors note: Tell me why I'm barely on season 3 of TNG and for some reason I think I'm almost at the end of the show ._. This show has 7 seasons I'm-

Characters/pairings: Worf x Reader, Data x Reader, Geordi x Reader

⚠Warnings⚠: Mentions of injuries and blood but nothing graphic

—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•

‼️Worf‼️

-He is one hundred percent r o u g h

-Even without meaning to

-Like he’s aware that he has to be gentle

-But doesn’t know how gentle

-Absolutely has drawn blood while kissing you before

-Will obviously be extremely apologetic about it but won’t explicitly show it

-Unless you’re into drawing blood

-Then he’s all like 🤨

-Although in all seriousness, he would absolutely get lost in the moment

-like superrr passionate

-bro forgets to breathe half the time

-No part of you is safe from his love bites

-And I mean the bite part very seriously

-He’s a biter for sure

-He can’t help but love the way you react to it

-And can’t help his own reaction to seeing you covered in his teeth marks (🤭)

-And if you bite him back ????

-He’s head over heels fr

His eyes will also roll into the back of his head —WOAHHH WHO SAID THAT??

🤍Data🤍

-He’s for sure a little confused on how to kiss at first

-Like, he’s researched how to and stuff

-but actually putting into practice is a tad bit harder than he expected

-The first time you two kiss it’s very clumsy

-Like very clumsy

-He started out by moving his lips wayy to much

-and then just kept his lips shut tight when you tried to correct him 💀

-It’s all just him figuring it out and it’s super adorable lol

-Once he does figure it though??

-bro.

-prepare to get your breath taken away

-literally. bc he gets so caught up in it that he legit forgets you need to breathe

-but seriously once he learns how to kiss properly 😮‍💨

-And although he does love kissing you on the lips, he definitely prefers kissing you on the cheek, forehead, neck, etc.

-idk why but I get the feeling he’s just into that more

-Feels more domestic to him lol

-he’s especially a fan of butterfly kisses

-both receiving and giving

-He can’t help but love the way you smile when he does so

-Also a huge fan of kissing your nose for sure

💛 Geordi 💛

-Geordi is the type of guy to be real gentle with his kisses

-He wants every kiss he gives you to show just how much you truly mean to him

-He adores both lip kisses and kisses in other places

-But either way he’s gentle and caring with his kissing

-He’s never one for a chaste or hurried kiss

-He’ll hold you in his arms tightly as he slowly covers your face in kisses

-trailing up your jaw and to your cheekbones and ending it with your lips

-And even though these kisses are reserved for when your alone together

-he has nooo problem showing his affection in public

-it’s a little more toned down of course

-but expect him to press a nice kiss on your temple every now and again

-or maybe a short but firm and nice hug (with a sneaky kiss on the neck)

-this man just wants to shower you with affection whenever he can

-and 1000% will

-oh and if you show him some fluffy affection (preferably kisses) he will melt

-he adoresss when you reciprocate his affections and he may or may not shut down every now and again

-he’s adorable 🥰

[lostyesterday]

I think most people agree that, of all the TNG major characters, Worf was the best possible one to bring into DS9. He fits the best into the DS9 cast, and it’s pretty hard to imagine fitting any other TNG character in at all as well. This made me think about the fact that, since all the 90’s Trek shows are set at approximately the same time, you could theoretically take almost any major character from any show and put them into another show. So I asked myself the question, which character from each 90’s Trek show would fit the best into each other show?

The best TNG character to be on Voyager: Easily Deanna Troi. I don’t think having a counselor onboard would genuinely fix the Voyager crew’s problems, but it would add an interesting layer, and we would get to see lots of disastrous counseling sessions. I also think Deanna could have particularly interesting interactions with B’Elanna and Seven, and I’d love to see her develop an unlikely friendship with Tuvok. The one major issue I can see is that there would be a bit of redundancy with Kes in terms of her empathic abilities, but at the same time, I think they could have an interesting dynamic.

The best DS9 character to be on TNG: Obviously Worf and O’Brien are discounted from consideration here. I’ll admit this is a hard one – the DS9 crew just would not fit very well on TNG. It also feels like cheating to choose Bashir because he had good chemistry with Data and Geordi in the crossover episode, so instead I’m going to pick Odo. I’m not sure how exactly the plot could be worked to make Odo’s presence on Enterprise make sense, but I think he would get along really well with Picard, and I think he and Data could have had interesting discussions. I also think Odo would slot interestingly into TNG’s typical moral dilemma episodes.

The best DS9 character to be on Voyager: Either Jadzia or Kira could be interesting. I think Jadzia would fit really naturally into the crew and could have filled the generally vacant main science officer spot. There would be interesting things to explore in her dynamics with basically every single main crew member, particularly Janeway and B’Elanna. Kira could be interesting in terms of how she related to the Maquis/Starfleet relationship, and I’d love to see her dynamic with Chakotay and B’Elanna. In general, I think both Jadzia and Kira would have some really interesting feelings about being stranded so far from the Alpha Quadrant.

The best Voyager character to be on TNG: Harry feels like he’d theoretically slot in the most naturally, but I think his role and personality would end up being too similar to Geordi. So, oddly enough, I think Tom might actually work the best in TNG. His backstory is based on that of a minor TNG character, and I think it would be interesting to see Tom work through (or not) his issues with Starfleet and his father in an environment that was not at all as far removed as Voyager was. He could have an interesting dynamic with Picard and Deanna, and maybe even Data and Geordi.

The best Voyager character to be on DS9: Chakotay would be interesting, since I might have liked an alternate Maquis storyline on DS9 that actually had one of them as a major character. What would happen if Sisko was actually forced to work with a Maquis leader for some reason, and what if they actually ended up finding common ground and respecting each other? I’m thinking more along the lines of Sisko’s dynamic with Cal Hudson in the Maquis two-parter rather than his dynamic with Eddington. Again, I think Chakotay and Kira could have a really interesting dynamic as well.

[vind3miat0r]

project meridian loop theory

oohhh boy, we're back with me putting on a tinfoil hat and yapping about theories again

this is, of course, about the newest Project Meridian audio, so spoilers for that!!

(putting everything under the cut because theres a LOT)

JESUS CHRIST. okay. thats a lot. lots to unpack here mhm yep.

okay guys hear me out: Asset is stuck in a time or a simulation loop

bear with me im about to get REALLY nerdy with this BUT

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 5 Episode 18 — "Cause and Effect" is a time loop episode. the entire crew gets caught in a time loop for about 27 days (but they obviously dont realize this until theyre out of the loop) the loop always begins with Captain Picard's personal log, and always ends with the accidental destruction of the Enterprise brought on by their warp core exploding due to being damaged while attempting to get away from an incoming ship that lost control of its direction

throughout the episode, each time the loop resets, the crew experiences intense deja vu, brought on by the fact that theyre reliving the same day over and over. theyre able to predict small events that happen (what cards come next in a poker game, Beverly predicting Geordi coming into Sick Bay, etc)

AND in one iteration of the loop, the crew figures out that theyre IN a time loop, and devise a method to avoid getting hit by the previously mentioned ship, which would set off the chain reaction of the warp core exploding

they do this method by using big brain science time knowledge that im too tired to understand, but basically the motif of the number 3 starts showing up in the next loop reset, and when the Enterprise is once again faced with only two choices to get away from the incoming ship, Data realizes that the reoccurring 3s are connected to Commander Riker (who has three pips to signify his rank)

(for context, in every loop where the Enterprise gets destroyed, the Captain followed Data's plan of using the tractor beam to steer the incoming ship away from the Enterprise. Riker's plan was to depressurize the cargo bays) Data follows through with Riker's plan, and this time the Enterprise doesnt explode (yippee!!)

you might be thinking, "Vinn, you just explained the entire episode to us. what does that have to do with project meridian??"

well, using instances from "Cause and Effect," we can compare them to some instances that just happened in "Something's Wrong"

— the second phone call could be an outside attempt to break Asset from the time/simulation loop

— Asset knowing who the Solitaires are despite not having access to information on them could be from another loop where James told them who the Solitaires are, and Asset remembering

— the phone at the end could signify the end/restart of the loop

— Asset's uneasiness about the Meridian in the beginning of the audio and their want to "seek approval" before entering it ( could be brought on by them somewhat remembering whats happened in previous loops)

— the first phone call (the one James picks up), theres some spooky ooky ambience in the background (could be that the phone is a conduit to the "real" timeline/world and only Asset is able to pick up on that??)

— when Asset and James leave the first room and enter a new area, someone on the PA makes an announcement for the Deltas. this announcement glitches, but James doesnt seem to notice, as he continues talking (i cant quite make it out, but it almost sounds like someone else is saying something?) (again, it could be interference from outside of the loop attempting to reach Asset)

— when stepping out of the elevator, someone brings James "the latest simulation report." again, outside interference/echoes from a previous loop perhaps trying to signal to Asset that theyre stuck in a simulation

— phone at the end also as someone saying "pick up" or "wake up," didnt realize until someone pointed it out. its very faint, but its there (again, could be someone attempting to break Asset out of the loop)

one thing that i find interesting (thats not related to the loop theory) is that James says the force in the Meridian "diverts demons away" and "breaks human minds" when usually demons are allowed through the Meridian and humans just. die. then again, we have no idea when PM takes place, so it could be normal if this is like,,, a good number of years in the future

uhh hashtag yeah. im perfectly sane guys :3

[sunderwight]

y'know what, I think it's kind of interesting to bring up Data from Star Trek in the context of the current debates about AI. like especially if you actually are familiar with the subplot about Data investigating art and creativity.

see, Data can definitely do what the AI programs going around these days can. better than, but that's beside the point, obviously. he's a sci-fi/fantasy android. but anyway, in the story, Data can perfectly replicate any painting or stitch a beautiful quilt or write a poem. he can write programs for himself that introduce variables that make things more "flawed", that imitate the particular style of an artist, he can choose to either perfectly replicate a particular sort of music or to try and create a more "human" sounding imitation that has irregular errors and mimics effort or strain. the latter is harder for him that just copying, the same way it's more complicated to have an algorithm that creates believable "original" art vs something that just duplicates whatever you give it.

but this is not the issue with Data. when Data imitates art, he himself knows that he's not really creating, he's just using his computer brain to copy things that humans have done. it's actually a source of deep personal introspection for the character, that he believes being able to create art would bring him closer to humanity, but he's not sure if he actually can.

of course, Data is a person. he's a person who is not biological, but he's still a person, and this is really obvious from go. there's no one thing that can be pointed to as the smoking gun for Data's personhood, but that's normal and also true of everyone else. Data's the culmination of a multitude of elements required to make a guy. Asking if this or that one thing is what makes Data a person is like asking if it's the flour or the eggs that make a cake.

the question of whether or not Data can create art is intrinsically tied to the question of whether or not Data can qualify as an artist. can he, like a human, take on inspiration and cultivate desirable influences in order to produce something that reflects his view on the world?

yes, he can. because he has a view on the world.

but that's the thing about the generative AI we are dealing with in the real world. that's not like Data. despite being referred to as "AI", these are algorithms that have been trained to recognize and imitate patterns. they have no perspective. the people who DO have a perspective, the humans inputting prompts, are trying to circumvent the whole part of the artistic process where they actually develop skills and create things themselves. they're not doing what Data did, in fact they're doing the opposite -- instead of exploring their own ability to create art despite their personal limitations, they are abandoning it. the data sets aren't like someone looking at a painting and taking inspiration from it, because the machine can't be inspired and the prompter isn't filtering inspiration through the necessary medium of their perspective.

Data would be very confused as to the motives and desires involved, especially since most people are not inhibited from developing at least SOME sort of artistic skill for the sake self-expression. he'd probably start researching the history of plagiarism and different cultural, historical, and legal standards for differentiating it from acceptable levels of artistic imitation, and how the use of various tools factored into it. he would cite examples of cultures where computer programming itself was considered a form of art, and court cases where rulings were made for or against examples of generative plagiarism, and cases of forgeries and imitations which required skill as good if not better than the artists who created the originals. then Geordi would suggest that maybe Data was a little bit annoyed that people who could make art in a way he can't would discount that ability. Data would be like "as a machine I do not experience annoyance" but he would allow that he was perplexed or struggling to gain internal consensus on the matter. so Geordi would sum it up with "sometimes people want to make things easy, and they aren't always good at recognizing when doing that defeats the whole idea" and Data would quirk his head thoughtfully and agree.

then they'd get back to modifying the warp core so they could escape some sentient space anomaly that had sucked the ship into intermediate space and was slowly destabilizing the hull, or whatever.

anyways, point is -- I don't think Data from Star Trek would be a big fan of AI art.

[prettyboypistol]

Star Trek TNG Men Reacting to a Sudden Confession! (x M!Reader)(mutual pining)

(Worf, Data, Will, Picard, Geordi)

Worf

Surprised, but very confused and refuses to show it

Mentally freaking out but physically stoic, rejects you at first- then asks to think about it- then accepts your feelings about three days later.

Asks if you are joking initially and orders you back to your station, but you stay in his mind for every waking moment(and asleep moment!) thinking about how a human/klingon romance would work between two men... two men kissing... battling for dom-"YES WORF SPEAKING WHAT IS NEEDED?"

Data

"as an artificial intelligence bot, I-" chat GPT aa

Curious and asks a bunch of questions (how did you know you were in love? What made you confess? What about me drew you to romantic attraction?)

Would accept your feelings and offer a trial relationship period to see and study how people act in romantic situations- after all, that information is hard to come by!

Will/Riker

RizzLord96 over here with a charming smile and a witty remark to your confession. If he's in the mood, he'll kiss your hand and remark about he knew he still had it.

He gives "fuck on the first date" energy, so just like... be prepared?

He'd call you cute for confessing and charms you to death with flirty remarks but mentally freaking about how to handle this.

Picard

maaaan rip this man will insta reject you even if he likes you back. He's so sacrificial that he'll tell you "it's for the greater good"

Just know that you're all he thinks about.

You're like a plague in his mind, a fever he can't sweat out. Definitely regrets his actions for a long while when you give him longing stares from across the hallways.

Geordi

Probably the most chill out of the group ngl a "really? Me?" and a "Wow, I never expected you to like me back, man."

little shy smiles from across the room and awkward waves, lunch minidates where you two lowkey dance around actually flirting but the mutual affection is clear as day to anyone who sees you two

secret Lore

RIP TO LORE HE HAS NEVER ENCOUNTERED THIS BEFORE

"Oh! Of course I knew this was coming. It was obviously written all over your face." (he did not know and it's burning up his wires inside that he's flustered)

short circuits a little bit but acts all high and mighty about "seducing" you so easily.

[holodecks-and-hennins]

TNG Original Costume Tests: Geordi La Forge

I don’t have the actual documentary, just the Trekcore caps, so forgive me if I miss anything, and feel free to add on if you have more info!

The VISOR here looks a lot more like a plain old visor to me, what with the smoothness and shininess. Though it still looks rather futuristic. Maybe I’m just attached to the VISOR the way it ended up! Interesting that it still has the silver frame and gold middle color scheme! It just doesn’t have the tines.

Straight-up ICONIC look right here. Not only does the VISOR look fantastic, the whole outfit combo is just so happy. I usually don’t love the colour yellow. This is a major exception. LeVar Burton made a fantastic choice of clothes and I’m so glad it’s enshrined for posterity. I have an irrational love for this look. I think about it all the time. (Also: this is the source of a fantastic gif by @star-trekster)

Nice close up on the two different colours for the ocular implants of his VISOR! They ended up going with the red one, but the multicoloured one also looks cool! It looks more like Data’s inner workings.

There are also a few tests that are obviously not on LeVar Burton (I don't know who this actor is, but I think they also screen tested some general crew uniforms), but are still interesting. This one has a black frame and some sort of sparkly thing going on. To me, the middle looks weirdly recessed to me, because it doesn’t have the tines filling it in.

The on screen visor designs tend to have the tines more significantly overlapped (season 1, they’re almost all the way across, and in later seasons they’re connected to both the top and bottom of the frame), so the half overlapping tines combined (com-tined?) the slightly taller frame make it look a lot larger. However, it doesn’t reach all the way to the ears like the on screen version does.

[stargatesimp]

Can I just talk about how much I love Star Trek friendships?

Shipping is fun and all, ship whoever you like! (Starship? I don’t know if that’s a term used in this fandom but if not it should be)

But I don’t think platonic friendships and platonic love are talked about enough. God I love adorable friendships in shows. Give me two best friends who would die for each other. Found family is where it’s AT.

Like,

VOYAGER: So. many. Good ones.

Janeway and Tuvok. Tom and Harry. Chakotay and B’lanna. The Doctor and Kes. The list goes on!

I just love them all dearly. Voyager has such a great found family dynamic. I grew up watching this show with my family every day after school and it holds such a special place in my heart. I could spend a million hours talking about it.

Not to mention DS9.

Sisko and Dax, Miles and Julian, Kira and Dax, Jake and Nog, Odo and Quark (best frenemies. Sheriff and outlaw)

DS9 is my absolute favorite of all Star Treks. The writing and development is insane. If you told me what these characters would go through after watching season one, I don’t think I’d believe you. Another one I could talk hours about but this post is long enough just listing the dang names.

Those two are the majority of what I rewatch, but man, the others have amazing ones too.

Enterprise was just Archer being a father to literally everyone on the ship. And him and Trip being another of my favorite friendship duos.

TNG is a classic, a lot of people’s favorites. I always loved Geordi and Data. Guinan and literally everyone. I think I need to go back and rewatch it soon to fully appreciate everyone in the crew.

And as controversial as it may be, I never really got into the original series. But obviously some great friendships there too.

But man, I love Star Trek. The feeling of hope it gives you, the despair, the moral quandary, the wonder and magic. The wonderful mix of witty and fun humor balanced with severe stakes and serious narratives. A balance I feel a lot of modern sci-fi lacks. And I just love the characters that go through it all together. The journey they take.

Tell me some of your favorite Star Trek friendship moments! Let’s talk about em.

[gaykarstaagforever]

I just had a wild idea about Trek. And it's probably one other people have already had. But I'm antisocial so if this is an established facet of the fandom, I am not aware of it.

Humans in Trek are more progressive to an apparent biological degree, right? So things like bigotry and greed and sexual hang-ups are stuff from their ancient past. But the shows are intended for us primitive 20th / 21st century chuds. So they don't show us a lot of stuff, because even as contemporary progressives, we aren't going to be able to handle a lot of this transcendent post-WWIII Enlightenment stuff, especially as it applies to sex and romance and gender. Also, they've cured or can effectively treat most / all traditional Earth diseases. And no doubt also have virtually side effect-free, totally effective birth control, and no gendered cultural issues about both sexes using it (or people getting abortions if all else fails. Or maybe even beaming the fetal cells out of a womb and into an artificial one, if someone wants to adopt it.)

You may have already guessed where I'm going with this.

What if these people are fucking like bonobos, all the time, and we just don't see it? What if that's our unique Earth-species thing, that we're the big-brained casual sex monkeys? What if that's what we're known for, as a member of the Federation?

Like, the crew gets off shift and immediately gets naked, and everyone is doing everyone. And because they separate sex from romance, it has zero weird impact on their working relationships. Like, it's just exercise, maybe a team-building thing?

Like, Kirk is off duty at the same time as MCoy and Chekov, and they casually meet up and everyone gets everyone off. And it means basically nothing after they go back to quarters. And maybe the reason McCoy is so hostile to Spock all the time is because the Vulcans, with their repressed emotions thing and breeding cycle, don't do sex like this. So McCoy is constantly sexually tense with him, because so far, Spock won't engage with the standard crew ass-play. And Kirk is nicer about it, just quietly waiting him out, hoping some day to win him over.

Like, it's the equivalent of the poker game in TNG. Orgies are just another thing everyone does. Love and romance are separate, and they still take those seriously, and some people are straight and emotionally monogamous and bad at that aspect. But that's a totally separate thing.

Like, both Barclay and Geordi are getting laid 8 times a week on the Enterprise, they're just bad at romance and creep everyone out. Both Crusher and Troi have eagerly fucked Barclay tons of times, but would never "date" him, and he wishes they would and does the fantasy holodeck stuff.

Picard and Crusher go at it non-stop. But emotionally, they aren't sure if they want to love eachother.

Riker, perhaps a more prolific sex-haver, has had sex with literally everyone on the ship. Except maybe Worf, because Klingons are still conservative about all this? And Data, who has the same issue with free sex that he has with emotions in general. Riker only falls for the Minuet hologram specifically because she's not a usual wet hole, it's different and interesting to him at this point. But he and Troi being in love is a totally sequestered thing from all this sex. She's also fucking tons of people.

DS9 gets interesting, because so many of them are aliens who no doubt have different ways of doing sex. But the Bajorans seem very humanlike, so maybe Sisko and Kira both had sex with Winn when she first arrived. And the Trill seem pretty open, so Dax is probably like Riker and has made the rounds. The romance part is still the big thing they all have to sort out, which is all we see, which is why it comes across as 1940s morality to us.

...Obviously the Ferengi are sexist, so they're probably pretty repressed. Or maybe their "men" just pay eachother for sex all the time? They don't show us this, so it's possible.

OBVIOUSLY CHILDREN ARE NOT INVOLVED IN THIS. And they have careful moral rules about emotional age differences. So Wesley and Nog and Jake are out of this loop, unless it's with people their own age, or they turn 22 and can handle this. And that's why Jake's dating situation that time was exceptional.

This is fun to think about, how these people may inhabit a day-to-day world we have never seen, just like how they apparently interact with crazy non-humanoid aliens all the time that the shows largely haven't shown us

...And what kind of sex toys and techniques do these people have, given their technology? The kinky things you can do with transporters and replicators and holograms... It gives Quark's holosuites a dimension we cannot even fathom.

I naturally assume the Cardassians are basically 1950s humans about sex. That genocidal imperial impulse probably partly comes from them not being allowed to have crazy skull-faced monster men sex with their bros.

I don't know about Klingons. Their sex is physically dangerous. They're probably a bit more picky about who they let break their ribs. But the pain of that is also probably necessary to them getting off, and maybe a Klingon blood-brother is a guy you have been inside / has been inside you. A good bonding experience.

[thewomancallednova]

TNG season 2 overall thoughts

I don't really have a formal rating systems, because that would require too much effort, but i did briefly review my notes on the past twenty-two episodes and sorted them into the categories "sucks", "bad", "mid", "good" and "great". This season got: 5 sucks 3 bad 3 mid 4 good 6 great

I think overall this was worse than season 1.

Interestingly I don't even think it's because of the overall direction not going where I'd have liked it to (kill Picard, make Riker captain, Geordi XO, bring back the parasites from Conspiracy etc.). In fact I think the show did well with Geordi as chief engineer and even made Picard more likeable. I think it's genuinely just the average quality of the scripts going down.

The season continues to mostly use just a single plot per episode and does a/b plot in a few cases.

Two trends in the storytelling I've noticed:

Especially towards the end of the season we see less of the Enterprise's actual mission and much more of the build-up. In Peak Performance we spend most of the episode preparing for the war games and then the last few scenes are the war games. The Emissary is mostly dedicated to Worf and K'Ehleyr's relationship, while the mission is just handled in the last scene. In Manhunt we spend the whole episode following Lwaxana Troi's shenanigans, the diplomatic conference isn't in the show at all and we only see the beam-out at the end. That's episodes 2x19-2x21 all doing that format. I would also argue that Samaritan Snare is a harbinger of this format, with the Picard/Wesley plot being about their relationship and the actual medical procedure being in a few scenes at the end.

And then more towards the start, we have episodes where there is a guest star who will be the real main character of the episode, with the TNG cast just serving as background to sometimes inform their decisions or influence them slightly. We see this in The Outrageous Okona, in a slightly strange way where Brent Spiner is the guest star in The Schizoid Man and also in Unnatural Selection. Again, this is more of an observation and these episodes range from excellent to very much not excellent.

I want to stress that I don't think that format is inherently good or bad, I both liked and disliked some of them. But I do think it lessens the overall feeling of the show if that makes sense. In the sason one special features someone from the effects team talked about basically making every episode as cinematic as possible and basically making a movie every week. And I think you really feel that with season one, every episode feels like a new epic tale. And season two is less exciting than that. We more often just hang out with the characters and their personal lives, while an interesting plot (like the Klingon sleeper sihp in The Emissary) is relegated to the final scenes.

O'Brien! He gets a name and a new job! And he gets to be friends with the main characters too, playing poker with them!

I think they tried to do something like that with Sonya Gomez too, but I guess that didn't work out?

I think Picard is vastly improved here. We learn some actually interesting things about his backstory and character in Samaritan Snare, he gets to be so righteous about Data in The Measure of a Man and he finally softens his views of the prime directive a tiny tiny bit in Pen Pals. And Picard's views on nonviolence and death are an important backbone to the show's moral compas, that are best shown in Contagion and Where Silence Has Lease.

Riker I think is kind of done a disservice this season. He just seems like he is settling for being the XO, when he really should be a captain. Which he of course gets to be this season, twice, on a Klingon ship in A Matter of Honor and on a derilict Starfleet vessel in Peak Performance. And those worked well, I just wish the show went there. I did also generally like the new backstory elements given in The Icarus Factor, even if I disliked their resolution.

Obviously this is a great season for Data, he plays Sherlock Holmes, he gets to have an antagonist in early Pulaski and someone who gets better in dealing with him in late Pulaski, he gets to prove his humanity over and over again, even if no one wants to acknowledge it, and he's core to my three favourite plots this season, The Measure of a Man, Pen Pals and the b plot of THe Outrageous Okona.

I think Worf settles into the security role very well, and I am very glad that he has a defined role now. And he is hilarious. I mentioned this before, but Worf's dry comments in The Child, Up the Long Ladder and Manhunt were the only moments I laughed out loud during the season. I wish some things went differently though, the episodes focusing on him (the b plot in The Icarus Factor and The Emissary) establish basically that Klingons are just genetically more aggressive and I think that sucks. And I think it makes it worse than the portrayal of the Klingons in TOS (well, sans the blackface and orientalism which are both inexcusable). On the other hand I found A Matter of Honor (which focues more on Riker than Worf) to be an interesting and nuanced take on Klingon culture. Honestly, I think that's just the biggest thing for me. A Matter of Honor is about Klingon culture. The Emissary (and that one line in The Icarus Factor) are about Klingon biology. And Trek would be wise to focus on the former and not the latter.

Troi didn't get that much to do this season. I do really enjoy her and Riker's weird little relationship. Honestly, any fictional relationship where they don't put labels on it and it's clear that they deeply love and care for each-other and still fuck other people is 10/10 to me.

PulaskI! I did generally like where her character went. I love that she starts out being bigoted towards Data, but is able to learn and overcome that bigotry and in turn become one of Data's bigger advocates, like in Pen Pals where she validates his emotions towards Worf. Speaking of, I like her little friendship with Worf. We don't see that much of it, only its beginnings in Up the Long Ladder and some light bantering later, but it's cute. I do think it sucks that her only major episodes are Unnatural Selection (the worst episode of TNG so far) and Shades of Gray (the clip show). Everywhere else she is usually more of a supporting player than the star of the show. I do regret that she didn't return for season 3. Nothing wrong with her character at all.

Wesley! I feel like Wesley got some interesting stuff early on in The Child, where he grows up a bit by staying on the Enterprise instead of returning to Earth with his mother, and then again in Pen Pals, where he gets to be in command a tiny bit. Those are both really well done. I felt less positively about his pseudo-father/son relationship which I think the writers were going for in Samaritan Snare, and I'd have preferred they delve more into his relationship with Riker. I think that'd have made for a much stronger found father/son dynamic. And then he gets to be a stereotypical teenager in The Dauphin I guess.

Geordi, I of course want to see in the XO chair, but honestly Burton nails being the tech-enthusiastic chief engineer so well, I can see why they went for it. Especially in Contagion but also in Samaritan Snare, he just does it very well.

I continue to enjoy the lack of killing and the importance that is placed on death and preserving life. I feel like at the end of the show, this will be the major thing that I love about it.