#been watching tos and rewatching tng and this is what came out of it

[youcouldbewonderful]

i just think they'd be friends

[ussjellyfish]

Star Trek asks: 🖖, 🌀 and 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾

🖖 First Star Trek Media you encountered:

We watched TNG on television when I was a kid (as it was airing the first time!). One of my earliest memories (I was 4) is of Will Riker getting sucked into the big black Armus pool and how freaky that was. I remember the face coming up from the bottom.

And they saved him! he was okay. (Tasha's death did not compute in my very small mind). Will being okay in the end was part of "Star Trek means we're all okay" which is my earliest opinion.

Often this still carries over.

🌀 If the Holodeck was real, what's the first thing you would use it for?

adventure fantasy RPGs. I'd love to be able to play something like Dragon Age. It would be incredible.

I would also use it to test out fic lines and positions and make sure they make sense. I have no sense of inner eye, so that would be helpful. Where do her hands go...

👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾 Do you ship any characters? Who?

Oh Georgiou.

I don't have any strong preferences about ships in some series. My levels of shipping are:

Ships I find cute on screen. (USS Enterprise-G)

Ships I would read fic. I would probably write fic for an exchange or a challenge. (USS Enterprise-D)

Ships I would write fic for, because I want the fic to bring myself joy and those are much more intense. (USS Voyager) I will land my starship on this planet.

Ships that are platonic for me and I adore them. (USS Protostar)

Ships where I want to read everything that has ever been written about them. I have saved all the artwork. I want to commission more artwork. (USS DIscovery) I will travel through the mycelial network for this ship. This ship is my home.

(under a cut for length)

TOS - no ships. Never really had any. TOS is not foundational for me though, I don't think I've seen the whole thing and probably never will. It's so much men talking.

AOS - I have a soft spot for Spock/Uhura. I really liked Uhura.

TNG - I shipped Deanna/Will so much as a child. They're in my very first fanfic. I liked Beverly/Jean-Luc (historical) later, but not until I was an adult. Deanna/Will I shipped as a very tiny human. I have witten fic for both of these. I also ship Beverly/Deanna, and Beverly/Deanna/Will in a very lighthearted way.

DS9 - Jadzia Dax/Lenara Kahn is gorgeous and tragic and I adore them. Kira/Dax in a very lighthearted way. They're fun. I shipped Jadzia Dax/Worf when the show first came out and probably would if I did a rewatch, but it's a very mild ship (I wouldn't read fic). I am very invested in Jadzia Dax.

VOY - Kathryn Janeway/B'Elanna Torres is fun. I've read some fic. I love how intellectual they would be together. I wrote and read much Janeway/Chakotay (historical) about ten years ago, but I'm not as into him now. (Robert Beltran makes it hard for me). Still love Janeway. I also like Seven/B'Elanna.

ENT - I enjoyed Trip/T'Pol when the show was on. I don't think I've seen all of it. I love T'Pol.

SNW - I have a passing interest in Una/La'An and Una/Pike. I've read some fic but haven't written any. I want nice things for Batel/Pike in canon. (he needs to be a better partner to her though). I ship Amanda/Sarek here simply based on how convince I am that Amanda loves him.

PIC - Seven/Raffi are wonderful and I adore them. I love their connection and their dear faces. Agnes/Borg Queen are fun and dark. Laris/Zhaban are fun. I wanted to ship Beverly/Jean-Luc again but they didn't give me much. Shipper brain was not engaged. Deanna/Will were so angsty. Will & Beverly might be my strongest legacy ship in this show. I wish Beverly & Deanna got to talk.

PRODIGY - dammit here I almost ship Janeway/Chakotay again. I ship Janeway/happiness here so much and if finding him will make her happy, okay fine. Gwyndala/Dal are cute and I want them to have nice things. Haven't wanted to read any fic though.

Crossover Trek - Beverly Crusher/Kathryn Janeway has held a special place in my shipper heart for 13 years. I love them so much. I love that they're still going and they show up in exchanges. They would be such a good couple.

Philippa Georgiou/Afsaneh Paris was such a fun thing.

Most trek crossover femslash is fun and I would try it in an exchange.

DSC - Philippa Georgiou (captain)/Katrina Cornwell. They'd be cute. They must have met. Katrina Cornwell/Gabriel Lorca (prime), Katrina sold me on that one. Katrina Cornwell/Philippa Georgiou (emperor), they have a handful of scenes and they would totally work.

Michael Burnham/Cleveland Booker are very cute on screen and I hope they get a nice ending. (I think they will). Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets are adorable and charming. Adira Tal/Gray Tal are so sweet. Saru/T'Rina are the regency couple of Star Trek and they're very cute. They're so happy in season 5, I love it. I think Joann Owosekun/Keyla Detmer are really fun, I hope they get a nod this season. I love how much the actors do with a look. Michael & Tilly are one of my favorite friendships ever and I adore them. Michael Burnham & Philippa Georgiou (emperor) variety is so complex and intense and I love how they evolve and grow together.

Michael Burnham/Laira Rillak are my top tier, own my soul, ship. I will read every fic that is ever published of them and reblog the gifs on repeat forever and memorize every nuance of every conversation they've ever had. They are the shiniest thing in my fannish heart at the moment, and I have watched their scenes together so many times.

For years I was this obsessed with Beverly/Kathryn, but they didn't have scenes together so I couldn't rewatch them.

Micahel/Laira have scenes together! They talk to each other! I have a whole arc that I can watch on repeat!! I have different episodes to watch for different feelings I need for fic!!

They're so niche and I wish I had more people to talk about them with because I love them so much and...it is a very lonely ship. People do write fic and read it and it's tiny and lovely. I am so grateful for all the interactions I ever have about this ship.

I often feel very out of step in my fannish Star Trek spaces because they are not a ship shared by many. I feel seen when someone acknowledges how much I love them.

[jennawynn]

Chronotrek: TOS Season 1 Part 2

A long one because I thought I'd made a post more recently than I had... but this is the one! This is the one that means those of you who have been following along finally get your money's worth because I did not put two and two together and had the biggest OH SHIT moment... at the end. lol

8- So Korby's the one that is into 'archaeological' medicine on SNW that Chapel's going to study with, right? I thought he was Vulcan, but I guess just ON Vulcan.

Kirk's silly little tuck and roll maneuvers are so cute. Like a toddler pretending to fight.

Kinda figured Korby was also an android.

9- Another Earth?? Oh, good job, Jim. You punched a big kid.

Eww. Sudden dislike of plotline intensifies. "She's becoming a woman." I guess the 'kids age imperceptibly slow' thing makes it a little more palatable? Maybe?

You know... I've gotten so used to having so many aliens on the shows that it feels like they're practically absent in this one. I guess the pilot, Spock, the dog in an alien costume... oh and Nancy and Charlie. It feels out of place that even the aliens are so... human.

10- Helen's skirt is so short you can tell they wear shorts underneath. SKORTS!

Damn, Helen's got a body count!

11- What in the Windows XP screensaver is that??

Spock's inflections when he gives/receives orders are... part amusing part irritating. Is that Nimoy or a Choice? The way his voice lilts at the end of an order.

Do I know what the First Federation is? Or Balok?

GDI Bailey, get your shit together! He should have been relieved.

12- OH SHIT, PIKE?! The sfx have gotten so much better lmao. I never put 2 & 2 together and realize that Pike's future might be in TOS. This is another in a long line of things that I probably should have anticipated that their introductions in Disco/SNW means that they were probably fleshing out backstory to things that happened in TOS. I just assumed that everything in Disco/SNW was created for those shows :joy:

Side note: This is a 2 and 2 and OH SHIT moment, but count it as a midseason finale cause we've got more to go!

13- I don't know... I think I like that Pike got his happy ending, even if they really should have advanced enough medicine to heal him.

14 THEY HAVE SHUTTLES!

I didn't realize TOS!Uhura sang so much. Guess that explains SNW!Uhura.

DOUBLE Red Alert... you're in trouble now!

15- One thing I do appreciate is how many people are in the show. So many extras and small parts instead of just 7 senior staff. It makes it feel more real, like a real ship. Like if you're gonna tell me that there are (checks notes) 428 people on the ship, there need to be more than 4 people on screen. I also like that it's clear they have a duty rotation. It's not always the same person in the navigator's chair. Sulu's not always the helmsman. Ortegas can't stand watch 24 hours a day!

I've already forgotten where the Romulans came in previously... Wait. This looks familiar. (Rewatches SNW A Quality of Mercy)

It starts with a wedding, just like before. Some other captain... so I was right! It was an AU of what if Pike was there instead of Kirk. Even the dialogue matches the beginning except that the outpost commander is suddenly Arabic. Visual of the Romulans makes Spock raise his eyebrows- that felt like a reference when I saw it in SNW. The way the camera panned was very tongue in cheek.

I thought Romulans wouldn't be identified until much later- like TNG later- that it was a question for more than the single episode in which they were introduced.

In SNW the bride was killed and Spock injured. In TOS, the groom was lost instead.

"Leave any bigotry in your quarters, not on the bridge."

Romulan = Roman. How did I not catch that?

Makes no damn sense to take half the bridge crew off the bridge during a high pressure situation to take them to a briefing room. Brief on the bridge.

16- What a fey adventure this is... lol

So you think about something and it appears? And the woman just happens to keep thinking about men who assault her? What in the rape fantasy bullshit is this?

17 Tools look like toys from a toddler's toybox.

18- Notify the Discovery... but Discovery's gone! Did they already build a new one?

It's funny bc the women are almost always filmed in closeups with a soft lens... the 'glamor shots' camera. And all the men without... except Kirk. He often gets the soft lens. It makes me wonder just how much they intended to appeal to (straight) female viewers.

19- As soon as I saw 'Gorn' in the episode blurb, I wondered if it was the dino man that Kirk fights in all those old gifs... and it IS!

Slow motion fisticuffs.

Why is Kirk so stupid? They said they would provide weapons, but all I've found are sticks, stones, and sharp diamonds! No phasers anywhere! (They also said they'd give him a translator, and he's sitting there recording his captain's log WHERE THE GORN CAN HEAR HIM. (haha I didn't think that would actually be explicitly explained later)

20- They're so concerned about telling Captain Christopher anything about the future, but tell him that not only does he have a son (he doesn't have yet) but that the son will lead a project to Saturn??

It's annoying how much his attitude changed just because he found out he's going to have a son.

That guy's hat is on sideways.

If it's just a matter of slingshotting the sun to go back or forward in time, why isn't it done more often during the time warp trickery ST likes so much? Also... I get storytelling device but I hate the idea of clocks running backwards to show time is in reverse. Why aren't the people in reverse too, then?

21- Stone is aptly named. He has practically no expressions, especially opposite Kirk.

WHY WOULD THEY PUT THOSE TWO BUTTONS NEXT TO EACH OTHER?? And knowing that they are, why would Kirk press one without looking at it??

Did... he say one to the fourth power? Isn't that... one?

23- The Eugenics Wars were in the mid-90s?

Saying 'mid-90s' was 30 years ago for SNW/Disco, but TOS saying 'mid-90s' was 30 years in the future. I'd be interested to see what they thought the mid-90s would look like.

Is that Singh?

Women (besides Uhura, who exists to make sure there's a Black woman on screen all the time) apparently only exist in the story when they need to do a romantic or sexual storyline.

WAIT. KHAAAAAAAAAAAN is Singh?? (Also I thought the Noonien part of La'an's name was from another ancestor trying to soften the Singh part of the name, not that it was a whole last name.) I thought the KHAAAAAAN guy was just Khan or last name Khan like Kirk. I totally missed that THAT guy was the same guy as the Eugenics War guy.

At least now I assume that Wrath of Khan is the KHAAAAN guy is this guy is La'an's ancestor.

So Jim drops charges from a dictator from 200 years ago and drops him off on a habitable planet with 72 super-men. I'm sure this won't ever come back with negative consequences.

That's uh... brownface, isn't it?

[thegreaterlink]

Reviewing Star Trek TNG - S1E10 "Haven"

The Next Generation has hit double digits. If only there had been a better episode to mark the occasion.

THE PREMISE

The Enterprise has been summoned to the planet Haven by Counsellor Deanna Troi's mother, Lwaxana (pronounced "loo-axe-anna"). Deanna had previously been betrothed to human doctor Wyatt Miller, so her mother has tracked her down to force her to marry him. However, as Deanna is half human and half Betazoid, Lwaxana and Miller’s parents quickly clash over their cultural differences.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise encounters a ship which the crew identify as Tarellian, a species thought to have been wiped out by a lethal and highly contagious virus, headed towards the planet Haven.

MY REVIEW

I'm not particularly interested in arranged marriage plots in general, and this episode does little to endear them to me - Deanna doesn't want it because she's obviously in love with Riker, Miller (who isn’t particularly interesting as a character) is clearly having second thoughts after actually meeting Deanna, and Riker is caught in the middle. So we have a love triangle. Joy of joys. And anyone who's seen Nemesis knows how it'll end anyway.

Having watched Deep Space Nine before this, I'm no stranger to an episode being divided between an A and B plot. The problem is that the B plot of the plague ship feels out of place in this episode for the most part and gets much less focus. I wouldn't be surprised if they were either two separate plot concepts meshed into a single episode, or the B plot was thrown in at the last minute to pad out a script that was running short.

However, the writers probably realised this and at least found a way to tie the two plots together - Miller is disappointed upon meeting Troi because she doesn't match the visions of a woman that he's been having for years and has fallen in love with. And it just so happens that the woman, Arianna, is a passenger on the plague ship. So Miller gets his dream girl and Troi gets to stay on the ship. Everybody wins!

Deanna Troi's mother, Lwaxana, is played by Majel Barrett. In addition to being married to Star Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry, Barrett had previously played Number One in the TOS pilot "The Cage", Nurse Christine Chapel in the rest of the series and two of the movies, and would voice most of the computer interfaces up until the 2009 reboot. She's thoroughly entertaining as Lwaxana Troi, even if the character can be a bit overbearing at times - just ask Odo.

As for Lwaxana's bickering with Miller’s parents, it's... fine. Not what I'd really like to watch in a Star Trek episode, but tolerable. Though I have to give a special mention to Data watching on in the background like his favourite show just came on. I love him.

In addition to Barrett, this episode features two other notable guest appearances. Lwaxana's valet, Mr Homn, is played by Carel Struycken, who also played Lurch in the the 1990s Addams Family movies, making him the second Lurch to appear on Star Trek.

The other is Armin Shimerman, making his second guest appearance as the face of a Betazoid gift box, who will live forever in my nightmares from this day forward.

4/10 - One which I'd most likely skip on a rewatch.

Side note: There’s a scene early on where I swear Troi calls Riker “Bill” instead of Will.

Previous Episode | TNG Masterpost | Next Episode

[aion-rsa]

The Star Trek: The Original Series Episodes That Best Define the Franchise

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By the time my generation got to watch Star Trek: The Original Series, the episodes often were being presented in top-ten marathons. When I was ten-years-old, for the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek, I tape-recorded a marathon of ten episodes that had all been voted by fans as the best-ever installments of The Original Series. Later, I got lucky and found Trek stickers at the grocery store and was able to label my VHS tapes correctly. But do I think all the episodes that were in that marathon back in 1991 were really the best episodes of all of the classic Star Trek? The short answer: no. Although I love nearly every episode of the first 79 installments of Star Trek, I do think that certain lists have been created by what we think should be on the list rather than what episodes really best represent the classic show. 

This is a long-winded way of saying, no, I didn’t include “Amok Time” or “The Menagerie” on this list because, as great as they are, I don’t think they really represent the greatest hits of the series. Also, if you’ve never watched TOS, I think those two episodes will throw you off cause you’ll assume Spock is always losing his mind or trying to steal the ship. If you’ve never watched TOS, or you feel like rewatching it with fresh eyes, I feel pretty strong that these 10 episodes are not only wonderful, but that they best represent what the entire series is really about. Given this metric, my choice for the best episode of TOS may surprise you…

10. “The Man Trap” 

The first Star Trek ever episode aired should not be the first episode you watch. And yet, you should watch it at some point. The goofy premise concerns an alien with shaggy dog fur, suckers on its hand, and a face like a terrifying deep-sea fish. This alien is also a salt vampire that uses telepathy that effectively also makes it a shapeshifter. It’s all so specifically bonkers that trying to rip-off this trope would be nuts. Written by science fiction legend George Clayton Johnson (one half of Logan’s Run authorship) “The Man Trap” still slaps, and not because Spock (Leonard Nimoy)  tries to slap the alien. Back in the early Season 1 episodes of Star Trek, the “supporting” players like Uhura and Sulu are actually doing stuff in the episode. We all talk about Kirk crying out in pain when the M-113 creature puts those suckers on his face, but the real scene to watch is when Uhura starts speaking Swahili. The casual way Uhura and Sulu are just their lovable selves in this episode is part of why we just can’t quit the classic Star Trek to this day. Plus, the fact that the story is technically centered on Bones gives the episode some gravitas and oomph. You will believe an old country doctor thinks that salt vampire is Nancy! (Spoiler alert: It’s not Nancy.)

9. “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield” 

There are two episodes everyone always likes to bring up when discussing the ways in which Star Trek changed the game for the better in pop culture’s discourse on racism: “Plato’s Stepchildren” and this episode, “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield.” The former episode is famous because Kirk and Uhura kiss, which is sometimes considered the first interracial kiss on an American TV show. (British TV shows had a few of those before Star Trek, though.) But “Plato’s Stepchildren” is not a great episode, and Kirk and Uhura were also manipulated to kiss by telepaths. So, no, I’m not crazy about “Plato’s Stepchildren.” Uhura being forced to kiss a white dude isn’t great.

But “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield,” oddly holds up. Yep. This is the one about space racism where the Riddler from the ‘60s Batman (Frank Gorshin) looks like a black-and-white cookie. Is this episode cheesy? Is it hard to take most of it seriously? Is it weird that Bele (Frank Gorshin) didn’t have a spaceship because the budget was so low at that time? Yes. Is the entire episode dated, and sometimes borderline offensive even though its heart is in the right place? Yes. Does the ending of the episode still work? You bet it does. If you’re going to watch OG Star Trek and skip this episode, you’re kind of missing out on just how charmingly heavy-handed the series could get. “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield” is like a ‘60s after-school special about racism, but they were high while they were writing it.

8. “Arena”

You’re gonna try to list the best episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series and not list the episode where Kirk fights a lizard wearing gold dress-tunic? The most amazing thing about “Arena” is that it’s a Season 1 episode of The Original Series and somehow everyone involved in making TOS had enough restraint not to ever try to use this Gorn costume again. They didn’t throw it away either! This famous rubber lizard was built by Wah Chang and is currently owned by none other than Ben Stiller.

So, here’s the thing about “Arena” that makes it a great episode of Star Trek, or any TV series with a lizard person. Kirk refuses to kill the Gorn even though he could have, and Star Trek refused to put a lizard costume in a bunch of episodes later, even though they totally could have. Gold stars all around.

7. “Balance of Terror”

The fact that Star Trek managed to introduce a race of aliens that looked exactly like Spock, and not confuse its viewership is amazing. On top of that, the fact that this detail isn’t exactly the entire focus of the episode is equally impressive. The notion that the Romulans look like Vulcans is a great twist in The Original Series, and decades upon decades of seeing Romulans has probably dulled the novelty ever so slightly. But, the idea that there was a brutally cold and efficient version of the Vulcans flying around in invisible ships blowing shit up is not only cool, but smart.

“Balance of Terror” made the Romulans the best villains of Star Trek because their villainy felt personal. Most Romulan stories in TNG, DS9, and Picard are pretty damn good and they all start right here.

6. “Space Seed”

Khaaaan!!!! Although The Wrath of Khan is infinitely more famous than the episode from which it came, “Space Seed” is one of the best episodes of The Original Series even if it hadn’t been the progenitor of that famous film. In this episode, the worst human villain the Enterprise can encounter doesn’t come from the present, but instead, the past. Even though “Space Seed” isn’t considered a very thoughtful episode and Khan is a straight-up gaslighter, the larger point here is that Khan’s evilness is connected to the fact that he lived on a version of Earth closer to our own.

The episode’s coda is also amazing and speaks of just how interesting Captain Kirk really is. After Khan beat the shit out of him and tried to suffocate the entire Enterprise crew, Kirk’s like “Yeah, this guy just needs a long camping trip.” 

5. “A Piece of the Action”

A few years back, Saturday Night Live did a Star Trek sketch in which it was revealed that Spock had a relative named “Spocko.” This sketch was tragically unfunny because TOS had already made the “Spocko” joke a million times better in “A Piece of the Action.” When you describe the premise of this episode to someone who has never seen it or even heard of it, it sounds like you’re making it up. Kirk, Spock, and Bones are tasked with cleaning-up a planet full of old-timey mobsters who use phrases like “put the bag on you.” Not only is the episode hilarious, but it also demonstrates the range of what Star Trek can do as an emerging type of pop-art. In “A Piece of the Action,” Star Trek begins asking questions about genres that nobody ever dreamed of before. Such as, “what if we did an old-timey gangster movie, but there’s a spaceship involved?”

4. “Devil in the Dark”

When I was a kid, my sister and I called this episode, “the one with giant pizza.” Today, it’s one of those episodes of Star Trek that people tell you defines the entire franchise. They’re not wrong, particularly because we’re just talking about The Original Series. The legacy of this episode is beyond brilliant and set-up a wonderful tradition within the rest of the franchise; a monster story is almost never a monster story

The ending of this episode is so good, and Leonard Nimoy and Shatner play the final scenes so well that I’m actually not sure it’s cool to reveal what the big twist is. If you somehow don’t know, I’ll just say this. You can’t imagine Chris Pratt’s friendly Velicrapotrs, or Ripper on Discovery without the Horta getting their first.

3. “The Corbomite Maneuver” 

If there’s one episode on this list that truly represents what Star Trek is usually all about on a plot level, it’s this one. After the first two pilot episodes —“Where No Man Has Gone Before” and “The Cage”—this was the first regular episode filmed. It’s the first episode with Uhura and, in almost every single way, a great way to actually explain who all these characters are and what the hell they’re doing. The episode begins with Spock saying something is “fascinating” and then, after the opening credits, calling Kirk, who is down in sickbay with his shirt off. Bones gives Kirk shit about not having done his physical in a while, and Kirk wanders through the halls of the episode without his shirt, just kind of holding his boots. 

That’s just the first like 5 minutes. It just gets better and better from there. Like a good bottle of tranya, this episode only improves with time. And if you think it’s cheesy and the big reveal bizarre, then I’m going to say, you’re not going to like the rest of Star Trek. 

2. “The City on the Edge of Forever”

No more blah blah blah! Sorry, wrong episode. Still, you’ve heard about “The City on the Edge of Forever.” You’ve heard it’s a great time travel episode. You’ve heard Harlan Ellison was pissed about how the script turned out. You heard that Ron Moore really wanted to bring back Edith Keeler for Star Trek Generations. (Okay, maybe you haven’t heard that, but he did.)

Everything you’ve heard about this episode is correct. There’s some stuff that will make any sensible person roll their eyes today, but the overall feeling of this episode is unparalleled. Time travel stories are always popular, but Star Trek has never really done a time travel story this good ever again. The edge of forever will always be just out of reach.

1. “A Taste of Armageddon”

Plot twist! This excellent episode of TOS almost never makes it on top ten lists. Until now! If you blink, “A Taste of Armageddon” could resemble at least a dozen other episodes of TOS. Kirk and Spock are trapped without their communicators. The crew has to overpower some guards to get to some central computer hub and blow it up. Scotty is in command with Kirk on the surface and is just kind of scowling the whole time. Kirk is giving big speeches about how humanity is great because it’s so deeply flawed.

What makes this episode fantastic is that all of these elements come together thanks to a simplistic science fiction premise: What if a society eliminated violence but retained murder? What if hatred was still encouraged, but war was automated? Star Trek’s best moments were often direct allegories about things that were actually happening, but what makes “A Taste of Armageddon” so great is that this metaphor reached for something that could happen. Kirk’s solution to this problem is a non-solution, which makes the episode even better. At its best classic Star Trek wasn’t just presenting a social problem and then telling us how to fix it. Sometimes it was saying something more interesting — what if the problem gets even harder? What do we do then? 

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The humor and bombast of “A Taste of Armageddon” is part of the answer to that unspoken question, but there’s also a clever lesson about making smaller philosophical decisions. In Star Wars, people are always trying to rid themselves of the dark side of the Force. In Star Trek, Kirk just teaches us to say, “Hey I won’t be a terrible person, today” and then just see how many days we can go in a row being like that.

What do you think are the most franchise-defining episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series? Let us know in the comments below.

The post The Star Trek: The Original Series Episodes That Best Define the Franchise appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[mirrorfalls]

Lego Liveblogs ST: TOS, part 10 (of who-the-hell-knows-how-many?)

Things I should’ve done last night: read at least a Sparknotes of Macbeth so I know what Dagger of the Mind is supposed to imply.

Things I didn’t do last night: that.

* Prisons? In my enlightened 23rd century? How depressingly plausible. * Now this is some straight-up Beagle Boys shit. I love it. ** Guy, I sure hope you know what it means to put on a redshirt on this ship. * "A cage is a cage, Jim.” Again, how depressingly resonant. * Don’t know if this is supposed to be deliberate foreshadowing, but: the warden never gives a name (or even a number) for the fugitive so the crew can look up his record. * “Where there is no emotion there is no motive for violence.” What Earth history have you been reading, Spock?! * Oh, the crew is in rare form today. Not even the first ad break and the guy’s caught. * Bones, try not to let your mad-scientist show so much. * Ah, here’s our real plot: go down and explore Ye Olde Space Prison, boys, and decide for yourselves... are the inmates running it now? ** ~Wacky Sitcom Music Cue~ * Okay, Kirk, I know she’s not Nurse Christine (Barrett’s schedule couldn’t fit this in, I guess?) but that’s no reason to get snippy. * That’s one accommodating warden. Too accommodating... * Okay, whatever effect they used on this lady (glass eye? Contact?) it’s creepy as fuck. * Important Theme: Can someone be rehabilitated not by being convinced to live with their wrongdoings, but by having those wrongdoings outright erased? ** Spoiler: Probably not. * Knock it off, Kirk. I guess this is supposed to be banter, but it just comes off as spiteful. * Spock, I appreciate your needing to Get To The Truth and everything, but if he’s in too much pain to talk just give him a keyboard or something to write with. * ... say, was this before A Clockwork Orange came out? * Somehow it never occurred to me this’d be the Mind Meld’s debut. ** I have to wonder what audiences back in ‘66 thought of this - today even non-fans are casually aware of it as a part of Trek lore, but in the context of the episode it comes with no foreshadowing. Hell, people probably expected Bones to be the one with the fancy mind-massage techniques. * Probably continuity-by-accident, but I do love how Kirk’s a lot more reluctant to trust the Big Scientific Authority after how things went on the last planet. ** That said: Jesus Christ man at least radio in your situation before you "test out” the Lobotomy Beam! ** Aaaaand this has turned straight into the Unprofessionalism Olympics. Someone’s got it bad for the Captain. * Gasp. Shock. Who could’ve seen this coming. * Aww, our villain ships the heroes! ** Wonder how many fans rewrote this episode so Spock was the companion... * Again - probably not by design, but Shatner’s trademark overacting really highlights how artificial all the emotions created by the beam are. ** Hinging a cliffhanger on it, though, is good for nothing but laughs. * Uh, you alright, Kirk? ** Uhh. *** Uhhhhhhhhhhh. **** Oh thank God. * Anyway - this is more proactive than anything the other ladies have gotten to do in the last nine episodes, which is nice. Alas, it still involves a hot girl crawling around on hands and knees ‘cuz Roddenberry gonna Roddenberry. * Okay, how did you guys not see him shoving her into the vent?! * Can’t believe it took me this long to realize this was where TNG got the iconic "FOUR LIGHTS!” scene from. * Tsk, tsk. Shoulda strapped him down, doctor. * Holy shit, is this the first time one of the heroines killed a villain? You go, girl. * Ah, here’s our villain’s Karmic Fate: to be reprogrammed by the same machine- ** Oop, no, wait, it just plain killed him. Another point to Mr. Spock. * Also: every second of these lovey-dovey scenes is mutually nonconsensual. Pipe down the jolly music, guys. * “Hard to believe that a man could die of loneliness.” Bit silly as a line, but it’s a deft enough show of how Kirk’s now knows penal cruelties that Bones can barely imagine.

Act for act, this episode manages to feel even pulpier than the last one - the fanservice is still cranked just north of creepy, none of the Big Themes get off the ground, and the villain barely even pretends he has some higher motive behind lobotomizing everyone (with a spinny sun lamp, yet). And yet, somehow I’m more excited at the prospect of rewatching it two or three months down the line. Maybe it’s a matter of the script being more self-aware, maybe I just want to watch Dr. #Girlboss frying that mook again and again...

Next: Our third character-based title! Will she manage to succeed where Mudd and Charlie failed? Let’s hope so.

[nonbinaryhatboxghost]

Okay, today has been a quiet Saturday morning so far, I have some time, and I like lists. So here is my random (personal) ranking of Star Trek series and movies, out of what I’ve seen, which is everything but seasons 5-7 of Voyager, all of Enterprise, and all of Picard. I’m only counting shows with three or more seasons because it’s easier. But let the record show that I love Lower Decks so far and The Animated Series is actually a blast.

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT

Series Ranking

The Original Series - As influential of a show as it is, I constantly forget how much damn fun the original Trek is. There is an almost Community-like variance in tone and genre throughout the show. And I’m a sucker for a future that embraces primary colors. It is the Trek show I revisit the most so far, and it remains my favorite.

Deep Space Nine - This one comes close, though. It starts out as a solid spinoff with very well-defined characters, and then becomes a big, sprawling epic that had my eyes welling up by the end. It feels more like a sequel to The Original Series than The Next Generation did to me. It dealt with subject matter both different and darker than was expected for the time. It had characters at odds with each other. Religion was explored in a way that balanced brutal honesty with genuine respect. War and the various traumas it induces were acknowledged. And it had “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”. I only finished this one recently but I look forward to watching it again.

Discovery - I was rooting for this show to be good even as it went through so much behind-the-scenes drama during its first two seasons. Even with all of that going on, the show became a fascinating watch as you saw it change from its arguably-too-dark beginnings as a prequel, to the almost Doctor Who-like second season with its joyful embracing of classic Trek, and finally to its current iteration that at long last gives us a Trek show that’s not bound by prequel limitations. Michael Burnham is such a great character and getting to see her arc alone makes this one of my favorite Trek stories. The queer/nonbinary representation also warms my heart.

Voyager - I’m just starting the fifth season, but the show has settled into an interesting groove with its characters. And Voyager’s characters are so damn good that they counterbalance a lot of the show’s early problems. It takes a while for Voyager to realize that the Kazon do not work very well as villains. But once the show realizes that, it begins an upward trajectory in quality that reminds me of Deep Space Nine after it began doing Dominion plots. And Seven of Nine’s effect on the crew dynamic lives up to the hype. Any scene between her and Janeway demonstrates such a unique relationship between captain and crewmate that an episode plot can be meh and still worth it for a scene with those two. Also, Janeway is the best captain character. No other Trek show (that I’ve seen so far) comes close to showing us the weight of leadership like Voyager, and Mulgrew constantly brings it.

The Next Generation - This is my first Trek show. It’s the one that my dad watched. There are several standout episodes to me, but I find myself less drawn to revisiting TNG than the other Trek shows because ultimately it took me too long to understand and care about its cast of characters. If you were to ask me to describe any character from any other Trek show, I would be able to. Ask me to describe a TNG character and I would likely fail to give any good adjectives for any character besides Data and Worf. As iconic as the show is, and as great as it became, it doesn’t have the same pull on me as other Trek shows. But it was the template for the spinoffs that followed, and the portrayal of Picard’s trauma post-Borg assimilation earns its reputation as an all-timer for me.

Movie Ranking

VI: The Undiscovered Country - I’m surprised this one isn’t talked about as much as other Trek movies. It’s a very frank depiction of prejudices and learning to deal with them. It has one of the best Kirk/Spock scenes ever. Christopher Plummer as a Klingon. The ORIGINAL cast credits sign-off (yes, Avengers: Endgame borrowed from this). A score that carefully balances menace with eventual hope. A fun whodunit structure. I could go on and on. It’s just so damn great, and so far the only successful send-off to a Trek crew in any of the movies.

II: The Wrath of Khan - It’s a classic for a reason. I’ve probably rewatched this more than any other Trek movie. You got your great villain, your classic crew beginning to deal with their mortality, an all-timer death scene, a kickass early James Horner score. What more could you want?

The Motion Picture - This is an interesting one. When I first watched it as a teen, I hated it. I agreed with every critique of it being thinly plotted and having an excessive runtime. When I revisited it in my 20s, it became a favorite. It’s Star Trek’s exploration of existential dread, and the struggle to find agency and identity within that dread. It has possibly Jerry Goldsmith’s greatest score. It is the best that the Enterprise has ever looked. This movie envelopes you with eerie and epic imagery, culminating in a finale with interesting philosophical ramifications and a well-earned return to optimism from its crew. This one is criminally underrated.

First Contact - This one is just rock solid all around. The best-ever TNG villains, further exploration of Picard’s trauma from Borg assimilation, Alfre Woodard, Alice Krige, fun action, the genesis of the Federation. It has the best balance of darkness and fun out of all of the Trek movies. It also has a character actually say the words “star trek” in a way that never ceases to make me smile. I don’t know if it’s a good line, but it’s funny regardless.

Beyond - Like The Motion Picture, I initially disliked this upon first viewing. I was still in the middle of watching The Original Series and was in the wrong mindset for this mashup of TOS and Fast & Furious. But it’s one of the most underrated Treks because it’s a perfect balance of the more kinetic action found in the 2010s with a very well-done breakdown of the inherent point and value of Star Trek: learning to be better and move beyond fighting the same battles among ourselves.

IV: The Voyage Home - This one is such a satisfying culmination of the crew’s arc starting in The Wrath of Khan that the joy of the 1980s material is almost just a bonus to me. Nimoy does a good job of keeping things light without disregarding stakes. He gets the best portrayal of the crew’s camaraderie in this and The Search for Spock. And Spock’s reaction to the concept of “exact change” always makes me laugh.

III: The Search for Spock - I revisited this one recently and it held up better than I expected. Seeing the weight of Spock’s death on Kirk in the beginning hits hard. Christopher Lloyd as the Klingon villain is casually one of the best Trek movie villains. And seeing the crew uniting over trying to bring back Spock gives us some of the best on-screen moments of this cast.

Star Trek - One of the reasons I love Beyond so much is that it retroactively makes this one better. I was crazy for this movie when it came out. I was in high school, Star Trek in general was something I was only really aware of because of my dad. But this is the thing that got me into Trek. And as mixed of a bag as it now plays to me, ‘09 Star Trek being a gateway for me to general Trek, combined with the perfect casting of the crew, the excellent Giacchino score, and the emotion of the opening sequence, thankfully makes this one still a blast to revisit.

Nemesis - I have only seen this twice, and both of those times without having seen TNG in its entirety. This was also the very first Trek movie I ever saw. Nostalgia is a factor for why this is higher than the others on the list. Curiosity is another, as I was unaware of Tom Hardy when I watched this, and have no idea what my opinion will be on rewatch. But what I always remembered of this movie was its ending, which even to a novice like myself when I first saw it had an impact.

Generations - There are quite a few great scenes that Stewart gets in this movie. Malcolm McDowell is also great in it. But the whole plot feels too forced for me to get actually swept up in it. And as fun as it is to see Shatner and Stewart share the screen... it ultimately has no impact and leads to a strangely lame death for Kirk.

Insurrection - The idea of Enterprise going rogue against the Federation for forcibly relocating a population for a natural resource is such a good concept... which makes the goofiness and half-baked writing of this entry all the more confusing. All the elements are there, but it feels like the tone was forced to be lighter than the material warranted. It’s frustrating because Frakes’ directing chops that he showed off on First Contact are still visible here. But for whatever reason, this one just falls apart.

Into Darkness - This one is low on the list mainly because it represents almost all the negative traits of the modern blockbuster to me. Darkness without depth, franchise callbacks without substance, and no character development/change by the end. Another reason why Beyond works better as a sequel to ‘09 Star Trek than this one is that Into Darkness feels more like it’s trying to make Star Trek a bigger movie franchise rather than develop this iteration of the Enterprise crew. Nothing and no one is changed by the end of this story.

V: The Final Frontier - It is the most difficult Trek movie to sit through, and yet I can’t call it a disaster. For all of its misfirings on the comedy front (dancing Uhura, for instance), the camping material with Kirk, Spock and McCoy is genuinely great. The premise of its villain being on a quest to find God is ultimately a misfire, but it leads to a very engagingly ridiculous climax centered around the question “What does God need with a starship?” There are far too many undeveloped ideas in this one, but that scene is worth seeing this movie for. At least, now that we know it didn’t kill the franchise, as so many apparently feared when this came out.

[spockvarietyhour]

so if one wants to watch star trek for the first time, where should they begin? i’ve heard good shit about it but i have no idea where the good shit is. help?

It depends on your taste tbh, I don’t think you can go wrong by starting with the original 60s Star Trek TV series, for some goof sf, and good good cheese. I’ve known people that love TOS that didn’t care for TNG and vice-versa.

Star Trek Original Series Movies, 1 is a club footed attempt at something grandiose and somehow still works despite itself, 2-3-4 are the middle aged boys facing mortality, while 5 is ...camp I guess....and 6 is firmly rooted in glasnost and perestroika. 

TNG’s first season is a slog, I’m not gonna lie. There’s a reason we’ve trimmed down from 26 ep. seasons to to 20 and nowadays 13-10. There’s a lot of writer’s fatigue. S1 shows a lot of lack of direction and while I want to not recommend a bunch of S1 episodes I love my bastard children too much. S2 starts taking things more seriously while 3-5 are the golden years, 6 and 7 aren’t bad but don’t feel as great.

TNG Movies are so-so, Generations takes the bad parts of a tv show and give us an unused season finale trope (but despite that there’s still stuff to love), First Contact is the standard bearer of good TNG movies, while Insurrection and Nemesis try and fail and scifi tropes. Nemesis really isn’t talked about much for good reasons but I feel like Londo’s “I was there, at the fall”

DS9 is the smart kid that took risks while staying within the confines of Trek, it was never allowed to stand on its own and the ratings suffered but the stories were great and espoused some of the greatest trekkian ideals. But when an episode dropped the ball it dropped it hard (looking at you “Profit and Lace”)

Voyager: siiiiiiiiigh. Look there’s some good episodes out there, but a dumb plot,  lazy writing half forgotten notions of what makes good TV. It’s worth it for Janeway, Seven, and Tuvok. Some people still enjoy it good and bad. I stuck with it because I like pain.

But, there were some good episodes. I’m sure you could scrape...a season out of it. (Been rewatching random ep with @kiranerys some good, some that didn’t age well, and some like Threshold because horror like that should be shared.) I’d say stick to the headline eps, Caretaker, Season Finales/Openers.

Enterprise came an odd time, the decline of 90s trek tumbled on into the early aughts and brought over what seemed like copy/paste episodes of Voyager. Again that might not be bad because voyager was meant to be the spirit of exploration, but instead we got belaboured Vulcan racism, extra-convoluted time travel plots (even for Trek), and a sense that this didn’t really connect with the now bloating continuity at all. And more catsuits, because...

Again, there are some reallll good episodes scattered in the first two seasons, and I enjoyed the 3rd season arc, and the 4th brought in some trek novel writers to course correct the series (a practice kept in current trek btw) and gave us some needed tightening of plot, paces. 

after Enterprise ended it seemed dim for star trek, except from a growing novelverse that went back and did its own thing and Paramout or Viacom gave each novel series their blessing to play in their backyard and finally do backstories, or move beyond the endpoint of each series.

2009 Star Trek movie was a lot of flashy explosions, sketchy science and underwear but still decent enough to be worth the watch and it brought in a new generation into the old stuff. 2013 Into Darkness can and should be skipped. 2016 Beyond was fun. None of these really bear into the new series.

Discovery may or may not bear into the new series, but I think it’s safe to say it would be minimal. Your enjoyment of the series may vary, suffice to say I’m not really enjoying it but somehow still watch it in hopes of something better. 

TL;DR For Picard series I’d say essential viewing is TNG-DS9-VOY. 

A couple of good resources Jammer’s Reviews, the former st-hypertext, who’s been doing trek reviews live since DS9′s third season, 4-star ratings, some blurbs, easy to skim and view.

@trekcore who can probably better send you on other trek tumblrs than I can. 

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Picard trailer: first reaction

The first full trailer for the upcoming Picard series has been released at San Diego Comic Con. Here it is if you want to check it out but beware some major character spoilers (though the fact they’re in the trailer means they’ll probably be part of the promotion of the series anyway).

My own reactions follow the spoiler break. The tl;dr - now this is more like it.

I’ve given up on Star Trek Discovery, for a number of reasons. I have no intention of watching the third season.

Picard, on the other hand, not only looks great, it looks like a major course correction after Discovery. Now, I must give a bit of a caveat with that statement as I was very optimistic when I saw the first Discovery trailers. And then the series itself aired and I was very disappointed.

Picard is a different animal. First, it’s a miniseries. I know there’s talk of it running for more than one season, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It is also the first truly forward-looking Trek production since Nemesis came out in 2002; everything since has either been a prequel or a set in the TOS era’s alternate reality (other than one minisode of Discovery set 1000 years in the future and a couple of flashback scenes involving Spock and Nero in the 2009 Star Trek; oh and one Temporal Cold War-related scene in an early Enterprise episode, I guess). This means Picard has an advantage right away over Enterprise, Discovery and the Abramsverse films - it is not beholden to established canon anymore. Of course it is in terms of things that have happened in the past (they can’t turn around and retcon Kirk out of existence and Praxis better still be a pile of rubble). But we’re in the future of the Trek universe now, so any tech, ships, uniforms, aliens - they no longer have to align with any “future canon”. In that regard, the show is free. In my opinion, that’s a win right there.

Second thing going for it is Michael Chabon is involved. The noted novelist wrote Calypso, one of the “Short Treks” minisodes released between S1 and S2 of Discovery - and one of only two episodes of Discovery I both really liked and felt like rewatching (and indeed have), the other being the sequel to The Cage that aired in S2.

But there are other things that I like about the Picard trailer:

* Seven of Nine is back! Arguably Voyager’s most interesting character (and no, not because they had her dressing sexy and all that - her character was legitimately the most interesting, second maybe to the holographic Doctor). I look forward to seeing what she’s been up to in 20 years (one clue is she seems to be fully emotional now - she even swears a little). As Voyager ended, Seven was in an Eleventh Hour relationship with Chakotay. Does that mean we may see Robert Beltran again? Or will we find out that the OTP of Seven and the Doctor finally happened, bringing back Robert Picardo?

* Data is back! Or maybe it’s Lore. Why people are surprised at this is puzzling as Data was to TNG what Spock was to TOS, and you can’t really have a show based on TNG without him in some way. Again, it will be interesting to see how he works into the plot. I bet Brent Spiner never expected to play him again!

* The new supporting characters are intriguing and I can already say I find a few of them more interesting than anyone in Discovery, including several Vulcan or Romulan characters. There’s one who I wonder might be an older Saavik. I think they’re probably Romulans because they act a bit more human. Considering Trek 2009 established that the Romulan homeworld was destroyed, it makes sense that Romulans may have integrated with Federation worlds in the years since.

* When Picard says it’s been 20 years since the events of Nemesis, I realized that by the time the new series airs in 2020, it will have been 18 years since Nemesis. Or, put another way, the same length of time (1987-2005) that the TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT series were on TV. It’ll have been that long since we’d properly visited the post-TOS era.

* I got a chill hearing Picard say “engage”.

*A couple of scenes show people in TNG-era uniforms, which is interesting. Flashback?

*My only concern at the moment is they’ve got another young “saviour of the universe”-style character who is described as the most important person ever. Which would be fine if they hadn’t just spent the first two seasons playing out the same tropes with Michael Burnham on Discovery. I’m hoping for something a bit more original with this new character.

Anyway, Picard - based on the trailer - looks good right now. Whether I feel the same once I’ve watched a few episodes, we’ll see. Picard doesn’t come out till 2020 which is later than expected as it had been reported as fall 2019 before. There was a report of the showrunner changing midway through production, so that might have sparked a delay. Or they might want to tie in with the broadcast of Discovery S3 (especially if speculation of a crossover bears fruit). So there’s still plenty of time to learn more (the good and the not-so-good) about Picard.

As for Lower Decks, the animated series? I haven’t seen any trailer or footage yet, but the one image I saw posted makes it look like something out of a Family Guy cutaway gag. Not necessarily a good first impression, but I’m reserving my decision on whether I’m going to seek it out when it airs until I see a trailer.

[weerd1]

Star Trek DS9 Rewatch Log, Stardate 1904.22: Missions Reviewed, “The Emissary,” “Past Prologue,” and “A Man Alone.”

I have never made any secret of the fact that Deep Space Nine is my favorite of the Star Trek series. Though the show was derided by Trekkies for years, I came around fairly early, won over by wonderful performances and character development, and the nascent appearance of something that would become standard on TV in just a few years, but was pioneered here: story arcs. I have often told my fellow Trekkies, if you really want to appreciate what DS9 does, don’t pick out ONE good episode; watch all 173 of them.

The show ran from 1993-1999 and my early military career created a lot of obstacles to finding them all.  However, a growing home video market (“wait, you can buy ENTIRE tv shows on DVD????”) allowed me to catch them all, and what a treat it was! I realized recently I had not watched all of DS9 in probably 15 years; I’d last watched them all while “Enterprise” was still on (speaking of things I need to rewatch…).  So, on a whim this week, given that DISCO has gone on hiatus after a second season that found its footing to be a lot more sure than its first season, I decided to see how a couple of decades changed how I see DS9. So here we go:

“The Emissary:” I remembered this one being very cerebral, and that hasn’t changed.  We get good introductions to all of the characters, and watch Sisko come to terms with what he had lost to the Borg (and an assimilated Picard) at Wolf 359. My wife Jennifer (who bless her soul is sitting through this with me, particularly since DS9 is HER favorite Trek too) pointed out something that works very well here and holds up:  Ben Sisko and his relationship with his son Jake.  Jake is still really a child here, and having kept up with Cirroc Lofton over the years, it’s hard not to be taken aback by how young he seems.

  Along with that, all of these characters are still just appearing on stage, trying to find their voice- except of course O’Brien who has been at this fairly regularly on TNG. In the end we get the ingredients for an interesting political allegory for an oppressed people finding freedom, the role a superpower like the Federation should play in nation building, and a mix of politics, religion, and character conflict that neither TOS nor TNG was quite willing to take on. DS9 has not found its potential in “The Emissary,” but the pot is put on to brew.

“Past Prologue:” One of the early reasons I began to admire Kira Nerys as a character, we see another Bajoran freedom fighter come on the station, and he may in fact still be in the terrorist business.  Kira has to look at her past and what she wanted to accomplish then versus now, and make a choice as to what she wants to see a liberated Bajor be.  There’s a quick TNG tie-in with short appearances by Lursa and Betor, the Duras sisters from the TNG Klingon arcs (also written by Ron D Moore) and we see a Cardassian Gul played by Vaughn Armstrong. He will later play Admiral Forrest in ENTERPRISE, but that’s just one of TWELVE different roles Armstrong has played across Trek. 

Let’s hope he gets a chance to show up on DISCO too.  Speaking of Admirals, the Starfleet flag officer we see here is played by Susan Bay Nimoy. She’ll make an appearance in a later episode as well. Perhaps most importantly though, we meet a Cardassian tinker and tailer, and perhaps once a soldier but certainly no spy, plain simple Garak. Knowing he will become one of DS9’s best characters, watching him just kind of be making excuses to hit on Bashir is pretty funny.

Then, “A Man Alone:” Odo is framed for the murder of a former troublemaker released from prison by the new provisional government. The plot is a little too perfect though, and it’s Bashir through SCIENCE who finds the victim is in fact a clone, killed by the original criminal so he could set up Odo. And yes, apparently you can both go to jail for killing your own clone, and Bashir can accidentally make a whole new person in his lab while proving what was going on, and that clone is just going to go join Bajoran society. This one is curious for its B-story as Chief O’Brien’s wife Keiko decides to open a school, and tried to convince the “Ferengi Pit Boss” from the pilot episode, Rom, to send his son Nog (nephew of course to Quark) to the human school.  Max Grodénchik and the writers have not yet settled on Rom as the adorkable yutz we will know him as later, and he’s more of the stereotypical Ferengi.  

The blossoming Jake/Nog friendship though is a delight, particularly knowing where those characters are going.

Next Voyage: “Babel,” where someone FINALLY acknowledges everyone in the Galaxy doesn’t just speak English!

[datainthetardis]

TOS Tag Game

Many thanks to @cptdorkery for tagging me; I was hoping someone would do that. I haven’t watched TOS in two months or so as I have been to busy rewatching TNG, so maybe once I watch TOS again I will change my mind about an answer, but these are my answers as of today.

1) What is your favorite horrible prop/costume/set design?

I don’t have favourites, but I’ll list a few that I’m particularly fond of.

-The cardstock rocks

-Gary Mitchel and later Dr. Dehner’s tin foil eyes in “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (that episode was a whole gallery of fantastically terrible special effects)

-Yeoman Rand's hair

-The terrifying plague make up in "Miri"

-The machine in “Dagger of the mind”. I don’t so much like the prop as I do the concept, which reminds me a lot of the Ludovico technique in A Clockwork Orange, but the result is still creepy.

-The true form of the aliens in “Cat’s Paw”

-Balok’s design in “The Corbomite Maneuver”. It was kind of unsettling in my opinion. He was literally a man baby.

-The costumes of those two girls that Bones makes appear at the end of “Shore Leave”. They were so furry and ridiculous. There was this Mexican sitcom called “La Familia Peluche” about this really eccentric family that would dress in furry clothes, and those bikinis the girls in “Shore Leave” were wearing looked like they came straight out of that show. I only watched one episode in my cousin’s house several years ago, but that was enough to make the connection.

-Space Abraham Lincon from “The Savage Curtain”

There are more, but these are the ones that I can come up with from the top of my head.

2) If you could have dinner with any one member of the Enterprise, with the exceptions of Spock, Jim, or Bones, who would it be?

This is though, REALLY though. Dinner with Scotty would be a hilarious blast; I could talk for hours with Sulu about plants and he could give me tips to keep me from unintentionally killing them; I could ask Chapel if people still watch House MD in the 23rd century and if so, I could fangirl with her and talk about how well/terribly House and McCoy would get along; and Uhura and I could have a great time talking about our love of linguistics, and she could teach me some Vulcan or Klingon or some other non-Earthly tongue. However, I think for today at least, I would choose Chekov. It would be interesting talking to him about being so young and already an ensign on the Enterprise, I could listen to his dubious claims about things being invented in Russia, and he could help me on my current quest to learn Russian. I find TOS Chekov’s personality very amusing and he kind of reminds me of a friend I had.

3) What period of Earth’s history would you have liked to see the crew time travel to?

This is even harder than the last question. Let’s see... I’d tell you today, just because I’m curious to see what their reaction would be to this very illogical world we are living in, but our 2018 doesn’t match canon 2018. Star Trek is designed to be a reflection of humanity today and what we could become, so whatever the time and place, it would be interesting to see them in a time of oppression. They already went to see Nazis, so maybe something like the Armenian genocide or Aztec Empire when the conquistadores decided to come in would be interesting, idk; something that doesn’t take place in America or Europe. On the lighter side, I also think it’d be funny to see them accidentally show up backstage at a Beatles concert and see the reaction to Spock’s haircut. Here’s a Doctor Who/Star Trek fanfic idea: somehow the crew comes across the Doctor, and for whatever reason, they have to go the 60′s where they meet the Beatles and have to fight some alien in the streets on Liverpool. People think Spock is a Beatle.

4) Please give an universe-plausible reason (no breaking the fourth wall) for Jim’s shirts being made with the durability of tissue paper.

I have been pondering over this for the longest time. I have no idea. Kirk obviously enjoys having a torn shirt, or just downright being shirtless, so perhaps he does this intentionally. Here is my (very silly) headcanon: Kirk wants an excuse to show off his chest (perhaps to woo Spock?), and since apparently walking around his ship shirtless in unacceptable by Starfleet regulations, he had to get creative. In Discovery we learn that uniforms are replicated, and Kirk knows that those uniforms are pretty sturdy, so he can’t wear those, so he learns how to sew. He makes his shirts out of plain cotton (or hemp or whatever thin fabric they have in the 23rd century), so that he is sure his shirts will rip. Starfleet takes notice that Kirk’s shirts end up ripped no matter what, and Kirk tells them that it’s because the replicators are malfunctioning and he is the only one with ripped shirts because he is the only one who puts himself in that kind of danger. Starfleet believes him and they tell Scotty to please fix the Enterprise’s replicators, which really frustrates him and the rest of engineering because no one can find any flaws in the replicators but yet Kirk always comes back after beaming down with a rip the size of Asia on his shirt.

5) Which episode would you recommend first for a non-Trekkie who is interested in watching the show? Or which episode would you not let them anywhere near?

I always introduce people to TOS with “The Man Trap”. It was the first aired episode and it works beautifully. I think it’s a fantastic episode: it has a moral dilemma, it’s a good introduction to all the major characters (save Chekov who is not in season 1), there’s tension between them, there’s a mystery, there’s a moral, etc. I think this episode holds up quite well. I know of people who try to recruit new fans with “Where No Man Has Gone Before” because it was the first TOS episode filmed with the Kirk crew, but the reason I don’t like doing that (although I love that episode) is that everything is different to all the other episodes. I think it’s not a good introductory episode precisely because it was the first episode filmed with this cast. Shatner looks like he feels out of place, Spock acts strangely throughout, McCoy isn’t even in the episode, and the science in this episode was really BS. I once introduced someone to TOS with “Charlie X”, which also works well, but “The Man Trap” is my top pick.

Out my followers, I believe that @boi-urthebird and @little-alien-duck have not been tagged. If you have, well, anyone else who hasn’t can jump aboard.

Here are the questions:

1.) What is your opinion on the Vulcan ideology? Is logic the way?

2.) Is there an episode you wish you could wipe from your memory? It can be either because it was so bad you wish to forget or because it was so good you wish you could experience it again for the first time.

3.) If you were part of the crew, would you be in command, sciences, engineering, or would you risk it and join security?

4.) Favourite race that appears in TOS?

5.) What character of the crew do you wish the show had explored further?

[enbyspacebat]

Happy Star Trek day! ✨

In celebration I thought I’d share my blurb about how I got into Star Trek. I've been a fan for at least 10 years now. Its special to me because not only has it given me characters to love and positive vibes about the future, but I’ve bonded with family & friends over it and it’s helped get me through some rough times.

The first Star Trek I watched was Star Trek: the Motion Picture. It’s a funny memory of my dad trying to introduce me to Star Trek when I was 11 and so not into sci-fi or "star-anything". The night we sat down to watch TMP I brought my pillow just in case I’d fall asleep. Which I DID. On purpose. Because dad made me watch a silly space movie. (Thinking of this cracks me up because look at me now). I don’t know how he managed to get me to watch the next movie, but then I liked Wrath of Khan. It was odd to start with the movies before the tv episodes, but I thank my dad for introducing me to Star Trek.

The first “new” (as in, actually seeing it when first released) Star Trek I saw was the first AOS movie/Star Trek 2009. In the movie theatre I found the AOS movies exciting but later found myself not a fan of them. I still consider them an important part of my experience though.

I got to TOS (the TV episodes) in the middle of my teenage years, & that's when I reaaallly got into Star Trek. I had a huuuge crush on Spock (he's still my favorite character.) I introduced my best friend to TOS - who then got into it too and we still watch it together to this day <3 Next came TNG. I joke that this was the one phase of my teenage years my parents appreciated because they love TNG, so we watched a lot of it together. (It’s been a while since I watched it...due for a rewatch!... so I don’t have too much to say about it, other than yay for bonding memories). Some years later...

I graduated from college and didn't know what the heck I wanted to do so I moved back home to do a gap year or two. I was watching TNG reruns one day and stumbled across Voyager on the same channel. Despite rumors of it not being great I fell in love with it. Voyager gives me some kind of comfort I've needed during this time of stress trying to figure things out.

Then... PANDEMIC

While couped up at home I discovered K/S slash fiction and I'd say it was perfect timing. I got through quarantine rewatching TOS with a fresh perspective (seriously, I love rewatching things as an adult and seeing everything I missed before) and read soooo many Spirk fics. I began to find Star Trek blogs here - finding so many queer & trans positive star trek blogs has made me so happy!

Currently I’m starting DS9 and attempting to work on fan art that I will hopefully post someday.

Happy Star Trek day y'all - LLAP

[dramallamadingdang]

Lotsa replies

Figured I’d better do ‘em before I get absorbed in writing up this tutorial thing...

These go back a ways because I’ve been, as usual, lazy/preoccupied. :) They’re for @esotheria-sims, @maybesomethingdunno, @nerianasims, @penig, @holleyberry, @plumbobsquareface (who has an awesome username), @immerso-sims, @eulaliasims, @lisac-h, @mustluvcatz-reloaded, @sim-boo, @acquiresimoleons, @pensblr, @didilysims, annnnnnnnd @mrningbrd...

Geez, I need to not put off doing these like this... And I should probably split this up, but...meh.

esotheria-sims replied to your post “So, um....”

Well, with an introduction like this, even if I *weren't* interested in the stuff you have to offer (spoiler alert: I am), I'd still be curious to see what it is at the very least. :) Some of those old Pandorasims sets (if those are what you were referring to here) could definitely use better textures.

Yup, some of the stuff is from Pandorasims, indeed. And from xxxsims. Slig did some nice recolors of some of the latter’s stuff, at least, but I want to high-res ‘em a bit and do some different colors for my own uses. The Pandora stuff, though? Needs serious help. I mean, I get that the textures for these items were probably not the main attraction and all, but...well, such things are important to me. :) I want my game to look nice even if no one sees this particular aspect of it but me. And I imagine storytellers would want better-looking textures, too, for pics/videos.

maybesomethingdunno replied to your post “So, um....”

Generally speaking, I feel like if you want to create something (whether it's Sims content, a story, or a goofy sketch), then create it. When it comes to Sims content, there's always someone who'll download and appreciate the content. Simmers are a diverse breed with a wild assortment of stories, hoods, and gameplay needs/desires. So on the heels of "If you want to make it, make it" is "If you want to share what you've made, share it." Kinky Sims for all! :D

*high five* Yeah, I know what you mean and that’s generally my attitude, too. This stuff, however, was going to be just for me, but then I got to thinking about how there’s a dearth of nice-looking stuff of this type and...Well, I can do something about that. I think, anyway. We’ll see, with some of the stuff. But, due to the more sensitive nature of this kind of stuff...Well, I second-guess. :)

nerianasims replied to your post “So, um....”

I'm interested and have no need to be anon about it. (Also grr 50 Shades times a million, such a horrible example and SO badly written to boot.)

OMG, don’t even get me started. I mean, OK, yeah, the whole thing sort of normalized mine and my husband’s lifestyle a little bit which on the one hand might be a good thing....but on the other hand, it didn’t do it right. Even if it was well-written (which it totally isn’t; it was a bad Twilight fanfic that was obviously written by someone who’d never had even remotely kinky sex, much less any contact with real people who practice BDSM), it portrayed an abusive relationship, not the sort of thing real people who are into this sort of thing practice. Just...ugh. Awful, awful thing. >:(

penig replied to your photo “Owen has…interesting…jammies.  And, like Aaron when he was a kid, Owen...”

What pervert even made those in a kid's size?

Skell, I think. I think it’s part of her repository project. I don’t think it’s necessarily perverted, though, especially not in game context. I mean, if you go by the speech bubbles, kids regularly talk about sex with their parents/siblings at the dinner table in the game. :) But even if that wasn’t the case...Well, kids will wear or have or do inappropriate things that they don’t know are inappropriate. They just think it’s pretty or something. Like, in this case, I imagine Owen likes those jammie pants just because they have purple hearts on them. He’s purple, so he likes purple things. :) He has no idea what they mean, and his parents probably think it’s funny. Because they’re that way.

holleyberry replied to your photo “Do you think she adores him? I think she adores him. He, of course, is...”

What's a Gilsbruty to do?

Not much, apparently. *grumble* CERTAINLY NOT PROCREATE! *glares at Simon and wills him to pass on his genes, dammit!*

plumbobsquareface replied to your post “Were-Klingons! Actually, wouldn't that be a nice idea for a default...”

i'm so glad to see other simers that are also into star trek :')

Ohhhhh, I’m a big huge honking dorky Trek nerd. Even published a fanzine, back in the day, was heavily involved in Usenet newsgroups in the early days of the internet and was staff on one of the big-at-the-time forums when such things came to be. I’m not in the fandom per se anymore at all for various reasons, but I’ll always watch the shows and read fanfic and that sort of thing. (DS9 is my fave. TOS will always have a special place in my heart, of course, but most of my Trekker heart belongs to DS9. :) )

immerso-sims replied to your photo “Aaron GilsCarbo, dancing like the nerd he is.”

Dem pink sandals tho ;)

Aren’t they precious? He actually aged into the outfit all by his little self and the pink sandals just sort of define him. That and the surfer hair. :)

maybesomethingdunno replied to your photo “This is Josephine. Young, pregnant with an unknown number of babies,...”

Next she will become addicted to Sim cat nip :P

...And then she’ll be in and out of rehab for the rest of her life. Such a sad, sad tale of woe. :)

lisac-h replied to your photo “Aaron rolled up a want for that “I was abducted by aliens”...”

Mark Twain saw Worf and said, "Werewolf!"

He did, didn’t he? HAH! :D God, it’s been forever since I’ve watched TNG. It’s not my favorite of the shows, but I should give it a rewatch one of these days...

eulaliasims replied to your post “Oh, God, it’s the 10 questions meme again!”

I would add an evil laughter gif here, but Tumblr won't let me, so you'll have to imagine it. :P Yeah, it can be surprisingly hard to find historical fiction that isn't focused on romance sometimes. I don't mind some, but when it seems to take over the rest of the story... meh. That's what I read fanfic for. And now I have the Ride of the Valkyries in my head too, but at least it's not Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer again.

It’s not that I can’t deal with ANY romance in historical fiction. I can if it makes sense within the story and the real history because, hey, these were real people and they fell in love and had relationships and all that. One of my favorite books (The Sunne in Splendour, by Sharon Kay Penman) is about Richard III, and a chunk of the 1000-page plot is about the relationship between him and his eventual wife and what impact that had on him as a person which in turn affected what kind of king he was, and that’s all good. But then there are those that are set in, say, Henry VIII’s court and it’s all thinly-veiled trashy romance novel tripe. (Yes, Philippa Gregory, I’m looking at you.) If I want that, I’ll sit and watch The Tudors, for God’s sake because ooh! Really hot men, gayness, AND boobies, yay! :) I’d rather read about about how that court really was. I mean, it was intriguing enough without having to pruriently sex it up. :p 

Geez, this is my “ragging on popular books” post, apparently. :) And you’re welcome for Ride of the Valkyries. *evil* It is now, thankfully out of my head.

mustluvcatz-reloaded replied to your post “Oh, God, it’s the 10 questions meme again!”

I'm half tempted to answer your questions just because they're so NOT about the sims, but I may be too lazy to right now, lol.

You should do it! I want to know what brand of TP you use! :)

acquiresimoleons replied to your photo “Aaron got his wish to grow up, ‘cuz, y’know, it’s not like it’s...”

I never could work out how to make a restaurant run properly either.

The “secret” is to run them with as few employees as possible. Especially at first. Because they will suck out all the money you make and more. So, you either have to have the owner do all the functions (Host(ess), cook, waitstaff) -- which you can do at first because you won’t have a lot of customers until the place levels up to at least Level 3 -- OR you have to use slave labor family members to fill the roles. 

Also, having a limited menu of items that don’t require a lot of cooking skill is necessary, unless/until your cook levels up. Otherwise customers will end up with a lot of burnt meals, which lowers loyalty and makes it harder to get stars and level-ups and all that.

acquiresimoleons replied to your photo “And Owen, Arcadia’s other alien sprog, grew up, too. He looks like a...”

His face kinda scares me ��

It’s the eyes. They’re creepy. But it’s what the PT who spawned him has, so...

sim-boo replied to your photo “Simon being macho… …and, afterwards, not so macho. :) And that’s it...”

R u saying bubble baths arent macho?

Well, anything that a macho man does becomes macho, right? :) But, traditionally? Not so much, no. :)

didilysims replied to your photoset “Simon taught Suzy to roll over….and then cleaned up an ocean of dog...”

Wow, that's more pee than I'd think would fit inside that little dog!

*laugh* Well, it is two dogs’ worth of pee. :) And one of them is a big dog. They just both chose the same pee spot. Right by the front door, of course. *eye roll*

pensblr replied to your photo “Nekkid treadmilling. Saves on laundry.”

*laughs* Just imagine how unfortunate it would be if sims experienced the real life pain of falling on a treadmill...while naked.

I know! I have visions of dangly bits caught in the mechanism, and OW! :) That’s totally a bad kind of ow, too.

mrningbrd replied to your photo “Oh, Benny. Benny, Benny, Benny… Of course, it happened right after...”

tell simon i can relate. this happened the other night at 4 am. my condolences

Oh, God, you poor thing. My dogs at home in Colorado are constantly having skunk encounters lately, apparently. (I’m not there, at the moment, but the ranch hands report in regularly. :) ) It didn’t used to be so bad, but apparently there’s a skunk population explosion in the nearby area...

[discipleofkleio]

I was rewatching other Star Trek things and it finally happened. I just realized why I dislike Discovery so much. Several reasons exist actually; see them below the cut if you wish as it is 8 points and heavily influenced by my personal opinions the longer it goes on.

[[MORE]]

1. The only mention I recall of non-monosexuality using one of the actual words for it (pansexual in this case) is in relation to the Mirror Universe and is used specifically to make the homosexual characters uncomfortable, doing exactly what has always been done with the Mirror Universe and different sexualities. Well done for having an official gay couple, but did you have to throw multispec sexualities under the bus by associating them with the morally defunct and sexually predatory Mirror Universe in the exact same way they always have been? Aka to confuse and/or upset the monosexual and titillate the audience?

2. The Orcs Klingons having vocal distortion not present in any other appearance, as well as all having heavy prosthetics yet according to all timelines having only ten years maximum to reach the point where all Klingons are affected by the virus that makes them all look human. Also, Klingons are a male-dominated society when it comes to politics so while a woman in charge is cool it is against later depictions of things as women need special dispensation to be in charge of their own Houses. This is something that was changing towards the end of the TNG series, so this goes to show to me that these writers were more concerned with being different than having internal canon integrity and respect for the other series’ writers. So much so that I can't help but feel like if Ferengis had shown up they would have shown female Ferengis owning ships in this series, all importance of Ishka be damned.

3. The pacing and almost myopic focus on essentially three main characters (Micheal, Tilly, and Ash, all of whom were either Michael or someone she personally liked/focused more on) makes it less Star Trek ensemble crew/show and more film-like, and yet at the end of the series I knew nothing truly deep about any of the characters beyond Michael, whose main characterization by the end seemed to be "needs others to make difficult decisions for her because she cannot" which is also annoying. Seriously, I feel like I can count on one hand the scenes where not one of those three characters were somehow involved, no matter how flimsy the excuse for them being there was. I felt that I could have watched a 2 hour film covering this exact plot line and still have had as much connection to everyone and the plot line, which is to say very little beyond “[X] is cool”. The one positive I have to say about any of the characterisation is that Stamets and his boyfriend (fiancé? husband? never made clear as far as I remember) were openly gay, and Tilly was neurodivergent. Which, coincidentally, were also their whole personalities for all we learnt of them.

4. The rating and use of that rating to show us sex and making clear that Klingons have two members on Qo'nos means that not the entire family can watch the show which is a marked difference from all other Star Trek franchise shows and annoys me (not to say it was always a thing little kids could watch but still!). Also why is saying fuck so important. Star Trek shows have used cursing before, like damn and hell and I'm sure at least one shit. Why the hell is saying fuck so important. The episode came to a grinding halt for a few seconds for a lame payoff there.

5. The entire series feels, ideologically, like it shits on Rodenberry's face and his vision for the greatness humanity can achieve once we put aside all our differences and work for the betterment of everyone. With the short that's set some thousands of years into the future that shitting on him is pretty much sealed, meaning the current love of grimdark media has finally fully corrupted one of the largest hopepunk franchises ever and taken that hopepunk away from us.

6. The technology levels the show uses for everyone is more Kelvin Universe Star Trek and more effort could have been made to not make it look like an Apple Store everywhere. Speaking of technology, the hologram video chats they use were described as cutting edge technology in DS9, where their first use is, and with major use of holograms only taking off some hundred years after this show in TNG that is another glaring example of the writers not particularly caring about existing canon for Star Trek. Another example (for me) was the wheelchair using extra who rolled by twice in the background - by that time in the Trek universe they’d have hoverchairs, or at least early prototypes of them. I get and totally agree that having a wheelchair user in a chair like that would have destroyed their autonomy in real life, however, so I’m totally on board for ignoring this one. Side note: every time I heard a ping reminiscent of the pings from TOS Enterprise I felt nostalgia and a desire to stop watching this film series.

7. Overuse of the Mirror Universe and Time Travel, the former of which should not have been allowed to infect the Prime Universe (because it is grimdark destroying hopepunk to do so) and the latter of which always annoys me in Trek stories unless the plot is centered around trying to prevent exactly the kind of chaos that happened here.

8. The not-robot lady, whose existence made me very angry for a long time as I thought she was a robot that shouldn't have existed at that point in the timeline and then it turned out she wasn't a robot but I knew nothing about her until her day in the limelight and thus had no reason to truly care about her because we don't see anything about her personality beyond how she is defined by other people in her life (Tilly, mainly). She gets a few one liners, but otherwise she's a walking plot device and I don't tend to care about walking plot devices unless I got to know them first.

In short it feels less like a true Star Trek series and more like a love letter to the reboot films, which I have to assume is how most of the writers got interested in Star Trek with how ideologically and tonally dissimilar it is to the rest of the franchise.

[sleepymarmot]

DS9 season 5 liveblog

[Season index: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 PS]

Apocalypse Rising

This is the worst device prototype... :D

Sisko makes a very handsome Klingon!

"But don't forget, this is still your fault." I knew they'd have to make a joke about this... :D

The Klingon practive! :D

Dukat does a Renegade interrupt... :D "It was either that or trust in Mister Worf's ability to lie. And frankly, I have more faith in my weapons"

How does nobody recognize Worf?!

Okay, so when Odo "got sick" he was actually poisoned by the Founders to bring him to them for judgement except it was to implant him with false information so that they would assassinate Gowron for them, except if they managed to kill Gowron it would have been obvious he was a Klingon, and if they caught Martok in the field his identity would have been exposed, so maybe they just intended them to be caught and be a reason for escalation, but none of this is addressed...

What was the official reason for invading Cardassia anyway, I don't remember after marathoning so fast?

The Ship

I like O'Brien and Muniz

of course a female Vorta wears a bright colored dress with giant cleavage, heavy makeup, and earrings

oh god, did the boy actually die? :O

I freaking knew it was a changeling aboard

god, so many people died because of miscommunication?!

(This trope is pretty much my worst nightmare aaa) 

this is one of the most upsetting stories so far :( I don't think even Hard Time made me cry for so long...

Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places

Julian...

Worf has good taste!

"What house is she from" Boy you have a surprise waiting for you! :D

grow up, Julian, seriously... :D

poor Worf, what an embarrasment

what a happy poly family!

someone's jealous, Odo!

aw everyone, stop making their lovely arrangement awkward

oh Worf, when will you see it :D

aww just accept that the three of you are married now

that's what you get for being nosy at the beginning of the episode, Julian :D 

congrats on the sex, everyone! :D I didn't expect Quark to actually get lucky with Grilka... And I'm so happy that Worf finally got laid properly -- it was so sad to watch his human-like advances on Deanna and that one half-Romulan in TNG.

this episode watered my crops, cleared my skin etc. it's been an hour and I'm still in a great mood

...Nor the Battle to the Strong

Bashir's unstoppable monologue claims another victim

I really like this dynamic -- young Jake who didn't know what he was getting into and feels very out of place, and the mature and experienced Bashir seen from his perspective

oh god, Bashir is so happy and relieved to see Jake and even apologies while Jake is about to be crushed by his guilt, I'm going to cry :(

Bashir is such a kind person :(

The Assignment

Yikes, you two really messed up! "I have to be in surgery, operating." "On who?" "I'll find someone."

Wow, Rom's really a genius

I hope this was *the* O'Brien suffering episode of the season and he'll be free for the rest of it! It was pretty tame, especially compared to last year...

Trials and Tribble-ations

I've been looking forward to this episode for years! And I just rewatched The Trouble with Tribbles for preparation.

What did Bashir do to his hair?!

"I'm a doctor, not an historian"

omg Odo in the same frame as Uhura and Chekov!

damn, they're really good at pasting new characters into the archive footage :D

Dax repeating Spock's line :D

going back to the greyness of the DS9 ops after all these bright colors...

This is really a perfect example of an anniversary/tribute/crossover episode! All of those disappointing cameos in TNG look even weaker now. And the visuals are incredible. I expected them to just but back and forth between old and new footage, not to actually edit TOS scenes -- and so cleanly!

Let He Who is Without Sin...

Poor introverted Worf...

I still don't want to see Julian/Leeta but at least they came here to break up

Worf I'm pretty sure this is illegal not to mention tremendously stupid

welp this was bad

Things Past

yikes Garak, no the Bajorans don't appreciate you playing devil's advocate

poor Dax "ran out of speculation" trying to justify standard filming conventions :D

y i k e s @Dukat

Garak: "I never knew we were such messy conquerors. I remember the occupation being a little more tidy than this." Sisko: "Everything's tidy when someone else is doing the cleaning." Garak: "The Bajorans were much more suited for this sort of thing than we were. Servile work is in their nature." also yikes

Dax is hyper-competent this time. like we’ve seen in “Past Tense”, she has a talent for impersonating someone from the past

"When your people resort to terrorism and violence, they're fighting against order, against stability, against the rule of law, and this must be stopped" this is all about trying to convince Odo that the Founders are right, isn't it

A reversal of "Necessary Evil" -- this time it's Odo who didn't magically spend years enforcing order for the occupants and still remain innocent. Odo as a "former Cardassian oppressor" is a story that was waiting to be told (even if this episode is weaker than Necessary Evil). The further I go, the more I become convinced that Odo is the best character and the heart and thematical center of the entire story. 

I... don't really understand Garak's part in this episode. Dax is better than him as a secret agent, Odo is better both at being a Cardassian oppressor and at reflecting on it. It's not like I expected Garak to go "omg I learned my lesson" at the end, but I was waiting for something. He comes off kind of naive and incompetent about the whole thing. And Odo of all people saying "Interesting that a simple tailor should just happen to have a high-level security code" is out of season or out of character and either way has no place here. Which kind of makes me lose faith that the rest of Garak’s behavior -- why is he so eager to parrot anti-Bajoran propaganda? -- is a part of some long pre-planned arc. By now I kinda have a feeling that the writers just throw out random lines and hope the actor’s skill will save them.

The Ascent

Odo is Cassandra Pentaghast :D

How did they survive in these conditions without food and water? Sometimes I don't know if I'm too weak & spoiled or the writers are exaggerating the hardships their characters go through...

Jake-Nog subplot got solved too fast

Rapture

What, they just change uniforms overnight in the middle of the season?!

"Those of you who were in the Resistance, you're all the same. You think you're the only ones who fought the Cardassians, that you saved Bajor singlehandedly. Perhaps you forget, Major, the Cardassians arrested any Bajoran they found teaching the word of the Prophets. I was in a Cardassian prison camp for five years and I can remember each and every beating I suffered. And while you had your weapons to protect you, all I had was my faith and my courage."

Look, I can understand why Sisko is choosing his visions over everything, and maybe I would have done the same, but this still squicks me and I don't want to watch it

Let me guess, all this religious propaganda will be justified because Sisko's vision will reveal something super important about the Dominion's moves

can we not go back to Bajoran spirituality any time soon please

(Why did the visions start, anyway? He was zapped by the holosuite computer, so what?)

Btw, if, judging from the uniforms, First Contact happened between the previous episode and this one, I'd like a reference to it? Worf, you were there! Sisko, that was the Borg! Hello?

The Darkness and the Light

ouch D:

if he was just a servant, how does he have the skills and knowledge for precize and difficult attacks like these?

"He wanted to protect the innocent and separate the darkness from the light. But he didn't realise the light only shines in the dark and sometimes innocence is just an excuse for the guilty" why is Kira talking like this... what kind of OOC bullshit...

maybe it's just because I caught Bryan Fuller's name in the credits, but this just felt like an episode of Hannibal... A string of brutal and overcomplicated murders, a grotesque villain with poetic speech, focus on misogynistic violence... I sure hope Discovery is nothing like this! I'm so angry Kira's friends died for this nonsense

the only good part was Kira’s unrepentant speech

The Begotten

Baby changeling! Odo gets "The Offspring" of his own! Let's hope this one has a happier ending...

is it just me or is Bashir prettier than usual in this episode?

Odo don't put the baby in a cup!!! what if someone drinks it?! D:

oh god, he's making Odo do these things himself D:

what a magical moment!!! aaaa

oh no Odo was so happy I just knew they'd kill his baby

he's holding it in his hands :((

I had a feeling they'd be able to link!! Even the conclusion is like "The Offspring" -- the father absorbs his child. I expected the story to end with Odo having to give it to the Founders because only they can save its life/raise it for some reason

Odo and Kira bonding over losing their babies :(

finally, a great episode again!

For the Uniform

Loving the manual departure scene! But how exactly is Nog relaying communications to the engine room?

I continue to understand nothing about the Maquis situation. What's a "Maquis colony"? I thought only the terrorists themselves used that name, not the civilians they protected? 

Eddington's use of chemical weapons against civilians is presented as moral event horizon, but Sisko's retaliation in kind is postfactum approved by Starfleet? I thought he was bluffing, and I assume his crew thought he knew what he was doing which is why they didn't object, but Eddington expected him to act like a villain and he literally did?? He used weapons of mass destruction against an entire planet populated by humans who may or may not be Federation citizens (or, alternatively, Cardassian citizens, which might be even worse politically). But that's fine, because the entire population of that planet managed to evacuate before the poison killed them. I don't know how to go on watching the show after this.

In Purgatory's Shadow / By Inferno’s Light

Bashir is great :D

Aw, Bashir isn't going with him? :(

hate to agree with Dukat, but yeah, this is inappropriate

"The man is a heartless, cold-blooded killer" "Like I said, he's a Cardassian"

w h a t

damn, just as I thought Julian was being unusually cool at the beginning of the episode, he turned out to be a changeling

okay, I knew about Dukat and the Dominion and had been waiting for it. but I'm stuck on Changeling Bashir. How long? Since before the uniform change? I feel betrayed. I want to believe it was the real Bashir in The Begotten! Not only because I love that episode -- the presence of a Founder would have changed the plot completely!

I thought I could spend one episode without gushing about how Dukat is written, but apparently not, so here it goes. This plot twist makes perfect sense on so many levels! Sisko has commented before on how quick Dukat was to join the winning side after the fall of the Obsidian Order. Dukat himself made a big speech about missing the good old times when Cardassia was feared (and as a viewer, I kind of miss that too...). Cardassia is the main antagonist of the show's past and the Dominion -- of present/future, and their autoritarian nature is pretty similar. As far as I remember, Dukat hasn't met the Founders before and is probably unaware of their deep hatred of solids, plus his usual overconfidence makes him underestimate the Dominion’s power, so I can see how he would treat this like any other alliance. I hope this means we'll see more Cardassians again, not just Jem'Hadar exploiting their territory and resources. 

I wish Ziyal were a bit more conflicted over the entire thing -- she spent her entire life idealizing her father and trying to justify his actions, and taking off the rose-tinted glasses should be more difficult and traumatic than "Oh I guess all of you were right and my dad is a bad guy after all".

Doctor Bashir, I Presume

Leeta, just ask him out yourself!

lol, Bashir should have told them about the hologram...

I knew the big spoiler, but assumed the genetic enhancement was prenatal, so the actual story about parental ableism still came as a surprise. I hope this will be discussed again in the following episodes! 

The story about a son who has good reasons to resent the father but forgives him in the end is a bit to similar to The Begotten, but I don't mind that much.

Miles is such a good friend :')

All of the A-plot was great, but the B-plot slightly spoiled the impression.

The resolution of the problem is what should have happened in the first place. Julian is in no way responsible for what was done to him as a child!

So if we didn't take this perfect opportunity to talk about changeling!Bashir now, I guess that won't be discussed ever?

A Simple Investigation

"I've done things in my life I'm not proud of, too. You worked for Draim, I worked for the Cardassians. I never had the courage to walk away. You did. I admire that"

Bashir and O'Brien's larping :D

I thought Odo wasn't capable of enjoying this kind of thing?

"Once, on my homeworld, I had an experience that you might consider sexual" uh... did I miss something? 

remember season 1 when Odo was adamantly aroace? good times...

wait what did he do with her hand?

the plot was so boring I had to force my self to focus on screen. and why make Odo fall in love (again) and have sex? that's stupid, leave him alone

Business as Usual

How come Quark is shunned by absolutely everyone? And the general disapproval is represented by Kira (who herself admits that weapon trade saved Bajor), Sisko (who used WMD only a few episodes ago) and Dax (a big fan of a certain culture built around violence).

Ties of Blood and Water

Just as I was thinking that this season has a lot stories with daddy issues, and that Kira doesn't have a father -- this guy shows up! Aww, Kira is so happy to see him"! I hope this doesn't mean he'll be dead by the end of the episode...

"I'm dying" of fucking course........

SHE JUST THREW A CUP RIGHT AT HIS FACE this is incredible

(Kira is literally too tired to deal with his shit. And it's beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen anything like her body language, expressions and voice in this scene. She doesn't even dignify his "sick little games" with a single shifting of pose before that one sharp movement to throw the cup.)

(at first I thought the cup broke as it hit his face, which was a completely delightful image, but sadly not what happened)

Kira, he was a member of the Central Command, what did you expect?

Weyoun is great :D

Kira, have you finished questioning him or not? If not, you shoud continue, regardless of your personal relationship.

I really enjoyed this episode, though there are some things that don't let me be truly impressed by it. It was pretty predictable; Kira's anger seemed naive and immature, and the revelation at the end did not completely disperse that impression.

From reactions of Odo and Bashir, who say nothing like "It's your duty to continue asking him questions" it seems like their interviews were over, but the montage and Dukat's poisoning attempt suggest the opposite. All of that is a shame, because this episode is my favourite kind of DS9 episode.

Ferengi Love Songs

Why is the Nagus of all people completely fine with her wearing clothes?

It's disappointing to go back to status quo. I thought the new life without a Ferengi business license would mean character development, but apparently not. And Ishka is weaker here than in Family Business.

Soldiers of the Empire

Always love a good Klingon episode! Honor! Fighting spirit! Jadzia and Worf being awesome!

Also I'm greatly amused that Julian was assigned to be an intelligence officer of all things.

Children of Time

O'Brien is the only one who reacts normally to this creepy situation...

The premise of the entire story doesn't work for me because apparently we're supposed to think that being stuck on an isolated planet with little technology is idyllic instead of horrifying??? I'd do a lot of things just to prevent that. Imagine all the inbreeding that must happen with only 48 ancestors, eww.

Oh boo fucking hoo, you won't have descendants on the planet, well you'll have about as many in the real world in 200 years, plus your absense at DS9 won't deal a strategic blow to the security of the Alpha Quadrant -- why isn't anyone talking about that?

And as usual with time loop stories, it's hard to take the entire thing seriously because -- what happened the first time? Did Jadzia fail to check the logs? Did they not meet their future descendants at all, sat for two days on the empty planet repairing the ship and just happened to stumble upon the anomaly on their way out? By interacting with the crew, the colonists are already changing the timeline, so there's no reason to believe that going back in time will preserve their history instead of making a new version of it.

Blaze of Glory

Eddington is like people who complain about products that have too many 'chemicals'

The writers didn't know what to do with the Maquis so they wiped them out offscreen and tried to wrap up the story with another team-up of rivals, but Eddington is no Dukat and the story itself is not strong enough. RIP Maquis storyline, you were a mess.

Empok Nor

Ouch, Garak, don't so casually bring up O'Brien's greatest traumas!

I have a bad feeling about all of these young nameless officers...

That doesn't look like a great environment for someone with claustrophobia

Cardassian faces always look so great in chiaroscuro! Since season 2 I've wanted to see Garak in this lighting, and the show finally delivers.

"You're right. I'm an engineer" :D

Very cheesy episode, but I enjoyed it more than any of the Mirror ones...

In the Cards

The scene with the crazy doctor and bargaining with Bashir are really hilarious...

"It is enough to know that you and I have found so many common interests. I feel that we are very much alike. :))))" "*grabs his ear* No. We are nothing alike. Nothing at all. :))))))"

What a wonderful episode!!! (But where was Dax?)

Call to Arms

"We're losing the peace, which means a war could be our only hope"

THIS IS SO EPIC!!! And finally, Sisko's prophecy in "Rapture" comes true.

General impressions:

Dax was reinvigorated! -- by the romance or not, but she seemed more vibrant than ever this season. Bashir got more character development! O'Brien suffered a little less than in the previous years! Dukat got to be openly antagonistic!

As usual, my favorite part is the main epic plot. There were three great comedy episodes this time: Par'Mach, Tribbles and Cards. Other favorites: Nor the Battle to the Strong; Things Past; The Begotten; Doctor Bashir, I Presume; Ties of Blood and Water.

Once again, Klingons are allies, Cardassians are enemies, and Quark is not an outcast. Must we cling so hard to the status quo?