#enterprise d returns

[mceproductions]

MCE The Jaw Droppers 2023 #2: The Enterprise D Returns to the fold.

Along with the 3rd season of Picard being so great in getting the crew of the enterprise D back together for a final journey. There was one player nobody saw coming.

In the wake of a return of an old enemy, Picard and company were brought back to a piece of their past being unexpectedly restored after they had lost it long ago.

What magic happens when Geordi brings the crew together on the rebuilt bridge is nothing short of stunning.

Even the welcome voice of Majel Barrett as the Starfleet computer was a very welcome touch.

We knew the reunion was going to happen from the start. Nobody expected the original ship would come back in the play.

And jaws were dropped.

[chipistrate]

Welcome to the Grand Opening of Freddy Fazbears Balloon Circus!

After an array of previous undisclosed incidents at the Mega Pizzaplex, ending with the sudden collapsing of the building due to an unexpected earthquake, Fazbear Enterprise has demolished the old mall and rebuilt a new and improved carnival on the property! But just because the attractions above ground have been overhauled, doesn't mean the secrets beneath the surface have magically disappeared.

Reblogs appreciated!

MANY more rambles about this AU under the cut: would much appreciate if you read them, but there's no obligations!

EVERYTHING HERE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE!! This AU has just been pieced together by my insane ramblings to my friend over the past few days, so everything in it's early stages of development, and this post is being written VERY late while I'm very sleep deprived and just trying to finish it in time to schedule it! If some things are a bit weird or inconsistent then please keep that in mind! Thank you! :D

Gregory, Vanessa, and Freddy all return to the now renovated lot where the Pizzaplex once stood, having been called back two years after their last failed visit too save a long lost friend, too repair their old creation known at the M.X.E.S after it was suddenly and unexplainably shut down again. Upon entering the new-ish carnival, they'll quickly find it hard to safely look for the entrance to the layers below as the friendly mascot suits above chase after them for being unwanted guests.

Above ground, they're hunted by the mascots- new suits built for both performers and endoskeletons to be able to wear. This night, controlled by corrupted endoskeletons, they've been ordered to chase after the intruders by someone lurking below the carnivals ground. As well as finding the littler animatronics, known as Balloon Babies, to be quite the inconvenience.

Below ground, they're hunted by the old Glamrocks, still functional after all this time, and now under a new threats command that's also trying to keep the 3 star family from reaching M.X.E.S; Vannie. Aka, Cassie. Still here in the ruins of it all, waiting for the her perfect moment to lure the family back in and get her revenge for what they did to her all those years ago.

The mascots are the new faces of the Freddy Fazbears Balloon Circus, their costumes built to be worn by both endoskeletons and actors- but in a safer way than the springlock suits. The actors are used during the day for greeting and interacting with guests, putting on performances, etc etc. While the endoskeletons are used at night as a replacement for security guards and STAFF bots, kindly, but forcefully, escorting any intruders off the premises. Under Vannie's control they, of course, are much less kind and gentle with how they "escort" the 3 star fam out of the carnival.

Balloon Babies are smaller, almost Helpy-like animatronics in appearance, built to keep lost and lonely children happy and entertained while waiting for their guardian to arrive. They can't speak, but they can play song, games, sound effects, blow up balloons with their fingertips, etc etc. They found Gregory after he had been forcefully split up from Vanessa and Freddy by the mascots, and upon the family reuniting, the Balloon Babies more annoying feature kicked in: The Emergency Alert System. Whenever a child they are playing with is approached by an odd looking adult or other figure that seems like they could be a potential threat to the child's safety, whether that be a kidnapper, unfit guardian, bully, etc. the Balloon Babies will use their emergency alert system to call one of the mascots over and deal with the threat, kindly guiding the threat away and bringing the kid to a safer area away from potential danger where they can stay with staff until a proper guardian arrives. The Balloon Babies had decided in their time with Gregory that Vanessa and Freddy were unfit guardians for leaving Gregory scared and alone this late at night, and any time Vanessa and/or Freddy is nearby, their alert system will sound off and call a mascot to their location. The problem, other than the obvious, is that the Balloon Babies are fixated on Gregory. They will always be attracted to him and find their way back to him no matter what, with the only exception being when he's under ground. Which means that, until they can find a way to deactivate or otherwise get rid of these guys, Gregory is forced to be split up from Vanessa and Freddy above ground, and regroup underground.

The only exception is Goldie, a soft yellow version of the Freddy Balloon Baby that doesn't follow the others. Goldie is the only one of the Balloon Babies that can go underground, Vannie specifically programming him to be able to do so. He follows Vannie around and provides her with much needed company, being her only real friend down here besides Roxy. Later on, Gregory will find Goldie, but instead of calling for the mascots whenever Vanessa is near, he'll send out a signal to distract the other Balloon Babies away from Gregory so they won't call for the mascots or overwhelm him. Goldie can tell that Vanessa and Freddy are fit guardians that love Gregory very much, and can also tell that they're afraid of the mascots, though he can't compute why- it's his job to make sure that kids and their families are safe, so he's doing his best to ensure their safety however he can. Later on, Vannie will come looking for her friend after a long period of time of him being away and find him with the 3 star family, causing more conflict between the two parties that Goldie can't understand- Cassie and Gregory are supposed to be friends, aren't they? That's what Cassie said. Friends aren't supposed to fight each other, they're supposed to protect each other. That's what Goldie believes, at least.

Random trivia;

-Gregory, Freddy, and Vanessa have been living together for about 3 years now. 1 year by the time of Ruin, and 2 years after the fact leading up to Balloon Circus.

-Cassie has been gaslit into thinking that all the stuff Dr. Rabbit did was actually Gregory himself with no outside influence, only fueling her want for revenge, not only for the elevator incident, but everyone he hurt. This will affect Gregory greatly(he has not 100% recovered and this Does Not Help).

-Cassie still doesn't fully trust the Mimic, despite being under its influence. She let the M.X.E.S stay up after the 3 star family put it back up after Ruin despite Mimic's demands for her to shut it down again, assuring him it was "part of her plan". She wasn't entirely lying, shutting down the M.X.E.S was how she wanted to lure the family back, but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't also partially because she wanted to keep "that old endo" sealed away. He's not completely free from fault either.

-Gregory and Vanessa both have chips implanted in their heads, it's how Dr. Rabbit and Vanny took over way back when. Those same chips gave them VR vision, but the chips have since been "domesticated" and can't go full VR mode anymore. Despite this fact, they do still have a few side effects of the VR vision, such as some walls and objects simply not existing, despite them looking perfectly normal and real. They can phase through them without trouble, and this helps them navigate the Balloon Circus, becauseeeeeee;

-Cassie was there during the construction of the circus and set up VR walls in certain spaces to help her hide out and travel around undetected, even during the day. The 3 star family can also use these now as an easier way of navigating through the circus, but also as a way to hide from the mascots and even sometimes the Balloon Babies.

-The entrance to the underground levels is behind a VR wall, but it's one set up by the construction workers so the patrons wouldn't notice it. The reason an intentional opening is there is because the new entrance is now used as a dumping ground for stuff from random items from the ruins of the Pizzaplex to unused stuff from the circus to anything the employees with access to the area want to throw in there. It's how the ruined Glamrocks ended up there.

-The Glamrocks were being slowly reintroduced to the public, the biggest attraction so far being 'Chica of the Sea', a tent for the underwater hologram show of a prerendered mermaid Glamrock Chica that would swim around, wave at guests, and do a few preset moves that employees could turn on whenever. There's hints of them wanting to reintroduce the others as well that haven't been shown off to the public yet, with the new roles being; Glam Freddy and Bonnie are the co-ringmasters of the main tent where the mascots performances are held, making sure everything runs smoothly. Roxanne is the mascots and glamrocks make up artist, as well as offering to do make up/face paint for any patrons that came by her tent (for a price, of course). And Monty would roam around the circus grounds as a strongman showing off his incredible strength. He also has a tent for this, but he was mostly supposed to roam around and sometimes try and make people swing by his tent, mostly so they would buy his merch.

-Chica being the first to be reintroduced has an effect on her character below ground, with her hearing the news and trying her best to dress herself up in whatever scraps she could find to look like her mermaid counterpart, practicing her singing and dancing despite her condition so she could prove that she could be just as good as the hologram if she just got a few repairs.

-Roxanne is headless, having lost her head in her tussle with the Mimic. But she still has control of both her body and head, carrying around her decapitated head in her arms.

-Vannie/Cassie cares about Goldie soso much that's her new bestie<33 Friendship ended with Gregory, Goldie is new best friend<3 (I'm so sorry Gregory)

-Vannie is also known as Vengeful Vannie, but usually shortened to just 'Vannie'. A callback to the "Vengeful Spirit" aka Cassidy, because I think the parallels between the two are neat<3 (THIS MEANS NOTHING LORE WISE IT'S JUST A NAMING THING.)

-Some of the stuff at Balloon Circus was bought from the carnival mentioned to be across the street from the Pizzaplex in the TFTPP epilogues, and rebranded to fit with the new Fazbear theming

I wanna talk more about these guys later- not sure what else exactly to do with them, but if anybody has any questions then feel free to send 'em to my inbox! I'll be more than happy to reply to the best of my abilities<3

[startrekprodigyfan]

Okay, this is going out to the die-hard old-school Trekkies. And I’m going to be including spoilers because at this point if you haven’t been watching Prodigy yet, this is the only other way I know how to convince you to start! And even seeing spoilers won’t give you any context to the how or why they’re there, so that should hopefully give you incentive to watch the show!

For starters, what is Prodigy? Star Trek Prodigy is a 3D animated Nickelodeon show meant to introduce kids to the world of Star Trek. But don’t let the “kids show” title fool you, this is a show for ALL ages and even the most die-hard Trekkie will find something about it to enjoy.

The story centers around a group of alien kids who have been imprisoned on a mining asteroid as they stumble upon an abandoned Federation Starship and use it to escape with the hopes of one day joining Starfleet.

Are you happy that Star Trek is back but haven’t been excited or jazzed much about some of the recent shows? Then please watch Star Trek Prodigy! Here’s a visual list of things to expect to appease your continuity and cannon loving hearts:

1) The Enterprise D bridge on the holodeck, alongside Uhura, Odo, Doctor Crusher, Scotty, and Spock (using original legacy voice clips for many of the characters too)

2) The original Enterprise (non-Strange New Worlds) bridge!

3) An explanation for what happened to the original Galileo shuttle craft from the TOS series.

4) Both the original Vice Admiral Janeway and the new Hologram Janeway.

5) Wesley Crusher!

6) The Voyager-A!

7) Chakotay and the Holographic Doctor!

8) Original TNG (pre-First Contact) style Borg!

9) Legacy side characters returning such as The Outrageous Okona, voiced by the original actor Bill Campbell!

Currently the show is on Netflix. There are two seasons, 20 episodes each season that run around 24-30 mins long each for a grand total of a whopping 40 episodes! And there’s hopes that if Netflix thinks the show is worthy a 3rd season could be ordered. But only if you watch it now and get those ratings and viewership numbers up!

Please! Prodigy needs the help! Paramount+ canceled the show and yanked it from streaming before season 2 could even air (it had already been completed too)! Through a grass-roots campaign fans were able to get Netflix to pick it up and release the second season! Without Netflix this show would’ve just disappeared!

So please… if you love old school Trek and just want to exist in this world, you’re going to love Prodigy! And trust me, even those spoilers I showcased don’t even begin to scratch the surface of what this show has to offer!

[quasi-normalcy]

So very much this.

Like, there's this scene in Picard, season 3, where they all go onto the reconstructed Bridge of the Enterprise-D.

and, you know, it's supposed to hit you right in the feels, but the problem (one of them) is that Lower Decks and Prodigy had both already done lovingly detailed reconstructions of the TNG bridge less than 2 years earlier.

Contrast this with Scotty returning the original Enterprise bridge in TNG "Relics" back in 1992:

it was the first time that this bridge had appeared since the animated series in the 70s, and it wouldn't turn up again on screen until ENT "Through a Mirror Darkly" nearly 13 years later.

And, on each occasion, it was vastly more impactful than it would have been otherwise.

Pandering to nostalgia is how franchises die.

[verieriberries]

POWER THOUGHT

bruce wayne x professor utonium from powerpuff girls

like, just think about it

both dads of vigilante/hero children

bruce gets more opportunities to girldad (his fave would deffo be bubbles)

the batkids get an emotionally open figure in their lives

cass, steph, barbs and whatever other daughters bruce has gets more sisters

dami and buttercup would either kill each other on sight or would become allies

dick and blossom eldest daughter core

bubbles and cass do ballet together

tim and professor nerd out w each other

like, PLEASE PLEASE IMAGINE IT

professor utonium transfers to wayne enterprises r&d and like, bonds with tim over science and stuff (tim’s an intern). and of course, bruce wayne has to meet this guys because 1) new employee and it would be rude of Brucie Wayne™️ to not check on him and 2) tim’s been talking about this dude and he wanted to thank the man for not undermining his son’s intellect

and so he goes and whoops, exactly his type. the b in bruce wayne stands for bisexual and there’s two things that get him going: mean women e.g selina & talia and soft men e.g clark in those first years they knew each other and, now apparently included in the list, professor utonium

and the professor DOES NOT shut up about his daughters. dang, more points. although that kinda made bruce a little worried that the professor was a married man but his worries were put to rest when the man confirmed that he had been single ever since he graduated college.

so, should he shoot his shot? survey (tim and alfred) says yes.

that’s still the gist of it but bonus miscellaneous stuff

the number of batkids the batfam has is up to you

the age of the ppg is also up to you

younger ppg (like, 5-8): dami’s not the youngest anymore and he takes pride in being an older brother, dick is just delighted, the girls get a bunch of older brothers and sisters that are all very protective even when they find out that the ppg have superpowers

teen ppg: 95% risk of dami or buttercup killing the other, dick and blossom bonding about being ‘leaders’, bubbles brings a boyfriend home one time and the boyfriend never returned under the terrifying glares of batfam + blossom and buttercup (professor utonium was the only nice one), the ultimate sparring sessions

bruce teaches the ppg hand-to-hand combat and to not rely so much on their powers

batfam gets free laser dodging training courtesy of the girls’ laser eyes and just about any type of training pertaining fighting against superpowered enemies

this has been bugging me all day and i NEED someone with more motivation to draw or write about this. and if you do make art or fics, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TAG ME 🛐🛐🛐🛐

[williamedwardparry]

May 24th, 1845: The Illustrated London News runs an informative celebratory article about the Franklin Expedition, which left Greenhithe dock on the 19th. They describe outward and inward features of the ships, which had been visited by reporters, and give an overview of the careers of the ships and of their commander, Sir John Franklin. (In the process they accidentally invert the layout of Fitzjames' cabin, misspell Crozier's and Des Voeux's surnames, and omit to mention Sir John's second marriage.) [Internet Archive link]

Transcription:

DEPARTURE OF THE "EREBUS" AND "TERROR" ON THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

A desert waste of waters lies before— Behind, the anxious hospitable shore, Which like a parent bird sees ye depart, Bold wingèd messengers of daring Art ! We know that sunshine always 'round your path Cannot attend ; that rain and tempest's wrath Will be your portion ; but our pray'r shall be You live their fury out right gallantly, And after years you have perchance to roam That science crown'd you safely seek your home ! W.

On Monday H. M. sloops Erebus and Terror left Greenhithe, on their attempt "to penetrate the icy fastnesses of the north, and to circumnavigate America." The fitting out of this expedition was, we believe, definitively arranged by the Admiralty in February last, since which period the requisite equipments have been made ; and, as they involve several novelties, we shall briefly detail them.

The Erebus and Terror, it will be recollected, were fitted out for the South Polar Expedition, in 1839—1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Ross. The Terror had previously visited the Arctic regions ; it being the vessel in which Captain (now Sir George) Back, in 1836, attempted, by "way of Wager River," to trace the northern boundary of the American Continent. This vessel passed up Hudson Strait in August, 1836, and left it on her way home in August, 1837, after encountering extraordinary perils among the ice, and a narrow escape from foundering : she was then compelled to return home in a leaky condition, with her stern-post shattered. This was the fifty-seventh Arctic Expedition from England, commencing with Cabot's voyage (temp. Henry VII.)—the first of the kind that was made from our country; and the Expedition which has just sailed is the fifty-eighth enterprise of its class.

The vessels were put in commission at Woolwich on Tuesday, March 4. The Expedition is under the command of Captain Sir John Franklin, Knight, K. C. H., who is appointed to the Erebus (the larger vessel), with Commander James Fitzjames, Lieutenant Henry T. D Le Vesconte; mate, Charles F. Des Voux [sic]; second master, H. F. Collins; clerk, G. F. Pinhorn; gunner, J. G. Robinson; boatswain, J. G. Terry ; carpenter, W. Weekes. Captain F. R. M. Crosier [sic] commands the Terror, with Lieutenant Edward Little, Lieutenant G. H. Hodgson ; carpenter, Thomas Honey.

The fitting out of the vessels has been superintended and minutely inspected by the Lords of the Admiralty, and other persons distinguished in Polar expeditions. The ships are provided wit hthe most approved Archimedean screw propellers; and in one of the trials in the Thames, the Terror made such excellent progress that she cast off her towing steamer, and proceeded down the river without any additional assistance whatever.

In their visit to Woolwich, the Lords of the Admiralty proceeded to the west-end of the dock yard, opposite the wharf-wall of which was stationed the Rattler steam-vessel, fitted with a screw propeller. Their Lordships witnessed the manner in which the screw was shipped and unshipped by tackle and chains suspended over the starboard side of the vessel, and then proceeded on board the Erebus to witness the manner in which the screw-propeller could be taken on deck and replaced in its proper position, by letting it down through a well formed in the stern of the vessel. The advantages of this mode of attaching and detaching the screw, are self-evident, and the principle is so simple and easy of accomplishment, that any vessel in her Majesty's navy may by its aid be fitted with a screw-propeller, the objection and difficulty of shipping and unshipping it on the outside being completely obviated. Their Lordships went below and witnessed the construction of the tubular boiler and steam-forming apparatus, which occupies but a very small space in the vessel, and by aid of a large pipe, about one foot in diameter, conveys hot water under the deck to warm the men's berths, and all parts of the vessel. The funnel of the furnace is near the side of the vessel under the rigging, and is only about nine feet high. The pipe for blowing off the steam is not three feet high above deck, and is near the centre and over the boiler. Several other ingenious contrivances have been adopted to render the whole as simple and perfect as possible. The decks of the Erebus and Terror are constructed on the diagonal principle, and about twenty feet on each side of the bows of the vessels have been cased with strong sheet iron. There is not any copper sheathing on either of the vessels, as no danger is to be apprehended from the attacks of shellfish or barnacles, the ice soon clearing them from incumbrances of that description.

The arrangements made for the comfort of the officers and crews are excellent. The quantity of stores taken on board is considerable, and consists of preserved provisions of various kinds, a large quantity of tea, and extra strong West Indian rum, 35 per cent. over proof. The consumption is thus provided for a prolonged expedition. Ten fine live oxen have also been shipped at the Woolwich Dockyard, on board the Barretto, Jun., hired transport ship ; she will accompany the discovery vessels to the edge of the ice, and these animals may then be killed, and their flesh preserved fresh for any length of time.

Each ship has been supplied with 200 tin cylinders for the purpose of holding papers which are to be thrown over board, with the statement of the longitude and other particulars worthy of record, written in six different languages, and the parties finding them are requested to forward the information to the Admiralty.

The compasses of the vessels have been adjusted by Captain Johnson, and the most perfect arrangements made for the peculiar service in which the vessels of the Arctic expedition are to be engaged.

We annex, also, a portrait of the gallant Commander of the Expedition, who has already taken a share in three Expeditions to the North. Sir John Franklin is a native of Spilsbury, in Lincolnshire, and was born in 1786. At the age of fourteen, he entered the Royal Navy, as midshipman, and was on board the Polyphemus when Nelson made his daring and resistless attack on the Danish line and batteries off Copenhagen, April 2, 1801. Franklin next sailed with Captain Flinders on his Voyage of Discovery on the coast of New Holland, in which he endured shipwreck. We pass over several other of Franklin's services, but must not omit that on board the Bellerophon, at the Battle of Trafalgar. His first Expedition to the North was as commander of the Trent, in company with Captain Buchan, in the Dorothea, in 1818 ; both vessels returning in the same year.

Lieutenant Franklin's next enterprise was in connection with an expedition of Lieutenant (now Sir W. E.) Parry ; a journey by land, which, in point of severe and protracted suffering, has not been surpassed in the annals of discovery ; he left England in May, 1820, and did not return till July, 1822. In February, 1825, he left Liverpool on a similar journey, and returned in September, 1827.

Captain Franklin was promoted to the rank of Commander in 1821, and to that of Post-Captain in 1822. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and has published the results of his several expeditions. He married in 1823, Miss Porden, the daughter of the architect, William Porden, Esq. : this lady unhappily died of consumption, in her 30th year, in 1825.

Our illustrations show the cabins of Captain Sir John Franklin, and Captain Fitzjames, in the Erebus. Sir John's cabin is in the stern of the vessel, and has double windows.

Among the external peculiarities of construction may be mentioned the following: —Round the outside of both vessels is a projection as far as the shrouds, inclosing the chains as a protection against the ice : it is flat on the surface, except at the bows, which form an angle. What is generally the figure head is a solid block of wood ; the vessel is double, and the bows are a mass of timber about eight feet thick. The stern is nearly perpendicular, for unshipping the rudder ; and an ice board is raised above the bulwarks, which projects over the side, to aid in steering clear of the ice. The screw-propeller is worked by an engine of 25 horse power, which formerly ran upon the Greenwich Railway.

[tea-earl-grey]

I watched every Star Trek episode & here are my opinions.

as the title says – i finished all the Star Trek shows as of today yesterday and since i watched most of them while i wasn't using tumblr, i want do do some mini-reviews – both what i think are objectively the best shows and which are my personal favorites. i might make a couple more "ranking" posts for theme song/pilot/finale/favorite epsiodes/etc eventually but this post is already long as hell. i'll also probably do a movie post sometime but i want to rewatch the AOS movies first since i haven't seen Into Darkness since it came out (before i was actively a Trekkie).

also just as a note, these are fully my own opinions & tastes. i'm not trying to argue that any of these shows are bad (nor are any flawless), i'm just Some Guy giving my opinions.

continued under the cut. apologies for how long this is but there sure is a lot of Star Trek.

Watch Order

my opinions are probably a bit influenced by the order that i first watched these shows in so just as some background – i watched sporadic episodes of TOS & TNG when i was a kid which was enough to be familiar with the characters, general vibes, & world but not enough to really get into it. in late 2020/early 2021 i watched DS9 per a friend's recommendation and really loved it and decided to give all the different shows a shot. i watched all of TNG summer 2021, watched some of Disco & (what was then all of) Lower Decks in fall 2021. i started Voyager spring 2022, was interrupted because of Life Stuff and finished it spring 2023. i watched the first season of snw & prodigy sometime in between then. watched Picard spring 2023 just before s3 aired. watched Enterprise summer/fall 2023. finished Disco spring 2024 (just before s5). did a slow march through TOS between summer 2023 and summer 2024. and finally i watched TAS this past month. and i've been keeping up with all recent releases since 2023.

i've also rewatched a large amount of Trek either with my mom or friends at various times so i've ended up seeing most episodes twice (or more in the case of DS9 & Voyager).

Somewhat Objective Ranking:

there's a large difference for me between shows that i think are objectively good & ones that i'm personally attached to so here's just my attempt at ranking Star Trek shows by how good i think they are from a critical lens, not necessarily my favorite.

for me – a good show, and specifically a good Star Trek show, should have in my opinion a) a diverse & strong cast of characters, b) have unique & compelling plots whether they're based in science fiction, politics, or philosophy, c) has a strong moral center & explores the nature of humanity in some way, d) allows the audience to believe in a better future, e) is consistent (both with continuity and episode quality), f) does something to differentiate it from other shows, and g) is actually entertaining.

i don't think any shows come close to fulfilling all of those qualities but some do better than others.

11. The Animated Series: probably not a surprise that it comes in last. it's a fun show by the standard of kid's cartoon in the 70s and i genuinely do like it but it has a lot of the flaws of TOS (lack of continuity, lack of character depth, flimsy plots) with few of the upsides. though i do like how the secondary characters get more of a focus than in TOS.

10. Enterprise: big jump up in quality here from TAS but Enterprise does fall flat compared to the other shows. the Vulcan & Andorian stories are almost always good but so much of s1 & s2 lacks creativity and a lot of the a plots end up feeling generic & reused (though the b plots are often great). s3 falls into an obvious & uncomfortable 9/11/war on terror metaphor that has not aged well. and s4 is a huge improvement but doesn't make up for the faults of earlier seasons. additionally, i think returning to "the Trio + secondary characters" was largely a mistake as characters like Hoshi & Travis remain horribly underdeveloped (and what a coincidence that they're characters of color...) all in all. some great ideas and a handful of great episodes but it doesn't make up for how meh large swathes of the show can be.

9. The Original Series: i'm going to be honest that it this is the hardest show to objectively rank just because it's the first and it's so hugely impactful not just on the Star Trek franchise (obviously) but also on science fiction, pop culture, TV production, and American culture. its impact is quite literally immeasurable and i think unfortunately it means the show will always feel small in comparison to the shadow it casts. don't get me wrong. some episodes are great even by today's standard, not to mention by the standard of the 60s. but so many episodes, especially as the show went on, end up being pretty mediocre, poorly paced, misogynistic/racist, and have thin plots. TOS is enjoyable for me because of the camp & exploring the foundations of this fictional universe i love so dearly but i'm not going to pretend that it's objectively better than other shows on this list just because of its legacy.

8. Picard: now i could pretty easily judge each season of Picard as its own show and each season would get spaced out in entirely different places on this list. i genuinely believe s1 of Picard is one of the best seasons of Star Trek. the writing fumbles a bit at the end but the characters, direction, & acting is some of the best of the franchise. unfortunately the choice to present each season as a separate anthology reallllly let's it down because of the lack of continuity between seasons. the pandemic definitely threw a wrench into the show but s2 (while i enjoy it), has a very messy meandering plot that feels insecure in its skin. s3 (which i also enjoy) has tighter writing but suffers majorly from having been outlined before the end of s2 therefore having a weird discontinuous transition between seasons and unfortunately excluding so many great characters from s1 & 2. i love it dearly (not to foreshadow my personal favorite ranking) but it is a mess.

7. Discovery: most of the critiques i have of Picard also stand for Discovery which also opted for the "anthology" style series which i think fundamentally doesn't work. Discovery took awhile to find its voice and after s3, still sung somewhat off key. Michael is easily one of the best & most well developed Star Trek characters and the rest of the cast is good but are painfully underdeveloped as its hyperserialized format doesn't really leave time to get to know the characters unless it's essential for the plot. like Picard, it also got screwed over by pandemic-era production leaving some episodes clumsily written. some seasons, in my opinion, end up with an overcomplicated plot that becomes difficult to follow. nevertheless, there are some episodes and scenes that are stunning and somewhat make up for the mis-steps. and ultimately, the later seasons of the show really do understand the heart of Star Trek.

6. Strange New Worlds: going back to an episodic style for the next live action show after the mixed reviews of Picard & Discovery was definitely a good choice. the writing is much tighter, the characters generally feel more whole, and there's more to grab onto compared to entirely serialized shows. and after a lot of the darkness in Discovery and Picard, it feels like a breath of fresh air to have a show that feels joyful & fun. however. so much of SNW is built off of pre-existing Star Trek (mainly TOS) that it struggles to form its own identity and when it tries to be a new show, it gets caught in the trap of betraying existing continuity. the episodes focusing on La'an, Uhura, M'Benga, & Una are great – some of the best of new trek – but episodes focusing on Spock, Chapel, and Pike end up feeling... off with messy writing and being Kinda Weird about disability/genetics. since it's only had two seasons, i definitely think SNW could ascend or descend in the rankings in the upcoming season(s).

5. The Next Generation: TNG wasn't quite as hard for me to rank as TOS but it sometimes struggles with a similar problem that its legacy in pop culture sometimes overshadows the show itself. it's also tricky because when TNG is good, it's phenomenal; when it's bad, it's really bad; but most episodes land somewhere in the middle. s1 is borderline unwatchable, s2 is just a step above, and from there it gets a lot stronger after behind the scene problems were worked out & it found a stable writing staff. it ends up striking a good balance of stories between straightforward science mysteries, deep explorations of philosophy, space politics, and fun romps. it ends up getting dragged down more than a little by Roddenberry's lingering insistence to have the characters avoid long term conflict and the very episodic style resulting in less ongoing story arcs. characters like Geordi, Wes, Beverly, & Troi also end up feeling somewhat underdeveloped in comparison to characters like Picard & Data.

4. Voyager: this is probably one of my more controversial picks (judging by how others tend to rank the series) and maybe i'm biased but i do genuinely believe that Voyager deserves its place this high on the list. Voyager is an inconsistent show which certainly pulls it down a little but manages to strike a better balance in episode quality and is able to have more dynamic characters & more ongoing narratives than TNG. Voyager still has its share of bad episodes and gets off to a somewhat shaky start (particularly struggling in early s2) but finds its groove more easily because of the experienced writing team that already had years of Star Trek under their belt & an excellent cast. Voyager's biggest stumbles are definitely in regards to under-serving some of the characters (especially Chakotay, Tuvok, and Harry) in later seasons.

3. Deep Space Nine: a somewhat obvious pick for top three Trek shows. DS9 has deservedly been getting its praises in recent years for its darker narratives, its bold approach to some of TV's first serialized stories, its exploration of politics & religion, and the masterful way it can bounce between nuanced episodes on serious topics & fun comedy. it flails a little bit in the first two seasons while finding its voice but compared to some of the other shows, it starts off strong and the quality is generally consistent with seasons 4 & 6 being the obvious highlight. however despite the strength of the characters, actors, and writing, there are certainly times when the show fumbles: episodes that get a bit too dark to bounce back from (and aren't followed up on), stories that present some troubling ethics without much pushback, and its fair share of the mediocre scifi mystery episodes seeded throughout 90s Trek.

2. Lower Decks: based on its first season, Lower Decks is a fun but non-serious entry into the Trek pantheon. so it was surprising when what seemed at first glance like a typical irreverent adult animation show, developed so much genuine heart for both the the Lower Decks characters & the wider Trek franchise. Lower Decks could have been an excuse to string together a bunch of fan-servicey references but it becomes genuinely heartfelt with great new characters, fun worldbuilding, actual insightful commentary on existing Trek, and the ability to laugh at itself while still being made with love. while the first two seasons drag it down a little bit (i think they went in too hard with the raunchy comedy vibes), season 3 and especially season 4 are really great especially with the exploration of Mariner's PTSD that strengthens her into one of the best character in Trek.

1. Prodigy: plenty of people have been singing Prodigy's praises since its untimely cancellation and no joke – it is, in my opinion, the best Star Trek show. it is more of a kids oriented show than the other entries on this list (except TAS) but that doesn't mean it lets up on having complex plots & characters. it might be the only Star Trek show that i genuinely believe doesn't have a bad episode (albeit a couple in s1 that are just okay) and s2 as whole is a masterpiece. the only things that let it down in my opinion are: somewhat clunky animation on close-ups (though the background animation is gorgeous) and the plot getting so over complicated by s2 that i had to draw a diagram to keep track of the time travel (and this is coming from someone who loves over complicated time travel stories.)

My Personal Favorite Star Trek Shows:

11. The Animated Series: as i said before – it's fun, i'm glad it exists, it doesn't really offend me, but with the exception of the episode Yesteryear, it doesn't really do anything for me.

10. The Original Series: yeah... i'm sorry. i just don't click with TOS that much (or TOS era in general as you can tell from the rest of this list). i can recognize its importance and there are definitely some episodes i really enjoyed (either for the camp factor or because they're genuinely good) but the majority of the episodes i either don't have much of an opinion on or i think are genuinely bad (in a not fun way). i'm also fine with looking past some of the bigotries of the time but even so the misogyny & racism in the show was just too much for me. sorry.

9. Strange New Worlds: i enjoy SNW for the most part but it's definitely dragged down because 1) i strongly dislike how Spock is written, 2) while i definitely like episodic Trek more, the short episode order does make the episodes i dislike stand out a lot more, 3) a lot of the show is built on nostalgia-bait for TOS era which... i just don't really have. there are great episodes but as a whole, i'm just not attached to it.

8. Discovery: i really disliked the first two seasons of Discovery when i first watched them and though they've grown on me, it's just too dark for me to really get into. seasons 3-5 i like a lot more and i appreciate how earnest & hopeful it is (especially compared to seasons 1 & 2) but the writing can be a bit heavy handed. and as much as i do really love Michael, i definitely prefer shows with a stronger focus on the ensemble as a whole. that said, i am definitely attached to the characters and really love the 32nd century worldbuilding that's done.

7. Enterprise: i'm honestly a bit surprised that i ended up liking Enterprise this much but the fourth season (with the exception of the finale that definitely doesn't exist) is banger after banger. and while the episodes of earlier seasons might be a bit uninspired, the general worldbuilding is genuinely interesting to me with the exploration of Vulcan politics, the Vulcan-Andorian War, the Temporal Cold War, the pre-Federation politics of Earth, and more. i'm also greatly endeared to all the secondary characters (Hoshi & Phlox particularly) which means it's also a shame that the non-Archer, Trip, & T'Pol characters get so little screentime. and while so much of the first two seasons is kinda bleh, the B plots & runners to those episodes end up being really fun and ends up creating a world & characters that feels worth exploring.

6. Prodigy: i think with time (and a possible third season...) Prodigy could become one of my favorite Treks and as i already said – it's very very good. the core cast of characters is really strong with all of them (except for maybe Murf & Jankom Pog) being well developed and compelling. the plot is interesting and feels relatively unique while still feeling like Star Trek at its core. it's also the rare example of a series that has a lot of fan-service while still retaining its identity and the strength of its own characters. ultimately, it ends up ranking lower on here than my more objective tier list because some of the angst & darkness i enjoy in stories doesn't quite deliver (which is very much not a fault of the show since it is a family show), the way Janeway is written doesn't always quite line up with my own view of the character (again, not a fault of the show), and the fact that i just haven't spent as much time with the show & characters yet.

5. The Next Generation: TNG is very much a comfort show to me. i don't have all that much to add from my objective review (there are very bad episodes, very good episodes, but most are somewhere in the middle). i really like all the characters and the behind the scenes friendships really translate well to the screen but none of them really compel me the way characters do further up on this list. i do give the show a lot of credit though for continuing the worldbuilding established in TOS and taking it in a new direction and a new vibes (rather than continuing the space western format) that is hugely influential to all of the shows that came after it.

4. Lower Decks: pretty much the same as my objective review – it's a fun show that ends up finding a good balance of humor, strong characters, and pointed commentary at past Trek shows. it's a show obviously filled with a lot of love for the franchise and i'm very glad it exists. aside from Mariner, i'm not quite as attached to the other characters but i do love them all.

3. Deep Space Nine: as i said before, DS9 is undoubtedly one of the strongest shows in Star Trek. it has the most recurring characters, pretty much all of which i find compelling, and a fantastic cast of regulars as well. the overall plot of the show is incredibly strong and allows it to have a lot of good commentary on imperialism, war, religion, race, and more. it has my two favorite episodes in all of Star Trek (The Visitor and Far Beyond the Stars) and so many other bangers as well. it's the show that first hooked me into Star Trek & the Star Trek fandom and it really is fantastic. the reason it doesn't rank higher here is entirely subjective in that i just don't feel as compelled to explore the characters & fandom as the last two shows on this list. other people have talked about how shows that are too objectively good aren't necessarily the best for fandom and that's how i kind of feel about DS9. it's great. i love it. i'm not necessarily compelled to feel like i have to add to it.

2. Picard: i can recognize that in many ways Picard kinda fails as a show (for reasons i've already stated) but that absolutely does not stop me from loving it. it's extremely messy and i've wanted to fix it ever since i saw it. it might be an unpopular opinion but the worldbuilding developments in s1 (the destruction of Romulus, the synth ban, the general darkness of the Federation) are incredibly compelling to me and i really do like deconstructing Picard as a character (even if i wish he was in the show a little less). and despite some major inconsistencies between seasons, i find the characters wonderfully rich and well written and every time i watch an episode, i feel like i want to explore them more and more. (not coincidentally, it's also the Star Trek show i've written the most fanfic for.)

1. Voyager: Voyager has enthralled me mind, body, & soul. i've never had such a fast turn around from a show that i was meh about to one that constantly consumed my thoughts. it's undoubtedly imperfect but it's imperfect in a way that i feel compelled to want to study and fix. with the exception of maybe DS9, Voyager has the strongest cast of characters and one of the strongest premises of any show. i firmly believe that Kathryn Janeway is the best (and certainly my favorite) Captain in all of Star Trek and most of the characters rank among my favorite Trek characters of all time. even if there aren't a ton of obvious ongoing narratives, the subtle ways the characters change over the 7 years is great and leaves the door open for fandom to explore so much (which as you can tell is definitely something that draws me to a lot of shows). and while DS9 might have my favorite episode of Star Trek, Voyager ends up having more stories that rank amongst my favorites (Year of Hell, Latent Image, Endgame, Barge of the Dead, Bride of Chaotica, Riddles, Survival Instinct, Timeless, etc).

anyways.... that sums that up. i'll probably type up my list of favorite episodes sometime in the next few days because i need to milk the "i watched all of Star Trek" thing for a little bit.

[prokopetz]

Thank you for the explanation! ❤️ now I’m intrigued, though: Where can I find information on why 4E was published under a more restrictive license?

(With reference to this post here.)

Before we can talk about that, it's necessary to understand what an incredible shitshow 4E's commercial launch was in general. I go over that in some depth here.

Understanding the sequence of events outlined there is important because it dispels one of the most widely accepted wrong answers to your question: that Hasbro and WotC cooked up the 4E Game System License (GSL) because they didn't want a repeat of Pathfinder.

In truth, the 4E GSL is what caused Pathfinder; Paizo was one of a handful of third-party publishers who'd taken advantage of the D&D System Trademark License (STL) to produce officially branded D&D products, and they'd likely have been perfectly happy to continue doing so if WotC hadn't come to them and said "hey, if you want to remain STL-compliant, you need to throw away all of your 3E material and re-develop it for 4E, under a more restrictive license, with zero notice – that's cool, right?"

(It was not, in fact, cool.)

As for why the 4E GSL really happened, there are a variety of opinions on that – a lot of it ultimately comes down to internal office politics, so there may never be a clear answer. As far as I've been able to gather, however, the problem is that the OGL had always served two masters. By all accounts, several of the OGL's principal architects genuinely believed in establishing a creative commons for D&D – but that's not how they sold the idea to the suits at the head office.

Internally, the pitch in favour of the OGL was that it would allow WotC to delegate the creation of D&D supplements and adventures to third parties, allowing WotC itself to focus on core book sales. (i.e., the PHB/DMG/MM trio and the main setting hardbacks.) Core books were always the more lucrative side of the coin, with supplements and adventures serving less as a profit-making enterprise in themselves, and more as long-tail support to drive further core book sales. The prospect of being able to get that long-tail support for free was very tempting, and is likely the main reason that corporate agreed to publish the Third Edition under the OGL in the first place.

The OGL accomplished that, to a degree, but it also resulted in a lot of publishers lifting D&D's rules text wholesale – remember, the OGL allows verbatim copying-and-pasting of rules text, which was its main draw from the perspective of third-party publishers – and stuffing it into their own standalone games. This sort of thing was fairly small-time prior to the Pathfinder debacle, but there was enough of it going on for WotC's new owner, Hasbro, to see it as a thorn in their side.

TL;DR version: in all likelihood, 4E's GSL was an effort by Hasbro to rein in the OGL and return it to the purpose for which it had initially been sold to WotC corporate: an instrument for outsourcing D&D's long-tail support to unpaid third parties while reaping the benefits of that support in core book sales.

(Of course, as outlined in the linked post, what was actually accomplished was to shrink D&D's third-party support practically to nothing while simultaneously creating its own largest competitor; it's a fair question how much of this was due to the GSL itself, and how much of it was due to all the other corporate incompetence and general fuckery attendant to 4E's rollout, but either way, the result was WotC and Hasbro pulling the plug on 4E early, and reverting to the OGL for 5E. It was a learning experience all around – though the present business with the OGL 1.1 leads one to suspect that they didn't learn the right lessons!)

[flippyspoon]

The Drunk Dial

Note: SNW Spirk ficlet :D (about 1k words)

Jim Kirk could not quite believe what he had just seen.

From the less than cozy chair behind his desk, he sat stunned.

This couldn’t be real, he thought. 

Unless?

But he tapped his comm. Due diligence and all.

“Commander Kirk to Lieutenant Boyer. Hey Jerry, I received a video message from the Enterprise. Can you verify authenticity for me? I’m sending over the data signature now.”

“Hi, Jim. Sure. Lemme just give it a looksee… Uh, yep. Authenticated. USS Enterprise. From Lieutenant Spock. Oh cool. He’s that half Vulcan science division wizard, right?”

“Yyyyep. Huh. So there’s no…interference on that? Nothing suspicious?”

“You have reason to suspect something, Jim?”

“Um… Well, no. I was just surprised by the content of the message. Thought maybe someone was trying to have some fun with me.”

“Looks good to me. Just an ordinary comm.”

“Cool cool. Okay. Thanks, Jerry.”

Kirk sat back and rubbed a hand over his face. On his computer screen, the message sat paused, having looped to the very beginning after he’d played it twice over already.

Lieutenant Spock was frozen, staring back at him with a crooked little smile on his face, one eyebrow raised. But his eyes were just a little two heavy lidded. His hair just a little tousled and not the immaculate Vulcan coiffure Kirk had gotten used to seeing while visiting the Enterprise.

He was also out of his science blues. Spock was wearing a tight black t-shirt instead, stretched over his broad chest.

In short, Spock looked extraordinarily hot. Even for Spock.

He also looked drunk as hell.

The message was not coming from his quarters. Kirk recognized the tables behind Spock from the Port Galley.

Kirk licked his lips and tapped play for the third time.

“Commander Kirk,” Spock said slowly. “Greetings. Hello. Hi. I am sending you this message due to…a… having lost a wager. With Lieutenant Ortegas. Whose birthday it is.” From offscreen, Jim heard Erica Ortegas hoot and a hand blurred by the edge of the screen. “Today,” Spock continued. “Is her birthday. Which we are celebrating. Which is the reason for… That is…” Spock swallowed and held up a half-empty box of chocolates. “Cause for celebration chocolate. Which is inebriating for Vulcans. Such as myself.”

“Tell him about the bet!” Nurse Chapel’s face appeared onscreen as she leaned down to Spock, giggling, until Erica wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her away again and she shrieked a laugh.

“The bet. Yes.” Spock nodded as if his head were on a spring. “The bet concerned whether or not I could…what is it called-”

“Deepthroat!” Erica yelled from offscreen.

“Deepthroat a Terran banana,” Spock said, nodding again. “Which I am able to do.”

Kirk chewed on his lip.

“You’re supposed to tell him about the bet you lost, genius. But also yes, good job telling him that. Good info to have.” Chapel had appeared again, breathless and pushing her sweaty hair back. She looked into the camera and rolled her eyes before disappearing.

“Yes. The bet I lost concerned whether I could fit sixty Terran marshmallows in my mouth while reciting the words ‘chubby bunny.’ A most inane and illogical test of stamina.”

Erica returned, this time crouching behind Spock and throwing an arm around him. She looked just as inebriated as he was, though far more obviously gleeful. She was also wearing a neon green feather boa around her neck.

“But it was so cute to watch!” Erica said. She looked into the camera, meeting Jim’s eyes. “I’m sure you would have agreed, Commander Kirk. You think Spock’s cute, right?” She smirked at him and he winced.

He had, in fact, told Erica Ortegas all his thoughts on Spock when they had bumped into each other on shore leave.

He’d told her at length.

“I am still at a loss,” Spock said, his brows turning down comically and his lips forming a pout, “as to the purpose of this communication.” He frowned at the box of chocolates and picked out a truffle topped with a mocha mousse.

“The purpose,” Erica said, grinning lasciviously, “was for you to tell Commander Kirk that you enjoyed playing chess with him.”

“That is true,” Spock mumbled. He was doing the nodding thing again as he held the uneaten chocolate in his hand.

 She stage whispered to Kirk, “He talks about you all the tiiiime.” She cleared her throat and went on, “And that you very much look forward to next week when the Enterprise and Farragut dock at Starbase Seven.”

“That is also true,” Spock said. 

Spock took a bite of the chocolate. He chewed and swallowed and when he looked into the camera at Jim and wrapped his lips around his chocolatey fingers to suck off the slightly melted dregs, Jim groaned.

“It occurs to me,” Spock said, licking his lips, “that this is not an appropriate message to-”

“SSSSHHHH!” Erica squeezed his shoulder. “Jim’s cool! We got hammered on Risa a couple months ago! I know all his secrets!”

“Erica! Karaoke time!” Chapel shouted offscreen. “We’re gonna do ‘Love Shack!’”

Erica leapt up and Spock blinked into the camera. “I am told I must not miss ‘Love Shack.’ So uh… I will see you at Starbase Seven, Commander Kirk. These chocolates are excellent. Spock out.”

Kirk had been smiling so hard his mouth ached. 

He stood up, took off his shirt, and headed to his bed to jerk off.

***

Spock woke up fully clothed atop his bed, his booted feet hanging off the end.

Immediately, he recalled everything.

“Oh,” Spock muttered. “No.”

With a groan, he pushed himself up to his feet, rubbing his temples. He could not deny that Erica’s birthday parties somehow always ended up engaging him more than most social events on the Enterprise.

And somehow, he always ended up doing something terribly embarrassing.

But this was certainly his first drunken dial.

And to Commander Kirk!

His computer kept pinging. 

He trudged to the synthesizer and made himself a cup of tea, very strong and very hot.

In the privacy of his own quarters, he slumped in the chair at his desk, glowering at the computer screen and the blinking notification next to the name: CMDR. JAMES T. KIRK.

It was true, he had so far been friendly with Kirk. But this…

Egregiously unprofessional. Inappropriate.

Spock shut his eyes, mouth collapsing into a crooked grimace.

“Ugh.”

Nothing to do but, as Pike liked to say, “face the music.”

Which would probably be The B-52s if Erica and Christine had anything to say about it.

Spock clicked the message and pressed play.

Kirk looked utterly poised and dashing like he always did.

“Hi there, Mr. Spock.” A sly smile spread across Kirk’s face. “Ah, I just wanted to say I really enjoyed your message.” His gaze glittered, fixed on Spock as if actually seeing him live, and also as if he were physically stripping Spock of his clothes. “And I too am truly looking forward to the Enterprise and the Farragut both docking at Starbase Seven next week. So…” Kirk bit his lip and his voice dropped a few octaves when he said, “I guess I’ll see you then. Kirk out.”

The message ended and Spock just stared.

Somehow, Jim Kirk’s brief and completely professional message sounded to Spock like an impressively erotic performance and Spock was certain that had been the intent.

Alright. He was clearly not in trouble-trouble. He was in a whole different kind of trouble.

Spock stood, stripped off his shirt, and headed back to bed to jerk off.

[trekkie-polls]

There are so so so so many more, I could really only fit a handful in. If your favorite star trek mystery is missing, please describe it in the tags!

Bonus points for sharing your thoughts on how you would finish the story :)

[theskeptileptic]

Tim really didn’t like opening presents in front of people and before coming to the Waynes, it wasn’t like he had any practice. His birthday gifts had always been self-bought with his parents’ credit card and their family never celebrated the holidays as anything other than “gala season.” Mrs. Mac once bought him a Batman sticker book after a really bad flu one year, but that was unwrapped and placed on his pillow while he was throwing up in the guest bathroom.

The first wrapped present Tim ever got was from Dick on his first Christmas Eve after becoming Robin. He was changing in the locker room and planning on walking back to Drake Manor to slip into sweatpants and binge old episodes of Star Trek. Bruce had given him a rare “good job” that night and he was practically glowing. After his shower, he grabbed his bag from his locker when a small, wrapped box fell to the ground. Dick came bounding around the corner right as Tim read the label (to: Timbo, from: D) and Tim smiled awkwardly as Dick urged him to open it.

“Go ahead, you’re looking at it like it’s a bomb.” Dick bounced on his toes.

“I, uh, didn’t get anything for you,” Tim lied because he had actually bought something four months ago but was planning on hiding it in Dick’s car so he’d only find it once back in Bludhaven. Tim learned his lesson on not giving gifts to grownups where they’d feel obligated to say something polite—his parents told him many times that his hovering was rude.

Tim opened the box gingerly, folding the wrapping paper meticulously and setting it inside his locker. Inside, was a gift card to a skate shop and a small Dr. Who keychain. It was the most thoughtful gift Tim had ever received in his fifteen years and he, embarrassedly, could feel his throat get tight.

“I hope it’s the right store?” Dick’s voice startled him and he quickly cleared his throat.

“Thank—uh—thank you. It’s perfect. I need to go home now but yeah. Thanks.” He said lamely. Dick’s smile looked a little tight around the edges but it was still genuine. “You sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?” But Tim was already out the door with a “thanks for asking but I have plans” because he was capital-F freaking out. Social niceties had never translated to social suaveness for Tim, and he had no idea what to do with the awkward space between receiving and acknowledging a gift.

The next time Tim received a wrapped present was his sixteenth birthday, from Bruce, and it ended up being a mind-bending adventure in deception and lifelong trust issues, which, regardless of whatever his mentor’s intention, didn’t really endear him to the tradition of gift-giving. So much so that Kon, Bart, and Cassie wrote wrapped presents?? on their list of Rob’s Triggers saved to their team’s hard drive. The team always managed to gift each other experiences anyway. When they weren’t, you know, dead.

Tim was gone during the holidays for his Bruce-quest, and the only wrapped gift he received that time was from Ra’s—which, better left unsaid, really—and when he returned, he was seventeen, and completely, utterly done with surprises.

So when he found himself on the top of Wayne Enterprises Christmas night, he was reasonably suspicious of the large box wrapped in green and tied with a gold ribbon.

To: Timbo, From: D

He hadn’t talked with Dick for over a month, and watching his brother emerge from the shadows with his hands up did nothing to calm his anxiety.

“Still not a bomb.” Nightwing said softly.

Tim watched the Christmas lights twinkle across the city, steadfastly ignoring the man behind him.

“It’s been awhile, baby bird.” Tim wanted to scoff but it alarmingly sounded more like a sob.

He didn’t startle when Dick’s hand landed on his shoulder, nor when he was pulled into a strong, yet gentle hug.

“I missed you,” his brother murmured into his hair.

“Yeah.” Tim said, which was enough.

After a moment, they pulled away, and Dick walked over to the gift. “Let’s do it together?” Tim nodded and they unwrapped the box, folding up the paper and laying it neatly on the ground.

A beat passed. Tim stared. Dick stared back.

“It’s been awhile, kiddo. Let’s raise some hell, huh. First one downstairs pays for dinner.”

(And if Bruce Wayne woke up to news that his offices had been toilet papered and completely covered in gingerbread scented shaving cream, that was nobody’s business but the two vigilantes eating reconciliation pancakes at 10 AM the next day.)

[lonestarflight]

Space Shuttle Enterprise on top of NASA 747 SCA in flight prior to her second free flight of the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT-13)."The tests were conducted to verify orbiter aerodynamics and handling characteristics in preparation for orbital flights with the Space Shuttle Columbia. A tail cone over the main engine area of Enterprise smoothed out turbulent airflow during flight. It was removed on the two last free flights to accurately check the approach and landing characteristics."

Photographed by Astronaut Vance D. Brand while riding in T-38 chase plane number five.

"Moments later the Orbiter 101 separated from the 747 and made a five-minute, 28-second unpowered flight before landing. Astronauts Joe H. Engle, commander, and Richard H. Truly, pilot, were the crew of the 'Enterprise.' two T-38 chase planes are seen in the background. The ALT free flights are designed to verify orbiter subsonic airworthiness, integrated systems operations and pilot-guided approach and landing capability and satisfy prerequisites to automatic flight control and navigation mode."

"Astronaut Engle entered a dive, reaching 300 knots (345 mph or 555.6 kph). Enterprise was to execute a tight turn, a maneuver that would dissipate excess energy during return from orbit, to reach the runway accurately. The turn indeed was tight, for they banked at 55 degrees. 'I went right to 1.8 g in the turn and held that all the way down to below the 200-knot minimum target speed,' Engle said. 'The airplane felt very solid all the way through.'

He pitched up as he turned; the airspeed fell off to 188 knots (216 mph or 348 kph). He then stabilized his craft at 195 knots and carried through a second series of manual control tests."

Date: September 13, 1977

Google Images: link

NASA ID: S77-28139, S77-28136, S77-28137, ECN77-8608, ECN-8611, S77-28141, S77-28138

source, source

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-Fi prompt from @kayasurin:

Economy topic - Trickle Down Economics, why they work/don't work

HI it's been two months since I got this prompt, so. Sorry about that. been a lot going on in my personal life, so let's hope this makes up for the wait.

(To anyone who was considering doing a ko-fi prompt... I promise to get to them, but I cannot promise a reasonable time frame, sorry.)

So, Trickle-down economics, and if they work.

Short answer: They absolutely don't.

Longer answer that you actually paid for:

Trickle-down is basically a propaganda-driven hustle that rich people run against the working class. It's an economic theory that is known to not function, but since it serves the people up top to keep pushing it, we still have to deal with people pretending it's a real thing.

The basic concept of it is that if the capitalists at the top are allowed to retain more money (less taxes), then that money will naturally find its way lower down the pyramid through natural market forces. If a wealthy individual is allowed to keep an extra 50% of their marginal income, then the bulk of that 50% will go into their businesses, reinvested to generate more wealth by purchasing new equipment, running R&D, and paying more money to more workers. By not paying the taxes, they wealthiest classes can direct their money as they see fit, so really they don't end up with any more money than they would have if they paid their taxes!

As you can guess, this is not what actually happens in almost every possible application of the theory.

First, let's address the concept of marginal tax rates. They get a lot of hate, but I find this infographic explains the reality best:

(source: This post, but originally from Kasia Babis on The Nib/@thenib)

To summarize for those using a screen reader:

Let's say you earn 50k every year, and we're not going to bother with currency, because this is a simplified explanation. In this scenario, there is a national/federal income tax of approximately 20%. With that, you give 10k to the government, and retain 40k for your own purposes.

You have a neighbor who makes 500k every year. In this hypothetical, a marginal tax rate applies to earnings over 100k. The marginal tax rate is 70%. What does that mean for your neighbor?

They pay 20% on the 100k, which is 20k. Then they pay 70% on the remaining 400k, which is 280k. Combining the base tax and marginal, they are taxed 300k. At the end of the day, they are left with 200k. The total tax on their income is 60%. If you're following along, you can tell that regardless of the final percentage, anyone that the marginal tax applies to is always going to get to keep at least 80k, the amount left of the pay that is taxed at the base rate.

The more you earn, the more you are taxed. Again, this is super simplified, but this is the most basic way marginal taxation works. (Tax brackets are related but not entirely the same thing.)

With a marginal tax, exorbitant wealth is curtailed by forcing that wealth back into the system. The understanding is that nobody can actually perform hundreds of times more labor than their lowest-paid worker, and so all that surplus income was in some way not distributed properly. They get to keep enough to live on, quite comfortably, but not all of it.

There may be some companies that are willing to cap their highest wages in relation to their lowest, but those are far and few between. There's a reason the average ratio of CEO to entry level worker in the US is nearly 400:1... up from 1965's 20:1. (source)

Trickle-down theorizes that, if allowed to keep that exorbitant wealth, the Capitalists will distribute that wealth back to their workers or reinvest it into productive enterprise, and do so in response to market forces or out of fear of a return of the marginal tax.

This is not what happens, basically ever. People do not earn that much money if they are already paying a living wage and distributing wealth properly. You cannot get exorbitantly wealthy through anything other than wage theft, system abuse, or capital-based market manipulation (see: hedge funds, housing market).

I suppose you could inherit the money, or win the lottery, but the latter is actually taxed higher than the former, believe it or not. The United States federal government doesn't have an inheritance tax, and most states also don't. There might be various legal fees and such, but not any actual taxes.

Where we end up is that those taxes the rich don't have to pay go instead towards 'passive income' schemes and market manipulation like the housing market.

(That is an entire separate rant, but yeah, most of the housing market at that income bracket is, to some degree, deliberately manipulated by those involved in it. We are all 100% watching for that bubble burst that is inevitably heading our way.)

The wealth does not trickle down to the workers. It is guided by those who have it, and they are significantly more likely to put it in foreign bank accounts, liquid assets, and real estate that they hope will gain value for a capital gain at sale.

Trickle-down economics relies on the goodwill of the wealthy, but almost nobody gets that wealthy by having goodwill to spare.

(Prompt me on ko-fi!)

[theautotrophic]

my girl Violette!!!!

Dumping all the lore I have about my stupid little girlfailure bisexual radiostatic fankid <<<3333

So basically, she's a loser, a fossil, and I don't mean to sound hostile - but the demon is a coward >>:D

She's an absolute LOSER GIRLFAILURE just like her dad <3

Idk know how to explain it honestly, like, just think of the biggest, most dumbest of ass, girl loser you can think of and that's her

Just an absolutely deranged loser idiot

She runs a company with her brother Veer (maybe streaming or smth 🤔🤔 I haven't figured it out yet). She's the "creative mind" (kills people) and he's the brains behind the operation

A company name I thought of might be Viedio Enterprises?

For her powers they're a bit of a mixture between Vox and Alastor

She can travel via shadows the same as Alastor

She can use other people's shadows to puppeteer them

She's got a connection to the Internet and television the same as Vox because of her head and antenna

Can play things through her radio and on her screen and manipulate devices around her

Connection to radiowaves

She can probably traverse the Internet

Can corrupt technology

Basically, she would be an extremely powerful overlord if she wasn't such an idiot

I think I'm gonna have like two different timelines for this AU since I couldn't decide if I wanted them to be adults or kids when the hotel opens and Alastor returns after 7 years

Cause I think it would be really funny if Vox accidentally created her (and her brother Veer who I'll probably post for later once I actually make a good drawing of him) while Alastor was away for seven years and Alastor comes back and learns he has kids and is like "how the fuck-"

But also their adult personalties are so fun and I'd love to think about how they would react to Alastor going missing for 7 years (cause if they were adults he def would have raised them with Vox) and I just think the potential in that AU is more fun, while them being kids I can just think of a lot of art and funny moments to draw

So, in the case where they're younger Vox would accidentally create them a few months after Alastor has left when he's super desperate to find him. He would be like doing some type of demonic magic summoning circle type shit to try and summon Alastor or find out where he is but he has actually no idea what he's doing. So he's got like this whole setup sort of thing with like his blood and Alastor's hair in this wholeass satanic circle. And so he does the spell. And instead of summoning Alastor it like combines their DNA and BOOM, congrats ur a single father now. And now Vox just has two kids to raise. (Yes I thought of all this just because mpr3g makes me uncomfy (but also this scenario is both very funny and kind of sad to me and I will be drawing it at some point. probably)).

OR

if they were older, like in their twenties by the time Alastor comes back idk Vox would probably still accidentally create them somehow I'd have to think about it

So yeah ill probably just do both versions and do what I want

Anyways! Send me asks about her if you'd like I'd love to talk about her :]

[mdoesitmatter]

You love books? Good thing you aren’t Ukrainian.

A try not post anything on the topic of w@r on this account but this situation ruined on another level. My hands are shaking as I write this.

Today, on 23th of May ru$$ians made a massive missile attack on Kharkiv and one of those missiles destroyed one of the biggest Printing Enterprises in Ukraine. 7 people was found dead (for this moment), more 40 was seriously injured and thousands of books completely destroyed. My favourite publisher manufactured their books there as well as 17 others. Years of work are gone in a blink of an eye. And it was just 1 out of 15 missiles.

Many books on my shelves was made there. But because we are neighbours with terr0ristic state my passion to literature costed people their lives.

Because that is what Ru$$ians do. They destroy every single aspect of our lives. They k!ll our people. They bring destruction and de@th. They don’t want to win to win the w@r, they want to erase Ukraine from the face of this Earth.

I understand that my home country isn’t the only one to struggle right now, but I am not going to apologies for wanting to help my people. War is still going. They b0mb us every day. People d!e every day. Every day I call my loved ones, fully aware that they might not pick up and that last time I talked with them was the last. I fear that I will never return home.

If Russia stop fighting — there is gonna be no war.

If Ukraine stop fighting — there is gonna be no Ukraine.

Save Ukraine.

Save Ukrainian people.

Arm Ukraine.

Слава Україні!

[bajuuuu]

The ballroom dancing fic is finally finished!

AO3

Excerpt below:

Never, when you go on an away mission, do you expect it to go exactly as planned. Which is exactly why you never send the entire bridge crew together, that way there is always someone to get you out of trouble when you inevitably get into one.

That of course assumes one part of the bridge crew doesn’t get lost, the other trapped while searching for them and the third transported down directly from the bridge because of the second party who has gotten themselves mind controlled in the meantime.

Yes. This was just one of those days aboard the Enterprise.

“Spock,” Jim approached his first officer, closing the already small gap between them, “would you care for a dance?” He offered him his shoulder to grab a hold of.

All in all it was not his best concealed way of pulling Spock aside for a much needed conversation but with how title time he’s had to think, it would have to do.

Spock was looking around, quite obviously searching for an exit out of the enormous ballroom into which the crew had been enclosed about twenty minutes ago. “Captain, do you indeed think that to be the best way to spend our-”

Jim interrupted Spock quickly, putting on an overly pleasant smile. “Since our guests have prepared such an… exquisite evening for us, I think it would be rude of us to not engage in the activities they laid out.” He eyed one of the Rioans- a species of vaguely humanoid gaseous creatures totally unknown to the federation until the Enterprise stumbled upon them when exploring an allegedly uninhabited planet.

The creature seemed to be examining them in return, its ‘head’ turned towards the two of them while the rest of its body floated and swirled in tune with a rhythm of music that filled the space. If it got any suspicion that the starship’s captain was conspiring with his first officer, there would be very little stopping it from turning them into mindless drones just like the rest of the crew was. Most of them have already been affected, dancing or talking placidly with the Rioan inhabitants of the planet, their eyes glazed over by a milky shade of white and minds focusing on nothing but their respective dance partners.

”I believe you are correct, captain.” Spock noticed the creature slowly floating over and took Jim’s offered arm hastily. “Please, lead the way.”

Spock let Jim walk him towards a less populated area and assumed a formal dance position which is when Jim noticed a great design flaw in his amazing plan. He had no idea how to dance. Sure, he’s had a class or two back at the academy, but that was years ago. “I am afraid that I have very little idea as to what to do now, mister Spock.” Jim took a searching look at the Vulkan, hoping that he would be able to help out.

“Perhaps I might take the lead then?” Spock asked, opening his arms for Kirk to join him. Jim swallowed down his doubts and accepted the gesture, wrapping one arm over Spock’s wais, his hand landing just over where his heart must be. As he reached for Spock’s other hand to hold, he hesitated. Spock has never actually set up a boundary with Jim about holding hands but it was a taboo in their relationship both of them were acutely aware of.

As the music in the room, which had died down moments ago, picked back up, Spock grabbed hold of Jim’s wrist, solving the dilemma for him. Then, his ears perked up like a cat on a prowl, began to analyze the tune. “The current music suggests we engage in the earth dance of waltz.” He summarized. “Are you familiar?”

Read the full fic on AO3 :D