#or telling dukat off MULTIPLE TIMES

[rayne-the-neutrois-nerd]

Julian really just mouths off people he doesn't agree with huh, like even if he knows full well this person can kill him in an instant, he'll still call them a bitch. Iconic.

[andromedaexile]

Are They a Stoner? DS9 Edition:

Captain Sisko: Being raised in the south means he has most definitely lit up, and I refuse to believe otherwise. However, after his father caught him smoking and he got stuck on clam duty for a month, he learned his lesson.

Jadzia Dax: Let’s be so real, if she played Tongo with a bunch of Ferengi why would she not own a Betazed bong??? She definitely begged Worf to try it but after his experience with Deanna he only fucks with Blood Wine.

Kira Nerys: OH 100% she was a stoner during the occupation. How would you even attempt to relax in that situation WITHOUT weed? Once the occupation ended Kira stopped messing with weed, but Kira would often hangout with Jadzia, who no doubt brought something to share with Nerys on multiple occasions.

Worf: Blood wine and prune juice.

Dr. Bashir: Before knowledge of him being an augment was made public he never touched anything that could potentially make him not in full control of himself (he did drink a little though). After the knowledge was made public Dr. Bashir and O’Brien definitely were lighting up in the holosuites. That’s why they don’t remember the Alamo.

Erzi Dax: She was straight edge through and through before she was joined with Dax. However afterward…Let’s just say Dax would never turn down an edible.

Odo:

Elim Garak: After the wire was removed Garak decided to stay relatively sober. However, for harm reduction reasons, and to help him cope with his headaches Dr. Bashir prescribed him some medical gummies. He eventually waned off of them completely once Erzi started helping him (he still some times smokes and sews which is why sometimes your trousers don’t always fit right).

Miles O’ Brien: He swore off the “devils lettuce” when he first came aboard the Enterprise. But once stationed at DS9 he quickly realized he would need some of Keiko’s supply of Cannabis-infused tea to remain sane.

Quark: Being a bar owner (best bar on the promenade btw) he is not a big supporter of weed because his main source of profit is alcohol. However, Nog explained to him what a cart is and how you can make a profit from selling them to hoo-mans so he is looking into that as a possible new business opportunity.

Rom: You can’t be a leftist and not have at least tried weed. Also an engineer, so yeah.

Leeta: Oh 10000%. In fact, she’s the plug for the other dabo girls. She even bags her “merchandise” in handmade baggies she makes from recycled textile/fabrics from Garak’s (he owes her because she gave him boy advice).

Nog: No. He follows the rules of StarFleet academy to a T.

Jake Sisko: Hes going to school for writing so yeah. Definitely an edibles kinda guy. His dad has yet to find out despite how many times Jake has come home and slammed an entire pot of jambalaya in 10 minutes.

Keiko O’Brien: Who do you think on DS9 is growing it in the first place?

Gul Dukat: No, he is a snitch who hates fun.

Weyoun: Yes, he is a snitch who loves fun.

Kai Winn: She gives me cop vibes more than Odo does so I’m saying she is a snitch who also hates fun. She also unironically calls weed the Pah-Wraiths Herb or something like that.

Kasidy Yates: Yes, but stopped after jail.

Ziyal: Art school attendee/ art school drop-out. You tell me.

Damar: He’s only a fiend for Kanar (someone help that dude).

[the-uss-wossname]

So I recently saw a post about discovery being the queerest star trek and I said I wasn’t going to write a speech about why it’s actually ds9, but i did it anyway.

So! Below the cut I’ve listed most of the queer moments and queercoding that I remember from my two watches of ds9. There are a lot of them! So even if you don’t read the whole thing I still urge you to watch ds9 if you’re a fan of trek and want to see queer trek!

Note: this post contains spoilers for ds9

In explicit canon:

-Jadzia Dax was the first canonically pansexual and transgender main character in Star Trek. No one ever makes a big deal of this. She is shown correcting people on her name and pronouns on screen and people just rolling with it!

-Rejoined: jadzia falls in love with a woman on screen, the entire cast supports her. They tell a queer story by including an in-universe taboo on reassociation, and beautifully pull off a queer story where women loving each other is seen as natural and normal, but also reflects on the taboos of gay relationships in present society!

-mirrorverse ezri and Kira’s lesbian kiss!!!! (the entirety of the mirror verse is so queer, actually)

-we hear about a man giving birth in casual conversation and this is treated as normal. He gets paternity leave! “You mean he’s pregnant?” “Yes!” “Oh I should send him something”

-a cross dressing ferengi woman is better at finances than quark and gives him gay panic when she starts hitting on him as a guy- by the end of the episode it’s implied that he did actually reciprocate. This was an Interesting one.

-that time quark had to dress up as a woman to further the woman’s rights movement : granted this was mostly played for laughs but the implication of quark getting mtf surgery in like an hour no questions asked sure is something, and most of the humor comes from the fact that it’s Quark.

-O’Brien saying he wishes his wife could be more like a man sometimes (this man is bisexual)

-Changelings don’t have gender. Odo doesn’t have a gender. He is literally gender fluid. I believe it was one of the comics where he pointed this out as an excuse to help Kira do a mother-daughter thing. But yeah he’s very explicitly chosen his human form and gender, which is pretty neat!

-so much sex positivity! They have so much sex on this show! We see odo lose his human and goo virginity! The amount of times quark gets oomox on screen! Sisko and kassidy waking up together! Worf and Dax! Quark and his Klingon wife! Bashir and leeta! Kira and her various lovers! Dax is talking about it constantly! Quarks mom fucked the Nagus and brunt was in his closet! Sex is treated both as a serious thing and as just a thing you do and the topic is explored in so many interesting ways!

-great takes on masculinity and parenting as well! Sisko is such a good dad! Rom’s entire arc touched on this as well! Miles who is just such a wife guy! All these men who love their children, aren’t afraid to be emotional and caring and kind, especially with the contrast of misogynistic, overbearing, “manly” characters like quark and dukat being shown as undesirable!

And of course, there are plenty of storylines that hit on queer themes like found family, coming out as “different”, the intersection of gender and cultural norms,

So much queercoding:

-garashir is so intentional that Andrew Robinson (garaks actor) has, on multiple occasions, expressed that it should have been canon, discusses how he set out to flirt, their entire first interaction is about the gayest thing I’ve seen, they have regular lunch dates, get very anxious when the other one is gone. The way they look at each other like they’re gonna eat each other. It’s more canon than some of the canon relationships to me and is the closest two trek actors have gotten to spirk since spirk

-garaks storyline and character on its own is very gay. Props to Andrew Robinson for making the “ziyal likes garak” storyline so uncomfortable and for acting garak so gay we love him for it. He has said before that garaks sexuality is inclusive and you can read more about that in the book he wrote if you want!

-Kira nerys is a lesbian. (“The stones are straight, it’s me who’s-”) She dresses and acts like a lesbian. She eats every woman she sees with her eyes. Every one of her relationships with men is with a man who has power (eg the lesbian “he must therefore be attractive, right?) and ends with them dying or leaving. (“The prophets said we weren’t right for each other” lmao ok). Her last relationship was with odo, the literal gender fluid. That man is goo, that man is the last man you date before you finally admit you’re a lesbian “just to see”. PLUS her lesbian kiss in the mirrorverse I rest my case.

-odo was played as asexual for the first few seasons and Rene has said at events that he has always thought of him that way. Do I wish they continued with this? Yes.

-quark and Odo’s weird little thing. They hate each other. They love each other. They’re obsessed with each other. It’s great. Its definitely unhealthy and also pretty queer. One time they kissed for comedic effect on screen and it was a little bit too convincing.

-the O’Brien polycule. This series of episodes was great because it showed surrogacy as a valid thing to happen, and also because of that whole thing between Kira miles and keiko. What happened there? Who’s to say

-Kira and Dax, especially in the early seasons. Kira was truly following her with her eyes in every scene together it was great. I personally don’t see it but many many people do

-ezri my beloved she is a lesbian as well. Look at her. I personally have always been of the opinion that she’s non-binary. But also look at her, short hair, tense relationship with her family, drive towards found family and a queer community, mirrorverse lesbian kiss, yk

-also Julian bashir is trans coded. I don’t know enough about this to tell you but my transmasc friend said so so it must be true. They changed a lot with the genetic engineering who’s to say. Also the name change is right there

Quite frankly, the only character that isn’t presented as some sort of queer at one point or another is captain sisko! You could make an argument for every single other cast member for some or another type of queercoding which is wonderful!

So, yes, in many cases they weren’t allowed to say it outright, and they of course weren’t advertising queerness as a positive in the 90’s- but ds9 is full of both canon and implied queerness and touches on so much about gender and sexuality which was really boldly going back then! That’s why it is and will always be one of my favorite shows and my favorite trek!

[componentplanet]

Upscaling Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Using Topaz Video Enhance AI

Last year, we covered one man’s efforts to upscale Star Trek: Deep Space Nine using Topaz Gigapixel AI. If you’ve ever attempted to watch DS9 on Netflix or Amazon, you know what a shame that is. The version of DS9 that you can stream via online services sucks, to put it kindly. The streamed version of the show ranges from slightly worse to much worse than what you’d get from an MKV rip or original DVD. Even if you own the original DVDs, however, DS9’s quality leaves much to be desired.

There are a number of shows that were shot from the early 1990s – early 2000s that didn’t broadcast in HD and were never upconverted to 720p or 1080p. If you love series like Babylon 5, Voyager, or Deep Space Nine, you’ve had few-to-no options for a decent viewing experience… until now. Topaz Labs’ new Video Enhance AI software ($299) uses artificial intelligence to upscale low-resolution video in ways that can dramatically improve on the original image. I’ve spent the last few weeks taking the application for a test drive.

While Gigapixel AI can upscale content, there are actually multiple reasons not to use it for the task. The app will not allow you to load large numbers of images at once and in the past, it’s had a bad habit of crashing every 500 – 600 frames. Considering there are roughly 66,000 frames in an episode, it looked as if improving DS9’s image quality would require an absolutely insane amount of work.

Way of the Warrior upscaling in progress. Click all images to enlarge.

Then, a few weeks ago, Topaz released a new product, Video Enhance AI. Instead of literally unpacking a TV show into each individual frame and then upscaling them one by one, Video Enhance AI is designed to convert entire video files at once. Performance on a GTX 2080 is roughly 95 frames per minute, or approximately one episode every 10.5 hours. While this represents a non-trivial time commitment to rip several seasons, it’s vastly better than Gigapixel AI’s demonstrated performance. Whether GP produces better results or if these results can be further enhanced via application of Topaz AI’s other software suites is something I intend to explore in greater detail in future articles. For now, we’re focusing on Topaz Video Enhance AI, specifically.

How Topaz Video Enhance AI Works

Topaz VE allows you to choose the quality level of your source from three options: High Quality, Low Quality, and HQ-CGI. HQ-CGI boosts anti-aliasing in CGI scenes, and I also ran some specific tests of this setting on the test episode I converted and will be demonstrating today. On a show like Deep Space Nine, you’ll definitely want to use LQ — a 720×480 initial input is basically the poster-child for a low-quality upscale. If you were trying to scale 1080p video up to 4K or 8K, you’d want to use the HQ setting. The application has very few options beyond choosing your file output name, your desired level of upscaling (200 percent and 400 percent were both tested here), and what file format you want to output in. Choose your starting and ending frames, hit the button, and away you go.

Be advised, however, that Topaz Video Enhance AI isn’t capable of passing audio to the newly encoded file in at least some cases. All of our test encodes came out sans audio. We recombined the audio streams into the primary video file using FFMPEG.

How We Tested

I’ve performed all of my testing with MKV files I created from the DS9 boxed set years ago. After seeing how this project came out, I actually intend to dust off my old DVDs (when I can find them) and try this project directly on the DVD source itself. ExtremeTech does not endorse piracy or recommend stealing Deep Space Nine or any other television show. If you’re interested in this kind of upscaling, you should buy the DVDs. It’s entirely possible you should do that anyway, given that the source will almost certainly be a better target for this kind of scaling.

I’ve performed a number of test runs and gathered comparison data from HQ-CGI versus LQ, as well as a wide range of Netflix – MKV – Upscaled comparisons at both the 2x and 4x scaling factors. I’ve also included a range of screenshots to show the benefit of increasing the default brightness a bit even if the DVD source is all you have. And we’ve got some YouTube uploads for you, to show the benefits of the upscaling using the DS9 credits.

Let’s get started. For starters, here’s the Defiant under attack in three frames from “Way of the Warrior.” These three are not frame-matched identically, so focus on the architecture and clarity of the ship, not the disruptor fire striking it. This is Netflix, MKV, and 4x upscale, in that order. All images can be clicked to enlarge in a new window.

Netflix, in all its smeary glory. The phrase “USS Defiant” around the saucer edge looks more like a row of windows.

The MKV rip based on DVD source. The shot is much clearer and “USS Defiant” is legible, but the overall quality still isn’t very good.

Finally, our 4x upscale. The quality level here still isn’t truly HD, but it’s vastly better than anything in the previous frame.

These were some of the first tests I did, and I was quite impressed with the results. Let’s look at a larger cross-section of an episode. Click on each image to enlarge (and you’ll want to, in order to see the degree of improvement).

Call to Arms Comparisons

All of the following screenshots and comparisons are taken from “A Call to Arms”, the 26th episode of the fifth season. I’ve included both 200 percent and 400 percent comparison images in this collection to illustrate the trade-off from each size. The best balance between visual quality and image size that I’ve seen is to upscale either 200 percent from the original DVD or to upscale 400 percent and then watch the stream at half-size.

Obviously most of you are going to be reading this on monitors, not TVs, but I checked the output quality on a standard TV set as well. If you’re sitting at standard viewing distances, all of the versions look better, but the 400 percent upscale benefits the most. I’ll call out which comparisons are 2x scaling and which are 4x scaling comparisons. All Netflix comparisons are 4x, because Netflix doesn’t allow for resolution-based resizing.

I’m going to cover image comparisons first, before I hit the video comparisons.

MKV versus 2x/4x Upscaling

Weyoun docked at Deep Space Nine. MKV.

Weyoun docked at Deep Space Nine. 4x Upscale.

The amount of detail recovered from this scene compared with the MKV is impressive. There’s a smeary sort of vaseline look to the MKV file that isn’t present in the upscaled version.

At just 2x zoom, the original MKV doesn’t look so bad…

But the improvement in the upscale is still very impressive.

Video Enhance does strong work with the starship battles in Deep Space Nine. The front of the Jem’Hadar battleship looks downright sharp. Compares 4x upscaling displayed at 1:2 ratio to standard MKV displayed at 2x size.

Netflix versus MKV versus 4x Upscaling

This screenshot of Deep Space Nine under heavy fire is a poster child for why the Netflix version of the TV show deserves to be drug out into the street and shot. The entire frame is noticeably orange-r (and these frames are matched — you can tell by the exact position of the pieces of debris in the lower-right-corner, inside the fireball).

The MKV original dumps the reddish lighting and looks a bit less blurred, even though it has the same base resolution. Color balance is better.

Our 4x upscale. The station and explosions both benefit enormously.

Next up: A comparison of the same Jem’Hadar battlecruiser that serves as a poster child for why the Netflix version of the TV show… wait. I already said that, didn’t I?

Well, it’s still deserved. Here’s Netflix.

Check the aliasing on the left wing of the battlecruiser. It looks like it was rendered in Quake II, which is impressive, considering DS9 is still using models at this point in time.

Here’s the DVD. Much better as far as the left-hand wing, and better overall preservation of detail, but still not great compared with what we’d want in a modern show.

Much, much better. Quite good, in fact. Alright. We’ve done two battle scenes — let’s take a look at how some of the character shots come out.

Weyoun’s unctuous used-car salesman vibe made him a great character foil for Gul Dukat. Netflix is still the blurriest option of the lot, but the gap between it and the MKV file is much smaller than normal.

Here’s the MKV file. Not much difference, though it’s minimally clearer and doesn’t have the weird color issue Netflix does.

Again, the upscale does a good job of drawing out subtle detail in Weyoun’s eyes and face. His jacket texturing is also much less blurry.

Improve Image Quality by Bumping Brightness

The color reproduction in the Netflix version of DS9 is terrible and the MKV just isn’t much better, but a small tap to brightness can improve the situation, in my opinion — and this option doesn’t require any upscaling or processing time. Here’s the Netflix version, followed by an MKV screenshot.

Netflix. Slightly brighter, but less detail.

MKV file. Dim and rather poor-looking, but slightly more detail.

Nudge brightness up a bit in-player, and you get this:

Rome — Actually Visible Edition. (season to taste)

Whether or not you consider this an improvement is in the eye of the beholder, but many DS9 episodes are much darker than I remember them being when I watched them the first time, and this tweak doesn’t require anything but a software player like VLC that supports it. Finally, here’s the same image upscaled 400 percent in Topaz VE.

Check his jacket texture compared with the image above.

I’ve also tossed a number of images into the slideshow below, with both space battles and additional characters. Check them out if you’re curious. The slideshow does a nice job of showing subtle improvements when it shifts from one image to the next.

Opening Credits

If you’d like to see what the opening credits to the show look like when rendered in 200 percent and 400 percent upscaling compared with the standard version, I’ve embedded YouTube links to all three below. Note that while the first link isn’t mine and does look slightly worse than what you’d see on Netflix, it’s honestly pretty close. Make sure to set the second and third links to 720p and 1080p, respectively. Both of these encodes were done using the HQ-CGI mode.

The standard introduction. Full-screen for best comparison — and this is only very slightly worse than what is available on Netflix.

200 percent AI upscaling using the HQ-CGI preset instead of LQ. HQ-CGI yields better results on some special effects, though I’m still working out what the subtleties are. The 200 percent upscale is subtly different than the 400 percent. Set to 720p for best comparison.

The 400 percent upscale. Set to 2160p for best comparison.

Discussion and Analysis

If I’m being honest, the existing encode quality I’m seeing is about 85 percent of where I’d like it to be. I’ve already found myself wondering if some of Topaz AI’s other tools might be deployed to perform some additional post-processing where it’s needed. The application struggles with graphics displayed on terminals or PADs, and I’m still testing to see if that can be resolved within Topaz Video Enhance AI or not.

The MKV version. Obviously not everything from the mid-1990s has aged well.

  This is one place where the upscaling effect *doesn’t* improve image quality.

I’m not going to claim that upscaling like this simply makes Deep Space Nine look like it was shot in modern times. The color reproduction is bad in all cases and no matter how good an upscaling algorithm is, it’s still an upscaler — and therefore not the same as having the original data via 35mm film. These are all fair complaints. There are still some places where I’m hoping to clear up these files further. But the output I’ve gotten is leaps and bounds ahead of the MKV versions I’ve got, and vastly better than the Netflix streams. I’m already planning to encode most of the show — I just want to see how much additional improvement I can squeeze out first.

On a big-screen TV, Deep Space Nine is barely watchable via Netflix or Amazon. The old MKV rips I did years ago aren’t much better, which is one reason I’m going to return to original source for my next round of tests. But while I may not have a perfect solution to present day, Topaz Video Enhance AI has taken the idea from “Maybe someday,” to “Holy crap, this works now.”

Low quality source for DS9 is typically better than HQ source as far as I’ve seen, but I’m still checking if HQ-CGI can be spliced into an MP4 that uses LQ for everything else. I may also check Gigapixel again, just to see how the AI upscaling method compares, or if other Topaz Labs products can improve the final output further.

Performance-wise, both AMD and Intel systems perform identically when you test using a GPU — the RTX 2080

averaged between 95 – 105fpm (frames per minute). CPU encoding is 10x slower than GPU encoding, so I’ve only begun testing that mode. GPU encoding has a reputation for not being quite as good as CPU encode in applications like Handbrake, but I haven’t yet seen evidence it’s true in Topaz Video Enhance AI. Even if CPUs do give better results, 9-10 frames per minute would mean 110 hours per episode. Even if the quality jump was dramatic, I’d only use the CPU for trouble spots — the encode time is just too long otherwise.

These software packages and techniques have significant applicability to shows beyond Star Trek. Series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer were converted for HD, but fans hated the way color balance and the 16:9 conversion were both handled. Babylon 5 can’t be remastered due to massive rights entanglements and the destruction of its original assets, which means an upscale project like this would be its best bet.

I intend to write more on this topic in the future, but I hope you’ve enjoyed the preview. Topaz Video Enhance AI and other Topaz products are available for 30-day free trials, which is how I tested the application. You can also purchase it at the current introductory price of $199, down from $299 standard. If you’re a serious cinephile who enjoys this kind of editing, it’s worth it.

Now Read:

Fan Works to Remaster Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1080p HD, Using AI First Trailer Arrives for Upcoming Star Trek: Picard on CBS Astronomers Find Exoplanet In the Same Place as Star Trek’s Vulcan

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/306701-upscaling-star-trek-deep-space-nine-using-topaz-video-enhance-ai-review from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2020/02/upscaling-star-trek-deep-space-nine.html

[greenreticule]

I think that greatest inter-character dynamic I’ve yet seen on Deep Space Nine was in the two-parter of “Improbable Cause” and “The Die is Cast.” This isn’t to say that I don’t find other character interactions amusing, important, or well-developed; they all are. Deep Space Nine would be nothing without the relationship between Jake and Benjamin Sisko, or without Kira and Sisko always having each other’s backs even when they fight, or Jake and Nog’s friendship, or the O’Brien family, or Sisko and Dukat’s verbal sparring, or... Look. They’re all GoodTM.

But Garak and Odo.

(spoilers alert because I’ve got at least one mutual who isn’t this far into the series)

Within every character relationship in the show, there’s always an element of control, in a conversation, in a situation. Is the control taken? Shared? Given?

Take the relationship between Ben and Jake for example. As the father, Ben has more authority between them, but he is a good father who recognizes that Jake is growing up. That Jake needs to have authority of his own. So in multiple cases, he relinquishes control to Jake. The biggest example is Jake staying friends with Nog.

Between Sisko and Odo (and Sisko and Kira) the relationship is actually very similar. Odo and Kira, as his subordinates, and as subordinates who respect Sisko, they relinquish a lot of control to him. But if you couldn’t tell, Benjamin “commanding-officers” the same way he “dads.” And that shows up especially in his interactions with his non-Starfleet staff. So we find that frequently, in a situation or conversation, he will share control with them.

And then there’s his relationship with Dukat. Dukat loves to take control of a situation, and Sisko shuts him down every time. What’s interesting is that Benjamin often ends up in control of their encounters, not because he takes control, but because he refuses to give it. Dukat takes control of situations by having control over the people involved. Sisko always remains in control of himself, and in denying Dukat that control, he remains in control of the situation.

And that is almost the relationship that Garak and Odo share...

...except they both fight for control of each other. Every interaction with them in this two-parter is them fighting for control over one another. Unlike Ben’s responses to Dukat, which are entirely defensive (which is not the same thing as passive), Garak and Odo are both aggressive.

Anytime Odo touches too close to the truth, Garak immediately lashes out with a psychoanalysis of his own. In the torture scene, when Garak is in full control of the entire physical situation, Odo responds by attacking Garak’s character and conscience. Until the bitter end, both of them are clawing for control, not giving an inch, until it’s Garak, the torturer, who cracks.

He drops to his knees and begs Odo to give him something, anything, a lie, so that he can stop torturing him.

For the first time in the two-parter, Garak loses his control. He’s vulnerable. 

Like we saw with Lwaxana Troi in “The Forsaken,” Odo tends to meet vulnerability with vulnerability. He hid himself from Lwaxana until she opened up to him, and that allowed him to trust her in return. And I think, that to a certain extent, he feels like it’s right to respond to vulnerability with a display of his own.

We’ve seen time and again that he doesn’t want the worst of his experiences to be repeated by anyone. It’s why he tries to free the Jem’Hadar child. It’s what sets off his aggression in “The Alternate.”

And growing up in a laboratory, he was forced to be vulnerable, without control.

So instead of fulfilling Garak’s plead for him to lie, he chooses to tell a very personal truth.

And the funny thing is that, in the midst of their vulnerability in that moment, they both still claw for control. Even though he’s pleading, Garak still keeps the stasis generator on. Even though he’s sharing an intimate fact, Odo still throws a jab at Garak’s conscience.

But something shifts in that moment. At the episode’s end, they have one last conversation and it’s a strange moment when they are both, in their usual, private ways, offering each other a bit of control that neither of them take.

These episodes gave so much focus onto how much alike Garak and Odo are - their loneliness in the separation from their people, their desire for privacy, their ability to read people and situations - and I think the way they clashed was the most dynamic interaction I’ve seen between the DS9 cast. Which, considering the rest of the cast and relationships, is saying something.

[maneaterwithtail]

My Star Vs S3 Finale Reactionary Thoughts

Globgor

Suffered from major Dad bod-itis Ah he's still yummy. Eclipsa played Star like a fiddle. She intervened WITHOUT the wand (check the purple blast in the midst of the fight) She didn't have a super detailed planned. She's more a fly by the seat of your pants Xanatos Speed Chess master. Helps when the competition thinks they are playing checkers and you've likely put (or have a standing) gag order on the living repository/speaker of the secrets of the royal family. Hell chances are SHE was behind the return of Glossaryk Those sequences in the magic world helped us learn things. Not least some world's "wellsprings of magic" have been sealed (Earth?) DAMNIT MOON we JUST got the damn realm clean and you had to go and super re-corrupt it. Given her handprints on the well its possible she STILL isn't uncorrupted after all that bathing in pure magic and stuff. Now we know how the unicorns as sources of magic work. Birthed by pure imagination and magic stuff they wander or get tossed in the wellsprings and.. well THAT. Also the "first one" has matured and gotten more...well weird. Okay this is my read. 

Eclipsa breaks out. She has no wand so her powers are at an all time low. She had little to no idea WHAT THE HELL is going on, likely with ASE spell she can peak and check some things out but she doesn't know where to look for everything (she DID somehow get from prison dimension straight to Mewni castle) and little context is had.

 In the interim she stirs up the pot, likely connecting with families new to power (Pigeons) and the disgruntled or craycray possibly even the high commission (then erases memories when that would be inconvenient) Then she turns herself over after charming Star and making SURE to social fu ("Hello, Moon how'd that spell work out for you?") any encounter Star would be present or likely get back to her on. (look she has a single focus BE FREE AND BACK IN POWER)  While "in prison" she sneaks about the castle OR gets messages out (feeding the birds and sending messages via Rich’s family) 

Its not a total act, girlfriends is kinda loopy and prefers to be spontaneous and, as she said, she has self control issues Anyway she knows dirty laundry (seriously I doubt the royal line of Mewni is, ya know, private information. She can count and put shit together) and likely has, as mentioned, good skill at "psychologically hurting teenagers and they deserved it" She got the perfect read on the phase and nature of Star and Moon's relationship. Moms and daughters and queens and princesses are ALWAYS like this /. She needs info on what happened she wants to be reunited with her husband AND her baby girl. For that she needs to get the High Commission to confess. she ALSO needs to clear her name and *legitimately* reclaim the throne. Meteora is exihibit A why going in hot wouldn't have EVER worked, if she wants to be Queen again. She'd fight every freaking step, be opposed unto the last if/when she got it, and then destroy the place. Nope the real sign of victory . . . TAKE IT GUL DUKAT That. I'm not sure she knew Meteora was Heinous. but regardless that's the wild card. She adjusts her plans further so she can get to her baby girl. Likely Rich was trying to shelter/corral her to the Pigeon castle for his "Sword hand dance" meme partner. But Heinous is HELLA unstable after centuries of brainwashing. She goes on a rampage. Eclipsa is not "ragey" but she loves a good troll and repays a grudge. Moon is built about being the perfect queen? She first turns that against her and then takes it away. Its why she tried to coo down Meteora the way she did. "Nasty ol' Queen" 

*Aside*

(that or the timeline of events is very VERY off, Eclipsa, her Hubby, and Meteora weren't taken down by Shastacan but by Festivia when she reached Majority. Either that's Festivia's spell OR Eclipsa CAN, as mentioned, cast without a wand and did that to Meteora in the first place. THAT'S why Shastacan called that baby Heinous. He'd seen it as a soul sucking monster) *end*

Anyway Eclipsa now has to move. She gets back to Mewni castle (somehow AHEAD of Meteora who is acting way more...sane and cognizant even by Divide) then when Meteora comes in she figures "dear I won't be a queen of the ashes balloons. She coaches that fight, either deliberately telling Meteora what to say or, as she does, set her up with just the right words^ BTW its possible she "hurt them psychologically" by using the de-aging spell to make her victims teens and then hit them with a memory eraser. Hmm her sigil changed from the eye to a ringed planet.  Maybe just as spoke on reddit a “Sailor Saturn happy ending?  As I mentioned in a prior Post Eclipsa is the classy grand dame of dark magical girl power and takes from Sailor Pluto The sigil is possible sign of character growth.. or when Eclipsa intervened with Moon she intentionally put all her corruption in her?  

Ugh just thought of this... likely her sigil was changed to match the monster one in her portrait because duuuuh, historical revisionist demonization. ^Seriously when and how and WHY would Meteora know Marco OR Tom was Star's boyfriend if she hadn't been informed by Eclipsa? Moreover that end fight AND intervention... just doesn't make sense if it isn't, partially, a play if not a plan. Think being on the field in a game. Eclipsa is running quarterback with the rare conversion and scrimmage. Even if every is idiots there are alot of them and they see her as an enemy BTW I thought Eclipsa was cleared in her trial why did Star have her locked up? Was assaulting her mom THAT big a deal? Hmmph rather quick abandonment of Mina is cookoo plotline OFF SCREEN. Talon is well characterized as something other than just the bro-rival. Can I just give it a thumbs up Hekapoo being loose isn't held against her. Then again this has to be a very libertine show with the implication of possible triad endgame more than the Kon-Cassie-Tim thing that ran in Teen Titans. I like that Tom still has some growing to do but he's not.. ya know, a total heartless jerk. I also like this finale used ALL the things set up And yes they ARE committing to Marco's time in the Hekapoo space being a thing for/with him now. Likely meaning we’re done with his Earth life, for good.  This is deliberately going out the way to make Star and Marco equals, something I feel was missing for most of S3. So sad despite multiple MULTIPLE backups Star's rescue plan didn't work. She divided herself and so ended up conquered, invited and begged her conqueror to save her and that they needed her to be saved. Masterclass Eclipsa showing Aizen AND Light Yagami - who couldn't stand the idea of the world not knowing they were under his judgement - how the plan is SUPPOSED to be played. Re: Glossaryck being a dick He's suffering a Hal 9000 or similar fritz. He is divided to serve two masters. Or more likely he's always serving the previous queen their prior edicts and so on acting as the ground rules her must obey...? No doesn't work with "into the wand" where Queen Moon has a directive and then Star just demands he break it. Basically Eclipsa did something where he couldn't reveal a list of things but one of the things OFF the list was "Globgor"

That or he was testing them to see which one passed the trial of wit and wisdom to see who would ascend.  Eclipsa being clever, sincere...ish, and dynamic along with POWERFULY (and practiced and sure in her power btw folks aside from speed and practice and minimalism her spells don’t do more effect to Meteora than Butterfly’ed Star.

Seeing as Eclipsa never winged up even with a Dip down?  Its likely the Festivia-Butterflies are part monster

@talkingrainbowstalkingpuppies please pass this on to Scrooge, looking forward to next week’s podcast

@sunder-the-gold your thoughts? Am I honeypotting this? Also thanks again for that excellent Jesus Smash post

Also @godizilla-daedalus725 @vicki820 and uhm @fathmecomic (check out his comic y’all ‘cept you sunder I know not your thing)