#sorry i just like... feel Very Strongly about klingons

[walkingstackofbooks]

DS9 4x05 Rejoined thoughts (I’m re-watching, so beware spoilers for future episodes!)

[28 June '23]

"It's a trick!" "Of course it's a trick!" Oh, Quark 😆

"Painfully shy, introverted, a slight lack of confidence, just the kind of person who might want to dazzle the world with his magical abilities." - Okay, new headcanon that Julian is speaking from experience from when he was younger - he decided magic tricks would be how he'd make friends at new schools.

Interesting camera angle from Sisko's window

"Am I that dispensable around here?" "We'll never notice you're gone." I love their easy friendship and joking <3

"I'll be fine." That waver in her voice though ~

I love that Kira is the one who extensively knows Jadzia's lives. And I love how it really feels like they are all - even Quark - really, actually friends now.

The way Kira breaks into laughter at Julian's trick, I love her smile!

Kira's little touch of his arm, I live for platonic displays of affection.

"The Trill feel very strongly that it's unnatural." "Unnatural?" I LOVE Kira! Her outrage is just SO cathartic

"I don't understand how two people who've fallen in love, and made a life together, can be forced to walk away from each other because of a taboo." I know DS9 could generally have hit harder on LGBT topics, but this is Actually Very Good

"Curzon was even late for his hundredth birthday party." "You're never gonna let me forget that, are you?" Interesting that she switched from Ben's use of Curzon to "me" - highlighting how much she is the other hosts as well as herself.

"I'll be fine," she says, while pinning her badge on upside-down. 😅

"What do Klingons dream about?" I love Kira's gaiety and curiosity here

Hah! Had forgotten Worf's "Things that would send cold chills down your spine and wake you in the middle of the night. It is better you do not know. Excuse me." Okay I do like his deadpan humour.

"Quite an audience." "Seems a shame to disappoint them. Maybe we should do something." Their entire conversation at the party is electric

That purposeful look away they both do when the guy leaves them alone on the bridge.

"That's because you were a pilot and it made me nervous. Made her nervous. Torias being a pilot made Nilani nervous." The mixing up of pronouns - I love how complex the whole situation is allowed to be

"And whatever part of me is still Torias is very sorry and wishes he'd listened to you." - Lenara's nod of acknowledgment.. ohhh, I knew this episode was amazing but I'd forgotten just how compelling and emotional the threads all the way through were

"Would you be interested in dinner? I mean, I'm having dinner with some friends and I thought you might like to go along." I've never seen Jadzia this uncertain of herself!

Pffff Jadzia you made all that up about having dinner with friends?! You've got it baaad

"Something tells me I should say no, but you know I won't." Oh, Julian. And that kiss on the cheek!

Julian's so sulky, my goodness, what a child (affectionate)

Their chemistry is SO - JUST - Y'KNOW

No, I can't even, his little face is so scrunchy! I'm sorry ladies, let's go back and rewatch you rather than Julian being too ridiculous.

"Curzon would be horrified I'm a scientist." I thought Jadzia was a scientist before getting joined so didn't he know?

"The irony is, you and I have more in common than Torias and Nilani ever did." And that is what makes a tragedy 💔

Julian's complete startlement when he's hailed on comms 😂

"I think he enjoyed himself... Maybe not." You think? Especially if you were going through the highlights of your life he's already heard :p

Lenara just giving her the earrings!!! Like it's nothing!!! Like it's not deeply romantic!! I cannot be normal about these two!!!

"There is nothing going on, alright?" But you wish it were, don't you, Lenara?

Jadzia's so pretty in her gown and hair down (she's always pretty shhhh)

"I don't want to do anything to hurt you." Guyssss

Jadzia's brief touch to Lenara's face and forcing herself to take her hand away I cannn't

"I missed you." Oh boy the first time watching this thinking they were going to kiss? But no, and being disappointed but not wholly surprised, it's the 90s BUT NO WHAT'S THIS, they actually DO KISS and it's just so tender. This episode has my entire heart o swear.

I hate that this reasoning why Jadzia should stay away - that the consequence of exile would impact Dax the symbiont - makes sense (even if the taboo doesn't). And that Benjamin can sound so reasonable in trying to dissuade her.

"But I also know I love her, Benjamin." MY HEART

"If you're sure, if this is what you really want, I will back you all the way." After all the other arguments, thank you Ben, that means a lot. <3

Actually, no - it's weird that Dax is seen as a passive part of this decision - the poor symbiont who'll die if Jadzia gets herself exiled - but it's Dax who also, as far as I understand, very much has feelings for Kahn and Nilani, just as much as Jadzia does for Lenara et al. So Dax should also have a say through their link woth their host if they want to choose love over exile.

Jadzia's striding down the corridor to rescue Lenara (and others, ofc)

"I don't want to lose you, not again." "Not again. Never again. Never again. Never." MY HEART, DAMN YOU 90S, WORF WAS NO REPLACEMENT FOR THIS

Jadzia getting down eagerly onto her knees as she asks Lenara to stay. She's so sure she'll accept! And why shouldn't she be!

"Everyone is trying to look out for us. Protect us from ourselves." THIS IS STILL SO RELEVANT

"I can always come back later." I can't help thinking, what if she did change her mind a few years later... Maybe in that 3 month window between season 6 and 7? ... Why am I making myself sad like this? 😭😭😭

The way their eyes meet. Fuck this episode. (affectionate)

God, Jadzia was a wreck over that phasing-planet guy - what she's going to be like over Lenara who she's known for centuries? I just wanna hug her

This is just such a good story though, like even without the gay metaphor and actual gayness, aliens having dilemmas over their society's morality is fascinating, and the Trill very much so!

[princessnijireiki]

@femmefareeha replied to your post “quentin tarantino's going to find a way to have a white guy say the n...”

Ppl are rlly saying tht... Like the politics of the Klingons are more ... Weird mb about bush & 9/11 but literally....that's so ugly claiming they aren't black nemore bc what ? The pigment ? When they literally flattened the nose bridges ?

I don't Agree w wht the article said abt discovery fully though

@pikeisaman replied to your post “quentin tarantino's going to find a way to have a white guy say the n...”

"Aren't black coded anymore" what the fuck they are especially black coded now

I’m gonna put this under a cut bc I word-vomited a little bit but short version: word pp are wiling over the klingons trying to pretend it’s not a racist reboot & that article... had issues.

the main defense I’ve seen for the new klingons is that they’re “supposed” to represent the MAGA/alt-right crowd with their militancy, religious zealotry, isolationism & xenophobia, etc. ... even though tbh I saw people right after the pilot aired saying the vibe felt more like reminiscent of ISIS/daesh, and I saw one person say that (possibly due to the more exaggerated mouthpieces; the prosthetic teeth are more prominent in this klingon design than they’ve ever been before) the accent & intonation in the klingon-language scenes-- which for sure has changed since the sort of standardized tng & ds9 inflections, like there are official klingon language tapes that were made in the ‘90s for nerds to teach themselves with-- sound more like they’re imitating a cliché “sub-saharan african accent.”

even before you take the redesign into account (which is... bad), there’s a lot of very loaded shit going on that very much points to increasing the correlation of negative stereotypes of ~primitive or ~savage blackness with these particular klingons. and it’s a ham-fisted allegory that I don’t think would be a progressive conversation even if the klingons suddeny were klan-coded or whatever, not just bc it undermines the previously established narratives of klingons, klingon culture, etc. over the last 50yrs, to idea of marking that kind of racism or “takeover” as an ethnically marked “other” & an outside problem rather than like... internal bigotry and bias even among “good” & “normal” humans... is not a helpful conversation.

even when tos tackled that kind of subject, like, the literal nazi episode featured human neo-nazis; episodes with aliens having their own racism to contend with had humans as outside observers noting that this was not going to be easily resolved & looks like absurd bloodlust once you’re able to be detached from the situation.

and even though you can argue that the tng & ds9 klingons were racist, too, bc there was a significant amount of brownface/blackface going on (I mean: this extends to tos as well, but brownface in star trek: tos is its own like... essay) trying to maintain a certain “aesthetic” for the species... and not to excuse that, but for one thing, it did get toned down over time, and for another, it wasn’t to this like goddamn... tar baby drow extent that dsc’s klingon makeup is on, and it wasn’t for sake of demonizing the species & the sort of conversations the show was trying to have about/involving klingons. like it wasn’t “they are savage + we coincidentally want the blackest makeup & widest prosthetic nostrils you have,” it was in the context of two series that explored klingon internal politics & culture and displaced diaspora, transracial adoption, rebuilding culture, etc.; there wasn’t a color difference between good & evil klingons, and there wasn’t a color difference between klingon & human skin color ranges to mark the klingons as excessively alien beyond facial prostheses and culture. they still looked like “people” to an extent, and moreso than several other characters did on those shows.

(tng & ds9 did ofc also have other racial-caricature characters that are v. much worth discussing and critiquing, like the ferengi, but again: another subject that could be a full-fledged essay.)

but so tbh if the dsc klingons had been presented as a new species... they would still be an aggressively racist set of tropes bound together in minstrelsy-looking blackface, and people would probably notice more that it’s fucking weird bc there’s no excuse of nostalgia or “reimagining” to slide this bizarre concept under the radar by labeling them as something familiar.

and as klingons, there’s a lot to be said for dsc going further backwards than tos did 50+ years ago wrt making them more caricatured in this racist way, and in so doing, less human than they’ve ever been on both an in-verse and on this meta, audience watching a screen sort of level.

as far as the article goes, I don’t agree with everything the author wrote, either-- though I really didn’t watch dsc after the pilot bc the klingons made me super uncomfortable and tbh... made me feel like I couldn’t trust what the storytelling & production values were going to be for the show, between that and kurtzman/orci still being involved (they took the reins from abrams more with star trek into darkness, which I thought was heinous, personally, and then one or both of them acted like v. dramatic over it when critique rolled in iirc).

but like I disagree with him that enterprise is a direct copy of tos, though that’s what it was aiming for-- ent was like weirdly conservative & felt like exactly the post-9/11 bush era media that it was... I think tng gets a bad rep as time goes on bc of people wanting to distance themselves from pc politics when it did a lot of groundbreaking stuff. ds9 was the bomb but a lot of people don’t want to acknowledge that it never got its due bc of having a black captain and a lot of poc or poc-coded aliens in the main cast, and that tbh part of why it doesn’t get pointed out as the “cool star trek” is bc not only was paramount not trying to make a sisko movie like that, st fandom is as racist as any other & won’t build internal buzz either vs. clamoring for a new tos movie in ‘09.

the conversation is just... not what the author presented it to be, I don’t think, but it’s better-written & better-thought-out than I thought any article defending tarantino for star trek would have or could have been. bc a lot of fans are just at very least not vocalizing or verbalizing... the fact that the franchise has internal issues on top of its issues reaching out to / profiting from “mainstream” audiences, like there’s that lack of critical awareness. and when you get that reality check of, ok, abrams never wanted this & tried to sell a plot about missiles & drone strikes with benedict cumberbatch as a genocidal eugenicist übermensch orchestrating poc suicide bombing shit in “the wrath of khan 2.0,” all dedicated to 9/11 first responders, like... that’s already happened. that fuck up is already here. so then, yeah, that’s a damn good point in favor of giving someone else a shot who actually says they want to be here, and who at very least won’t do & presumably isn’t interested in doing that specific dumbassed shit all over again.

I still don’t want him in charge, but like. it was a good argument, ngl.

[kairoscelrosis]

ST: Into Darkness

So I watched into darkness after a really long time, and for the first time after watching ST: WOK. And I liveblogged it.

*spoilers* 

Jim's so disappointed that Enterprise got taken away from him. owo

Aahh Carol Marcus is British

Scotty has a moral compass (which I feel TOS Scotty does as well)

When Kirk learns that Spuhura are fighting, and then the lift opens and Spock's about to enter, he looks at both of them. It really gives me the vibes that he knows both his partners are angry at him 😂

Bones McCoy: a dictionary of metaphors

Yaayyy Sulu on the chairrrr

Whaaatttt???? Sulu references Mudd (Harry freaking Mudd) in the movieeee!!!!! (He says: Acting Captain Sulu to Shuttle Bay 2. Please have the trade ship we confiscated during the Mudd incident last month fueled and flight ready) !!!!!

"If you test me, you WILL fail."

The way Bones' expression changesss 😂

"Mr. Sulu, remind me to never piss you off."

"I am not the only one who is upset at you. The Captain is too." "No no no no don't drag me into this."

"She IS right" spirkkkkk

"Captain we will not fit" "We'll fit. WE'LL FITTT."

"I told you we'll fit." "I am not sure that qualifies." 🤣

Why do the Klingons look so different???

Why is Benedict's voice so deep? Like deeper than usual.

SPUHURA 🤢🤢🤢🤢

Tho i hate that a british dude played KHAN, you can't deny Benedict's Khan has charisma

Carol Marcus says "I am a friend of Christine Chapel's" like what??? JJ do you even know that Christine would never be engaged with Kirk in a romantic relationship??? That he's not her type??? 🤢

"Any idea what caused it?" "No sir. But I expect full responsibility." Aww my baby chekov 🥺

"Jim? You're gonna wanna see this." Ooohhhhhh

Okay... so wasn't this Khan a dictator as well? Or like, did the Eugenics war never happen in AOS? Did JJ do this so that Khan would be morally grey? Cuz he loves Benedict? IDK

"I'm sorry." Ohh Kirk my bby 🥺🥺

SCOTTYYYYYY HELL YEAHHH YOU ARE A MIRACLE WORKER *cries in jimmy doohan*

"Captain, I strongly object." "To what? I haven't said anything yet." Bitch you really think he doesn't sense your crazy ideas?

"'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'" "An Arabic proverb attributed to a pronce who was betryed and decapitated by his own subjects." 🤣🤣

Grab at the shoulder and "I cannot allow you to do this." and an almost "Jim"

"The Enterprise and her crew need someone in that chair that knows what he's doing... and that's not me." You can hear my heart shattering into a million pieces in the background.

How Jim's about to cry during that dialogue 🥺🥺🥺

Is there like... a competition going on between Pine and Benedict Cumberbatch trying to decide who's eyes are bluer???? Because I can't see anybody winning

"Captain. You can't even guarantee the safety of your own crew." Ooohh I so wanna punch you in the face. 👊

Aaaahhhhh TRIBBLLEEEEEEE

New Vulcaaaannn!!!! Our Spock's coming baaaackkkkkk yaaayyy

Aahh Sulu you are so talented

"This door is very wee. I mean, you know, small" 🤣

"It's gonna be like jumping out of a moving car, off a bridge, into your shot glass." "It's okay. I've done it before" Khan: 👀

"It's not easy. Just give me two seconds, all right, you mad bastard!" 😂😂

Bones, sitting down to watch the most scary movie of his life: Tell me this is gonna work.

Spock, shivering with fear in his seat: I have neither the information nor the confidence to do so, Doctor. 😂😂😂😂

Bones: 👀 👀 Boy, you're a real comfort.

Omg Sulu's so nervous and worried 🥺

I actually kinda DO like the transitions.

"You're big." 😂

"Spock, if I get back, we really need to talk about you bedside manner." Why is everyone so pbsessed with bedside manner in Star Trek😂😂

Scotty 😂😂😂 wheezing and panting, complaining he can't do it but he does 😂😂😂

Shitt the momentum!!! How would they have filmed that??? Rolling and rolling and rolling

LEONARDDD NIMOYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY

"Mr. Spock." "Mister Spock." Aaahhhhhhhhhh you both wanna kill meeeee 😂😂😂

He deserved that slap!!! GO CAROLL!!!!

"Where'd ya find this guy?" Ohh Scotty 😂

Spock!Prime really be like, "I can't tell you about it, but I am my own master, so I will. 😂

"Khan Noonien Singh is the most dangerous adversary the Ebeterprise ever faced. He is brilliant, ruthless, and he will not hesitate to kill every single one of you." *cries in Ricardo Montalban*

"Did you defeat him?" "At great cost. Yes." Aaaaahhhhhhh how would you know the great costt spocckkkkk😭😭

The sudden appearance of the man scared the shit outta mee😂😂

"Where's Khan?" AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH JIM SOMETIMES YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO SPOOCCKKKK

Yaayyyy "Damn it, man, I'm a doctor not a torpedo technician!" 😂😂

"This way." Whewww.

Aaahh he's awakeeeee.

Yesss that's my Jim Kirk. No killing. Yes.

Aahhhhhhhhh. Wtf why're you punching Jimmmmm

Aahh Carolll ahahhh

Omg wtfffffffff nooooooooo frickfrickfrickfrickfrickk that was baaaddd

"Oh, you are smart, Mr. Spock." I really do wanna punch you in the face.

I will repeat myself. Having said that a white dude playing Khan is irritating, Benedict really does play him well.

Aahhh the ploy is same like the one in ST: WOK!! This time, it is Spock playing the game!!!

"Vulcans do not lie." Spock lies.

"No ship shoild go down without her captain." *silent screaming*

OMG he's firinggggg

"He armed the damn torpedoes." Is that pride I hear, Kirk

"Not bad, Commander." "Thank you, Lieutenant." XDDDD

Smarty pants Spock XD

WTF is Uhura doing in the Med Bay???

"Good to see you, Jim."

"Spock's cold, but he's not that cold. I've got Khan's crew." Awww :))))

"Seventy two human popsicles, safe and sound in their cryo tubes" POPSICLES😂😂😂😂

"Son of a bitch!"

"I hope you don't get seasick." 😂

"I will remain behind and divert all power to life supprt and evacuation shuttle bays." 🥺🥺

Sulu: Shut up, BITCH.

"I order you to abandon this ship!" The voice his voice cracks 😭 Who says Spock doesn't feel????

"All due respect, Commander, but we're not going anywhere." YEAAHHHH SULUUUUU GOOOO

"One day I've been off this ship! One bloody day!" Same, Scotty, same.

Hah. Running on walls😂

CHEKOV MY HEROOOOOO

Smart baby Chekov exclaiming in Russian.

"The ship's dead sir. She's gone." 😭😭😭

"You're not making the climb" JIM NOOOOO OH GOD YOU SELF SACRIFICING IDIOT.

Jim coming back to belt Scotty into place 🥺

How's he gonna do that????

Aaahh that oit of the clouds shot justttt 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Sulu's so HAPPYYY uwu

"It's a miracle." "There are no such things." Wait till you get to know Spock.

"Sir, you'd better get down here. Better hurry." *traumatic WOK flashbacks*

"How's OUR ship?" "Out of danger."

"That's a nice move." Is Jim referring to Chess????? You really have the nerve to do that???

"It is what you would have done." "And this, this is what you would have done." *TOS 😭😭😭😭*

"It was only logical."

"I'm scared, Spock. Help me not be."😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

"I do not know. Right now I am failing." 😭😭😭

"Because you are my friend."😭😭😭

That Vulcan kisssssss 😭😭😭😭😭

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO JIMMMM

KHAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Why tf is everyone wearing those weird goggles???

I don't like Zoe Saldana as Uhura AT ALL.

The way Zach's bangs are flying😂

BONEESSSSSS 😭😭😭

Yeaah yeah yeah yeah yeah that tribbleeee

How tf did spock jump that high???

Why doesn't he like nerve pinch him???

Why can't they use the blood of the man in the cryo???? They have the same blood right???

"You get that son of a bitch back on board right now!"

Ohnonononono he's tryna crush Spock's skull.

Shit Spock why so angry NOOOOOO

Yeah Spock stops when he hears the name 'Kirk'.

"You were barely dead." 😂

"Tell me, are you feeling homicidal? Pwer mad? Despotic?"

"Uhura and I had something to do with it too, you know." Ohh bones😆😆

Spock called Kirk JIMMMMMMMMMMM

But, like, why didn't they kill Khan off??? He can be awakened again, can't he??? Like????

I love their formal uniforms!!!

Yaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy my introooooo 🥺🥺🥺🥺

"C'mon Bones, it's gonna be fun."

"Five years in space. God help me." 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The fond look Spock has on his faceeeee

And on Jim's face toooooo

"I defer to your good judgement, Captain." 🥺🥺🥺

[pixiedane]

B'elanna/Geordi, for an engineering match made in space!

As I mention here, I really don’t ship Geordi with anyone, and B’Elanna is a character I strongly identify with so this is especially Not My Thing. 

They are both better at engineering than interpersonal relationships, so if it happened I do see it going colleagues to friends to lovers. I feel a lot of things would have to be different in order for it to happen though. 

They meet at a conference where they are both presenting. Post-Voyager, post-Nemesis. Geordi is particularly lonely due to the loss of Data, B’Elanna is having more trouble adjusting to life in the AQ than she wants to admit. She doesn’t know where she fits in. On Earth things are stable and she has time to think, which makes it harder because she hasn’t had that in….ever? She’s married into Starfleet royalty and has a kid, none of which she ever imagined, and she’s overwhelmed. Chakotay is teaching. Tom followed Janeway to the admiralty, works as her aide. B’Elanna works with Harry at HQ – a temporary assignment but one that doesn’t seem to have an end date, and he figures out she’s spiraling and suggests the conference. Discussing robotics with peers, as opposed to dealing with Starfleet regulations, her new extended family, and a toddler, will be good for her. 

Post presentations they end up at a bar, both avoiding the crowd, and start to discuss their work. They disagree about something, and their conversation gets very heated. Eventually B’Elanna’s like, I came here to relax! and storms off and Geordi runs after her and apologizes and wants to make it up to her, and she’s like it’s fine, but I want to be alone, and Geordi says, I don’t. And there’s something in the way he says it that makes her pause and he says Data was supposed to be here with him, and B’Elanna’s like UGH I don’t want this but Tom, Chakotay, Harry, Janeway, Tuvok…everyone would stay so she stays. 

They get a booth in the back and order food. Geordi doesn’t want to talk about Data so they talk about Voyager. B’Elanna opens up to him as she hasn’t to anyone since she got back. Sometimes a stranger is easier to talk to. She starts slow, but she’s really needed this, and eventually she’s admitting – upon threat of dismemberment should he repeat it to anyone – that she hates Earth and misses the Delta Quadrant. Voyager, while lost, was the only place she ever felt she belonged. She has a great life and she should be happy but she’s not. She’s lonely and angry and resentful and ashamed. 

And Geordi doesn’t know what to do with this, but he does his best to be supportive. And it is fumbling and awkward and B’Elanna says Ha ha, you remind me of Harry. And Geordi looks blank and B’Elanna starts telling him how Harry has been so great, and so has Geordi, and they should be friends, maybe even date that would be cute. She’s a little loopy at this point. And Geordi is all, Ha ha, thanks I guess? But if I was gonna date anyone on Voyager it would be you! And she’s like whoa boundaries, don’t make this weird! And he says Sorry! And they start to laugh in order not to cry but it doesn’t work and then they are both simultaneously laughing and crying in a corner booth of some hotel bar surrounded by their peers and they run away and Geordi doesn’t know where to go, just that they need to escape, and they end up in his room. 

B’Elanna collapses on his bed. Geordi paces in a tizzy. He has a probably drunk, definitely depressed, married, klingon half-sobbing in his bed? He gets her a drink of water. B’Elanna sits up to drink it and meets his eyes over the glass and says, You know if I wanted to ruin my perfect life sleeping with you would be one way to do it. And Geordi’s like …..??? And a tear slips out of her eye and Geordi swallows and says, I think we should call Harry. And B’Elanna nods and curls into a ball and Geordi asks the computer to locate Harry Kim and tells him, um, I’m with Lt. Torres and she kind of had a breakdown and Harry’s been expecting this tbh and he arrives asap. 

And Harry gathers her up and says he’s here to help and everything will be fine now, and B’Elanna agrees to go with him. Harry thanks Geordi and then B’Elanna tells him, hey I still want to hear about Data, and also I have some ideas about synthetic synapses I want to run by you and Geordi is amazed that after all that she remembers? And she hugs him and he whispers, Boundaries, and she laughs. She goes home and tells Harry the truth, and Tom, and things get better. 

She contacts Geordi a few weeks later and they meet for lunch and talk about synthetic synapses and they start to collaborate and become good friends. Eventually Geordi and Harry start dating, and they are godparents to Miral’s little brother. 

Send me a ship and I’ll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it /write a scenario

[sigmastolen]

dsc 1.05 “choose your pain”

this episode was... a mixed bag.  i laughed, i scoffed, i groaned, i wept.  honestly, this show is turning out to be a mixed bag -- i feel strongly but oppositely about the main storylines/character groups, you know?

anyway.  spoilers below the jump.  also it took me two damn days to write this whole thing so sorry if it’s disjointed.

i’m so uninvested in lorca, yet paradoxically much more interested in admiral cornwall; also the story about the buran makes me dislike him so much more

but anyway, i have a... genre-savvy hunch, let’s call it, that he’ll die at the end?  although i can’t decide if it is more satisfying, story-wise, for lorca to die, or for him to be court-martialled and sent to prison.  either way, i think the finale will have burnham facing another situation like the first confrontation with the klingons, and this time getting a better outcome

the klingons might be the enemy, but lorca is the villain.

whoops i honestly didn’t recognize that the klingon torturer/captain was l’rell, which i am blaming on the new klingon design choices

to be fair it might also be down to my rapidly decreasing interest in the klingon storyline

love that they worked out a dialect sheet for l’rell’s klingon-accented english though

wait, the internet’s general consensus is that tyler is a spy/voq?? because that is not where i went

like, sorry if i’m inclined to just believe someone who says/implies they were raped instead of automatically looking for ways for it to be a lie

ESPECIALLY considering the promotional stuff that said tyler has ptsd

i mean i can see the spy angle but at no point during the episode was i thinking that

although honestly it does seem likely

but if that’s true, tyler using that implication to con his way into the federation is much more fucked up, and also potentially harmful for male victims of sexual assault and intimate partner abuse, who are already less likely to report and to be believed when they do

like, the flip way lorca threw it back at l’rell in the interrogation scene was very disturbing to me -- especially since you know not everyone watching will get that 1) the power differential between captor and prisoner makes consent impossible and 2) lorca is not a good guy and we are not meant to share his attitudes

also if the whole point is that tyler “escape” with lorca and embed himself on discovery, the fight scene with l’rell doesn’t make much sense?

anyway i guess i should probably add a warning for this discussion point

i see your kirk-fu, tyler, and i applaud you

but honestly whenever klingons are injured and killed on this show all i can think about is how, according to tng, klingons evolved with a bunch of duplicate organs so they can bypass severe injuries and keep fighting?

WHY IS A HARRY MUDD

NO THANK YOU.

i was expecting the exploitation of the tardigrade for spore drive navigation to be deemed unethical and outlawed, because (a) this is the federation and obviously they don’t approve of abuse of living creatures and (b) spore drive ends up not being a thing, but i kind of thought they’d draw it out for at least a few more episodes?  like, i expected the ethical tangle to become A Storyline in which burnham has a Moment (or, well, another moment) with georgiou’s telescope about “looking after those in her care.”  i expected to have a hearing à la “measure of a man” about it.  i guess there’s still time for that -- given that stamets’ schematics were released and the rest of the fleet is trying to find tardigrades, it probably will have to happen (probably at the resolution of this story).

which is not to say i’m not glad that the tardigrade is off that ship and far away from the reaction chamber sooner rather than later

90% of my many tears this episode were tardigrade-related, i think i might be traumatized

this was more animal cruelty than i ever am okay with and it lessens my faith in this show, tbh

the non-tardigrade-related 10% of my tears were about stamets and culber in their matching starfleet-issue pjs, brushing their teeth together and having a totally ordinary, loving relationship

i’m emotional just thinking about it

i’m emotional thinking about the actors getting emotional about it

i’m emotional thinking about young lgbt fans seeing it and especially young lgbt fans of color

representation matters

also not to get too far into the weeds but everything on this show is deliberate and (most of) the people working on it are fans and “dear doctor” is absolutely a callback to garak and bashir

someone in that writer’s room ships it, is what i’m saying

(i assume the toothbrushes are sonic, but the lack of spitting weirded me out)

unrelatedly, i’m surprised culber isn’t the cmo?  you know, since he’s the only doctor we’ve seen so far a) treating patients and b) having lines.  maybe it’s another iteration of dsc’s “lower decks” approach.

i’m happy for stamets that he got to converse with his mushrooms after all, but didn’t the glenn’s navigational hack depend on the tardigrade’s mental processing power and individual understanding of the mycelial network?  i don’t see how synthesized dna would achieve the same solution

unless i am misunderstanding and the tardigrade was just the conduit for the computers to communicate with the mycelial network, which itself serves as supercomputer and subspace!waze?

and the mirror thing was obviously creepy but also why?  did stamets come a little unmoored from space-time or something?  is part of him still zinging around along the mycelial network?  (yes, i get the part where people are thinking, literal mirror ---> mirror universe but that seems sloppy given that is not how the mirror universe has worked, ever -- it’s always been a transporter thing (except in ent where there was literally no reason to be in the mirror universe except for a desperate ratings grab and nobody from the prime universe actually went there, mirror!archer just had weird hallucinations.  ughhhh, ent.) (and i guess also that first time on ds9 when it was wormhole shenanigans))

i love that saru brings chairs into lorca’s office for the hot second that he’s acting captain.  that’s freaking hilarious.  (maybe he’s just Too Tall to use the standing desk while standing.)  (maybe doug jones is Too Tall to stand in that set while wearing the hoof boots. or maybe it was the only way they could get saru and burnham to fit reasonably into a two-shot for that one conversation.)

but seriously, i’m having a weird time trying to figure saru out.  he’s... kind of a jerk a lot of the time?  but i also believe in my heart that he’s Good People, because he was georgiou’s and the shenzhou crew leads me to think she was a very good judge of character.

we have seen that he’s very ambitious, and i think this episode really shows us exactly how very ambitious saru is.  he wants to be a captain.  he wants respect and accolades.  he has career goals.

we also see, especially in this episode, how insecure he is, above and beyond the snippy resentment he showed toward burnham because ~mom loved her best~.  saru feels like he doesn’t know how to command, not having had georgiou’s direct tutelage, and lorca is really not nurturing enough a person to bother with being anyone’s mentor.  he asks the computer to analyze the traits of celebrated, decorated leaders and evaluate his performance instead of trusting himself to handle situations and deal with his crew.

he still seems to be holding a butthurt grudge toward burnham from their time together on the shenzhou, where he felt she undermined him and maybe usurped what could/should have been his place as first officer, so when she resists and circumvents his orders now, he’s extra harsh with her.  

i kind of get the sense that saru thought they were rivals, but burnham didn’t even realize there was a competition

he also speaks straightforwardly to her in a way that is uncomfortable for me to watch, but it might be typical of kelpien interaction, or a response to burnham’s own vulcan-taught frankness.

in the time he has served on the discovery, he doesn’t seem to have cultivated any relationships -- he is sitting alone in the mess hall at the end of 1.03, and he doesn’t have anyone but the computer to give him feedback when he’s in command this episode.  burnham may be his closest friend on this ship, and they don’t even really like each other.

we see him try on two different styles of command in this episode.  when he emulates lorca’s severity, sharpened by his own self-doubt and fear, he gets pushback from his crew and compromises his own ideals.  two beings endure serious harm because in his panic to rescue his captain (to succeed where burnham once failed), he lets the ends justify the means.  when he takes more time to think, to go to his own strengths and act with the empathy georgiou would have encouraged, he succeeds in his mission and maybe repairs his relationship with burnham a little?

i wonder if saru’s guilt over unethically risking the tardigrade’s life and causing stamets to risk his own life, over giving orders that go against starfleet principles, will let him begin to forgive and understand burnham?

the other saru thing i have been pondering is lorca’s reason for having him on the ship.  i suspect that witnessing burnham’s mutiny made him more by-the-book, increased his drive to follow orders and protect his captain (to show that he’s a better choice than burnham was and it should have been him and if it had been him none of this would have happened) -- which is exactly what lorca wants in an officer, someone who will do and be exactly what lorca wants them to do and be (see also: landry).  and discovery must be a prestigious posting, especially for an officer who came up through the sciences division, to be senior command staff on a brand-new, blinged-out science vessel, added flattery for saru’s ego and ambition as incentive to take the assignment and make the most of it (despite his apparent personal distaste for lorca).  like, it all looks very good for saru’s service record, but it also means lorca gets a first officer who will back his play no matter what and go to extreme lengths to protect and rescue him and not ask inconvenient questions about ethics and protocol, which is exactly what lorca wanted.

except being lorca’s sycophantic martinet is not actually in saru’s nature (he’s in this for himself, not lorca), and it’s certainly not the kind of officer starfleet and georgiou trained him to be, which burnham’s presence a reminder of.

lorca thought he understood burnham and could control her, use her skills for his own ends, but instead he introduced a chaotic element into his carefully chosen and controlled environment.  to an extent, they are both zealots for the federation and starfleet, but in very different ways and for very different ideals.  HMMM.

christopher pike is on the most-decorated captains list? ... has “the cage” happened yet? i guess so, memory alpha says 2254 and dsc is 2256.  huh.

this list is... idk.  robert april, sure, jonathan archer, yeah, matthew decker, forgettable episode but canon tells us it is so, philippa georgiou obviously, but somehow despite commanding the flagship of the fleet it never really occurred to me that pike would be that big a deal, maybe because we see some less-than-exemplary moments in “the cage”

oh god you know what i want?  NUMBER ONE.  number one as captain of her own vessel, number one as a hero of the klingon war, number one ascending to admiral.

... no offense to the new voice of the computer, but i miss majel barrett a lot

also what about erika hernandez?  she deserved so much more than ent gave her.  surely she is among starfleet’s brightest lights.

way back in 1.03 when the convicts are being walked to the mess hall, they saw heavily armed crew members who were obviously not regular starfleet officers, wearing black badges, and obviously my immediate thought was section 31, but that doesn’t seem right either because nobody outside of section 31 is supposed to know about section 31, especially not a bunch of boffins on a science vessel and definitely not a handful of cons.  and we’ve been on discovery for three whole episodes and we haven’t seen anything more about that and omg show, you can’t leave me hanging like this, i need to know.  

i could write entire essays about burnham’s Hair Journey and also about her retreat from her human feelings of grief and despair into vulcan emotional repression and the halting venture back out... but i probably won’t, at least not until we reach the end of this story

for all that dsc is definitely looking closely at action and darkness, i’m glad that it really is showing a commitment to finding Goodness and solving problems with Science

i don’t think i mentioned how much i love that burnham out-reasoned the computer back in 1.02, but that scene was so quintessentially trek that it gave me a lot of hope for the series even though the episode was so dark and painful.

and i love that Science is the way burnham is winning people’s respect, trust, and friendship

[adenil-umano]

My prompt is: a return for Captain/Commander McCoy. (Yes, that was me and your take was a delight). Curzon Dax has been threatened during a diplomatic summit and now McCoy must stand in for him while he and Spock are investigating why they want Dax dead. (Other than the usual).

[Cup o’ Spones Fic Fill #4!

Thank you for your support! :) anyone can get some fic by becoming a patron or buying a tea. More info here.

What if McCoy were Captain instead?]

…

Spock was certain he should not have accepted this assignment.

He had not accepted it on a whim. It had been Captain Pike’s suggestion that finally drove him to apply for a transfer to the USS Varanio. The suggestion had come at the tail end of a dinner with the Captain. Pike had made these meals a custom since Spock had chosen to be his first officer. They still felt odd to him, although he’d grown used to Pike’s habits. And perhaps that was the issue, for as they talked conversation turned to Spock’s career, and Spock accidentally revealed that he felt he had stagnated.

“Well,” Pike had said, considering the issue very seriously. “Perhaps you need a new challenge.”

Challenge was a polite way of framing his new posting on the Varanio. Captain McCoy was certainly challenging enough. He was also provocative and hot-headed and frequently made Spock question his emotional sanity. Perhaps that was why the Captain responded so well to Klingons. They were also an overly-volatile species.

Spock had only been on the Varanio for two days and he already felt he knew everything there was to know about McCoy. He was certainly eccentric. He spent more time in Sickbay chatting with the doctors than he did on the bridge. Usually he left Spock in command, and although Spock recognized this was Captain’s prerogative he also disliked that he didn’t command his own bridge. The rest of the crew seemed unaffected, but perhaps they had merely accepted their fate.

McCoy was also deeply illogical. Spock had always appreciated Pike’s commitment to balance. Although Pike had the same emotional turmoil as other humans did he nevertheless preferred to proceed logically. McCoy was the opposite. Spock was beginning to suspect that McCoy intentionally chose the least logical path to follow.

Take, for example, his interactions with Curzon Dax. McCoy hardly treated Dax with the courtesy due a diplomat of his rank. More often than not he pulled Dax into a fight that sent the Ensigns scurrying for the lower decks. And now that they had received a threat against Dax’s life McCoy had been ignoring him entirely.

Spock dithered outside the Captain’s quarters, padd in hand. The padd contained his resignation letter and a detailed analysis of Captain McCoy’s abysmal command style. He looked at the padd again, and then at the Captain’s door. He rang the chime.

“Not now.”

Spock arched his brow. “Captain?”

There was a rustle, and a crash, and then the door slid open and there was Captain McCoy looking haggard and drawn. “What do you want, Commander?”

“I…” Spock neatly hid the padd behind his back. “I have come to discuss the mission details with you.”

“Fine. Get in here.”

McCoy’s room was very untidy. There was a stack of knocked-over datapadds on the desk and–Spock did a double take. A Klingon bat’leth on the couch.

Spock stood in the center of the room and kept his hands folded behind his back, the padd out of sight. He could see that leaving now would put the mission in jeopardy. It would be selfish of him to request a transfer at this moment. “Security has not been able to trace the source of the signal.”

McCoy grunted. “I figured as much. It’s probably Romulan.”

Spock raised a brow. “There is not enough evidence to draw such a conclusion.”

“What, you think the Klingons are trying to mess up their own negotiations?”

“There are many Klingon factions, any of which—”

“Yeah, no.” McCoy waved a hand to silence him. “You think Klingon spy technology is that advance that we can’t trace it? It’s Romulans or I’ll eat my hat.”

Spock opened his mouth. Closed it. He tried to picture that, and failed. “Such an action is ill-advise.”

McCoy frowned at him. “It’s an expression.”

“Regardless, we must discuss how to proceed. The Klingon council will not accept an alternate diplomat, as they do not believe the threat is real, yet Dax is very likely to die if we return to the negotiation site with him.”

“I’m not risking his life,” McCoy said sternly. “And I have a plan.”

“Oh?”

“I’m going to challenge Commander Kor to a fight.”

“…Excuse me?”

McCoy smirked. “Trouble hearing today, Mr. Spock? I said I’m going to challenge Kor.”

“Captain, I would strongly advise against that.”

“You got a better suggestion?”

Spock did not. “Certainly there are other ways—”

“I’ll make it a matter of honor.” McCoy moved to the couch and picked up the bat’leth, feeling the weight in his hands. “The Klingons don’t want to acknowledge that the threat is credible, because that means they let an enemy agent get close enough to send the message. The only way to get them to investigate properly is to trounce them in a fight.”

“You should not place yourself in danger.”

“We’re about a day away from having the Klingons on our back with blasters raised because we missed the next negotiation. If we want to avoid a firefight I have to do this.”

“Captain, I must protest.”

“Go for it.” McCoy turned and set the bat’leth down on the desk, bending over it. “That’s your job.”

Spock watched McCoy for a moment, uncertain what to do next. McCoy looked… very tired. It had taken Spock over a year to learn how to recognize the signs of exhaustion in Captain Pike. He had learned McCoy’s signals in just a few days. Perhaps it was a result of the time he spent among humans; or maybe he was merely more attuned to McCoy.

“Captain,” he said slowly. “I will challenge Commander Kor.”

“What!” McCoy whipped around. “No you won’t!”

“It is logical,” Spock reasoned. “My superior Vulcan strength is nearly on par with that of Klingons. I also have hand-to-hand combat and weapons training. At the very least the Varanio would only stand to lose her first officer, not her captain.”

“No way in hell am I letting you do that.”

Spock paused, taken aback by McCoy’s vehemence. He wasn’t sure why McCoy cared so much when they had only known each other for a few days. “Then you go into certain death.”

McCoy deflated. He leaned heavily against the desk and rested his forehead on the palm of his hand. He truly wore his emotions very openly. “Spock, am I doing the right thing?”

“…I have already voiced my objection.”

McCoy chuckled without mirth. “Sorry. I’m not used to having an actual first officer around to put me in my place. How about I make you a deal?”

“A deal,” Spock repeated. Never in his years on the Enterprise had Pike ever offered a “deal” with him. He was uncertain how to handle the proposal. “Of what kind?”

“I’ll give you twelve hours to come up with a better plan. Take whatever resources you need. Even talk to Dax, if you like. If you can come up with something halfways decent that doesn’t involve you falling onto a sword or us shooting at anybody, then I’ll take it. Otherwise, Kor will be having company for dinner.”

Spock mightily resisted the urge to point out that McCoy was being contradictory in trying to protect everyone but himself. “Very well,” he said instead. “I will return to you in twelve hours.”

Spock left him at the desk, contemplating the bat’leth.

*

Spock had forty-seven datapadds and was still arguing when the beamed down to the negotiation site.

“Captain McCoy, you must recognize that you’re being irrational.”

“Oh, I’m being irrational, am I?”

“Yes.” Spock said, hastening after the Captain as he walked down the dimly lit hall. “You have not had time to duly appreciate the alternate plans I have prepared.”

“I listened to ‘em. What more do you want?”

“I want—” Spock tripped and dropped a handful of padds. Annoyed, and trying to hide it, he stooped and began picking them up. “I wish for you to engage fully with an alternate solution to this predicament!”

Suddenly McCoy was right there, kneeling beside him. McCoy reached out and picked up a padd, handing it to Spock with a small smile on his face. “Spock, if I didn’t know better I’d say you’re in a tizzy.”

Spock pursed his lips. “I have no wish to become Captain of the Varanio three days into my stay here.”

“Hey.” McCoy reached out and rested his hand on Spock’s shoulder. “It’s going to be fine. I’ve got a plan.”

“That is what concerns me.”

McCoy chuckled and stood, offering a hand to help Spock as well. Spock accepted it, juggling his datapadds as he rose. McCoy’s hand was warm and sure, and Spock was hit with an illogical burst of confidence at the mere touch. At first he assumed there had been some telepathic transference, but his shields were in place. It was just McCoy’s steadiness that inspired him.

“…Very well,” Spock agreed, although McCoy hadn’t said anything more.

McCoy still smiled at him.

The council chamber was packed with Klingons eager to see the fall of a Starship Captain, especially one as infamous as McCoy. They rattled their weapons and hooted at him as he found a place to stand at the edge of the ring, Spock at his side. Spock disposed of the datapadds and stayed one step behind McCoy, eyeing his competition.

Kor was not large, for a Klingon. Which meant he still had fifty pounds of muscle on McCoy. He held his bat’leth with the ease of years of practice. McCoy held his like he’d replicated it this morning. Spock attempted to look foreboding, but Kor merely laughed at them.

“Captain, Klingons have a weakness three centimeters below the left edge of their thoracic cavity.”

“I know,” McCoy said. “I studied medicine for six years, but I’m not going to stab him there. That could kill him.”

Spock raised both brows in surprise. “I was not aware you studied medicine.”

“You should do a little more research on your commanding officer next time.” McCoy winked.

Spock felt himself grow warm. “I hope that I will not have to.”

“Can you hold this?” McCoy handed him the bat’leth.

Spock accepted it without thinking, and then averted his gaze as McCoy stripped off his shirt. He couldn’t help but look again and was surprised to realize that Kor might actually have more trouble defeating McCoy that he had originally assumed.

“Thanks.” McCoy traded, shirt for blade. He turned to the ring and said something in Klingon that the universal translator struggled to interpret.

Spock pinched the shirt daintily in one hand as his Captain stepped into the ring, poised and ready. Spock took a deep breath, and held it.

[donzall]

It’s not a bad show, but it isn’t Star Trek

I’m a Trekkie, raised on Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). I’m quite open minded, I actually liked the Kelvin movies and was tremendously excited about Star Trek: Discovery (Disco, because who wants STDs?). I won’t talk much about season 1 here, but after seeing episode 1 of Disco’s second season I have to say I’m very disappointed in it. A lot of Trekkies say “it’s not Star Trek” and I tend to be conservative about that statement, because those of us who remember DS9 being introduced can probably remember a lot of the same hoopla about that show. DS9 arguably turned out to be the *most* Star Trek of all the incarnations, but that’s a discussion for another time.

I’m currently rewatching TNG. Before watching the season 2 premiere of Disco, I watched an emotional TNG episode about a Klingon warrior struggling to accept being differently abled after an accident in a cargo bay. In his culture, being differently abled is considered dishonorable, weak and useless as you can’t roll a wheelchair into battle. Keep in mind the Klingon culture and Worf’s exposure to Federation culture was often used as a means to convey being understanding of other cultures, while - admittedly - propagating Federation (Western) culture as being superior. He winds up asking his friends for ritual euthanasia. His friends have to weigh respecting his wishes, in effect helping to killl him, or not. It strongly clashes with their belief that people with disabilities aren’t ‘disabled’ but differently abled and he could still have a wonderful fulfilling life with a disability. Euthanasia has been dealt with before in TNG episodes and it doesn’t advocate against it as much as it cautions not to make rash decisions. Life is worth living, no matter your race, religion, creed or physical restrictions.

Together with his young son, Worf fights to rehabilitate without much success and just wants his honor intact, his legacy secured and continues to wish to die to save himself and his family ‘dishonor’. A second story line tackles the medical ethics of an untested experimental procedure that could save the warrior’s life, but could also kill him. Should it be offered to him or not? The doctor who developed the procedure offers it to him against the resident physician’s wishes. Ethical and personal conflict ensues that makes for great story telling AND reflection. The procedure eventually works of course, but the storylines are powerful, socially relevant, engaging and thought provoking.

Then I watched Discovery. Cue incomprehensible opening scene about an African girl inventing the Milky Way or something. I don’t understand what that was about - it may come later, who knows. The Enterprise is brought in as a weird plot device, most likely to appease older fans with trivia and Easter eggs. Like the transporter chief donning a VISOR. A device created specifically for Geordi LaForge in the 2300s, which somehow this guy already had a couple hundred years earlier.

Pike takes command (yay!). We’re now supposed to feel sorry for the Disco crew for whom I’ve developed no empathy yet in a contrived scene introducing Pike as someone who wins at everything except astrophysics. Michael mansplains stuff about Disco never leaving a brother or sister behind to a seasoned respected captain for some reason. Albino mushroom science guy is grieving the loss of his partner, the doctor. Again I have no empathy for these severely underdeveloped characters yet so it’s not emotional. Tilly is great and doesn’t want albino science guy to leave the ship. We know he won’t, it’s all so transparent, but whatevs Tilly is great. Skip ahead a bit and they warp into a weird exploded planet or asteroid belt with an as of yet unexplained gravity well to rescue a medical frigate stranded there during the Klingon war. Lots of lenses flair their flairs. They somehow change its trajectory and whammy it’s now heading straight into a pulsar, according to flailing arm lizard, for the obvious script reason to create ‘more danger’. Now we’re all worried eh? I wasn’t either. They get into weird scientifically implausible fast falling spinning things. The obnoxious not-Spock science guy who we knew was going to die rather quickly dies rather quickly while being obnoxious. Pike’s spinner thing has a malfunction and Michael has to save him in a totally unnecessary stunt because Pike’s suit also has a malfunction. Said malfunction disappears once the spinner things have landed though. Oh no we almost lost Michael! (Again). The threat was so non existent it was laughable. They find a funny engineer whose quirky-but-brilliant further unexplained and purposeless engineering stuff has kept a bunch of people alive or something. Spectacular but useless props include a heart in jar and a Tellarite leaky brain. They start beaming out survivors using pattern enhancers on transporter pads (one would think transporter pads ARE pattern enhancers, but whatever). More contrived danger leads to Michael not making the beam out, but Pike comes back for her (Oh no we almost lost Michael! (Again)). Back on the Disco it appears Michael has weirdly bonded with Pike during this one mission and wants to visit the Enterprise, Pike is like whatever as long as we have some fun. She fondles her brother’s (don’t get me started) things and an insanely over engineered scene leads to the transparent discovery that Spock went to investigate the same weird red dot MacGuffin things. I hope this Red Angel isn’t an entity whose blood is the completely inexcusable red matter plot device Spock used to travel back in time to trigger the Kelvin timeline. We’re all left amazed and stunned at these developments. Right? I have no idea what this show is about, it has a great cast and wonderful special effects, but it has very little - if anything - to do with what Star Trek was about for me.

After that... whatever that was I went back to watching TNG. A great thought provoking episode about a species called the J’Naii, who don’t have genders. There are those in their species who favor one gender or another and are ostracized because of it. People find it unnatural and sick. If officials find out, these ‘deviants’ are tried and sent to therapy camps where they are ‘cured’. Riker falls in love with one of them before knowing she is one of those so called deviants that has chosen the female gender. During this they talk about issues that face us even today: what personal pronoun to use if any, who leads when they dance (whoever’s tallest in case you’re wondering ;) The authorities do find out though and eventually have her arrested and treated. Riker and Picard struggle with what to do. Can they help her? Offer asylum? Would that violate the prime directive? Riker eventually decides to follow his heart instead of the prime directive, and launches a clandestine rescue attempt with Worf to rescue her, but shows up too late. She’s already been treated. An episode that had wonderful (for its time) special effects in a null-space environment, but also dealt with the struggles LGBTQI folks still deal with today in a reverse psychological type of treatment.

Can you tell the difference? Discovery has a great cast and amazing special effects. The stories are not Star Trek. They don’t allow for deep rich character development that actually makes you care for any of them. It doesn’t deal with societal issues head on. They make up fast paced supposedly emotionally charged scenes for characters you don’t care about yet and superfluous action sequences to speak to younger audiences. If I look at how high a value younger generations put on topics like ethics, equality, the environment, diversity and inclusion, there are SO many stories to tell and they are sorely underestimating young people. Star Trek was always about the story. The story in season two (much like the contrived mirror universe nonsense and magical spore ridiculousness) is nowhere to be found yet. The pending return of one of this incarnation’s worst characters as a Section 31 operative (sigh) already disturbs me. I hope Picard’s return in a contemporary series will bring back some quality to the franchise. In the meantime I also hope Disco will come to tell valuable stories, thinking more about the message than how to tell it.

[janeykath318]

JimX Reader: Buying The Space Farm Pt. 2

I don’t know who likes these, so I can’t tag anyone yet. But I plan on other fics, so if you likes this, let me know!!

The two weeks of Jim’s coma were the longest in your life. For a while, Leonard couldn’t say whether he’d even live to wake up again and you lived constantly on edge, dreading getting that call again. You spent whatever time you could at Jim’s bedside, talking to him or reading to him from his favorite books. Leonard seemed to be pleased with his brain activity increasing and encouraged you to keep it up.

“I think it does him good to hear your voice, Y/N,” he said on day eleven of the vigil.

“You think he’s hearing me?” You asked hopefully.

“Something’s getting through. His brain activity is up when you’re here. Keep up the good work, but you need some rest yourself. Jim won’t be happy when he wakes up and sees you on the verge of collapse.”

“But there’s so much to do, Bones,” you pleaded. “So many people need help. A lot of people are homeless or missing. I can’t not help.”

You’d been volunteering at the very full homeless shelters, helping families stay together and serving meals to the displaced. It was hard, but it kept you from fretting too hard about Jim and reminded you there were many suffering souls in the city.

“You’re right, but I strongly recommend you take a break so you can better help people. Jim always talked about how caring you were and how much he loved that about you.”

“Did he?” You asked, looking longingly at Jim’s form.

“Umm-hm,” The Doctor nodded. “Kid’s crazy about you.”

“Until recently,” you said sadly, thinking of how Jim had shoved everyone away in his anger and grief.

“He’s gonna be regretting that when he wakes up, I think,” he sighed. “Spock mentioned he dropped your name at the end.”

Oh. Commander Spock had seen Jim die and if Jim had mentioned you by name…

“Does he know?” You asked.

“He guessed. Promised to keep it confidential, though. The Vulcan’s a good sort, even if he is infuriating most of the time.

“Oh, Jim.” You went over and gently kissed him on the forehead.

“Please wake up soon. You have a lot of explaining to do, handsome.”

Three days later, Bones commed you to tell you Jim was finally awake! Heart in your throat, you raced back to the hospital. Sure enough, the Blue eyes were wide open and Jim’s rumbly voice, scratchy from disuse, could be heard talking to Spock.

Tears of joy filled your eyes, but you hung back and waited for a moment.

“Y/N? Come in. Don’t be shy. You’re just the person I wanted to see,” Jim spotted you and called you over as Spock made his departure.

“Hi, Jim,” you said tentatively, approaching the biobed. He looked so thin and weak, but gloriously alive. Thank goodness for Khan’s blood and Leonard’s tenacity.

“Hey, beautiful! Miss me?” Jim asked, holding out a shaky hand that you clasped in yours.

You teared up again. “Every second of every minute of every hour of every day, hon. I can’t believe you up and died on us!” Bringing his hand to your lips, you gently kissed it and Jim looked at you in regretful tenderness.

“I’m sorry about that babe. I couldn’t think of another way to save you. A captain’s got to think of his crew’s well-being first. It was my fault we got in that mess to start with.”

“It was Marcus’s and Khan’s fault, Jim. They both lied and used you for their own ends. I know why you did it, but I can’t stand the thought of you suffering like that.”

You shuddered, remembering what he’d looked like on the autopsy table and his fingers tightened in yours.

“It didn’t last long, though, babe. Thanks to my stubborn CMO, I get a second chance to tell you how sorry I am for being so rude to you. That was my biggest regret when I was dying: how badly I’d treated you. Forgive me?”

His big blue eyes were honest and imploring and it would have taken a Klingon to resist them when he looked like that.

“Of course, Jim,” you told him. “Now, forgiving you for dying on me might take a few days. I had to drag your dead body out of that chamber, you know.”

Jim grimaced.

“Let me guess, Scotty was short-staffed, right?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, man, Y/N, I’m even more sorry.”

Jim sighed. “What a mess. I probably scarred half the crew for life.”

“We’ll live thanks to you,” you told him. “But please, don’t do anything like that ever again. I didn’t even get to tell you I loved you one last time.”

“An unfortunate fact I also rue. But, let me tell you right now: I love you, Y/N. I couldn’t stop thinking about you as I was climbing the core.”

“Jim,” you said, leaning over and framing his face with your hands. It was so good to feel the warmth of his living skin, pale though it was. “I love you, baby. Always.

You had to hand it to the man, even when he was a shell of himself, he still kissed like a champ.

Bones had to shoo you out afterwards, groaning at the sappy faces you and Jim were making at each other.

“Dammit! I’m a doctor, not a chaperone!!”

[sleepymarmot]

DS9 season 1 liveblog

[Season index: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 PS]

Emissary

Wait, "kidnapped for six days"? I thought the timeframe was much tighter...

I hope Kira won't always overact so much.

I like how quickly Sisko can go from barely contained cold hatred to cheerful manipulation.

Bashir's LITERALLY FIRST LINE is flirting! I'm honestly impressed :D

Bwahaha, tell him, Kira!

...Did O'Brien change back into his old uniform just to visit the Enterprise? 

O'Brien now talks to computers just like Geordi.

Is this show going to regularly use baseball as a metaphor, like TNG did with poker? :D

This episode is a much better take on explaining humanity to an alien than "Encounter at Farpoint".

Past Prologue

The entire opening scene is just delightful -- does that even need saying?

Why does O'Brien feel so strongly about not giving the guy to the Cardassians? Has Chain of Command happened already?

Ooh, is this the encounter with the Duras sisters that will be referenced in TNG season 7, or are they going to visit DS9 again?

"Klingons have an odd sense of style, don't you agree?" -- Nah, only those two.

Drinking game: a shot every time Garak says the word "simple".

I didn't expect the show's second story to be so good!

A Man Alone

...Is every episode going to open with a scene where an older person on whom Bashir crushed within five seconds of their screentime is standing behind him and touching his shoulders?

I'm confused again, isn't the O'Brien kid a bit too old?

"Killing your own clone is still murder" -- Was this episode deliberately written as a fuck-you to Up the Long Ladder, or is it just a lucky coincidence?

Babel

What a beautiful script lol

Why aren't they at least trying to build a linguistic database? That was my first idea...

Captive Pursuit

"I'm not a barkeep" Well now I want an AU with Quark as Mrs Hudson...

"They've reversed the polarity of our shields" Sorry I just cannot take this phrase seriously...

Oh ffs, not the Prime Directive again!

Wow, this show really likes O'Brien...

Q-Less

I love the guest appearances from TNG characters! It really helps to establish the show as part of the same continuity.

Q and Vash's Doctor-companion dynamic gives me life.

Oh no, the Ferengi handjobs are back, I was wondering when it would happen...

"I like your new tailor" I thought Q meant Garak, not the change in Starfleet uniforms...

"But it's not going to be the same without you. When I look at a gas nebula, all I see is a cloud of dust. Seeing the universe through your eyes, I was able to experience wonder." I'M DYING THIS IS LITERALLY THE DOCTOR'S LINE

Dax

I was looking forward to this one! But I didn't expect the "how Trills actually work, let's forget about The Host" story to be presented as a courtroom episode, that's pretty clever.

Ah, of course whenever they talk about Dax's past relationship with a woman, they switch to third person and male pronouns -_-

I thought the wife was the murderer.

The Passenger

God, don't they have filters or oxygen masks or anything like that? 

Yoo, a possession episode! This is endearing: TNG season one sometimes felt like revisiting TOS stories with a new cast, this season does the same to TNG.

Move Along Home

Does a fourteen year old really need a strict bedtime?

Kidnapping people is easy with transporter technology -- but how does one change their victims' clothes in the process?!

Quark's breakdown was unexpected; I suppose there'll be a follow-up on that?

The Nagus

Jake and Nog's friendship is very heartwarming.

Vortex

I'm glad to learn more about Odo, but wasn't this episode kinda cheesy?

Battle Lines

Yess, more Kira drama

Let me make a guess: this will be important in the season finale?

The Storyteller

You know that post "Have you ever accidentally befriended someone who was extremely annoying"? It needs to be on a screenshot of O'Brien and Bashir from this episode.

Progress

Kira's subplot is like an unholy hybrid between The Survivors, Ensigns of Command/Journey's End, and Preemptive Strike. Plus, that guy looks like Hannibal Lector.

Jake and Nog's subplot is giving me a bit too much secondhand embarrassment.

"I'm going to tell Minister Toran that she's remained temporarily on Jeraddo at your request" "But sir, that isn't true" "Make it true, Doctor. Now, please" lmao Sisko's methods are... interesting.

He gave a good speech to Kira in the next scene, too.

I'm glad it worked out well for the kids :D I kind of expected the two plots to tie together at the end -- like the old man settling on the piece of land they bought.

If Wishes Were Horses

"Waste of time. Too many people dream of places they'll never go, wish for things they'll never have, instead of paying adequate attention to their real lives." Are you calling all of your viewers out, Odo?

A bit too much technobabble, but funny! I thought this would be not just about imagination, but about youth. The imaginary characters are conjured up by a three year old, a fourteen year old, and by Julian whose immaturity is even commented upon in the cold open.

The Forsaken

Oh... oh my god... it's her

Why is her hair pink, anyway

O'Brien's talking to the computer right after opening credits, just after Majel Barrett's name appeared on screen -- are they doing this on purpose?

this orange hair is even worse

"You are the thin beige line between order and chaos" I'm dying what kind of compliment is this

Odo's grumpiness re: humanoid mating rituals is beautiful

"Every 16 hours I turn into a liquid" "I can swim"

Hello fanfic trope :D

Yes, Odo, I was making the same faces during the episode she's recalling

"Do you hear it?" "Hear what?" The voice" ARE THEY REALLY DOING THIS

"Like a baby" I'd say, more like Lwaxana

"It came here when we downloaded the probe's files. If we upload those same files back to the probe, it might go with them" That's... not how it works...

Universal acceptance is a lovely and very plausible other side of the coin to Lwaxana's eccentricity and odd taste. I've grown to appreciate that. She's always so obnoxious at the beginning of the episode, I completely forget about her sensitive side and she manages to surprise me every time.

wait, so she's been canonically wearing wigs in all those TNG episodes?

Dramatis Personae

Wait, is the infirmary right across the corridor from Quark's bar?

Bashir is acting very strangely

Alright, the question is "who isn't acting strangely"

Is Kira trying to flirt with Dax?

Bashir really won the temporary personality lottery. Everyone else became unlikeable and he just Lives For The Drama. I mean, more than usual...

Will Odo often play this role of the only one unaffected by a disease, like Data did? But unlike Data, he can also manipulate people. I'm only now starting to appreciate that he actually is a "Constable". Very refreshing to see a security officer who's allowed to be smart.

Duet

Oooh, finally it's time for the Bajoran-Cardassian drama again!

The plot twist makes this episode remind me of The Defector even more... And I think it cheapens the conflict; what to do with a bureaucrat who hasn't personally committed atrocities is a difficult and morally grey area -- not so much if it's the Big Bad responsible for everything and proud of it

Alright, he's too hammy, is there another twist coming?

Nice, Dukat is getting nervous, that's a good sign. I love Odo the detective

Okay, but even under his real identity, wouldn't, like, a very public trial and broadcasting his story everywhere have some effect?

I... don't really like how this episode ends on a "Not all Cardassians / Some Bajorans are just prejudiced". Still, it's the strongest story in the season.

In the Hands of the Prophets

Ughhh religious fundamentalists...

Have I mentioned how uncomfortable it is that on this show people's ears are often grabbed with completely different connotations?

Oh god I'm just seething this is too real

The murder mystery is interesting!

I hate her so much

Call! Odo!! Or! Sisko!! Preferably both!!!

General impressions:

A surprisingly even season. There are no outright failures (unlike TNG's first and last seasons -- hell, probably unlike any TNG season) but it's rarely remarkable.

The interior and costume design is quite ugly, sorry to say.

It took me several episodes to adjust after the glorious remastered HD of TNG. Please remaster this show too!

Best character for dramatic scenes: Kira

Best character for lighthearted scenes: Bashir

Most underused character: Dax

Best duo: Odo and Quark (okay, there's not much competition so far, I just wanted them to have their own category)

If O'Brien is such a super engineering pro, why did he spend all these years on the Enterprise manning the transporter instead of being Geordi's right hand man or something?

I don't know what I think of Sisko yet. But I like him more than Picard in his first season.