#this episode still gets to me. it is still very much a “if spirk was unintended what is all this”

[favvn]

You know what else drives me crazy about The Naked Time? This exchange:

It isn't just because of Spock saying, "Jim, when I feel friendship for you, I am ashamed" or "Understand, Jim. I've spent a whole lifetime learning to hide my feelings." Although, that absolutely is part of it, the fact that Spock is locked into his regret over not telling his mother he loved her and his shame at realizing that, despite all his work to adhere to Vulcan principles, he still feels love. It's that gap between duty versus desire, between expectations versus wants, and what remains in spite of the pressure. (I realize his words parallel a love confession in any other context, between any heterosexual couple, and that fandom looks to his shame as a confirmation of internalized homophobia, but the biggest issue for Spock is that love, sorrow, shame--all powerful emotions--still exist for him. He is not a Vulcan if he feels these emotions and gives into them. He is only a half-Vulcan and half-Human, caught between worlds and the judgments and expectations of two very different societies.)

It's because Kirk changes his phrasing of "We've got to risk a full-power start!" to, "We've got to risk implosion!" Implosion, like many words, holds multiple meanings. The intended meaning is "a violent collapsing inwards," the opposite of explosion. But implosion can mean integration, a coming together towards a single center point. We've got to risk coming together. We've got to risk integration. And Spock responds, "It's never been done." They repeat these lines twice. Repetition is a device to call attention in writing. Why have Kirk say they have to risk a full-power start twice before only to change it to implosion and repeat it twice? The two phrases mean something different, but it's important enough to bear repeating. (One could argue it is sloppy writing, or perhaps a case of actors failing to remember their lines, but what are the odds it was either of those, especially with someone as thoughtful as Leonard Nimoy. Either a writer is a professional who understands the power of words, or everything is somehow coincidental, holds no actual meaning, and writers don't think carefully about word choice and meaning, especially in an era where nuance can make or break a story on the screen.)

In the 1960s, during the time of the Hays Code, of course, two men couldn't be together as a couple on TV or in film, not even in space, in a time set centuries beyond our present. But damn if the dialogue can not hint at it, dance around it in plain sight. Again, Kirk and Spock's relationship must exist in the margins, between the lines, encased in nuance and multiple meanings, because to use explicitly clear phrasing would mean it all gets cut.

Hence, this bit of dialogue. The slaps become Spock catching Kirk's hand and holding it steady--direct sustained contact, a coming together, implosion. Spock is torn between regret and shame and love, while Kirk shouts about the ship being destroyed and ending the lives of the crew, their shared duty to the ship. The dialogue is Spock's turmoil writ large--do what must be done, accept two separate halves becoming a whole (is it Spock's two halves or Kirk and Spock? I'll leave that up to you), or remain apart and give into despair. But Kirk tells him their only chance is to risk implosion, to come together, and they have to take that chance.

[thunderandsage]

my comprehensive star trek fic recs

(starting note: a lot of the following works contain heavy and/or uncomfortable themes, which is my preference when reading fanfiction, so just be aware of that. a lot of them are also, uh, rated E, so yea. i have no excuse for that one.)

(contains: mostly AOS with smatterings of SNW, DS9 and TOS)

EPICS/LONGER WORKS:

Don't Stop Believing (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 205,901 words, a Spock-character-study slash novel-length-epic, features Spock/Pike heavily near the beginning, explores the loss and pain after y'know losing your mother and your planet, slow-burn Spirk but GOD the slow-burn is so good, not a straightforward story as characters are capable of both advancing and regressing but this complexity makes the story more delicious, includes homoerotic piano duets)

You Don’t Have To (Say Yes) (Spirk AOS, rated M, finished at 192,321 words, HEED THE WARNINGS, starts out as “let’s make Tarsus IV even worse” but evolves into love letter for friendship and chosen family, characters so good you want to start chewing on the metaphorical pages, Kirk as bright-sunshine-character-with-the-horrors-in-his-past who’s messed up but god he’s trying, passages in this fic permanently rewired my brain)

War Games (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 108,882 words, necessary to read You’ll Get There In The End first, very sharp and cohesive prose and plot, the romance here is pretty unconventional and “unromantic” almost but it honestly works really well, uhh main warning is that this deals with politics analogous with real-world loss of rights so it’s uncomfortably relatable but if you’re fine with that it’s a really interesting read, intrigue and action, sorta-telepath!Kirk and good Vulcan OCs)

K’diwa: A Steamy Novel of Interspecies Romance, by Jim Kirk (Spirk AOS, rated technically E but it’s more M i feel, finished at 103,984 words, accidental romance writer Jim Kirk, Kirk-was-adopted-by-Vulcans, Academy Era, far on the feel-good and indulgent side of fic if you’re into that)

The Door (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 77,118 words, per the description "and alternative STID thing" with one of the most distinctive and sweet/sharp love stories, smut does feature very heavily but so does literature and messy emotions, contains my favorite version of THAT scene from STID, makes you want to annotate passages and look for parallels like in fucking english lit class again)

For the Gladness of You (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 51,055 words, non-linear narrative, Spock and Kirk both have Issues(tm), definitely a thornier read where problems don’t have clear solutions and people are messy and don’t always make good decisions, more cynical but still so good)

EPISODIC/SMALLER STORIES:

The 1,000 Hour Sleep (Spirk SNW, rated M, finished at 27,227 words, basically Jim is a secret agent for Starfleet who's treated as expendable by Command but still gets adopted by the SNW crew, good balance of action/angst and romance/pining)

This Trailer Park Is a Shithole But Goddammit, It’s Home (Spirk AOS, rated M, finished at 23,446 words, trailer park AU, Jim Kirk’s dubious adventures in growing weed and trying to avoid the law, the crackiest adaptation of st2009 you’ll ever read)

Something Smart to Do (Spirk AOS, rated M, finished at 21,322 words, how many times will Spock and Kirk get fake-married for missions before they admit they’re in love? the answer is too damn much)

How to Inefficiently Acquire a Human Male in 98.6 Earth Days (Spirk AOS, rated T, finished at 30,391 words, Academy Era, Spock tries to ward off Jim's attempts at friendship but receives advice that does... not do that, romcom vibes, meddling Gaila)

Big Me (But It’s You I Fell Into) (Spirk AOS, rated M, finished at 38,728 words, i am entirely indifferent towards golf but this fic still slaps, feat. an oblivious jim, a low-stress but still very fun read)

knives in the water (McSpirk AOS, rated E, finished at 18,618 words, dark, mafia au, smut and violence, featuring McCoy’s sexual frustration and steadily eroding moral compass)

FEMSLASH:

encrusted gem-stuff / / of the mist (T'pura SNW, rated T, finished at 41,862 words, pon farr but it’s lesbians, beautiful psychedelic and almost surreal writing style that i want to inject into my bloodstream)

Unspoken (T’pura AOS, rated M, finished at 29,201 words, lovely AOS Uhura depiction with lots of linguistics and character depth, the path to true love is convoluted and thorny but they get there, eventually)

i cannot paint / what then i was (Kiradax DS9, rated T, finished at 15,462 words, brief Jadzia/Lenara Kahn, read if you like greek classics references, bi disaster Jadzia and gorgeous lesbian pining)

let them vie with each other (Jadzia Dax/Nyota Uhura DS9 & SNW/TOS, rated T with non-explicit sex scenes, finished at 6,215 words, a rarepair that sank its teeth into my neck, a gorgeous story that is very sci fi not just bc of the fandom but in its storytelling, beautiful science and linguistics asides, incredibly beautiful prose)

A Hermeneutics of Ass-Fucking (Christine Chapel/T’pring SNW, rated M, finished at 5,954 words, an enjoyable cocktail of Vulcan intellectualism, crack and lesbian horniness, introduced me to Maggie Nelson’s works, also an update as this has sequels, the main being: Erotic Vulcan Love Poetry, Like a Sea Turtle to their Beach and Federation Day Festivities in Wabanaki Territory (Formerly known as Quebec), all of which are excellent)

Matchmaker of Mars (T’pura TOS, rated T, finished at 2,749 words, T’Pring and Uhura as 1930s scifi writers with a grudge against Campbell)

“BITE-SIZED”:

there's no such thing as a bad idea (Spock & Bones AOS, rated T, finished at 5,114 words, giving "teenage girls talk about their crushes at a sleepover" except it's two emotionally constipated middle-ish-aged men who are drunk)

And Then I Let It Go (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 10,632 words, post-Beyond getting together including fake identities and agricultural work)

Any Way You Want It (Spirk AOS, rated T, finished at 12,031 words, Spock gets offered a promotion and Jim wants to be supportive, misunderstanding ensue, slightly cracky)

Watershed Moments (Kirk & Mcoy AOS, rated N/A, finished at 9,455 words, based on that Parks and Rec episode with snake juice but it’s Chekov’s tribble juice here, everyone’s super wasted here and it’s glorious, crack)

Big Damn Heroes (Chekov/Sulu AOS, rated E, finished at 6,821 words, Chekov character study in a "live fast, die young" type of Starfleet life, honestly just read anything by waldorph ever, swashbuckling vibes)

what is love? (no really) (Aromantic Spirk AOS, finished at 7,534 words, read if you like disaster!Kirk and/or have a grudge against Valentine's Day, cracky)

Hallmark Moment (Here in the Morning Remix) (Joanna McCoy AOS, rated G, finished at 3,312 words, bittersweet character study, read if you want to feel a little sad and contemplative)

the five-year mission (Kirk & McCoy AOS, rated M, finished at 11,106 words, dark post-STID that sees what with Starfleet's militarization and colonialist undertones... y'know that's not far from the mirrorverse...)

A Monument to All Your Sins (Spirk AOS, rated T, finished at 9,629 words, post-STID where Kirk is ordered to retake the Kobayashi Maru, soft established relationships and musings about the nature of sacrifice/duty)

UNFINISHED:

K’oh-nar (Spirk TOS, rated T, updating at 320,000 words currently, PLEASE heed the "mental breakdown" tag as it centers around severe psychically-inflicted trauma, featuring Spock’s TOS canonical self-loathing, it’s tagged hurt/comfort but the plot’s still on the “hurt,”read if you want to be stabbed by a hundred knives)

Unbody Me and Take Me Home (Spirk AOS, rated N/A, updating at 27,416 words but updating, domestic fluff but there's a ghost, slowburn for both the romance and the horror)

Pinched Nerve (Spirk SNW, rated E, updating regularly at 14,776 words currently, due to varying reasons both Spock and Jim enter a corporate matchmaking program, hilarity ensues, prose is very sharp and enjoyable)

[je-brille-dans-la-nuit]

Watching TOS: back to fun & Spirk

The Galileo Seven: loved it!

Much tension very drama

Really liked the difficulties of Spock in command. I thought it was interesting to see him in such a tense context on an inhospitable planet. He's not the leader Jim is, but it's clear the men's behavior also come from them being prejudiced against him bc of his Vulcan nature

Spock still analyzing while they're being attacked is hilarious

This exchange i cackled

SCOTT: Mister Spock, you said a while ago that there were always alternatives. SPOCK: Did l? I may have been mistaken. MCCOY: Well, at least I lived long enough to hear that.

"No one out there to see it" Except!! Of course the Enterprise is still here!!

"Captain, transporter room just beamed up five persons. Alive and well." The relief on Jim's face is not his usual big smile and it gets to me

The whole ending scene had me clutching my heart I loved it okay! The happy ending we deserve!

Jim "You mean you reasoned that it was time for an emotional outburst" all the while leaning way closer than is necessary!!

KIRK: Mister Spock, you're a stubborn man. SPOCK: Yes, sir. EVERYONE LAUGHING ♥

.

The Squire of Gothos

It's fun!

Jim is good at handling people!

SPOCK: I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose.

Spock being his little shit self gives me life. Besides, when he says that, we have a close-up on Jim smiling lovingly! This only happens when Spock speaks! This is on purpose! I see you!

The fact that Trelane, to get Jim to do what he wants, threatens Spock of all crewmembers. I mean.

The ending was funny!

.

Arena

"Nevermind about me, protect my ship" smh

Spock calling him 'Jim' instead of 'captain' or 'sir' when he's trying hard to get through to him, to make him listen

The sounds the Gorn makes were really getting on my nerves argh

Spock's live-comment ("Good. Good") on the fight

I liked the message of the episode! Hopeful ending! He wins by being merciful!

Jim you could just tell Spock he was right about not killing them

.

Tomorrow is yesterday

Not bad but pretty unremarkable except for:

CHRISTOPHER: I never have believed in little green men. SPOCK: Neither have I.

krrkrrkrr

Jim playing dumb in front of the soldiers was hilarious

What was that? What was what?

Believe me, Colonel, you wouldn't believe me

.

Court martial

I liked it enough, although it's a pity it's never really about what Jim may have done wrong. As viewers we never doubt he didn't do it.

Look, I'm an easy girl, it doesn't take much to make me happy and Spock saying

It is impossible for Captain Kirk to act out of malice or panic. It is not in his nature.

is enough for me. That and Spock and Bones working together to save Kirk's ass, again.

JIM: And nothing is more important than my ship.

He means Spirk right?

Who knows? You may be able to beat your next captain at chess.

Cute

[weather-mood]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @quensty (thank you for the excuse to procrastinate, this was so fun!! 💕)

✨ how many works do you have on ao3?

39!

✨ what's your total ao3 word count?

535,100. But that is counting House so the real count would be a little lower. But that’s still a frightening amount of words.

✨ what fandoms do u write for?

Just Interview with the Vampire 2022 💕

✨ what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Is this too much?, Part of Your World, I can’t help that I need it all, At Home in Rue Royale, and I’ll chew you up and I’ll spit you out.

✨ do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I don’t at the moment, I get overwhelmed and I don’t know how to respond but I treasure them and read them over and over

✨ what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ostentatio Vulnerum, aka Claudia isn’t there in episode 6 when Lestat tries to give Louis the car. It ends with Louis taking Lestat back and it’s very clear that Louis is not well and that’s not a good decision.

✨ what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Staring at the ceiling with you ends with Jesse Reeves and Merrick Mayfair murdering David Talbot together and escaping into the night 💕

Also Charlie living and becoming a vampire with Claudia in Charlie.

✨ do you get hate on fics?

Nope, but I’ve also had my comments set to registered users only ever since the first troll fic dropped ✌🏻

✨ do you write smut? if so, what kind?

Yes, and this is such a funny question- bloody and tender I guess? That’s probably a good way to sum it up.

✨ do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

Haven’t written any crossovers yet! Although have the beginning pieces of a severance x iwtv crossover written.

✨ have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

✨ have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! ITTM-verse has been translated into Polish

✨ have you ever co-written a fic before!

I have a collab oneshot wip that’s been in the works since idk March? May? We’ll get it done eventually. Keen to do more co-written pieces in the future.

There’s also House, which wasn’t co-written exactly (chapters were written by individual authors) but that was a really fun collab project.

✨ what's your all-time favorite ship?

You’re going to force me to choose between leslou, danlou, and loumand? 🥺

Outside IWTV, Frodo x Sam, Garashir, Spirk, and Korrasami.

✨ what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I plan to finish all my wips! That being said, Made Myself Mythical only has a vague endpoint in mind and might be something added to indefinitely depending on how long it takes me to get there.

✨ what are your writing strengths?

I really don’t know! That’s so hard to gauge!

✨ what are your writing weaknesses?

Description! I feel like I’ve gotten better but I’m not much of a visual writer/reader so it’s very hard to tell if I’m over or underdoing description at times.

✨ thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I like to include a little here and there!

✨ first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter on fanfiction.net, I probably would have been 13 or 14? Then I didn’t write any more fanfiction until this year

✨ favorite fic you've written?

Either Rumpelstiltskin or Part of Your World!

I wrote Rumpelstiltskin in practically a fever over a three-day weekend. I love it, there’s the humour of Louis not knowing he’s a vampire and what the reader knows vs what Louis knows. You’ve got fairytale elements, mind gift shenanigans, loumand intricate rituals, the growing sexual tension and build up and it’s just so much fun.

And Part of Your World is my baby, I was going through a really hard time when I wrote it and it was a little sanctuary away from the stress and anxiety of everything else going on. I love the little world of it, I love Louis’s character journey, and I’m so happy with how it turned out 💕

✨ Tagging

Tagging @iwtvdramacd18 @vampdf @gayvampiredivorce and @shewhomustbecalledking and anyone else that wants to do it!

[universalcaffination]

Time for another installment of "man, goodwill sells crazy shit"

First we have literally hundreds of comics, which is absolutely wild to me that they're selling these all together. It'd probably take a year to read all of them

We also have a toy from 1976, a "tricorder" tape recorder! Kinda cool to think you could play/record on that, I feel like that would be a pretty useful component of a tricorder to actually have

In regards to spirk, you can get a matching plate set of the boys, but no eating off them! There are other listing as well for scotty and bones and a bunch of others. I wonder why these were split into seperate listing when the comics weren't?

I think I've seen these before, but the amok time action figures always amuse me to no end! I'm really surprised that these were made in 2003 (they show the back that says it), which is like 35 years after when that episode aired! I guess that goes to show just how much people love that one. I'm also surprised they're still in original packaging, 20 years later

And if you're wondering!!! The chest window is indeed very present

Those pants also look uncomfortably tight, captain..

[acetonitril]

20 questions for fic writers

Between bouts of scientific sexting, IKEA shopping, and emigration counselling, @urmomsonfire tagged me to do this. Thank you! And let's go.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

22

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

68,121 with special mention to the fact that I wrote 47,952 of them this year, the rest in the last five

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently Top Gun, mostly Tatort before that

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

all in bad taste

the sight of you leaves me weak

(toi et moi) dans la nuit on trouvera

And Everything Is You

chat with you, baby (flirt a little maybe)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Always! One reason being that I think everyone who takes the time to leave a comment at least deserves a thank you. But I also just love the interaction with people in the comment section. I love how people can write entire essays down there and are willing to discuss it all with you and want to hear extra info and thoughts on your fics. I'm doing all this for the interaction, I think.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Nichts unversucht gelassen Dich zu hassen which no, will never have a second part thank you very much

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don't quite know how to quantify happiness but dare I say big boy, come on 'round? It's the fic with the latest stage in a relationship and basically shows that you can still be happy and sappy even after years of marriage and it's about the changes you experience and accept as you grow old together, which qualifies as happy ending I think.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I can't remember that I ever have.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Me? Smut? Noooo. (The gay kind. The somnophilia kind.)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't actually written any crossovers and I'm personally not a huge fan of them but there was a time when I was determined to write a Star Trek TOS/Tanz der Vampire crossover. It never worked out because I didn't find the time to do it due to unexpected changes in my life.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I translated one of my fics once but I wouldn't count that. The translation was part of the process and is also really bad.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

throwing A Look in Someone's direction No. I have not.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

If I had to pick one ship for the rest of time than probably Spirk. Maybe Victorian bachelors Holmes and Watson because they're hilariously codependent.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't know of that counts but I probably won't ever finish the Nachspiele series (if you care). I'm like 40 episodes behind and don't think I'll ever get back into it enough for me to care.

I also have a Hangster WIP which basically had the concept of telling their story through the years, including their first time and epic breakup and getting back together, through songs Bradley plays to Jake on a bar piano. But there were details I couldn't quite figure out so I abandoned it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at visualising stuff for myself. I don't know if that translates to my writing/characterisations though. Also overthinking.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

First lines, last lines (or endings in general, knowing when to stop), titles. Plot. Not getting distracted but that's a general problem of mine.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

As in "incorporating dialogues with lines of another language into a fic"? I don't mind it when it's well done and adds to the story but I can't see myself doing it (maybe for the train fic).

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I'm going to take the very easy out here and say Tatort.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

This might surprise some of you but toi et moi! If, and I say IF, the cave fic turns out the way I want it to, that might be a strong contender, too, but it's also just really self indulgent, so.

No idea who has been tagged already but tagging uh @theinsouciantknitter, @perishablealex, @wordsonamission

[iliadette]

What are some reasons to actually like Spirk + Star Trek?

I'm an ORV fan but I used to watch Voyager as a kid and I've seen a one or two of the newer movies a few years back (dark something something?) I stayed away from the Star Trek fandom as an adult because I mainly associated it with racism and misogynistic nerd guys.

Hi, anon. Sorry if this ask will take a long time to appear, English is not my first language an I am bad with words on a good day.

You're probably thinking of Into Darkness. It's the second reboot movie. There's a lot of different opinions about those lmao. Personally, I love them even though they do have bad bad points, but then again, I love everything about Star Trek, even at its worst.

There's no denying that there was a bit of period-typical misogyny in the original Star Trek, and it got worse in the long run after Rick Berman was selected for production. Latent misogyny, hetero and amatonormativity, as any 60-to-90s show does. To deny that would be stupid. But.

Star Trek was one of, if not the first, tv programs to depict people of different races working together, as equal as they could get in a military-like setting, in a time when segregation and Cold War were still a thing. A Black woman, an Asian man, a Russian one, a Scottish one, all holding a major position in a government vessel, all iconic characters to this day. Censorship never let him, but Gene Roddenberry, the original creator, always intended to include queer people in ST, as I will explain better later. ‌The original series had episodes which very clearly condemned nazism, racism, the Vietnam war, genocide. The Ferengi race of the Next Generation were created to be a satire of western capitalists but were wrongly pegged as an antisemitic stereotype. If a major character is disabled, they have accomodations made for them, they don't have their disability erased, though I hear that Strange New World kind of fucked that up. An episode of TNG was in protest of conversion therapy though people didn't like how it ended. A major theme of Deep Space Nine revolves around colonialism. It had the first black protagonist (commander and later captain); the first female first officer in the franchise to have a major role, who formerly fought in a resistance movement against a the occupation of her planet by a fascist imperialist race; the first trans woman in all but designation, who btw very much kissed another woman in an absolutely iconic scene; a canonically very neurodivergent doctor. Voyager had the first female captain to star in a series. Seven of Nine's character is particularly dear to me because while it's obvious that she was added mainly to boost and entice the male audience with her sex appeal (and well, I am sapphic and far from immune), it's also obvious how much the writers and Jeri Ryan cared for her storyline and growth. She's such a complex character, I really love her. Seven-centric episodes are always a treat for me. I can't remember anything else off the top of my head, sorry abt that (I also haven't watched Enterprise and the newest series yet so I can't talk about that).

Does ST have bad moments? Misogynistic, racist, homophobic, ableist, amatonormative moments? Hell yes. Some episodes are really cringy and have very bad writing. But there are more good ones than not, and those are the ones I live for, the ones that can give you a message that stays with you, where there was somebody in the crew/cast who read the script, saw something terrible, and went "this will not pass on my watch" and worked together to fix whatever they could. I'm sorry if your experience with Star Trek was with dudebros who think "the woke of the latest series ruined the franchise".

Now, about K/S. I believe with all my heart that nobody needs a reason to ship any two or more characters together. That said, I think Spirk is one of those ships where you have to wear anti-ship goggles not to see the potential (but no big deal if you don't). They touch each other all the time, they risk their life and career multiple times to save the other. This is not inherently a sign of non platonic feelings, and they sure aren't canon as we usually mean it, but.

Writers sure had a field day sprinkling suggestive bits (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) all throughout the franchise, especially queer writers (Theodore Sturgeon, writer of Amok Time and Shore Leave, may his soul be blessed for all eternity).

Bonus for how they look at each other. (1) (2) (3) (4)

Roddenberry himself described their relationship as one of love. It's not mentioned in the series, but in the books it's revealed that they share a telepathic bond that connects their souls, which in Vulcan culture is called t'hy'la which can mean "friend, brother, lover". This definition was created specifically for the two of them, so this is a very obvious wink/nudge, if not an outright acknowledgement that "yes they're in love, but homophobia exists so this is all we can do."

In The Motion Picture when Kirk looks at Spock like a lovesick puppy after a long separation, and the simple feeling not much later.

And can anyone dare to say that those death scenes from The Wrath of Khan and Into Darkness are supposed to be platonic, or what Kirk says about Spock at the beginning of The Search for Spock, that his death feels like he lost "the noblest part of his soul"? And what about "Not in front of the Klingons"??

The books, too, have some very interesting nuance.

Sooooo yeah I absolutely think that Spirk is and will always be the one ship that best comes to mind when it comes to ST. In my eyes and in those of a lot of people they're canon in every way that matters, and if either of them had been female there would have 100% been a marriage in one of the movies, à la Riker/Troi. They'll forever be my ST otp, though I'll occasionally indulge a little bit of Spones and McSpirk. I could even like and reblog other ships like McKirk or Spuhura but only in fanart and only in moderation. I personally wouldn't be interested in reading fanfiction about those. But every ship is valid and equal in fandom, and none is superior just because it's canon and/or had a major role in the birth of shipping culture. Which is the very point all this behemoth of a post originated from, I guess.

This.... Has turned into way more than I thought. Sorry about thay. I hope my answer was satisfactory, anon. Also that I didn't bore you. Hope you have a great day, and thank you for reaching out. ❤️🖖

[smallblueandloud]

2023 fic roundup

2023 was the year of the comeback. in 2021, i wrote about 25k; in 2022, i didn't even keep track. meanwhile, my total wordcount last year was 119,226 words. while that doesn't come close to my 200k from 2020, i am arguably prouder of last year and what it represented. my writing isn't dead! my abilities haven't vanished! i can have fun making art again :D

as always, the summer was the most productive for me. you can see that i wrote more in the spring than the fall -- this roughly corresponds to how i was doing during those times, lol. i had a Much Better spring semester than the fall. september was very rough, i had a very bad time, and it meant my mental health suffered for the rest of the year. but hey, at least i was writing essays :')

some more scattered thoughts:

i was arguably pretty consistent this year? may/june/july all had about the same wordcount (roughly) and i think that's cool. my goal isn't to be doing NaNos, it's to be writing consistently, so i'm very happy with this

ao3 says i published 67k in 2023. minus the first chapter of something out of a dream, which was published in 2020, i believe that's 65k or so total. i wrote 72k of fanfic last year, meaning that there's about 8k from last year still sitting in my google drive (a rough eyeball at my WIPs folder confirms this). these numbers don't QUITE make sense to me, since i used a fair bit of old material in what i published last year, but i'm not going to think about it too hard

i published fic for a whopping fifteen fandoms in 2023. nine of those were fandoms i'd never published anything for before! i am so, so proud of this stat. i remain multifandom as all hell and seeing that represented in my work makes me really :D

two fics -- be amazed by the sky and i got your back (and you got mine) -- were crossovers! i'd only ever written one crossover before (stay all day in the sun, which i still love dearly) and it was fun to play in these playgrounds (mostly by sticking the librarians into other universes, xD)

i published 25 fics last year! and five of those fics were less than 1k, which i also really love. this year i really tried to let go of my idea that my fics Had to be more than 4k (and super polished) before they could see the light of day. i think my writing has been more fun and less stressful because of that.

i polished off 4 multi-year WIPs last year: but the verse is sweet, something out of a dream, don't wanna see you go (but it's not forever), and all we can do today. it felt so, so good to finally get those out there. the only one i have left from The Great Hiatus of 2021-2022 is éponine de bergerac. i will finish that someday, but i'm letting her take her time, because she deserves it. (i DID make good progress on that fic, which is something at least!)

most popular fic of the year was sit there in your heartache, which. is a spirk fic written right after a relevant episode, so not a surprise lol. the fic that surprised me most is actually the sisterhood of the travelling main character plotpoints -- i kinda expected that one to vanish quietly, but the hatchetfield fandom is WAY more active than i expected! which is very cool :D

the fic with the fewest hits was sidenote, which doesn't surprise me, since the librarians isn't a very active fandom and it's a rareship within the fandom anyway. the people who DID read it were very sweet, so i am very grateful for them. (i'm doing fic with the fewest hits because i feel like it's better to focus on that than What Didn't Get Kudos)

i started 2024 with 5 WIPs. i actually already finished one (and then immediately started its sequel, whoops) (shoutout to the ds9 modern au, i'll make a real post about that sometime). none of these fics are particularly progressed, but i'll keep working on them and try to find the Finishing A Project Dopamine from ficlets if i need it.

i didn't really have any Writing Goals for 2023 aside from doing any writing at all, lol. i think for 2024 i want to try to get more consistent with my writing -- instead of doing x number of words per month (which usually happen over 3-4 Big Writing Days), i'd rather try to write for 5 days out of every week, or something like that. we'll see what i can get done.

in the meantime: thank you guys for listening. i'm proud of what i did last year, and i'm excited to see what happens next year :D

[thebreakfastgenie]

so i was curious if you could elaborate on why you hate much of fandom's "this heterosexual moment is actually about my M/M ship!" stuff. is it because it often means sidelining the female characters' importance, is it just because fans are bullshitting themselves or giving credit where it's not deserved? i don't like it when it's doing that but i think it's hard to deny that there are a lot of cases where M/M fans are kind of right on the money with that (including in ds9)

Mostly because fans are bullshitting themselves. It feels forced and delusional a lot of the time. It very much depends on the framing, though. With DS9 it doesn't bother me because it feels like it's more analysis, but I've seen it treated as "evidence" or worse, "proof" by fandoms. It's especially bad when the show is still on and they're arguing it's evidence their ship will be canon. It also just feels... lazy? There are so many ways you could fit that other relationship into your personal headcanon narrative of the show. I don't even mind "dating and breaking up with this woman helped me realize I want you" but when fans hold up an episode entirely about a m/f romance as a good episode for their m/m ship I just can't take it seriously.

I'm not trying to start anything but the best example I can think of off the top of my head is people who ship those two firefighters and how they react each time one or both of them gets a love interest.

The sidelining female characters and relationships with those characters is a secondary thing for me, though. I have trouble fully immersing myself in slash fandom, because so many fans will essentially say "well, of course this canon m/f romance isn't really romantic! it's so forced and bad!" Even when I don't like the canon storyline (and I often do) I can recognize that it's intended to be a romance and I'm not interested in contorting myself to pretend otherwise. With spirk, most of the canon love interests are irrelevant anyway, but Spock's also all have plot explanations. That's very rare!

How much I care about sidelining the female characters depends on how well-developed they are to begin with. I don't fault fans for not caring about single-episode love interests, except in the rare cases (like Lenara, though of course that was f/f) where they're actually written with depth. But when it's a recurring character or another main character it sucks. And like, it's a little weird to watch because it's only been a few days and it's a single-episode, but I do believe Jim is in love with Edith Keeler, and I don't think that episode works if he isn't. It's a good beat for his character! So sometimes it's just about what those m/f relationships can give one of the characters.

Whether DS9 is the exception or the rule idk so it might just be my experience. But I have very little patience for it.

[wallpaper-inside-my-heart]

stella i am BACK for day 20: what are your top 3 fandoms outside of smosh? what are your top 3 fave ships of all time?

Yay! 🥰 @jovenshires

Top 3 fandoms

(basing this off those I actually engage with the most, bc I am a lurker in way too many fandoms at once tbh 😹)

1. Spatort/Tatort Saarbrücken (German crime TV show that is technically for boomers. There are many diff editions of this show, each based on a diff city here. And this one has two leads that have a very fascinating backstory with eachother and that has captured the hearts of many German Tumblr users 😹💕)

-> okay, tbf, I haven't been super active in that one lately, but the yearly new episode will come out at the end of January and I prob won't shut up about it for at least a week!

2. The Amazing Devil

-> yes, they are a band, so idk if it really counts as fandom; but I do check that tag at least every other day and am always in awe by the cool stuff a lot of ppl are making!

3. Community

-> one of my fave shows of all time and I love regularly checking the tag to see what sillyness the others in the fandom have been up to!

Honestly, writing these down has just made me realize, how much more active I am on Smoshblr, than I have been in any fandom that came before it... Y'all truly mean so much to me 🫶

Top 3 ships

(basing this on how much fanfic I've read about each of them)

1. Spirk!!!

-> the OGs!! Nothing can top that ship for me, genuinely; they just have everything!!

2. Stucky

-> Am I still extremely bitter about endgame? Yes. However if I even see so much as a snippet of fanfic about them (especially the shrinkyclinks dynamic) I am immediately drawn to ao3

3. Trobed

-> they bring me so much joy and pain at the same time. And honestly? What more could I want from a ship 🫶💔 (I might never recover from the "I had to patch up parts of your DNA with genes from a homing pigeon - you may notice side effects, like a compulsion to come back" and "It needs to be okay for it get on a boat with levar Burton and never come back" lines...)

Honourable mentions:

Hörk (the Spatort leads), 00Q (the ship with the best podfics <3), Coldflash & Sabriel

[hopecomesbacktolife]

you’ve inspired me to watch star trek BUT i have a big question:

where do i start????

i’ve heard next generation is great but i also wanna know what the deal is with gay kirk and spock so??? what do you think???

first off, thank you! what a compliment, Star Trek really is great! You have so much wonderful stories ahead of you ♡

One of the many wonderful things about it is that you can start almost anywhere and enjoy it. TOS is where it all began (with Kirk and Spock, and yes, so gay) but some people may find it too campy as a place to start. Instead of starting at the beginning of TOS, if spirk is what you’re looking for you can start with Amok Time, which is one of the shippiest episodes for them :D

In between and overlapping with subsequent shows are the TOS movies— a lot of people will tell you that the odd numbered movies are bad and the even numbered movies are good, but I disagree. I truly love all of movies 1-4, and even 5 and 6 have delightful moments although they’re less comforting to me as a whole. The fourth movie, The Voyage Home, is also a wonderful place to start for lighthearted and absolutely lovely shenanigans and time travel and also not-so-subtle calls to action on animal welfare and environmental consciousness! It’s so good. 10/10.

TNG/next gen is a very accessible place to start, that was my first Trek and it’s what got me into the series! If you do start with TNG, rather than starting right at the beginning, I’d recommend starting with Measure Of A Man, Darmok, or one of the Dixon Hill episodes— or any of the episodes with Ro Laren. The Next Phase is really awesome and feels very quintessential Trek.

DS9 and Voyager are each a little special/unique from most of trek, as DS9 is a stationary (most of the time) space station positioned near the planet Bajor, and Voyager is flung into another quadrant of the galaxy and essentially cut off from the rest of Starfleet. For both of them starting at the beginning is pretty essential to understanding what happens as it goes along. They’re both excellent and I love them both for different reasons! With DS9 you get more long, multi-episode story arcs and the luxury of exploring the complexity of a culture ravaged by war over an entire show, allowing them to really dive into the Bajoran culture, it’s awesome. Voyager is some of The Most found family I’ve ever seen, it’s beautifully optimistic and intimately sad all at the same time, with some truly gorgeous and incredible character arcs (although the same could be said of the ds9 characters! Truly so good on both shows)

I still haven’t seen all of Trek myself, so once we get into content made in this century (all of the above was made in the 20th century!) I can’t speak as much to or recommend something specific—with the caveat that I’ve seen the first 9 episodes or so of Prodigy, and really loved it so far, as a spin-off of Voyager.

Also, if you decide you enjoy Star Trek on screen, oh my, I have So Many Star Trek novel suggestions! I have been getting so into the (secondary canon?) books and it is literally so much fun and such a joy, and I’ve found a new favorite author in the process (hi Diane Duane! ♡) there’s so much wonderful storytelling and achingly beautiful content in Trek novels!

If you want more specific episode suggestions from a certain show/era I’m more than happy to help! Thank you so much for this ask, Star Trek is truly such a delight, and I’m always down to chat about it 😊 I hope you enjoy, and Live Long and Prosper 🖖🏻

[calliecat93]

When did you start shipping spones? For me it was when I watched The Immunity Syndrome, Bread and Circuses, Mirror, Mirror, and the Tholian Web. And their banter felt very flirty in The Arena and Operation—Annihilate!

Well I got interested in it around late S1, early S2. When I started binging the show, I knew that Spirk was the ship and it just never occured to me that there were other dynamics to get into so I kinda resigned myself to getting into that. But Spock and McCoy’s interactions gaged my attention so much more. I think Operation: Annahilate was when I first really began falling in love with their dynamic and then episodes like the ones you listed as well as For the World is Hollow…, The Empath, and even tiny moments earlier in Miri and The City on the Edge of Forever just got to me. But I’m super picky about shipping and wasn’t planning on engaging with the fandom so I tried to not get into it… and then All Our Yesterdays happened. I wrote a meta about this before, but the episode’s… well, everything was when I knew that there was no turning back. And let’s not even get started on the katra transfer in the films!

In short, it just kind of fell into place at the right time. I guess February 2021 was about the time I finished TOS, so I’ve been into it a year and a half now. I just loved their dynamic. It’s so multi-layered and nuanced and fun to examine even if you don’t ship it. There’s so much vitriol between them, but at the same time so much deep care towards each other. They’re very different, but very alike. There was just so much that attracted me to them. Mind you McKirk has been giving Spones a run for it’s money lately cause I love my criminally underrated/hard to find relationships, but Spones is still THE ship. I’m babbling at this point sorry, I just love them so much~! I mean just LOOK at them!

They’re so in love it hurts! But seriously, I love them XD

[lenievi]

Hi! It's me again (I promise I am not an exhibitionist ^^" I just can't send you a private message for some reason).

I really haven't gotten any notification so thank you very much for the public answer (sometimes I think Tumblr has something against me personally).

Czech is a beautiful language! I don't know anything about it, but my eyes get heartshaped whenever I hear it or about it (and it was my second choice for the BA degree).

I think I have an idea why the first series are special to you. As I said, I haven't yet watched anything else to compare it with, but I have the feeling that it's in those episodes when the writers care the least about the team and the most about the plot. I mean that the episodes are Kirk centered (even Bones is only occasiononaly present and Uhura, Sulu and Scotty barely communicate with both Spock and Kirk) and I have yet to see a bad episode without a serious message. I know that this will change and I am actually a bit scared by it. Cause when I started watching I thought I was up for silly funny friendiship-tenderness-banter stories that could be pleasantly interpreted as ships. I wasn't really prepared for the complexity of characters' feelings or the tragedy of their choices. I am mesmerized by it. (But maybe I am all wrong and you have a different perception. Would you care to share? :)

Actually, now I really don't get it how like the 80% of fandom only cares for spirk having sex. I mean it is beautiful outside of TOS (and I am forever grateful for all those weeks on ao3) but that is the most boring hc you can have in TOS. You should really be in the 60's and consider gay sex taboo to make it exiting. To be honest, I haven't thought about TOS spones or mcspirk either, but I read a couple of your works last night (it was a really nice escapism night, thank you) and you've made both couples look very interesting (I am honestly looking forward to the new chapters of the spones slow burn work-in-progress). I am especially fond of your style! It's both very delicate and very TOS. It didn't feel wrong even in this missing scene from the Consciousness of the King and I have just watched the episode. I loved especially how Kirk wanted Kodos to be killed and maybe even wanted to see him watch his daughter suffer. I think I disagree with you on the subject of Kodos but it only makes it more interesting.

Huh, this got a bit out of control... I am very sorry!

Hi! I think it might be connected to the fact that you don't appear in notifications? Even when you reblog a post of mine, no one can see you liked/reblogged it in the post itself… I'm not sure if this is what shadowbanned means, but it's possible that it's something like that…

The reason why I like the first half is kinda similar to what you said. Part of the reason is that the episodes are Kirk-centric (but that doesn't really change later, the whole show is Kirk-centric, actually, he's the star after all), but the other reason is that more than the rest of the show, these episodes are actually those where you can see the life on the Enterprise, where you can see supporting characters interacting, where you get glimpses of what TOS could be if it was an ensemble show. There are also some personal reasons, mostly related to McCoy and how much I love his and Kirk's scenes in early s1, but after the writers realized that Spock and McCoy have a fun dynamic, they started to increase that, while lowering Kirk&McCoy scenes…

There are still plenty of good episodes later, with good messages (I think the pop-culture version of Trek is very subtle, almost nonexistent, actually, there are a few episodes like that, but it’s not the majority), but with the change of the showrunner (not sure if that's the correct term lol but yeah), the second season got a bit lighter and fun, and the 3rd season got slightly depressing with its themes and the empty and dying planets, and it focused primarily on the trio only. The show just evolved (even though most of the changes were caused by egos lol)

I mean, I don't watch TOS and think that spones or mckirk have sex, I don't see anything in the show as romantic (nothing reads that way), but it's fun to think what IF because that's what's shipping about to me, and the spones dynamic and the mckirk dynamic are compelling to me on different and various levels (not necessarily just romantic/sexual). So it's fun to try and figure out if I can get them somewhat together in a way I'd enjoy. I have nothing against s/k as a ship (I feel like I always need to make sure that people understand this), I just don't find anything interesting about them as a romantic ship - probably the same way as most people don't find anything interesting about tos!mckirk lol (the never actually experienced simple friendship without subordinate/superior shadows that's part of the show/films is way more compelling tbh, but it's not like you can find that in fanfics, not that I tried though lol but considering everything…) But I dislike the fanon portrayal, and I dislike how aggressive some fans are, so I just prefer not to speak about it with others (I occasionally do make a post about some aspects of their friendship I enjoy though), even if it's just friendship, because I have different opinions, and I blacklist all mentions of it. (it took me a moment to figure out why your ask didn't show for me on my computer, since Tumblr Savior hides all mentions of sp1rk (and variations) for me lol)

I'm glad you had fun with my fics and that the relationships worked for you! I see Kirk as an unreliable narrator in that Conscience of the King fic, so not everything he thinks about Kodos is necessarily true. And his fondness for Lenore made it even more difficult to know what to really do when confronted with someone who could be Kodos.

I hope that my love for spones will come back soon, so that I can work some more on that wip!

ETA: I want to also add that I don’t think there’s anything weird or boring about only watching a show because of a ship or a character and having that as the primary interest. It’s practically what I do too on a perhaps a different scale, but it’s not really different.

[joshuaalbert]

*chicago mobster voice* koyk

alright spocko

favorite thing about them 

I like the duality of him I think. like the man is completely fucking unhinged and hanging on by a thread most of the time but he’s also extremely clever and has the background knowledge to support what he’s doing and he does have these really interesting quieter moments. he’s representation for those of us who were quiet and nerdy in school and then became gay and insane and also representation for those of us who have had the first stanza of sea fever memorized since we were 15. i also just genuinely think he’s fun to watch. he has very few legitimate flaws as a character but because he feels kind of personally out of control a lot of the time, it doesn’t feel like the situation’s under control 100% of the time even though you know he will ultimately have the skills necessary to get them out of it. not to make this entirely a kirk vs picard point, but picard always feels far too in command of the situation and that’s less fun to watch imo.

wow what a surprise me talking about a character turned into a long post. continued after the cut

least favorite thing about them

i. do not like tos movie kirk in general especially as the series goes on. idk who that is but he's not kirk a lot of the time. like at times series kirk is short tempered or snarky at a time he shouldn’t be or something but he’s still very much driven by his love for exploration or humanity or his crew. it seemed like what they were going for in the movies was that he was going to be disillusioned in the beginning but then regain that, but if he did, it didn’t stick around. he just feels vaguely misanthropic to me and while hero decay is not inherently a bad arc, it doesnt seem like that’s what they were necessarily going for, because that’d be an uncharacteristically depressing throughline for tos content imo. I still haven’t finished VI lmao and part of that’s just because I was bored but part of it was bc I was like. I don’t think I like this character right now? part of it’s bc with age i increasingly look at him and go “yeah that’s william shatner” and not “yeah that’s kirk my friend kirk” but part is because he seems like he’s much more what a lot of Male Fans™️ thought the character was where he’s this cool guy who doesn’t care about the rules because fuck you. it’s not All the time, but he lacks warmth to me a lot of the time.

brOTP

i respect people who ship kirk/mccoy or spock/kirk/mccoy but generally i'd say kirk and mccoy are brotp to me. i also really enjoy his dynamic with chekov.

OTP

like. spirk is the og for a reason. when we started watching it my expectation was that I would be like “yeah I get where people were coming from” but not necessarily much more than that but by episode…3? I was like oh. yeah. okay. okay.

nOTP

in terms of things I’ve seen people actually ship I can’t think of anything off the top of my head, but fuck every time the show tries to stick him with like a 19 year old and even reading about the proposed johanna mccoy storyline makes me want to commit a felony so I’m glad they did not do that.

random headcanon

kirk is a real guy and he’s spent the last like 60 years fighting for control of william shatner’s body.

unpopular opinion

pour one out for every male character that gets called a himbo and is characterized as a complete dumbass in fanon despite being demonstrably smart and innovative in canon. yet another thing that got passed down to riker!

also fuck anyone (shatner and the kirk fanboys with terrible ideas about masculinity and a fundamental misunderstanding of the character) that thinks kirk would hate wesley. there’s literally no supporting evidence for that. he’s maybe not Great with kids but he tries his best with them (several episodes but charlie x stands out in this regard) and i think 2x13 obsession helps disprove this as well

song i associate with them

as with most of the information in this post you already know this but highwayman is a very kirk song to me. the last verse is obvious but I think he’d like the idea of having been a highwayman and a sailor and a blue collar worker across past lives.

favorite picture of them

yeah,,,,,,,,,,,,

[whatdostarsdo]

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!

[ichayalovesyou]

I’ve been carefully and industriously combing through The Naked Time for various purposes, mostly meta and fanfic related reasons and its, I’m just-

It is just SO FULL

Of Raw. Gay. Pining.

THEY HAD TO HAVE KNOWN WHAT THEY WERE DOING RIGHT?

And it’s not just Spock! I mean of course we get

“Love, emotion, is in bad taste”

“Jim... when I feel friendship for you I’m ashamed!”

“I spent a whole lifetime learning to hide my feelings”

But the LGBT+ interpretations for JIM’s lines are so REAL too!

“I’ve got it, the disease... love! You’re better off without it and I’m better off without mine!”

“You’re allowed to notice her- a Captain’s not permitted.”

“This vessel, she won’t permit me my life.”

I know a lot of straight fans will be like “oh he never has a long term relationship with a woman because his true love is the Enterprise who, because it’s a ship, is called she. Hetero man love for female pronouned inanimate objects ftw!” (Even though he sacrifices the Enterprise and almost his career as well just to save Spock before he even knew that Spock was alive/could be resurrected)

Contextualize it for the time period for a second. How many closeted gay men have gotten married only to be still, of course profoundly unhappy, because getting married didn’t get rid of those feelings? Then go back to the arbitrary pronouns used for a starship.

Now I’m a firm believer in the Kirk is Bisexual fanon/canon, but I don’t think him referencing Janice & the Enterprise was an accident.

He is married to the Enterprise in a way that much is true so-

If he can’t even get close to Janice because of Her (the Enterprise) how could he possibly be with Spock?

They’re both aching because they think they can’t be together.

Spock thinks they can’t be together because of his Vulcan heritage has rendered him incapable of love.

Kirk thinks they can’t be together because he isn’t allowed to be vulnerable and has to be The Captain 24/7.

They’re both terrified by how they feel.

They only kinda come to terms with it by the end of the episode. They check in, they’re still processing what just happened between them.

You can’t tell me that this conversation:

Kirk: The time warp, what’d it do to us?

Spock: We seem to have gone back in time, we now have three days to live over again.

Kirk: Heh... not those last three days.

Spock: This does open up some intriguing prospects Captain.

Kirk: [looks at him for a long time] We may risk it someday Mr. Spock.

Isn’t 150000% talking about their relationship. There’s no way is not.

This episode may not have Pon Farr and wrestling on the sparkling sands of Vulcan-

But I’d argue The Naked Time is just as (if not even more because of how relatable it is even now) gay as Amok Time.

There’s a reason they used clips from this episode while talking about Spirk in Adam Nimoy’s (Leonard Nimoy’s son) documentary about his father, For The Love of Spock.

It’s so brilliant, and visible, there’s no way the writer’s didn’t know what they were doing. That or at least a few people involved were being very, very clever about how this scene was done.