#Crusher Elaborations

[ffcrazy15]

I need a whole fic where the Cerritos is mistaken for the Enterprise by some type of alien with very high intelligence but very poor visual recognition, for whatever reason.

And Freeman either can't or is too scared to convince them that they're not the Enterprise, so she starts desperately assigning everyone to various roles. Boimler gets assigned as Data, and since he and Mariner are the only people on the ship who play string instruments, the captain orders them to put together some sort of "symphony" because the aliens have heard that that's a thing on the Enterprise.

And it's just Mariner and Boimler frustratedly trying to figure out how to combine her electric guitar skills and his traditional violin skills into something suitably "symphonic" (i.e. thematically trying to combine her more lax/modern way of doing things with his more strict/traditional way).

[quasi-normalcy]

Okay, but what if the sex ghost from "Sub Rosa" was a Pah'Wraith in disguise, subtly tweaking the DNA of Dr. Crusher's maternal line over hundreds of years because it knew (through its existence in non-linear time) that she would eventually have a child with an ex-Borg that could be used to release them from the Fire Caves?

What if the world was made of pudding?

[andromedaexile]

Are they a stoner? TNG edition

Picard: Used to smoke like a chimney back in his academy days. Quit once he had to get that heart replacement.

Riker: Oh 100% used to hot box his academy room. But once he got stationed on the Pegasus he reeled it back. He still lights up on Risa though.

Data: No, THC has no impact on him. However he does want to understand the human social custom of “puff puff pass.”

Geordi: He uses edibles for his chronic pain and headaches but only when on shore leave. Maybe while off-duty if the pain is really bad but he doesn’t want to impede the effectiveness of his visor.

Troi: Not only is she hitting the elaborate Betazoid pipe her mom sent her, she is recommending edibles to anxious crew members. By far the biggest stoner on the Enterprise.

Worf: No. If it’s not prune juice or blood wine, he doesn’t want it… Okay, he tried smoking with Deanna ONCE and hated it.

Dr. Crusher: In her youth she dabbled with edibles but was never a smoker. She prescribes medical marijuana (only ever edibles) w/ Troi’s recommendation to her patients.

Wesley: He always said he would be straight edge his entire life, but then he went to Starfleet Academy…We all know the rest.

Guinan: She’s either straight edge or a plug for the Enterprise. I’m not sure. But if I had to go through the shit she has, I sure as hell would be rolling blunts in Ten Forward.

Yar: She most definitely got smoked, but not in the fun way.

O’Brien: No (until DS9 at least).

[dendroaspis-viridis]

On the "Emmrich is undead/a spirit" theory

I’ve been having a lot of Thoughts™ about a certain professor and the interesting "I would say, 'not that skeleton,' but we're not saying, 'no skeletons.'" quote from Matt Rhodes during the Q&A.

I personally think the skeleton in question is Emmrich, though I think he’s still flesh and blood most of the time. I'll elaborate under the cut.

I’d like to first establish that I don’t think he’s a spirit like Audric. In Down Among the Dead Men, we learn that most spirits work under the guidance of a Mourn Watcher, specifically “under a modicum of magical control���, and I can’t imagine the Mortalitasi would send a lone spirit out from the Necropolis without an accompanying Watcher regardless of the spirit’s ‘wholeness’. Especially considering the apprehension people outside Nevarra seem to show the Mortalitasi.

There was also that quote from the IGN interview with Corinne Busche that paraphrased “no bear sex”, and I feel like a full on Beverly Crusher-esque ghost fucking would at least be bear sex adjacent. Not to mention, hinting at one of your companions being undead seems like a massive spoiler to drop before the game's even out.

Back to how I think Emmrich is the skeleton (but also not): the Mortalitasi have a lot of connections to the Veil/Fade due to their constant interactions with souls and spirits (and my personal headcanon that the Grand Necropolis as a whole exists in an odd liminal space between the material world and the Fade, but that’s a whole other can of worms). The concept art we’ve been shown thus far features a Mortalitasi harvesting material from a mummified dragon surrounded by their skeletal assistants:

And if we zoom in on the (presumably) human figure, we can see a bit more detail:

They look distinctly flesh and blood when compared to their skeletal assistants, wearing a protective smock and gloves that go up to the bicep, complete with (what looks like) chain covering their torso and upper arms.

The headpiece they’re wearing had me puzzled for a few days, to be honest. But from what I can tell, I don’t believe there’s enough space in there for the skull we see to merely be a decorative mask (especially considering the deep craters of the eye sockets and nose), leading me to believe the headgear shows the Mortalitasi’s actual skulls while they’re wearing them. There’s also a tiny gap between the mandible of the skull and bevor of the helmet, implying the skull is a separate item.

As for why (I think) we see the Mortalitasi’s actual skull, I can only hypothesize the headgear assist them in accessing the Fade while conscious more easily? Whether that allows them greater control over their summons, lets them more easily communicate with Fade spirits, or allows them to peer through the Veil to see some of the more metaphysical things they’re harvesting, I have no idea. Though it’d also fit in perfectly with the melodramatic Memento Mori vibes I get from Nevarran culture as a whole.

There’s also a dagger (“Walking Death”) from DA:I with an interesting description: “The well-worn hilt bears the marks of the Nevarran Mortalitasi. The order makes an art of mummification, and their tools are imbued with magicks that blur the moment between life and death, though death is no less certain.”

Both the Chantry and Nevarra seem to agree that death occurs in the moment a soul/spirit leaves someone’s body and passes through the Veil, so the implication that most of the Mortalitasi’s tools can manipulate the Veil supports the idea that they’d have to create some kind of headgear that would allow them to see what exactly they’re manipulating?

So with all of that said, I’m assuming there’s going to be a scene with Emmrich at some point if you pursue a romance with him where he’s discussing the Mourn Watch/something death-related, where he dons the headpiece to further emphasize both his and Rook’s mortality, and there will be an option to kiss him. Or something like that. Idk.

Also I wanna specify that all this is based entirely on concept art screenshots and my inability to stop thinking about Dragon Age, but I’m gonna continue to assume Emmrich is entirely alive unless shown otherwise.

No judgement to people who're pumped for a potential skeleton romance, by the way! These are just my thoughts on who exactly that smoochable skeleton is, though I will admit I’m hoping for a flesh and blood Emmrich.

[blackstarchanx3new]

What theme songs would suit the characters of Four Swords? This includes songs that reflect their personalities, relationships, and dynamics with each other. Because I'm curious what you think suits them.

Bro basically asked for my personal playlist lmfao. Link:

Haunted House - After School Surf Club Notion - The Rare Occasions Sugar Pills - IDKHOW Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand Double Life - Pharrell Williams still feel - half alive Ghost - Mystery Skulls Dead Inside - Younger Hunger Why Did I Say Okie Doki? · The Stupendium Ghost Town - Trickle Losing My Mind- Mystery Skulls Dr. Gaster - Shadrow

Green: the perfect pair - beabadoobee Mr. FEAR -SIAMES Vending Machine of Love · The Stupendium Blue: Cold Cold Cold - Cage The Elephant (lmfao) Wild Side - ALI My Way - SIAMES Dancin - Aaron Smith Red: Copycat - CircusP/VocaCircus (This song could also fit Dark haha) The Red Means I Love You - Madds Buckley Wonderful Nothing - Glass Animals I Only Paint in Red Now - Lydia the Bard / Tony Halliwell Don't Come Crying - TryHardNinja Vio: Out of My League - Fritz and The Tantrums Lone Digger - Caravan Palace A Tear in Space (Airlock) - Glass Animals I’m So Sorry - ImagineDragons Ghost Town - Veorra & The Tech Thieves

Shadow Link: Love Away - SIAMES 505 - Arctic Monkeys Do It All The Time - IDKHOW Rasputin · Majestic Freaking Out - Mystery Skulls GRRRLS · AViVA TERRIBLE THINGS · AXIE Wolf In Sheep's Clothing [REBORN] - Set It Off Alone In The Darkness - SIAMES

Dark Link: Gladiator - Jann Digital Silence - Peter McPoland My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski Christmas Kids - ROAR Loverboy - A-Wall 4:00 A.M. - Taeko Onuki ECHO - Crusher My Ordinary Life-The Living Tombstone Tongues and Teeth - The Crane Wives Villain Stella Jang Cover) · Umbratic Forest

Vaati: Lay all your love on me - ABBA The Wolf - SIAMES How I Learned To Love The Bomb - Glass Animals Enemy - imagine dragons

Ship/dynamic Specific songs:

Vidow: Pork Soda - Glass Animals Heat Waves - Glass Animals Hold Me Tight or Don't - Fall Out Boy The Bird Song - Noah Floersch Sex With A Ghost - Teddy Hyde Neovaii - Crash Snuff out the light - Eartha Kitt Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You - Arctic Monkeys  (Greenvio and Darkblue also fit this) GreenVio: GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE - Cover by Justine M. Vidoween: Jenny - Studio Killers GreenBlue: No lullaby - SIAMES (Not romantic but symbolic of them both dealing with Link's BS lmfao)

DarkBlue: Knee Socks - Arctic Monkeys (Arctic monkeys just IS their vibe tbh) Dissolve - Absofacto Horns - Bryce Fox This Is Hardcore - Pulp DarkVaati: Too Sweet - Hozier Take me to Church - Hozier Church - Fall Out Boy (IF YOU WERE CHURCH I'D GET ON MAH KNEEES- 😏) Soul on Fire - Mystery Skulls Paralyzed - Mystery Skulls Hide Away (feat. Holly) · Synapson · Holly (We damn well know who's hiding lmfao) Flowers - Dj Quads (Lmfao this one is sad as hell but I can't at all elaborate on why due to spoilers X'D) Toxic - Britney Spears rewrite by Lydia the Bard Me and the Devil · Soap&Skin (Could also be Vidow) DarkVio: I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend - Cameron Hayes (This just is THE DarkVio song as far as I'm concerned, the intense as hell almost manic pining specifically haha.) Mixed Messages - Tom C (The question is who's "Dad" is getting punched in the dick...)

DarkShadow: From the Start - GoodKid Cover (One Sided on Shadow's part.) Brothers -SIAMÉS

FSR In general coded songs:

The Walker - Fitz and The Tantrums Rhinestone Eyes - Gorillaz A Good Song Never Dies - Saint Motel The Future - Mystery Skulls Goya no Machiawase - Hello Sleepwalkers Kick back - Kenshi Yonezu Plastic Love - Mariya Takeuchi Blink Gone - BL8M, AKUGETSU Hammer Song To Itami No Tou · BUMP OF CHICKEN Tame Impala - Borderline Stay With Me · Miki Matsubara Curses · The Crane Wives The Rules - Hoosiers dumb dumb · mazie Coffee · Jack Stauber's Micropop Who Is She ? · I Monster Very Good Bad Thing - Mother Mother

This one's straight up Four Swords Returns Again coded but I'd be a fool not to include: The Fine Print · The Stupendium

Okay I'mma stop there for now haha. but I'm sure I'm missing stuff. XD

Hopfully I introduced some people to their new fave songs!!! I'd recommend all of these.

[kharla-k]

Bend Spears: Bloodbath is a pretty good integrated strategies relic by description alone, but I thought it prudent to mention a very crucial detail about it for those unaware.

So as you would imagine, it restores 2 additional SP per attack, meaning a total of 3 if it's an offensive recovery skill, but that's not the kicker.

See, the way that it actually works is that it restores 2 additional SP per instance of damage, equaling a monstrous 4 additional SP gain per attack to specific guards, which I will elaborate on now:

Blademasters of course are defined by their trait of dealing two instances of damage, which is doubly good for their offensive-recovery-nature having lower SP costs, normally balanced out by the pace of attacking. I recently finished a run where Irene could use S3 after as little as 5 attacks.

Lord Guards recently recieved their module, which features "Attacks deal an additional 10% ATK as Arts damage," but this is applied in a separate, simultaneous instance. Which means Lappland will never be off skill.

Crushers have the interesting effect of being able to hit multiple targets at once, meaning that they can also double dip in Bloodbath if there's available targets. Ulpianus with s1 and two enemies in range will trigger every other attack, at a truly ridiculous pace because his skill activates regardless of his attack cooldown for some reason.

However for crushers... the amount of hit targets mechanically scales with block count, meaning that if you find a means to increase their block and provide them with the requisite enemies, they can gain 7 or more under the right circumstances. Not especially relevant given that any guard with that much SP will turn their foes to naught but a fine red mist, but I digress.

I love integrated strategies and breaking the game over your knee like this with the right strategy is undoubtedly a huge part of that. I'm so ecstatic for IS5!

[the-magical-bell-pepper]

I wont further elaborate on this.

crusher you fucking dumbass ily

[scifisiren]

Janeway and Chakotay are "together" but absolutely cannot kiss on the mouth. Picard and Crusher are not together but kiss on the mouth with high frequency. No, I will not elaborate further.

[kawaiigirly21]

YOU TOO?!

Zeus: Ugh I'm going to Tartarus. I know that for sure

Poseidon: Tell us something we don't know

Hades (already mentally exhausted even though it's been only 2 minutes with his brothers) : What did you do? Nevermind, let me rephrase that. WHO did you do?

Zeus: Natasha

Poseidon: Wha-

Hades: Your son's ex wife? Have you no shame?

Zeus: coming from the man who married his own niece?

Poseidon: Damn

Zeus: I wasn't planning to. I only went to her chambers to console her about what Ares had done to her

Hades: Console her with what? Your penis?

Poseidon: I call mine my 'Divine Fortitude'

Zeus: it really wasn't my fault this time. She was insatiable. Like a lioness. I stayed longer than I should. She outright seduced me with those beautiful eyes and those lips and her voice and her body... Oh that body...

Hades: getting off track here!

Poseidon: Damn you too?

Zeus: What?

Poseidon: Oh I fornicated with that little minx ages ago. Most exhausting sex I've ever had. I thought Aphrodite was a beast in the sheets, she ain't got nothing on Natasha and that thing she does with her tongue

Hades: What the fuck?

Zeus: Don't get me started on the way she grinds her hips down on you when she's riding you. I nearly felt my soul leave my body. Sex with her is heavenly

Hades: Oh so I'm the only one here who's remained loyal to his wife?

Poseidon: Oh look at you. Acting Holier than thou. Bed crusher

Hades: How do you know about that?

Zeus: Persephone let it slip you two are very.... Experimental in bed. Looks like Natasha messed in your sheets too big brother

Hades: It was a one time occurrence

Poseidon: Was it? Do tell us you know how to count. I've seen Natasha countless times leaving the Underworld with a very very satisfied expression painted on that adorable face of hers

Hades: I refuse to elaborate on my sex life with my wife and anyone else who has occupied our bed

Zeus: There was more?

Hades: No! It's only ever been her! Persephone is drawn to her for reasons that even I don't know. She enjoys seeing Natasha and I-

Poseidon: Oh Hello Natasha! How are you my dear?

Natasha: Nothing really. Just came to fulfill one of my fantasies

Zeus: Oh?

Natasha: I only ever had you separately. Never together. I'm looking to complete the set entirely. Persephone gave me permission as well Hades. You're mine for the evening. Now question is, Your place or mine?~

This takes place before Apollo asking her about her "Mosquito bites "

[seat-safety-switch]

You can’t save ‘em all. That’s the phrase that everyone says when they finally give up on a project car, and pass it along to the next sucker, or (gasp) to the crusher. Sometimes, a car doesn’t line up with the amount of time you have for it, or the amount of money you have for it, or the amount of patience you have for it. One such car was condemned to the bin by Yours Truly, after several sleepless nights of trying to weld two large chunks of rust together and only ending up finding more rust.

With a heavy heart, I called the local “no questions asked” wrecker, and he took it away. I had lots of excuses. It was “just” a Hyundai Pony, I told my friends, who copped sympathetic looks. Getting rid of it freed up time and space for my other ongoing projects, I repeated to the bartender a few hours later. That Pony will get turned into a wonderful new dishwasher, I said to myself in the mirror. The defeat stung. They weren’t ever going to make another 1983 Hyundai Pony, not even if I seized control of the government and turned the army’s guns on their corporate offices.

That’s when I heard a weird noise. A sort of 80s overhead-cam four-banger burble, unmistakeable. Squeezing too little fuel through too small a carb, a lean-burn system no doubt strangling its power curve in the false pursuit of efficiency. I was shocked, and stared outside, refusing to believe my own ears.

There, I saw the impossible. A Hyundai Pony. Running. Driving. My Hyundai Pony – I recognized the smashed windshield, the bent wheels. It was back! And I wasn’t driving it. I realized it was one of the younger group of Car Weirds on the next block over. They had resuscitated the car’s flimsy unibody not with welding, but with an elaborate series of papier-maché, using what appeared to be carbon-fiber-coloured novelty wallpaper from the hardware store and expanding-foam door insulation.

Rather than be elated, I began to feel inferior. How could they have saved this car and I had missed such an ingenious fix? It ate at me for weeks, until I noticed the same young gun walking glumly towards the bus stop one morning. Nobody deserved that. I decided to swing past and pick him up. I’d get the whole story.

“I left it out in the rain,” he wept.

[stelladess]

As a fun thought experiment I have been thinking about how to cut the subclasses for each class in Arknights down to 3 each, just for fun. But then I went down the rabbit hole of how to adjust operators to account for their subclass no longer existing.

I am willing to elaborate on any of my reasonings but I will not write all of it in this post because it was just a fun thought experiment that will never affect anything and reading all my reasoning might be kinda boring. With that said;

Caster: Mech-Accord, Phalanx, Mystic Defender: Protector, Guardian, Sentinel Guard: Swordmaster, Lord, Crusher Sniper: Marksman, Hunter, Artilleryman Medic: Incantation, "Surgeon" (formerly medic), Chain Specialist: Shifter (cheated and merged hookmasters and push-strokers), Ambusher, Alchemist (mostly to account for other cuts) Supporter: Decel-Binder, Hexer, Artificer Vanguard: Agent, Tactician, Flag-Bearer

Wont go into all of them but essentially I wanted the classes to have less direct overlap so all guards with 3 block are out. I also wanted to avoid enmity operators so medics are always valuable. Core caster is out cause it doesnt really do anything particularily interesting and not all classes have a baseline subclass. For example guards and specialists both lack that. Vanguards I cut pioneers to keep the divisions between the melee classes clearer, one could make an argument for keeping them over tacticians since now with some of the cheapest guard variants out of the way pioneers might be more valuable, I would agree with that but I wanted to keep a summoner type and was not gonna keep summoner, maybe trade artificers for summoners if so. Another possible adjustment is dropping flag-bearers for pioneers though. Chargers were never really on the table since their skills dont make DP. Keeping agents made dropping merchants and executors an obvious choice. Guards I agonized over whether to go for crushers or earthshakers but honestly crushers are just better designed and they have overlap with dreadnoughts too so it is kind of like keeping both dreadnoughts and centurions but not really.

For some of the operators the changes I had in mind, also in this hypothetical I imagine class changing is just a thing instead of alters and that everyone is somewhere in between a 5 star and 6 star (two talents and 3 skills but probably lower in power to average 6 star power) because if I had to think about how to maximize profitability for this fun thought experiment id actually bore myself out.

Anyway some of the changes. Guardmiya is obviously a swordmaster since she copied Ch´en´s techniques. This of course means a more burst reliant playstyle so she doesnt get the on skill buff stats more thing, instead one talent prolly just keeping emotion eater and one being that she has some dodge chance. To still convey her team player aspects one of her skills would apply arts fragility and one regular fragility.... last one? Fear. Fear is honestly a debuff that feels like designed for Amiya with how we see her use her powers in some chapters but it was made after that point so she will never get it probably, unless she gets a hexer variant down the line or something. Which id be all for.

Wis´adel is now a mech-accord caster, I do like her summons but I couldnt think of how to neatly make them fit a mech accord caster kit so her first talent with the afterimages is basically the same but her second talent is that she has some dodge chance and that enemies with a drone locked on has reduced accuracy (the drones are obviously the ancestor launchers).

Surtr is now a crusher because her sword is comically huge. She still gets her "nu-uh I dont die" talent but since she no longer only does arts damage she loses the res ignore for instead getting a stacking atk and defense buff based on how low her health gets.

Blaze was the hardest to figure out of the ones I cared to think about, in the end I decided she is a swordmaster (still uses a chainsaw though) because it felt appropriate for Blaze to require violence for maximum effect. This does ironically make her go from the afk operator to ability spam but I think it fits her well.

Ifrit and Rosmontis are both alchemists but for different reasons. Rosmontis cause alchemists have a lot in common with flingers anyway and flingers are gone now. Ifrit because I couldnt think of how to convey her flamethrower so eventually I decided she instead throws flaming canisters.

Anyway this does not really matter, I felt like writing it down because I have been thinking about this a lot. Feel free to ask about anything with this idea, or to theorycraft your own takes on how some operators would be adjusted to account for these changes. Or to question my choices of what subclasses I decided to keep. Or just ask for clarification on the reasoning.

[brookbee]

I know people are either following me because I used to post about Star Trek constantly or because I post about Bowie a lot, so here’s some random David Bowie and Star Trek connections I’ve been collecting for the past year or so. This is purely self-indulgent, but if you find this sort of thing interesting, here you go.

This is from an unpublished interview for Zygote magazine from 1971 where he was discussing the meaning of various songs. The particular song he's talking about here is "The Supermen." In case you don't want to read the full article for context, he mentioned Star Trek to act as a comparison, he was not saying that that was the initial inspiration/meaning.

This ad has song notes that Bowie wrote for the album Hunky Dory. The one of relevance is “Bewlay Brothers,” which is at the bottom of the list. It says, “Another in the series of David Bowie confessions — Star Trek in a Leather Jacket.”

You might be wondering what this means, well Bowie never really gave a consistent answer as to what this song was about. And according to Ken Scott, the producer of the album, Bowie purposefully wrote it to give a song to Americans who were reading too much into things (this was in the era of the Paul McCartney actually died and was replaced conspiracy lol). Bowie did say at different points that it was more or less about his own half-brother, but who knows if he changed his mind about that.

Although as a side note I will say that some of the lyrics sound like they could be describing Star Trek episodes lol

My Life With Bowie: Spider From Mars by Woody Woodmansey (drummer for the Spiders From Mars, Bowie’s band during the Ziggy Stardust era). He’s describing the bar in The Rainbow Room, as they were rehearsing for the most elaborate of the Ziggy Stardust concerts in August of 1972.

Mick Ronson talking about the Ziggy Stardust boots, the clip is from the documentary Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story. Angie, in case people don’t know, was Bowie’s first wife.

Side note about this one though, Bowie compared his own boots to wrestler boots (see image below). But Mick’s shoes weren’t far off from the Star Trek boots.

Book page from Moonage Daydream: The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust, which was written by David Bowie and photographer Mick Rock.

Bowie in Brussels in 1978 doing (his best attempt at) the Vulcan LLAP salute, photo by Gie Knaeps.

Because I’m me, I’ve been trying to figure out what song he did this during—with certainty I can say it was during the second half of the set after the intermission. That would make it so that they were either songs from Ziggy Stardust or from Station to Station.

My guess (and it really is only a guess) is that it could have been during “TVC15.” When he performed it live he’d often sing “she’s my main creature feature” and sometimes do devil horns with his fingers and whatnot. Seems like a plausible spot, anyhow. The other one is potentially the song “Ziggy Stardust,” but just based on how he usually performed that one, such as where he’d add gestures and how he tended to convey the emotions of the song, I find it more unlikely.

But I wasn’t there and these are literally just guesses. On the off chance someone was there and that they inexplicably remember this, I would love to know.

Gates McFadden, before being Beverley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, was the choreographer for the film Labyrinth, where of course Bowie played Jareth the Goblin King.

And to avoid possible confusion, she was not the choreographer for "Magic Dance" at least when it came to Bowie's moves, as that was Charles Augin. She was, however, the choreographer for "As The World Falls Down" with the ballroom scene.

Lyrics from one of the Tin Machine albums (Bowie’s band in the late 80s-early 90s, which Bowie wrote most of the lyrics for, minus a few songs).

Additionally Iman, who Bowie met in 1990 and married in 1992, was in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country as Martia. She was on set filming at least in April of 1991 in LA, as you can see in this filming schedule I found on an auction website. I don’t know how long she was filming for, though.

(Side note, Bowie was in LA at least towards the end of April/beginning May as he talked about how he and Iman saw the riots that happened then. No I’m not saying he visited the set, since for one Shatner says he never met Bowie, but I still think it’s neat he was generally around when she was filming).

And a little snippet from one article (the screenshot is from one of those interview compilation books).

It’s not actually that much in the grand scheme of things and more than anything just shows that Bowie was a fan of the show. It should also be remembered that Star Trek wasn’t ever really cited as a huge influence for him in terms of aesthetic, which is a rather common assumption people make, but I thought that these were fun nonetheless. I’m sure I also missed/forgot stuff, so if I come across more I'll probably add to this later on.

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Katherine Pulaski

By Ames

We may have only had Dr. Pulaski for one season of The Next Generation, but that didn’t stop her from leaving an impression. Your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By are big fans of her character and also of Diana Muldaur’s performance of the cantankerous and brilliant doctor who graced the Enterprise-D’s sickbay during Dr. Crusher’s time away from the ship (more on her next week!). She even made a couple of our top characters lists from TNG!

There’s a lot of negative feelings about the McCoy knockoff in the Star Trek community, and we’ll cover some of those below, but overall we have to give credit to the good doctor for how much she grew in only the twenty episodes we had her. By the end of season two, she was viewing Data as a peer, saving lives left and right, and fighting for the rights of other species. There’s no telling how much better she’d get if she stuck around. So raise a cup of Klingon tea to the best CMO of the Enterprise (I said it!) with our highlights below and elaborated upon in this week’s podcast episode (timestamp for this one is 58:29). Fight us, haters.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Crammed full of crumpets We’ve made a running gag on the podcast about how Professor Moriarty stuffed the doctor full of crumpets in “Elementary, Dear Data” but there’s more to this episode than crude jokes and blue humor. Pulaski ran with the Holmesian scenario in the holodeck, proved to be stalwart and brave in a hostage situation, and totally rocked the period attire!

At least someone still remembers quarantine procedures While the whole thing did backfire on her, Pulaski’s actions in “Unnatural Selection” kept the rest of the crew safe. She was willing to risk her own health on her hunch that the augmented children weren’t carrying any pathogens, but let’s give her credit for taking the child and Data out in a shuttle so that, if (and when) things went wrong, things were contained.

Knives and bearskins! When the biobeds are on the fritz due to the contagion in “Contagion” and her staff is whining that the bone knitter isn’t working, Pulaski pulls some tried and true methods out of her back pocket – make a splint! It may be archaic medical technology, but it’ll do in a pinch and having that kind of medical knowledge saves the day (or saves someone’s leg at least).

Generous doses of PCS I just really love the sweet little moment during “The Icarus Factor” when Dr. Pulaski is tending to some crewmember suffering from the flu and says part of her prescription is PCS – Pulaski’s Chicken Soup. It shows how much she cares about her patients and gives the audience that warm feeling of having someone care for you when you’re home sick from school.

Jettison the emotional baggage you’re still carrying around Also I have to give my girl some props later in “The Icarus Factor” when she’s flirting with Kyle Riker right in front of Will. We find it a nice character inclusion that she and Kyle used to be down to clown, and even that she would have married him in a heartbeat, and she tells his son off in the most “oh no she didn’t!” way and then proceeds to drop like fifty mics all over Ten Forward.

Take your Prime Directive and shove it up your hatch! We on this podcast (who am I kidding; it’s mostly Chris) have a certain skepticism about the Prime Directive sometimes, and it’s usually the CMOs of their respective shows that get to question it most blatantly. Pulaski sure does in “Pen Pals” because screw the prime directive in this case! When a whole planet is on the line, Pulaski is the conscience that we all need!

Forget me, forget me not This is one that could have gone in either the Top Moments or the Worst Moments list because, face it, mind wipes are horrifying. But I’m gonna give Pulaski the win for erasing Sarjenka’s memories in “Pen Pals” because it’s impressive as hell. And she uses it to kinda-sorta stay within the Prime Directive that we just shat on. Plus she let Sarjenka keep the singing rock!

You’re still the Captain. Invincible. I’m still not certain what Chris was getting at about Pulaski’s letting Picard avoid the heart treatment he’s been neglecting out of sheer vanity in “Samaritan Snare,” but I’ll do you one better: she winds up fixing his stupid ticker for him in the end anyway! And is the grouchy little man thankful afterwards? Not even a little bit! Pulaski gets no respect, I tells ya!

Quote me a little of that poetry While you’ll see in just a moment that Pulaski’s views on Klingons were initially unkind, by “Up the Long Ladder,” she’d bonded with Worf enough that she was willing to engage in some Klingon rituals. She goes out of her way to concoct an antidote so she can take part in a poisonous tea ceremony with him, which is above and beyond (and also fuels some shipping), and she also keeps Worf’s measles a secret!

Bust him up, Data! In “Peak Performance,” it’s Pulaski who sets up the Strategema match between Data and Sirna Kolrami, and she ends up feeling really bad for goading him when he loses to that smug Zakdorn prick. So it’s that much sweeter that she’s there cheering him on when Data thinks outside the box causes the stalemate, telling him that in that way, he did indeed beat him!

Feelings of warmth and friendship What a shame that the last episode we got with this amazing character was one of the most infamously bad. But none of that is on Pulaski because she’s actually on full display in “Shades of Grey,” partly because she’s one of few characters in the non-clipshow scenes. But she (and Troi, as I brought up last week) pulled out all the stops to save Riker’s brain from certain doom.

Pull your head out of your ass! Okay, this last one’s not canon, but I just couldn’t help including this plug to go read Caitlin’s fanfic “The Pulaski Maneuver”!!! Or listen to it on the podcast back when we wrapped TNG with our episode “Tales from the Holodeck.” Pulaski finally telling Geordi everything that he’s deserved to hear might be my favorite moment, and it’s so in her character that I say it counts!

—

Worst moments

The cold hand of technology Most of Pulaski’s negative personality traits are going to circle around her treatment of Data as a piece of equipment and not an individual. In her introduction episode, “The Child,” one of her early interactions with Data is to tell him he’s not wanted in the delivery room because he lacks the human touch. Lucky for us, Troi sticks up for him and he gets to watch her whelp an alien baby.

One is my name; the other is not Shortly afterwards, still in “The Child,” we get one of the fandom’s most hated moments from Pulaski when she not only mispronounces Data’s name, but doesn’t seem to understand that doing so is rude and problematic, instead deciding to put the onus on him for being capable of offense. It’s a tough moment for fans to accept, and if that were the level of bigotry her character stayed at, I’d understand why so many Trekkies dislike the character.

I’m not accustomed to working with non-living devices More growing pains come from Pulaski in “Where Silence Has Lease,” in which she refers to Data as “it” and Picard has to gently correct her. We’re two episodes into the season at this point, and Pulaski is still finding it difficult to accept the personhood of this fan-favorite character, something viewers pretty much got on board with in episode one. At least she apologized.

The mystery of the lack of any mystery Here we are, three episodes in when we reach “Elementary, Dear Data” and we see more of Pulaski judging Data for being incapable of thinking creatively when he solves Holmesian riddles. We may have blamed Geordi for accidentally creating Moriarty when we covered his character spotlight, but it was definitely Pulaski who goaded them on in the first place.

Medical research is sometimes a risky business While we may have praised her above for not putting everyone else at risk when she released the augmented child from his wrapper in “Unnatural Selection,” Pulaski was still dead wrong about the experiment being at all safe. She still got contaminated by the fast-aging disease and was resigned to her fate until Picard and O’Brien were able to transport her back. Speaking of which…

I’m a doctor, not an original character One rather understandable complaint we can see in the Pulaski character is that she’s just Dr. McCoy in a skirt. Which may not be a bad thing, per se, but when we see her racism against the outsider character, her Bones-like irascibility, and even her specific fear of transporters in “Unnatural Selection,” we start to wonder if the writers couldn’t have been a little more original.

I’m just glad that humans have progressed beyond the need for barbaric display We get a couple glimpses that Pulaski is a little repulsed by Klingon culture throughout the show. First, in “A Matter of Honor,” she’s grossed out by Klingon cuisine and calls Klingons barbaric, and not in the way Klingons would probably like. And she also gets a little smug after watching Worf’s Age of Ascension ceremony in “The Icarus Factor,” which she seemed pretty judgey about (but hey, at least she went!).

Quit cloning around! We gave Riker some guff for this as well in his character spotlight, and there’s enough guff to go around to give to Pulaski as well for their actions in “Up the Long Ladder.” Sure, the clones were made of them without their consent, but to take matters into their own hands and murder these people without discussion is not the Starfleet way.

Never to be heard from again… Obviously the worst character moment for us is Pulaski leaving the show after just one season. Notice how most of the bad moments come from earlier and the good moments are mostly from the latter half of the season. That shows how much the character was getting better, even in the rough first couple seasons of the show (you’ve heard our coverage of Chaos on the Bridge, right?). And while many celebrate the return of Crusher, we still have to wonder what the show would be like with more Dr. Pulaski.

—

And just like that, she’s gone and so is this blogpost. Keep following along because we’ve got another doctor of the Enterprise-D to discuss next week, and it’s not Selar! We also hope you’re making the schlep through Enterprise with us as we cover the whole thing over on SoundCloud or your podcast platform of choice. Wave your medical tricorders over our Facebook and Twitter pages, and get the pronunciation right: It’s Data, not Data!

[divinemissem13]

Hi friendo! askin you the aquatic asks <3

🐙 a pretty/elaborate quote from a published work

🐠 a funny quote from a published work

🦑 a romantic quote from a published work

Thanks for asking, friend! Fun to go back through stuff I’ve published looking for all of these!

🐙 A pretty/ elaborate quote:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita (ST: Voyager, vignettes of Kathryn and her favorite tree on the Janeway farm)

I used to watch those holos - of dogs reuniting with their owners after years apart - with a healthy dose of skepticism. I always thought they must be rigged somehow, or maybe the owner hadn’t really been away all that long. For seven years, I never dared let myself hope that I might be in for such a greeting, and yet here I am, my face covered in dog slobber and my own tears and all because Molly remembers me.

She starts to settle and for the first time, I realize we are being watched. My mother leans against the door frame with a smile on her face and a steaming mug of something (coffee, I hope) in her hand. I’ve seen her since arriving, of course, at Starfleet headquarters and over com calls, but the vision of her now completes the image of home that I have carried in my mind's eye for so long. My heart swells with gratitude as I stand, brush myself off, reshoulder my Starfleet-issue duffle bag, and walk up the two steps to meet her.

🐠 a funny quote

Friendly Competition (ST: Strange New Worlds, Pike/Una one-shot)

“Are you sure you don’t want to start with something a little smaller? A boot, maybe?” she purrs at him with a gleam in her eye that tells Chris she is definitely up to something.

“Oh, I’m sure. The scant. Hand it over,” he confirms, holding out a hand and wiggling his fingers.

Una stands and walks close to him, her finger tips playing with the hem of her very short dress. She doesn’t remove it though. Instead, she leans in and whispers in his ear, “Here’s the thing, Captain: I never said we were playing strip poker.”

Chris stands there with his mouth hanging open as Una struts away toward the bedroom, still fully clothed. He replays the evening in his head and realizes that, in fact, she had never once requested an item of clothing from him. He had eagerly removed something of his own volition each time he lost a hand, blinded by the anticipation of when she would have to do the same.

And now, standing alone in the middle of the living room in the oh-so-attractive combination of mismatched underwear and socks, he only has himself to blame.

🦑 romantic quote

Always a Bridesmaid (and that’s just fine) (ST: Picard, sort of?, Beverly and Kathryn attend Jean-Luc’s wedding to Laris. Beverly could not care less that she’s not the bride.)

Beverly knew this to be true now, because as she walked down the aisle on Jack’s arm, her eyes were drawn past the groom to the officiant: her Kathryn, radiant, even in that potato sack of a dress uniform. Radiant in anything, really, and also in nothing, because her radiance came from somewhere inside - from a light that only Beverly could see because it shone just for her. She’d never seen anything like it before, not from Jean-Luc, not even from the first Jack Crusher. The only thing that even came close was the lights that shone from her sons’ eyes when they were newborns and she was their entire world. Those lights faded, though, naturally over time as they grew and their worlds expanded.

But Kathryn’s light… If anything, it grew brighter and stronger with each passing day - each passing moment. She was sure that Kathryn could see it too, from the way that her eyes sometimes crinkled when she looked at Beverly, as if she were looking into the sun. And this is how Beverly knew, beyond any doubt, that she and Kathryn are meant to be together.

[yikes-strikes-again]

if i think about The Offspring too much i risk being creative about it. here's something. ao3 link

Beloved

rating: gen/no archive warning/fandom: Star Trek: TNG/characters: data, geordi, lal/grief-mourning, angst, bittersweet, family, one shot

And it was such a small thing that Geordi would never have remembered it if it weren't for now, but just yesterday, at the banquet, there was a moment when the ambassador from Xeno VIII approached them while they chatted at the bar in Ten Forward. He was flushed purple and had been gushing about Data before he'd even come within earshot.

Touching the arm of his fascination, he began spinning through all the advances in positronic technology his world had developed in the past few years. Geordi and Data had listened politely as he elaborated on the unprecedented complexity of the nanomechanical parts they could manufacture, the efficiency of the coolant system that allowed the simultaneous running of contact networks, the sheer scope of the emergent thought chains that purportedly surpassed the quadrant's largest quantum computers. He even suggested that Data study their work to produce another android like himself. Geordi specifically remembered him saying the words, "You could create a child of your very own."

At that point, he'd paused for breath and taken a sip of his drink. Data cocked his head in the way he always did before sharing his opinion.

"While I acknowledge the value of your species' contributions to the field of positronic robotics," Geordi now recalled him saying, "I do not believe that is necessary. I have already performed several experiments of the nature you describe, and after analyzing the results, I have decided not to continue my research. My interest in this subject is extremely limited." Then he'd stood up and walked away in a manner that Geordi would have described as "curt" if he didn't know better.

The ambassador looked confused. Geordi shrugged. "Guess he's made up his mind about that."

Then he'd caught up with Data a few minutes later, just as he'd started reciting one of his Spot poems to a drunken Lwaxana Troi, making Geordi completely forget that awkward moment. But now he was thinking about it, how strange it had felt at the time. Data had seemed almost offended for a second, which was unsettling, and even more unsettling was that Geordi couldn’t for the life of him figure out why. Data had described his interest in positronic robotics as "extremely limited," but he knew that wasn't true - his android friend had always taken an acute interest in his own construction.

It had been an accident. Earlier today, Data had asked Geordi to visit his quarters and feed Spot while he attended Dr. Crusher's tap-dance lesson. Geordi had performed his duty with honor and, feeling tired, leaned against the wall between a couple of Data's paintings. Then he had removed his visor - something he normally remembered to do only in his own quarters - to rub the spots where it dug in the most. But in doing so, he failed to see Spot approaching, or predict that she might pounce on his leg and dig her claws into the fabric of his uniform. Geordi started, and shooed her off, remembering that he had to be gentle with his friend's prized pet, but not that there was an easel mere inches away from his flailing. There was a loud thump.

Geordi sucked in a breath. He quickly reattached his visor and scanned the belongings he had knocked to the floor, relieved that there didn't seem to be any damage. He righted the easel to its original position and picked up the small canvas that had fallen face-down on the carpet.

His brow furrowed.

The lilac tarp had sloughed away to reveal an unfinished portrait, already saturated with Data's penchant for stylistic design and subtle color variation. Geordi saw a young woman sitting in an opalescent white room, hands engaged with a sketch of a bridge console. Data had dressed her in a sapphire uniform resembling recent prototype designs for Starfleet cadets, which Geordi remembered him showing him last week. More captivating than any of that, however, was her face. He squinted to see it better.

Her face was pale, narrow and sharp, with dark brown hair gathered around it in a stylish bob. The woman had red painted lips, a still-soft jaw that betrayed her youth, and a peculiar intelligence living inside her violet eyes. The eyes were by far the most completed detail of the painting. They bored into Geordi with such a particular presence that he felt compelled to make eye contact, as if Data's painted girl was real, as if, by some magic, she could see Geordi as clearly as he saw her. There was something almost...Soong-type about the look she gave him.

Geordi sucked in a breath and held it.

Suddenly, the door slid open, starting him, and Data was striding back into his quarters, pausing when he saw his friend still there.

"My apologies, Geordi," he said. "It seems I have wasted your time. The dance lesson ended prematurely because Commander Riker sprained - "

His gaze jutted to what Geordi was holding.

"Sorry, Data," he rushed out, "I wasn't trying to intrude. I knocked your easel over by accident, and was making sure I hadn't ruined your work-in-progress before putting it back." That would have sounded like a bad lie to anyone else, but luckily, this was Data he was talking to.

Data came up close and took the painting. "That is all right," he said quietly, and placed it on the easel. "It appears no harm has been done."

He stepped back to look at it. Geordi picked up the tarp on the floor and handed it over so that Data might reinstate whatever privacy he desired for his work. Data took it wordlessly, but just held it, as if he didn't realize Geordi had given it to him. Standing close to one another, the two spent a moment in silent observation. The only sound was Geordi's anxious sighs. He couldn't stop thinking about what Data had said to the ambassador yesterday.

Finally, he said, "What inspired you this time, Data?"

"A dream I had." Data loved to elaborate. Geordi waited; he did not.

He looked at his friend. The android's profile was as strong and unmoved as ever, but there was an incredulous quality to his voice. This suggested to Geordi that the subject of the dream had mused Data to a degree he hadn't expected. But looking at that pretty, tilted head, he couldn't bring himself to be surprised by that.

"She looks very sure of herself," was all he could think to exhale.

"Yes." Data brightened. "I believe that the next generation of Starfleet cadets will have the advantage of building off of recent advancements in curriculum material and educational philosophy. This will allow them to begin their training with a higher degree of confidence compared to previous generations of students. The aptitude Lal might have achieved in - "

He paused in seeing how Geordi had snapped his head towards him at the name. Data took his eyes from the canvas and cocked his head, just like his painted lady, mystified by his friend's distress.

"You wanted Lal to be in Starfleet," Geordi said, with devastated awe.

Data's facial muscles spasmed, as if making a terribly high-order calculation. "I believe it would have been the best way for her to acquire most of the skills I am often praised for by my friends and superiors. I am told that many parents experience a desire for their children to 'follow in their footsteps.' It would seem that I am no exception."

Geordi fell silent and shook his head. The more Data spoke on the matter, the more difficult he found it to swallow the heartbreak curdling in his throat.

"And you've been dreaming about that?"

"It appears so." Data's voice dropped in volume again. "Though I am aware that events perceived during sleep do not always make logical sense, they are often reflective of internal desires that may be advisable to act on in waking life. As such, I find myself compelled to search for a constructive action driven by my subconscious image of Lal as a Starfleet cadet. So far, I have failed.” Was Geordi imagining the mournful song in his voice?

“There is no way to repair Lal - her body is now in the permanent custody of Dr. Maddox in a state of irreparable dysfunction,” he continued, grimly. “I cannot act on the desires these dreams express.”

Dreams. Plural. Not for the first time, Geordi wondered if grief was even an emotion.

Then Data perked up. "I have found that the most satisfying way to process experiences I cannot use to refine my logical subroutines is to use them for artistic inspiration," he said. “Counselor Troi advised me to do so when I mentioned these dreams to her.”

It made sense, Geordi supposed. He had no traditionally creative hobbies himself, but he often dealt with things he couldn't understand by immersing himself in technical design. His feelings often came out in the engineering solutions he discovered. But what could possibly be gained from something like losing a daughter?

He thought again of what the ambassador had suggested. "A child of your very own." If a child was what Data wanted to begin with, it made sense that, armed with the knowledge he had learned, he might try to create another since the first one...failed. But he had expressed no desire to. In fact, he seemed emphatically opposed to the idea. Geordi felt wretched for wanting to pick his friend's brain on a matter so heavy, but he couldn't help himself, and he knew there was no way to offend Data with his curiosity.

"Data..." he began, as gently as he knew how, "do you ever think that you might want to, uh. Try again? You know, have another ch - android?"

Data looked over his work again. Geordi saw him stare into Lal's impossibly lifelike eyes, into time, medium, space, into indescribable dimensions. The foolish waking dream. Perhaps, deep inside, he had discovered something after all.

"No, Geordi," he said, very softly.

A minute muscle altered his expression.

"She was enough."