#DS9 my beloved

[whispsofwind]

Yes! I feel like that's why DS9 works so well at deconstructing Trek while also being so quintessentially Trek.

The world in Star Trek is a post scarcity utopia where all basic needs are met. The Enterprise is the flag ship, most of the crew is either human or at the very least Federation- and therefore grew up in a world where all basic needs are met and where people are not only allowed but encouraged to grow into their best selves.

And we can argue until we are blue on the face that Deanna Troi was under utilised in TNG, the fact remains that the job of psychotherapy is clearly considered very important on the Federation, enough that the flag ship's consuelor is given a prominent role in the crew.

Then you get to DS9, and DS9 explicitly asks "what happens if you take a person out of paradise?". Conditions are much harsher, nothing works, and they are dead in the middle of alien politics, and tensions are high, and eventually everyone's worse traits come out to play.

And what's most important to me, the alien characters in DS9 DO NOT WANT TO ASSIMILATE. They see straight through Federation bullshit and call colonialism for colonialism. Characters like Kira, Quark or Garak do not live in an utopia, and they don't want to lose their culture and values to the Federation, and that's important! The show never treat them as wrong for that because whole cultures should not be bloody footnotes on the road to "progress"!

I remember this one brief scene where Garak and Quark basically say "drink enough of the Federation's kool aid and you'll start to like it, because they are insidious like that", and that scene has lived rent free in my head ever since alongside the scenes of Miles o Brien in the Hard Time episode

Deep Space Nine ruled constantly giving characters to interact with different pairings. Master of the A/B plot structure. Is this episode about an ethical dilemma causing big debate around a conference room table? No. We’re following Odo and Garak being catty bitches at brunch today. Also O’Brien is getting tortured again but what can you do.

[jone-slugger]

Before I started watching DS9, I had read several bad things about Keiko, and I wondered what might make her character so disliked. Turns out it was just being a woman in a misogynistic world xddd

If you ask me, the problem with Keiko is we don't get enough Keiko.

[spockandstars]

hey so I think that we as a society need to think more about the fact that Kira and Ezri are canonically gay in the mirror verse because why is this literally never brought up??

[exasperatedoctopus]

Diversity win: the evil overlord version of yourself in another dimension is flagrantly bisexual and has a surprise mixed harem

[plaudiusplants]

Op there's so many people who agree with you, including me! Whether it was the directors'/writers'/actors' intention or not, they gave us a very clearly neurodivergent Julian Bashir. How many autistic kids are incredibly smart!!!!!! ...in all the wrong ways. There are stories of children who are completely non-verbal until they know exactly what word they want to say and how to say it and tbh I wouldn't be surprised if Bashir was one of those kids and his parents just completely misinterpreted it

I'm trying to find links for you but honestly I'm sleepy so just trust me on this one that lots of people saw that too and I'm sure somebody else can find you a link

There's a thought/theory/whatever I've long had about a specific pair of episodes from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ever since I was a teen, and I'm putting this post out there to see if anybody else had the same thought.

I think Julian Bashir from Deep Space Nine, especially his plotline about having been genetically altered at a young age, is a commentary on neurodivergency.

Bashir is characterized as being highly intelligent, albeit lacking in social insight. He excels in academic matters but frequently finds himself floundering around women, being led by the nose by more charismatic people, and not picking up what other people are putting down. This alone would make him the average stereotypical TV depiction of an autistic person, but what I want to focus on is the episode that provides a canonical reason for these traits: the season 5 episode Doctor Bashir, I Presume.

In this episode it's revealed, or retconned really, that Bashir owes his intelligence to genetic tempering. Bashir originally suffered from a learning disability. He was not as intelligent as other children his age, falling far behind his peers, and his parents resorted to illegally altering his genes to "cure" that disability. As a result he instead became exceedingly intelligent. In essence, it took away a symptom that made his life more difficult, and traded it for one that made him more functional.

That episode on its own isn't a super strong nod towards autism. Though it does establish that Bashir is at least neurodivergent, it's more a discussion on eugenics and the theoretical ethics of removing disabilities through genetics. What I really want to focus on is the sort-of-sequel to this episode, and the only other episode that really focuses on these themes: the season 6 episode "Statistical Probabilities." In this episode, Bashir sets out to help other people who underwent genetic alteration, but for whom the treatments didn't go as well. The people he meets all display symptoms of one neurodivergency or another. One of them is very hyperactive and lacks empathy, another is very childlike despite being an old man, and another is entirely unresponsive.

For me, as someone who grew up in special education, I couldn't help but recognize some of the people I knew. To me, the metaphor was clear: "genetic alteration" was really just sci-fi talk for neurodivergency. Julian was the savant, the high-functioning autistic person who successfully integrated into society, because his neurodivergency gave him intelligence and insight that made him useful. And the others weren't as lucky, struggling to lead normal lives because their symptoms impeded their ability to function by themselves.

Bashir spends the episode trying to prove that the other genetically altered people have something to offer society, that there is a place for them. It felt very on the nose to me. But no one I've seen talk about this pair of episodes ever seemed to have taken from them what I took from them. I can't find anyone else online who interpreted the episodes the same way. Maybe my perspective is very particular, as someone who spent so much time in special education growing up, and who has personally struggled with finding a place where I can offer something to others. But idk. Am I seeing allegories that aren't there? What do yall think?

[sidotherobot]

happy star trek day!!!!

[seebutdontblink]

Listen, I love Trans Julian Bashir. Would never criticize it. I do think intersex works better. Especially in terms of forced surgery to make you into a version of yourself that they wanted. And finding out way after the fact and what it means to yourself.

[skybson]

2x16 - Shadowplay

[urghblergh]

Take this abysmal art plus some mid banter ig. 😅🫰

Ref

"His ass belongs to me" done two different ways:

1. Just grab the thing

2. Stake your claim by designing his clothes a certain way

[lesbian-odo]

Jadzia Dax fancam that came to me in a dream

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

I'm watching DS9 for the first time and I have one really big problem with it: see, there's this guy, Garak, and the issue is he's not in every single scene.

[themaybug]

host

[jone-slugger]

This episode is on season 7, at the height of the war with the Dominion. This is what made TV good.

[maggotsandcream]

I don’t get why there are people who hate Take Me Out to the Holosuite. Top tier DS9 episode in a season that desperately needed a silly zero stakes baseball episode. And yet you still run into people who hate it for perfectly executing exactly what it was trying to do.

[deadgodjess]

You ever think about how they could have had Jadzia Dax go on a long mission deep into space for some amazing research opportunity? Have an episode of her and Worf grappling with whether she should go or not because they had JUST got married?? They finally agree she should go and you have a whole other episode of everyone else giving her a great send off (including her and Worf racking up and impressive number of sex injuries) and she gets to go off on an amazing voyage and the following episodes can include bits and bobs of Worf dealing with missing his wife and being quietly adorable over her messages to him and they send each other increasingly hilarious klingon poetry over the remaining series and like maybe near the end Jadzia comes home and they rack up enough sex injuries Bashir considers moving into their living room to be on hand.

But nah, just kill her off I guess.

[palpablestupor]

When u platonically stare at ur gay evil lizard buddy's heaving busom over lunch...as a friend.

(Image ID and original meme under cut)

[Image ID: A redraw of the 'Girl Staring at Guy's Chest' meme with characters from 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' sat in the Replimat. Garak is at the front looking smug and Dr Bashir sits behind, staring at Garak's chest while blushing and sweating nervously. /.End ID]

[Image ID: The 'Girl Staring at Guy's Chest' meme. /.End ID]