#When I was watching TNG there were many episodes I was like 'oooh if this had been TOS I'd have been /so/ invested'

[walkingstackofbooks]

my toxic trait is watching an excellent episode of Star Trek and thinking "that was great (but I wish it had happened to Julian)" 😅

[sasukecouchiewa]

I also watched around 7 episodes of tng and idk....like its interesting and all but im not so sure about the characters...like yes data is funny geordi too picard is commanding and smart riker is competent troi is beautiful bla blablablabla

I find these characters rather interesting but i dont feel any immediate connection to them as ive felt with tos or ds9  where i could feel just from looking at a character for a bit that it was gonna be interesting and promising.

obviously i dont doubt that it has many interesting and fun aspects and will develop into something better and better as seasons go by but it doesnt feel like something i really want to binge nor have to patience to watch. Now i Am watching it but because im interested in the universe per se, in the new worlds, and new interactions with other entities and spacey stuff. 

The thing that annoys me the most are the, well, annoying characters, such as the romantic interest that was made obvious from the first episode (or was it the second) because oooh the captain is losing controlllll hes giving in into his romantic and sexual impulseeeesss noo so funny!!! we now know theyre gonna be annoying af impling stuff and longing for each other for the next??? how many seasons. and her prodigy son! why must there be such a character literally no one gives a fuck and from what ive seen no one in the fandom likes him much either so literally what was the point lmao

another thing i didn't like by far is the constant slapping in our faces that the “humans” are the superior species in confront, for example, of the ferengi because now women have rights! and they have clothes! crazy shit man like i get it because in that period women did actually start getting rights so whatever it was historically important but damn like 5 episodes out of the first 7 were only about that .

also why are the jokes constructed so weirdly like theyd make one single unfunny ass joke and thered be a pause where everyone laughs except that one character and someone will be like OH! IT WAS A JOKE LMAOO hahhahahah like no….please stop its cringing me out please just make funny jokes. Like riker would look around…waiting for everyone to laugh… to giggle… or someone would make joke and linger for a moment like hey think about the fact that i made a joke. also what is that acting and what is that thing where everyone seems to have a frog in their mouth when theyre talking OMG ITS SO ANNOYING i just cant with this series im sorry i dont get it.

[darkfeanix]

Guess who finally boarded Deep Space Nine?

After thinking about it for a couple of years and seeing so many gifs and screencaps and discussions on here on Tumblr.com, I finally sat down and watched the first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and for funsies I kept a stream-of-conscious record of my reactions while I watched.

Spoilers for the 30 year old series premiere, I guess? Anyway, begin:

Oh wow, Deep Space Nine starts with Borg Picard. Also, is that Sisko? I’m so used to seeing gifs of him with facial hair, I barely recognize him.

I’m guessing that this re-uses footage from TNG. Or did Patrick Stewart make a cameo in this series’ first episode?

Dead wife in the first five minutes? Not even any speaking lines? *heavy sigh* Ah, that classic storytelling.

Oh wow, three year time jump.

Aw, Sisko’s son is adorable.

Ah, those early 2000s visual effects. *deep breath* I’m fine, it’s fine, everything’ fine. I’m not watching this for the visual effects, I’m watching it for the characters.

Ooh, Quark. I’ve heard so much about him but know so little of him. Also, cool that Armin Shimmerman is in a starring role. Only ever seen him as a guest star in other series.

Oh wow, Deep Space Nine sure is a… umm… fixer-upper.

Oooh, there is a Picard cameo. Although I still wonder if the Borg stuff was reused footage. It kind of had the feel of it. But that’s neither here nor there now.

Stuck at 32 C, indoors, in those uniforms. Oof.

I already like Major Kira.

Quark looks like a mob boss and I love that for him. Also, “scheduled to depart tomorrow”? Interesting, that’s not what I’ve heard from Tumblr.

Hi Sir Patrick- I mean, Captain Picard.

Oooh, Sisko doesn’t want to the job? Interesting. I can already tell I’m going to like him, he clearly knows how to be diplomatic when the situation calls for it; I never would have guessed from his interactions with the residents of DS9 that he didn’t want to be there.

Sisko’s little smile when the hologram over the stairs is lifted and Kai Opaka begins walking down them is so cute.

This vision/flashback with Sisko and Jennifer is so sweet, but also bittersweet.

Yup, and that reaction when the vision ended is why it was so bittersweet.

A sacred mission in the first episode. Wow. But is it something that’ll be resolved in the first episode, or is it a season long arc? I guess back on the days of DS9, things were a bit more episodic so I’m guessing it’s just a season opener plot.

Wow, Quark wastes no time at all getting things back up and running.

Hello Dr. Bashir. I’ve heard about you from Tumblr. I already understand. Socially awkward, fancy boy accent, a chronic case of foot-in-the-mouth syndrome. I love him already.

Oh, I adore the dynamic between Sisko and Dax.

GIANT MAGIC SPACE PORTAL! WE’VE GOT A GIANT MAGIC- oh wait, those are just called wormholes in science fiction, aren’t they?

I appreciate that Star Trek has its own kinds of space magic. Can’t let Star Wars have all the fun.

“We should have a smoother ride this time.” … Weird, I thought it looked smoother the first time. I must not have been paying close enough attention.

Oooh! They see different things. Interesting!

Dax’s statement is hilarious considering what Sisko is seeing. Beautiful indeed.

Oh, that wasn’t a very nice thing to do to your guests.

No Sisko, don’t go into the light!

Oooh, so the hourglass holograms are… containers? Or something far more complex?

I love scenes like this, where a person’s memories are used to communicate with them. Especially when it cuts between memories of different characters.

-- “It would take two months.”

“It needs to be tomorrow.” – HAHAHAHA! Oh Major Kira, I love you.

I wonder if all the actors recorded the same lines and then the editors cut between the memory scenes, or if each actor only had the lines shown in the episode.

I’ve forgotten the transporter guy’s name, but the scene with him moving all of Deep Space Nine was really well performed.

“Well, they’ve got to listen to reason, haven’t they?” Oh Bashir, you sweet summer child.

Odo is now on the list of characters I adore.

“Perhaps they will be less hostile to Cardassians than to Humans.” Ha! Hahahaha! They already want to kill Sisko. If Dukat goes in there they’re all gonna die.

Oooh, I love the notion of “part of your existence”. I don’t think they’re going in that direction, as Sisko is trying hard to explain linear existence to them, but I like the idea that all experiences are a part of one’s existence, no matter how far in the past.

Not this non-corporeal being trying to understand physical intimacy. Adorable.

“Then why do you exist here?” Ooooh! What a way to embody what it’s like to experience trauma.

Oooh, so the very act of travelling through the portal is disrupting these beings. Reminds me of the Stargate Atlantis episode where the Stargate was powered by the beings made from the fog, and every time the Stargate powered up, more of those beings would die.

Hahahaha, explaining baseball to non-corporeal beings.

“You value your ignorance of what is to come?” Loved the delivery of this line.

Bashir is incredibly pretty.

Ah, O’Brien. I did know that name.

“What shields?” Oh noooo.

“We cannot give you what you deny yourself.” Again, what a fascinating way of exploring the impact of trauma on someone.

“I never left this ship.” Literal tears in my eyes. Wow.

Avery Brooks absolutely killing it in this scene. What a great performance; so much emotion!

“So if you want a war… I’ll give you one.” Major Kira is… my favourite character? I love her? (But also, speaking of trauma… How many of the people on this show are in need to serious counselling?)

Well, this is quite the season opener.

Bashir with his sleeves rolled up. *heart eyes*

“There’s your wormhole.” Petition to let Major Kira say fuck. I could almost hear the “fucking” in that exclamation.

Sisko is so relieved that there are no casualties. I can feel it coming off the screen.

A handshake with Jean-Luc Picard!

Major Kira/Quark? :O Is that a ship? There… there seems like there might be a teensy bit of chemistry there.

Overall, an excellent first episode. This is the third time I’ve watched an Old Trek series opener: Voyager’s was alright, but didn’t make a huge impression on me and took two attempts to complete; I never even finished TNG’s and haven’t gone back to the series since. But Deep Space Nine? I’m already invested.

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 17: 2x07 Catspaw

It’s not Halloween but it is my mom’s birthday so a very good opportunity to watch Catspaw.

So we start with Sulu and Scotty missing on an away mission but why exactly the Enterprise is here and what the away mission was is not explained...

Also speaking of interesting and unusual combos--Scotty and Sulu!

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

I like Uhura’s nails. They go so well with her communications board. Even her job is stylish.

Oooh, possessed dead mannequin crew member warning the ship that it has been cursed?? Very promising.

Also falling like that was an impressive stunt.

Lol Assistant Chief Engineer Dealle is in charge because the first and second in command are going after the third and fourth in command. What would TNG have to say about that??

According to the Amazon trivia, Uhura was supposed to be the next in command and in charge of the ship in this ep but NBC didn’t want a woman in charge and can I just say that if this is true we were ROBBED.

Oooh mysterious fog.

Chekov and his terrible wig. Should have left him in charge.

Also it’s interesting that this is the first Chekov episode in production order and he’s actually not the navigator. He’s Spock’s backup.

This is like a game of telephone: Chekov tells Desalle to tell Uhura to tell Kirk.

This is a very serious, creepy, mysterious opening in a lot of ways (the dead crewman mystery) but I remember this as more of a goofy, silly episode. (But actually upon having now seen the whole thing... it’s more serious than I remembered in its sci fi concepts! I guess I was just remembering the witches lol.)

Honestly those witches... I guess Macbeth is a pretty big part of Earth Lore lol. I think McCoy is alarmed and unsettled by this while Spock is more intrigued and Kirk just thinks it’s dumb.

I love Kirk’s face when Spock’s only comment is “bad poetry.” Hilarious. Like “I love you but please be more helpful. This is Serious Time not time to play games and fuck with me.”

I really like Kirk in this episode. He’s giving off smart, curious explorer vibes. (Although I will say, with the whole episode down... he is very harsh on the aliens. I mean he lost a man in the opening and so he’s not down to clown but still.. I think he overestimates their hostility some.)

Creepy castle. Trick-or-treating. I want the deleted scene where Kirk explains Trick-or-Treating to Spock.

Kirk looks so frustrated by the cat.

“I’m not that green.” Lol.

What a talented cat actor!! Trot trot trot.

“Bones? I mean...the other Bones?” Maybe a different nickname today. That’s a really underrated joke.

I wish they’d picked up on Spock and put some Vulcan horror in there too. (Although I guess creating horror tropes wasn’t exactly their intention...) I wonder what Vulcan subconscious horror is like.

That was actually a pretty cool transition from the dungeon to the dining room.

Kirk would be more impressed with all this if they hadn’t killed someone. He’s never up for fun and games when someone’s dead. He’s very dubious about all of this, especially the cat.

Hmm, they are not native.

Kirk’s face just screams: “So the cat...is talking...to you?” (Actually you know what, I do think it’s very interesting that Korob can understand Sylvia even when she’s speaking in a different language.)

I bet young Spocks read about wizards and familiars and was super taken with the idea.

I don’t believe for one second that Spock’s thoughts are black and white lol. This decadent bitch? No way.

None of this is Kirk’s interest. Illusions, weird tricks, people who don’t give straight answers. This is not the way to impress him or make him want to help you in any way.

McCoy the jewel expert. These look real!

You like shiny stuff right humans? Pretty crystalline forms for you?? Not in a post-scarcity utopia!

McCoy has just realized this woman IS the cat.

Hmmm, telepathy, like Spock’s?

I want that Enterprise necklace!!

“You do with your minds what we do with tools.”

Lol at Kirk thinking he’s won because he can send another search party. Like... how’d the last search party work out for you?

Mmm, Kirk looking at the necklace. That’s some Acting.

Credits to navy beans.

“An Earthman like yourself...”

These aliens are very interesting. Very, totally alien, as Spock says. This idea that they tried to read the humans’ minds and missed their target is just so cool. Like, they weren’t trying to create a weird Halloween experience, they thought they were creating a familiar home for the aliens. “Oh, a castle, just like home!”

So it sounds like this planet is not that far away from Earth. The aliens are coming closer...

Haha Sylvia says she’s not a puppet but ironically--she is exactly, literally a puppet.

I’m just going to say it: Sylvia is one of the best female characters in TOS. Like should I be insulted that the lady alien went insane and emotional and messed everything up? Probably but I prefer to think of it as her being intrigued and invested in her own power and possibilities and then she goes overboard.

Anyway this is Macbeth whoops

“You torture our specimens.”

So what is their mission??

Hmm, she’s really into Kirk. And he knows just how to manipulate her: telling her she’s not really a woman, she’s not real, then transitioning into Honeypot Mode.

“I can be many women,” she says and just puts on different wigs.

Whoops she found his conscious mind. So much for manipulating her.

And so the familiar becomes the wizard.

This is sad; they could have become friends with the aliens. Korob doesn’t seem so bad.

Big cat!! Really big cat! Not the most terrifying creature at all; the nicest and softest. I'm not convinced that cat is big; I think it's pretty obvious the hallway is just small. However, I like the idea. I wish I had a super big cat to be friends with.

[Cat screams continue]

“Well at least we found them.”

Spock is so unruffled. "Hmmm, this is most unpleasant. If only we had some kind of weapon or something..."

“I got the transmuter. It’s mine now.”

Sylvia is obviously still into him lol.

“Don’t let her touch the wand.” It’s a transmuter Spock have you not been listening?

THE PUPPETS.

Spock wants to study them. Of course he does. And so the specimen becomes the scientist and the scientist the specimen.

...Overall an interesting ep. But I do have some questions. One of those eps that leaves a lot of world bulding unsaid, which leaves room for fun speculation.

So, first, these aliens came from very far away, and now they’re in our galaxy. Mom question if it was an “invasion.” I think so, at least in a neutral sense. But what was their purpose? Why were they traveling to new planets? Do they need something their planet can’t give them? Or are they just exploring for fun/curiosity--as we ourselves do?

Sometimes they’d speak as if they had some greater mission--the references to the old ones, their insistence on getting the humans’ help as if they relied on it, their “tests” like they were looking for something specific--but the actual mission was never stated or even hinted at. So I guess it’s just as possible they were exploring as intelligent beings do, and then found these humans, and came to really like them and just thought the alliance (or possible further study) could be advantageous.

Are these two the only aliens left or are there others back home? I assume there are others but it wasn’t completely clear if the “old ones” were memories or beings with, like, literal oversight.

Also, why were Scotty and Sulu on the planet in the first place? Spock says the planet has never known to have beings on it. So was the Enterprise just like triple checking that or did they have a reason to go down? Did Korob and Sylvia lure them? Because I felt like Kirk's annoyance with them was rather unfounded if his men just invaded their home first. I tend to think that they were in the area and something on the planet attracted them--that the aliens specifically wanted them to come down. That, and the killing of Jackson, would make Kirk’s reaction to them more reasonable.

I’m not saying I don’t have sympathy for the aliens because I definitely do. Like, we would absolutely do the same thing: find the interesting specimens and examine them. These are curious aliens. A lot of what they do seems to be in fun also--providing the humans with a setting they think the humans will like; offering them things; playing around with illusion. Of course then there are hostile actions--like killing Jackson, manipulating Scotty, Sulu, and Bones, and harming the Enterprise. But it’s not entirely clear to me if these are meant to be hostile actions, or if they just don’t see them as that serious--or perhaps, serious but worth it. Also some of it might just be Sylvia going power-mad (like the Enterprise torture, which Korob didn’t like).

I wonder what the aliens were doing on the planet before the Enterprise arrived. Were they in their real forms, or were they creating other illusions? They took these forms (human and cat) from the Enterprise crew’s mind so one would assume they looked different before the Enterprise got there. Were they on their way somewhere else? Could they have already known about Earth, even?

I like these aliens because they really do feel alien. I think that’s very difficult; a lot of sci fi (including Star Trek, often) presents aliens against the bar of humans: how are they different from humans, as opposed to, what are they like? These aliens have some very impressive powers: mind-reading, mental control, shapeshifting, “magic.” But their powers also have limits: they don’t always read minds correctly, for example, and Sylvia is so easily corrupted by her newfound love of sensation. And like I said before, their actions seem erratic and the morality of them hard to parse, perhaps because they’re just operating on a completely different moral plane than people.

Like, why DID they kill Jackson? Did Sylvia do it just because she could? Was it part of the test? Korob says later “you were warned not to come and you came anyway, that shows loyalty,” and the nature of the warning--the curse--was also taken from the horror subconscious. So maybe they thought this is how you communicate with humans, and the idea that killing one of them was so egregious didn’t occur to them, either because they see the humans as specimens, and would no more mourn our deaths than we mourn the deaths of lab rats (or than Kirk et.al. mourned the aliens tbqh), or because they just have a different relationship to death on their planet.

And what was the purpose of taking control of Scotty, Sulu, and Bones? Some of the dialogue implies that control is part of their telepathy--and yet they seem more than capable of reading minds without actually altering what the object of the mind reading does. Do they gain control when they go particularly deep in their interrogations? Why are they interrogating that deeply at all, and what are they STILL looking for after taking control of 3 people?

Another possibility is that they had too many specimens and didn’t know enough about them to feel comfortable letting them all roam free. They were outnumbered 5 to 2. The fewer people who are free, the easier to interrogate them and learn about them--they also use physical restraints at times, and after they try talking to 3 and find it too much, they switch to talking to 1 at a time.

And then finally, as with the killing of Jackson--it might just be something they did because they can. And I have to say, humans would be the same. Like if we had a group of aliens, we’d use the tools at our disposal to corral and restrain them and then learn about them, not necessarily malevolently, but for our own safety and sense of power and control. And some people probably would cross lines. Like, Korob and Sylvia aren’t entirely benevolent OR malevolent. They’re just alien.

The transmuter was very weird. I have to say, it didn’t really make sense. They seemed to use their powers just fine without it most of the time, which is why I’m inclined to think Sylvia wasn’t lying when she said it just magnified their abilities. BUT then why did destroying it destroy all the illusion? It seems pretty obviously just a plot device that would allow the episode to wrap up in an hour.

I’m also confused and intrigued by the line that they used the transmuter to get to the planet. How do you use it to travel?

And...why did they die in the end? If those were their real forms, you’d think being returned to them wouldn’t harm them in any way. And yet they seemed to disintegrate right there. They did seem very delicate and we don’t know what their native planet was like. Perhaps they needed the transmuter/their shape-shifting abilities to survive on this planet at all.

Actually just occurred to me--the transmuter. Maybe their mind reading abilities are inherent but their shape-shifting isn’t. Although that raises the question of how they could have built something so big when they are so small--does the wand itself change shape and size?

One interesting thing about these aliens is that even though they appear as humans without being humans, they are NOT energy beings like a lot of other aliens who shape-shift to human forms. They haven’t transcended to a state beyond teh physical form. Unlike the Organians or the aliens from Return to Tomorrow, there’s no sense that they are purposefully evolving or striving toward being so mentally powerful that they no longer need the body--they do have bodies and they are physical beings, but one of their, imo, inherent powers is this extreme mental capacity, including a version of telepathy and a version of shapeshifting.

The Amazon summary says they are “aliens on a mission of conquest” but I don’t think that’s true.

Anyway idk if I had other thoughts but I’m becoming decreasingly coherent so I think it’s time for bed!

Next up is I, Mudd. I’m not a big Harvery Mudd fan but I seem to remember there were some funny bits in that ep so it should be fun.

[musicin68]

Totally Disco.

Episode 2: Battle at the Binary Stars

I managed to wait almost an entire day before starting this episode. I think the reflection is helping, or maybe I'm just being a reasonable adult (ridiculous thought)...or I was sleeping.

My digression for today is on the nature of bingeable tv-entertainment and streaming services.

It's my understanding that Discovery was released like ye olde television shows of yore, one episode per week. But it isn't structured (or the two episodes I have seen lead me to believe it isn't structured) like ye olde Star Trek series.

Simply put, the Star Trek of my youth (first run TNG not TOS, I'm old...just not quite that old) was episodic rather than serial. Sometimes you would get a two or three-part episode in the middle of the season... is anyone else here old enough to remember sweeps week?...or the classic end of season cliffhanger so you'd be sure to tune in again after summer re-runs. But you generally expected that every episode was its own story. Character development was sprinkled in amongst the plot weeds like wildflowers in a meadow, to be picked and added to the show's ever brightening bouquet as you meandered along. Kids nowadays, boy howdy, with their loud music and dramatic lens flares and streaming whole seasons released at once. It's madness...or just a different kind of storytelling.

It does feel a bit awkward though, when a series takes the serial approach but releases episodically. I felt the same way about watching The Expanse. The story was made for binging and it was actually painful not to be able to do that. I mean I was literally feeling stressed about situations characters were in for weeks at a time and foreknowledge from reading the books made it worse. (I knew what happened to the Agatha King, you bastards. And I just knew you were going to make her watch. Assholes. Deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale - AND I know all about your 'sack of broken glass' imagery. Which she will act the hell out of and be amazing, but you absolute fuckers. Gah! I just - I get so - *snort* - I need to go wash something.)

So...I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about Discovery going that route. Especially because...

Spoilers.

This episode was basically a giant bummer. The worst possible thing to happen on the show has happened. Asshole Klingon guy, (whose name was not Tuvok, the only thing my unhelpful brain is supplying despite it being repeated at least twenty times this episode, a sure sign he was going to bite it) T'Something-or-other, stabbed me in the heart - err stabbed Capt. Georgiou in the heart and killed my desire to watch this show.

T'Somebody gets to be a martyr, just what every Klingon wants and gets his war, which he specifically wanted. Future Michael gets failure and misery while present Michael gets all that plus jail time! Confused? I often am. (Episode 1 might help.) Let's not forget that T'Murderingbastard has deep seated childhood issues too. Do I sense a theme for our show? All the other Klingon kids beat him up. Probably because he has a Vulcan girl's name. Think about it. T'Pring. T'Lar. T'Pel. T'Pol. T'Whichever way you look at it he's dead and so are my dreams after what felt like the shortest fight scene in history.

I get it, Disco creators. You have a limited amount of time to tell your story and you felt Michael's response to Georgiou's death was the important thing to highlight here not the death itself ... Wait a minute, oooh you almost had me there with your episodic releases. This isn't broadcast tv. You don't have an hour long time slot your episodes have to fit. You could linger on Michael's pain AND give us a decent fight scene. Shame on you.

Now, wasn't the whole point of beaming into danger to capture, rather than kill this guy? Do phasers not have a stun setting yet? I am a bit vague on what the canon is at this point, but I’m going with revenge killing on Michael’s part. Girl’s got anger issues...like movie Spock has anger issues...Sarek we need to have a chat about you teaching kids to repress emotion. Don't worry though, T'Kahless-wannabe, Pippin is still there to carry a torch for you.

Other thoughts: → 1. The little nods to TOS that make an appearance are nice. I particularly like the view screen "ding-boing" noise that's played occasionally on the bridge and the captain's chair aboard the Shenzhou. It's a blingy, metallic version of Kirk's! ❤️ → 2. There are a bunch of names in the opening credits and it feels like we've only really met five fleshed out characters, two of whom are already dead. I think I need to keep a running list:

Georgiou, Burnham, Saru, T'What's-his-face, Pippin

Are the writers working on an add three subtract two sort of pattern? How many episodes in will we be when we finally have enough regulars to crew the bridge? → 3. This show is going to be really boring if it's just Michael in jail for the rest of her life. Lol! That's ridiculous. It would be great. Blue With Gold Stripes Is The New Black. Can we have Kate Mulgrew too? → 4. Lateral transporters. The look of the giant satellite dishes behind everyone on the transporter of the Shenzhou is fabulously retro. lt's well...disco. And not a moment after I thought that, the writers put a lampshade on it. They are being phased out. Newer ships don't have them. They require enormous amounts of power. The Shenzhou is then abandoned so there's no reason for us to see them again. Therefore...THEY ARE IMPORTANT. My plot sense is tingling. → 4.5. I mean, aside from holodecks, there's nothing more guaranteed to maim, kill, or send you into an alternate universe than a transporter. (Maybe spores? Lateral transporters + spores = the worst vacation ever?) → 4.75. Can...can we go there right now? The one where Michelle gets to show off a bit more martial arts prowess presumably, and her character is, you know, not killed off in Episode 2?