#and I grew up with voyager too and that’s my Star Trek

[evviejo]

STAR TREK: VOYAGER // S1E14 Faces I grew up in a colony on Kessik IV. My mother and I were the only Klingons there. And that was a time when relations between the home world and the Federation weren't too cordial. Nobody ever said anything, but... we were different. And I didn't like that feeling. Then, my father left. When I was five years old. One day he was there and the next he wasn't. I cried myself to sleep every night, for months. Of course, I never told anybody. And then I finally decided that he left because I looked like a Klingon and so I tried to look human.

[stargatesimp]

Can I just talk about how much I love Star Trek friendships?

Shipping is fun and all, ship whoever you like! (Starship? I don’t know if that’s a term used in this fandom but if not it should be)

But I don’t think platonic friendships and platonic love are talked about enough. God I love adorable friendships in shows. Give me two best friends who would die for each other. Found family is where it’s AT.

Like,

VOYAGER: So. many. Good ones.

Janeway and Tuvok. Tom and Harry. Chakotay and B’lanna. The Doctor and Kes. The list goes on!

I just love them all dearly. Voyager has such a great found family dynamic. I grew up watching this show with my family every day after school and it holds such a special place in my heart. I could spend a million hours talking about it.

Not to mention DS9.

Sisko and Dax, Miles and Julian, Kira and Dax, Jake and Nog, Odo and Quark (best frenemies. Sheriff and outlaw)

DS9 is my absolute favorite of all Star Treks. The writing and development is insane. If you told me what these characters would go through after watching season one, I don’t think I’d believe you. Another one I could talk hours about but this post is long enough just listing the dang names.

Those two are the majority of what I rewatch, but man, the others have amazing ones too.

Enterprise was just Archer being a father to literally everyone on the ship. And him and Trip being another of my favorite friendship duos.

TNG is a classic, a lot of people’s favorites. I always loved Geordi and Data. Guinan and literally everyone. I think I need to go back and rewatch it soon to fully appreciate everyone in the crew.

And as controversial as it may be, I never really got into the original series. But obviously some great friendships there too.

But man, I love Star Trek. The feeling of hope it gives you, the despair, the moral quandary, the wonder and magic. The wonderful mix of witty and fun humor balanced with severe stakes and serious narratives. A balance I feel a lot of modern sci-fi lacks. And I just love the characters that go through it all together. The journey they take.

Tell me some of your favorite Star Trek friendship moments! Let’s talk about em.

[perseephoneee]

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓥𝓘

In which, you, a lady of the ton, are forced to participate in courting season. Except that courting season comes with one particularly silver tongued Prince who is making it his mission to drive you absolutely insane.

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a/n: OOF, long time no see. Here's what happened: - I graduated college - I went to a masters certification program - I graduated THAT (not many can say they graduated college twice in one year, but I'm crazy) - My roommate at grad school became my best friend in the whole world. We watched all of Star Trek and the Thor movies. I got distracted writing her an 11k-word Thor fan-fiction. She wrote me a Loki fan-fiction - I came back to my home and ended up moving houses! - Now, all I day is apply to jobs, crochet, and take naps.

And that's what you missed on Glee.

It was to be expected; after all, you never really wanted to get married. Still, coming home from the ball to your grandmother’s expectant expression– it broke you. 

“Well?” she questioned, arms crossed. She wore her evening best, a deep crimson against her now paling skin. “Are we planning a wedding?”

“No,” you mumble, looking at the floor. “He didn’t propose; he…decided against it.”

You expected yelling, insults, and anger radiating from every surface. Instead, your grandmother was quiet. You looked up, waiting for anything. She just looked at you, still. It was so much worse than you could’ve expected. “Grams?” you ventured, biting the inside of your cheek. She just sighed and rubbed her eyes, so exhausted by the encounter that it made you angry. You disobeyed the thing she asked you to do, you disappointed her, and embarrassed yourself in the process. Yet all she does is sigh. “Nothing at all?”

“So much like your mother,” Grams murmured, massaging her temple as a headache grew. “I’m tired, Y/N, I’ll be retiring to bed.”

You felt tears start to prick your eyes, even as your grandmother started to pull away. “Please,” you begged, unsure what you were even asking. Your voice sounded so quiet in the foyer. 

“She could’ve married well; a duke,” Grams was already halfway up the stairs when she said it, almost to herself more than you. “She chose love instead, and look what good it did her.” Grandmother turned towards you then. “She ended up at the bottom of the ocean.”

You didn’t sleep well that night, in between the crying and the screaming into your pillow so no one could hear. When you did sleep, it was drowning. In the ocean. In disappointment. In everything. 

Your father wasn’t of low status, but he was merely a lord. Not a Duke like your grandmother wistfully shared. He was a man of dreams who sought to create. He used to sit you and Ivy down in the garden and map out the constellations. Your brother could never sit still long enough to truly appreciate astronomy. Ivy enjoyed looking at the stars and embroidering them into blankets and other linens. You, on the other hand, were eager to learn. Your father would quiz you on all their names: Orion, Ursa Major, Canis Minor, Draco, and more. The story of Andromeda always made you curious but sad. You couldn’t imagine choosing between your people and your child, and yet you hated King Cepheus for being willing to sacrifice Andromeda at all. 

“She was saved by Perseus, fell in love, and placed among the stars by Athena,” your father would console you when you started becoming quiet and contemplative. 

“Why couldn’t she save herself?”

“It’s not always that easy,” your father sighed, petting your head. “The chains could’ve been too strong. Or maybe she felt that the least she could do for her people was to let herself die.”

Your mother always scolded your father for telling such dark stories, but you appreciated it. You didn’t like things being hidden from you, and ancient myths fascinated you. 

When your parents went on their voyage with your brother to show off your father’s latest invention, you prayed to Perseus to save them from the sea. He was unable to. 

After your third day of wallowing, Ivy entered your room and locked the door. 

“This isn’t the sister I know.”

“I don’t want to talk,” you mumbled, curling into your chair. You had a settee set up by the window to get fresh daylight on your books and observe the outdoors. Ivy sat on your bed, curling up against the pillows. 

“Love, it is not your fault.”

“I was unable to secure a proposal, the one duty asked of me,” you turned to glare at her. “That is the definition of ‘my fault.’”

“You fell in love.”

“Evidently not.”

“I did not mean with Prince Thor.”

You didn’t answer. You just kept looking down at your book, the words being nothing more than a distraction. You had been pondering Thor’s words for days. Loki was, on most days, an annoyance and, on other days, could be quite companionable. Did you love him? You were unsure. You didn’t hate him. Not as much as you would’ve liked. 

“I knew it wouldn’t be Thor,” Ivy sighed, picking at the thread on your bedspread. “From the day in the park.”

You remembered that day. A traveling circus had come to town. Many families brought their children to witness acrobats, magicians, and more. There was even a traveling fortune teller that Loki loudly exclaimed wouldn’t have been able to tell a three of swords from a five of pentacles if it was staring her in the face. Ivy and Thor enjoyed watching the animals perform tricks, but like Loki, you could not stomach watching wild animals in captivity. You didn’t stay for the performance. 

“There was a traveling book merchant, which you two spent so much time at,” Ivy chuckled. “It was the cellist that stood out to me.”

“She played beautifully.”

“She did, but you and Prince Loki were the only ones to appreciate it,” Ivy smiled. “Thor had already moved on to the next shiny thing. You stayed, though, the only one in the ton to be there for the whole set. You’ve always appreciated music, I wish you would play again.” You turned in your seat, looking at your sister. “You stayed there, and Loki stayed with you. He let you enjoy the music because it spoke to you more than anything else at the circus. And when she was done performing, and you lacked a proper way to give thanks, he offered up his own coins.”

“There was nothing special about that moment.” Even as you said it, you knew it wasn’t true. 

“Grandmother is a smart woman, but she has one thing wrong.” Ivy turned her attention fully towards you. “You are headstrong, but most importantly, you are quiet. You are intuitive. Not like me, who enjoys laughter and bright colors. You see brightness where others see nothing.” Ivy almost laughs to herself. “You don’t need someone who can match your strength; you need someone who can match your silence.”

You felt like crying, and you weren’t sure why. Everything Ivy said was true. It always was; she knew you better than you often knew yourself. Confronting feelings, when so often you ignored them to avoid painful attachments, it made you want to suffocate.

“Ivy,” you murmured. She turned to you, the sun in a room inhabited by the moon. “I love you.”

“Well, of course you do!” she giggled, getting up and coming to your seat. She kissed the top of your head. “I’m brilliant.”

It was nighttime, and you wanted to talk to Loki. If you talked to him, you could decide if your feelings were real or if they were a lie. Maybe they were a thing fabricated by quiet moments or inspired by the stories you loved. You were thinking about this when you heard a storm pick up, the branches of the trees tapping against your window. This continued on until you realized there was no wind to accompany this tapping. You crawled out of your bed to go to your window and noticed it was a clear night. You jumped back with a yelp as another pebble hit the glass. Opening the latch, you peeked your head out and ducked as another pebble came flying. Loki stood with a pile of rocks outside. 

“Loki!” you hissed, throwing one of the pebbles back at him. He avoided it with ease. “Why are you throwing rocks at me?”

“Because I do so enjoy it,” he chuckled, hands in the pockets of his breeches. “Or perhaps, because I wish to speak with you.”

“It is late and unbecoming of a lady to meet with a man unaccompanied.”

“Intriguing,” he shrugged. “I didn’t think you much of a lady.”

You glowered at that. You couldn’t possibly have feelings for this man who throws rocks at you and puts you in ridiculous situations. You leave the window, heading to your dresser and grabbing your riding boots. You were still in your nightgown, but you tied your robe over it, so you were at least a little modest. You went back to the window. He hadn’t left.

“You’re going to catch me,” you demanded, already swinging a leg over the banister and debating which bones would be broken if you made one misstep. 

“Of course,” Loki smiled. He didn’t look ready to catch you whatsoever, but you had to put trust in the situation. So, you jumped out your window. And he caught you with ease. Much like one of the princes in the tales your father used to tell you. “What a pleasure meeting you here,” Loki smirked. You hit his chest, falling out of his arms and giving yourself distance. If your grandmother knew you were doing this, she would have you executed by morning. 

“What do you want?”

“Is that any way to address royalty?” he furrowed his brows but didn’t sound angry. He sounded amused. 

“What do you want, your Highness?” you sassed, crossing your arms. 

“Well, I did not come out here for your startling wit,” Loki sighed. “I want to talk.”

“About?”

“Take a walk with me,” he gestured towards the gardens. Your grandma’s pride and joy were her gardens. It was one of the few things she did herself, without any help from the maids or other staff. “Please,” he added, and you acquiesced. 

You followed him with a sigh, still keeping a respectable distance between you both. He was silent, and it wasn’t until you passed the hydrangeas that he spoke. 

“Thor told me,” Loki said. You didn’t know how to respond to that, and you were unsure of what exactly Thor had told him. 

“Did you come here to reprimand me for not being able to secure an engagement?” You scoffed. Loki stopped at a rose bush, fingers brushing over the petals. 

“I confess, I don’t care much for roses,” Loki smiled at you. Like you were in on a secret, just you two. It made warmth grow in your chest. 

“I don’t either.”

“What is your favorite flower, m’lady?” Loki took a step towards you. You would’ve backed up, but another bush was in your way, and you were stuck in his space.

“Sunflowers, or perhaps dahlias,” you murmured.

“Dahlias.” Loki smiled. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“No?” you questioned, smiling back. “What did you expect?”

“Nothing ordinary nor expected of a young maiden.”

“Am I just a young maiden to you?” you lifted a brow. 

“No,” Loki said. “You are not.”

It felt like nature took a pause on its sounds as Loki stared at you, his ice-blue eyes cold against your otherwise hot skin. He was much too close to be appropriate, and yet you didn’t want to push him away. You should push him away; the last thing you need is a scandal with the prince of Norway, but you couldn’t. Not when his gaze lowered to your lips. Not when his fingers touched your shoulder and then the lace of your collar. He brushed stray hair away from your face, and you felt yourself take in a shuddering breath. His thumb brushed over your lip, fingers cradling your chin. His breaths were heavy like he was holding himself back. You realized he was holding himself back from you. 

“Loki,” you whispered, looking up at him. Something changed in his gaze, and he stepped back, letting the cold air kiss your skin where his hand once was. 

“You should have brought a coat; it’s cold at night,” he whispered, refusing to meet your gaze. You just nodded, disappointment evident. He walked you back to your window. There were enough places for you to climb up yourself, something you used to do a lot as a child. He kept an even larger distance between the two of you as he waited for you to return to your rooms. Instead, in a fit of insanity, you reached up and kissed his cheek. You felt his breath hitch as you stepped back, curtsied, and scaled your wall. You didn’t turn back when you closed the window. You didn’t stop thinking of him even as you fell asleep.

taglist: @eleniblue @iwrite-things @youneedanap @huntress-artemiss @linaax @pisces-celeste @marygoddessofmischief @gruftiela @saay-karani @foxherder @lover-of-books-and-tea tea @lilaclaufeyson @qardasngan @evasmlp

[trek-tracks]

hello! I am also diabetic (type one). I’m curious if when you think of star trek or yourself in Star Trek if you imagine having diabetes still? I think either way is valid, just curious. I go back and forth trying to figure out if they would have cured it or just advanced insulin pumps to the point of being practically seamless with day to day life. For me being diabetic is so integral to my personality I kind of don’t know if I would like to think of it as being cured? It’s cool if you don’t want to answer too! Just thought I’d ask :)

This is an interesting question.

I've always thought about my type one diabetes as being solidly on the second end of the disability "spectrum," so to speak, where the first end is "this is integral to my personality and who I am, accommodate but do not 'cure' me," and the second is "this brings nothing but pain to my life, please cure me immediately."

The only accommodation that would fully make my life better, in my opinion, (which is only my opinion about my own disability), is either a functional cure (artificial pancreas) or actual cure (no machinery necessary), the latter of which I would prefer, because frankly I'm sick of wearing a pump and a cgm 24/7 and the sheer amount of waste it produces, which is not my fault because I need to live, but still weighs heavily on me (and takes up a large amount of space in my apartment). Not to mention the scheduling--this message brought to you by me being woken up at 5am by an empty insulin pump and realizing that, no, I don't seem to have any unused cartridges left, so I have to use an old one and pray that the pump accepts it while waiting for the delivery of the supplies I just now ordered, which cost $750.

When I think about a life in the Star Trek universe, I can really only think about being transferred there now, as I am, with the life I have led, and I think that's what also shapes my decision. If I had been born into the Star Trek universe, there are so many aspects of my personality that might have been different, considering I wouldn't have to worry about scarcity and affordability of, for example, housing. Instead of being a theatre critic as a second job that feeds my soul but doesn't pay the bills, I'd probably be a playwright/dramaturg/critic full time. However, I might find not having a job outside of the theatre world to be detrimental, because when people don't have lives outside of theatre, their writing tends to get smaller and more insular.

This is a digression, but what I mean is: I can only see me as I am now joining a Starfleet world, rather than trying to envision the person I would be if I'd begun my life there. I mean, I certainly wouldn't be known for making memes about Star Trek, the TV show, if Star Trek were reality instead of entertainment, so things would be different in a number of ways. I can't even think about all the ways my life could have been different in this reality without getting a headache.

In that case, I have learned a lot from being diabetic, including patience and empathy for other people, and a strong sense of social justice. I've learned a lot about food and exercise and how they affect the body. I've learned responsibility and self-management. I've made more peace with aging than many of my friends, because I've felt prematurely "old" (aches, pains, contemplation of mortality) since I was a preteen. I think I would have some form of these things without diabetes, but my worldview would likely be different. In a way, I'm grateful for these lessons, and I don't know if born-into-Star-Trek me would be insufferable.

That being said, I firmly believe that having diabetes for more than 25 years means that diabetes has taught me all about life it's going to teach me. I'm done. If I were to wake up tomorrow without it, I'd, in the words of Beyond McCoy, "throw a party." A party with plenty of cake. Or, to misquote The Voyage Home, "The doctor gave me a pill, and I grew a new pancreas!"

Now that it's part of me, its absence might leave me somewhat adrift, but I think of all the time I've lost to it where I could have been enjoying life and been allowed to be the unfettered me I desired to be, and I say, good riddance.

[hiccupmistress]

Beware MAJOR spoilers for season 3 of Star Trek: Picard

Something about my Star Trek fandom that I’ve talked about elsewhere but only ever really hinted at on Tumblr is how and when I first got into Star Trek. Strictly speaking, my first encounter with the franchise was when I would have been about 11 or 12, I think. A TV channel was showing a one-per-week marathon of all the Star Trek movies (Nemesis was out by this point, but 2009 was still a ways off). I was too young to really appreciate it at the time, I guess; I have small memories of seeing bits of Search For Spock, Voyage Home, First Contact and Nemesis during that TV marathon, and I liked it, but I didn’t get that into it at the time. I saw the 2009 movie when it came out, but as someone with only a little bit of Star Trek experience, I simply enjoyed it as a summer blockbuster and moved on with my life.

But then around 2011, a friend on Steam messaged me asking if I liked Star Trek - apparently some online game had just gone free-to-play, and the friend wondered if I was interested in trying it out. Since I had a passing familiarity with the movies and remembered enjoying them as a kid, I figured why not and then my whole life changed forever.

Star Trek Online was (and still is) full of so many pieces of lore and information and references to past shows that it utterly piqued my interest and prompted me to start watching all the shows.

As a result of STO being my main introduction to Star Trek though, be it in its original 'Odyssey Class' configuration or its (non-canon) 'Yorktown-Type' refit configuration, the Enterprise-F is "my" Enterprise, in much the same way as those who grew up watching the early movies call the Constitution-Refit “their” enterprise, or those who grew up watching TNG call the Galaxy Class "their" Enterprise and so on. That was the big hero-flagship when I was getting into Star Trek for the first time. There was a point (like a decade ago) in the game where you could go see the Enterprise any time you wanted by looking out the window in the ship requisitions room on Spacedock. I remember standing there and being in awe of it as it loomed over the requisitions room.

I am THRILLED that Star Trek Picard made the ‘Oddy’ canon. Yes, it was disappointing that "my" Enterprise was sidelined after about 30 seconds on screen; we'd known for some time that the Enterprise-F was to be slated for "early decommission" in Picard season 3, and I'd gotten used to that fact, but I wasn't ready to see an Enterprise-G quite so soon. I actually briefly went through the stages of grief over it, not going to lie, but I've made peace with it now.

I look forward to seeing what adventures Captain Seven and First Officer Raffi have on the Enterprise-G (Star Trek: Legacy?), and I'm hoping that at some point, we might get a show, or at least flashbacks, set on or around the Enterprise-F during its prime (maybe Prodigy, since its about the right point in the timeline, as per Terry Matalas and Dave Blass’ lore about when the canon version of the ‘F’ launched).

As much as I would have liked to see more of it in those episodes, the Odyssey Class Enterprise-F, "my" Enterprise, will forever be part of Star Trek canon now and I am so grateful!

[abigail-nicole]

DS9 Watch Notes

“Star Trek Deep Space 9: What if the Nazis ran a shopping mall but now they're gone and you have to be in charge of the mall” - my spouse

Season One

I grew up watching Star Trek my entire life. Even like Discovery and Enterprise which no one but my mom liked I’m pretty sure

but somehow my parents, white christian conservatives, didn’t watch DS9……hmmmm

anyway I finally in 2024 started DS9, and we start with an intense hot mess in opposition to every other well-ordered utopian Star Trek

DS9’s instant cast of marginalized characters, a chaotically destroyed space station, Sisko hating Picard??? strong writing choices

“When governments fall, people like me are lined up and shot” -Quark

“Never trust ale from a god-fearing people” - Quark

So DS9 came out in 93-99 … vs 87-94 for TNG, then 95-01 for Voyager. And TNG got all the star trek money because DS9 sure didn’t. Man these special effects are bad

Cool that Sisko and Dax, neither of whom are Bajoran, get to go on a Bajoran spiritual journey. Not weird colonial appropriation vibes at all

Tumblr really wants me to ship garak & bashir and quark & odo…. fine

Julian so excited Garak came and talked to him he went and told all his friends, who all think he’s annoying with no coping skills

I knew Julian was autistic bc tumblr but I wasn’t prepared for how much he’s exactly as annoying as a second year medical student

ACAB includes Odo

You could absolutely do something interesting with the ferengi, because a culture that puts an explicit price on everything and doesn’t believe in the implicit value of things is a great way to do social critique of what a culture implicitly and explicitly values. Too bad Star Trek never does this

For how much there’s Gender in this show, don’t think S1 of DS9 passes the Bechdel test

The best part of DS9 is when the holodeck fantasies come to life and Bashir’s sexy submissive version of Jadzia Dax meets real Dax and she smirks and goes “I understand, I was a young man once”

Odo defines himself in relationship to Quark. what is a cop without his criminal. he wakes up & thinks “what is Quark doing right now.” girl love yourself

I’m really enjoying the cardassians. Aliens on Star Trek tend to be one note. Vulcans love logic, Klingons love honor and battle…. Cardassians are just humans. Plus the cardassians get to be played by good actors and have complex character arcs

The way half the characters say “bazhoran” and “bay-zhor” and half (incl Kira, but not all Bajorans) say Bajor and Bajoran

Jake & Nog friendship is the future liberals (me) want

[pixiedane]

Star Trek Picard and Trauma

I want to preface this by saying I am thoroughly enjoying S3. I've noticed a marked improvement in storycraft and pacing, the characters and relationships are lived in but not stagnant, and thus far the treatment of trauma has been respectful and moving. However, I've noticed some trends wrt whose traumas are centered and how they are presented.

Content warning for: childhood and generational trauma, loss, death, and spoilers for Star Trek: Picard through episode four.

Picard: This series is and always has been about Picard's trauma. He is also the only one who was allowed to have a traumatic arc in TNG and the films so the writers have a long history to work with. The story should and does center his trauma and the wild thing is he actually is better at interpersonal communication post S2! In S3 Eps 3 and 4 he uses actual words to describe his emotions and his needs to Beverly and to Jack. He diffuses the Shaw situation with a little smile that tells Shaw he understands and a request to work together. He allows himself to be vulnerable in small moments. It's growth.

Picard's main trauma response is fight. He's known as a diplomat but in times of danger or fear he fights. He spent all of Ep3 seeking a fight. Heroes fight so it's the easiest trauma response to write for/most common to see in a positive light.

Riker: Will's trauma was revealed in S1 but it was a plot point and character beat, we didn't see him dealing with it. Now we see the profound impact losing his son had on him, we see why he gave up his command, and why his family is fractured. Riker's trauma is painful to witness and Frakes is incredible in the role.

Riker's trauma response, now, is freeze. He's lost too much already to risk losing more. He's stuck in the trauma. That's why he prioritizes keeping the ship intact. That's why he can't record a goodbye message to Deanna. It's the opposite response to Picard's, which sets up a great conflict and then coming together.

Beverly: Like Dahj and Yvette before her, Beverly's trauma guides the narrative. Unlike Dahj and Yvette, Beverly has a point of view and is an active participant in the story. It's a huge step up from S1&2, and from TNG, and should be celebrated. That said, Beverly's trauma, and Beverly's story, is entirely related to men. Mainly to Jean-Luc, but also to Jack I, Wesley, and Jack II. "I lost my parents" including her mother as well as her father is the only nod to a woman. Beverly was raised by a single (grand)mom and became a single mom twice and none of that ends up in the story. Beverly's motherhood is all about Jean-Luc's fatherhood and that is a missed opportunity.

Beverly's main trauma response is flight. She literally fled the legacy of Picard. And that's been true all along, she's run away from relationships and emotional entanglements and regulations she doesn't agree with. But backed into a corner she fights. Sometimes with a phaser rifle, sometimes with a surgical implement, sometimes with her brain.

Shaw: I clocked Shaw's abrasive personality as a trauma response from the beginning and I guessed it was Borg related (to be clear that indicates good storytelling). He's now begun his atonement arc and has already won over the characters and audience.

Shaw's trauma response is "asshole" aka fight. He's a specific type of character that Hollywood loves to write.

Seven: I have so much to say about Seven. Seven's entire arc, since Voyager, is based in trauma. In Picard S1, Seven exhibited a fight trauma response. She was in a bad place emotionally and she responded by shooting, shouting, and drinking. She was alone, which is especially terrible for someone who grew up in the collective. But by the end she'd integrated into Picard's band of misfits. Then in S2, Seven exhibited a fawn trauma response. She was afforded respect and affection that she'd been starved for her whole life and she'd do whatever it took to keep it, even give up her own identity. And that, too, is related to her childhood, in which she wasn't allowed to have her own identity. Now in S3, she's exhibiting both fight and fawn. She's playing a part, a part she hates!, by putting up with Shaw's abuse because she doesn't want to lose her new Starfleet position and community (collective). But she's also fighting it, and she's spent every single episode so far stomping around the halls in a tear going after various bad guys. S3 Seven is closest to Voyager Seven because she was absolutely walking the line between fight and fawn throughout Voyager. It made her super complex then and it makes her super complex now. But Picard Seven is a Strong Female Character™ and I miss the vulnerability of Voyager Seven. Jeri Ryan is absolutely playing it, but I don't see it in the writing, the way it is for Picard, Riker, Shaw.

Worf: Worf is "working on himself" and I love that for him! It's not clear what prompted his zen makeover or what the end goal is. It is, perhaps paradoxically, still a fight trauma response. He's in the zone. I love his interactions with Raffi, but I also have concerns. I think she needs validation more than tough love and tea.

Raffi: Raffi wears her trauma like a cozy sweater and she is constantly and openly punished for it. Every single person she talks to in the first three episodes berates her for choices: the Orion drug dealer, her anonymous handler, her horrible ex Jae, her son by proxy, Sneed the Ferengi gangster, and no longer anonymous Worf. Raffi explicitly asks for support and the answer is always no! Finally, in Ep 3, Worf accepts her as his partner in crime, but he is so condescending about it! I love that he calls her by her full name but it does come across as judgement: no one will take you seriously if you are angry and sarcastic and go by a cute nickname. Raffi deserves so much better than this show ever gives her.

Like Shaw, Raffi's trauma response is to make her trauma everybody else's problem. Unlike Shaw, she gets absolutely no respect from the writers or the audience for it.

Deanna: We haven't seen Deanna's trauma onscreen in S3 (unlike Will, we did see some of it in S1) but we've heard about it. Unfortunately, it was described as literally mirroring Will's emotions which, YIKES.

Jack: My precious boy is truly his parents' son. Beverly's and Jean-Luc's childhood traumas created the circumstances of Jack's childhood trauma. Like Beverly he was raised by an older single mom to doctor the needy and marginalized. Like Jean-Luc, he was raised by a loving, frightened mother and an absent, distant father. Jack grew up to be precocious, independent, brave, and compassionate — and yearning for but equally afraid of commitment and connection. Beverly and Jack read codependent to me, but the ease with which they are integrating Jean-Luc back into their life (which, again, I see as due to his growth since S2 even if that's an accident) is promising. I'm excited for their circle to widen even more when they meet up with Deanna, Worf, Geordi. It won't be easy, Beverly's flight burned bridges, but I'm excited. I also demand more of the Jack and Seven dynamic. I half hope he tells her about his visions before he does his parents (tell someone Jack, I beg you). Seven is outside the TNG family, but connected to it through Picard, and that's what Jack needs. She will protect his identity separate from his status as Jean-Luc's and Beverly's son. And Seven totally needs a little brother so it's win win.

Conclusions so far: Obviously, we're only 4 episodes in, but they've laid the groundwork. I think it's safe to say the writers find it easier to write men's trauma with respect than they do women's. Again, Beverly's treatment is a gigantic improvement from Yvette's. But it's still centered on men (and the frank discussion of the personal trauma that led to her decisions was notably written by two women). And Raffi's treatment hasn't improved yet (I do have hopes! please don't dash them!). I'm most worried about Deanna. I hope she turns back into a person when we see her irl instead of on a screen.

[thecurioustale]

(Re)introducing Galaxy Federal

This is the third and final part in my (Re)introducing Series, and the one that I've been looking forward the most to writing, because I've thus far held details about Galaxy Federal very close to my vest. Here's a look at my big sprawling sci-fi world.

Galaxy Federal is a lot newer than The Curious Tale, though with the passage of time I can no longer call it truly new.

The first stirrings began in the late 2000s when I created the character of Mereidi Basilisk, my spiritual successor to Samus Aran of the Metroid franchise. I love the mysteriousness, desolation, exploration, and eeriness of the old-school Metroid, especially the ones I grew up with, Metroid II and Super Metroid, and I like to dwell on stories like the ones they inspire.

The other big sci-fi source that I've always wanted to do my own take on is Star Trek, with its optimistic future, sense of wonder and exploration, and commitment to humanism. I began imagining a story about a starship on a 20-year mission to travel to a charted but unvisited star system, to build a massive colony and install a faster-than-light gateway to connect the system to the rest of civilization. This story involved a captain modeled on the Goddess Venus, someone so fat and bountiful that she had a second body just to get around in, as the first one was too busy luxuriating at home. It was shaping up to be a decent story, but then winds of fortune changed:

I gradually converged the two vibes, Metroid and Star Trek, together into one catch-all, one clear counterpart to The Curious Tale, and early in the 2010s I began conceiving of a story about a completely different starship on which Mereidi was a crewmember. I had an idea for a "walking simulator" video game—which I would still like to do at some point—where Mereidi wakes up after a medical procedure and finds the ship seemingly deserted.

Nothing came of that idea at the time either, but gradually I became more and more interested in the captain of Mereidi's ship, a gaunt and short person with silver hair named Cherry. She's the one who finally became the nucleus of a story that stuck.

"Galaxy Federal" refers to the entire legendarium as a whole, not any one specific story, much how "The Curious Tale" refers to everything set in the world of Relance. The name comes from a few things: 1) It's the name of the government; 2) it's a nod to the endearingly bad translation of the title screen of the original Metroid, where Samus receives her mission orders from the "Galaxy Federal Police"; and 3) it's descriptive, as I love thinking about and depicting bureaucracy. (Do you remember the video game Control a few years ago? Good grief I loved that game! Not for the gameplay or the mechanics, but for the brutalist aesthetics and the ridiculous inanity of this shadowy, quasi-competent US government agency whose purview is the realm of the supernatural. Delightful!)

The world of Galaxy Federal is set roughly 162,000 years in our future. In that time, humanity has spread across the entire Galaxy and is now in the process of beginning to infill the many star systems it initially skipped over. In this way, human civilization is a lot like an archipelago, little star-islands connected by extradimensional roads called Galaxy Vectors (modeled after the National Interstate Highway System) that allow the full breadth of the Milky Way to be traversed in a matter of weeks instead of millennia. Even so, relativistic physics are an important presence in Galaxy Federal storytelling, as the movements and communications within star systems are mostly relativistic, as are voyages to star systems with no Galaxy Vector access. (That's why Galaxy Federal is set as far in the future as it is: At sub-light speeds it took humanity a long time indeed to traverse the Milky Way to set up its Galaxy Vector system.)

Galaxy Federal represents a future where, at some point between now and then, humanity decided that the most efficient, most profitable, and most resource-minimized solutions aren't always the best ones. Dark indeed are the logical implications of the endless quest for more efficiency, and, among other things, there is no room for humanity as we know it in such a future. So, in Galaxy Federal, you will often see people doing things in ways that are not necessarily efficient so much as fulfilling. It's why starships have human crews at all. It's why people eat costly cakes and burgers instead of optimized nutrient slime. It's why people often visit each other in person to talk rather than using electronic communication. And so on.

The future of Galaxy Federal is essentially a human one. Galaxy Federal posits the "lonely Earth" scenario of intelligent life being extremely rare to evolve, and so there are no "alien" civilizations, no Klingon Empire; virtually every sapient being we encounter is a descendant or creation of humanity. But humanity itself has grown much more diverse. So, while many if not most meat-bodied humans look more or less like you or I do, there are all kinds of exceptions—both pragmatic for the purposes of living in different environments, and also aesthetic (because some people just really want to fly). In the time of Galaxy Federal humanity has taken control of its own evolution, and the practice of body modification has progressed extensively, so there does exist everything from bird-people to tree-people—all human in lineage. (There are also rare instances of members of other quasi-intelligent Earth species, like crows, lifted up into sapience.)

Humanity is broadly divided into three groups: 1) the "old humans" who live in meat bodies, though these bodies may be heavily modified; 2) the people who exist entirely within virtual worlds and have no physical body but are otherwise like "old humans" in intellect; and 3) people with constructed intelligence, who may exist in physical bodies or purely virtually; these people are what we would call artificial intelligences (or, sometimes, artificial general intelligences) today. These three groups of humanity are not "factions" in the political sense; there is no storytelling that I care to wring out of setting them against each other. Rather, they represent three different modalities for experiencing the world. And all acknowledge their human lineage. There is no "us versus them" mentality, for instance, when it comes to those whom we would consider AI. Everyone is human.

The political conflict, rather, emerges geographically, economically, and ideologically. For example, Galaxy Federal (the galactic federal government) controls most of the settled Galaxy, but there is a breakaway civilization as well, and war exists between the two. Galaxy Federal member states are like states of the United States in that they enjoy broad self-governing autonomy while still being subservient in some matters. Thus, the quality and texture of life is quite variable across the Galaxy.

One thing to appreciate about the civilization of Galaxy Federal is that everything is really, really big. Starships are huge; megastructures abound. There is a lot of hard science fiction to be found in this—and a lot of me running around behind the scenes with my hair on fire to make sure I don't accidentally create a ship so big that its energy requirements exceed the available energy of the Universe or some damn nonsense like that.

That's Galaxy Federal, the series, the franchise, the legendarium.

But what about the actual novel that I'm working on? Well, that's the novel about Cherry. It does have an official title, but I haven't announced that publicly yet, so for the time being the working title is "Galaxy Federal Inaugural Novel," or GalFIN. 😏 (Just kidding, though that does sound like some kind of fun miniature-golf-adjacent leisure sport.)

I've said very little as yet about this story publicly, even though it has been in active development for over seven years. Here is what I can say about it today:

Diwa ng Seresa, more commonly known by her popular epithet Cherry Ilyapa, is a famous starship captain—the most successful and admired in all the War Sectors. But life is not easy for her, and she often skirts the line of oblivion. Now she is being promoted and reassigned, but on her final voyage she sees an upsetting photograph of a battle that she fought in many years ago. When she gets permission to investigate, Cherry and the Starship Sevenge unwittingly begin a journey into the unknown from which there is no return.

That's not the best back-of-the-book blub you've ever read, I grant, but it's the best I could do on short notice. Several fundamental details of the story and its arrangement are still in flux such that it is difficult to write any synopsis. But hopefully this does the job of intriguing your curiosity without giving away too much and/or becoming wrong or outdated in the future.

And I think that about does it for (re)introductions! Let me know if you have any questions.

[docholligay]

Let me clarify here: I don't think I'd go to the mat saying TNG is the *best* Star Trek, but it is the one I grew up with, and so is the one I enjoy and have fondness for. Happens all the time that things we grow up with we assign more merit to. They got to show concepts that we DIDN'T KNOW were tired and annoying, and when you're a child, solving something immediately feels fuckin great. This is actually why I caution people against recommending a show to me they grew up with--you don't have an objective gaze. And by you I also mean me. I am well aware that Sailor Moon is not actually good, storytelling wise, or even character wise ahaha, but it is good to me because it was a thing I grew up with that fulfilled a need for me at the times it came back into my life, and so Haruka and Michiru grew up with me, and became the people they are in my head.

When I think of TNG, I think of the feeling of sitting cross legged on the ugly beige carpet of our living room in front of our too old TV, my mom sitting on the blue and pink couch we had where the threads were coming off. I never sat on it, it was too scratchy. I think about the way she made a bag of microwave popcorn and split it between us, and how it was just her and me, because my dad hated it and my sister was easily scared. I think about how I loved these ideas that had never fucking occurred to me, so young, and how I envied Picard's bearing and calm in the face of fear, and how I wanted to be like that (unfortunately I became a shit-talking goblin, oops). The goodness or badness of the show is surpassed by the memory of what it was to be watching it at five or six or seven years old. Such as it is with so many things.

So yeah I bet the other shows ARE 'better'. I actually am not sure what order they go in. I've seen some of the original, Voyager, DS9, and Discovery, and DS9 was the only other one I continued on with for awhile. But better and favorite are very very different words, and I don't claim one follows the other.

[ladyblueberrymuffin]

Media literacy doesn't just mean "I can enjoy a problematic thing in fiction that I know would be bad in real life". Media literacy also means you can pick up when a non-racist writer writes a character as racist to make a statement, and when it's just the writer's own racism slipping in. Hell, sometimes it's very complicated, sometimes a writer criticizes racism while also having their own internal biases slip in (The way B'lana Torres is written on Star Trek Voyager makes my blood boil, it's like the writers are criticising her for her internalized racism while also validating her, it feels like a biracial person written by a white writer. They wanted to talk about internalized racism, but it feels like they didn't realize just how over the top racist they made B'lana. If she was talking about any real life race and not Klingons, you'd be horrified).

Stories reflect the people who made them. Which makes them hard to evaluate because people can be full of contradictions. A sexist guy can criticize a more blatantly sexist guy, hell, he can use the fact that the other guy is more sexist to convince himself, and you, that he himself isn't.

"How can the MCU be military propaganda, it shows military characters as villains". IT CAN BE. Blaming the problems with the military on pantho villains, individuals, bad eggs, shifts the blame away from the system. It's Illumination's Lorax with O'Haire. "I can never be this guy, he's evil, and I'm not, so I am not doing anything bad by supporting capitalism."

And here's the piece of advice that helped me: You can be wrong, and that's okay. It's a learning experience. You don't have to get it on the first try. And you can still enjoy stuff like MCU, the reason we're saying this stuff is not to forbid anything or call for a boycott (except for a few extreme examples where the money goes directly to evil organizations and we have more control over it), but to make sure that if you watch it, you don't fall for their traps. And if any of this stuff makes you not enjoy it anymore... is that a bad thing? It means your tastes have changed, you are now free to explore other things. It doesn't mean someone ruined a work of media for you, it means you grew as a person, and the stuff that's been in there always is no longer acceptable to you.

And this can be wrong too, you can grow further and come back to it, and recognize the bad elements, but still enjoy the good, or you can never come back to it, and ahift to other things that you enjoy even more, than you might have never discovered, because you devoted yourself to that one thing.

We are changing constantly, constantly learning, but being on the lookout for problematic things is helpful when evaluating media. Sometimes it can go too far, but that's also part of the learning experience for many people, they mellow out with time.

And lastly... stuff like Sokka being made not-sexist and removing lines from Ursula's songs shouldn't be blamed on consumers, on "Tumblr kids with no media literacy", or even on idiots on he internet who grasp at straws to prove modern media is racist or sexist in some silly attempt to make progressives out to be hypocrites (Like those people who jumped through hoops to make She-r out to be homophobic for making a lesbian a villain). This is shifting the blame away from the system, that doesn't listen to us as much as we would like to believe it does. It should be blamed on the fact that these projects are still written by white male writers, who know they're not part of the minorities they represent, so they try to be as unproblematic as they can be in fear of getting judged, when the solution would be more women in the writers room, and more research, and those men actually being allies and consuming media made by women. Because then, you actually get stuff like She-ra, where lesbians aren't these unproblematic, sterilized perfect beans, but actual human beings, with problems, and flaws, and corruption arcs, and redemption arcs and just... good stuff!

Lastly, you don't fucking need permission to write your fanfiction where the guy is kinda sexist, and it's enemies to lovers and it's hot. By all means, be in control of your narrative, clap back, but don't be afraid to tell your story from your perspective. No matter how hard you try to educate people, there will be idiots who hate you for what you're doing, so we will have to find other ways to deal with that. I say we, because I am struggling with it too.

We're constantly learning.

[justmaghookit]

@therottenkingsreckoning

There is a special place in my heart for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie. I'd say it was foundational to how I enjoy scifi. I also adore Star Trek Voyager, though I know its not the most beloved of the franchise I grew up watching it with my mum. I suppose you can say my favourite kind of scifi is a story about being lost and finding your way back home. Or finding a new one.

I recently listened to the audio book of This is How You Lose the Time War, which gave me that same feeling. But far gayer. Go read or listen to it if you haven't already, it was truly fantastic. Its hard for things to really grab my attention these days but that book took me by the hand.

As for least favourite? Its hard for me to really dislike something, but modern reboots at the moment really irk me. Star Trek Discovery was a major let down, it failed to capture the sense of adventure the original had for me. Not to be all "tv is too dark and gritty these days." But a lot of these modern adaptions take themselves to seriously! Scifi benefits greatly from levity and wonder in my opinion. Unless your scifi is specifically a horror, it should have moments of fun. But hey even horror benefits from comedy.

[syrena-of-the-lake]

Tagged by @wingedflight, and tagging anyone who wants to play along!

8 Shows to Get to Know Me

Star Trek Voyager: my original found family fandom! I grew up wanting to be Janeway, and yes, dammit, there is coffee in that nebula. I love all the Treks, but this was *mine.*

Looney Tunes: I maintain that Bugs Bunny is a cornerstone of a classical education. And you can learn physics from Roadrunner cartoons. See? Educational!

Bullwinkle: Moose and Squirrel — the original himbo and the plucky sidekick — plus Boris and Natasha. What’s not to love? (Now you begin to understand my sense of humor.)

Castle: So much snark and banter, plus a sweet father/daughter relationship (with more snark and banter). Yup, on brand.

Siren: I only just discovered this but it is my new obsession. Feral mermaids? I’m all in.

Gargoyles: my middle school obsession. Magic, mystery, a Beauty-and-the-Beast type relationship, high-tech bad guys vs. solid stone… it was awesome. I made so many notebooks of new gargoyle characters.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: the sass! the found family! the UST YEARNING. My mom would have loved this show.

Gunsmoke: I grew up watching this with my dad and still do. Great writing, great characters, great stories. (And some silly episodes like the time Mary Florine’s brothers hid a prize bull and a still underneath the school, with predictable results, but that can be fun too.)

As soon as I post this, I know I will smack myself in the forehead and want to add more, so I will get a head start by adding honorable mention:

9. J.A.G. My first TV ship, and possibly the first time I stumbled across a fandom website. A revelation.

10. Everything Star Wars. No, I can’t pick just one! The first and forever fandom of my heart, I am living for the explosion of new content, but I will always love the original trilogy best.

[bylightofdawn]

Okay next chapter of AFWBST is edited and pre-loaded onto AO3. I just need to post it. Also? I shouldn't be allowed to write author notes at midnight, my sassy side definitely comes out a little more than it should. So that might need to be tweaked.

I also kinda...forgot my entire weekend is going to be eaten up because my brother and his family are coming into town on Thursday. So I need to pre-edit Seeds and the next chapter of AFWBST and prolly pre-upload those as well so I can just post.

So I'm not too sure how much writing I'm going to manage this week if I'm being honest. But eh editing totally counts so I'm not stressing it. I think now I'm going to go watch an episode of Discovery and call it a night. I really need to get my ass up to take a shower tomorrow rather than sleeping until the very last minute. I'm trying to get as much pigment out of my hair so I can do a fresh dye job Weds night. I was going to do that today but...that didn't happen.

Though lemme tell you, Lisia got me re-reading Bones/Spock shit today at work and my brain is kinda in brainrot mode. I think I need to make peace with the fact I can't hate on Star Trek just because I am a dyed in the wool Star Wars fan. I grew up watching DS9 and Voyager but my excuse was always those were the cool Trek shows because they weren't like the others yadda yadda absolute bullshit. Cause I 100% have Star Trek OTP's from the OT (though really more the reboot franchise movies)

[dgcatanisiri]

Discovery ending with this next season frustrates me, because I feel like it's got so much more it can do - this final season is going to be the chance to really explore the 32nd century, now that the big events of the Burn and reuniting the Federation are pretty much wrapped up. Discovery is able to really explore the strange new world of Star Trek's far future... And we're about to wrap it up?

Plus there's the fact that we're only getting two seasons of Captain Michael Burnham, which definitely disappoints me, because sure, the whole series has been about her growth and development from fallen first officer to redeemed captain, but I still feel like there's so much more we can see with her, to say nothing of the other characters, several of whom I feel like haven't even really gotten to know.

Or the fact that, while Discovery has lasted for more seasons than TOS and Enterprise, it's still going to end with fewer episodes than either, while I grew up on TNG, DS9, and Voyager, shows that got seven seasons of roughly twenty-six episodes per, and ended like one season shy of a 200 episode mark.

It feels to me like (as in "I have no evidence for this and am basing this idea solely on vibes, so I understand entirely that I may be completely wrong in assuming this") this isn't a natural ending for the series but a dictate from on high in response to the fan demand for other ideas for Trek series - pre-pandemic, the Georgiou-focused 31 spinoff was announced, expected to go into development after Discovery Season 3 finished. But then the pandemic hit, and, partway through lockdown, Paramount looked at the fan demands for a Pike's Enterprise-centered spinoff, and greenlit that, pushing Georgiou's series to the backburner, because that made five Trek series in active production (Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and SNW), and they didn't want to risk franchise fatigue through having too many shows in active development.

And as a result of that, Michelle Yeoh has been taking other offers, seen her star rise further, so Paramount probably wants to be able to have her headline a series (remember how Genevieve Bujold was initially Voyager's captain because UPN wanted a lead actor with award(s) backing their name?). So now, Paramount wants to push the series centered on Michelle Yeoh and her character. And, hey, Star Trek Picard is wrapped up, it's in its final season, it's perfect to take that open slot in development.

EXCEPT... The fans are clamoring right now not for the 31 series, but to give Seven a series. To do something more with Starfleet and the 25th century. To continue the world of Trek that was foundational for a generation with TNG, DS9, and Voyager (not to discount Enterprise, of course, but it was set in a different era). And with Lower Decks and Prodigy being animated, having a longer development period, they're basically on a different schedule than the live action shows, so something had to give. The studio wants one thing, the fans want another, and the producers of Trek decide that they are going to try to make both satisfied. With SNW even existing because of fan demand, it was safe, and Discovery, the flagship of the current era of Trek, was the one on the chopping block.

This is a pure speculation on my part, so I could be completely and entirely wrong. But this is what FEELS like is going on.

And it sucks, because Discovery has found its stride, and, even if you want to say that it continually doing these massive scale season long stories has gotten tired, that doesn't mean it was ready to be put out to pasture. Just that there might need to be some lower stakes in the series - my theory for season four, in the wake of the third season, I speculated that the season could be centered on more standalone style episodes with the overarching story of reuniting the Federation.

Now, maybe I'm wrong - maybe what they're going to do is scatter Discovery's crew some so that the characters less utilized get a starring role in a spinoff and I've got their game plan entirely wrong. I mean, my crystal ball is perpetually cloudy, so it could be I've got the wrong idea completely, and this is a natural ending point for the series. I do not know.

But I do know that I feel very much like Discovery could have sustained several more seasons, not just this last one.

EDIT: Pointed out elsewhere, this may just overall be a side effect of streaming contracts overall, the entire era of television we're in, that just getting five seasons is a sign of success of the series in the first place, given how many shows get cancelled one or two seasons in. which... Fair. Makes sense. Don't attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence/corporate dictates.

Still. I don't necessarily feel like that discounts my vibes on the matter, either - it could be that they were willing to wrap Discovery here and not push back like they would have at other points in the series' production BECAUSE they had multiple alternatives to bring to the forefront of other Trek series.

Of course, I could just be saying this as a grumpy Trek fan who is totally down for enough Trek to exist to have an entire network based JUST around airing different Trek series 24/7, so I WANT to have fifty series of three hundred episodes a pop, want more of every Trek series regardless.

[memetrash-coyote]

for ye ask meme:

Mina: 🍕 🍎 (individually, mind you,) 💀

Ra'd: ✨ ✂️ 🧠

Adelita: 🎹 🍀 🍩

This will probably go under a cut~

Minalkar:

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

Paprika hendl, especially if it was spicy (which wasn't as common when made at home, as her brother couldn't handle the heat like her)

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like?

Overall positive, though there were certainly some... well guardians are never perfect, right? Ciramath (bio mother) made sure the twins grew up well and clever, and is arguably who got Mina interested in trains. Beriorion (bio father) was be awkward with the twins as they grew up, but loved them dearly and told them often. Bertrand got in trouble with the others a couple times because he'd muse about learning more about Mina's infernal relations with the vague notion of doing experiments, but he was supportive of the twins' interest in magic. Mirdan was the most physically affectionate of the guardians, and taught Mina how to shoot with a crossbow (even if the others thought he taught her at far too young an age). Vercion was generally supportive, though he was not the best one to go to when she had a problem (especially if it was an issue with her brother; he'd likely laugh). Ever youthful Helena doted on the twins, but she never really stayed physically close.

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias?

... would it be on the nose if I gave her necrophobia (fear of dead organisms)?

Ra'd:

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

Staring at Behind-the-name >>' I liked how Ra'd felt and the fact it means thunder felt good for a druid.

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

Mmm gotta dig a little. I'd say it's the first time someone decided she was an aggressor she's a large half-orc.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

Honestly it's more about the mess around her. It was the year my dad died. I was asked to join while I was in Brazil. I made her with Jess after being in the air for 10+ hrs and being awake for over 24. All this mess, and when I look at her, I see it all, and it's lovely. She's got my love for my dad, my awkward feeling with my family (not really feeling part of either one), my messy vibes with gender (thoughts that often results in a shrug), all these feelings I had that October 2017, and I adore her.

Adelita:

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

Making music was originally her hobby. Now she'd joke that teasing Rieta is her hobby.

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

Hmmm. Well, honestly, I was watching Star Trek: Voyager, and I enjoyed B'Elanna Torres as a name (also I adore B'Elanna) and it's cadence. Oh, and Fried Green Tomatoes a lil bit.

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

Well, if Raszi's recently ruined Adelita's flirting with Rieta, she'd say that Raszi's her arch-nemesis.

[nerdstrings]

As odd as it seems, I’m relatively new to Star Trek tumblr. Not new to Star Trek — I grew up on VHS tapes of every TOS episode and related intensely to Spock from a young age. I pushed the limits of bedtime to watch TNG and Voyager. I’m not too sure why I never ended up watching DS9 at the time, and I remember falling off with Enterprise during its airing, but I’ve always clung to being a Trekkie as a core part of my identity.

Which is why it’s so odd to have reached my late 30s and suddenly feel like I found My Captain.

I’ve had captains my entire life. Starships and science officers have been my love and safety no matter how poorly I fit anywhere else. But then Pike showed up, in brilliant gold with a smile and heart to match, and maybe it was my circumstances, who I’d grown into becoming, the way my values seemed so at odds with how people were screeching to tear each other apart, but oh, reader, he snatched me up in a bear-hug of warmth that felt like home. Star Trek was once again a place of radical understanding and kindness, of science that was fiction but achievable, somewhere I wanted to be, not just watch. For the first time since I was a tween, I felt truly connected to the stories being told through the exploration of these strange, new worlds.

Point being: any Star Trek you love is Star Trek worth loving. Old or new, series or movie or book, find what’s Yours and hug it back.

Had to read some post this morning about how no Star Trek after Enterprise is actually Star Trek and only fans of any new Star Trek are actually trekkies and bla bla bla. People said the exact same thing when Ds9 came out but predictably the 90′s shows have now been completely incorporated into Trekkie gatekeeper mythology.

As a note to all people interested in being part of this fandom: 

I don’t care what Star Trek you have watched or how much of it you have watched. I don’t care if you identify with being a trekkie or if you identify with it so hard you sleep in a Klingon uniform. 

You are welcome here, on this blog and in this space. If you see gatekeepers like that being pissy about your interests and stuff that brings you joy, ignore the fuck out of them and go out searching for the good, inclusive, friendly and accepting Star Trek fandom that exist here.