#and he just. chooses to be one big odo.

[engagemythrusters]

odo should split himself into multiple odos more often

[episodicnostalgia]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 109 (Mar. 14, 1993) - “Move Along Home”

Teleplay by: Frederick Rappaport, Lisa Rich & Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci Written by: Michael Piller Directed by: David Carson

This is the episode where…

Sisko makes first contact with a game-obsessed species, so they make him and his crew hopscotch for their lives, while Quark places bets because it’s his fault. No one thinks this is funny, and it is treated with the utmost seriousness, but also it’s fine for some reason.

The Breakdown

It’s an auspicious day on DS9 as Sisko and his chief staff (Kira, Dax, & Bashir) prepare to make first contact with an official delegation from ‘the Wadi’, a new species from the still-mysterious-and-exciting Gamma Quadrant. Naturally Sisko rolls out the red carpet, but his guests have little interest in diplomatic formality, and ask to be taken directly to Quark’s bar so they can play his games of chance. What could go wrong?

Initially, not as much as you’d think. …Initially.

The Wadi are quite taken with Quark’s Dabo table (essentially, Space roulette), much to Quark’s chagrin, because they keep winning. Since Sisko is also kinda bummed that his new guests seem to have no use for him, he selects Quark for babysitting duty, leaving express instructions to keep the Wadi happy. Unfortunately, Quark is… well, Quark, so he promptly orders his staff to start cheating so he can win his money back. Predictably, the Wadi call bullshit on Quark's scam, and insist that the only way to reconcile their grievance with him is to play “an honest game,” and they’re not talking about monopoly!

…because they’re aliens and that’s a human thing, but they did bring their own board game, called ‘chula’. With the opening of a box, Quark’s Dabo table magically scientifically transforms into another gaming surface [It’s hard to describe so feel free to reference the weird triangle frame, with multiple bridging levels, pictured above]. Basically, the game starts Quark off with four pieces which are placed near the top of the “board,” and then he rolls the space-dice in order to get them safely down to the lowest level, while placing bets. Simple enough, right? If you said yes, then …come on. Really? This is Star Trek, so clearly there’s gonna be a catch.

You see somehow the game has simultaneously transported Sisko, Kira, Dax, and Bashir (who were all asleep in their quarters) into some kind of virtual/alternate plane of existence (it is never explained). It turns out that the pieces on the board are all avatars representing Sisko and the gang, who are made to participate in a series of increasingly difficult (and seemingly dangerous) tasks. Of course all of this is unbeknownst to Quark, who unwittingly chooses the difficulty-and-nature of each new challenge, while placing wagers on their success.

Eventually Odo figures out that something is wrong when Sisko and his team fail to show up for work the following morning. His investigation leads him to Quark, who is finally brought up to speed, but unfortunately it’s too-little-too-late. The Wadi explain that the only way for Quark to get his people back is to safely navigate them to the end of the game. Naturally, this goes poorly, and Bashir is evaporated (he was kind of being annoying though, so honestly no big loss), and the others all fall down a bottomless cave shaft to their doom. Quark loses. The end.

Just kidding.

I mean, Quark does lose, but Sisko and co. are all perfectly fine, and instantly transported back into the bar safe and sound (somehow). Upon Quark’s realization that his friends (using the term loosely here) were never in danger, the Wadi are like “well duh, it’s just a game, man. But also you’re a douche,” and make their exit. Since a major diplomatic scandal has presumably been avoided on the grounds that no one died, the Wadi are free to go; likewise Quark is also off the hook for... reasons, I guess.

The end. For real this time.

The Verdict

There are a not-insubstantial number of fans who would regard this as the worst episode of the series, and I can see why, but I honestly can’t entirely bring myself to hate on it that much either. The main point of contention for most folk seems to be that the Wadi’s game is ultimately revealed to be harmless after 45 minutes of implying the severity of the situation. It’s a fair criticism, and certainly a part of the reason I won’t be giving this one a high rating, but I think the greater sin is that ‘move along home’ is mostly kinda boring.

Some of my favourite Star Trek episodes are also the most ridiculous, and they succeed specifically by leaning into that silliness. As alluded to in the opening paragraph, one of the games Sisko is forced to play does legitimately involve playing a game of hopscotch while reciting a children’s rhyme. Historically speaking, none of that is inherently out-of-place for Star Trek, and a perfect opportunity for some comic relief, but the scene falls flat, and feels kind of cringy, almost as if everyone involved was embarrassed (except Avery Brooks. That guy always commits). The rest of the episode tries to lean more heavily on traditional life-and-death drama, but even that feels stifled by (I’m guessing) budgetary constraints. Likewise, the sequence with the most impressive set piece (the rocky cliff that everyone except Bashir falls over), drags on for way too long, with the aforementioned lack of pay-off.

But it’s not all bad either. We do get a chance to see a little bit of Quark’s humanity (for lack of a better word) shine through when he believes that he’s responsible for the safety of the players. It’s also nice to see the dynamic between Sisko and his officers in an unconventional situation, and there are a handful of other character moments (which I’ll touch on below) that were enjoyable, if not enough to save the episode outright. Ultimately, there’s no denying this is a ‘growing pains’ episode, but there is something to be said for watching the creative process unfold as the show finds it’s legs, even as it stumbles.

Less “Bleh,” and more “Meh.” I’m giving this…

2 stars (out of 5)

Parting Thoughts

Super-Tech: We need to talk about the Wadi’s technology for a second, because these guys seem pretty stacked, and it’s just sort of brushed over. For starters, they activate the “game board” by opening a small box, that instantly replaces/reconstitutes Quarks Dabo table into an entirely different structure (and then returns it to it’s original state, after they’re done). Then we have Ready-player-Sisko and his team, who are all transported from their bedrooms, and into… somewhere. We know their physical bodies are no longer on the station, and that’s about it. Are they in a holodeck of some kind? Has their consciousness been uploaded into a virtual plane? Are they in some sort of alternate quantum-game-realm? At one point Odo tries to beam over into the Wadi’s ship, hoping to find the missing crew, but he’s thwarted by a bright flash of light that just transports him back into Quark’s bar. However the Wadi do what they do, it’s clear they’re technologically advanced enough to give the Federation a run for it’s money. Bearing in mind, we’re only ever shown how these people apply their technology towards recreational games, but it doesn’t take much to imagine some fairly awesome (and potentially horrifying) alternative applications. At the very least, you’d think they would have made a valuable ally against the Dominion (I mean, who?), but this is the last we’ll hear from the Wadi; Well, at least on this show (they make a brief cameo on ‘Lower Decks’).

Diplomatic Cover-up: I feel like Quark would have faced considerably more severe consequences over scamming the Wadi if this had happened on the Enterprise, but upon further consideration it kind of makes sense that Sisko would let this one slide. After all, the Commander did abandon his guests (who he was responsible for establishing good relations with) just because he was bored; worse yet, he left them alone with Quark! Sure, he’s a lying-capitalist-scumbag, but Sisko knew all that when he blackmailed Quark* into staying on the station! So I figure ol’ Benny decided to keep things quiet, in order to avoid having Quark snitching to Starfleet about how their newly appointed Commander shit the bed on his first major diplomatic assignment. [*it happened in the Pilot, although I failed to mention it in my review]

Parental Guidance may be advised: The closest thing this episode has to a B-Plot, is when Sisko finds out that Jake and Nog spend their downtime together, scoping out the young Bajoran ladies. Sisko has misgivings over this, on the grounds that Nog is both a troublemaker and a Ferengi. Interestingly, I’ve seen a few online threads with people arguing that Sisko is being intolerant towards Nog’s cultural upbringing, but I’m more-or-less with him on this one. Amongst other things, the Ferengi tend to be deeply misogynistic (let’s just say, they got problems, as the show will go on to highlight), so I think it’s reasonable for Sisko to express some concerns about his son taking dating advice from a young man who was raised to believe that women shouldn’t have rights (or clothing). This also nicely plants a seed for Sisko’s own relationship with Nog, as that character becomes further developed.

Security Breach: The previous episode introduced us to Lieutenant Primmin, who was brought in as Starfleet’s Chief security officer (but second to Odo as “head of security” under the Bajoran Provisional Government; gotta love Politics). Primmin shows up again in this episode, when Odo goes up to ops in search of Sisko and Kira. Primmin’s main contribution is when he reluctantly (because regulations) beams Odo into the Wadi ship, and then he’s never heard from again. Like, ever. I’m assuming the original intention was for him to return as a recurring foil for Odo, and was then forgotten/dropped in favour of more pertinent characters and storylines. But according to my headcanon, he was quietly fired (aka “transferred”) due to his critical lack of care and initiative over the disappearance of four chief staff. The dude hardly even sat up in his chair when Odo brought the situation to his attention, which is not a great look. So long Primmin! I’d say you’ll be missed, but I’d largely forgotten you existed in the first place.

[saturnine-saturneight]

Oc profile tag

Tagged by @noblebs [here] and @tragedycoded [here], ty!!

I don't want to choose between Nat and Ron, so I'm doing both, haha.

This one's for Ron. Nat's is [here].

Name: Aarón Odo

Nickname: Ron, various fake names

Kind of being: Human

Age: 20

Gender: Agender

Appearance: Ron is afro-brazilian, tall, wiry, with a head he usually keeps shaved pretty close to the scalp. He has square, sinewy hands, big brown eyes, a long oval face, and a scar that runs down his left eyebrow and down onto his cheek. His left eye is a prosthetic. He dresses comfortably, preferably in fun, bright colors, and generally prefers practicality over beauty. His ear lobes are pierced, but he just keeps the same studs in and never swaps them out.

Occupation: Thief, pick pocket

Family members: Parents, various siblings, more extended family. He's not in touch.

Pets: None right now.

Best friend: Nat, Teo, Haru

Describe their room: He lives in their shared car, but generally sleeps in hotels, motels, and tents.

Way of speaking: Very animated, a lot of grinning and laughing. A bit hoarse, no volume/pitch control in places, can get a little squeaky. He's a tenor.

Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude): Hands are always doing something - being shoved in his pockets, gesturing, rubbing his neck, finger guning, etc etc. Moves very loosely, he's got long limbs. Because he's blind in one eye, he likes to keep people on his seeing side when he's walking next to them. He slouches a little.

Items in their back pocket/purse: Ron keeps his knife close, even if he uses it less often than Nat. He has a second one for carving, a pack of cards he practices shuffling and card tricks with, and he's usually responsible for the car keys.

Hobbies: Street magic, carving, drawing.

Favorite sports: Likes playing and watching soccer. Wrestles with friends.

Abilities/Talents/Powers: He's an incredible pick pocket. Quick hands, good at card and disappearing tricks. His aim is often better than he anticipates. He's a worse liar than Nat.

Relationships (how they are with other people): He's an easy guy to get along with! Makes for good company. He's a trickster and a mean hyena on occasion and makes jokes on other people's expenses, but he will spook if he gets the impression that not everyone is having fun and feelings are genuinely being hurt.

Fears: Confrontation, ending up alone.

Faults: Ron is avoidant. He's good at comforting other people and working out their issues with them, but he won't face his own head-on. He won't hold still, and can't stay in one place very long without getting antsy. He also doesn't like talking about himself and his feelings, and prefers to be seen as just a fun-loving dude without a trouble in the world. Somebody asking him how he's genuinely doing makes him squirm.

Good points: He's great at thinking on his feet and keeping his head on straight. Without Ron, Nat would be long dead. He's also genuinely kind and caring, despite everything that life's thrown at him. And even without much of a formal education, he finds a lot of joy in learning and stays curious.

What they want more than anything else: Ron needs a quiet, safe place to lay his head down. He's tired of the way he's living.

[bagheerita]

finally finished DS9 and decided to post some thoughts in one big blob

I was honestly about to give up on season 7 and put the rest of this show to the side for a few months, but then Ezri and Worf have a 3 episode arc sorting out their relationship, only talking to each other because they're marooned/imprisoned, and I was so charmed by them being loud and messy that I managed to bull my way through to the end. I love the two of them as friends, they are adorable. 

I actually really like Damar and his arc, and it’s pretty rare I say that about a character who killed my favorite. 

I feel like the reason Section 31 exists, and they keep forcing episodes about it upon me, is because they wrote themselves into a corner with inventing the changeling disease to kneecap an unbeatable enemy and didn’t know how else to fix it/end the war except with secret secret spies. 

Ezri has this whole speech she gives to Worf about dismantling structures of power and I feel like they needed to end the show before anyone was like, hey the Federation kind of sucks and we should definitely do that. 

Garak’s mom showed up and everything was good in the world again.

Ezri and Julian are like “can’t deny the chemistry.” lol babes that's called being a young attractive allosexual. "Chemistry" is what Worf and O'Brien have in all the scenes where they're mocking you.

I’ve never felt the truth of the phrase “I support women’s wrongs” so intensely as I do with Kai Winn. I love her and I want to give her everything. I didn't love her getting assaulted by Dukat, but when she knows everything that's happening and chooses the pah-wraiths anyway, yes fuck it up. When she poisoned Dukat I was like, hot damn if this character dies as a footnote in someone else's quest for power I will forgive everything that this show has put me through because of him. But we can't have nice things. I did like that her last act was to choose to take their victory from them, and give Sisko the clue he needed to beat them.

I do love Martok but I feel like he’s going to be about as good a chancellor as Robert Baratheon was a king. 

Odo is The Last Unicorn, but with brain-melding: he’s going to share his experience of loving a mortal with the other immortals. I still don’t “get” him and Kira as a couple, their relationship literally went from -20 to 100% after a single all night conversation locked in Jadzia's bathroom and no actual onscreen development, but at least I believe that they believe they’re in love. 

Why the ever loving fuck is Julian so obsessed with the Alamo. Every time they bring it up I want to grab him and Miles and shake them. I get that it's supposed to be some sort of metaphor for fighting a hopeless war, but really? You want to go up to the fake room where you can do/be literally anything and you're going to repeatedly reenact a battle where you die to defend your right to have slaves and practice settler colonialism??? Even in the last episode they’ve won the real war and they’re still obsessed with reenacting this old battle. They also spend that one episode trying to figure out how to win the Alamo… babes, that actually happened: it’s called the Battle of San Jacinto- learn some actual fucking history, your side won the war. This isn’t about metaphors anymore, the metaphor has failed, now Julian just has a neurosis.

The Dominion War plot line goes on for way too long and there is so little internal emotional catharsis. (Maybe because for me the things that were supposed to be cathartic just induced more rage? 🤔) The ending was fine as far as character wrap ups but felt pretty rushed considering how long it took us to get to this point, and I really think they needed more time to handle the denouement. The overall pacing of the episodes/seasons is terrible: you wasted like a season and a half puttering around, with whole episodes where you forgot to mention the war; you added in mirror-verse episodes without bothering to use them for story or character development; Quark is one of my favorite characters but there are too many episodes about Ferengi shenanigans that do not impact the actual plot; there are whole scenes and arcs dedicated to a character who does not (within the internal logic of the show) exist. And then you slammed all the development into the last half of the last season. I'm not surprised now that I forgot this entire show after watching it while airing because it’s emotionally exhausting. I've compared DS9 to SGA in the past, but the Dominion remind me of the Ori: You've killed the enjoyment I found in this show and have made it a chore to watch.

I do like that what ends the war is Julian’s determination and Odo’s compassion. You've proven the Founders wrong, but this entire plot thread was so poorly handled that I don't know that anyone remembers one mention from four seasons ago about why this war even started and, honestly, standing on a planet where you just murdered millions of children it's kind of not enough. I like that they let Garak kill the last Weyoun, and I adore the scene where he lets Kira take the phaser, but honestly he deserved more. It wouldn't solve anything, and I think there's a nice parallel in Garak's fears inspiring him into attempting genocide being incredible grounded in reality and the Founder's similar fears being negated, but he deserves it, the head Founder deserves to be torn into tiny pieces by grieving Cardassians, and I deserve to watch it. (I also desperately want Garak to find out about Section 31 and the changeling disease just so he can be like, "Oh so when I try to commit genocide I get 6 months in jail, but when the Federation wants to commit genocide that's okay?")

I don’t know who on the production team is so invested in Mark Alaimo getting a paycheck, but by the end Dukat as a character has long outlived any interesting qualities he may have had at one point. The final battle shit with the pah-wraiths was pretty underwhelming; except for the deeper exploration of Winn's motives that this season has allowed for, "The Reckoning" was such a better structured episode. (At least at this point they've let Kira go off and be awesome without being forced into episodes with Dukat. The sheer amount of abusive old men sexually attracted to much younger women in this show is frankly unnecessary; I will never be able to unhear Curzon say he flunked Jadzia from the symbiont program because he wanted to bang her, and Dukat’s relentless pursuit of Kira especially/even after we learn he sexually assaulted her mother is disgusting.) 

I have mixed feelings about Sisko, and his character having a “white savior” role with the Bajorans. Like, I guess it’s a cool twist that he’s a black white savior, maybe that's the best the 90s can do, but also can we decide to not write stories where we give foreigners positions of power over recently subjugated peoples??  I was feeling pretty yikes about it especially after the beginning of this season and learning that he was basically genetically bred by the Prophets for the position, but… I dunno, I’m probably not someone who can or should have a deep opinion about this. I do like that arc for him as a character outside of what it means for the Bajorans, but his ending feels too open. I wish we got to know more about what he learns from hanging out with the Prophets, and I wish that the great "sorrow" he suffers from disregarding the visions felt more concrete. Kassidy is really the only one sad about this, Sisko seems excited to exist outside of time. (And I feel like a lot of the "yikes" of the character could have been fixed by making the character be Bajoran? You wouldn't need to invent a reason why he was chosen by the Prophets. He could even have been raised on Earth and still have those ties, and I think it would have made the pull between his duty as an officer and his duty as the Emissary more interesting. Also can you imagine if Jake and Ziyal were both half Bajoran and hanging out with each other??? But they don't pay me to write shows.)

Why do Miles and Julian have the gayest final montage? It's literally the first of the montages and they start it up over "The Way You Look Tonight" and I was just like... wtf did I accidentally put in a fan video? Miles is the only person in a relationship who has a montage without any mention of their significant other, though I guess Worf's does jump from his first meeting with Sisko straight to season 5 clips so they didn't mention Jadzia either. I love that Miles and Julian have such a deep friendship, and I feel like this show could use more interrogation of the concept of love and the fact that platonic love/friendship is just as important as romantic love, but the production has spent so much time "no homo"ing every relationship they can think of that it just comes off as bizarre. 

All the bts things I’ve read about this show pretty much amount to the production being like “we had no idea what we were doing with this character” which, when combined with the failure to manage season structure and some of the utterly bonkers episodes this show threw out there, leads me to believe that pretty much anything I enjoyed about this show comes from the actors. This is definitely a show I feel like I’m going to be “rewatching” through fanfiction and gif sets before I ever rewatch the entire show again. 

[youngpettyqueen]

unpopular opinions ask ds9 edition: black heart and broken heart

I forgot about the emoji asks I reblogged for a second and was sitting here going "I dont remember an episode called black heart and broken heart I need to go look it up for my hot take on it" and then I. remembered. good morning I promise im awake

YES good questions lets see...

🖤: Which character is not as morally good as everyone else seems to think?

DS9 is one of those ones where I feel like most people get that literally everybody has moral nuance and everybody either lives in or dips into grey areas. that said, there is sometimes a tendency to over-babify Julian and act like he's done nothing wrong ever in his life, when that is very much not the case. I love him, he's my favourite, he's rewired my brain, but like. while Julian does staunchly stick by his own moral code as much as he can, he does show a willingness to do some fucked up shit. see Extreme Measures- Sloan is horrible, yes, but what Julian does to him in that episode is fucked up! see also his suspect behaviour towards women at times. and Chrysalis, where he pursues a relationship with Sarina- I know this one's hotly debated, but at the end of the day, Sarina is his patient and it is wrong to pursue a relationship with her. granted, on that one, Star Trek did love to do doctor/patient relationships in the 90s regardless of whether or not it would be in character for said doctors to pursue said patients, but still. it happened, I will acknowledge and include it here as an example that Julian isn't perfectly morally good

I feel like this take on him stems a lot from how its a widespread headcanon that he's autistic- a headcanon I share- because people tend to infantilize autistic characters which is. incredibly frustrating. I dont see it super often, but it tends to run in circles where people treat Julian like he's an insecure sad child and therefore could do no wrong. I could do a whole rant about that lol

💔: If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME I LOVE THEM ALLLLLLL. I genuinely dont know who I would remove. removing any one of them is devastating to me personally I love themmmmm but also removing any one of them would lead to some major differences in the series which I think could be fascinating to explore? some examples-

removing Odo would, in my opinion, have a massive impact on how the crew of DS9 interacts with the Changelings and the Dominion War. I do wonder how not having Odo around would affect how they approached the engineered disease against the Changelings- it was easier to protest it and try to find a cure when their friend was suffering, but if it was only the enemy? I wonder how that would've shaken up

removing Kira could be a big shake up with Federation/Bajoran relations in a scenario where instead of having a Bajoran as his secondhand, the Federation assigns Sisko a Starfleet First Officer. even with several Bajorans onboard both as Bajoran Militia and as civilians, I think without a Bajoran as his secondhand, even with his status as the Emissary, Sisko and by proxy the Federation's dynamic with Bajor would've been a lot more tense and maybe even hostile. beyond just being a Bajoran though, Kira specifically is so fiery and passionate and willing to butt heads with and go against Sisko, that taking her out and having somebody less fierce, less angry in her place would've also massively shifted the dynamic

I dont know if Garak necessarily counts as a major character but im counting him- I would be fascinated to see how the crew navigates some of those more morally dark scenarios without the convenience of handing it off to Garak or getting his help. In The Pale Moonlight without Garak would be a VERY different episode. it'd be interesting to see just how far people would be willing to go, without the convenience of someone like Garak around who's more than willing to do the dirty work

removing Ezri from the last season would be an interesting change in how everybody handles Jadzia's death. with Ezri there, there's this space that's filled, if only in the physical sense of another body filling that gap because, of course, Ezri isn't Jadzia and it isn't the same. it would've been interesting to really feel that absence through the last season- its desperate times and maybe nobody new can be brought in, and the crew just has to deal with this gap in their lives now. always one empty chair, one empty space, the absence of a laugh, a witty remark. I wonder how this would've affected the way everybody grieved, how things would've progressed differently, if Ezri wasn't there to help things along

just a few examples there, I honestly cant settle on a character I would remove, but I think removing any of them makes for a fascinating change in the series and how things progress. the one character I would say you absolutely cant remove is Sisko- you NEED Sisko in DS9, you cant take him out. anybody else you could take out and it could be interesting, but Sisko is a necessity he has to stay

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time. last night we watched ds9's "sons and daughters" and "behind the lines." "but liz you were going to watch voyager" dw about it

sons and daughters:

being real this episode kind of sucked. it's because i don't like alexander and i'm only lukewarm on ziyal, depending on the sitch, and this was a bad sitch

i feel like both kira and odo's plotlines here and in the following ep were just retreads of what happened to them last episode, but worse. kira having her big moment of realization last episode that she is becoming complacent and complicit in what's happening means very little when dukat almost manages to woo and charm her with his daughter and a nice new dress (absolutely SICK that he turned it around and gave it back to ziyal btw)

also like...ziyal is a really nice girl but knowing what we know about dukat 1. he called leeta in his office in that flashback episode presumably to fuck her 2. has a half-bajoran daughter 3. tried to physically block kira from leaving his office and also touched her face once 4. i know the big spoiler about who he was fucking from 6.17 and that it was not consensual. like, if ziyal chooses not to see this. because he's her dad. of course nobody can blame her because he's her DAD. but also, i feel like if your dad is a rapist and colonizer and you love him then maybe don't hang out with the people he's been raping and colonizing and go :( but nobody accepts me

like in the end, with kira, kira was like i'm not gonna make you choose between me and your dad but i refuse to fuck w him so i think we need to chill and ziyal is like :( damn lost another one because dukat's my dad...love and light, girl, i know he is your dad but the call is coming from inside the house

i also like. does it suck ass that worf didn't talk to his son for five years? yeah, but they CHOSE to make him do that. they could have just as easily chose to have him call every saturday and send birthday gifts and take vacations to earth. idw bust their balls or anything because they do SUCH a good job w jake and sisko but its very tired to make worf a black dad to a multiracial kid who just doesn't step up and dumps his kid on whoever will take him

like he tried SO HARD in tng. alexander's mother hated klingons (despite being half klingon) and she made him hate his own culture to the point that worf who was RAISED BY HUMANS was better in touch with his heritage and he tried. Everything. he tried so hard with this kid. he spent time doing klingon stuff. he spent time doing not klingon stuff. he tried to train him as a warrior and then he allowed him to be something besides a warrior. and alexander was CONSTANTLY unhappy. and now we're like yeah worf didn't talk to him for 5 years 🥰 fuck off

behind the lines:

SIMILARLY TO MY KIRA COMPLAINT. odo also expressing concern for order and like, not wanting the bajorans to protest because he's afraid of the backlash and crackdown was also explored last episode. and kira was like yeah that's dumb we gotta do something and he was like ok! because he loves her. and i liked that a lot

i can see him having problems in this episode with the exact particulars because he's concerned and because he doesn't like chaos but i also don't see him being such a huge dick about it like just leaving the room after saying no...no, you know, i could see him being a dick, but he is not stupid. this was BEFORE that evil mommy shifter showed up and he was still doing this. kira FLAT OUT TOLD HIM i will fight you if i have to. and he immediately capitulated because fighting her would be both emotionally painful for him and really difficult logistically because she's good at what she does

i don't really get why he would tell the female shifter all those deep feelings he has about kira when he doesn't like or trust her and i DEFINITELY don't see him linking with her after specifically being asked not to. it's so so so rare that odo lets anything get in the way of his job, and it's always a big deal when he does BECAUSE you can depend on him like clockwork. this whole episode felt like odo character assassination

but quark..............................................

oh my best friend quark

i could still do odo/kira e quark. i could

i like

when he got that cardassian drunk

when he got the cardassian drunk and he was like batting his eyelashes at him and then drinking him under the table WITH THE EXPENSIVE WINE EVEN THOUGH HE LIKES MONEY so he could learn state secrets because

HE WANTS THE FEDERATION BACK. HE WANTS TO SELL ROOT BEER AGAIN

HE CARES!!!!!! even when he was tricking himself into saying this occupation wasn't so bad he pointed out the lack of ghetto fences and remember during that occupation HE SOLD FOOD AT COST

huge strides in the me community for quark this episode. and i did with my mouth call odo a backstabbing whore. so it's a weird place to be

TONIGHT: ds9's "favor the bold" and "sacrifice of angels" if i'm lucky.

[leohtttbriar]

🛼🍄🔪🦷🦋🦴🏜️🍬☁️🧩 (lol I know this is a lot, whatever piques your interest!!)

heyyyy!

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

here's a kiradax one that i'm not sure i'll ever finish for reasons but i yet have the urge to write: 🙏😩💦🌊🪱

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

so i really like t'pring/uhura because i think there's a sort of quietness to them that remains steely and resolved. just looking at how the characters function in the show, it's easy to see how they had so much oomph for their moment while being the kinds of characters now that few people notice or pay attention to. like, for uhura it's nearly impossible to find any content in fan spaces that's about her alone, despite her being a big main character in snw; which probably just speaks to misogyny and racism but also might have something to do with the fact that the character was written to do a lot of watching/listening originally and people don't know how to interpret that. but despite her lack of real character-attention, she gets so many moments where she sets her jaw and does her duty but also does what she thinks is right (also nichols did a very good job of implying this full person in the character of uhura, even if the show was so rarely focused on it). and t'pring has like ten seconds total of dialogue in tos but she's still so in control the entire episode she's in, in charge of the lives of several people, and we simply cannot be mad at her for it because she's right and logical and doing the only thing she can to ensure she is free to choose.

all that being said: my head canon for this pairing is that they aren't enormously expressive, that they're dutiful and bound to each other in this really quiet way, that they grow together sort of privately, keep each other to themselves, and that even when they're standing side-by-side you can't tell what they are to each other. part of that is me just really enjoying vulcan logic and non-expressive emotion. but part of it is extrapolating based on their characters in the show and how they didn't have to be shouting to be heard or seen. the story kind of honored them in the way the story knew how to do at the time.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

necessary components of a crop-yielding soil

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

personal wisdom: sometimes it's easier to capture a monstrous wasp on your kitchen counter if you call your mom and just have her on the phone while you do it

🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately 

i've been thinking a lot about a quote from stephen jay gould, as he was describing the work of people who had first started to put together the geological time scale and history. i can't remember the exact quote, can't find it anywhere, and i lost the book but it went something like:

"not for the first time, or the last, scientific discovery was achieved not by clever thinking but by careful doing."

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? 

bridge of spies, dir. by steven speilberg.

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

lol i love all comments, truly. they're all precious. i guess i love most the comments from people who love the characters as much as me.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

my most unpopular opinions are about winn adami but i wouldn't call her a popular fandom character. my unpopular opinion is that she should be.

another unpopular opinion that i've probably heavily implied a few times but maybe never outright said: odo is an annoying character, to me. he just seems like the best expression for a lot of mid-90s male anxieties/ennui that i find uninteresting. i think odo is conceptually worth so much but the character fails to carry it in a way that convinces. he was confronted with the wrong people too often. one of the only times he was confronted with the right person was with lwaxana troi but, alas, she was not by his side for all seven seasons.

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

my first username was leohtebewunden which is old english for "bound/wound by/with light" which is a pretty image and also i need sunlight So Much. but that was long so i shortened it but then i was reminded of the word "briar" in a poem randomly and added it to my username bc i love it. it's a good word.

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

if the punctuation/grammar is just really wrong. that's less to do with me being there are proper ways to do things! and more like if you've read a lot of books, you would probably know how punctuation works without having to think too much about it. it's like banning brown m&ms in your rider.

[aceofwands]

Oh wow, hi us from a decade ago!!!

We were SO onto something with this. And I have like, so many more thoughts a decade later hahaha.

I used to be impressed/pleased that Kira was (at the time) the only main female Trek character who was given multiple long term love interests, like compared to most of the others who had like *a* endgame one true love she was actually allowed to have boyfriends who were more than just the rando love interest of the week! But in the decade since I really have come to be less impressed by that because those other relationships ... well they end up being about Odo more than they do Kira???

Like I can't help but side eye the fact that her relationship and chemistry with Bareil is so, well, flat - and even the original acting moment where Rene showed us all (including the writers) that Odo was in love with Kira, happens when she's telling him that she loves Bareil!! And then we get Shakaar, and have an entire fucking episode where it's all about how painful it is for poor Odo that Kira is in love with another man and he has to play bodyguard. Instead of being about, like, Kira, and her feelings about this relationship.

Like, in many ways I still like and enjoy Kira/Odo, but in so many other ways, the way that the show presents it - showing us all the angst and tragedy of unrequited love from Odo's side, while ... not really giving Kira's relationships or feelings for other people as much weight or emphasis, and then also not really showing us how her feelings for Odo changed into romance, has really soured me on their relationship.

And honestly, this episode is a big part of that. Odo's love for Kira being the thing that changes the fate of this planet (and not, oh, I don't know, everyone's very real families and loved ones waiting for them back home!!) and being presented as this selfish choice in opposition to everyone else's noble sacrifice ... I mean it's a bit yuck lbr. Why shouldn't the rest of the crew want to go home to their families rather than knowingly consign themselves to this fate?? Especially knowing Kira is going to die! Why is future!Odo the only one who cares about that apparently??

But it's also part of the same problem I have with the way that Odo choosing to stay on DS9 instead of return to the Founders is "revealed" to actually be about his love for Kira, and not his opposition to the Dominion's fascism and authoritarianism!!! .... like, really, we never actually see Odo grapple with the fact that HE holds some of the same desires/attitudes/beliefs about needing to control everyone around him and uphold order that his people do. He doesn't ever, unless I'm seriously forgetting something, even bring this up or have a moment of going, fuck, has the way I've been doing my job as security chief been wrong??

Like it would have made his storyline so much stronger if his opposition to returning wasn't just about his love for Kira but about him really grappling with the fact that his idea of "justice" was actually a latent desire for control, based on the fear embedded in him through his people (since he is, presumably, also made from the same genetic stuff as the rest of the Great Link, however exactly that works). Like fuck, how much more powerful would his storyline have been - and his romance with Kira - if he realised that he was just as much a product of the violence, oppression and trauma of both the Cardassian Occupation AND his people's persecution from the solids in their distant past, as Kira was. Like it's all kind of there, implied, in the background of his character, but making it explicit could have been so powerful - and a really interesting way to bring them together on a deeper level.

Let’s talk about DS9~~~

Okay, this was a strange one. I was actually putting off watching this episode, because when I saw it about 10 years ago, the Odo/Kira feels were devastating, and I didn’t want to deal with it again.

And this time around, older Odo deeply weirds me out and makes me…

[shittystartrekheadcanons]

Here are my next gen book club headcanons:

When Data gets to choose a book for the group to read, he takes it very seriously. He takes into account the tastes of people who frequent the group and tries to pick a book that will be liked by a majority. He also looks for books that would be thought provoking and encourage discussion amongst the group. That said, he is a big fan of the "no plot, just vibes" genre. His latest pick was In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan.

Deanna Troi is also a big fan of "no plot, just vibes" because of the emotional aspect of it. It can be easy for her to get caught up in all the emotions of the books, so she does try to arrange her current reads so that they won't exacerbate any negative emotions she might be feeling at the time. The first books to come to mind for her are Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler, or The Pisces by Melissa Broder.

William Riker's taste in literature is all red flags. He is not a red flag, and his taste in books doesn't necessarily make him a red flag when you view it in the context of the rest of him, but if it was viewed independently it would be concerning. Absolutely the kind of person to suggest Fight Club to the book club and then use it as a chance to discuss the toxicity of men. He definitely reads Murakami, Palahniuk (I think his favorite of Palahniuk's novels would be Diary, which I might be saying because it's my favorite, but that's not important), Catcher in the Rye, Clockwork Orange, but *also* Ottessa Moshfegh, which is a holdover from when he was dating Deanna and would read books with her. He would not read bukowski because he's actually a decent man.

Where do I even start with Picard? He reads everything. He prefers more serious works, he likes screenplays, he loves a good classic, but he will read anything, especially if a friend has recommended it (especially if that friend is Data). He would show up to the book club meeting where he gets to pick a book and excitedly tell the other members that his choice is the complete works of Emily Dickinson, or The Importance of Being Earnest, or a work of Shakespeare's. He has a soft spot for Hamlet as the actor who portrayed him in a show he saw when he was young was his bi awakening.

I've said it before and I will say it again, Geordi reads poetry. He prefers longer form, free verse poetry but will read anything, and finds it especially interesting to read the poems containing political commentary from centuries gone by. He very much enjoyed Picard's suggestion of Shakespeare's sonnets. His most recent choice was Helium by Rudy Francisco.

Worf is a man who reads books about world war two. Not the twenty fourth century equivalent of that. Specifically world war two. His adopted father was probably the same way and they bonded over a shared enjoyment of these books. He can branch out from that genre if pushed, and also enjoys the work of Erik Larson. Also, unlike Odo, he's not the kind of man who reads exclusively non fiction. His world war two books can be real or imagined and he loves them the same. He is not a fan of "no plot, just vibes."

Q has all the time in the universe to read whatever he wants, but he likes trashy, quickly written novels the best. Think, the kind of thing you could get as a mass market paperback at a grocery store, or something that was hurriedly made into a made for TV movie. He attends every book club meeting, much to Picard's disdain, and has insisted that, as one of the most dedicated members, he gets to choose books sometimes. He's working on making the crew read through the entire pretty little liars series and he's very proud of his work thus far. He delights in seeing Picard point out all the flaws and Chekhov's guns in the texts. The crew is unsure of whether Q genuinely likes the books or just revels in the suffering of the rest of them. The answer is yes. He also likes to bring up controversial discussions such as separating the art from the artist, but each time he bases his opinion on the matter on what the most people will disagree with, or what the loudest people will disagree with. He compares each of Picard's choices to Twilight and has surprisingly valid points.

Wesley reads the Warrior Cats series. I will not elaborate further.

Beverly doesn't do a lot of reading, and, when she does read, they tend to be best sellers that have a lot of hype surrounding them. It's not that she doesn't like to read, it's just that she doesn't have a lot of free time and tends to prioritize other things.

[deepspacedukat]

Moving on from cursed Odo content, but do you think Bajorans have ridges on their penises like the ones on their noses? I feel like Odo would try and look more Bajoran so Kira would be comfier.

Anton Mordrid is so pretty thank you for the tag!

Vulcans getting more emotional while pregnant is so good, but I have a feeling the male Vulcans would also be susceptible to feelings because of hormones and touch telepathy.

Also… I wonder if a Romulan would see someone making a female human/federation species upset or uncomfortable and attempt to do a protection. Just swooping in dramatically at the party and take them away to the opposite side of the room which is conviently hidden by people and/or plants.

-Horta-in-Charge

Oh, that’s such a good thought. Knowing how thoughtful Odo is, he probably would do that for her. 🥺 Also yes, I choose to believe that Bajorans do have ridges on their dicks. It may or may not be because Bareil is fine af.

You are very welcome, friend! 💙✨ Gotta share the pretty wizard mans where I can!! He looks so good in blue istg.

Oooooh, I never even thought of that! 👀 The telepathy would definitely make the pregnancy emotions a two way thing. Good thinking! Hey, @azorastarr, Horta had a big brain thought you might be interested in!

That sounds really cute and heroic tbh. I feel like some Romulans totally would. Knowing that the human is out of place and is being made to feel uncomfortable by someone else...Yeah, I feel like that would give them a pretty good window to go all protective. They’d obviously have to be one of the Romulans who didn’t think humans/other Federation species were inferior. But yeah, I could totally see them doing that and then trying to charm them in a much more respectful manner, because Romulans may be deceptive but they’re still dashing. *cough*Strong Telek R’Mor vibes*cough*

[i-can-bench-220]

theme songs of each mystery inc. member? (and if you feel like it, their own group theme song?)

this is a wonderful question anon, thank you!!

i decided to choose these songs based on my own very specific music taste, and just what felt the most familiar/close to my heart. even if you don't recognise them, i still hope you enjoy this post and the songs if you decide to give them a listen!

fred — the only house that's not on fire (yet) by lemon demon

i made it when i was an architect this is just the side effect

although fred's own music taste is canonically a mix of early rock & roll with showtunes and acoustic (which is amazing), i think this song is just perfect for him. fred is routinely the franchise's physical and emotional punching bag, but he's remained a positive and enthusiastic leader through it all. thus, i thought that a song about turning negative emotions into positive ones would fit him so well! the fact that it mentions neckties in the very first verse is just an added bonus.

daphne — odo by ado

half-ass deserves a k.o so be it, if you're light-hearted

yes this song is in japanese, but i couldn't pass it up for daphne! i've been associating it with her ever since i heard it. i love the theme of boxing/fighting, spicing up the mundanity of life, and of course lines like "i'mma say what i want". the lyrics of this song are kind of abstract overall and have multiple interpretations, and i think that's part of why it's so perfect! it's generally just so pleasing to the ears and i could definitely picture daphne singing it.

velma — the chattering lack of common sense by ghost and pals

i've been contemplating fallacies and things that scare me

the gang was not going to escape my love of vocaloid. so velma gets a vocaloid song! this is another slightly abstract one, but i love the themes of growth/change and confrontation. it makes me think of the velma that a lot of people want right now, one who is able to challenge her beliefs, face the supernatural and accept the things she may not understand. i also love the manic instrumentation and sense of confusion throughout.

shaggy — meatball submarine by mili

tonight we'll make dinner a feast just count it on me

(pretend that they’re quorn meatballs. you will pry vegetarian shaggy from my cold dead hands) mili is my favourite band, so i'm really glad to be able to include one of their songs here! lyrics about food feature in almost all of their music, but this is one of a handful that is entirely about food! but it isn't just that, as a central theme of the song is the singer asking you to "count on [them]". this very much fits my ideal shaggy, who is often scared and unsure but still wants to do his best for his friends.

scooby — run go run by kaeru underground

for scooby, i knew that i wanted to give him a song without lyrics, as i really enjoy incarnations where he communicates largely using actions. this a song is from my favourite game, deemo! again, i've associated this song with him for a long time. it's upbeat and fun, but also vaguely unsettling — i feel like it would fit well with a chase sequence!

the gang — ghost by mystery skulls

'cause the world might do me in it's all right ‘cause i'm with friends

there were lots of contenders for this one, but no song springs to mind faster than ghost when i think of the gang! the lyric i've put above i feel especially encapsulates them and their bond across every incarnation. the song has this air of hopelessness about it, but it feels like a big adventure all the same! maybe i have mystery skulls animated to thank for that? either way, it always makes me feel emotional when i associate it with the gang and how far they've come. :,)

[constablegoo]

𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 .

1. What does your muse smell like?

nothing. absolutely nothing at all. HOWEVER. if he’s in an environment for long enough, especially one with a lot of... scent in the air, maybe he absorbs a little of it. so: he probably smells faintly like Station Grime, but in comparison to the rest of the... “ambient station scent” (GJDFJ??) he’s pretty much indistinguishable. If he goes to some planet like, say one with a huge field of tulips, then he can smell faintly like a field of tulips. if he goes to one with a lot of pollution, he comes back to DS9 smelling like gasoline or whatever for a day or two. as a solid he probably just smells like whatever soap he uses (??) and otherwise like any other bajoran or cardassian? but he’s a little bit of a hypochondriac so probably he indulges in things like hand sanitizer or... cleaning products. as a changeling he has no sense of smell at all, so i reckon when he gains it as a solid its all a bit overwhelming at first for a while.

2. What do your muse’s hands feel like?

c-c-c-cold, or at least a notably cooler than you’d expect from a humanoid, or like someone with mildly bad circulation. he has no fingerprints. that’s a totally smooth-hand fella. if you hold his hand, you won’t feel individual bones, the whole hand is,,, consistent, though sometimes softer sometimes less. if you’re startled and squeeze his hand, you could crush all his little fingers into one mush if he’s not paying proper attention to them. no sweat, ever. i can never decide if he should have nails or not?? maybe it depends on the day and how busy he is.

3. What does your muse usually eat in a day?

nothing!!! can’t smell, can’t eat. maybe he survives off a nice tasty stream of background radiation or something, like some gooey filter feeder. but when hes a solid... simple things. for the first few weeks, it’s a mostly bland liquid diet (ironic). he’s obviously not in the habit of knowing when to eat, or what, and it’s... chaos. sometimes he gets really cranky because all he’s had that day is a bowl of bajoran cheerios and like 4 raktajinos. BUT once he gets it down, he settles on the same reliable things at the same reliable times every day, studies and plans out as perfectly balanced a diet as he can, and only deviates when purposefully exploring, motivated by someone else, or at an event. when he moves on to solid (haha) foods, he’ll eat all kinds of fruits and veggies and grains, the more plain, the better. he’s not strictly vegetarian considering the cultures around him, but i think when given a choice he avoids meat / animal products, partly because... he has BEEN some of those animals gjfdkg and also just personal preference. they can be awfully rich and i think for a long time anything rich beyond a small dose would make him queasy. he does not have a sweet tooth in any capacity... except in alcohol. bitter things are fine for him, because he is so bitter, but spice (like bajoran hasperat) he can’t tolerate very well. in all cases, texture is a major factor for him and it can totally keep him from eating a food he likes otherwise.

4. Does your muse have a good singing voice?

the fact that we kind of get to hear odo sing (quietly) in canon is ;-; so good. so yeah, i think he can sing in spite of having such a crunchy humanoid voice. certainly, he can match tone and pitch, and in many ways it makes sense - its just another form of imitation, and he’s plenty good at replicating the nuances of sarcasm and other vocalizations. bird noises, anyone?

5. Does your muse have any bad habits or nervous ticks?

hahahaha yes. he has a bad habit of snapping back with a rude comment (even when it isnt called for. he can be pretty defensive, too)  as a changeling, the easiest way to tell when hes unsettled or experiencing a strong emotion (including nerves!) is that he stops reacting entirely / goes blank or is otherwise unresponsive (shame...) or goes stiff. in these cases, he’s too busy experiencing whatever-it-is to manufacture a proper response (or he has no idea how to express it in humanoid terms) -- with the exception of actually losing physical cohesion... if he’s really really upset, he might literally start to melt :^) as a solid (and as a changeling when he frequently chooses to perform these responses) he’s prone to huffing and rolling his eyes (general impatience), THE ARM CROSSING he’s constantly crossing his arms, i mean Constantly, maybe its a comfort thing but its also a defensive thing and an intimidation thing and a in-control-of-the-conversation thing and a habit of his that will never die.

6. What does your muse usually look like / wear?

we all know odo is so sad and pathetic that as a solid he’d sleep in his uniform, but when he does start to wear other things he goes for muted, earthy colors (very bajoran of him), often dark, long-sleeved, very snugly bundled up, much as he’s used to being. i don’t think he’d ever go for anything flashy or fancy, even as a diplomat - he’s constantly going to be trying to get away from the way the founders painted themselves and plain and boring is his life’s design of choice. that said, i think he appreciates the intricacy of certain fabrics etc just like he’d appreciate any other detailed object or creature. and just as with food, texture is also of paramount importance. his other senses are comparable to a human’s -- but his sense of touch even as a solid is far more sensitive. as he gets older, odo continues to refine his face and appearance -- he changes a little every day, but it’s never with any particular destination in mind. in the end, he is genetically limited to stand out among other life forms, but also comes to appreciate the face he’s created for himself as his very own. he tries things like eyebrows (cursed) and defined bajoran nose ridges but by the time he does, they’re just not quite him.

7. Is your muse affectionate?  How much?  How so?

yes and no... he won’t say it much, but he’ll show it in little ways -- looks and smiles (smiles are always something he performs with a purpose) and if its in any way loving, tiny, light little touches. touch is natural to changelings and the easiest way for him to communicate, even if there is no possibility for a link. but even if he’s generally subtle and subdued, the affection is big and very much fills up the entire goo.

8. What position does your muse sleep in?

he only sleeps as a solid... and god he probably sleeps like a vampire. at first the sensation of falling asleep and waking up is really alarming to him, but it becomes a comfort and one of his favorite things about being solid hgfjkdfhjg and he probably becomes good at it, once he gets a schedule down, looks forward to it at night. if he’s with someone else, he will want to snuggle like a starfish hugs a rock :(

9. Could you hear your muse in the hallway from another room?

not unless he’s talking, and even then he’s pretty low and soft-spoken until he’s annoyed. then you can Definitely hear him gfdhjk. but if he’s just passing through, he’s soft-footed and hardly makes a sound, often startling people on accident, even as a solid.

Tagged by:  @sampati  MUAH <3

Tagging:  @positronicminds / @distantsuns / @fasciinating / @thebrazenandbold / @asynjja / @sailorvinus / everybody do this thinnnng !​

[norringtondeservestheworld]

Few days ago I was on Facebook, I saw a Star Trek page posting an article about Dumb & Dumber doing a new series. I thought for one second that it was something related to Star Trek and my heart stopped. Seriously guys. Star Trek is my favorite story ever. It’s part of me. I went to Star Trek Cons and I even have a Starfleet Uniform in my wardrobe. Just thinking for one second that these two assholes could put their hands on it made me sweat with fear.  Thanks heavens it wasn’t about Star Trek. But you have no idea of the moments of despair I had before I realized it. (PS: I love the comments LMAO)

After that, I started imagining how Star Trek (and particularly Deep Space Nine since it’s my favorite Star Trek series) would have ended if they wrote it.

First of all, after Sisko gone, the new captain of the station would be Morn. You all thought Kira Nerys would become captain, someone who already had a lot of experience in commanding and who was the captain of the station when Sisko couldn’t do it as his First Officer, but who the fuck cares, right? Let’s make Morn, someone who knows absolutely nothing about commanding since he spent all the series being in a bar drinking without saying a word, Captain of Deep Space Nine, because who has a better story than Morn?

Odo will never learn anything. He will betray again the only people who truly loved him and cared about him to be with someone who manipulated and used him everytime they met and he will choose his species above his friends because “They are hateful and so am I”. Oh and obviously all his romantic relationship with Kira was a one night stand, and not a slow burn who started as a friendship and became something else during the story. You truly thought he would evolve to become a better person and realize he is own person? Ah, you wish! And remember all the years he spent living for his job because he cared about justice and that time he had a big weight inside because he felt guilty knowing few people died and it was his fault? Forget about it! The truth is he never cared about innocents.

Julian Bashir being a good man and a good doctor for all the series who cared about others doing everything he could to save them even if they were enemies? He is gonna get crazy in the finale without a reason and he’ll start to kill innocent people because he was genetically modified when he was a kid and since Khan was genetically modified too and he was a villain, he has to be a villain too because your genetics determine your future more than your actions and the person you are.

Garak being smart for all the series will obviously end killed like an asshole without being able to do anything because apparently transform smart characters and making them idiots with a dumb death is a big plot twist.

Dukat, the main villain of the series, a selfish bastard who always used his power in the worst way, killed innocents and oppressed an entire species, someone who spent his life making others suffer, will end having a peaceful and romantic death because it’s what the viewers want, you know? Seeing a monster who they always wanted to see suffer dying without suffering. Maybe dying being hitted in the head by few rocks? Poetic Cinema.

Also, if Bronn can be the Master of Coin after spending every single thing he got on brothels in all his life, I don’t see why Quark couldn’t be the Chief of Security after Odo is gone. After all, he just frauds everyone for profit. He is perfect for that role.

[spacestation-l7]

Hey, a few questions about your OC story:

1: How does Ryan being both the Emergency Medical Hologram and an ex-borg work, exactly? I'm assuming he was assimilated like how the Doctor's mobile emitter was assimilated by Seven's nanoprobes, but how come he has borg implants? Did he choose to have them for the Aesthetic? Because being an xB feels like a big part of his identity? Because he had no option for some reason?

2: Is Jerem's age counted from when he was formed or from when he was found, like how Odo was in his 30's (IIRC), but had actually formed several centuries ago.

3: How did you come up with the name Trailblazer? I noticed you didn't go down the 'Name it after the ship' route.

4: Was Turgon adopted by an Irish couple, by any chance? The name O'Rahily sounds rather more Irish than Romulan. He also doesn't seem to have ridges like some Romulans, though that could be his hair hiding them, so, assuming he was adopted, did they think he was a Vulcan?

5: Does Jackson have a robot eye? I noticed he seems to have a burn scar around one aye and it's both green and blue, whilst the other is just blue.

6: You said Niall is Betazoid / quarter Human-Caitian and I can't work out if you mean 50% Betazoid, 25% Human, 25% Caitian, or 75% Betazoid, 25% human/Caitian to some extent.

7: Is there a particular reason why Jerem's pupils are less noticeable than the others (excluding Niall) or is that just the way you draw changelings in your art style, I've seen some people draw Odo with less noticeable pupils than other characters, so I don't know if you're doing that or there's some other reason, and if so, I'm interested in the reason.

Hi! Thanks for stopping by! (And giving me a reason to ramble on about Them :D)

Now onto the answers! :)

Short answer; Yes, the implants are mostly aesthetic features requested by the original Ryan Hagerty cause being a borg played a very large role in his development. Ryan is a one of a kind EMH, actually. A bit of story into this; Dr. Hagerty himself was assimilated at a pretty young age, managed to break free from the collective when he was found by the USS Odyssey, helped regain his previous identity, sent back to his family under close supervision from Starfleet, went to the Academy, and was also assigned into the Kaus. He died during the same mission which killed the previous captain. They managed to salvage what was left of his memory as the Chief Engineer Duncan Nagle had been experimenting with memory transfers (much like the one Dr. Graves did in TNG) and transferred most of his being and several standard Medical data into the EMH Duncan constructed based on the late CMO. Ryan was downloaded into Sickbay's computer to replace the previous EMH and from there on, confined to the ship from the holo-emitters installed but "alive" more or less. The only reason Ryan the EMH existed was cause the Chief Engineer couldn't let go of him. The constructed EMH was supposed to be sent to Starfleet as a base for the production of the new EMH in honor of Hagerty's bravery during the mission and apparent skills beyond age but due to the downloaded memories and apparent sentience of the holohram, he was no longer considered an EMH, but rather, Ryan Hagerty himself

Jerem's 30 from when he was first found. The guys that found him didn't know how old he actually was from the point of birth. All they knew was that he was found as a liquid on an asteroid and it took a few years for him to be able to take a solid form and speak coherent words (much like growing up) so it's mostly like he's 30, counted from the time he's close to maturity (when he was found) to that point. How many years he had been on the asteroid as a liquid still remained unknown

'Trailblazer' mostly cause the crew were younger than most standard on other ships and their age plays a lot of role into their characters, like Daniel was promoted to captain a week into his graduation. Also the Kaus is a new exploration ship so the characters mostly consider themselves as "pioneers", pioneers of what exactly, even they don't know. Also cause naming it Kaus sounded a bit weird to me

Yep! Turgon was found by an Admiral as a kid on a Starbase near the Vulcan system. They just kinda concluded he was Vulcan cause legit no one's gonna think a Romulan kid was stranded in Federation space. They thought he's an abandoned Vulcan child with a blood disability, and the forehead ridges weren't prominent until his early teen years. When they went to look more into his identity and found no name, no previous memory, no family, and no home, Admiral Michael O'Rahilly and his wife Kelley decided to adopt him and named him themselves. When he was about 13, the couple discovered that the boy wasn't Vulcan, but Romulan. At age 18, when he signed up for the Academy, some of the officers on the Academy wanted to take him back to the Romulan border. Turgon didn't want to go and, cause he's of age and legally a Federation citizen, they couldn't. He's the Honorary Irish Romulan

Kind of. It's not an entire robot eye, but an implant! Jack nearly lost his eye during the same mission that killed the captain and the original Dr. Hagerty, but it was salvageable with a self-engineered implant. It's not to replace the eye, but rather to recover some of the broken tissues and enhance some of their functions (much like Geordi's but it's a single ring on a single eye)

It's more like 50% Betazoid and 25% Human 25% Caitian- His mom is a Betazoid while his dad is half human half caitian. His telepathic abilities are limited to empathy (like Troi) but even though he's a psychologist with honors in psychology, he's more of a general doctor instead of a full time counselor. (Also explains why his name is a human name)

Mainly, it's an artstyle thing. Usually when drawing changelings that impersonate someone, I try to at least implement a major difference that's not noticeable at first, thus the clouded pupils. Also, to differentiate between him and the original Jeremiah Harrington cause they literally look the same

[maryellencarter]

SO! A week or two ago I got the DVDs for both seasons of "Justice League: The Animated Series", which I hadn't seen in ten years and remembered loving a lot. Spoiler: I still love it a lot. I put off watching it for a while because I was scared I wouldn't, but then I watched it pretty much straight through without even stopping to liveblog.

So. THOUGHTS! ^_^ Any of y'all who've ever shared a fandom with me know I'm always around for one particular character. In this case, that's J'onn J'onzz, the big green guy, whose official comics codename (sensibly not used on the show) is Martian Manhunter.

(There's a bit in one of the tie-in comics where a parent is telling their kid "don't be scared, honey, he won't hurt you, that's the uhh... Martian Maneater..." which has never ceased to amuse me.)

Anyway, we all know I have a tendency to give reviews in the vein of "Good story but no werewolves", and it must be granted that I never did bother watching Justice League Unlimited because Carl Lumbly (J'onn's voice actor, Minnesota born and raised with Jamaican parents, which is apparently how you get a Martian accent I couldn't place to anywhere on Earth) wasn't a regular anymore. But y'know, it's a really good ensemble team too, even if I like Tim Daly's Superman (from Superman: The Animated Series in the same animated universe) a lot better than George Newbern's. Or, well, I did. I haven't heard *him* in ten years either. Anyway! Off topic.

SO ANYWAY. Obviously, spoilers hereabouts, although it's what, fifteen, twenty years old by now? But if you care about spoilers for somewhat elderly TV, you might not be following me anyhow.

So the meta premise, just in case anybody was unfamiliar, is thuswise: First there was Batman: The Animated Series, in which Mark Hamill was the best Joker while not being an asshole as a person, because he is a competent actor and not a dickwad. Then there was Superman: The Animated Series, which I remember as being a delight and I want to watch it again too someday. Then, because apparently if you have Batman and Superman the next step is the entire Justice League, there was this.

The actual premise is, that during an alien invasion of Earth, Superman and Batman rescue a prisoner, J'onn J'onzz, the last survivor of the Martian society the invader aliens wiped out. (J'onn and Clark get little bits of bonding over the last-of-their-kinds thing but I've always wanted more. In a fandom auction I once donated $60 for a fic on the topic, but life happened and I do not hold it against the person. Still a little sad though. It's not something I've ever quite been able to write myself.) J'onn has a whole grab-bag of superpowers including telepathy, with which he summons additional heroes The Flash (speedster, this one is twentyish goofball Wally West), Green Lantern (specifically John Stewart, a black ex-Marine), Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl (a winged humanoid-alien woman with an energy mace). Together, they fight crime! Mostly.

Specific episodes: I'm going to use "episode" to refer to the runtime covered by a single title so I don't have to say "two-parter" or "three-parter" every single time, because this show had literally only one single-part episode out of the whole 52 episodes.

* Secret Origins, three-parter: In which the Justice League is formed and repels the invasion of Earth by the aliens who wiped out J'onn's people. A very strong start, good character intros. I will never be over the very small worldbuilding fact that J'onn is rescued by Superman and Batman, and has seen nobody else on Earth yet but invader aliens (these are what used to be called the White Martians but the show does not use this name either which I think was a wise choice), so when he shapeshifts from his more alien "natural" Martian form to the look which will be his default for the series, he chooses a briefs-and-cape look because based on the two examples he's seeing, that's what Earth people wear. It's not explicitly called out, but it's a great way to make it a little less... comic-booky that you have no less than three extra-beefy guys with almost identical costume silhouettes here.

I think the arc between Batman and J'onn is one of my favorite parts of this, the way Batman starts out being like "I still don't trust him" and winds up trusting him enough that it's their teamwork which saves the world this go-round. Also, speaking as a fan who likes me some whump, can we talk about the scene where J'onn is being mindprobed with all those tentacles under his skin? I have so fucking many feels about that scene, okay. God, that whole climactic sequence is so damn good. And his tiny lil smile at the end of the last episode! I do love me some microexpressions, nonetheless that they are animated. (I can't draw so I am constantly boggled by just the skill it has to take to draw a character so on-model that varying one line by a few pixels Says Things.)

* In Blackest Night, two-parter: The one where the extremely Kirby-designed cop robots frame Green Lantern into believing he blew up an inhabited planet. Introduces several alien members of the Green Lantern Corps. Flash trying and failing to act as GL's lawyer is fairly embarrassment-squicky to me; many of the things anybody does with Flash on this show are fairly embarrassment-squicky, although he does get some great moments. René Auberjonois does two voices, as a spherical Green Lantern and as the "witness" who helps frame GL. The climactic scene is great -- sometimes the Green Lantern ditty just doesn't work, but between the sound design and the animation and Phil Lamarr's voice acting, this scene blows me away every time. I feel like this one could have been shorter though.

* The Enemy Below, two-parter: In which (blond) Aquaman guest-stars, J'onn takes on the first of many roles where he acts as bait by impersonating a villain's target, and the thing where Aquaman cuts off his own hand to escape a manacle is very tastefully handled for a kids' show. I probably would have found that scene way too suspenseful and traumatic as a kid but I was an extremely sensitive small child. Opinions on this episode: I don't really have many. This universe's Aquaman is a *dick* who appears to live by the rule that you must always fight a superhero when you meet one on the street before explaining your business. I always squee when somebody turns out to be J'onn, because I've usually forgotten. (He usually is people and not animals or, like Odo more than once, a bag. I wonder if he has some conservation of mass thing going on or if it's just easier to animate when you keep your same basic arrangement of limbs.)

* Injustice for All, two-parter: Lex Luthor, dying of kryptonite poisoning, puts together the Injustice Gang to try to destroy the Justice League. He didn't invite the Joker, but Hulk expy and heavy hitter Solomon Grundy is also voiced by Mark Hamill, so the Joker naturally turns up around the point where Luthor captures Batman, commentating on Luthor's misguidedness in keeping Bats alive and generally providing a running peanut gallery. Clancy Brown and Mark Hamill are both always fun, so this one is pretty entertaining.

* Paradise Lost: Wonder Woman backstory-ish episode. A sorcerer turns the other Amazons to stone, then blackmails Diana into stealing four artifacts for him, which he assembles into a key to free the god Hades from Tartarus. Notable mainly for the extreme mangling of Greek mythic cosmology into an aggressively Christian shape. Not good. It does have J'onn and Flash teamed for a bit, which is interesting, and J'onn gets to one-punch a giant magic brass cobra, but that's about all there is to speak for it. It looks like the writer also did my very least favorite two-parter of the whole series, unless this is some sort of Alan Smithee situation, because the name is Joseph Kuhr and I have a half-memory I can't catch that there is *something* more than coincidence in the whole, you know. "Joe-Kuhr" thing?

* War World: Apparently this one was pretty nearly universally hated. I do not hate it, because the concept "Superman and J'onn are accidentally blown across the galaxy together and sold to an alien gladiatorial arena" is something I am 110% down for, but I wanted a lot more interaction between them and possibly a lot more fic. I can't decide if I actually want to ship them, but they're obviously very close and I want to see more than snippets of that, dammit.

That's halfway through season one. Imma go sleep. more later.

[croc-odette]

i love ds9 and here are some episode premises that i wish had happened

DND EPISODE: already talked about this but a dungeons and dragons holosuite episode. jake is the overly prepared DM obviously, nog, ziyal, and alexander are players. nog’s player is clearly his idea of sisko, a lawful good paladin; ziyal plays as a cardassian rogue (played by dukat, but clearly based in personality on kira); alexander plays a mage who is kind-of worf kind-of jadzia and keeps switching between them through the game). there’s an NPC version that’s clearly also based on sisko at one point, but from jake’s point of view knowing him as his dad to compare how differently jake and nog, a cadet, see him.

as the game progresses, it becomes clear that the Big Bad is based on a combo of dukat/winn (corrupt government/religious figure). ziyal struggles with the classic DND question of ‘just because i would do this, does that mean my character would?’ except she’s realizing that her dad wouldn’t do any of the selfless things she wants her character to do. alexander keeps trying to solve shit through weird cantrips or puzzle solving instead of fighting and jake is like ‘it’s not deep it’s just a cave bat please roll initiative’. bashir and garak show up as like, the old couple from the princess bride and everyone has to be like ‘jake they’re not dating in real life this rpf shit is kind of inappropriate’ and he’s like ‘wait what? i thought they were dating’. miles is an NPC and dies. nog thinks jake’s-sisko-npc is too silly and disrespectful and jake is like ‘he’s MY dad’ and they have to take a break to argue about it and jake is like ‘your dad is cool too’. nog’s character changes to lawful good paladin rom. actually this whole game is ‘arguing about dads’ time now that i think about it, which jake is not really equipped to jump in on since he has a normal cool dad who he basically just thinks is embarrassing because he’s the ~messiah~ or some goofy bullshit. ends with them calling it a day after the final boss battle and then jake and nog privately talking about whether or not they can trust ziyal if she has to choose between ds9 and dukat, which was an ulterior motive of the game. ziyal is clearly clearly rattled by what the game made her realize and goes to see kira, who she doesn’t tell about the game but who still gives her a hug, and ziyal realizes that kira’s her hero (and like, her mom). alexander tells worf and dax about the game and dax thinks it sounds fun as hell and asks alexander if they can come next time, and worf is like ‘....... only if i can be a blood mage’. nog and jake go home and tell their dads they love them. 

shit i blacked out

PRANK WAR EPISODE: escalating series of pranks starting with jadzia putting hair dye in bashir’s shampoo and ending with the space station accidentally going into a meltdown self destruct scenario. garak is torn between helping jadzia and quark, who are clearly the better pranksters, or helping julian and odo, who suck at pranks but are his lunch friends. everyone has to tell garak that he’s way too intense about ‘pranks’ which are actually just really dangerous booby traps he puts in people’s quarters. sisko ends the episode by grounding everyone; no holosuites for a month!! yes even dax

GREAT RACE EPISODE: there’s some kind of macguffin resource on a planet (a klingon escape pod with a survivor with crucial intelligence information?), but they can’t teleport directly to it. a vorta and jem h’dar team and a ds9 team beam down on opposite sides of its location and are both racing to get there first, having to macgyver together vehicles and tools on the way. lots of excellent outdoor on-location settings and comparison of the jem h’dar/vorta dynamic and the ds9 federation dynamic. ends with the jem h’dar almost winning but turning on the vorta at the last few yards, and sisko’s team beams out as the jem h’dar chant victory. no i refuse to think this is same plot as ‘the ship’ or whatever

KASIDY EPISODE: set earlier in kasidy/sisko’s relationship, kasidy agrees to go with jadzia as a third-party observer to negotiations with a nearby bajoran colony over a trade agreement with the federation. jadzia and kasidy bond over gossiping about sisko on the way, but once they get there kasidy disagrees with the starfleet’s contract during negotiations which causes tensions, and recommends that the bajorans reject it. she and jadzia get into an argument about starfleet and its ideals, and why kasidy chose to be an independent captain rather than a starfleet captain, and how that doesn’t make her lesser than starfleet captains. jadzia realizes that kasidy is right and petitions superiors for a new contract, which kasidy approves of. they go home tenser then when they left, but when sisko asks jadzia what she thinks of kasidy, she very seriously says that she has incredible compassion, intelligence, and integrity, and that she doesn’t need or want jadzia’s approval. but has it anyway

MUSICAL EPISODE: someone already outlined a great musical ep where lwaxana comes in with a betazoid cold and it makes everyone burst into song in another text post and like 100% cosigned

SHAKESPEARE EP: holosuite shenanigans; every character is suddenly stuck as someone from a different shakespeare play. garak is an enthusiastically combative beatrice, kira is cordelia, worf is hamlet, jadzia is a very amused katerina, julian is puck, miles is duncan (”i get MURDERED?”), odo is benvolio and kind of bummed he’s not romeo, etc. i actually don’t know any shakespeare play that well but i think it could be neat. julian is the only fucking person on ds9 who actually knows any of it well enough to figure out what’s going on, except for sisko who doesn’t really care for shakespeare but generally knows about the plays (maybe a good opportunity to talk about the racism in most ‘classic Earth’ pop culture that star trek tends to uphold without criticism). i don’t know shit about the 40 plays that shakespeare wrote about british kings but i could see sisko ending up in that kind of intense role and refusing to play into it, as do the rest of the characters who refuse to fulfill their respective roles and instead find another way to end the program.

KLINGON OPERA EPISODE: goodddddddd can we see some klingon opera, mac. i’ve been dying to see some klingon opera. premise is they believe that someone is assassinating ambassadors and so they tag along with a andorian ambassador who loves opera to see if they can figure out who the assassin is, however the andorian plays it down as over-worrying and that they should use it as an excuse to enjoy themselves. worf and jadzia go and have a lovey dovey time, sisko and kasidy go and have a lovey dovey time watching worf and jadzia get super into the opera together. julian is asked to go in case there’s poison used or first aid needed, and miles is like ‘the last time i went undercover i came home with trauma and someone’s cat so no thanks i hate klingon opera’ and after some increasingly overt passive aggressive implications that julian should take HIM, julian asks garak to go with him. bonus points if for some reason they are wearing the stupid tuxedos from doctor bashir i presume. a lot of loud arguing about the opera which almost gets them kicked out. at the end of the first act, one of the actors DOES try to kill the andorian but jadzia jumps in front of the phaser beam (cue worf being very concerned and annoyed that she could have gotten killed, jadzia being very smug and pleased with herself, her head in his lap, in a pose mirroring an earlier couple in the opera). julian feels like he would have noticed if he hadn’t been distracted by garak, and when it turns out the andorian ambassador has sensitive info about cardassia’s civilian government, julian accuses garak of intentionally trying to distract him to make sure the andorian actually died, which turns into a huge argument (ideally in a very opulent klingon opera house bathroom). during the argument, julian realizes that garak was trying to hint to him that something about the assassination attempt was off; he pieces together aloud that the andorian and the actor must have been in league together, to fake the andorian’s assassination so they could not be tried for profiteering by illegally selling weapons to the cardassian central control during bajoran occupation, which they are currently under investigation for. the other ambassador assasinations were planned by the andorian to cover their tracks. the andorian is arrested, as is the actor. at the ballroom afterparty, sisko and kasidy, in a good mood that everything worked out, agree to join in on traditional klingon dancing. worf and jadzia take a peaceful walk through the gardens and worf recites some really lovely klingon poetry about how sometimes it’s NOT a good day to die if someone loves you, that none of us fucking understand without looking it up. julian and garak talk on the balcony, and julian posits that garak is loyal to cardassia, but which part of it? garak answers, very close and meaningfully looking at julian, ‘like most things... it’s complicated.’

i was about to say ‘fake wedding episode’ but literally LITERALLY that was the shotgun wedding lwaxana/odo ep. i love star trek

KEIKO BOTANIST EPISODE: kira accompanies keiko to bajor to help find a medicinal plant that was thought to be wiped out during the occupation but might still exist in a remote mountain region based on local reports. a nice episode where we learn more about bajor and see how bajorans are coping and healing. over a campfire, kira thanks keiko for accepting her into their family. keiko tells kira that she was really intimidated by her when they first met, and then realized she’s one of the most loving people she knows. just a nice episode, maybe some mild nature survival conflict, but ends on a hopeful note of them finding the plant. miles beams down with the kids to have a picnic with keiko and kira, and kira’s happy to see children playing carelessly on bajor again.

JAKE AND ZIYAL EPISODE: everyone thinks jake and ziyal are dating because they’ve been hanging out. julian’s an idiot and mentions to sisko ‘must be hard, huh’ and sisko’s like ‘WHAT must be hard’ and julian’s like oh my god were we not supposed to talk to him about this. jake and ziyal aren’t dating but as soon as sisko tries to talk to jake about it jake is like ‘i’m not but actually maybe i SHOULD ask her out’ and sisko is like fuck. okay no that’s fine. this is more of a B-plot but basically give jake and ziyal age-appropriate love interests they’re both RIGHT there