#benjamin sikso

[trekdilfs]

Star Trek - The DILF Brackets CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Who is the Trek Dad you'd like to fuck the most?

[heymrsandman]

Wanna Try Star Trek?

Hi tumblr! I love Star Trek, as do many of you, but it can seem intimidating to folks who are interested but don’t really how to approach such a large franchise. The thing is, Trek���s “golden age” lived in that delicious sweet spot where tv shows outside of soap operas were only just starting to learn about serialisation. These shows were built for drop in, drop out viewing. So I’m gonna write some beginner friendly summary/reviews of various episodes and you can see if it strikes your fancy. If you decide to watch an episode I talk about, please, feel free to talk to me about it!

Also, I made a big spinner wheel of all the TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT episodes and I needed something to do with it.

Today’s random pick is Deep Space Nine’s “Indiscretion”, episode 5 of season 4.

So real quick, Deep Space Nine aired between 1993-1999 and was set aboard the titular space station. It’s still the only Star Trek show not to be based on a ship. The long and short of the premise is that, after a long and gruelling occupation by the Cardassian Union, the planet of Bajor wins its freedom. Having no means of defending themselves from something like this happening again, Bajor reaches out to the Federation (the post-scarcity multi species utopia that humanity is part of) for protection. They send a Starfleet detachment to administer the space station the Cardassians left behind, commanded by one Benjamin Sisko, who has to manage the delicate political situation. This show is by far the most serialised of this era, but nowhere near the extent of modern shows.

First Officer’s Note: Starfleet is an all-in-one exploratory, scientific, defense and diplomatic service, and most of the shows and movies revolve around the various adventures of Starfleet crews.

Our episode today opens with DS9’s First Officer, Major Kira Nerys, receiving a call from an old friend named Razka Karn. He tells her that he’s found a lead on a ship she’s been searching for called the Ravinok. He won’t share the information over a video call, so she’ll have to come to him.

Ship Counsellor’s Note: Kira is a Bajoran, and was previously a member of the Bajoran resistance against the Occupation. Bringing in “one of Kira’s old resistance buddies” is one of the writer’s favourite ways to start up a plot for her. 

The station’s security officer Odo shows up for a scene where he’s giving Kira a security report, but her mind’s clearly elsewhere. Odo asks her what’s wrong, and Kira asks whether he thinks she should go after the Ravinok. He tells her it doesn’t matter, as he knows she’s going to go anyway, so all he’ll say is “good luck”.

Usually, there’s some hand wringing over whether or not Sisko will send one of his officers on these personal missions, but here we skip right to Kira packing for her trip, only for Sisko to give her the unpleasant news that the Cardassian government wants in on the search too. See, the Ravinok was a Cardassian ship transporting Bajoran prisoners when it was mysteriously lost.

Kira’s come a long way in her feelings towards Cardassians since the start of the show, so she does (huffily) agree to delay her departure by 52 hours to allow a Cardassian delegate to join her.

Science Officer’s Note: Bajor, and by extension DS9, has a 26 hour day. This is one of those little writerly worldbuilding details that stays consistent, and really helps sell the idea of Bajor being its own place. Take note, aspiring writers!

It’s b-plot time! Sisko has been dating a freighter captain by the name of Kasidy Yates. Jadzia Dax, the Science officer, teases Sikso that things are getting serious, which Sisko denies. Kasidy then shows up to say she’s got an interview to sign up as a freighter captain for the Bajoran government. She’d be around all the time, she could even have quarters on the station! Sisko is clearly scared by the idea, but Jadzia is having way too much fun encouraging Kasidy to care. She’s a cad.

Back at Ops (the command centre), the Cardassian delegate arrives - it’s Dukat! Dun dun dun! Ad break!

Tactical Officer’s Note: Dukat (whose first name is never confirmed in the show, but some of the novels name him Skrain) is a major recurring character on the show. Sometimes an ally, often an opponent, but never liked by the crew. He was the officer in charge of the Occupation of Bajor during its final stages, with the rank of Gul. At this point in the show, he’s recently been promoted to Legate.

On their way to rendezvous with Razka, Dukat, galaxy brained individual that he is, decides to debate Kira on the merits of the Cardassian Occupation. When Kira pushes back on this, he says “I have to desire to debate the merits of the Occupation with you”. Charming guy.

We do get Kira’s motivation here, which is that the Ravinok was transporting a prisoner by the name of Lorit Akrem. He was the man who inducted Kira into the resistance, and one of the many friends and mentors she gained during that time.

Back on the station, Kasidy is telling Sisko over dinner that she got the job and how excited she is. All he can say is “it’s a big step”, and before long Kasidy gets sick of this and storms out.

Razka’s come through though, in his new role as a scrap metal merchant. He’s gotten his hands on a piece of the Ravinok’s hull. Kira and Dukat are able to use it to track the Ravinok to the Dozaria system, which conveniently has one (1) habitable planet.

Arriving at the planet, the pair are unable to determine much more than the wreckage’s rough location and decide to land their ship and explore on foot.

Chief Engineer’s Note: Star Trek is famous for its “technobabble”, made up science-y sounding phrases designed to create and solve problems. Due to the “ionic interference”, neither scanning for lifesigns or using their transporters to beam directly to the surface are possible. Ionic interference is a favourite of the writers, great for when you want to make sure a problem can’t be solved too quickly or easily.

Sisko is busy commiserating the situation with Jadzia and the station’s Chief Medical Officer Julian Bashir. They’re no help as Julian is also having entirely too much fun with this. Quark, the owner of the local bar, which is basically a space Dave & Busters, pipes in with his own two cents. Given that Quark is a Ferengi, and Ferengi culture is so misogynistic they make your average MRA look like a feminist ally, it’s not much help.

The Ravinok is found in short order, along with a series of 13 graves. Dukat sets about identifying the remains, and refuses to let Kira help. He claims that Cardassian funeral rites are very strict, and non-Cardassians must not view the remains. Hell, he even quotes a Bajoran religious leader to justify why she shouldn’t concern herself with the bodies of her fellow Bajorans. Luckily, Bajorans all wear earrings unique to their family line, so Kira can identify the bodies from those after Dukat excavates them.

Medical Officer’s Note: they’ve landed in a scorching desert, which Dukat loves. Cardassians are lizard-like and prefer hot environments. This was a major plot point in the season 2 episode The Wire. The desert shots were filmed in Soledad Canyon, California!

A little while later, Kira emerges from the ship’s wreckage with a passenger manifest to discover Dukat lost in thought as he stares at a piece of jewellery that she identifies as a Bajoran pledge bracelet. Dukat admits that he had an ulterior motive for coming on this trip, as he hoped to find a Bajoran woman by the name of Tora Naprem. She was his mistress, and he claims that the two were in love.

Not buying that last part. Also, Dukat absolutely has a thing for Bajoran women. It keeps showing up throughout the show. He even hits on Kira every now and then.

Anyway, Kira’s able to use an old resistance trick to track the survivors.

Later that night, as they make camp in a cave, Dukat manages to get a giant stone spike impaled in his ass. The sight of him hopping around in pain as he rubs a medical doohickey of the wound prompts Kira to burst out laughing, and Dukat even joins in. It’s not really a bonding moment, but there is a certain energy to it. An abatement of hostility, perhaps.

Whatever it is, it gives Kira the courage to ask about Tora Ziyal, the name of a civilian she found on the ship’s manifest. Dukat admits the truth, Ziyal is his and Naprem’s daughter. Dukat’ sensing the Occupation was coming to an end, planned to quietly ship them off to a neutral planet to live out their lives in peace, as neither Cardassia or Bajor would accept them.  Kira, naturally, assumes he’s come to rescue Ziyal. Dukat says he’s come to kill her. Dramatic music sting. Ad break.

First Officer’s Note: Bajoran names follow Eastern naming order, meaning that Kira and Tora are family names. Also, Star Trek loves doing things in caves because they can build a new set out of the same few prop walls they have. It’s a fun detail to notice as you watch these shows.

The next day, Kira & Dukat are arguing as they pick up the trail. Dukat claims that he has too many political enemies, and a bastard child, let alone a half-Bajoran one, would give them ammunition to go after him. Kira accuses him of just being out for himself, but Dukat insists that he can only protect his family if he remains in power.

Are you getting a good feel for the kind of bastard Dukat is by this point?

This is all a bit much, how about another comic relief break in the b-plot? Sisko and his son Jake are having breakfast, and Jake mentions that he (and his friend Nog) spoke to Kasidy. As Sisko’s getting ready to give Jake a talk about the hard facts of life, Jake (having talked things through with his friend Nog) correctly diagnoses the problem as a fear of commitment. Sikso’s a widow, see, and it was his career that got Jennifer killed.

Sisko is rather bemused by this, but he can’t deny that Jake’s spot on. He asks if Jake said any of this to Kasidy. Jake says that he (and his friend Nog) considered it, but ultimately decided that Sisko should speak to Kasidy himself.

But now, at long last, we find the survivors. They’ve been taken captive by a mysterious alien race called the Breen, and are being forced to mine Dilithium ore from the planet. Presumably, it’s quite easy to do, as there’s only a few dozen survivors and no signs of heavy industry. There’s a young girl there too, presumably Ziyal.

Kira tells Dukat to go back to DS9 for reinforcements. Dukat refuses, and Kira’s obviously not going to leave Dukat with a chance to kill his daughter. Instead, they decided to mount a two person raid on the mines, which goes out without a hitch.

Well, except for the fact that Lorit died two years ago and a brief firefight gives Dukat a chance to slip away and find Ziyal. She instantly guesses who he is, having held out hope for the last six years that he’d come rescue her. Kira catches up to Dukat and threatens him at gunpoint to drop his rifle. 

It’s ultimately Ziyal’s words that sway him, and Dukat can’t find it within himself to mow down his own child in cold blood.

Back on DS9, Sisko apologises to Kasidy, who accepts, and Dukat says he’s going to take Ziyal back to Cardassia to live with him. Aww, maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all.

First Officer’s Note: Yes, he is.

This is a pretty great episode. It was directed by LeVar Burton, who had been a main cast member on The Next Generation, and is remembered by many as the long running host of Reading Rainbow. He did especially well with the location shoots, making the narrow Soledad Canyon look like an expansive desert. Marc Alaimo as Dukat shows yet again why the writers kept bringing him back. He’s smarmy, oozy, hypocritical, but still retains a certain charm.

Though he only gets two short scenes, Roy Brocksmith does great as Kira’s old friend Razka. He was a jobbing character actor in the 80’s-90’s and if you’ve seen American tv from that era, chances are you’ve seen him in something.

The b-plot is a needed reprieve from the heavy nature of the main plot, but smartly it’s not played for broad comedy. Instead it’s more subdued, more grounded and relatable. Luckily, Kasidy sticks around and has a sweet relationship with Sisko, built on a genuine chemistry between the two actors.

Would I recommend this as your first Star Trek episode? Conventional wisdom would say no, it’s too steeped in the lore of DS9 and the relationships of these characters, it’s the start or mid point of so many character journeys. Sod that for a game of soldiers, I say. This is a great little story, and even without context for everything you can pick up what’s going on well enough to understand the emotional stakes. That’s far more important than knowing all the lore and linking plot points.

So, what’s next? Time to spin the wheel, I guess!

Oh boy, we're doing Voyager!

[benchofindigo]

[ID: Gifset of Star Trek Deep Space Nine characters.

Commanding Officers. Benjamin Sikso and Kira Nerys. Gif has a red filter.

Science Officers. Jadzia Dax and Julian Bashir. Gif has a blue filter

Engineering and Security Officers. Miles o'Brien and Odo. Gif has a yellow filter. End ID]

@trekcreators week 3: favorite command crew deep space nice officers

[spockvarietyhour]

DS9 may have only skirted the issues of treason, upending a government and the “ends justifying the means” (compared to B5 which was one of its main narrative arcs) but damn does this still work

[qquark]

Benjamin:  That man who just got killed trying to help us--  that man was Gabriel Bell .

Julian:  Even if I’d gotten him to a hospital I might have been able to save him .  

Benjamin: You did all you could, Doctor.          

[lilithhawthorne]

When Jake asked his father if he was in love and wanted to know what the woman was like, Sikso said she was "really interesting." Not beautiful. More important to Sisko, and what he wants to share with his son, is that she is substantial to him.

This from the man who shows affection to his son frequently. Hugs him, kisses him, tells him he loves him, whenever the mood strikes him and always when things are stressful and Jake is scared.

Benjamin Sisko is Alpha Quadrants best dad.

[ethanalter]

'Star Trek': The evolution of the Prime Universe

If you tuned in for the series debut of Star Trek: Discovery last weekend and wondered where the “Discovery” part of the title came in — don’t worry. The third episode, “Context is for Kings,” which premieres Sunday at 8:30 p.m. on CBS All Access, finally introduces us to the latest vessel to take its place in the Federation’s fleet of starships, as well as Starfleet’s newest captain, Jason Isaacs mysterious Gabriel Lorca. It’s an information-packed installment that sets up where Discovery (both the ship and the show) appears to be going over the course of this freshman season, and illustrates how this new iteration of Star Trek both continues — and reinvents — the legacy of this venerable sci-fi franchise, which hit the big 5-0 in 2016.

To illustrate how Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future has changed over the past five decades,  Yahoo Entertainment has assembled timelines highlighting three specific elements from each of the six live-action Trek series that have aired to date. Considering the spirited debate and strong ratings that has greeted Discovery‘s arrival, expect Star Trek to live long and prosper for another 50 years.

  The Captains When Star Trek premiered in 1966, the series was captained by space cowboy James T. Kirk (William Shatner), who often took a daredevil approach to his five-year mission to seek out new life and new civilizations. The next generation of Trek captains — starting with TNG‘s Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) — tried to be more diplomatic in their command. Starfleet also diversified its ranks as more Trek shows hit the airwaves, with Deep Space Nine introducing the franchise’s first African-American leading man, Benjamin Sikso (Avery Brooks), and Voyager putting a woman front and center in the form of Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew).

Perhaps reflecting their respective places earlier on the Trek timeline, the prequel series Enterprise and Discovery once again place a white man in the captain’s chair, Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and Lorca (Isaacs), respectively. Though it should be noted, of course, that Discovery‘s first two episodes featured Michelle Yeoh as Captain Philippa Georgiou. Furthermore, the show’s central character isn’t a captain, but disgraced first officer Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green.

The Aliens Maybe it was the eminently logical manner. Maybe it was the raised eyebrow. Maybe it was the pointy ears. (Yeah, it was probably the pointy ears.) Whatever the reason, Vulcan-born science officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) immediately stood out amongst the already-diverse crew featured on The Original Series. Thanks to Spock’s popularity, it became Trek tradition to include one — and sometimes more — aliens in major roles on future shows. And those extraterrestrials became more elaborate in their makeup and mythology as time went on. TNG‘s Klingon security chief Worf (Michael Dorn), for example, revised and updated the already-changed appearance of the Federation’s longtime foes.

Deep Space Nine‘s Odo (René Auberjonois) was a shapeshifting Changeling and just one of the many alien races who populated that space station, Ferengi and Bajorans among them. Being transported to the distant Delta Quadrant meant that Voyager regularly came into contact with new aliens like Talaxian cook Neelix (Ethan Phillips). Earlier on in the Federation’s history, the Interspecies Medical Exchange was a good way for humans to mix with intergalactic medical professionals like Enterprise‘s Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley), a kind Denobulan with a healthy appetite for Chinese food. Echoing The Original Series, Discovery once again assigns an alien to the position of science officer. Instead of a Vulcan, though, that role now falls to Saru (Doug Jones), a Kelpien who is the first of his species to achieve a Starfleet rank.

The Female Officers It’s almost certainly not accidental that the 51 years separating The Original Series and Discovery are bridged, in part, by the prominent presence of two African-American women aboard their respective starships. Certainly, Enterprise communications officer Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) proved an inspirational figure to millions of women — Whoopi Goldberg among them — for standing shoulder-to-shoulder with an otherwise largely male crew amidst the turmoil of the Civil Rights era. Discovery‘s Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), meanwhile, has to stand strong in the face of prejudice — not because of the color of her skin, but due to her actions aboard her former ship, which may have precipitated the ongoing Klingon-Federation war.

The decades between these two bookended series featured a variety of different women in different positions of authority. Lt. Cmdr. Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) tasks herself with keeping the TNG crew on an even emotional keel as the Enterprise‘s empathetic (and empathic) counselor. Bajoran officer Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) held down the second-in-command position aboard Deep Space Nine. Voyager‘s Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) proved that, with a little assimilation into a Starfleet crew, Borgs could be badass without necessarily being bad. And Enterprise established that T’Pol (Jolene Blalock), not Spock, deserves credit for being the first Vulcan to occupy the science officer position aboard a Starfleet vessel. Make a note of that in your Starfleet history books.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Sundays at 8:30 p.m. on CBS All Access.

[trekdilfs]

[trekdilfs]