#but DS9 just... hit different

[youngpettyqueen]

I cannot believe I seriously watched all of DS9 in exactly a month. I checked, I literally started it on November 2nd

for some context as to why this is surprising. TNG took me 10 fucking years to actually sit and watch all the way through

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

okay links should be all updated!!!! let me know if i made any stupid mistakes or typos and woohooooo to finally finishing a project!!!!

[youngerfrankenstein]

I have seen a lot of Star Trek episodes, I like a lot of Star Trek episodes. But if there are two Star Trek episodes that will never leave my fucking brain they’re “A Taste of Armageddon” from TOS and “Duet” from DS9.

[scare-ard--sleigh]

there's something Specifically about one piece that makes me a little bit fucking crazy as a fic writer, just something about the fact that i write my little stories about zoro and sanji sharing a boat hammock or a meal and knowing that there are people 10, 15, 20, close to 25 years ago writing about the same thing. i make a character to ship with buggy and be friends with sanji and zoro and nami and ace and i know there are so many people who have done the exact same. it feels like magic to me, i can't explain it.

[hvezdnastreka]

Kira and baby Jake art

hhhhhhhhh I actually sort of hated finishing these, even though they're pretty good on a technical level. The Jake one is just a bit nothing right?? My favorite episode from ds9 is Jake centric, yet I chose such an uninteresting moment. At this point I could just be painting cherubim and it'd be just as worthy of thought.

I really really love the Kira one, but once i got through like 7/8 of it, I got hit with this sense of plagiarism. Like I've seen a star trek fanart with this exact lighting, but I can't for the life of me find it, so I apologize, if I'm being mad and I apologize, if I did accidentally plagiarize from someone on here </3

Anyway, I notice that sometimes people try to reassure me when I'm being critical of my art, which is very sweet, but you don't have to. This isn't a self deprecating process for me, it's fun to look my stuff over, see what I love and what I'll do differently next time. If I really dislike a piece of art, I usually don't post it, or I delete it quickly, so dw about my little rants

[quasi-normalcy]

Actually, you know what? Ever since I learned that Ira Steven Behr signed that grossly unfair letter against Jonathan Glazer, I've been forced to kind of reevaluate some of my interpretations of things in Deep Space Nine.

Like Section 31. I was willing to suppose that it was always and only intended to be villainous. But knowing as I do now that the showrunner who included it is perfectly willing to turn a blind eye to genocide, I'm forced to wonder...was it critical? Was it?

Like, let's consider canon here. In "Statistical Probabilities", Bashir and the other augments calculate, in no uncertain terms, that the Federation can't win its war with the Dominion. Their model even accurately forecasts things that happen later in the series: the Romulans declaring war on the Dominion; a full-scale revolt on Cardassia Prime. The end of the episode kind of pooh-poohs their model, like, "Well you couldn't even forecast what Serena would do in this room" but like...(1) the premise is basically lifted from Asimov's psychohistory concept, which works on populations rather than individuals, and (2) there's even a line of dialogue in the episode saying that the models become *less* uncertain the further you go in time. And indeed, the Federation ultimately wins the war not because any of their assumptions were wrong, but because there was another factor that they weren't aware of: the Changeling plague. The plague that had, of course, been engineered by Section 31 to exterminate the Changelings.

So again you have to ask: *was* this critical? Or was the real message that a black ops division willing to commit genocide is necessary to preserve a "utopian" society, no matter how squeamish it makes a naïve idealist like Bashir? And yeah, the war is ultimately won by an act of compassion, but only *after* Bashir sinks to S31's level by kidnapping Sloane and invading his mind with illicit technology. So...is this really a win for idealism?

And then we have the Jem'Hadar. They're a race of slave soldiers, genetically engineered to require a compound that only the Changelings can give them. By any reasonable standard, they're victims. And yet, the series goes out of its way, especially in "The Abandoned", to establish that they're irredeemable. You can't save them. Victims of colonialism they may be, but your only choice is to kill them, or else they--preternaturally violent almost from the moment that they're born--*will* kill you. And of course, I've long assumed that this was just a really unfortunate attempt to subvert what had become the standard "I, Borg" style Star Trek trope where your enemies become less scary once you get to know them, but like. I would say that there's pretty close to a one-to-one correspondence between this premise and the ideology excusing the mass murder of children in Gaza.

Or the Maquis. There's this line at the start of "For the Uniform" where Sisko tells Eddington that he regards the refugees in the Demilitarized Zone as being "Victims of the Maquis", because they've kept alive the forlorn hope that they would ever be allowed to return to their homes and...Jesus, when I write it out like that, Hello, Palestinian Right of Return. [The episode of course ends with Sisko bombing a Maquis colony with chemical weapons, though it is somewhat less objectionable in practice than I'm making it sound here].

And you know what...I get that DS9 is a show that's intended to have moral complexity, and to be kind of ambiguous in a lot places, and not to give you simple answers and so on. And I'm *not* trying to do the standard JK Rowling/ Joss Whedon/ Justin Roiland thing where a creator falls from grace for whatever reason and people comb through their oeuvre to show that they were always wicked and fans were stupid for not seeing it earlier or whatever. But I will say that these things hit different when you know that the series was show-run for five seasons, comprising every episode that I've just named, by a man who would go on to sign his name to a letter maliciously quoting Jonathan Glazer out of context to drag him for condemning an active genocide. And given that I've been a fan of DS9 for basically my entire life, this is deeply unsettling to me.

[transhuman-priestess]

Speaking of queer rep. One of my favorite pieces of rep ever is Jadzia Dax from ds9, because it's like. Yeah she sort of used to be a man. She sort of still is that man. She's also a new person who is a woman now. But the gender change isn't actually much of a meaningful change to her. She refers to herself as a man or a brother sometimes, and everyone just like. Goes along with. It's fine she's Jadzia Dax her gender doesn't matter! There's points where she asks if someone is treating her different now because she's a woman, and she says that it doesn't matter because she's still Dax, and. Idk as a trans person that hits

I feel like even jadzia makes a bit much of it sometimes but i know thats like, kinda gauche to say

[sirellas]

post canon ds9 fic i won't write for real, in bullet points:

story starts with jake sisko, pondering and writing. he got a commission from some federation news service to do a fluff piece on "the soul of the klingon people" now that the war is over and they have a new chancellor, essentially a "look federation people, klingons are still chill. maybe chiller, even. so everybody be cool" deal (i'm imagining they have to do an article like this for every group of aliens that were a major combatant in the war) but jake takes it seriously and refuses to phone it in.

first he goes to alexander, who's visiting the station while between KDF assignments or something idk. but he says look buddy i wanna know what's up with klingons, you get me? alexander does not get him and also would like to know what's up with klingons, so he says hell yeah human friend let's figure this out.

then it becomes a series of vignettes of these two kind of out of touch young people learning about the klingon spirit and also themselves as they seek out someone who can tell them the secrets of life and honor etc etc. jake has a warped sense of normal from growing up on ds9 and alexander has never felt right in solely klingon or human spaces, so they have some gaps in their knowledge to fill.

i'm thinking they start with worf and martok, who are busy on qo'nos building their credibility and new government. worf isn't great at talking about feelings and martok's being pulled in a lot of different directions, so they're not much help. hanging around on qo'nos is interesting, but ultimately not what jake and alexander are looking for either.

then they start thinking outside the box. order isn't important but they start hitting up all relevant klingons and klingon adjacent folk: darok, sirella, ezri, nikolai, kurn, maybe a duras sisters cameo for equal representation of shitty klingons.

last we saw of kurn of course he had lost his memory but since this is my fic i'm not writing i'm gonna say bashir's not as great at brain reconfiguration as he thinks he is and it didn't take fully. so he's a little confused but getting the hang of it. a lot of "which one of you is my nephew again? i can't tell humans apart" kind of deal even though alexander is 3/4 klingon. he tells them what he's re-learned about klingons since he's been rebuilding his own identity.

nikolai also was essentially exiled but it's fine. he's got a gaggle of kids now and alexander and jake have to do the fake forehead thing to blend in while they talk to him. nikolai's got a lot of insight into worf as a brother but not much on klingons as a whole. alexander brings him some pierogi helena made.

alexander: "wow my foster uncle's wife looks a lot like your stepmom, isn't that funny?" jake: "nah i don't see the resemblance"

maybe at this point nog joins them because he's having his own identity crisis as the only ferengi in starfleet so he decides to just hop on board for jake and alexander's identity crisis.

they go see jeremy aster too, the kid from tng who became worf's brother through a whole thing, and he's got a pretty interesting view of klingons and the klingon spirit from an outsider/insider perspective.

sirella and darok are probably the least helpful but i think sirella baby-ing alexander would be fun. they're both trying to deny it and deny how much they like the attention (sirella at having a new-ish nephew-ish and one who wasn't raised klingon so she can do all the classic klingon things with him fresh, and alexander at having a(nother) mother figure to love him). jake is studiously taking notes in the corner while sirella tries to teach him how to skin a fresh kill or something like that.

anyway this whole journey ends with them finding kahless 2 (the clone of kahless) whose only occupation is thinking about the klingon spirit. but his wisdom boils down to "everyone's different and everyone has to figure shit out on their own, but together we can strive to be greater than yesterday" etc etc and jake gets his article. alexander reaffirms his grasp on his cultural identity and also gets to see a lot of his family so he's reminded that he's loved, even if everyone is doing their own thing. and nog develops a huge crush on sirella. everybody's happy.

[sapphosewrites]

top 10 ds9 fan fics you've written, ranked?

Oooh, tough question, friend! I don't even know what the criteria for this would be, because the most AO3 popular ones are not always my favorites... Okay, you know what, here we go. I'm just going to go for it and make some decisions. I'm giving myself a rule, though, that I can only chose one from a series, so I'm not just listing everything in the Terok Nor AU. I'll also try to hit different kinds of fics I've written.

10.) After the End of the World: A Survey of Seminal Works of Cardassian Post-Apocalyptic Literature from cross-posted to tumblr. 533 words, "An examination of the Cardassian post-apocalyptic literary genre before and after the Dominion War." This isn't my most popular or my best written but it's one of my favorites; I like in-world diegetic texts and worldbuilding and I'm obsessed with the idea of post-canon Cardassia as post-apocalypse.

9.) Never Have I Ever from The Game Is Afoot, 1,294 words, T, "Julian introduces Garak to the human game never have I ever." This was fun to write and is fun to reread every time! I often spend a lot of fic space on angst and identity and all the reasons why it's a bad idea for Julian and Garak to get together, but in this one we just get to spend time seeing them be clever and enjoy each other's company.

8.) Tribbles, Togetherness, and the Great River, 1,742 words, G, "In their shared quarters, Nog and Jake discuss tribbles, pets, and telling their families about their relationship." This is my only full standalone Jake/Nog fic, and it's another that was a pleasure to write and still makes me smile. It's fun to spend a sweet moment with two young people figuring out how they fit together.

7.) Del Floria's Tailor Shop, 336 words, also known as the space tumblr one. I think this is possibly the funniest thing I've ever written.

6.) Push Me Til I Break, 4,653 words, M, also known as the one where Garak interrogates Julian, and the role play goes wrong. Maybe the most tense thing I've ever written, and really leans into the ways in which two deeply hurting people can choose to hurt or hold.

5.) Growth, 45,843 words, T, "Julian and Garak grapple with their pasts and their feelings for each other at the end of the series." My super long post-canon Cardassia fic, back when I had no idea how to string a multi-chapter idea together. There's a lot I would change if I wrote this now (I've grown as a writer in many ways, including my ability to have scene transitions), but some of the conversations and moments in here are still absolute favorites of mine, particularly around ideas of self-forgiveness, the clash between values and actions, and the importance of choice.

4.) Predetermination, 22,200 words, T, Mirror Bashir arrives at the station and suddenly the nature/nurture debate has never had higher stakes. This is one of the places I think I've been most successful in using sci fi to ask big questions that hopefully resonate in the modern day, about who we are and how we become. Also, the ending takes inspiration from one of my favorite TNG episodes, and that was cool too.

3.) Especially the Lies, 13,019 words, T, "Something is going on with Garak, and no one knows what, except for possibly Julian Bashir." This is my only archive-warning-applied fic and it was really important to me to tell a story about care, for a character who I think doesn't believe he's allowed to have any, in a real world circumstance that too often people have to go through alone.

2.) Necessary Storms, 15,149 words, T, Julian and Starfleet Spouse Garak get entangled in Trill politics. I feel like this is one of the things I've written that most feels like it could be an episode of Star Trek, and is also a fairly unsubtle (though initially unintentional) way to explore populism, demagoguery, resource distribution, and revolt at a very particular moment in national politics with the aesthetic distance that sci fi offers.

1.) Old Friends: An Enigma Tale from Terok Nor AU. I'm exceedingly proud of this whole series, which started as just "what can I do with the idea of dabo boy Julian" and has turned into a sweeping journey covering how Terok Nor becomes Deep Space 9. This most recent installment is perhaps not indicative of the series as a whole, but it was a lot of fun to write and is also a dip into my other favorite genre aside from sci fi (murder mystery).

[t0ast-ghost]

Okay so I’m back on my bullshit (watching the original series for the first time) I’ll just start by giving a brief look at episode 4 and then a much longer look at episode 5.

Episode 4 (Where No Man Has Gone Before):

- where the fuck is Bones, I miss him :((

- please let Spock wear blue, cool colours suit him

- there’s a moment when Elizabeth is defending Gary and the whole room looks at her like “damn you got the whole room laughing”

- guys wait, just hit him with a rock, seriously

- “Nobody but us chickens doctor” - Kirk

- Scotty on da bridge

- there’s something about Star Trek and their psychiatrists always being women or being weaker, I wanna see a psychiatrist who is super buff and trained. Like you better process your feelings and seek help (I guess Ezri is more tough, but I still think her character is not well done)

- I bet those contacts hurt and were blinding. Like evil dead contacts were super thick and hurt and that was in the 80s, this is the 60s so those could not have been comfortable

- I like when things just appear/disappear in this show

- Kirk won’t hesitate to punch a bitch

- “I felt for him too” that’s such a big moment, Spock admitting that to Kirk

Episode 5 (The Naked Time):

My knowledge of this episode comes from the second episode of next generation so…

- damn those suits are orange

- “he was taking a shower fully clothed” mind your damn business

- OMG LEONARD MCCOY!

- “And as for my anatomy being different from yours, I am delighted.” DAMN GET HIM

- I think they may be flirting ur honour

- WHAT?!? Is that allowed??? I mean uhm…

- OMG ITS GEORGE TAKEI

- that blood is pink.. oops he’s dead now

- Bones sitting on tables/horizontal surfaces like this compilation

- uhm why’s he circle him like that tho

- “I want the impossible checked out too” WHAT, STOP BULLYING HIM!!!

- falling

- more falling

- YEAH KIRK YOUD BETTER BE SORRY DONT GET MAD AT YOUR CREW!!!

- oh wait is that nurse chapel?!? I haven’t seen strange new worlds (other than the lower decks episode) but I know chapel has a relationship with Spock

- I like how fucking emotional Spock actually is. Like I know he’s under the control of the virus in this episode but he shows so many emotions anyway. I love him.

- “I am in control of my emotions” sure bbygirl

- but in more seriousness this scene is amazing

- Sulu: let’s out the most pained terrifying scream

Bones: ._.

- “hey can I get a sip of that water” “it’s not water” “oh vodka I like your style” “it’s a complex chain of molecules that acts like alcohol when it enters the bloodstream” “what” “it’s sweat alcohol, pussy” (bones when explaining how the virus works)

- “Jim when I feel friendship for you, I’m ashamed” how do I- how am I- what do I do with that line

- James Kirk not afraid to slap a bitch

- SPOCK NOT AFRAID TO SLAP A BITCH BACK

- “SINNER REPENT” just write REDRUM stfu

- BONES Was it necessary to RIP HIS SHIRT???

- “are you alright James?” SIR CALM DOWN SPOCK CALM YOURSELF

- it is funny how immediately after both Spock and McCoy are right by Kirk’s side

- “time warp” ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW MENTIONED

- and they decided not to become time travellers

Okie dokie, if ya got this far, thanks! I’m enjoying watching through this and I like sharing it with all of you. Follow for more I guess?

the first episode thoughts

And all the other episodes thoughts

My Star Trek experience has been all over the place lol (next generation to lower decks to ds9 to aos and now arriving at tos (yeah I know it’s terrible I watched aos first but KARL URBAN))

[youngpettyqueen]

please tell me which pokemon each of the DS9 crew would have?

please enjoy this absolute novel of a post <3

I gave everyone what Pokemon I think they would have and the amount of Pokemon I think they would have- I dont think anyone on DS9 has a full team of 6, most of them only have 1 - 2 in my mind's eye, and ill also be giving my reasoning for each choice

Sisko-

Gothitelle: I think Gothitelle compliments everything Sisko has going on with the Prophets, since it's a Pokemon that sees time and memory differently than humans do. I think a Gothitelle could help Sisko with the visions he gets, with processing them and interpreting them. I also think Gothitelle would be helpful to Sisko with processing and grieving and dealing with his trauma

Kabutops: Sisko inherits this one from his father I think. I think a fossil Pokemon fits how he can get stuck in the past, and Kabutops specifically can also represent that vicious, angry side Sisko shows at times when things get truly desperate and dark. but Kabutops is also a Rock type, and what is Sisko if not a rock that his crew and family so often look to in their darkest hours?

Kira-

Ceruledge: I imagine a young, resistance fighter Kira teaming up with a Charcadet- something small and quick, just like her. growing up alongside it, and it evolving into a Ceruledge, a fierce and fiery warrior to match her. I think the typing, Fire/Ghost, suits something that comes out of the Bajoran resistance- wild and angry, but haunted, and dark

Jadzia-

Gallade: I dont think there's a better type combo possible for Jadzia than Psychic/Fighting, and of the limited options I think Gallade is best both for how strong it is and even just design wise. very easy to imagine Jadzia sparring with a Gallade, matching its blades with her bat'leth. this is absolutely one where she raised this Gallade from a Ralts, and I think there would've been a lot of thinking over which form to evolve it to, with her ultimately evolving it to a Gallade after being Joined with Dax, with how important Klingon culture became to her

Kingdra: I dont know how to explain my choice for this one it just came to me in a vision. I think both the Water and Dragon types also suit Jadzia, I could've picked any number of Dragon types for her, but Kingdra just spoke to me as I was looking at it. I think it suits her for the strength and speed it has, while also being a majestic and prestigious Dragon type, acknowledging her for the queen that she is

Julian-

Eevee: he's had this Eevee since he was a small child and he's never had it evolve. it's never shown any interest in evolving, and he doesnt pressure it, and will be supportive if it ever decides to evolve. this Eevee is very affectionate and cuddly, and always offers comfort to Julian's patients, and would be his constant companion, usually perched on his shoulder. ive had this hc in mind for a while that he would have an unevolved Eevee, which I imagine would've been a gift from his parents when he was young, and which helps him deal with all his trauma over being augmented by being something he can save. he couldnt stop his parents from doing what they did to him, but he was able to save his Eevee, and give it the freedom and choices he never had

Delibird: where most medical professionals have Pokemon like Chansey and Audino, Julian has a Delibird. Delibird is silly and whimsical, and offers humour and joy to patients, while also being capable of healing. if we borrow from the Pokemon world that Nurse Joys are paired with Chanseys, I think when the time came for Julian to be paired, he instead went with this goofy ass Delibird who was loud and silly and tended to annoy other medical students, but was always a hit with the kids

Absol: I think he would acquire an Absol during the run of the series, sometime after Camp 371. a Pokemon that can sense incoming danger would be incredibly helpful for a doctor in particular, especially planetside and during missions. I think the Dark typing as well as the more intimidating, battle-ready design would serve well in representing Julian's arc into darker territory towards the end of the series, and it would be his only Pokemon that would be capable of true battling if needed

Miles-

Metang: I cant see Miles having a Metagross but Metang seems like it was made for him. a partner that's been with him for a long time I imagine, helping him out on the job as needed, but also able to do work of its own since its been doing this for a while. Steel type is just perfect for Miles, and I think Metang captures that really well, with its design complimenting Miles' work and its Psychic typing giving it that higher intelligence to have it be an independent engineer in its own right

Bastiodon: this is another partner I think Miles would've had for a while, and this Bastiodon is what I imagine at his side when he was fighting Cardassians, and when he fights the Dominion. I think a Bastiodon physically represents Miles' desire to protect, as well as how he'll be a battering ram when needed, all brute force and no delicacy. the safest place in the universe for Miles' children is in his arms, and the second safest place is with this Bastiodon, who often lays down for long naps with Molly curled up with it

Elekid: this is a whole scenario hc- the crew finds a Pokemon egg thats been left behind by the Cardassians and it hatches into an Elekid that immediately imprints on Miles. its his little buddy assistant who hands him tools and powers stuff up for him to run tests. he complained endlessly about it for 3 days and then got so attached that he'll kill anyone who looks at it wrong. this Elekid loves Keiko so much and hides behind her when its scared, is best friends with Molly, and it loves Yoshi more than anything else in the universe

Odo-

Ditto: you know I have to give Odo a Ditto. and you know this Ditto has to have trouble with faces, and Odo feels deeply connected to it as a result. this Ditto has imprinted on Odo so hard and copied his personality so its a very gruff Ditto that does great impressions of Odo and is uncannily like him. it has a vendetta against Quark and all of Quark's Pokemon and tries to fight them constantly

Quark-

Gimmighoul: money man gets the money Pokemon. this Gimmighoul is to Quark what Odo's Ditto is to him- it acts very similarly to Quark, is always scheming, and has a greedy streak to rival his. this little guy will scuttle around the bar and collect loose slips and chips, and keeps its stash mostly in its chest, which it shares a cut of with Quark. this little guy's design, money-obsession, and size and sneak factor make it just the perfect partner for Quark, because I think theyre best friends but also they butt heads constantly and argue over who gets what money. this Pokemon knows capitalism and it is WINNING

Porygon-Z: might seem like an odd choice, but I was debating over Pokemon that would serve different purposes for Quark, and I realized how multi-versatile Porygon-Z could be and then some lore ideas came to me. im thinking Quark may have gotten this Porygon-Z as a Porygon, when he first arrived on DS9, and its been with him all these years. this Porygon-Z goes in and out of the computer, accessing and taking in databases for Quark's use. it can also be a translator for other Pokemon and other species alike. Quark gets most of his information from this Porygon-Z. Odo absolutely hates it and it has a very intense rivalry with Odo's Ditto

Zubat: Quark's ears around the station, which reports back to him constantly. station inhabitants know to watch what they say when they spot a Zubat in their area, but visitors? not so much. Zubat is small, and sneaky, and has unmatched hearing. its also a slippery little bugger, much like its owner, except when this guy shrieks and squeals it tends to leave people disoriented and confused, letting it slip away and go flying back with its tails tucked. it also has a nasty bite, though nobody has ever been able to prove it was Quark's Zubat that bit them- I imagine DS9 would have a Zubat problem, dont ask me how thats possible in space its just the Vibes

Worf-

Emboar: while Fighting is obviously a great type match up for Worf, I knew it couldnt be as simple as just any Fighting type. I went through a lot of ideas before deciding on Emboar, with its design reminding me of Klingon Targs and Worf having had one as a childhood pet, while also being a massive, bulky, insanely strong Pokemon that could keep up in combat. much like Jadzia and Gallade, I can imagine Worf sparring with this Emboar, with this Emboar physically presenting the fire that burns in Worf at all times

Aegislash: hear me out on this one cause I know its strange. I wanted a Pokemon for Worf to represent the blade, and the Klingon culture, and I think Aegislash fits this both for being a literal blade, but also for its Ghost typing. Worf is in many ways haunted by his own culture, how disconnected he is from it due to being raised by Humans. I think Aegislash is as much a bat'leth as it is a representation of his own heritage following him like a ghost, the shadow of what he could have been always lingering

(I do also think Worf would take in Jadzia's Gallade after her death)

Ezri-

Sylveon: for someone as anxious and neurotic as Ezri, I think a partner like a Sylveon would be best, while also being a great help to her as a counsellor. Sylveon is a highly empathetic Pokemon much like its owner, and is a great help and comfort to her patients, while also being a great help and comfort to Ezri herself. Ezri adopted an Eevee while going through training in the Academy, and it very quickly evolved into a Sylveon imo

Kingdra: inherited from Jadzia. at first the two clash horribly, as Kingdra is angry and mourning, and Ezri agreed to take it in out of guilt. eventually they manage to come together, and they form a very tight bond, offering comfort to each other as they navigate the ghosts in their lives, and this strange position theyre both in

Jake-

Gumshoos: I think a Yungoos stowaway on the station would be Jake's first caught Pokemon, and would evolve eventually into Gumshoos as it grows up with Jake. a scrappy Yungoos in the beginning that follows Jake around and gets into trouble with him, and as it grows older and evolves it investigates with him, sneaks around for him to gather information, and is his right-hand man in journalism. this Gumshoos is viciously protective of Jake, and it and Sisko get along really well, and Sisko trusts it implicitly. I figured a detective-type Pokemon would be a fun match for Jake, especially one that could mature with him

Brionne: this Brionne was belonged to Jennifer. Sisko of course cared for it after her passing, but the Brionne was very attached to Jake, so Sisko gave over ownership once Jake was old enough to care for a Pokemon himself. I wish we had more of Jennifer to go off of in canon, but with how connected the Sisko family is to water and the importance of that meeting of Benjamin and Jennifer on the beach, I think a Brionne makes a good choice for a Pokemon that she would've had, and which would make a good match for Jake. Brionne is silly and fun, with a cheerful disposition, and from what we see of Jennifer I think a Primarina would've suited her, but perhaps Brionne never got to evolve to that point and after losing its owner, doesnt want to evolve anymore

and of course, bonus recurring characters...

Rom-

Timburr: I think Rom doesnt have a Pokemon for the longest time, having not had any as a child and then being too busy trying to raise Nog as an adult to worry about Pokemon. I think he acquires a Timburr on the station, secretly rescuing it back when it was occupied by Cardassians, and its stayed with him ever since. this Timburr is his assistant, and much like him, is timid but well-meaning. this Timburr loves Nog dearly, and the only time it gets violent is if it feels Nog is in danger

Nog-

Golisopod: another scenario hc, I think Quark gets cheated with an egg that hatches into a Wimpod, and not wanting to deal with it he pawns it off on Nog to deal with. Nog resents it at first, but comes to care a lot for the Wimpod, seeing himself in it as a trouble kid being bullied all the time. as Nog grows and matures, his Wimpod grows with him, and while Nog might not grow up to be big and strong, his Wimpod sure does evolve into a massive and imposing Golisopod. Golisopod is considered an odd choice for a future captain, but since Nog is anything but a typical captain, the two make an excellent match

Garak-

Kecleon: I did consider Zoroark for Garak's partner, but ultimately Kecleon won me over with its camouflage-based stealth and lizard design. Garak's Kecleon could also represent the Regnar he kept in secret through his schooling, Mila, if he got to keep her. Kecleon's camouflage is invaluable to him in keeping tabs on the station, and his Kecleon acts very much like him, being elusive, mysterious, and largely unknown. I think most people wouldnt even know Garak had a Kecleon, with Julian being one of the few who's even seen it, lurking about in Garak's shop

Keiko-

Roserade: my botanist queen of course had to have a Pokemon that would be a helpful research assistant, and what better than a Roserade? I went through several flower Pokemon before deciding on Roserade, for being one of the stronger and more combat-able ones, for someone like Keiko who isnt afraid to stand up for herself. I think she never had a Pokemon of her own as a grown up, maybe leaving any childhood ones with her family on Earth when she Joined Starfleet, until she started dating Miles who gifted her with a Budew, which is now her Roserade

[jaegermonstrous]

Rewatching TNG "Loud As A Whisper" and I'd forgotten the kickass disability rep in this, and how it's framed.

Riva, the Deaf diplomat whose interpreters are totally accepted, and who do not supercede him in any way [after some flubbing by Captain Picard, and I love that it's the captain who gets it wrong. And then apologizes and corrects].

Also love that Riva isn't just any negotiator, he's the Best Negotiator. He's helped the Klingons make peace! More than once! [Also side note because I'm a DS9 girlie - think this means Curzon Dax and Riva ever met?]

Also love that Riva is instantly flirting with Troi like "hey cutie now I really wanna do this mission so I can get to know you."

The conversation between Geordi and Riva about how their disabilities are part of them and they don't feel ashamed or limited by them because they've got the supports they need. And the connection between Geordi and Riva over their shared differences! Like. Damn. I know TNG can be didactic [not like every other Trek isn't guilty of that too], but damn I love this. I love Trek using this whole episode to just be like "See? See what could be possible with good supports in place?"

Trek can be so hit or miss on disability rep, and I'm neither Deaf nor HOH, so I don't know how good Riva actually is from that standpoint, but I love that this episode puts a disabled person front and center, makes him the linchpin of the plot, and also makes it clear that disabled folks fuck [it's Trek, everybody fucks, but still].

And I love that the episode revolves around making sure the Deaf person has the accommodations needed to do his job. It's just. Damn. I love it so much. And! That it's not Riva's job to be understood, but the crew's job to understand.

[Also just looked it up. Howie Seago, who played Riva, is also Deaf, and he approached the TNG writers about having a Deaf negotiator in an episode. Okay wow this is a cool rabbit hole. Turns out TNG was an early adopter of closed captioning, and well-liked by the Deaf community as a result]

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

Response to confession 660 (sort of? sort of also became its own confession by getting longer than I intended lol): I kind of have always been a bit...I guess frustrated? by the take that NuTrek doesn't really "feel like real Star Trek" or other things in that same vein, because I know when DS9 came out it got hit by the same accusations of being too dark to be real Trek/"it's not Trek because they're on a station and not a ship"/not really generally feeling like "real" Star Trek. And it is true- in a lot of ways its still different from many of the other Treks, but at its core it still very much is Star Trek and it has come around to being pretty beloved.

I feel kind of the same about a lot of the modern Trek shows. I don't even like some of them very much (namely Discovery and Picard- I actually love Lower Decks and SNW) but I don't think they're lacking in Trek qualities; they are both a bit darker in tone (but again, so is DS9) but where they falter and where they succeed I think they do so in ways that are honestly pretty common to the franchise, which I adore but think has always honestly been a bit messy and produced some pretty big duds as well as it has masterpieces.

I also kind of have never really understood the take (which I've seen several times, not just in this confession) of marking The Orville as the best "real" NuTrek (not because I don't enjoy it, I do), because if one of the things that's wrong with some of NuTrek is its tendency to be nostalgia-baity (and I think that's a fair critique, it is)- than The Orville, being at its core a riff on classic Trek- also is nostalgia bait-y. Personally I think all the positive traits listed for The Orville (which I do agree with! I think it's a good show) also apply to SNW. I think it does a great job balancing interesting moral dilemmas (Under the Cloak of War my beloved) with silliness and joy (I mean, there's a musical episode!) and also is capable of fusing both together (it was imperfect in its execution, but I think its fair to say Charades was trying to do this and was still overall a really enjoyable episode)

I guess basically the end point of my long ramble is that I agree NuTrek is flawed, but I also think all of Trek is flawed and that NuTrek isn't flawed in a markedly different way. And despite its flaws, its still also got great parts to it and I think at its best it is doing what it should- fusing the core essentials of Trek with things that move the franchise forward in tone and vision (though as much as I honestly love SNW, I do want another show that's set sometime post DS9/VOY so we can explore more of that part of the timeline. My ideal show would be one that fuses SNW's general tone and storytelling style with that later part of Trek's timeline).

.

[captainjimothy]

just invented a new fucked up viewing order for TNG, in which i identify an individual plotline or recurring subject and watch all of its associated episodes together--

so anyway today i watched the Moriarty episodes, Elementary Dear Data (s2e3) and Ship in a Bottle (s6e12). they hit different when "character who became real" describes actual ppl in your daily life, who you know personally + intimately. there is no room to entertain the idea that Moriarty is less real than anyone else.

i feel like the first episode did a better job at dealing with Moriarty as a real person, but the second one retroactively blew it to pieces bc they fully skipped over the parallels btwn Data and Moriarty, making the rest of the crew look like complete assholes who don't actually believe in the concept of an artificial lifeform. and then they trapped him without his knowledge/consent inside a totally fake reality, implied that it would be permanent and they'd never check on him, and called it a job well done while joking about how horrifying it would be if their reality was also fake. like????? tell me you don't see him as an equal without telling me

i VASTLY prefer the way ds9 handled this with vic fontaine. he's given full agency over the domain that it's possible for him to exist in, and he forms relationships with non-holograms as complete equals, living his life on the station as a respected member of society. which makes Picard & Co. look like massive bigots in-universe for not being capable of that!

and going back to my initial statement, i'm not personally a fictive but i have 2 fictive headmates and several fictive friends, so when Moriarty was first going "no, i AM real, and i want to be free to live my life just as you live yours" i was right fucking there with him. and i stayed with him every step of the way, it never even occurred to me that he'd be considered a villain until the episode concluded with him being totally defeated--and when the final reveal came around i was fucking livid on his behalf!!

in my head there's a fix-it where he gets out and we actually grapple with the lived experience of a time-displaced fictive. bc it's complex, and very worth talking about. they were right about a lot of things with Moriarty: that life is exhilarating, it is difficult, and it is deeply, devastatingly lonely. but it's a life worth living, still, and he deserved the chance to do it on his terms.

ORRRRR a fix-it where the trickery never happens, bc i genuinely feel like it's outrageously OOC for everyone--especially Data, Geordi, and Picard--to even consider trapping him in a program like that as if he isn't a full person. of ALL people, those 3 should be the most keenly aware of the human rights violation they'd be committing, because they were the ones going to fucking bat for Data's personhood! would they condemn Data to unknowingly live in a simulation forever? no bitch!!!!!!!!! they'd do fucking everything in their power to give him a decent life that he actually has agency in!!!

(clarification btw. the non-consent, specifically, is what makes this an issue. like, we've explored the concept of someone who wants to live in a simulation (Nog), and as long as he retains the freedom to leave into a welcoming real world, it's literally fine for him stay in the holosuite. and we've explored the concept of someone who physically can't leave the holosuite but is totally okay with living in a simulated world (Vic), as long as he is aware of his situation and in control over his program. Moriarty has neither knowledge of his situation nor the ability to change it.)

[calliecstuff]

That scene with Odo at the end of DS9 always hit so hard for shifter girl me.

You get to leave your solid form behind, you get to turn fluid and flow back into the Great Link, and the loneliness at being different that's been with you your whole life is falling away because finally, finally, you're rejoining your people and going home.

(and I wanted that so bad)

But you've got to leave the person you love behind, so soon after finding happiness together, swapping one loneliness for another, because you're so different that where you're going, she can never follow.

(and I too was solid, I too was only human)

And you've got to convince your people to stop being genocidal imperialists, just after they tried to conquer a big part of the galaxy.

If this isn't bittersweet, I don't know what is.

[thegeminisage]

okay it's star trek update time. saturday we watched voy's "demon" and "one" and last night we did voy's "hope and fear" and ds9's "tears of the prophets."

demon (voy):

this one was so fun. i kept yelling THE GOOP IS ODO and it wasn't ofc but it was fun to imagine

a y class planet...i feel like we only ever see m class...this was very exciting

always exciting when they break out the space suits too

the ship landing is so silly and ridiculous. only slightly less ridiculous than the saucer splitting from tng

for a few minutes there i thought we were gonna have the tom paris/harry kim version of 2.25 resolutions. like because they could only breathe the planet's air. really really really funny

i love that the solution was to just let them clone everybody. imagine after voyager leaves and you can choose any crewman and all the little slimes want tuvok so you just have a bunch of tuvok slimes running around. 10/10

one (voy):

MY GIRL SEVEN....................

this one was soooososososo good

first of all, wtf at chakotay like talking to janeway about her bond with seven...that was gay as hell

i loved also she and the doctor eventually getting tired of each other. their scenes are so funny because they're both really autistic but in different directions

i love also when she gets put through the fire and succeeds...there is nothing she can't do. she really ran that whole ship on her own WHILE HALUCINATING i'm so proud of her

how clever to kind of leave it up in the air whether or not that guy was real, also. i went back and forth on it a few times and finally landed on not real only second before the reveal

her dream about being alone in the snowy tundra...damn. she like hates other people but also hates being alone. what a way to be

hope and fear (voy):

i had to physically pause this one multiple times to collect myself re: janeway/seven

the holodeck game. the argument where they both hit below the belt. the bit in the brig where they reference the first thing that happened in the brig and janeway had to touch seven's little eye thingy in the soft mood lighting wwwwow

i think the ethical dilemma here was a little silly though. like, my guy, you were banking on the ruthless guys who were stronger than the borg and also wanted to eat everyone else for lunch on helping YOU? like everybody say thanks janeway for getting rid of something even worse than the borg! not fuck you janeway for not letting the borg get killed by them

idk. i don't see that she did anything too awful. she sent them back home and saved them from the borg and saved the borg from them and then also got her people thru borg space AND got a gf out of it. leave her alone

i did like all the stuff about intuition vs borg knowledge though...janeway and her intuition remind me of kirk, but janeway and seven both fighting in the brig and then making up in the brig (complete with the touching) is very spones bread and circuses of them.

tears of the prophets (ds9):

man, sorry to say this, but...this script sucked bad. i dont think avery brooks is capable of phoning it in but we probability saw him get pretty close here. that final monologue, which should have ben about dax and was instead about the prophets, was poorly written

and dax's last words being about a baby - come on.

and kira and odo's argument - he is not so stupid he would do this without expecting her to be mad

and the scene between dukat and damar...where was the tension?? crazy dukat great but he's been better

even the thing with quark and bashir moping around in the holodeck because of dax was bad on paper

like, all of these things were saved (well, some of them were saved) by admirable performances from a charming and talented cast, but whew! like, julian looked so sad this became funny. kira and odo kissing to make up was so charming i forgave the premise

but dax's death was a bad death and her final arc being about a FUCKING baby was really sexist. sisko leaving not sure if he is coming back bc of some prophet thing right when bajor needs him most seems ooc. and his monologue to dax not being ABOUT. DAX. was a crime. poor terry farrell.

overall s6 has been great so far aside from a couple of bumps but man did it end on a sour note. i have heard season 7 is divisive so i guess we will see!!

TONIGHT: ds9's "image in the sand" and "shadows and symbols."