#early tng is so bad

[a-continuous-cutting-motion]

Star Trek TNG S2E18: Riker is extremely horny for a space-irishwoman’s dirty feet.

[enterprise-bee]

man okay so. i'm on season three of my tng watch and have been so glad to have dr. crusher back but i keep on thinking about dr. pulaski and. man the thing about her is that in a show where she'd had more time and more episodes focused on her i think she could have turned into a character i'd like. in a show where she had like, an arc she could have been so cool. there was potential there! the problem is that the writers decided to make her literally the only "good guy" character in the entire show to be a dick to data and not really apologize for it (literally this is otherwise the single most reliable flag for a character being a villain; do they treat data like a person), have that be her only notable character trait that wasn't shared with dr. crusher for her first two episodes, and then immediately forgot to do anything interesting with her ever again. and it's killing me because if they'd just like... given her a Single Story that i don't think dr. crusher could have done, or explored at all the reasons why she was a technophobe, or even had an episode where she Learns Something and Grows, she could have been good. alas it was tng season two and the only characters they knew how to write so far were data and picard, let ALONE any of the women,

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

i've been watching some s1 tng episodes lately and i think i'm being converted to the Tasha/Troi agenda. like yes the way they look at each other is certainly... yeahhh but also the woman who grew up having to constantly fight and still pushes her feelings down and the woman from literal royalty who has to constantly feel other people's feelings... that's good shit. i'm invested. i hate that i know i'm gonna get Nothing from the show.

[smol-blue-bird]

Started ds9 to distract myself from the horrors (anxiety about starting my phd)

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

#751

I honestly hope that the Borg don’t show up again in a major capacity for a LONG time. On paper I don’t mind the idea of them being a big central antagonist to the Trek universe as a whole but I do feel like every time they’re brought back as the main villain of a show/storyline they get worse (in terms of writing/to watch). I honestly wished they’d stayed main villains for TNG only and then been minor/recurring figures even as early as voyager. I was so disappointed when they were the main bad guys again in PIC s3. I just want new ideas at this point I don’t want the borg over and over with worse execution each time they show back up

[ireallyamabear]

now out of all the trek pilots i'd have to say the overall best is Emissary (DS9) - the emotional gut punch in the cold open alone! Avery Brooks truly is an exceptional leading man. All the characters are introduced so seamlessly, the set up for the worldbuilding and new challenges is great, Dukat shows up and cunts around already - who wouldn't want to keep watching.

Best plot set up must go to Voyager: a ship lost on the other side of the galaxy? they're really cooking now. And there are different sides that have to get along? Shame that they didn't really do anything big with the Maquis in subsequent episodes. But you also really get that Chakotay is like "O.O" about Janeway. As we all were.

Best character set up is probably Lower Decks. I'm showing my whole preferential ass here, but Mariner and Boimler are such a good pair from the get go (also closely followed by the TOS The Man Trap, you get what Kirk and McCoy are about in that first scene - but no Spock in sight so it has to go to Lower Decks). Best SciFi story in itself: has to be both The Cage and The Man Trap. Both manage to seamlessly blop you into this world of a space faring community, set up an intriguing mystery, with a satisfying ending. Well, the Man Trap takes it because it doesn't have the weird "oh she's ugly...i'm outta here" thing that Pike pulls.

Best franchise expending set up: Has to be Enterprise. That is controversial I guess, but I do love the step back into the early history and the Asshole Vulcans. The problem with the whole series is that it only comes out in like season 4 that these are Asshole Vulcans for a reason and different to the Vulcans in later Trek - so i get that people think it's bad characterization. No. Shoutout to Discovery in that category as well - the cold open with the Klingons is so good, but they do fumble the tension in the first episode a bit I think. Prime!Georgiou is delightful, though.

Best theme song: Enterprise. Fight me.

Best aliens: Again, DS9 and the Cardassians/Bajoran conflict is so juicy and good.

Funniest: Lower Decks, but it's meant to be. Otherwise I'd say Voyager? I'll be tracking this a bit. Voyager is actually really funny now that I think about it.

Most meh pilot: Strange New worlds. I actually remembered it better .. but man it's kind of boring. Maybe if pike hadnt shaved his beard.

Worst: I was like "oh the TNG pilot is really not good." the whole time but then i remembered that Picard is also here. Damn. Jean Luc, you kind of suck. Farpoint station is bad because it's so stilted, there's no emotional investment in the characters and the pacing is bad; the first episode of Picard is bad because it's Exposition!! the episode. but they really exploded Dhaj, didnt they.

all in all. that's a lot of television

[sundrop-writes]

Something I thought of based on that last ask - the Teen Wolf characters dating someone who is already a teen parent. (Like the JT and Mia dynamic from TNG.)

You got pregnant early into high school with a guy who said he loved you and then turned into a total asshole after he got your V-card, and though being known as "the pregnant girl" at your old high school made you a social pariah, you loved your daughter more than anything and you were happy to move to Beacon Hills, looking for a fresh starts.

Stiles would be enamored with you from day one. He would be obsessed with your beauty, your smile, your laugh, the fact that you enjoy his sarcasm and his dorky jokes. He would be eager to partner up with you on a project because you didn't know anybody else in the class, and when you invited him over to your place to work on it, it's because you were under the impression that your parents were taking your daughter out for the afternoon and you could work in peace.

You didn't expect her to come running in the door partway through the project and trample over half the papers that you and Stiles had spread out on the floor in preparation for your posterboard - while you scolded her, Stiles was immediately smitten with her, on her level. He caught her and played tickle monster, asked her what she had been so excited about while you rushed to clean up the half torn pages.

When your mother rangled her back up and took her into another room for a snack, you rushed to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I thought they would be out for the rest of the afternoon-"

"It's fine, I totally get it." Stiles grinned, helping you clean up. "I mean I don't fully get it. I never had siblings. Lonely only child here."

Then it struck you. And you felt obligated to tell him the truth.

"She's not my sister." You said quietly. "Stiles... she's my daughter."

You mistook the look of shock on his face for one of disgust, and you rushed him out the door, assuring him that you would finish the project by yourself.

The next day at school, you caught Scott and Stiles staring at you, and you assumed that they were only saying the worst - saying the same things that the people at your old school had. But it was far from the case.

"She has a kid?" Scott gasped. "You've never had a girlfriend before and you want to start dating someone with a kid? Are you sure about this? You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"I really like her." Stiles sighed. "And if there's just another little mini her... why is that a bad thing?"

Scott rolled his eyes.

Though you - in the same boat as Scott - could barely believe that Stiles wanted to date someone with a kid, he soon became the best boyfriend ever. Be was so attentive with your daughter, and the childish aspects of his personality actually worked out well because he befriended her quickly and wasn't above sitting on the floor to play tea party or dinosaurs with her.

But at the same time, he was wonderfully mature. He was more than understanding when you had to skip out on dates to spend time with her - and you knew that you had truly fallen in love with him when you ditched a movie with him to take care of your daughter because she had the flu and he showed up at your door with cough syrup, ice cream, soup, and a plushy for her and told you that he hoped she was okay.

(I could go on, but this post is so rambling lmao.)

(I also think Isaac would be sooo soft for somebody with a kid but that is for another post.)

[possibility-left]

Writer's Interview Meme

I got a tag from @copperplatebeech, thanks much! This is the writer's interview meme.

How many works do you have on ao3?

148 works in a large variety of fandoms. I also have an enormous volume of work I never posted to AO3, mostly short pieces, which live in my old fic journal on Dreamwidth.

What’s your total word count?

319,626 words! So that's about 2k words per fic which feels accurate. Obviously I have longer and shorter pieces.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

My top fic is actually something I wrote in 2017 (it's totally great and cool to comment and kudos older stories!). It's a soulmate trope rewrite of Disney's Tangled called wide open to the sun and I still regularly get kudos on it. I think it was probably recced somewhere because the exchange I wrote it for was pretty small.

Then it's diamond heart, which is an Adventure Zone Magnus/Taako get-together fic, followed by this love left a permanent mark, a short Star Trek: TNG piece about Data asking Geordi to help with his android maintenance, which is soft fluff.

4 is build a bridge even where there is no river, which is a Game of Thrones fic from 2014 (some ancient show speculation) that's a Daenerys/Arya get-together fic. #5 is blinders, which is an ATLA Toph/Zuko post-series romcom.

Kind of funny that they're all different fandoms and pairing types, but I guess I'm most successful with my get-together fics -- that seems to be the theme.

Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

There was a point a few years ago where I stopped responding because I was stressed out but I eventually got back into the habit, and if someone comments on something old and I realize I never responded to someone else on that fic, I usually respond back, even to a very old comment. Why not? I always feel like it's nice to say thank you.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

though love be a day, Steven Universe, Pearl/Rose. The story of Pearl and Rose's last date before Steven's birth. Pretty sure I made myself cry reading it.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I think mostly I write happy endings. It might just be recency bias but maybe the happiest one is the exponent of breath, Good Omens, A/C, in which there is a lot of fluff, a proposal, and a wedding. I had a lot of fun with that.

Do you write crossovers?

Recently I haven't, but I definitely have in the past and I wouldn't say no in the future if I had a good idea. I really like fusions where you put the characters from one fandom into another fandom's world.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I got some anon hate on a fic I wrote for an exchange; the story wasn't quite received like I'd expected and people thought I'd tripped a DNW, so. Fair. I ended up doing pre-reveals edits to address the issue (I know, this is bad form) and it remains in the Anonymous collection to this day lol. No further questions.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Very rarely -- I hardly ever have ideas for smut, although I do read it and enjoy it. It's almost always f/f (write what you know) and soft and romantic.

I am plotting an Ineffable Wives smutfic right now but it's still very early in the plotting stages and may never come to fruition. I hope it does -- I'd like to write more.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I've been putting my fanwork on the internet since 2001, it would be a shock if it hadn't been stolen at some point, but I'm not aware of it ever happening.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

It's been a very long time. I wrote a bunch of stuff with my ex-wife that is probably all off the Internet now, and my BFF and I used to write together a ton when we lived together, but it's been a long time since she and I have shared fandoms and worked on something together. I've always done a round robin/roleplay type of thing where you pass bits of writing around to each other and play off each other. I do think it would be fun to write something with someone else again though, now that Google Docs makes that a lot simpler.

What's your all-time favourite ship?

All-time? I really can't say. Before Good Omens I liked shipping little bits of everything, especially f/f rarepairs, but I've gone through a lot of cycles. Some old favorites are Cardcaptor Sakura - Eriol/Sakura, Avatar: The Last Airbender - Toph/Zuko, Steven Universe - Garnet/Pearl. Right now tops is Aziraphale/Crowley of course.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

In like March, I started writing a fic where both Crowley and Aziraphale were turfed out of their homes at the beginning of S2 but I couldn't quite figure out where I was going to go with it -- I just wanted them to both be in this uncertain place when Gabriel showed up and both aware of the precarity of their positions. But the rest of the plot has failed to come to me, so idk if I'll finish it. If that inspires someone else, feel free to run with it.

What are your writing strengths?

I hope it's character voices; if I can't hear the dialogue in my head I know it's not right. I also try to write good descriptions and entwine feelings with said description.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I read copper's answer to this and had to laugh in sympathy because I'm currently untangling the ridiculously long sentences in my WIP and wondering why it is I've never found an em-dash I didn't like. I also overuse semi-colons.

My writing weaknesses also include the fact that I will start writing without having a plan, ending, or plot, just because I thought of a good piece of dialogue.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't know any other languages but honestly I feel like I tend to go along with fandom convention for this -- so in Japanese language fandoms I feel like honorifics are important and I'll use them, but beyond that it's all English for me.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I wrote my first fic in 2000/2001-ish and it was a Cardcaptor Sakura fic in which Syaoran and Sakura get together after the end of the series as young adults. I emailed a webmaster I admired and they posted it on their Geocities website. Yes I am old!!

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I'm kind of stuck on my one favorite thing right now but I'm also rewatching The Good Place and I feel like it would be fun to write for. Sitcoms are really hard imo, I have written Community and Brooklyn 99 and it's really hard to get the humor balance right, but when you do, it pays off great.

What's your favourite fic you've written?

I'm pretty sure this is recency bias as well but recently I got a comment on wake with thirst, which is a Good Omens Michael gen fic that retells bits of the Good Omens story from Michael's POV, and when I reread the fic, I found myself kind of mad that no one else has read it, because I do honestly love it. I feel like I did some clever stuff there in the bits between the canon knowledge we have of Michael. I had fun getting into their weird POV, and also torturing them a bit. But also it's gen-fic about an angel almost no one likes so I get why it hasn't gotten a lot of attention. The Michael and Shax section is probably my favorite.

Tagging!! Obviously please feel free to take this if you see it, but I will tag @carry-the-sky, @ngkiscool, @bl0ndwave, @may--hawk, and @curiouspupsicle just as a random selection of folks!

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

streaming tv is like the fantasy/fiction need for a mid list. big money thrown at projects expecting that big money can make anything too big to fail, when the reality is that there’s only so much profit to make in an oversaturated market and only so many properties that can be the number one most popular thing at a time, but no matter how many projects fail or how variable the quality of the art is, it’s never going to be acceptable again to shore up most of your projects with only SOME money and letting that “mid list” find longlasting audiences that provide your baseline business

i wish both streaming tv and the publishing industry would spend less money on more projects that cultivate good writing. i want good writing and long projects to get invested in so bad that i'm caring less and less for production

my thesis statement is that tv shows are being canceled because they cost too much money. a mid list would have saved most canceled shows. higher production costs don't mean better writing, and lower production costs don't mean worse writing

the publishing industry is asking for shorter fantasy books and is canceling series and leaving authors behind because it is throwing all its money at shiny new things that are not actually new and don't stick

all of this without investment in a "mid list" to keep baseline profits coming or to keep a foundation of writers paid and busy

if companies spent less money on shows, would they last longer? would they hone writers' skills more? does this extend to animation where the budgets are so much smaller? or is there no world where i could get multiple 25-episode seasons of arcane and i'm just deluding myself

fantasy books especially have had an oversaturation problem for years, but the biggest problem is an over-reliance on debuts without investment in originality or in authors’ futures. what this looks like is big money thrown at marketing shiny debuts or at a subset of the old familiar faces in fantasy that established themselves before the shift in industry mindset. everyone else either gets scraps or can’t find their footing after their debut. you either go viral somehow or you go home. to make money, the only acceptable projects are generic or are recognizable rehashes of previously popular but specific ideas. fantasy is considered a popular genre now, but in my opinion, fantasy has never stopped being niche, but the need to find bigger audiences and bigger investment has resulted in pushing fantasy series that don't do anything new or interesting and actively spurn good prose, but can appeal to as many people as possible (instead of weird fantasy freaks, aka me, i'm freaks, now most of the freaky fantasy i can find is in video games and a single tear is rolling down my face)

now tv. buffy the vampire slayer cost about 1-2 million per episode. star trek tng cost 1 million per episode

look where we’re at with streaming services. tv shows that cost millions and tens of millions of dollars per episode. the sopranos redefined what prestige tv meant and it cost 2-6 million per episode. chasing the new prestige mindset, game of thrones started out at 6 million per episode. today, early game of thrones’ budget from about 2011-2013 is joked about like it’s chump change, especially for game of thrones or hbo. but prestige tv reeled in that subscriber money. the streaming model today is the continuation of the prestige tv model, except that every show needs to be prestige, no matter the audience or genre or story structure. because prestige tv made money

now that the baseline model for helping your subscription/channel make money is to throw 6 million+ per episode, it's no longer a mystery why seasons are getting shorter and shorter. and the demand for higher and higher production will only mean that shows take longer and longer to make

netflix shelled out 6 million per episode - what an oddly familiar number, huh? - for stranger things season 1. season 4 cost 30 million per episode

wheel of time season 1: 10 million per episode. rings of power season 1: 58 million per episode. these are adaptations btw, not original IPs, but this is SEASON ONE money you’re looking at. i liked both rings of power and wheel of time decently, but my hot take is that both of these shows are under-written and over-produced. why so much money thrown at projects with writers at the helm who are inexperienced in the fantasy genre? rings of power in particular is bank-breaking and it was originally planned to run for several seasons

the mandalorian season 1: 15 million per episode. andor season 1: 20 million per episode. the acolyte season 1: 22 million per episode

remember that the subscription model requires subscribers to make money and requires NEW subscribers to satisfy the hunger for growth, and star wars is a single IP with established fans. the mandalorian, andor, and the acolyte all took major risks in different ways. the mandalorian actually fell back on star wars fundamentals (rather than being something net new in my opinion) and its risk was in being a show, not a movie, and the first of its kind on streaming for star wars

andor could be the riskiest fantasy/sci-fi show to hit streaming, ever. 12 episodes for season 1 that cost 250 million overall, not 6-8, explores marxist themes, and did not pull in new subscribers. what popularity it does have is purely due to word-of-mouth and plain old good writing, rather than marketing or by simply being part of star wars. it was originally going to be 5 seasons but is now going to be 2 because... 250 million dollars is a lot to spend on one season of television that didn't make you a lot of money. simple as that, even if andor is the best live-action thing disney has produced in decades in my opinion

the acolyte season 1 was 8 episodes and cost 22 million per episode, which armchair critics on social media are stating is the reason why the show has been canceled. haters will just say it was canceled because of bad writing, and fans are saying it was because of review-bombing and the diversity of the cast and crew

i disagree on some level that the acolyte is the first star wars show to be canceled, because again, andor was going to be 5 seasons and is now going to be 2, losing over 50% of the original story. even fans of the acolyte will agree that its writing wasn't the best. most fans who have seen andor will agree that it is the best-written star wars media ever on par with the best episodes of clone wars. both shows brought me over to disney plus when no other show or movie did

but in effect, both shows have been canceled

my take is that if a mid list existed, both shows should have been on it. they are part of an established IP with established fans who were going to watch the shows no matter what. most people with star wars fatigue would not have heard about the uniqueness of these shows until later and would have probably picked them up by their finales or by their season 2s

if they were not star wars properties and were original stories instead, both of these shows were still fairly unique doing things that appeal to "weird" subsets of sci-fi/fantasy fans. the mid list would have been perfect either way

i firmly believe that a mid list would have saved both of these shows. 6 million per episode MAXIMUM. ideally less. not because i dislike either show, but because i care about writing above all else. pay 1 writers room a fair wage and let them go fucking nuts for a few seasons. as long as everyone else in the production is being paid a fair and living wage, i don't care how little is spent on the show

stranger things should have been a mid-list anthology series that ran forever, wheel of time should have been a mid-list tv fantasy with at least 12 episodes per season to do any justice to those massive books but also to pay homage to the book series' roots as high fantasy that goes on and on without much of a plan and with often mid and sometimes junky writing but with appeal in that it was long-running, made readers familiar with the same characters every book for many hundreds of pages each, and is something of a comfort read now for many fans

i think that reality is catching up to streaming services and things are going to get worse before they get better

but i also think that the next "evolution" of tv should be the return of the mid list

[mylittleredgirl]

Least favorite Star Trek character in each series?

i love all my children equally how could you do this to me!!!!

slightly more rational answer: i have been thinking about this since yesterday when i got the ask and it's like every time i think i have an answer i immediately go "oh but i love them for XYZ" and they move up in the ranks. ultimately most treks are ensemble shows and removing anybody from the ensemble makes it all fall apart!

gun to my head, though, bearing in mind that i love all of them:

tos: gun to my head it's chapel i'm afraid and i feel bad about it. she doesn't really get to grow much and the other most-static character is probably chekov and i had a massive crush on him. in 1967 when they went "you know this show should add a mop top for the teenyboppers out there" they were talking specifically about me 30 years later.

tng: i would take the bullet for real.

ds9: man i'm going through main characters and then secondary characters and then tertiary characters and how are they all so essential and good????? literally i have gone thru a list of characters and a list of episodes and am coming up blank. even the villains are fantastic. eddington is annoying but he's supposed to be and his episodes are all great. sloan himself is fun it's just what section 31 did to star trek in general that sucks. like????? there's not a single name that shows up in the credits that doesn't make me go YEAHHHHHH.

voy: if we can count recurring characters i'm saying barclay. i liked him a lot as a character in tng and but go "for fuck's sake" whenever i see "guest star dwight schultz" on the voyager credits. i dislike pretty much every earth-contact episode after "message in a bottle" so maybe i don't like voyager-barclay because he just happens to be there?? for main cast it'd be neelix shut up shut up i love him in the ensemble but sometimes when they give him his own episode it's too much.

ent: sorry malcolm lovers this was the only show that was an easy choice. like we SHOULD dig into the fact that essentially his greatest wish is to sacrifice himself and he won't be happy until he dies on the job. klingon behavior but not at all for the fun and glory of it just because he kind of just doesn't enjoy being alive???? archer is terrible in so many ways but he's also much more enjoyable to watch being terrible.

disco: this is actually a very weird show to even know who to choose from. the cast changes every year! we barely even know the bridge crew! who is interesting enough to count as a main character?? of the main title cast i'm kind of hot and cold with adira. i like them but the sheer amount of anxiety radiating off them at all times makes me tense up whenever they come on screen. (i just realized it's kind of ironic to say adira because they're basically a mix of wesley and ezri, who would probably make this list for most other trekkies but are two of my absolute faves.) (i will think long and hard about this)

snw: i don't know that i have enough of a read on any of them? i still haven't finished it. chapel (again?? oh no) is the one i had the hardest time warming up to early on because she seemed the most wink-y and out of place in a franchise that usually takes silly things very seriously, but i did warm up to her!

lower decks: if we can go with guest characters i hate badgey (only one on here that gathers the "hate" rating!!). i don't find him (it??) funny and i know i SHOULD find it funny which means whenever it shows up i am both not having a good time and feel bad about not having a good time. the main characters are all brilliant. gun to my head it's boims but it's a close one i love them all.

i don't even know what other shows we have i've run out of steam???

oh right picard. captain shaw??? why is such a large subset of fandom so horny for him??? and shipping him with seven of nine of all things???? is it just White Guy With Trauma because there are like. a lot of other white guys with trauma in this franchise to choose from.

[mejomonster]

I like Captain Archer to be honest. I think his only truly awful moments are Very due to bad writing choices in certain episodes. (Just like say Picard is generally quite consistently a good captain in TNG except when due to Very bad writing choice in particular episodes).

I think he strikes a nice balance between Kirk and Picards traits of aspiring to be the Best kindest leader aspiring to help, and the ruthless pragmatic actions Sisko had to take due to the nature of his situation in a station and during war.

Like Picard, Archer is very optimistic and has really high hopes for Starfleet. He's a hopeful leader: he wants to help victims of abuse (and as there's no prime directive yet, he often Chooses to interfere because it's ultimately him deciding if the Enterprise crew can deal with the consequences of interfering and he wants to HELP if they can). He gives Andorians a chance, he wants to make allies for humans. He wants to aspire to fairness, even if it means calling out Vulcan allies if they do something like lie to another alien species. He wants to support T'Pol, even if Starfleet would prefer he doesn't. He wants to embody the kind of world he wants to help build: kind, tolerant, wanting to learn and grow, helpful, curious. He wants to offer to help the aliens they run into, offer them a meal and get to know them. And he's free to carry out these ideals more than Kirk or Picard necessarily could, because there Are not as many regulations or protocol yet, he's THE first captain out here deciding what example he's going to set as the kind of behavior he hopes humans (and Starfleet) will continue on. He wants to aspire to all this, to meet the universe as the best humanity has to offer and aspire to.

But he's also... the first captain doing this. The early episodes he tries SO valiantly to stick to a perfect ideal. Its not reasonable, not even totally for captains later like Kirk. Its not reasonable for Archer either. There ARE times the only safe way to get through a situation, is to lie. And lie he does! He recognizes sometimes he has to lie intensely, imply things which are false, bluff that he'll do something, manuevers Kirk took in emergencies but that Archer needs to do MORE often because... its just Enterprise out there. No help is coming, no friendly ally location to run to. It's more like Sisko in some ways... he cannot resolve the huge dilemas of trying to maintain peace, of trying to get through wars, by never lying or manipulating. We see Sisko in episode 1 of DS9 blackmail Quark to stay on the station so businesses stay, we see Sisko deal with a military fighting the provisional government and kidnap Kira! With a cardassian spy and random demands sent through Julian! We see constant pressure from Cardassia, Bajor, and the Federation to fulfill contradictory demands, Sisko can't sit on the moral high ground of pure honesty and nobility without risking severe consequences. Where Sisko is required to solve things flexibly because DS9 is in the middle of it all, Archer must solve things flexibly because he is out in the Unknown and there are no other humans out there to handle the problems that come up or their consequences. Sure yes, issues Kirk dealt with in new unknown parts of space. But Archer deals with it more, especially as they go into the Expanse and there's no longer even vulcans to reach out to.

I like how Archer is in some ways a balance between those, being both extremely idealistic in the kind of leader he wants to be (where even Picard or Kirk might be more pragmatic and look to protocol), and also completely ready to bend rules and lie and manipulate if its what the situation requires. (I also think thats why others tend to Fall for his lies more often: he's usually so noble intentioned that if you just met him, its a surprise that he would manipulate you instead, and a surprise that allows him to get the crew out of various situations when he tries the noble honest route and it goes to shit).

[teecupangel]

Hi Teecup!

I hate to add to your pile of asks, but I've just started watching Star Trek TNG and it made me wonder... what about a AssCreed × Star Trek crossover?

To be more precise, the kind of crossover I'm thinking of is one where we take the characters of AC and mix them with the premise of Star Trek, so everyone is hanging out on a starship and getting dragged into random adventures on a weekly basis.

We can separate the Assassins and Templars into Starfleet and Romulans if we want to keep the fight between the two going, though I'm actually more interested in seeing a situation where there is no reason to fight so those factions no longer exist, and everyone is allowed to interact and make friends with whoever they wish.

Also since I want to keep the joke of isekai protagonist Desmond going, maybe he gets transported into this parallel universe after dying and finds himself face to face with the Star Trek versions of all his ancestors, as well as... himself?

As long as you don't mind the long wait to get to your asks, just pile them in my asks hahahaha

We do have this Q is Desmond’s real father idea before because William Miles’s voice actor played Q and that includes Desmond getting sent to Stark Trek ‘verse.

So for this one, we’re going for AC cast in Star Trek but with the caveat that Desmond gets transported there from his previous world just to annoy him (and probably save his life but he can never be sure about that)

For this one, I like the idea that the Templars and Assassins have finally buried the hatchet because one of the main point of Star Trek (especially the early ones) is that humanity managed to unite. Of course, we can still make some of the Templars Romulans if we want to preserve the ‘antagonist’ route but imagine Desmond’s “????” whenever he learns that Templars he knew as super bad news have formed relationships with the Assassins ranging from “I don’t want to ally with them but they’re good at their job” to “besties!”

Desmond would feel a bit weirded out when Ezio just sigh when he learned they would be allying with a ship that has Cesare Borgia as a high ranking officer. He knows that Cesare’s probably on their side but he’s curious why Ezio looked less like he wants to kill him and more like he’s already tired just thinking about dealing with him.

Then he learned the reason why Ezio looked like that.

‘Allegedly’, Ezio slept with Cesare’s sister, Lucrezia Borgia during one of their downtime in the Borgia’s home planet. And nooooo, this wasn’t a case of “You fucked my sister, you must die!” revenge story. That would not have been complicated enough for Ezio’s messy love life. The problem was… Cesare didn’t get to join Ezio and his sister. Yeah, that’s it. Cesare wasn’t angry at Ezio. He was trying to get in Ezio’s pants (“Of course, we’ll invite my sister”) and Ezio is just… he’s done. He’s soooo done with everything. Fuck being the primary communication liaison of the crew. He’s gonna hide in his room and call his BFF back in his homeplanet (there’s a bet going on if said BFF was “the one who got away” – No that was his childhood sweetheart Cristina- or the “he doesn’t know he’s in love with his BFF or vice versa”)

My primary idea for the crew and a little bit of sprinkled lore:

The name of the ship would probably be Aquila to hammer in the bird motif. Another sorta weird names would be names used to talk about a group of eagles like convocation or eyrie or aerie. Or just go for Alamut which some call “Nest of Eagles”.

Edward Kenway is the Captain. He can be Haytham’s father and Ratonhnhaké:ton’s grandfather, a humanoid with long life and a thirst for adventure. In this life, he’s drinking buddies with Alaya and is also friends with Roberts. To make it funnier, he’s actually John Standish’s godfather (who is the son of Roberts and Haytham’s childhood friend)

Haytham is the First Officer because the entire crew (including his father) lives to make his life stressful. He’s married to Kaniehtí:io and their eldest joined the crew. There’s joke of nepotism because of this but it’s all said in a teasing manner because the Kenway men gets the job done. He trained Charles Lee (and the rest of his Templar Order) when they were fresh new ‘graduates’ so they like to call him Master Kenway.

Ratonhnhaké:ton is the Navigator and is being trained to be the Helmsman by the current Helmsman Adéwalé. He can usually be found talking to Ezio or Aveline. He’s really good at combat so he mostly join offworld missions which is why…

Aveline is the second Navigator in case Ratonhnhaké:ton is offworld. She’s also their offworld liaison if Ezio is not available. Sometimes, she also takes over the Communications Officer’s jobs. The crew is not entirely sure what her actual job is??? (Her parents divorced and her mother is alive. She and her stepmother are close as well and her stepmother is the Captain of another ship)

Adéwalé is the Helmsman and he had been ‘sailing’ with Edward for so long that Edward rarely had to give specific orders. Adéwalé is already doing what Edward wanted. It gives Haytham a headache because ‘communication’ is important, especially for reports and such. Adéwalé takes Ratonhnhaké:ton under his wing and Ratonhnhaké:ton calls him Uncle Ade.

The Science (technically called Research and Development Department) Division is under Altaïr’s complete control and no Kenway can go against him. He wants to go offworld to research one thing or another, he’s joining the offworld team. He wants them to take a pit stop in one of the colonies or world for materials or something, the ship would change course. Desmond didn’t even question it when he heard of it. He just said “… yeah, that sounds about right.” and moved along. The funny thing? Altaïr isn’t the Chief Science Officer. That’s the long suffering Malik Al-Sayf. Altaïr’s official position is “Second Officer”. He has an academic rivalry going on with Robert de Sablé and he still sends letter to his grandfather who is a high ranking government official of the United Federations of Planet.

Ezio is the Chief Communications Officer and he’s always part of the offworld teams (unless something comes up). He comes from a long line of Starfleet officers. His siblings are stationed in other ships and his father is a member of the United Federations of Planet.

Shay is the Security Chief and it is the second most stressful job (after Haytham) trying to keep the peace and order of the ship (okay, that’s an exaggeration). Most of the time, he just makes sure everyone is okay and safe whenever shit hits the fan. He’s pretty chill and is Haytham’s drinking buddy. He still writes to his mentor Achilles who taught him everything and to his childhood friend who joined another ship Liam.

Arno is part of the Chief Tactical Officer and he has a close professional relationship with Evie and Altaïr mainly because those two takes care of weapon upgrade… and other… uuuhh… ‘stuff’ their missions might need. He has a fiancee who is a high ranking officer of Starfleet.

Evie is the Chief Engineering Officer and is Altaïr’s number one supporter. Edward once joked that if Altaïr was to mutiny, they would be fucked because Evie would be first in line in shutting down all the engines and any security procotol they have in place. Ezio would like to stress it was more of a ‘mentor and student’ kind of thing. Desmond learned that Altaïr also had his hands on the Engineering Department and is like “yeah, that tracks too.” Evie has a rivalry going on with Lucy Thorne and her twin would just comment that they should sleep together once and get it over with.

Jacob is usually the captain of the offworld team unless a higher ranking officer joins then he’s the vice-captain. Close to Arno because he’s always asking for new ‘toys’ to play with. May or may not have a son who may or may not be adopted called Jack. The crew isn’t sure if he’s Jacob’s son or his protege.

I’m missing a few more main characters and the modern day characters so uuuhh… they’re there, I just couldn’t think of a position for them XD.

(I kept their species vague so you can make them any race you want. I will suggest that Altaïr be half-Vulcan though because he feels very Vulcan-ish but, honestly, pick whichever feels right for you or what would make you go “you know what would be fun”? XD)

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

I watched every Star Trek episode & here are my opinions.

as the title says – i finished all the Star Trek shows as of today yesterday and since i watched most of them while i wasn't using tumblr, i want do do some mini-reviews – both what i think are objectively the best shows and which are my personal favorites. i might make a couple more "ranking" posts for theme song/pilot/finale/favorite epsiodes/etc eventually but this post is already long as hell. i'll also probably do a movie post sometime but i want to rewatch the AOS movies first since i haven't seen Into Darkness since it came out (before i was actively a Trekkie).

also just as a note, these are fully my own opinions & tastes. i'm not trying to argue that any of these shows are bad (nor are any flawless), i'm just Some Guy giving my opinions.

continued under the cut. apologies for how long this is but there sure is a lot of Star Trek.

Watch Order

my opinions are probably a bit influenced by the order that i first watched these shows in so just as some background – i watched sporadic episodes of TOS & TNG when i was a kid which was enough to be familiar with the characters, general vibes, & world but not enough to really get into it. in late 2020/early 2021 i watched DS9 per a friend's recommendation and really loved it and decided to give all the different shows a shot. i watched all of TNG summer 2021, watched some of Disco & (what was then all of) Lower Decks in fall 2021. i started Voyager spring 2022, was interrupted because of Life Stuff and finished it spring 2023. i watched the first season of snw & prodigy sometime in between then. watched Picard spring 2023 just before s3 aired. watched Enterprise summer/fall 2023. finished Disco spring 2024 (just before s5). did a slow march through TOS between summer 2023 and summer 2024. and finally i watched TAS this past month. and i've been keeping up with all recent releases since 2023.

i've also rewatched a large amount of Trek either with my mom or friends at various times so i've ended up seeing most episodes twice (or more in the case of DS9 & Voyager).

Somewhat Objective Ranking:

there's a large difference for me between shows that i think are objectively good & ones that i'm personally attached to so here's just my attempt at ranking Star Trek shows by how good i think they are from a critical lens, not necessarily my favorite.

for me – a good show, and specifically a good Star Trek show, should have in my opinion a) a diverse & strong cast of characters, b) have unique & compelling plots whether they're based in science fiction, politics, or philosophy, c) has a strong moral center & explores the nature of humanity in some way, d) allows the audience to believe in a better future, e) is consistent (both with continuity and episode quality), f) does something to differentiate it from other shows, and g) is actually entertaining.

i don't think any shows come close to fulfilling all of those qualities but some do better than others.

11. The Animated Series: probably not a surprise that it comes in last. it's a fun show by the standard of kid's cartoon in the 70s and i genuinely do like it but it has a lot of the flaws of TOS (lack of continuity, lack of character depth, flimsy plots) with few of the upsides. though i do like how the secondary characters get more of a focus than in TOS.

10. Enterprise: big jump up in quality here from TAS but Enterprise does fall flat compared to the other shows. the Vulcan & Andorian stories are almost always good but so much of s1 & s2 lacks creativity and a lot of the a plots end up feeling generic & reused (though the b plots are often great). s3 falls into an obvious & uncomfortable 9/11/war on terror metaphor that has not aged well. and s4 is a huge improvement but doesn't make up for the faults of earlier seasons. additionally, i think returning to "the Trio + secondary characters" was largely a mistake as characters like Hoshi & Travis remain horribly underdeveloped (and what a coincidence that they're characters of color...) all in all. some great ideas and a handful of great episodes but it doesn't make up for how meh large swathes of the show can be.

9. The Original Series: i'm going to be honest that it this is the hardest show to objectively rank just because it's the first and it's so hugely impactful not just on the Star Trek franchise (obviously) but also on science fiction, pop culture, TV production, and American culture. its impact is quite literally immeasurable and i think unfortunately it means the show will always feel small in comparison to the shadow it casts. don't get me wrong. some episodes are great even by today's standard, not to mention by the standard of the 60s. but so many episodes, especially as the show went on, end up being pretty mediocre, poorly paced, misogynistic/racist, and have thin plots. TOS is enjoyable for me because of the camp & exploring the foundations of this fictional universe i love so dearly but i'm not going to pretend that it's objectively better than other shows on this list just because of its legacy.

8. Picard: now i could pretty easily judge each season of Picard as its own show and each season would get spaced out in entirely different places on this list. i genuinely believe s1 of Picard is one of the best seasons of Star Trek. the writing fumbles a bit at the end but the characters, direction, & acting is some of the best of the franchise. unfortunately the choice to present each season as a separate anthology reallllly let's it down because of the lack of continuity between seasons. the pandemic definitely threw a wrench into the show but s2 (while i enjoy it), has a very messy meandering plot that feels insecure in its skin. s3 (which i also enjoy) has tighter writing but suffers majorly from having been outlined before the end of s2 therefore having a weird discontinuous transition between seasons and unfortunately excluding so many great characters from s1 & 2. i love it dearly (not to foreshadow my personal favorite ranking) but it is a mess.

7. Discovery: most of the critiques i have of Picard also stand for Discovery which also opted for the "anthology" style series which i think fundamentally doesn't work. Discovery took awhile to find its voice and after s3, still sung somewhat off key. Michael is easily one of the best & most well developed Star Trek characters and the rest of the cast is good but are painfully underdeveloped as its hyperserialized format doesn't really leave time to get to know the characters unless it's essential for the plot. like Picard, it also got screwed over by pandemic-era production leaving some episodes clumsily written. some seasons, in my opinion, end up with an overcomplicated plot that becomes difficult to follow. nevertheless, there are some episodes and scenes that are stunning and somewhat make up for the mis-steps. and ultimately, the later seasons of the show really do understand the heart of Star Trek.

6. Strange New Worlds: going back to an episodic style for the next live action show after the mixed reviews of Picard & Discovery was definitely a good choice. the writing is much tighter, the characters generally feel more whole, and there's more to grab onto compared to entirely serialized shows. and after a lot of the darkness in Discovery and Picard, it feels like a breath of fresh air to have a show that feels joyful & fun. however. so much of SNW is built off of pre-existing Star Trek (mainly TOS) that it struggles to form its own identity and when it tries to be a new show, it gets caught in the trap of betraying existing continuity. the episodes focusing on La'an, Uhura, M'Benga, & Una are great – some of the best of new trek – but episodes focusing on Spock, Chapel, and Pike end up feeling... off with messy writing and being Kinda Weird about disability/genetics. since it's only had two seasons, i definitely think SNW could ascend or descend in the rankings in the upcoming season(s).

5. The Next Generation: TNG wasn't quite as hard for me to rank as TOS but it sometimes struggles with a similar problem that its legacy in pop culture sometimes overshadows the show itself. it's also tricky because when TNG is good, it's phenomenal; when it's bad, it's really bad; but most episodes land somewhere in the middle. s1 is borderline unwatchable, s2 is just a step above, and from there it gets a lot stronger after behind the scene problems were worked out & it found a stable writing staff. it ends up striking a good balance of stories between straightforward science mysteries, deep explorations of philosophy, space politics, and fun romps. it ends up getting dragged down more than a little by Roddenberry's lingering insistence to have the characters avoid long term conflict and the very episodic style resulting in less ongoing story arcs. characters like Geordi, Wes, Beverly, & Troi also end up feeling somewhat underdeveloped in comparison to characters like Picard & Data.

4. Voyager: this is probably one of my more controversial picks (judging by how others tend to rank the series) and maybe i'm biased but i do genuinely believe that Voyager deserves its place this high on the list. Voyager is an inconsistent show which certainly pulls it down a little but manages to strike a better balance in episode quality and is able to have more dynamic characters & more ongoing narratives than TNG. Voyager still has its share of bad episodes and gets off to a somewhat shaky start (particularly struggling in early s2) but finds its groove more easily because of the experienced writing team that already had years of Star Trek under their belt & an excellent cast. Voyager's biggest stumbles are definitely in regards to under-serving some of the characters (especially Chakotay, Tuvok, and Harry) in later seasons.

3. Deep Space Nine: a somewhat obvious pick for top three Trek shows. DS9 has deservedly been getting its praises in recent years for its darker narratives, its bold approach to some of TV's first serialized stories, its exploration of politics & religion, and the masterful way it can bounce between nuanced episodes on serious topics & fun comedy. it flails a little bit in the first two seasons while finding its voice but compared to some of the other shows, it starts off strong and the quality is generally consistent with seasons 4 & 6 being the obvious highlight. however despite the strength of the characters, actors, and writing, there are certainly times when the show fumbles: episodes that get a bit too dark to bounce back from (and aren't followed up on), stories that present some troubling ethics without much pushback, and its fair share of the mediocre scifi mystery episodes seeded throughout 90s Trek.

2. Lower Decks: based on its first season, Lower Decks is a fun but non-serious entry into the Trek pantheon. so it was surprising when what seemed at first glance like a typical irreverent adult animation show, developed so much genuine heart for both the the Lower Decks characters & the wider Trek franchise. Lower Decks could have been an excuse to string together a bunch of fan-servicey references but it becomes genuinely heartfelt with great new characters, fun worldbuilding, actual insightful commentary on existing Trek, and the ability to laugh at itself while still being made with love. while the first two seasons drag it down a little bit (i think they went in too hard with the raunchy comedy vibes), season 3 and especially season 4 are really great especially with the exploration of Mariner's PTSD that strengthens her into one of the best character in Trek.

1. Prodigy: plenty of people have been singing Prodigy's praises since its untimely cancellation and no joke – it is, in my opinion, the best Star Trek show. it is more of a kids oriented show than the other entries on this list (except TAS) but that doesn't mean it lets up on having complex plots & characters. it might be the only Star Trek show that i genuinely believe doesn't have a bad episode (albeit a couple in s1 that are just okay) and s2 as whole is a masterpiece. the only things that let it down in my opinion are: somewhat clunky animation on close-ups (though the background animation is gorgeous) and the plot getting so over complicated by s2 that i had to draw a diagram to keep track of the time travel (and this is coming from someone who loves over complicated time travel stories.)

My Personal Favorite Star Trek Shows:

11. The Animated Series: as i said before – it's fun, i'm glad it exists, it doesn't really offend me, but with the exception of the episode Yesteryear, it doesn't really do anything for me.

10. The Original Series: yeah... i'm sorry. i just don't click with TOS that much (or TOS era in general as you can tell from the rest of this list). i can recognize its importance and there are definitely some episodes i really enjoyed (either for the camp factor or because they're genuinely good) but the majority of the episodes i either don't have much of an opinion on or i think are genuinely bad (in a not fun way). i'm also fine with looking past some of the bigotries of the time but even so the misogyny & racism in the show was just too much for me. sorry.

9. Strange New Worlds: i enjoy SNW for the most part but it's definitely dragged down because 1) i strongly dislike how Spock is written, 2) while i definitely like episodic Trek more, the short episode order does make the episodes i dislike stand out a lot more, 3) a lot of the show is built on nostalgia-bait for TOS era which... i just don't really have. there are great episodes but as a whole, i'm just not attached to it.

8. Discovery: i really disliked the first two seasons of Discovery when i first watched them and though they've grown on me, it's just too dark for me to really get into. seasons 3-5 i like a lot more and i appreciate how earnest & hopeful it is (especially compared to seasons 1 & 2) but the writing can be a bit heavy handed. and as much as i do really love Michael, i definitely prefer shows with a stronger focus on the ensemble as a whole. that said, i am definitely attached to the characters and really love the 32nd century worldbuilding that's done.

7. Enterprise: i'm honestly a bit surprised that i ended up liking Enterprise this much but the fourth season (with the exception of the finale that definitely doesn't exist) is banger after banger. and while the episodes of earlier seasons might be a bit uninspired, the general worldbuilding is genuinely interesting to me with the exploration of Vulcan politics, the Vulcan-Andorian War, the Temporal Cold War, the pre-Federation politics of Earth, and more. i'm also greatly endeared to all the secondary characters (Hoshi & Phlox particularly) which means it's also a shame that the non-Archer, Trip, & T'Pol characters get so little screentime. and while so much of the first two seasons is kinda bleh, the B plots & runners to those episodes end up being really fun and ends up creating a world & characters that feels worth exploring.

6. Prodigy: i think with time (and a possible third season...) Prodigy could become one of my favorite Treks and as i already said – it's very very good. the core cast of characters is really strong with all of them (except for maybe Murf & Jankom Pog) being well developed and compelling. the plot is interesting and feels relatively unique while still feeling like Star Trek at its core. it's also the rare example of a series that has a lot of fan-service while still retaining its identity and the strength of its own characters. ultimately, it ends up ranking lower on here than my more objective tier list because some of the angst & darkness i enjoy in stories doesn't quite deliver (which is very much not a fault of the show since it is a family show), the way Janeway is written doesn't always quite line up with my own view of the character (again, not a fault of the show), and the fact that i just haven't spent as much time with the show & characters yet.

5. The Next Generation: TNG is very much a comfort show to me. i don't have all that much to add from my objective review (there are very bad episodes, very good episodes, but most are somewhere in the middle). i really like all the characters and the behind the scenes friendships really translate well to the screen but none of them really compel me the way characters do further up on this list. i do give the show a lot of credit though for continuing the worldbuilding established in TOS and taking it in a new direction and a new vibes (rather than continuing the space western format) that is hugely influential to all of the shows that came after it.

4. Lower Decks: pretty much the same as my objective review – it's a fun show that ends up finding a good balance of humor, strong characters, and pointed commentary at past Trek shows. it's a show obviously filled with a lot of love for the franchise and i'm very glad it exists. aside from Mariner, i'm not quite as attached to the other characters but i do love them all.

3. Deep Space Nine: as i said before, DS9 is undoubtedly one of the strongest shows in Star Trek. it has the most recurring characters, pretty much all of which i find compelling, and a fantastic cast of regulars as well. the overall plot of the show is incredibly strong and allows it to have a lot of good commentary on imperialism, war, religion, race, and more. it has my two favorite episodes in all of Star Trek (The Visitor and Far Beyond the Stars) and so many other bangers as well. it's the show that first hooked me into Star Trek & the Star Trek fandom and it really is fantastic. the reason it doesn't rank higher here is entirely subjective in that i just don't feel as compelled to explore the characters & fandom as the last two shows on this list. other people have talked about how shows that are too objectively good aren't necessarily the best for fandom and that's how i kind of feel about DS9. it's great. i love it. i'm not necessarily compelled to feel like i have to add to it.

2. Picard: i can recognize that in many ways Picard kinda fails as a show (for reasons i've already stated) but that absolutely does not stop me from loving it. it's extremely messy and i've wanted to fix it ever since i saw it. it might be an unpopular opinion but the worldbuilding developments in s1 (the destruction of Romulus, the synth ban, the general darkness of the Federation) are incredibly compelling to me and i really do like deconstructing Picard as a character (even if i wish he was in the show a little less). and despite some major inconsistencies between seasons, i find the characters wonderfully rich and well written and every time i watch an episode, i feel like i want to explore them more and more. (not coincidentally, it's also the Star Trek show i've written the most fanfic for.)

1. Voyager: Voyager has enthralled me mind, body, & soul. i've never had such a fast turn around from a show that i was meh about to one that constantly consumed my thoughts. it's undoubtedly imperfect but it's imperfect in a way that i feel compelled to want to study and fix. with the exception of maybe DS9, Voyager has the strongest cast of characters and one of the strongest premises of any show. i firmly believe that Kathryn Janeway is the best (and certainly my favorite) Captain in all of Star Trek and most of the characters rank among my favorite Trek characters of all time. even if there aren't a ton of obvious ongoing narratives, the subtle ways the characters change over the 7 years is great and leaves the door open for fandom to explore so much (which as you can tell is definitely something that draws me to a lot of shows). and while DS9 might have my favorite episode of Star Trek, Voyager ends up having more stories that rank amongst my favorites (Year of Hell, Latent Image, Endgame, Barge of the Dead, Bride of Chaotica, Riddles, Survival Instinct, Timeless, etc).

anyways.... that sums that up. i'll probably type up my list of favorite episodes sometime in the next few days because i need to milk the "i watched all of Star Trek" thing for a little bit.

[staringdownabarrel]

I know Worf gets a lot of flack for being a bad parent, and in some ways he really is, but honestly, I find it easy to be sympathetic to him as well.

When Worf first becomes a single father, he clearly recognises that he isn't in an ideal spot to be a parent, and that he doesn't have the right temperament for it. That's the real reason why Alexander is sent to live with Worf's adoptive parents on Earth initially. While this often gets read as Worf dumping an unwanted child, it's also just as much a recognition that he isn't cut out to be a parent.

Worf's initial recognition that he isn't cut out to be a parent is vindicated in TNG, too. In New Ground, when Worf first starts taking care of Alexander full time for real, it isn't just a matter of him not having the right temperament for it. It's also a matter of him straight up not having the time for it, either. A lot of the early issues he has with Alexander stem from him being on duty when Alexander is causing issues.

Alexander is also presented as being an extremely difficult child in canon. Consider the other Star Trek kids in the TNG era. Wesley, Naomi, Jake, and Nog all have their issues, are being raised by single (and in the case of Wesley and Jake specifically, widowed) parents in the communal starship/space station environment, but still manage to get along okay. Alexander on the other hand is presented as having behavioural and defiance issues.

This does make a lot of intuitive sense. He was there when his mother was killed and he's still too young to have developed any effective coping skills for it. The other children introduced tend to have been in this position for a while and have had time to develop those skills. Of course Alexander is going to be a difficult child by comparison.

But still, this isn't exactly a good recipe for Worf. He's in a position he isn't really cut out for, raising a child he never really wanted, who also has deep behavioural issues he's unequipped to handle. This was always going to lead to him being a deeply frustrated parent and considerably worse at it than the other Star Trek parents.

Plus, you know, we never get a phase where Alexander is the sweet little kid. TNG just skips straight to Alexander the brat. This is only compounded by the fact that the Berman era writers weren't very good at writing child characters, so even the less bratty Alexander scenes still end up being grating.

At least in real life when kids are going through their more difficult phases, parents have the memories of them being sweet kids to fall back on. They can still go, "Okay, this is just a phase and eventually they're gonna come out and be the good kids with good values like I remember." Worf never really gets that. He only ever gets Alexander the difficult child, not Alexander the good kid.

It's not like Worf doesn't try to connect with Alexander. A lot of him trying to get Alexander to be more interested in his Klingon heritage is read as Worf essentially trying to force his religion on Alexander, but I don't see it that way. I think it's more Worf trying to bridge the gap between him and his son. Most parents want their kids to have some knowledge of their heritage anyway, so Worf isn't being inherently unreasonable on this point.

He also seems to be ultimately okay with Alexander embracing his human side, if somewhat uncomfortable at times. This is a large part of Worf's character arc in Firstborn. So reading Worf's attempts at trying to get Alexander to be more interested in his Klingon heritage as being an attempt at connecting more deeply does make overall sense.

Really, the big thing Worf gets right in the TNG era is that he is actively getting therapy for it with Troi. This is something Worf did better even compared to real parents today, thirty years later. Loads of parents would never consider this kind of dynamic, but for Worf, it's something he accepts as necessary given his lack of parental abilities and Alexander's ongoing issues. I feel like this is an aspect that doesn't get focused on enough when people talk about Worf's parenting.

This is also one of the points where DS9 really derails Worf's character. Even when Alexander comes back into Worf's life as a member of the Klingon Defense Forces, there's never any new therapy sessions for the two. They have the ongoing father and son conflict, but none of the attempts at resolution that existed in TNG. So we go from a positive example of someone trying to resolve a conflict to a less positive one, and I really feel like this colours a lot of people's views on Worf's parenting more than it should.

[tngbabe]

Ok, y'all know I love Beverly Crusher, too, soooooo! OMG, it's such a long story that comes with these pictures of me getting my ornaments. Y'all know I gotta share! So I've been off for a while (more on that another day). I had to post this! Ok, shut up, tell us already, right? I had to go to bed early on the 11th so I could get to Hallmark to wait in line. I get there an hour early I'm 2nd in line but the gate to the store is half way up....there's people in the store What the f*ucking he'll is going on I ask the Hallmark lady to let me in " do you have your bag?" Bag? Bag? I'm wondering, " Only ornament club members in right now. You can see the Star Trek ornaments thru the window, she tells me after my mouth hangs open for a bit. But I'm here for bev, you know dr crusher star trek tng... about to cry. You can see the Star Trek thru the window. Mom says she'll stay in line . I wheel past the others, get to the window & I can see her ornament hanging, but!!! OH MY G*OD K*TH HER SPACE IS EMPTY THERE'S NO BOXES! Calm down, he tells me ,Yea they can check the back right? Back to the front of the line i go now. She's gone, bev is gone lady(can't remember her name with the shock & all) there are no boxes under her! Oh, then we must have sold out. No, no, this can't happen. You see, I did this. I waited in line in the bad weather and still didn't get the 1st Star Trek ornament! It was the original enterprise, and I never got one until eBay came around. I was screeching at this point and had to sit down on my walker. Mom takes one of the ladies aside & hubby goes with her. Another lady comes, and I ask her if she can check the back. Please check for me. Hubby comes back that lady's going to check, ok? Calm down, your face is red. Waiting. Waiting what are we going to do if they don't have it? What ...huh, the lady is smiling she calls me over she has 4 left but still 15 minutes until I can get in! Nice lady asks how many I want she'll put them behind the desk as sold!! Then she let's my husband in gives him the coveted bag & he's in the checkout line!!! I wanted to yell SCOORREEE, but they were probably on the phone to the whoopee squad anyway, so I just waited, and you see me holding both outside the store!! Then, safely at home, I unwrapped one for the picture . Whew...what a story....no I'm not crazy....next I'm having Gates McFadden sign one of my boxes!

[clowngames]

When I was curious about Star Trek, someone told me to watch TNG's season 3 episode 16, The Offspring. Rewatching it now, it's very obvious why this is the perfect episode to watch to figure out if you like the show.

TNG isn't a serialized show so you can pick it up from anywhere. There are very few shifts in the status quo excepting where it's relevant in the highest budget episodes, so you could probably pick a random episode and hit play and be fine. That's how it would be if you caught it while channel scrolling when it originally aired, and that was the context in which it was written.

I don't recommend starting with episode 1, or really any episode from season 1. Not to say they're bad, but they're not the strongest sell. Someone can give it the 3 episode rule and decide it doesn't grab them because TNG hasn't actually figured out what it was going to be in those first 3 episodes, or the first 2 seasons. If you want someone to become a fan of Star Trek, I suggest recommending an episode rather than telling them to start from the beginning. They can go back and watch the early episodes if they like the show, like I did.

And here's why The Offspring is a great recommendation for a first episode:

It's Data-focused. Everyone always immediately loves him.

Specifically it focuses on the way Data and Lal express wants without experiencing emotions. While Data may not feel love for his daughter, his behaviors and attitudes toward her indicate something analogous enough to be equally meaningful. I think that lower stakes examination of Data's personhood is deeper and more intriguing than Measure of a Man.

It covers quite a bit of the emotional spectrum you get from Star Trek. It's cute, awkward, tense, and tragic.

There are very few important characters to keep track of (Data, Lal, Troi, Picard, Guinan, and the Admiral. Westly is also there)

Lal chooses her gender. Imagine if you could do that in real life? If you don't like the way Star Trek presents ideas that are analogous to current sociopolitical topics by making them aliens or robots so they can pretend it's not even about that, then you'll find out early on in the episode. If you do like that (I do), good news.

No space battles, no combat, no phaser fires. Just people asking the audience "wouldn't it be fucked up" and making the audience think about it. The battles will come, of course, but this is the type of episode that Trek fans complain there isn't enough of in modern Trek, and it's the type of episode I most missed when I finished the show.