#quark plays mass effect | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

swaps55 · 4 years

Text

5 Favorites

5 favorite snippets from 5 reasonably recent stories. Or whatever. Rules are mere suggestions.

Tagged by @nug-juggler. Thank you! I love sharing snippets.

Tagging @pigeontheoneandonly, @shadoedseptmbr, @forlornmelody, @nightmarestudio606 and anyone who’s interested, no obligations!

1. From Cantata, Chapter 3 – Welcome to the Fire:

Shepard halts, pivots, corona blazing forth once more. He says something Kaidan doesn’t understand, but the mercenary pauses, then chortles and breaks into a sprint.

Anyone in their right mind would have quailed at the sight of a charging krogan. Shepard grins.

It’s feral.

Confident.

And utterly unafraid.

His fists curl. The gravity well somersaults as Shepard channels a maelstrom of dark energy. Kaidan sucks in a sharp breath, the sheer force of it enough to make him dizzy.

The krogan’s shotgun blares. Every hair on Kaidan’s arms stands on end as Shepard forms a wall of shearing mass effect fields and slams it into the krogan, shoulder jerking as his kinetic barriers absorb the full brunt of the shotgun blast.

The krogan bellows as the shearing fields chew through him. The shotgun drops from rigid fingers and clatters to the ground. Shepard races forward, own shotgun booming as fast as he can pull the trigger. When it overheats he casts it aside, and to Kaidan’s sheer horror, attacks the krogan with his bare hands.

He lands one hit, then two, using his smaller size and quickness to his advantage in ways Kaidan had only dreamed of when he and Shepard had their impromptu sparring session a week ago. Still, the krogan nearly makes it back to his feet before Shepard seizes the barrel of the massive shotgun, jerks it up into the krogan’s throat, then flips it around and fires point blank into the krogan’s uncovered head. Blood, grey matter and bone spray outward. The recoil kicks hard into Shepard’s shoulder, the same one that had already bled off the shotgun pellets.

Holy fuck.

2. From “The Words That Change Us”

Kaidan falls silent. Fuck his implant. Fuck the faulty wiring in his head. Fuck not remembering to bring his own damn meds. If only Anderson could see this. Keep Shepard on his feet my ass. Can’t even keep myself on my feet.

“Anderson thanked me today,” Kaidan says, cracking an eye open. Every ship in the Alliance is practically a darkroom. Why the hell is Arcturus so bright? He sucks air in through his teeth. “Can’t figure out why.”

Shepard gives him a bemused look. “No wonder you have a migraine.”

“Stop trying to be funny,” Kaidan grunts. “It gives me a migraine.”

“I’m delightfully funny,” Shepard informs him, “which you might notice if you weren’t so busy thinking yourself into a migraine.”

Kaidan tries to laugh, but immediately regrets it. Shepard tightens his grip on Kaidan’s arm.

“See? Funny.”

“You’re deflecting.”

“Quit noticing."

“Shepard.” It comes out as a mumble, and the way Shepard’s fingers dig into his forearm before relaxing suggests he’s listening now. “He said I keep you on your feet. Why would he say that?”

Shepard’s brow furrows. Instead of answer, he gets to his feet and pulls Kaidan back to his. “How about we get the icepick out of your head, and then talk about this.”

“No. If we talk about it now you’ll take pity and actually give me an answer.”

Shepard huffs, grips Kaidan’s arm and resumes course, footsteps slow and steady.

“I didn’t do anything to help you earn this,” Kaidan persists. “Why does he think I did?”

More silence. More steps. Each footfall ricochets off the deckplates, pricking at the base of Kaidan’s skull. Where the fuck is the airlock? It feels like they’ve been walking for hours.

“You’re stable ground,” Shepard says at last.

Stable ground. Maybe if his head wasn’t throbbing so hard he could figure out what the hell that means.

“You don’t…want anything from me,” Shepard continues. His voice is small, uncertain, as though now that he’s voiced the thought aloud he might find out it isn’t true.

It isn’t true.

You. I want you.

3. From Sonata, Chapter 10 - Unsteady

There are more well-dressed people in this one room than Joker has seen in his entire lifetime. It should be his worst nightmare, but he’s actually having fun. Turns out Tali has an exceptional gift for making unbearable social occasions bearable.

“And what about her?” Joker asks, pointing to a woman who looks like a canary covered in taffeta.

Tali leans against the table beside him and tilts her head, the purple and black sequined scarf that Mrs. Alenko had given her for the evening catching in the bright lights of the ballroom.

“Hmmm. A widower. Discovered her husband of more than thirty years had gambled away their entire fortune, leaving her penniless. She is here to mourn—not him, but his brother. The man she was truly in love with. She thought he did not love her back, but the truth is that he was too afraid to tell her. After his brother’s death, he swore he would, but he went down with the Cairo before he had the chance.”

“Damn, Tali, that’s dark,” Joker says with a chuckle. “You got a happy one? How about that guy?” He points to a random stranger who’s sipping a glass of wine and laughing too hard.

She swirls the liquid in her glass. Forget the geth. This is where she really shines.

“He professed his love to…” she scans the room. Eventually she points at another well-dressed man, who looks absolutely no different from any of the rest as far as Joker is concerned. “That man over there. They are desperately in love, but he,” she points again at the new guy, “is afraid of his feelings. He has a dark past, and doesn’t want to drag his true love down with his demons.”

“Happy, Tali. I was looking for happy.”

She raises her glass. “A few spins on the dancefloor and he’s going to realize that pushing him away will only snap them back together. Like quarks.”

Joker clinks his glass against hers. “That’s my girl.”

4. From Fugue, Chapter 4 – This Hole You Left

But while most of the galaxy is preparing to mourn Commander Shepard, the soldier standing next to him might be the only person he knows who’s grieving for Sam. Anderson swirls the remaining liquid in his glass.

“He was the most reckless SOB I’ve ever met,” Anderson says, watching a hanar drift along one of the intact pathways below them. “I’m pretty sure half the shit he pulled over the years was just to piss me off.”

Alenko raises an eyebrow ever so slightly in surprise, but doesn’t turn his head. “He’s always at his best when the plan goes to hell.”

“Since he was a kid,” Anderson agrees, not missing the fact that Alenko had referred to him in the present tense. “First time I ever laid eyes on him he was four. He’d wandered away from Daniel on Arcturus and he called in the cavalry to look for him. You know where I found him?”

Alenko shakes his head.

“In a fountain, playing with a model ship. I asked him what the hell his spaceship was doing in the water. He said, ‘I’m about to find out.’”

Alenko’s mouth curves in a brittle smile. “I didn’t know you knew him that young.”

“I doubt he remembered,” Anderson says. “His father and I were good friends. I dropped in on occasion while he was growing up.” Before Shepard was a soldier. Before he was the Butcher of Torfan or the Savior of the Citadel. Back when he was still Sam, all knees and elbows, so desperate to please he couldn’t sit still.

Anderson still misses that kid.

5. From “The Way Back”

“You have a gun, Shepard, and it shoots mass-accelerated projectiles a hell of a lot more efficiently than you can shoot yourself. That was a titanic amount of energy you put out. How in the hell do you justify the cost of that on your own body?”

“Because it saved your life,” he snaps, dropping the barrel extension onto the bench with a clatter. “She had your head in her crosshairs, and I put her the fuck down. So yeah, it was worth the cost.”

Kaidan falls silent.

Shepard shoots him a reproachful look. “You know, I didn’t miss your fucking lectures.”

Kaidan holds his gaze, retort right on the tip of his tongue. Shepard shouldn’t need a lecture to know that fucking with his own mass as a combat tactic was reckless, stupid, and above all, unnecessary. But he did need one. And someone willing to get in his way long enough to do it.

Wasn’t that part of what had always made them so good together? Shepard charging into a china shop like a bull, with Kaidan standing at the door waving his arms? Shepard would run through him as often as he stopped or swerved, but no matter how it ended Kaidan was there to help him pick up the pieces.

He softens. “Yeah, well, I did miss what a complete idiot you are sometimes. You could have, just, I don’t know. Knocked me to the ground. Or knocked her to the ground. Using her own mass.”

Shepard’s brow furrows and he opens his mouth to protest before he sighs in defeat. “Yeah. Ok. That probably would have worked, too.”

Kaidan’s smile deepens. “You always did prefer theatrics out in the field.”

“Me?” Shepard huffs and pokes at the pieces of the Carnifex, chin low to hide his own smile. “Okay, maybe I occasionally enjoy a small flair for the dramatic.”

“Small. You call turning yourself into the most impractical mass-accelerated weapon I could conceive of small.”

Shepard’s smile turns into a smirk. “Say whatever you want. But just imagine being that sniper getting an eyeful of me coming right at her. That’s the kind of fear of god she’s not going to forget anytime soon.”

“You put a shotgun round point blank into her head. She forgot it pretty quick.”

#snippet #mshenko #mememe #tried to pick snippets with a variety of flavors #combat!#pining!#banter!#angst!#biotics!#oh my!

18 notes · View notes

love-pyramus · 3 years

Note

Hi, you're on a rock floating in space. Pretty cool, huh? Some of it's water. Fuck it, actually, most of it's water. I can't even get from here to there without buying a boat. A plane is shown flying from South America to Africa. The plane fades off the screen, and a lone, sad stick figure is shown standing on Africa. NARRATOR: It's sad. I'm sad. I miss you. The camera pans left across the globe to show more sad stick figures also standing on South America, North America, and Europe. CHORUS: How did this happen? NARRATOR: A long time ago- Actually, never, and also now, nothing is nowhere. When? Never. Makes sense, right? Like I said, it didn't happen. Nothing was never anywhere. That's why it's been everywhere. It's been so everywhere, you don't need a where. You don't even need a when. That's how "every" it gets. A long pause happens. NARRATOR: Forget this. I wanna be something. Go somewhere. Do something. I want things to change. I want to invent time and space, and I know it's possible because everything is here, and it probably already happened. I just don't know when to start, and that's exactly where it started. The sound of VCR fast forwarding plays. NARRATOR: Ooh, I paused it. I think there's a universe now. What's it made of? CHORUS: Quarks and stuff! NARRATOR: Ah, that's a thing, in a place. Don't like it? Try a new place, at a different time. Try to stick together because the world is gonna get bigger and emptier, but it's not empty yet. It's still very full and about a kjghpillion degrees. About no seconds pass. NARRATOR: Great news! The quarks are now happily married and in groups of three, called a proton or a neutron, and there's something else flying around too that wants to join in but can't because it's still too- An explosion goes off while the screen says, "HOT." 10 minutes pass. NARRATOR: Great news! The protons and neutrons are now happily married to each other. Some of them even doubled up. About 380,000 years pass. NARRATOR: Great news! The electrons have now joined in. Congratulations! The world is now a bunch of gas in space, but it's getting closer together... 10 million years pass. NARRATOR: ...and it's getting closer together... 500 million years pass. NARRATOR: ...and it's getting closer toget- An explosion occurs. CHORUS: It's a star! NARRATOR: New shit just got made. Some stars burn out and die. Bigger stars burn out and die with passion, and make some brand new, way crazier shit... CHORUS: Space dust! NARRATOR: ...which allows newer, more interesting stars to be made, and then die, and explode into- CHORUS: Even crazier space dust! NARRATOR: ...so now stars have cool stuff around them, like rocks, ice, and funny clouds, which can make some very interesting things, like this ball of flaming rocks for example. NARRATOR: Holy shit! We just got hit with another ball of flaming rocks, and it kind of made a mess, which is- CHORUS: Now the Moon! The year is now -4,000,000,000. NARRATOR: Weather update, it's raining rocks from outer space. NARRATOR: Weather update, those rocks might have had water inside them, and now, there's hot steam in the sky. NARRATOR: Weather update, cooler temperatures today, and the floor is no longer lava. NARRATOR: Weather update, it's raining. NARRATOR: Severe flooding alert! The entire world is now an ocean. NARRATOR: Volcano alert! CHORUS: That's land! OCEAN: (Mumbles) There's life in the ocean. NARRATOR: What? CHORUS: Something's alive in the ocean. IMMATERIAL OBSERVER (IO): Oh, cool. Like, a plant or an animal? The camera zooms in on a single-cell organism. NARRATOR: No, a microscopic speck. It lives at the bottom of the ocean and eats chemical soup which is being served hot and fresh, made from gnarly space ingredients leftover from when it was raining rocks or whatever. The cell divides. NARRATOR: Oh, yeah, and it can do that. Those cells divide many more times. NARRATOR: It has secret instructions written inside itself telling it how to build another one of itself. So that's pretty nifty, I would say. NARRATOR:

Tired of living at the bottom of the ocean? CHORUS: Now you can eat sunlight! The year is now -3,000,000,000. NARRATOR: Using a revolutionary technique, you can convert sunlight into food. CHORUS: Taste the sun! The year is now -2,300,000,000. NARRATOR: Side effect, now there's oxygen everywhere and the sky is blue. Then the Earth might have been a snowball for a while. Maybe even a couple of times. The year is now -500,000,000. NARRATOR: It's a sponge. It's a plant. It's a worm, and some other types of weird, strange water bugs and strange fish. CHORUS: It's the Cambrian explosion! IO: Wow, that's animals and stuff. SEA LIFE: But we're still in the ocean. Hey, can we go on land? CHORUS, as LAND: No! SEA LIFE: Why? CHORUS, as LAND: The sun is a deadly lazer! SEA LIFE: Oh, okay. CHORUS: Not anymore, there's a blanket. NARRATOR: Now the animals can go on land. Come on animals, let's go on land. FISH: Nope, can't walk yet. And there's no food yet, so I don't care. 100 million years pass. LAND: Okay, will you learn to walk if there's plants up here? SOME BUGS AND FISH: Maybe NARRATOR: ...said some bugs... and fish. The year is now -380,000,000. FISH grunts because it is struggling to get on land, for it has no legs. 5 million years pass. The year is now -375,000,000. FISH now has legs, for it has evolved into an AMPHIBIAN. AMPHIBIAN: Okay, so I can go on land, but I have to go back in the water to- CHORUS: Have babies! The word "idea" flashes on to the screen. NARRATOR: Learn to use an egg. AMPHIBIAN: I was already doing that. NARRATOR: Use a stronger egg. Put water in it. Have a baby, on land, in an egg. Water is in the egg. Baby, in the egg, in the water, in the egg. The year is -312,000,000. AMPHIBIAN OFFSPRING: Works for me. CHORUS: Bye bye, ocean! 50 million years pass. NARRATOR: And now everything's huge. Including bugs. Wanna see a map of the land? IO: Sure. The year is now -252,000,000. A globe is presented. The camera starts to pan around it when a large explosion happens, destroying a land mass on the globe the size of a continent. Text pops onto the screen reading "PERMIAN EXTINCTION." The Permian Extinction has occurred. NARRATOR: Oh fuck, now everything's dead. Just kidding, here are the survivors. The thrinaxodon, lystrosaurus, and proterosuchus are shown. NARRATOR: Keep your eye on this one... The proterosuchus is circled. 75 million years pass. NARRATOR: ...'cause it's about to become the dinosaurs. Here's another map of the land. The globe is shown again. It does not yet look like the Earth we know today; many of the continents are in pieces or out of place. NARRATOR: Yeah, it broke apart. Don't worry about that. It does that all the time. The year is now -66,000,000. NARRATOR: Here comes a meteor. A meteor comes into frame and hits the globe near what is today called Central America. CHORUS: And the dinosaurs are gone! NARRATOR: It's mammal time! Here come the mammals; look at those breasts. The year is now -15,000,000. NARRATOR: Now, they're gonna dominate the world, and one of them just learned how to grab stuff, and walk. The year is now -4,000,000. A transition from one of human's older ancestors to one of human's younger ancestors is shown. NARRATOR: No, like, walk like that, and grab stuff at the same time. The year is now -3,000,000. NARRATOR: And bang rocks together to make pointed rocks. IO: Ouch. The year is now -1,500,000. NARRATOR: And set things on fire. IO: Yeouch. The year is now -200,000. NARRATOR: And make crazy sounds with their voice. CAVEMAN: Gneurshk. NARRATOR: Which can mean different things. Via the CAVEMAN's thought bubble, "Gnerushk," is shown to mean, "Hi," "Bye," and, "Can you hand me that rock over there?" CHORUS: That's a human person! NARRATOR: And now they're everywhere, almost. Text pops on to the screen, above the landmass that is today called North America. It reads "not here yet." Humans have not migrated there yet. The year is now -20,000. Text pops on to the screen, between what is today the American

state of Alaska and the Russian autonomous okrug (district) of Chukotka. The text reads "ice age." The ice age is occurring, creating a land bridge between the two landmasses. CHORUS: Ice age! HUMANS: What? You can walk over here? Cool! The year is now -10,000. CHORUS: Not anymore. HUMANS: Well, I guess we're stuck here now. NARRATOR: Let's review. There's people on the planet, and they're chasing their food. HUMAN: Fuck it, time to plant some grass. Look at this. I control the food now. Now, everyone will want to be my friend and live near me. Let's all build houses, except mine is bigger because I own the food. This is great. I wonder if anyone else is doing this. The year is now -5000. NARRATOR: Tired of using rocks for everything? Use metal! It's underground. NARRATOR: Better farming was just invented in a sweet dank valley right in between these two rivers, and the animals are helping. A sheep baas in the background. CHORUS: Guess what happens next! NARRATOR: More food, and more people who came to buy the food, and you need people to help make the food and keep track of the sales, and now, you need houses for people to live in and people to make the houses, and now, there's more people, and they invent things which makes things better, and more people come, and there's more farming and more people to make more things for more people, and now, there's business, money, writing, laws, power. CHORUS: Society! NARRATOR: Coming soon to a dank river valley near you. Meanwhile, out in the middle of nowhere, the horse is probably being tamed. DISTRAUGHT HUMAN: Why is all my metal so lame and lumpy? NARRATOR: Tired of using lame, sad metal? The year is now -3300. NARRATOR: Introducing- CHORUS: Bronze! NARRATOR: Made from special ingredient tin from the far lands of Tin Land... I don't know, my dealer won't tell me where he gets it. Also, guess what? CHORUS: Egypt! The year is now -2000. NARRATOR: Meanwhile, out in the middle of nowhere, they figured out how to put wheels on a horse. Now, we're getting somewhere. Also- CHORUS: China! NARRATOR: And did I mention- CHORUS: Indus River Valley Civilization! A "society count" comes on screen. It lists the four civilizations just named (including Mesopotamia, the "sweet dank valley right in between... two rivers"), as the counter counts up from one to four. It pauses for a moment before ticking up to five. A fifth civilization appears on the list. The camera pans right across the globe to what is modern day Peru. CHORUS: Norte Chico! NARRATOR: The Middle East is getting more complicated. Maybe because it's in the middle of the East. The year is now -1600. PEOPLE WITH HORSES: Knock, knock. Er... clop clop. NARRATOR: It's the people with the horses, and they made an empire, and then everyone else copied their horses. CHORUS: Greeks! NARRATOR: Ah, look, it must be the Greeks. Or, a beta version of the Greeks. Text pops up on screen, reading "mycenaean greeks." These "beta version... Greeks" are the Mycenaean Greeks. NARRATOR: Let's check in with the Indus River Valley Civilization - they're gone. Guess who's not gone? CHORUS: China! The year is now -1200. CHORUS: New arrivals in India! Maybe it's those horse people I was talking about, or their cousins, or something... And they wrote some hymns and mantras and stuff! NARRATOR: You could make a religion out of this. The year is now -1150. NARRATOR: There's the Bronze Age collapse. CHORUS: Now, the Phoenicians can get down to business! HUMANS: (Offscreen) Also, can we switch to a metal that's a little easier to find? Bronze switches to iron. HUMANS: (Offscreen) Thanks. NARRATOR: Look who came back to Israel - it's the twelve tribes of Israel! CHORUS: And they believe in God! NARRATOR: Just one though; he's got like a ten step program. NARRATOR: Here's some huge heads. Must be the Olmecs. The year is now -800. NARRATOR: The Phoenicians make some colonies. The Greeks copy their idea and make some colonies. The Phoenicians made a colony so big it makes colonies. The year is now

-671. NARRATOR: Here comes the Assyrian Empire. The year is now -600. NARRATOR: Nevermind, it's the Babyloni- The year is now -580. NARRATOR: Media- The year is now -500. CHORUS: It's the Persian Empire! IO: Wow, that's big. NARRATOR: Ah, the Buddha was just enlightened! IO: Who's the Buddha? NARRATOR: This guy, who sat under a tree for so long that he figured out how to ignore the fact that we're all dying. You could make a religion out of this. The year is now -475. NARRATOR: Oops, China just broke, but while it was breaking, Confucius was figuring out how to have good morals. The year is now -400. NARRATOR: Ah, the Greeks just had the idea of thinking about stuff... The year is now -330. NARRATOR: ...and right over here, Alexander just had the idea of conquering the entire Persian empire. It's a great idea. He was... Great, and now he's dead. Hopefully, the rest of the gang will be able to share the empire evenly between them. The year is now -305. CHANDRAGUPTA: Knock knock. NARRATOR: It's Chandragupta. He says- CHANDRAGUPTA: Get the hell out of here. Will you get the hell out of here if I give you five hundred elephants? Okay, thanks. Bye. CHORUS: Time to conquer all of India! NARRATOR: Er- CHORUS: Most of India! IO: But what about this part? NARRATOR: That's the Tamil kings. No one conquers the Tamil kings. IO: Who are the Tamil kings? CHORUS: Merchants, probably... And they've got spices! TAMIL KINGS: Who would like to buy the spices? ARABIANS: Me! NARRATOR: ...said the Arabians, swiftly buying it and selling it to the rest of the world. The year is now -221. NARRATOR: Hey, China put itself back together again, with good morals as their main philosophy! Actually, they have three main philosophies. Confucianism, Taoism, and legalism appear with the corresponding messages under: having good morals, go with the flow, and "fuck you obey the law". The land northwest of Qin China, which is roughly modern-day Mongolia, is circled. NARRATOR: Out here, the horse nomads run wild and free, and they would like to ransack your city. The horse nomads repeatedly bump into China with the coin sound effect from Super Mario playing each time they do so. The camera pans left on the globe back to the Ancient Greek Empire. NARRATOR: Let's check the Greekification levels of the Greekified kingdoms. Greekification overload! PARTHIANS: Bye. NARRATOR: ...said the Parthians. JEWS: Bye. NARRATOR: ...said the Jews. PARTHIANS: Hi! NARRATOR: ...said the Parthians, taking over the entire place. The year is now 1 CE. ROMANS: Heyyyyyyyy... NARRATOR: ...said the Romans, eating the entire Mediterranean for breakfast. JEWS: Thanks for invading our homeland. NARRATOR: ...said the Jews, who were starting to get tired of people invading their homeland. The year is now 30 CE. JESUS CHRIST: Hi, everything's great. NARRATOR: ...said some guy, who seems to be getting very popular, and is then arrested and killed for being too popular, which only makes him more popular. You could make a religion out of this. NARRATOR: Want silk? Now, you can buy it from China. They just made a- CHORUS: Brand new road to the world! China conquers Vietnam. CHORUS: Or you can get there on water! INDIA: Sick! New trade routes. NARRATOR: ...said India, accidentally spreading their religion to the entire southeast. Funan is highlighted. NARRATOR: Hm, that's a good place for an epic trading kingdom. The sound of a zooming car plays. NARRATOR: There goes Buddhism, traveling up the silk road. The year is now 220. NARRATOR: I wonder if it'll reach China before it collapses again. The year is now 225. NARRATOR: Remember the Persian Empire? PERSIANS: Yep. NARRATOR: ...said the Persians, making a new one. Axum is getting so powerful they would like to build a long stick. Has anyone populated Madagascar yet? BANTU and MALAY: Let's do it together! The year is now 280. CHORUS: China is whole again! The year is now 320. CHORUS: Then it broke again. NARRATOR: Still can't cross the Sahara Desert? Try camels! CHORUS, as

GHANA EMPIRE: Hell yeah! Now we've got business! NARRATOR: ...said the Ghana Empire, selling lots of gold and slaves. ROMAN CHRISTIAN: Hi, I live in the Roman Empire, and I was wondering- CHORUS, as ROMAN CHRISTIAN: Is loving Jesus legal yet? ROME: No. The year is now 330. CONSTANTINE: Actually, okay, sure. NARRATOR: ...said Constantine, moving the capital way over here to be closer to his- CHORUS: Main rival! CONSTANTINE: Don't worry about Rome; it won't fall. The year is now 400. CHORUS: It's the golden age of India! NARRATOR: There's the Gupta Empire, not Chandragupta, just Gupta... First name Chandra... The First. Guess who's in Rome. CHORUS: Barbarians! NARRATOR: What's a barbarian? ROMANS: Non-Romans. NARRATOR: ...said the Romans, being invaded by non-Romans. The year is now 476. NARRATOR: R.I.P. Roman Empire. Er, actually just half of it; the other half is just fine, but it's not in Rome anymore, so let's give it a new name. CHORUS: The Mayans have figured out the stars! NARRATOR: Oh, and here's a huge city, population: everyone. The year is now 576. NARRATOR: The Göktürks have taken over the entire Eurasian steppe. Great job, Göktürks. How's India? Broken. How's China? CHORUS: Back together. NARRATOR: How's those trading kingdoms? CHORUS: Bigger, and there's more of them. NARRATOR: Korea has three kingdoms. Japan has a kingdom; it's the sunrise kingdom. An intermission occurs. The year is now 610. NARRATOR: Deep in the Arabian desert, on the top of a mountain, the real god whispers in Muhammad's ear, so he goes down to the cube where everyone worships gods, and he tells them their gods are all fake... The year is now 622. NARRATOR: ...and everyone got so mad at him that he had to leave town and go to a different town. You can make a religion out of this... The year is now 650. NARRATOR: ...and maybe conquer the world as well. The Roman Empire is long gone, but somehow, the Pope is still the Pope! Plus, there's- CHORUS: New kingdoms all over Europe! NARRATOR: I wonder if there's room for Moors. The year is now 786. NARRATOR: Here's all the wisdom, in a house: it's the Baghdad House of Wisdom, just in time for the- CHORUS: Islamic Golden Age! SWAHILI: Let's bring stuff to the coast, and sell it, and become the Swahili on the Swahili Coast. NARRATOR: ...said the Swahili on the Swahili Coast. NARRATOR: Remember this tiny space you have to go through to get from here to there? Someone owns that now. NARRATOR: Wanna get enlightened in the middle of nowhere? NARRATOR: The Franks have the biggest kingdom in Europe, and the Pope is so proud that he invites the king over for Christmas. The year is now 800. POPE: Surprise! You're the new Roman Emperor! NARRATOR: ...said the Pope, pretending to still be part of the Roman Empire. Then, the Franks broke their kingdom into what will later be called France and Not France. The Northerners (or just Norse, if you don't have much time) are exploring. They go north, from the north, to the northern north, and they find some land, two types of land, and they name them accordingly. Large text comes on screen reading, "prankd." NARRATOR: They also invade some other places and get called many names, such as Vikings. The year is now 882. NARRATOR: There's the Rus, the Kievan Rus. IO: Are they Vikings? KIEVAN RUS: I don't think so. NARRATOR: ...said the Kievan Rus. IO: Okay, fair enough. NARRATOR: The Pope is ready to make some more emperors of the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire. It's actually Germany, but don't worry about it! New kingdoms! DISTORTED VOICE: CHRISTIANIZE ALL THE KINGDOMS! NARRATOR: Which brand would you like? ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: Mine's better. EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH: Mine's better. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: Mine's better. The year is now 1066. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR: Time to conquer England. NARRATOR: ...said William. The year is now 1071. NARRATOR: It's a bird! It's a plane! It's the Seljuk Turks! BYZANTINE EMPIRE: Aah! NARRATOR: ...said the Byzantine Empire, who's getting so small it almost doesn't

exist anymore. BYZANTINE EMPIRE: We need help! NARRATOR: They need help, so they call the Pope. BYZANTINE EMPIRE: Hey, Pope, can you help us get rid of the Seljuks? Maybe take back the Holy Land on the way? Come on, I know you want to take back the Holy Land. POPE: Yes, I do actually want to do that. Let's do a Crusade. The year is now 1099. CHORUS: Crusade! NARRATOR: They did many crusades, some of which almost didn't fail, but at the least the Italians got some sweet trade deals. The year is now 1100. NARRATOR: Goodbye, Mayans. CHORUS: Hello, Toltecs! NARRATOR: Goodbye, Toltecs. CHORUS: Hello, Mississippi! NARRATOR: Look at those mounds! There's the Pueblo. I've always wondered how to build a town on a cliff. The year is now 1150. NARRATOR: Guess who's here? Khmer! IO: Where? NARRATOR: Here, and Pegan is there! Vietnam unconquered itself, Korea just became itself... The year is now 1192. NARRATOR: ...and Japan is so addicted to art that the military might have to take over the government. China just invented bombs and typing... The year is now 1230. It rapidly starts to count upward as the Mongols spin and fly all over north Asia. The year ends on 1259. NARRATOR: ...and the Mongols just invaded most of the universe. (sarcastically) Nice going, Genghis! I bet that will last a long time. The Mongol Empire that was just formed shatters. NARRATOR: Some of the Islamic Turks were unaffected by the Mongol invasions because they were busy invading India. Bright, happy text comes on the screen reading, "tonga time." NARRATOR: Is it Tonga time? TONGAN: I think it's Tonga time! Text comes on screen reading, "colonizing the pacific ocean..." The Tu'i Tonga Empire forms. NARRATOR: I just found out where the Swahili gets all their gold! It is shown that the gold comes from the Great Zimbabwe, as the Great Zimbabwe is highlighted. NARRATOR: Look at this "chad" (it means lake). There's an empire there, right in the middle of- CHORUS: Africa! The year is now 1324. NARRATOR: The King of Mali is so rich, he's going on tour to let everyone know. NORTH AFRICA and THE MIDDLE EAST: Wow, that guy's rich. NARRATOR: ...everyone said. The Christians are doing a great job reconquering Iberia, which will soon be called Spain and Not-Spain. IBERIAN PENINSULA: Please remain Christian. We will check in later to see if you're still Christian when you least expect. The year is now 1350. NARRATOR: Whoops! Half of Europe just died! CHORUS: Ming! NARRATOR: China's back, yay! The year is now 1400. Hey Khmer, time to share! New kingdoms here and there. Oh, look who controls all the islands. It's the Mahajapit- The buzz of an "incorrect" buzzer buzzes. NARRATOR: Majahapit- Buzzes. NARRATOR: Mapajahit- Buzzes. NARRATOR: Mahapajit- Buzzes. NARRATOR: Mapajahit- Buzzes. NARRATOR: Ma-ja-pa-hit? The ring of a "correct" bell rings. The year is now 1450. NARRATOR: Oh, Italy's really rich. Time for them to care a lot about art and the ancient classics. It's kinda like a re-birth. The text on the screen reads "renaissance". NARRATOR: Here's a printer, let's make books! BYZANTINE EMPIRE: So you think you can conquer the Byzantine Empire? OTTOMAN TURKS: Yep. NARRATOR: ...said the Ottoman Turks. Nice job, Ottoman Turks! The year is now 1453. NARRATOR: Oops, you missed a spot. Don't forget to ban Europe from the Indian spice trade. PORTUGAL: What? That's bullshit! NARRATOR: ...said Portugal, spiceless. CHORUS, as PORTUGAL: Well, I guess we'll have to find another way to India! CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: Wait! NARRATOR: ...said Christopher Columbus, probably smoking crack. COLUMBUS: If the world is round, let's go this way to India! PORTUGAL: Nah, don't worry, we already got this NARRATOR: ...said Portugal. So Chris goes to Spain. COLUMBUS: Hey, Spain, wanna hire me to find India by going around the back of the world? SPAIN: No. COLUMBUS: Please? SPAIN: No. COLUMBUS: Please? SPAIN: No. COLUMBUS: Please? SPAIN: Okay. The year is now 1492. NARRATOR: So he sails into the ocean and discovers... More

ocean... And then discovers the Indies and Japan. The year is now 1494. SPAIN and PORTUGAL: Let's draw a line to decide who gets which half of the world. NARRATOR: The Aztec and Inca Empires are off to a great start. I wonder if they know that Europe just discovered their continent? NARRATOR: The Hapsburgs are marrying into so many royal families that they might have to start marrying each other. The year is now 1500. NARRATOR: Move over, Lithuania! Here comes Moscow. Ivan wants to make Russia great again. Move over, Timurids; maybe go invade India or something. The year is now 1501. NARRATOR: Persia just made Persia Persian again. Let's make it the other kind of Islam, the one where we thought the first guy should have been the other guy. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: Hey, Christians! Do you sin? Now you can buy your way out of Hell. MARTIN LUTHER: That's bullshit, this whole thing is bullshit, that's a scam, fuck the church. Here's 95 reasons why. NARRATOR: ...said Martin Luther, in his new book which might have accidentally started the Protestant Reformation. SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT: You know what would be magnificent? NARRATOR: ...said Suleiman, wearing an onion hat. The year is now 1530. SULEIMAN: What if the Ottoman Empire was really big, which it is now? The year is now 1556. IVAN THE TERRIBLE: What if Russia was big? NARRATOR: ...said Ivan, trying not to be terrible. NARRATOR: Portugal had a dream that they controlled the entire Indian Ocean, including the Spice Trade... and then that dream was real. And Spain realized that this is not India, but they pillaged it anyway! ENGLAND and FRANCE: Damn. NARRATOR: ...said England and France. ENGLAND and FRANCE: We gotta start pillaging some stuff. NARRATOR: Then, the Dutch revolt, and all the hipsters move to Amsterdam. The year is now 1600. AMSTERDAM: Damn. NARRATOR: ...said Amsterdam. AMSTERDAM: We gotta start pillaging some stuff. ENGLAND, FRANCE, and THE DUTCH: Question 1: Can you get to India through North America? No, but at least there's beaver. Question 2: Steal the Spice Trade. NARRATOR: That's not a question, but the Dutch did it anyway. CHORUS: Sugar! The year is now 1640. NARRATOR: Guess where all the sugar is made. In Brazil- THE DUTCH: Stolen! NARRATOR: -In the Caribbean, and it's so goddamn profitable that you might forget to not do slavery. The next thing on Russia's to-do-list is to get bigger. The year is now 1754. NARRATOR: Britain and France are having a friendly discussion about who should control the entire world, more specifically Ohio. Then it escalates into a seven year discussion, giving Prussia a chance to show Austria who's boss. IO: But what about Britain and France? Did they figure out who's boss? NARRATOR: Yes, they did! It's Britain. Guess who's broke. Also Britain, so they start taxing the Hell out of America. The year is now 1776. AMERICA: Fuck you. NARRATOR: ...says America, declaring their independence and fighting for it, and France helps them win. Now, France is broke... The year is now 1788. NARRATOR: ...and Britain will have to send their prisoners to a different continent. IO: Wait, if France is broke, why do the king and queen still wear such fancy dresses? The year is now 1794. ROBESPIERRE: Let's overthrow the palace and cut all their heads off! NARRATOR: ...says Robespierre, cutting everybody's head off until someone eventually got mad and cut his head off. IO: You could make a religi- NARRATOR: No, don't. Haiti is starting to like the idea of a revolution... The year is now 1791. NARRATOR: ...especially the slaves, who free themselves by killing their masters. TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE: Why didn't we think of this before? IO: Wait, who's in charge of France now? The year is now 1804. CHORUS, as NAPOLEON: Me! NARRATOR: ...said Napoleon, trying to take over Europe. Luckily, they banished him to an island- CHORUS: But he came back! NARRATOR: Luckily, they banished him to another island. A burst of horns play. NARRATOR: There goes Latin America, becoming independent in the Latin

American Wars of Independence. They last from the year 1812 to about 1830. NARRATOR: Britain just figured out how to turn steam into power, so now, they can make- CHORUS: Many different types of machines, and factories with machines in them, so they can make a lot of products real fast. NARRATOR: Then, they invent some trains and conquer India and maybe put some trains there. BRITAIN: Hey, China! NARRATOR: ...said Britain. BRITAIN: Buy stuff from us! CHINA: Nah, dude, we already got everything. NARRATOR: ...says China, so Britain tried to get them addicted to opium, which worked, actually, but then, China made it illegal... The year is now 1839. NARRATOR: ...and dumped it all into the sea, so Britain threw a hissy fit and made them open up five cities and give them an island. Britain and Russia are playing a game where they try and stop each other from conquering Afghanistan. Also, the- CHORUS: Sultan of Oman lives in Zanzibar now. NARRATOR: That's just where he lives. The year is now 1857. NARRATOR: India just had a revolution, and they would like to govern themselves now. BRITAIN: Nope. NARRATOR: ...said Britain, governing them even harder than before. The screen reads, "HI I JUST SENT YOU A MESSAGE THRU A WIRE," while the Morse Code for "SEXLOL" plays in the background. CHORUS: Technology is about to go crazy! The year is now 1863. NARRATOR: The United States finally figured out whether slavery is good or bad. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: It's bad. NARRATOR: ...they decided, and then, they continued manifesting their destiny, which is to kill the rest of the natives and take their land and maybe kick out the Mexicans too. The year is now 1884. EUROPE: I know! Let's rape Africa. NARRATOR: ...said Europe, scrambling to see who could rape it the fastest. (They never got Ethiopia.) Britain and France are still hungry! (They never got Thailand.) The United States ran out of destiny to manifest, so they're looking for more. CHORUS: Hawaii and Cuba! IO: Wait! Spain controls Cuba! UNITED STATES: Well, blame something on them, and go to war. AMERICANS: What should we blame on Spain? The U.S.S. Maine explodes in the Gulf of Mexico. UNITED STATES: Let's blame the Maine on Spain NARRATOR: ...so they blame the Maine on Spain. The year is now 1898. AMERICANS: Now, we're in business! NARRATOR: To celebrate, they kick Panama out of Panama and make a canal, connecting the two oceans. The year is now 1908. NARRATOR: Britain just found oil in the Middle East. (It makes cars go.) The year is now 1911. NARRATOR: China is so tired of being bossed around that they delete their old government and make a new, stronger government, which is accidentally weaker and controlled by a guy from the previous government. Europe hasn't had a war since the last war... The year is now 1914. NARRATOR: ...so they start World War I. Look at those guns! It's gonna be a "Great War" - so great we won't need a second one. After it's over, they blame Germany. The year is now 1917. NARRATOR: Russia went on strike, and the workers overthrew the government. Now, everyone's paycheck is the same. The year is now 1922. CHORUS: Communism, in the Soviet Union! NARRATOR: The Arabs revolt... The year is now 1917. NARRATOR: ...and Britain helps. BRITAIN: (Offscreen) Now, the Ottoman Empire is gone, The year is now 1922. BRITAIN: (Offscreen) So we can give the- CHORUS: Jewish people a place to live! NARRATOR: Hopefully, the Arabs won't mind. SYKES and PICOT: Let's cut the cake! NARRATOR: ...said Sykes and Picot, cutting up the remains of the Not-So-Ottoman-Anymore Empire. The year is now 1923. CHORUS: Except Turkey! Turkey makes a brand new Turkey! NARRATOR: ...and then, the Saudis conquer Arabia. It just seemed like the right thing to do. A phone rings. IO: Hello? THE 1920s: Yes, it's the 1920s calling. Let's get in a car and drive to a party and listen to jazz on the radio and go to the movies. The economy is great, and it will probably be great forever- just kidding! A slide whistle with decreasing pitch briefly plays.

The year is now 1933. NARRATOR: Germany is back, featuring Hitler, the angry mustache model, and he's mad at the Jews for existing. Japan is finally conquering the East, and they're so excited... The year is now 1937. NARRATOR: ...they rape Nanking way too hard. They should probably just deny it. The year is now 1945. NARRATOR: Hitler's out of control, so the international community tackles him and tries to explain why killing all the Jews is a bad idea. But he kills himself before they could explain it to him. CHORUS: That's World War II! NARRATOR: Bonus Round! Air horns momentarily play in the background. NARRATOR: (Like Announcer from Mortal Kombat) Pacific Showdown: United States versus Japan! Fight! A drop-down menu that reads "weapon select" pops up, and the U.S. cursor moves down from "boat" to "plane" to "extinction ball." It is picked, dropped on Japan, and an explosion results. The year is now 1945. NARRATOR: (Like Announcer from Mortal Kombat) Finish him! Another one is dropped, and another explosion follows. NARRATOR: Let's unite all the nations and have some- CHORUS: World peace! NARRATOR: Seems legit. GANDHI: Hi, I'm Gandhi, and if Britain doesn't get the Hell out of India, I'm gonna starve myself in public. The year is now 1947. Britain leaves. GANDHI: Wow, that worked? NARRATOR: Bonus! Now, there's Pakistan. Actually, two Pakistans; one of them can be Bangladesh later. The Jews and the Arabs finally figured out which one of them should live in the Holy Land. JEWS and ARABS: Me! NARRATOR: ...they both said at the same time. The year is now 1947. UNITED NATIONS: Let's divide up the land so everyone's happy. CHORUS: Sike! They both get angrier. NARRATOR: Look out, China! The year is now 1949. NARRATOR: There's a new China in China! What's on the menu? PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC of CHINA: Communism! REPUBLIC of CHINA: No, thanks. NARRATOR: ...said the other China, escaping to an island. I wonder which one is the real China? The year is now 1950. NARRATOR: There's the Korean War: Korea versus Korea. Nobody wins and then it's on pause forever. Let's meet the sponsors! Oh, it's the two global superpowers. They're having a friendly debate over which economic system is good and which one is an evil virus of Satan. And they both have atom bombs. NARRATOR: (With an echo) FIGHT! NARRATOR: Wait, no, that would be the end of the world. Let's just keep it cool and spy on each other instead, and make sure we have enough atom bombs. The year is now 1957. SOVIET UNION: I'll race you to space. The year is now 1969. An American rocket ship is shown to land on the moon. SOVIET UNION and UNITED STATES: Now, let's make some more countries fight themselves. NARRATOR: Europe is tired of pillaging other continents, and the continents they were pillaging are tired of being pillaged. So here's a new map, with new countries! Now, you can't tell who they're being pillaged by. The year is now 1963. NARRATOR: The United States finally decided whether racism is good or bad. They decided it's bad, and the world agrees. South Africa might need another minute to think about it. Let's check the world population. A graph is shown, displaying a spike upward in population that jumped from "a billion" at the beginning of the 1800s to "way more" around the beginning of the 2000s. IO: Whoa... Okay. NARRATOR: Technology is better too; that might keep happening. The Soviet Union decides to relax a little... The year is now 1991. NARRATOR: ...and accidentally falls apart. Europe makes a union... The year is now 1999. NARRATOR: ...so now, they can all use the same money, except Britain 'cause they don't feel like it. Let's check the mail! Surprise! It's on the computer. The year is now 2001. NARRATOR: Whoops, someone just attacked America. I bet they'll remember that. Phone call! Surprise! It's in your pocket. Wanna learn everything? Surprise! It's on the computer. Now, your phone's a computer, which is in your pocket. A chart of the 2008 economic recession is shown. NARRATOR: Whoops, the economy just

crashed. Don't worry, the big banks won't fail because they're not supposed to. Surprise! Flying robots, with bombs. Wanna print a brain? Some people have no friends, some people have no food, the globe is warming- CHORUS: And the ocean is full of plastic! EVERYBODY: Let's save the planet! NARRATOR: ...said everybody, not knowing how. The year is now 2028. THING INVENTOR INVENTOR: Let's invent a thing inventor. NARRATOR: ...said the thing inventor inventor, after being invented by a thing inventor. That's pretty cool. By the way, where the Hell are we?

#Long post

4 notes · View notes

5lazarus · 4 years

Text

some rambling thoughts on writing ensemble casts & huge expanded universes

I think I’ve articulated my discomfort with DA4, Dragon Age at large, and the trailer, after watching the new episode of The Mandalorian and thinking about why that series feels so good vs how I feel about Dragon Age and especially new Star Trek, with the exception of Lower Decks.

The Mass Effect teaser shows a more coherent plot and world than the DA4 teaser, though of course the scope of the games is very different. Even though I haven’t personally played ME, I can already tell that this is going to address the loose strings of the trilogy and link this to Andromeda. It’s going to make the story stronger and the narrative chronology more coherent, and develop the characters more deeply. Liara links the emotional heart of the trilogy to Andromeda, and bridges the gap that the plot left. Similarly, The Mandalorian fleshes out the wide canon of Star Wars, living fully in the world and linking comics, movies, and animated series into a coherence the fans understand. No character is wasted. Everyone comes back. The secondary and tertiary characters have their own arcs, and everyone intersects. Mass Effect and The Mandalorian know how to do an ensemble cast in an expanded universe. Likewise, Lower Decks, even though it is a comedy and an animated series, fills in the gaps. The characters are fully fleshed out, “aliens of the week” from throwaway TNG episodes are brought back and teased, and the writers even make a joke about how the network told them they’re not allowed to write about the Dominion War! It adds a wonderful new cast & crew, where even the extra looks like people (because the animators put themselves in :) ). Picard doesn’t talk about Lal or the Dominion War, even though Lal is integral to Data’s character arc and the Dominion War (and the Maquis) shake up Starfleet irrevocably and set Discovery up to make the haphazard critique it does. Discovery is alright, and a much, much stronger show than Picard. I still feel like it pulls its punches. I like it fine, though I feel like the writers think the fans are dumb and don’t watch other trek shows. It feels weaker, because it doesn’t really link the broader events of Star Trek, even with the time travel gap. And it doesn’t develop its secondary characters as deeply as previous Trek has, as even Lower Decks manages to do in 20 minute episodes--because the show is defined by Michael Burnham, where TOS, TNG, DS9, and Lower Decks are defined by the crew. It’s fine if you want a show defined by a main character, but I like ensemble casts, and that’s why I prefer DS9 to it. Now, onto Dragon Age 4. I love ensemble casts, I love the world, but what I dislike about Inquisition vs the other games is that it sprawls too much without tying everyone back together. I know they did their best under the truly heinous conditions they were working under, and it is a testament to the game developers’ and writers’ skills it turned out excellent. but the strength of Dragon Age is its story, and having Varric narrate it does not mean that the plot is under control. What makes ensemble casts with sprawling canon succeed is when each character and reference ties the story back tighter to its center, and when no line & secondary and tertiary character appearance is wasted. Lower Decks works because Mariner has her own story, her own amicable ex, but still connects to the greater canon via Riker--and you can see that with Rutherford, with Boimler, with Tendi, fucking around at Quark’s during shore leave, pulling together to take the Borg seriously for five minutes, and then spending the rest of the arc bitching while they clean up the ship. The Mandalorian repurposes clone wars era technology and shows how tech develops, characters who you think are throwaway come back for entire episodes, and you can feel how intensely they storyboarded every moment and line. It’s gorgeously written. It is very clearly intensely edited, and that’s why it’s so good--they thought everything through. What I fear about Dragon Age is that they will not address huge worldbuilding moments they tuck away in expanded canon and just keep adding on bits without actually explaining how they work within the world they establish--the Annulment of the Circle in Dairsmuid, the persistent mien’harel in Halamshiral, how many times the Denerim Alienage has been purged (twice in Dragon Age: Origins, potentially a third time if you consider the epilogues canon). Each culture they write feels separate and isolated from each other, even though that’s not how people work. Roman coins show up in Hokkaido. Vikings visited Istanbul. A Chinese ambassador came to Rome and pointed out the lack of hygiene. The Tlingit have been working Japanese iron for a long damn time. What I want from Dragon Age is a world and characters that are tied to each other, and for those connections to be in the foreground, not tucked away in war table missions. If you are going to add in endless amounts of new characters, you cannot make them disposable--they need to flesh the world out, at the very least. I want an Avvar companion and a Dalish elf companion to talk about their relationship to Ferelden and Andrastianism, but more important historic interactions with each other. I want more worldbuilding about House Cadash and how their ancestors hid refugees from Arlathan. A fully realized world is a world where we realize everyone is connected, throughout all time, that borders are porous and no nation is a race in of itself. I want the connections and intersections, not the isolate parts.

#meta #thoughts on ensemble casts and expanded canon #thoughts on writing #writing #centrifugal force does not exist #it just tosses things out of control #dragon age needs to tap into some centripedal force if that makes sense #not a scientist though just a failed archaeologist

6 notes · View notes

cadmar · 4 years

Text

The Movement of You

We have this conception that we are within a massive body. Our body has a mass. Has weight. In a 2014 video by Fermilab, Dr. Don Lincoln explains that 98% of our mass comes from the nucleon inside each of our atoms. Inside each nucleon are three quarks that are travelling at the speed of light. Thus, from Einstein equation, energy and mass are the same. The movement of these subatomic particles inside each of our nucleon give us our mass with which we interact with other particles. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8grN3zP8cg).

In essence, movement is all we interact with. Either one views each object internally creating movements, or externally the universe is causing the movements, leads to the perception. Can one see this force? So far, we can only see objects changing from being at one location and then at another, or changing from one state to another.

Our thoughts, our words, are created by our movement. Our movement gives us this outside view that we can look from above, not being a part of the system of objects. Our movement is separate from these objects. Objects are trapped within this chain of causes and effects. Playing a game of billiard, our movement decides which ball our cue ball will hit. Once we hit our cue ball, then begins this chain of causes and effects of hitting other balls, friction of the table, etc.

So, where is it located our movement that we sense as “I”? Inside our brain? Inside our body? Outside our body? Somewhere far away? Does it matter? Does it matter more in perceiving our movement?

8 notes · View notes

ezrisdax-archive · 4 years

Note

Thoughts on a fun way to make a Star Trek/Mass Effect crossover? Or characters interactions cross-series?

like a full crossover? hmmm, certainly it’d be a parallel worlds type situation where I feel in Trek world the Leviathans didn’t evolve and create the Reapers and thus life wasn’t constantly wiped out and that’s why there’s more of an alien populace in the galaxy to explain the stark differences. And then time travel would get involved too since ME takes place before Trek.

So depending on which Trek you’re gonna go with (which for me I can pick any) there’s some wormhole shenanigans going on only what they call wormholes are the dark energy spots that Reapers use in ME time. The crew is investigating them when they go through it and end up in ME time (or if you want the ship accidentally goes through a la Voyager crossing over quadrants).

At first the crew is clearly trying to not get involved but can’t resist the chance to explore and learn the differences and when they realize this isn’t their actual past and can interact with the place more, which brings them into contact with the Normandy which has been sent to investigate the strange readings so we get to crew interactions of (which I’ll put under a cut cause it got long):

Spock and/or Tuvok, and Liara discussing the Vulcan Mind Meld versus the Asari meld and coming to the conclusion that they might have a genetic link back

Tali and B’Elanna having a field day comparing notes (and complaining) on what it’s like keeping a ship together when you don’t have all the parts you really need since Tali used to do that with the Quarian ships and B’Elanna does that now

Kirk and Shepard discussing choices made that shape worlds for better or worse despite the best of intentions and geeking out over model ships. You can’t tell me that doesn’t happen.

Bashir and Mordin are the only people able to understand each other in their speed talking and excitedly sharing notes about different aliens.

Worf and Wrex and Grunt immediately start a fight (bonus points for Wrex insulting Worf for sounding like Uvenk whom Dorn voices)

Seven and Legion (in a world where he lives, what do you mean he dies) discussing what it’s like going from a hive mind to being individuals and coming to find yourself and who you are as a person, like Legion clearly was more involved in finding this aspect for his people as opposed to Seven who had it forced on her but they share the desire now to learn and become an individual and protect those they care about

Janeway and Shepard blow something up by accident while trying to investigate something because of course they do

Samara and Deanna sitting down and just discussing life because I feel like these two would be friends and smirking at their friends antics and secretly betting on who’s gonna get into what danger

I actually have a lot of thoughts about paragon!Shepard and Michael being similar characters in the sense of having this burden of the galaxy placed on them and speaking out against things that people refuse to see except for the crew they’re apart of and trying to warn people of a war and do their best to prevent it and bring people together

Tilly and Tali and Gabby together would be a delight I feel, just talking excitedly about everything under the sun. including the sun.

Sulu and Joker arguing who's a better pilot and Sulu being fascinated how Mass Effect fields work when it comes to piloting and Joker proudly explaining it

Sisko tries to adopt Grunt from Shepard (no I’m mostly kidding, I think that Sisko and Shep have a great deal of respect for each other in caring for the crew and having in placed in an almost god like reverence in certain situations and the struggles with that. and then also Sisko brings back baseball to the Mass Effect world. Shepard absolutely hates that)

I figure the EMH would actually be most interested in biotics and the science of that and writing down to make a paper to publish as the first hologram to do so.

Likewise EDI is fascinated with hologram technology that Trek’s have and if the ships have ever developed sentience in any way and if she can incorporate some of that technology into the Normandy to further her own development

I think Kira gets along with Wrex and is angry at Salarians on his behalf once she hears what was done to the Krogan because the genocide of a species hits hard with her

Tilly and Samantha are even worse than Bashir and Mordin at talking so fast no one gets it but them and they very much do enjoy talking to each other

Tom and Steve have shuttle races until they’re ordered back by their bosses because really guys

Geordi has a lot of talks with EDI, some about his friendship with Data and the human side of interacting with a being that’s trying to learn about humanity themselves but most about the ship and the benefits of integration with it that allow you to be aware of everything that’s happening on it

also Data and EDI tell the worst jokes and everyone regrets this

Picard and Thane drink tea together and discuss philosophies and Thane talks about his species old artifacts and how they were lost to his culture and Picard just listens with interest and some ideas on how you could maybe get those back

Jadzia and Jack get along surprisingly well, they have a holodeck fight at one point and Jadzia takes tricorder readings of biotics and then they go out drinking together

on the flip side Ezri and Miranda get along in terms of being forced to live up to unreasonable family expectations (all though far less harsh in Ezri’s case) and having to carve out your own identity and also like...weirdly everyone hating you for no other reason than your character exists

Bev gets into playing poker with Kaidan and Steve and now they’re all trying to beat each other constantly at it

Saru and Liara get along the easiest at first and discuss the wild things their crews get up to and how they eventually just started to go along with the madness

Kasumi keeps trying to steal from Tuvok but can’t manage it and thinks it’s the best challenge she’s had in years. Tuvok just wants to talk to Thane and get back to the Delta Quadrant already captain.

Harry and Jacob get to talking about having to prove themselves and always being looked over and the troubles of trying to get your own command

Bones hates all of this, Kirk what the hell have you done now. That said he and Zaeed get to drinking and talking about the bullshit that comes from space travel. All though Zaeed’s is more about how annoying it is to try to kill someone in it. Bones thinks he’s just over exaggerating and not a mercenary at first.

James keeps showing off for literally everyone and turning things into a competition with whoever he can when it comes to physical activities, he’s still sulking that Data beat him until he finds out that Data is an android and then calls foul on it.

Odo and Zaeed grumble about everything together

B’Elanna and Ashley have a book club that they don’t tell anyone about and share romance novels and poetry while complaining about how everyone doesn’t expect it from them and that’s part of why they don’t tell people those parts of themselves

Uhura gets the translators turned off on the Normandy to listen to everyone’s dialect and language and is quick to pick up on it, she’s especially good with Drell and enjoys conversing with Thane in it

Liara is absolutely freaked out that Deanna sounds like her mother and Deanna is absolutely using this to troll her whenever she can because it amuses her

Grunt and Chekov get into arguments about history of all things despite that people keep pointing out that they’re from alternate worlds and therefore it’s different anyway

Chakwas and Chakotay sit down to talk about what it’s like sorta taking care of the crew and just ridiculous stories of things they’ve put with

Riker at one point talks to Miranda about clones and dealing with someone who is the same genetically as you but isn’t you and do you have a relationship with them or leave them be (they don’t come up with an answer really)

Mordin gets banned from taking samples of other aliens

Nog and Gabby talk one point about being sorta new to the experiences of war and frontline suddenly and the horrors that come with it and share their experiences of being trapped by the Reapers vs being in a Jem’Hadar fight and coming back from that

Guinan doesn’t care much for Javik but they do have one good discussion about what it’s like being one of the last of your species and seeing so many of them die due to a machine race (and worse, converted to serve that race) that you just can’t fight back against no matter how much you try (or that’s what they thought at the time)

Samantha and Spock and Kirk and/or Airiam have strategy game nights and really get into it and Spock will typically leave while Sam and Kirk are still geeking out over it until the morning

Quark is banned from the Normandy point blank

Worf tries to get everyone to appreciate Klingon opera, the only one he manages to get into it are Grunt and Legion

Scotty is especially fascinated with the drive core of the Normandy and talks to Adams about it constantly

Chakotay and James having a boxing match at one point

Jake interviews like everyone and is thinking about turning this experience into a novel and enjoys listening to everyone’s stories

O’Brien and Garrus get caught up in calibrations, can you come back later

okay this literally is getting too long already but I could keep going. I think then there’s a group discussion about the Borgs vs the Reapers and the troubles everyone faces in those fights and a lot of back and forth about things that have worked for one crew that may help someone else out (like the Changeling cure to maybe help the Genophage cure or vice versa)

#mass effect #star trek #beej talks mass effect #beej talks star trek #Anonymous #replies in thirty minutes or its free

5 notes · View notes

perahn · 5 years

Note

🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️ 🖋️

NINETY-SEVEN

Really, Jade?

I could burrow through all my files and folders and WIPS and I might perhaps find twenty. I certainly can’t given you random snippets about all of them, some are only a line or two, and there’s one that’s completely incomprehensible.

Here’s a list of things I found going through my WIP files:

- about six lines of a Fenris sestina

- about five of a Tarva vilanelle

- four of a Frog/Glenn sonnet

- two attempts to start a story about selkies and the way children see their parents’ relationship, which I will probably never write now

- a beginning of a story about dragons and the moon

- rough notes for a ME2 story reflecting my experiences playing that game without ME1 (Shepard’s memories were not recoverable)

- rough notes for a Fenris in Mass Effect story

- a start on a straight DA2 story, some of which turned up in Sort of Beautiful

- notes for an extremely ambitious ME thing, set in the next cycle after Shepard failed to stop the Reapers (mostly on the appearance and social organisation of the races descended from varren, pyjaks and space cows)

- a Rapunzel retelling, possibly with selkies in it

- something about aliens and memories

- something about selfies in the space age (this, I think, I might be able to finish one day)

- Sand as the KC’s father and how that changes NWN2 a bit. I want to finish this, I really do, but I don’t think it’ll happen

- a thing for @oleandersone wherein Quinn and Sand commiserate on imminent fatherhood and how their significant others don’t appreciate how hard they’re fussing

- 3000 words of Vaiira and Quinn going to the opera, followed by outlining for how the events of the Eternal Throne stuff affected them (won’t be finished as I’ve never picked the game back up)

- 1300 words of Sith foreplay (I don’t know either)

- Quinn receiving a letter from Vaii to say she’s not dead after all

- “WHY was I thinking about Quinn and allergies on Makeb, late orbital spring, and Vaii having to play nurse?“ - in its entirety

- 7500 words of Tabris and Zevran which I began writing for @ashara-art TOO MANY YEARS AGO and is actually still pretty good. I should either finish this or just whack an ending onto it and post it up so I can stop feeling guilty about it.

- 4000 words of a NWN2 soulmate AU, starting with Nefris and Akachi and ending in Safiya and Sand. Heavily inspired by Quark’s one. also you can have a snippet of my notes for this one:

Javari, two-dagger rogue. Bishop on her palm, arrow scar through that hand. Bishop resented fiercely, Duncan’s niece, branded, trapped. Still attraction, love from J, but not healthy, warped and twisted. J is CN – longed for freedom, understood B’s reaction, thinks of B as wolf in trap, snapping at hand that might’ve released him. Lots of guilt and hurt. Bishop had gouge in calf where repeatedly tried to carve her name out of him.

- the only Inquisition thing I ever tried to write, which was Vivienne and Bull commenting on my Cadash’s ill-fated attempt to tell Varric she was in love with him

- a very angry Hawke making her own ending to DA2

- Through the Fade. This is never going to happen. I can give you a factoid, though: this is where my Cadash was born. She was going to be a side character in this story before I a) decided I had too many already and b) stopped writing it.

- Untitled Backstory Dump. Khem is taken to the Red Wizard Academy at the age of five and survives to graduate. Currently about 20k words and six years, and if I ever manage to get it to the point where she kills off the student who’s currently making her life miserable, I’ll post that much. Random factoid: this has a supporting document listing significant landmarks, instructors, bits of timeline, kills, levels and spells which I virtually always have open while writing anything for Khem. There are, so far, 7 named teachers and their subjects, plus a high-ranking cleric of Kossuth in the Infirmary.

- Khem’s Codices. The big one right now. Random factoid: the dreams she will have in the next codex will actually refer to the events of a session that @codenamecynic‘s excellent husband ran for us while DM onemooncircles was out of commission. It was a non-canon session (the characters were in an elven ruin at the time, not fighting giants on a mountain) but was a lot of fun and deserves commemoration.

- I am also teasing out the details of a thing about a haunted house; not sure if I’ll write it but I maaaaaay

- I half-promised Cynic I’d try to do something from the perspective of Cort Raghnall, but since she’s taken up that particular gauntlet herself I’m not sure I will/can

- I have a feeling I’m forgetting something I owed someone

that’s not 97 things, but I hope you feel you got your money’s worth.

#writing #meme #ask meme #jadesabre301 #jade jade jade #you are very greedy #i love you anyway

41 notes · View notes

headlesssamurai · 6 years

Note

Thoughts on sci-fi fanstay that is super over the top/pulpy/cheese ball (i.e. Aquaman currently, The Last Starfighter in probably our early childhood, and other ones of such ilk)? And here's a fun one: best female leads in sci-fi?

Oh. Well, just one thing to start. To me there’s a vast, heavily distinguishable difference between today’s Aquaman and The Last Starfighter of 1980s cult fame, and not only because of their tremendous differences in budget and funding (something like $35 million in today’s value for The Last Starfighter versus a modest $200 million for Aquaman).

Both are coming from distinct sub-genres of sci-fi, Aquaman from the mythology of DC comic books a type of film so popularized by Disney’s Marvel brand with credit due to progenitors like Sam Raimi and Bryan Singer, and The Last Starfighter from the space opera adventure archetype revitalized in its time almost singlehandedly by George Lucas with Star Wars, though a great deal of credit goes to Kubrick in proving over decade earlier that high concept science fiction films were marketable product which could be executed with no want for class.

Prime of all, each film is coming respectively from a very different creative direction and visionary perspective, Aquaman has a decades-old established fanbase in comic book readers. And though they’d never admit it even under intense acupuncture torture, all those Marvel fanatics are buying tickets to watch it too, if only so they can shriek all over the internet that it blows every dick in a five block radius. It can be argued that The Last Starfighter, though obviously not highly lucrative in its earnings, was far more creative a film in that it’s written by the same guy who did Escape From New York and Hook, for instance, the director was a nobody (unlike James Wan), and while capitalizing on the clamouring space opera fever of its time, it was an original property not unlike Star Wars in that its inspirations were strong but it was trying to break into the genre by creating its own unique story in that ex nihilo sort of way. Given these, to my mind incredibly important distinctions, I’d thus be led to conclude that, if both Aquaman and The Last Starfighter are in fact over-the-top cheesy, this is incidental not intrinsically corollary, and equating the two would be something like equating the super talented fat kid in art class with the high school’s star running back who’s getting more ass than a toilet seat.

In the case of Last Starfighter I’m not sure if it could be described as totally cheesballs by the standards of the time, though clearly less dour in tone than The Empire Strikes Back say, and perhaps not aging well because of this, it seems to fit comfortably into the niche it’s carved out for itself. In the case of Aquaman, do think being over-the-top cheesy is perfectly acceptable in a comic book story, because that’s the sort of world those stories inhabit regardless of however much grit or glamour in which they try to dress it up. This isn’t to imply there can’t be paramounts of the genre which push things forward and raise the bar, even redefine how such stories are told, but at the end of the day it still takes place in a world where people dress up like bats and wear spandex outfits in outer space while fighting robots and alien shapeshifters. That’s just ridiculous, and the best sort of those stories are likely the ones which are so engaging for the audience they forget how ridiculous it all is for becoming so connected to the characters and narrative. This sort of potential for surprise is why I’ll always love comic books, and it puzzles me why so many older people act as if such fondness is idiotic when comic books existed long before even they were ever born.

Still, cheesy is a slippery slope, some films verge that direction but I ain’t sure how many fall over the edge. Myself, I always think of it as something like Planet Terror or Demolition Man (both of which I adore), or whatnot. That said, I got absolutely no problem with cheesy movies, speaking of Escape From New York, and dare I say L.A. as well! I tend to drift all over the map in terms of entertainment, with a particular affinity for science fiction, medieval war stories, sword and sorcery, and cyberpunk. But if a piece of fiction entertains me, I’m all for it, regardless of whatever it’s supposed to be. Why, I just finished reading a pretty stark and serious sci-fi book called Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel and goddamn not at all action-packed a story, but I couldn’t put the damn thing down.

Oh, man. That thing about best sci-fi female leads though is a whole other bowl of spaghetti, yo. Out of the gate I’m always wont to mention Samus Aran, since she was one of my favorite heroes to play as a child (and has had a far more profound impact on me than most video game characters from that era). Dr. Banks from Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival was the first one who popped into my head when I read your question, but “best” is such a tough quark to glimpse if you catch my drift. Plus, you know more, cliché examples like Ripley and Jill Valentine of course, and no proper nerd would bring up sci-fi protagonists without mentioning Commander Shepard of Mass Effect’s culturally significant influence (my original Shepard was a woman). But that’s such a huge subject I think I’ll need to think about that one for a little while. Ask me again some time, I’d be down to explore that subject more thoroughly. For the sake of any readers’ poor eyeballs and brains, I’ll shut the hell up for now.

侍 headless

#non-anonymeisters #godzillaapproved #planet terror #rose mcgowan gif #and minigun leg #gratuitous violence #cheesy movies #discussion #cut-rate journalism #thoughts #bleh #cinema #filmmaking #writing #nerd shit #women in sci-fi

36 notes · View notes

weerd1 · 5 years

Text

Star Trek DS9 Rewatch Log, Stardate 1909.07: Missions Reviewed, “Behind the Lines,” “Favor the Bold,” and “Sacrifice of Angels.”

“Behind the Lines” begins as the Defiant has a new mission as Starfleet intelligence has discovered a listening post the Dominion has been using to track Alliance fleet movements across five sectors. The issue is that very array will track the Defiant approaching to attack. A risky approach through the Argolis Star Cluster is planned, but Sisko won’t be commanding. He is promoted to Admiral Ross’ adjutant, and now coordinating all Starfleet actions from Starbase 375. Dax takes command.

On DS9, Odo, Kira, Rom, and Jake continue their resistance. Rom makes sure the Jem’Hadar get a hold of Damar’s report showing that ketracel white supplies in the Alpha Quadrant will not hold. He recommends poisoning the last batch so the Dominion soldiers don’t become a mass of berserkers killing everyone in their path. The Jem’Hadar don’t take well to this, causing a brawl that leaves many Cardassian and Jem’Hadar casualties in Quark’s and strains the Dukat/Weyoun power structure. Odo is angry, as he had voted against this idea, thinking the resistance would tip its hand. While discussing it with Kira, the Female Changeling arrives on station, apparently trapped in the Alpha Quadrant by the minefield. She is desperate to link (or so she says) and begins to again instruct Odo in the ways of shapeshifters.

Damar reveals to Quark (after some “kanar,” Cardassian booze) that he has a plan to disable the self replicating mines. Rom figures out what it must be, and the group plans to have Odo disable sensors so Rom can sabotage the equipment. Odo is distracted by linking with the Female again, and Rom is captured.

Dax and the Defiant return from their mission, successful, and Sisko observes her as the Captain, knowing now that she has this under control.

So many great character moments here, from the Last Temptation of Odo to Rom stepping up as Resistance, to Quark slowly getting pulled into actions against the Dominion as well. Kira’s fury as an apathetic Odo hears about Rom is palpable, and may have been such high temperature as to actually melt my laptop screen a little. The story forcing us to hear about the Defiant’s mission rather than see it gives us a taste of Sisko’s frustration. Hearing them actually begin to discuss the possibility of an attack on Earth was pretty jarring to Star Trek fans in the 90s, and that tension still plays today, even knowing where the show is going.

“Favor the Bold” shows us a Resistance desperate to get Rom released as he has been sentenced to death. Guards will not let Kira and Quark near Odo’s quarters, as Odo has been in the room with the Female for three days. We see Odo, still communing, and when the Female tells him it has been three days, he is shaken. Meanwhile, looking for a way to turn the war around, Sisko hatches a plan to retake DS9.

The Starfleet admiralty is at first resistant, again citing how diverting resources leaves the inner worlds vulnerable, but Sisko argues that Earth is “not the key to the Alpha Quadrant; the wormhole is.” With Starfleet approval, Sisko sends Martok and Worf to Qo’Nos to convince a reluctant Gowron to direct Klingon ships into this battle as well. On DS9, the deactivation of the minefield has begun, and Rom in prison asks Quark to continue his mission to find a way to stop the new graviton beam from disabling any more. Kira asks Ziyal to intervene on Rom’s behalf with Dukat. Odo finds Kira to apologize, but she says “we are way past sorry.” Jake, using the barfly Morn, gets a message to his father regarding the mines, and with a newly minted Ensign Nog and crew they take their place at the head of a fleet of 600 Federation starships. They are soon met by 1200 Dominion and Cardassian ships. “Fortune favors the bold,” Sisko hopes, and the battle for DS9 begins.

I remember having to watch this weekly in the 90s, and by the Great Bird how tough that was. The ability to just hit “next” on Netflix is a gift and a curse. You don’t want to stop. This is the show at its best, and the stakes keep building. I remarked to Jennifer how well the effects hold up after 20 years, but let’s save that discussion for the next episode. Looking back over my summary, there are big things I missed, like the Dukat/Ziyal drama, and Kira beating the hell out of Damar for putting a hand on Ziyal, or Leeta’s concern for Rom and how the Bajoran and Ferengi governments are negotiating for his release. So many details, so much drama, and all of it is fantastic. These episodes aired in 1997, and their storytelling sets the stage for what is now the expectation from HBO or Netflix. “Babylon 5” certainly has its influence, but modern television is born on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The Federation fleet faces off with the Dominion as “Sacrifice of Angels” begins. O’Brien and Bashir are quoting “Charge of the Light Brigade” while Sisko tries to get the Cardassians to break formation and chase the Federation fighter wings. This will open a hole in the Dominion line the Federation will try and break through.

They know it is a matter of hours before the Dominion takes down the minefield and tens of thousands of Jem’Hadar ships pour into the Alpha Quadrant. On DS9, Damar warns Dukat there are “elements” that may be trying to counter them: Kira, Jake, and Leeta. They are locked up with Rom. Quark has enough and gets Ziyal to go with him. Quark surprises himself with a bold rescue where he literally has a phaser in each hand, shooting two Jem’Hadar soldiers at once. Kira and Rom run to try to keep the minefield from being destroyed by disabling the station’s weapons. Dukat describes to Weyoun how he only wanted to shepherd Bajor, and what a protector he is. How you don’t just kill your enemies, you make sure they know they were wrong to oppose you in the first place. He orders the Cardassian ships to make Sisko think his plan is working by breaking a hole, which the Federaiton jumps into. They are about to be defeated when out of the sun, the Klingon fleet emerges.

The line breaks and the Defiant gets through, alone, setting maximum warp to DS9. Odo, having discusses his dismay with the Female Changeling realizes what he has become and his love for Kira prevents him from giving in to the Founders. He helps Kira and Rom get into the weapons controls. Rom disables them, but just after Damar has detonated the minefield.

The wormhole is open, and the Dominion is coming. The Defiant arrives, and with weapons down, Damar cannot shoot it down. The Defiant plunges into the Wormhole to meet thousands of Dominion ships head on. Garak asks how “that poem” ends, and O’Brien tells him he doesn’t want to know. Sisko is at once in the presence of the Prophets, and he reminds them that they want to protect Bajor. They agree, but tell Sisko there is a price; he will never find peace on Bajor, and “his path is different.” Fading back into his reality, Sisko watches the Defiant’s main viewscreen as the enormous Dominion fleet…disappears.

On DS9, Dukat, Damar, Weyoun, and the Founder watch the wormhole open and only the Defiant emerge. With the Dominion fleet gone Weyoun declares “Time to start packing,” as the Founder orders the Dominion forces to pull back to Cardassia. Dukat searches for Ziyal, trying to get her to come too. She refuses, telling him it was her who helped Rom and Kira escape. Damar appears and shoots Ziyal as a traitor.

Dukat snaps unable to leave his dead daughter. The Defiant docks, reuniting Jake and Ben; Worf and Dax; Bashir, O’Brien and the holosuites. Garak looks for Ziyal, and overhears someone say Kira is with Ziyal in the infirmary. Garak finds Kira with Ziyal’s body and Kira tells him “She loved you.” “I could never figure out why,” he says. “I guess I never will.” Sisko finds a broken and mumbling Dukat in security, talking as if Ziyal is there and he will take her back to Cardassia. Dukat tells his phantom daughter that he forgives her, and then looks at Sisko. “I forgive you too,” he says, handing Sisko back his baseball.

This six episode arc comes to a stunning conclusion. Some may cite a “deus ex machina” in the end, but to ignore the fact the Sisko has been presented as a having this connection to the Prophets since the very first episode. It’s not deus ex machina when the gods were already recurring characters (See also: Battlestar Galactica). Damar building as a character who is so loyal to Dukat as to kill the bosses daughter for him contributes to how we will see his conscience tear at him until he too has his own form of break. The Klingons arriving are simply gorgeous, and the effects, perhaps not quite as flashy as the Abrams films or Discovery, hold up very well here. Thinking of the logistics necessary in the nascent days of CGI mixed with model making necessary to pull this off makes them stunning. The tracking shots of Defiant racing along the surfaces of Dominion ships is a better effect than several modern films and tv shows, which I will not name as I don’t like to be negative on the internet. (DM me for what I think is the worst SF show in years.) The heartbreaking ending to Ziyal’s story, managing to leave Dukat a broken shell and Garak and Kira both reeling is effective, and I will miss her character. Weyoun’s handclap and line about leaving is just a wonderful note in this symphony, and now we get to see Odo truly try to find his redemption. Peak Star Trek. These six episodes were actually adapted into a series of novels, and they absolutely deserve to be.

NEXT MISSION: After war, loss, and destruction, the show lets us catch our breath with THE wedding of the 24thCentury! Dax and Worf decide to merge their houses in “You Are Cordially Invited”!

#Star trek #star trek: Deep Space Nine #DS9 Rewatch

1 note · View note