#season 1 is a show for people that don't actually like trek

[milquetoast-on-acid]

The struggle is real. Mostly the struggle to finish watching Picard season 1. It's bad y'all. They weren't even kidding.

[enterprise-bee]

so i'm watching TNG (and any star trek at all!) for the first time and the thing i'm most surprised about so far is just how much i like commander riker. of course, this may be influenced by several conclusions i have come to about the man that are, perhaps, supported by canon, but maybe aren't entirely canon:

he's very obviously trans. just look at the difference between seasons 1 and 2. the T finally kicked in.

he's also bi. everything about his energy supports this you don't need me to tell you this.

also, he's a band kid. hear me out: plays trombone. kind of a tryhard. makes many corny jokes. comfortable under a chain of command. that is a BAND KID. he was in the starfleet academy marching band in my mind. i am simply waiting for the day the rest of the enterprise learns this. nothing else explains his personality so perfectly. (note: this is the one i don't think has any chance of ever actually happening, but i can dream.)

also like in general i love how competent and level-headed he is. he's written like he's kind of SUPPOSED to be the like, wildcard first officer to picard's more rules-following self, except picard once got stabbed in the heart in a barfight and riker is always reminding picard about regulations like "you're the captain of a star ship don't go. die???" so my headcanon about this is that before the enterprise riker WAS a little more of a loose canon and then he got assigned to picard and realized, oh no, someone in this command team had to be the well-adjusted one and the other options were his empath situationship, his clearly insane captain, a robot, a klingon, a child, the captain's situationship, and a traumatized security officer. he had no choice. he became the well-adjusted one by proxy.

sometimes he and geordi i think hang out and appreciate being the two people who are normally kind of just doing fine.

like it never stops being funny to me that the guy who seems like he SHOULD be the womanizing loose canon is somehow largely just a respectful, competent officer who largely has his shit fully together in basically every situation. like, the entire crew is competent mind you that is one of the appeals of this show but in general riker is an emotional rock who makes sensible, by-the-book choices.

once again: the only way to reconcile this with his everything else is that he must be a trans band kid ITS THE ONLY LOGICAL CONCLUSION,

[chiisana-sukima]

nine people i want to get to know better

Thank you for the tag, @slutsons-blog! Starting a new post because I'm autistic and therefore mostly only care about the "Current Obsession" question, and want to ramble excessively as usual in that one.

Last song: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team: Pokemon Square because I'm currently playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon with my daughter. Otherwise I honestly couldn't tell you. Whatever was on in my car.

Fave color: Purple

Currently watching: Star Trek Discovery

Last movie: Knives Out

Sweet/spicy/savory: Sweet, tart, salty

Relationship: married x 27 years

Last thing I googled: the word "dependent", for spelling assistance. which is a good thing because I spelled it "dependant".

Current Obsession: it's been spn since 2016. Truly we are the Hotel California of media franchises. I did recently play Disco Elysium twice in a row in quick succession, and I follow the DE tag. I can't recommend the game highly enough.... but I can feel my Special Interest-level obsession with it fading already. Spn has never faded even a tiny bit and I wonder if it ever will.

@slutsons-blog I feel after reading that you're watching spn for the first time, that I did you a bit of a disservice with my Sam takes to you before in that I mostly talked about Sam's evolution as a character as the show goes on and very little about him from the first five seasons.

Gotta be honest and tell you that although I liked both brothers all along, I was a Dean girl until the end of s6/beginning of s7, when the balance of who gets whumped the most started shifting and my subconscious suddenly decided to switch allegiances. It's not that I liked Dean any less; my id just loves a sopping wet pathetic kitten of a man who has been sexually abused, and Sam got suddenly way more kitteny and pathetic after the Cage. So I don't actually have a ton of takes on "what to love about Sam in the early seasons". I do love early seasons Sam too--she is my beautiful baby princess--but my early seasons takes are a lot more inchoate.

I count myself lucky about my id's sudden defection though, because I think we have limited control of who our blorbos are, and having Dean as a blorbo is a tough row to hoe as the later seasons go along. You know how you noticed that in s6, Dean suddenly gets a lot more assholey without apparent reason? Unfortunately he never gets better again, and in fact keeps getting worse and worse as the years go by, until by the last seasons he is openly far more abusive to their joint child(-in-an-adult body) than John was to him and Sam. It's a realistic picture of what can happen when trauma keeps piling up on people, but it's also honestly pretty distressing, especially if he's your blorbo.

If one is in it for the ship, there's some good destiel content in the later seasons, but if you're in it for Dean, you're left either 1) dealing with the fact he's got extremely significant interpersonal problems that he never gets much of anywhere on solving and that negatively impact his chosen family in profound ways, or 2) pretending he's the same character he was in s1 and Sam is the same Sam from s1, only more boring, and Dean is just trying to put up with him because he was brainwashed by John (or ig 3- something in the middle between those two. But that seldom seems to happen in practice for whatever reason). These two versions of the show are poorly compatible, and that's how the Sam girls and the Dean girls end up in isolated silos. A few people manage to live in both, but not many.

Anyway, I feel like without the context of how Sam and Dean change in the mid to late seasons, the two fics I recc'd as Sam character studies are going to seem insanely Dean-critical, so if you haven't read them yet, you might want to wait until s10. In the meantime, the general recs are fun reads and hopefully do a good job of showcasing both characters earlier on.

Tagging (but I would be a huge hypocrite if I didn't specify there's no pressure to respond, since I almost always fail at responding to tag games myself): @adihildilid @aliusfrater @quietwingsinthesky @sammygender @ardentpoop

@peanutbutterandbananasandwichs @schizosamwincester @normalbrothershow @jellybracelet.

[warpcoreweirdness]

just finished season 2 of Lower Decks and i'm SO glad i tried this show again

i actually started the show a while ago, but the constant easter eggs put me off.

(i still don't know how non-Trekkie viewers are meant to get the jokes where the punchline is "reference!! 😂", but lots of people enjoy it so ymmv).

i stopped a few minutes into episode 2 after Rutherford agrees to quit his job as an engineer so he can watch the Trivoli pulsar with Tendi.

i honestly thought it was going to be a storyline about a guy giving up a job he loves and making his boss angry so that he can spend time with a female friend he has a crush on, because that's the plotline i've been conditioned to expect from tv. i wasn't feeling excited about the show, so i put it on pause.

but if i'd watched for about two more seconds before noping out for a few months, i would've seen this:

when i started watching again, i realised that the episodes never bog themselves down in drawn-out, uncomfortable storyline or character staples - they're actually incredibly well-written, tightly paced, and tell their stories in just the right amount of time. Rutherford wants to be Tendi's friend (at least for now), his boss Billups is really supportive, and Tendi brings a PADD into the Jefferies tube so they can both do what they enjoy, separately but together.

another great part about that scene with Rutherford and his boss is something that Lower Decks does a lot, which is make jokes that actually rely on subverting audience expectations. a big example - and a way of referencing other parts of the Star Trek franchise that does work for me - is when the creators gently poke fun at or subvert common story beats, emotional arcs, or dramatic moments from other parts of Trek.

like when Rutherford loses his memory and Tendi is excited to get to know him again, rather than devastated that he doesn't remember her.

or when they save themselves from being smooshed by Dooplers by dramatically ejecting the warp core of their tiny model starship.

or when Tendi goes on an arc of significant personal development over the course of one (1) whole episode.

they're general enough that even people who haven't seen other Star Trek shows (or movies) can still recognise and appreciate them.

beyond this, the show also has great moments where they (lovingly) cast a light on some of the flaws and foibles in the franchise, often in subtle or comedic ways.

like showing people in beep chairs living their best lives (in contrast to TOS and SNW's view of the beep chair as a tragic, doomsday fate for Pike).

or using Tendi to comment on Trek's depiction of Orions specifically as all pirates and slavers, and alien cultures more generally as monocultures.

or even just acknowledging that Trek shows mostly focus on the bridge crew doing heroic first contact-esque adventures, when that can't be all there is to Starfleet.

heck, they even have Rutherford go on a journey of acceptance and self-discovery after a permanent memory wipe (in contrast to Uhura in TOS, where it's never mentioned again).

another reason i really appreciate the show is that the creators have taken the time to think through what a more inclusive future could look like, in ways that are noticeably lacking or absent in many other Trek shows:

beyond exploring diversity through explicit identity representation (which is still very important), it does this through its world building as well.

i love this communal sonic shower scene for what it says about gender and body politics in Trek. in the future, why would we still separate bathrooms and changing rooms by gender? and why would we have the same views and expectations around bodies that we (by "we" i mean Western countries) do now?

this short scene dismantles the idea that nudity is inherently sexual, that gender is binary and biological, that some genders can't be trusted around other genders while naked, and that heterosexuality is the default (and when you bring dozens of alien species into the mix, why wouldn't we have more and newer ways of thinking about gender?). it even has a little mention that Boimler prefers not to shower with others, leaving space for people to act however feels most comfortable for them.

it's such a little thing, but after years spent (lovingly) yelling at the screen during TNG, TOS, DS9, etc saying, "why are they assuming everyone is straight? WHY would people be this sexist?", i noticed it immediately and appreciated it immensely.

(this isn't related to the storytelling, but i also have to say - the animation in Lower Decks is so pretty???):

this isn't a perfect show, but it's funny, has fantastic storytelling, and it loves the source material without worshipping it. (which is not something i expected to say, given how it started).

plus i love these characters SO MUCH.

so far, so very good 🤞.

(image descriptions in alt text)

[princesscolumbia]

Star Trek Captains, A Review and Categorization

Star Trek is a show about a Neo-military organization that has rank structures, ships, and fights wars, so naturally there's plenty of captains to talk about, but for this post I'll be highlighting specifically the main cast captains, in something resembling chronological order. (But, I mean, this is Star Trek, so even that's kinda up in the air)

Captain Archer

That Guy who had to hand crank the warp engine up-hill both ways in the blinding ion storm. We don't need no stinkin' Prime Directive! Remember The Alamo Pearl Harbor 9/11 Florida! But...uh, maybe don't be dicks about it, not everyone who looks like the ones responsible for that thing we're never going to forget actually wants us dead. Got transformed into an alien, got possessed by another alien, slept with a couple more. Never got pregnant, though (that was his chief engineer)

Scorecard

Ships commanded: 1

Wars started: 0

Wars ended: 3

Times on screen naked: 1

Nazi facilities destroyed: 1

Category: Grampa

Captain Pike

Midlife crisis? What midlife crisis? Everything's fiiiiine. Now eat something, it'll make you feel better. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. Number One, don't tell me I can't adopt more kids, I don't care that they're from the future they're mine now. Besides, we've already got a whole ship-full, what's two more?

Scorecard

Ships commanded: 2

Violations of the Temporal Prime Directive: -3 (yes, it's an irrational number, we're talking time travel, people!)

Musical Numbers Participated While On Duty: 3

Hair: Really Great

Category: Dad (or DILF if you swing that way)

Captain Georgiou

You will be captain when you can snatch the stone from my hand.

Scorecard

Ships commanded: 1

Protege's who required a redemption arc: 1

Awesomeness: Transcendent

Category: Gone too soon, also, MILF who can kick your ass

(Edit: Courtesy of @cheer-me-up-scotty for pointing out an oversite on my part)

Captain Burnham

Cosplays as a Vulcan 'cause she's jealous of her adoptive brother. Accurately called an audience-stand-in-self-insert-mary-sue (shut up, Star Trek fandom invented the Mary Sue, it was a term coined by women fans, so shut up!), but by season 2 she actually gets interesting.

Scorecard

Mommy Issues: Has a subscription

Moms: 4

PTSD inducing life events: Like, all of them

Ships commanded: 3

Mutinies led failed: 1

Category: That One Cousin who married surprisingly well and made something of herself in spite of all expectations

Captain Kirk

Golden retriever energy, would be the Useless Bisexual Himbo if he didn't have so much game. Probably smarter than he lets on. Polyamory King and certified Alien Fucker. Boyfriend is a half-space-elf, main sometimes-girlfriend will go on to create the deadliest super-weapon ever built by humans by accident.

Scorecard

Number of Klingon Bounties on his head: [CLASSIFIED]

Number of women he's slept with: [CLASSIFIED]

Nazi regimes toppled: 1

Number of times he should have had a test that determines if you can stick your dick in it that got named after an upstart from that other science fiction show instead: 1

Ships Commanded: 3

Ships He's Stolen: 3

Category: Slut(affectionate)

Captain Kirk (the other one)

Golden Retriever that got left behind when his family moved away and had to lead a ragtag team of a crotchety older dog and a wet cat on a journey...

No, wait, hold on...

Right! That's the one!

Scorecard

Times he should have been kicked out of Starfleet: At least 4

Ships commanded: 3

Ground transport destroyed: 2 (that we know of)

Number of middle fingers given to Admiralty: 2

Category: Bad Boy

Captain Picard

You know that guy who you see going to the library all the time and always seems to have his nose in a book and always seems to be telling people off for breaking the rules and doing dangerous shit? You'd never know it but he used to be That Guy in college who got, like, ALL the girls and is going to be the Hot Grampa that you don't know how he has that much game, but he got it.

Scorecard

Ships lost in the line of duty: 2

Number of times he married and then estranged his best friend's wife who named their son after her dead first husband: 1

Number of toxic omnipotent and omniscient boyfriends who are obsessed with him and spends their spare time playing with ponies: 1

Category: Inexplicable Sexyman

Captain Badass Sisko

The Cool Dad with baggage. He's got game, but he's got priorities as well, and DON'T mess with his son or you won't even exist anymore to regret it. BLM before it was cool. Led a civil rights riot two centuries before he was born. Space Jesus who can make the best jambalaya you've ever had. Fought and won a war, punched a god, then became one.

Scorecard

Civilizations saved: 4

Native Cultures Treated With the Respect They Deserve: Many

Times He Bent the Rules so his CMO could get some nookie from a Cardasian spy plain, simple tailor: The counter broke

Successful black-ops assassinations completed: 1

Category: BAMF

Captain Janeway

THE single most decorated captain in Starfleet history. Successfully dropped the hammer on dozens of petty tyrants, oppressive regimes, roaming mass murderers, and the Borg. What Prime Directive? Your Mom. Also, probably slept with your mom, that's how much she is the Domme-est of Dommes. She told the Borg to use the safe word...and they DID!

Scorecard

Borg Daughters: 1

Times she told the Borg to step off: 3 (or 4...or 5? Honestly, with the time travel shenanigans it's hard to know for sure)

Nazis she's personally shot: 1

Category: Mistress, but it's "Ma'am" to you

Captain Freeman

She's angry AND disappointed! She's just as good as all the other captains in the fleet, and the good ones know it, but all the rest? They see "cali class" and assume all they're good for is the jobs nobody else wants. But jokes on them, because thanks to that attitude her crew are the flippin' Jacks and Jills of all trades and are more capable of fixing AND fucking AND "fucking" shit up than damn near anyone else!

Scorecard

Times the ship has nearly been destroyed but she and her crew got through it: ...uh...how many episodes are there? And then there's the times that get casual mentions that we never get the details on!

Daughters who should probably be captains now if they were at least a LITTLE more respectful and didn't actively try to piss off Admirals: 1

Times the Cerritos has had to be rebuilt to the point it might as well be called "The Ship of Cerritos Problem": At least 4

Category: Your mom...get back here, I'M NOT DONE TALKING TO YOU!

Captain R'El

Cinnamon Roll, just let m'boy into Starfleet! He just wants a home and a family! I'd like to see full-grown captains who can keep up with half of what this Best Boy is capable of!

Scorecard

Number of species his genetic code is made up of: All of 'em. Even the GODDAMN Q!

Number of Janeways he impressed the socks off of: 2

Quality of his Janeway impression: Bad

Number of Ferengi he out-Ferengi'd: 1

Nazis punched: Give him time...

Category: Teenage Boy Who's NOT GOING THROUGH A PHASE, MOM!

Should I do Captains Shaw and Seven? How about Alternate Timeline Tripp or Future Chakotay? (Going too far down that rabbit hole will eventually lead to Imperial Kirk and Captain Spock from the movies.) Let me know in the comments.

Next Post in this series

[plantsjustwannahavefun]

I keep seeing so many people here getting angry that this season is "vilifying Ed", and it's depressingly fascinating to see how others can watch the same show and somehow see something completely different. Is it simply the lack of media literacy? Is it the inability to appreciate and enjoy complex, nuanced, morally grey characters without willfully blocking out anything even slightly unpalatable about them to the point where the character they think they love isn't really that character anymore?

Because, uh... Season 1 already "vilified" Ed plenty. Except "vilify" is the wrong word, of course. It wasn't in any way malicious or mean-spirited, quite the contrary, it was often played as comedic (until the end of episode 10 when it was anything but) - Ed was always meant to be a sympathetic character, he's a protagonist after all, and the show's portrayal of him is very compassionate. It merely refused to sugarcoat or shy away from his darker side. He's literally history's most famous pirate, you don't become one by being nice and treating everyone gently. He ambushed and strangled his own father to death when he was like 9 years old (100% deserved and justifiable ofc, but it still bears saying it out loud like this just to comprehend how unhinged this actually was). He loves torturing and maiming people for fun, and sometimes even animals (that scene with forcing a turtle to fight a crab). He didn't give a fuck about his crew members dying to satisfy his whim to meet Stede. He entirely failed in his role as a captain in ep 4. He effectively played a double agent with Izzy and Stede for a while before changing his mind. He attempted to murder Lucius. And while you could try to argue his punishment of Izzy was at least to some degree deserved, not only cutting Izzy's toe off but forcing him to eat went beyond punishment, it was sadistic torture.

So, yeah, please just read all that and take it in. And then remember once again that Ed is also a traumatised, lonely, depressed, sensitive, creative, curious, deeply passionate person yearning for true love and for something different in life... just like Stede. He loves music and can play the piano. He wrote a very vulnerable song and sand his heart out. He likes his tea with seven sugars. He enjoys fashion and dressing up. He has such a limitless sense of wonder for the world. He went on a trek with Stede just to make him happy, even though he hated nature and was in a shit mood that day. He wants to host a talent show. He wants to become free. He's clever and funny and fascinating. I love Ed.

Yes, it's possible to reconcile those two sides of him and accept both sides as the "real" Ed. You have to reconcile the two sides if you want to enjoy him as a character, because if you don't, you're going to either detest him to the core (which would make enjoying the show practically impossible since he's sort of a main character...), or you'll only be able to enjoy a diminished, crippled, cardboard cutout version of his character, which would be such a pity and a massive disservice to the creators of this show who worked hard to create interesting, multidimensional characters.

Not to mention you'd be missing one of the core messages of the show - the idea that people still deserve love and can be loved even if they're imperfect, or not necessarily good people. Because love is a human condition. It's not a sole dominion of "good" people. "Bad" people can fall in love too - even if, just like them, that love isn't exactly "nice" or "pure", and neither are the relationships that stem from it. They can be messy and exasperating. But "bad" people can also grow and change because of it. That's what OFMD is ultimately about - growth and change, learning to accept yourself but also become better. That can't happen if the character is already 100% perfect the way they are.Ed is far from that. So is Izzy. They can both become better, and they both still deserve compassion and understanding, because that's the environment people need to become better.

So, if you're mad that at the start of S2 the crew are sympathetic to Izzy's suffering and want to help him instead of kicking him when he's down, and what Ed did to him is being acknowledged as cruel and wrong... congratulations, you have completely missed what OFMD is all about.

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 1, Poll 4

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave here.

Princess Sapphia of Mytilene-High Class Homos

Qualifications:

She is canonically lesbian and an amputee. The basis of the story is that her and her gay friend August of Phthia are fake marrying to secretly date other people (him with one of his knights and her with one of his castle's maids). She had a relationship with Marla through half of the first season, and now she's starting a relationship with Odette. In the original comic (before becoming a WebToon original), the panels never showed most characters legs so some comments did jokes about her not having legs, so in one of the last episodes before "rebooting" it to WebToon, the author momozerii decided to make this canon by showing her changing her prosthetic leg. The "reboot" shows it from the first episode (literally kicking a door open) and had a flashback scene of her using crutches and a bandage on her amputation. I don't remember if that scene showed why she lost her leg.

Propaganda:

She's so funny and cute, and I love how momozerii added her prosthetic from the start in the WebToon original version. She's really compassionate and has really good character development through the first season. There's one scene between her and Odette at the start of the story where Sapphia said some really elitist shit to her, and after apologizing she learns what Odette had to pass through as someone who didn't have the wealth and status that Sapphia has as a princess, and she actually changes, defending Odette when her old suitor, Nicolosi, pulls the same elitist shit on her.

Anything Else?:

I recommend a lot this WebToon, it has such a good story, the art is beautiful and isn't too heavy on details like other WebToon originals, the characters are amazing and complex, and it's on hiatus right now (don't worry the season finale is not a big cliffhanger, just a small hook for the second season).

Submitted by @octonine

Schnn T’gai Spock-Star Trek

Qualifications:

He is canonically dyslexic, and commonly interpreted as autistic. I do not think I have to tell you why I think he qualifies as LGBTQ+.

Propaganda:

He started it all! Spirk was the birth of slash fiction and fandom itself. Autistic, dyslexic, gay-- what can't he do?

Anything else?:

THIS APPLIES ONLY TO THE ORIGINAL SERIES VERSION OF SPOCK. NOT THE SPOCK FROM THE JJ ABRAMS MOVIES OR THE NEW ITERATION OF SPOCK FROM STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Discovery Spock does count as TOS Spock in my mind, though. AOS & SNW Spock are some of the least gay characters I have ever seen, and it is quite sad.

Submitted by @convenient-plot-device

[creatingblackcharacters]

I want to submit my favorite Star Trek character, Captain Michael Burnham.

She's the franchise's first Black female lead and the first Black female lead captain, played masterfully by Sonequa Martin-Green.

Michael is highly intelligent, brave, creative, loves hard, a true collaborative leader, determined, compassionate, tenacious, willing to break the rules, and reaches for the best in people. I like to call her the Queen of Chaotic Ingenuity. And she can kick yo ass if need be. She is actually funny but I think a lot of people miss it.

She's a poster child for "Listen to Black Women" cause had Starfleet done that in the first 2 episodes, they likely would have avoided that war with the Klingons, but I digress...

What I've enjoyed most about watching this character is seeing a Black woman who loves science be great (she's a xenoanthropologist), be the hero, and be allowed to evolve as a character. When we met her in season 1, we met a person that was struggling with embracing her human emotions as a major byproduct of having to assimilate into Vulcan culture while still being rejected by that culture because of her race. But as seasons 1 and 2 unfold, she starts breaking out of that shell and learns to embrace her emotions and herself and faces the demons from her childhood. Honestly, I love that she's The Hero, but she's also allowed to express the full range of her emotions, which is something not always given to Black female characters. She's allowed to be vulnerable. Also, I love that she's given grace to grow as a character. Put simply, Michael Burnham is one of the realest characters in Star Trek.

Once we're in season 3, and after some much needed time away from everyone (and plenty of time spent with a FINE brotha named Cleveland Booker, who deserves his own submission), Michael fully embraces herself, and as the story progresses, we see her FINALLY become captain, a role she was made for.

I love her leadership style as a captain. She's the ideal collaborative leader. Yes, she's the captain that's going on an away mission. However, she's also created a culture on her ship where her crew is comfortable with voicing their ideas, trying innovative ways to solve problems, and she genuinely listens to them. She seeks to connect with each person on her crew and those she comes in contact with on missions. She's a master at thinking outside the box. She's a thinker who leads with her heart.

Another aspect of this show that I appreciate is Michael wearing braids. The more we see Michael embracing herself, the more she wears natural Black hairstyles. When she's the most at peace with herself, she's rocking braids.

I think this it is very significant to have a Starfleet captain that wears braids, when we're living in a time where the Crown Act has to be a created to protect us from people's bigotry against natural Black hairstyles in professional and non professional spaces.

Yes, my captain is black, she wears braids, and she still does her job exemplary, with style and grace.

In closing, I just love Michael Burnham, and I hope some of you give Star Trek Discovery a try to get to know, and hopefully, love her too.

Last but not least, I love that her central romance is with another Black character. It's so rare to get Black Love in sci-fi, and they, Michael and Book, are a well written relationship.

Ngl, you typed "brotha" and I had to click out and go check your page 😤 we back! "Listen to Black women" lmao now you know people don't do that! Gotta go through hard knocks first 🤣 She's the science leader I aspire to be, it sounds like 🥹🥹 I too believe in collaborative leadership. Her braids! Yes I do love her braids, I love seeing our styles on us. It's why I keep pushing away from flat ironed hair. There's nothing wrong with it, I just... We have so many other options. I really want us to take a shot at it. And hot DAMN he sure IS fine 😳😳😳 I wasn't ready! WHEW! Michael is living it up fr.

Thank you for this submission!

[justjasper]

do you have any domestic moreid headcanons?

Pre-Relationship

They become fast friends, they hang out a lot, they call each other at odd hours.

Reid gets Morgan into Star Trek by making him watch Deep Space Nine. Morgan would fight god for Captain Sisko.

They fall into bed sometime in season 1, and keep doing so on and off for years while their feelings brew.

Reid wakes up alive after the events of Amplification with Morgan by his bedside, and they have a conversation full off feelings. They become "official" here.

Newly Established

They can both cook; Reid looked after his mother and went to college young, Morgan's dad cooked, and Morgan followed his example.

Nobody proposes moving in together officially, Reid just spends less and less time at his apartment until the lease runs out. He mentions it to Morgan quite matter of factly, and Morgan shrugs, smiles, pulls his pretty boy in for a kiss. "Most of your books are here already."

A morning where they don't have to work goes like this: Morgan gets up early to go for a run with Clooney. By the time he's back, Reid is making is making them breakfast. They eat, and then shower together.

Morgan has a decent vinyl collection and likes to listen to them on chill evenings. Reid is a musical sponge, and if he gets a chance when they're on cases, will seek out record shops for something interesting or rare.

Their favourite takeout is Thai. Reid is one of those "white guy with spice tolerance" outliers.

Well Established

It takes some time for them to switch to using first names in private, Morgan takes significantly longer. It's not a problem, they've known and loved each other a long time with these names. Neither of them shorten each other's names.

Clooney is a K9 dropout, and highly trainable, and Reid teaches him a lot of silly tricks. He likes to show Clooney magic tricks.

One of the properties Morgan buys has a decrepid grand piano in it. He gets it restored for Reid, who's dabble with learning on and off. He plays the piano every day.

Morgan thinks Reid doesn't really believe in marriage as an institution, and is okay with that, they don't have to get married, even if they could. Reid proposes to Morgan one morning in shower.

Reid never gets an official autism dignosis, wanting the plausible deniability while working for the goverment. They talk about it. Morgan starts packing a weighted blanket in his go-bag for him (people often ask why his go back is so heavy).

The Future

They get married once it's legal, a simple ceremony but all their important people are there.

When they leave the BAU it's a joint decision. They're both ready for a new adventure, with less actual threat of bodily harm.

Morgan goes into property full time, flipping houses and rent-to-buying them to local people/families, instead of selling them to landlord who will end up pushing locals out of the area.

Reid goes into research/lecturing.

They move to Chicago to be closer to family. They move Diana to be close them them too.

As Reid gets older, he has to use a cane more. His migranes are mostly under control, but eventually he experiences migralepsy (migraine seizures). The dog they get after Clooney passes becomes Reid's service dog.

The Future (with kid)

Reid carries (he's trans). It's an unplanned pregnancy, but they go for it. Reid is terrible at being pregnant.

They have a daughter they name Sam after Morgan's dad (bc I chose this fanon name years before CM bothered to give Morgan's dad a canon name and I am sticking with it out of spite).

Morgan's sisters teach Reid to do Sam's hair.

Morgan is very involved when sam becomes a Girl Scout, and coaches her softball team.

Reid teaches her piano. They read together every day.

They struggle not to intefer when she's a teen and it becomes apparent the girl she keeps bringing home is her first crush.

They both try so hard to be present, devoted dads that they can can fall into helicopter parent tendencies.

[semi-sketchy]

Alright, since I'm at that episode, I'm gonna elaborate on my actual problem with Dark Sonic:

To be honest, I don't think there's anything really wrong with Sonic during the episode. He's angry his friends have been hurt by a villain, so he harnesses the power of the fake Emeralds (which he has a physical negative reaction to) and smashes said villain's testing robots to pieces.

I never really considered this a problem. Sonic can get angry, be antagonized, the SA2 Shadow fight in Green Forest springs to mind.

Plus, Secret Rings has Darkspine Sonic, which is about as close to Dark Sonic as it gets. Sharha just died, trading her life for his, he absorbs the Rage, Sadness and Hatred Rings and transforms.

Even after he leaves the transformation, he still seems pretty pissed at Erazor Djinn, with killing Sharha at the top of the list.

So, yeah. It's not 1:1 and I'm not claiming these are the same, X is obviously more exaggerated, but I don't really have a problem with the concept. We can talk about how Eggman comes in, tells Sonic he needs to be better and not let his emotions overwhelm him, but frankly I think that's more of an X!Eggman issue than the transformation itself.

No, my real problem is, and always has been, how the fandom interpreted it. That's it. I've read so many fics, seen so many posts about Sonic just "turning dark" when angry, as if any transformations have ever been purely emotion without an external power-source. (Super requires the Chaos Emeralds, Hyper the Super Emeralds, Darkspine was 3 of the World Rings, Werehog was Dark Gaia energy, Excalibur Sonic was the sacred swords, Wisp transformations needed the Wisps, Super Sonic 2 was Chaos Emeralds + Cyber energy....you get it.)

The way I've always saw it, is yes, Sonic is upset, but he also is being affected by the fake Emeralds.

This is the Discotek translation, I don't know enough Japanese to say how accurate it is, all I know know is "warui" means bad/sick depending on the sentence. An older translation (and the English dub) points to him feeling physically sick around them.

Far as I can tell, he's already reacting bad to these Emeralds on top of being antagonized, so he uses power that's at his disposal does what the villain wants: fuck up his shit.

If the fake Emeralds didn't exist, this transformation wouldn't have happened. Additionally, since X ended and the only fake Emerald in the games was blown up in SA2, it can't happen again. (Unless you write scenario where someone makes fake Emeralds, but that requires writing for the form instead of just slapping it in à la characters in IDW.)

Perhaps I'm being too hard on a lot of kids that never really interacted with the source material and just wanted to write Sonic fanfics. I've read so many that made it quite obvious that the author didn't know anything about Sonic besides he's fast and I'm not really out here trying to say Sonic shouldn't inspire people to create. Never said I hated reading those fics, I got a good deal of entertainment out of them. It's simply this misconception has stretched so far, it's like the original context has been entirely erased.

And that's the part of Dark Sonic that bothers me.

I've seen plenty of arguments for why the transformation was a poor choice and I don't entirely disagree with them. For me, I could take it or leave it. It was a one-off short transformation in an anime where Sonic pretends to be Star Trek for a season, it just exists to me.

Although, it's been awhile since I last saw discussion of Dark Sonic, as a whole it seemed to be a bigger thing in the early 2010s. Possibly because now we have more recent Sonic shows and movies, it's not just X being the latest thing anymore. I certainly don't read fics like I used to, so I'd be surprised if it is still as heavily used as it used to be. Maybe if I get some time, I'll look up some fics and find out.

[bagog]

Star Trek: Discovery Narrative Highlights

So I really like Discovery, but differently than I like other Star Treks. My love for Voyager, for instance, is based off the sense of found-family in the face of sci-fi shenanigans. I could pick out favorite episodes, but my favorite episodes don't necessarily represent the epitome of what I love about the show, y'know?

It's different with Disco. There are concrete moments from through out the show that made me go "Okay, I like this, I want this. More of this." Here's some of them! This is indulgent and all from memory

Season 1 - Klingons Speak Klingon

In a story about Klingons fearing the Federation as an institution which will irrevocably alter their culture, the Klingons actually speak Klingon. Love it. Season 1 - Gabriel Lorca

I loved seeing a Star Fleet captain who seemed to have ascended because of his skill at war: a trait which ordinarily would not elevate one within Starfleet service, per se. It made him interesting. Your mileage may vary on where this went, but. He's still a big appeal on rewatch.

Season 2 - Queer People Helping Queer People

The introduction of Jet Reno is one of my favorite hallmarks in the show. I love Jet, and I love the way she serves as a foil to every other character. But best of all, I loved the scene when she is talking to Hugh Culber about how distant he's been from his husband (since coming back from the dead, so, you know) and helps him by relating her own story about her wife, who is now passed. To say I'm happy to see queer stories on Star Trek is a massive understatement, but this was the moment it locked in for me. In the world of the Federation, there's no difference between being queer or straight and anyone could've talked Hugh out of his funk. But in our world, it's usually queer people helping queer people make sense of their experiences. Recognizing the importance of that distinction and going with the queers-helping-queers take is a really big deal for me.

Season 2 - Amanda

This is hands-down the best representation of Amanda we've ever been given and she is so wonderfully human and warm that it helps you understand Spock and Michael so much better. I don't know what to say other than that, I love her.

Season 3 - The Future

I love that they went not just into the future, but further into the future than any mainline trek lore has gone. Hell yes. I'm bummed it's kinda a post-Utopian mess, but I get storywise why that's the case. I love the future starships, I love the future technology, I like that we just "BZP" to wherever we want to be in the ship now. In a show increasingly steeped in centuries of canon lore, it's smart and challenging to try to do "a millennium in the future."

Season 3 - Queer Family

Queer Family! Queer Family in Star Trek! This is my queers-helping-queers point but dialed up to 11. Love it, would do anything for it.

Season 4 - Artificial Intelligence

The ship is alive and she's named herself. This comes to a head in an episode in Season 4 where Paul Stamets feels very hesitant about this, after the plot of Season 2 was trying to stop AI from destroying the galaxy. There's this whole Measure of a Man but Not Quite Because Its the B Story thing going on, but at the end of it, there's a twist. Paul eventually learns to accept his new crewmate, but then he asks the person in-charge of the inquest "What would you have done if I said I wasn't comfortable serving with an AI?" and the dude goes "I would've assigned you to another ship. This was never about whether she has a soul or whatever, it's about if you can learn to accept that with you 22nd century brain." And that's.... that's great.

Season 4 - Mental Health

Mental Health is a thread running through some of Discovery (Season 2 flirts with Spock's neurodivergence, for instance) but never more than in Season 4. Hugh Culber, the ship's ray of sunshine and de facto counselor, is in bad shape, mentally, and he needs help. But the best moment is when the away-team is beset by chemical memories of panic and basically rendered useless with fear... except for Detmer, who helps them all get through it. When asked why she was unaffected, she says "Oh I totally was affected, but after my grievous injury during the war, I went to therapy for the PTSD and learned some coping strategies" AND THAT'S WHAT SAVES THE GALAXY.

Anyway, this is very indulgent and probably nobody reads this, but thanks if you did.

[highfantasy-soul]

Storylines NATLA Cut

While the 8 episodes of season 1 managed to weave together most of the plot lines (or at least themes from the episodes) from the animated show into the live action, there were a few notable storylines that were cut. I wanted to go over those plots and speculate as to why they might have been cut and whether we might see them in future seasons woven in (like how a couple things from future seasons were woven into this season).

Imprisoned

One of Katara's first big leadership moments was in episode 6 of the animated series when the Gaang stumbles upon an earth nation village taken over by the Fire Nation. All their benders had been rounded up and sent to a prison so that they couldn't fight back - the Gaang obviously get involved, plot ensues, and Katara gets herself arrested so that she can find the prison and free Haru (the earthbender she inadvertently gotten arrested). With the help of Aang and Sokka providing the earthbenders with some coal to bend, she inspires them to fight back and they free the prisoners.

I think this storyline actually naturally fits much better in book 2: Earth. The focus of season 1 of the live-action was water bending and the avatar state - I think a storyline focused on earth bender resistance fits perfectly in season 2 where we get to see even more of how oppressive Fire Nation rule is and how they're 1) seeking to take out all the other benders and 2) doing their whole imperialist thing with stealing natural resources from the populace they're colonizing.

Katara has her moment to speak on her mother with Jet in episode 3 of the live-action and I think it's a natural change to keep the rebellious side-character count manageable for now. Jet fills the role to show Katara's desire for rebellion and standing up to the fire benders and while I think the Imprisoned storyline is really important, I think they've got plenty of room to do that in season 2. A big part of that story was Katara leading people to stand up when they hadn't been before and I think there's a nice homage to that in the final episode of the live-action when she gets all the women in the North to stand up to Pakku and demand to fight.

So I don't think they've fully nixed this storyline, I think they'll include it in the Gaang's trek through the Earth Kingdom on their way to Ba Sing Se. To me, the live action is doing a better job at building the characters rather than starting out with them fully formed. Katara has learned through the first season of the live action about all different leadership styles and has grown emotionally to a point where she's not only confident in standing up against injustice, but also leading others in that fight against oppressors. I think moving her leadership skills from episode 6 of season 1 to season 2 will let us really see her journey to that point rather than just having her start there.

2. The Pirates

In the animated show, Katara doesn't get the Waterbending Scroll until episode 9 of season 1, everything she does with waterbending up until that point was just stuff she figured out herself. In the animated show, the Gaang stops and Katara starts training Aang in waterbending, he shows off and washes all their supplies away so they have to go into town to buy more. This is where Aang randomly buys a bison whistle (why a shopkeeper in the Earth Kingdom would have a bison whistle is not explored) and the group also is invited onto a pirate ship to brows their wares. Katara notices a waterbending scroll and it's far too expensive for them to buy, so Katara steals it from them (as they made it clear they stole it from its rightful owner). A main theme of this episode is showing how naturally gifted Aang is and Katara getting frustrated because she's had to work so hard for her little bit of waterbending and Aang just surpasses her immediately. Zuko and Iroh show up looking for a pai sho piece and shenanigans ensue with the Gaang fighting off both pirates and Zuko, but of course, they manage to escape.

So the two main things in this episode were 1) getting the waterbending scroll so Katara could learn more formal forms and 2) dealing with how the dynamic of the group changes as Aang easily surpasses Katara in waterbending power.

I like that the live action tied the waterbending scroll directly to Katara's family and them hiding their culture to keep it alive until the time came when they could revive it once more. I think it's a much more impactful way for her to get the scroll than just some random pirates. It also allows her to actually train from the beginning rather than just being naturally good - in the live-action, Katara really has to work at her waterbending and get help. While she's a naturally fast learner and super powerful, she needs at least some form of guidance whether that be how to get in the right spiritual mindspace for bending or the physical movements for different forms provided by the scroll. Animated Katara has already been doing very advanced moves (bending water out of Aang's lungs, lifting a fish, throwing water and freezing it, etc) and it doesn't really feel like the animated show continues to show the new stuff Katara learns from the waterbending scroll - it's just the water whip and then the scroll is forgotten (almost like this is an episodic kid's show where each story is largely self-contained and plot points rarely arc into other episodes).

As it's the episode were Aang really starts learning waterbending and they've held off on having that part of his journey in the live action for now, it makes sense that they nixed it. It's a fun character building episode, but in the grand scheme, everything accomplished here can be accomplished elsewhere (and possibly in season 2). Katara feeling a bit miffed that Aang picked everything up quickly while she had to work really hard at it can easily be moved to season 2 when they address Aang learning the new bending styles. I also like how they moved him getting the bison whistle at a random shop in this episode to Bumi having made it for Aang back when they were both kids.

Of course, they do give easter eggs for this plot as well as the great divide one in episode 6 of the live-action, so it's possible the Gaang did have similar adventures, just off-screen.

3. The Fortune Teller

I'm perfectly fine with them nixing the plot of this storyline and moving the themes of 'take destiny into your own hands, don't look to others to tell you what to do without examining their methods of determining your own destiny' and scattering it through the entire season. The hard plot sets up Kataang as a couple which I didn't particularly like, nor did I feel like it followed the actual theme of the episode. Katara is obsessed with believing everything the fortune teller predicted and for part of the story, the lesson is 'that's bull, make your own destiny, just because she said it doesn't make it true' but then when it comes to her marrying a powerful bender, suddenly that lesson is thrown out and she realizes that Aang is a powerful bender so maybe they will end up together? It felt like a lot of mixed messages with the goal of setting up a 12 year old with a 14 year old and like I've said before, I'm not a fan of child romances. Once they turn 15, ok, but 12? No.

4. Aang's part in Bato of the Water Tribe

I think it was a great beat in the animated show to have Aang so afraid that Sokka and Katara might leave him for their "real" family - then have them confirm to him that they're with him all the way. The storyline does hammer home how alone in the world Aang feels and his fear that everyone will leave him either because they have 'family' of their own or his path is just too difficult. While the character beat was good to include, I think it's too big of a character beat to be relegated to only a portion of an episode in the live-action. I think if they want to explore Aang's fear of abandonment, they'll need to spend a good deal of time on it not only because it's a big part of him but also because to this day, some fans haven't forgiven Aang for hiding that map - if they want to do it justice, we're going to need more than a quick blurb to understand Aang's motivations and give the audience time to forgive him. 

I'm glad they took Sokka's part of that episode and gave him the spotlight - and the spotlight could remain on celebrating Water Tribe culture rather than having Aang in the background making throwing up faces at everything. I think that the live action can still add in the ideas around Aang's insecurity over Katara and Sokka leaving him to go back to their people, and if they add it into season 2, I think it'll hit even harder after already seeing Bato in that season 1 flashback.

5. Sokka's Strategies

 20 episodes in the animated show gave Sokka a lot of opportunity to come up with unique strategies to win in unexpected ways such as using explosives to 'open' the door to Roku's temple, the ventilation shafts to get the coal to the earth benders in Imprisoned, and him tricking the pirates into fighting Zuko and co. While at first, I thought not having so much of that in the live-action was taking away from Sokka's character, on a re-watch, I realized that they didn't remove it, they actually gave the origin for it. Sokka's character journey in season 1 of the live-action was about him accepting that he could be more than 'just' a big strong warrior to help his people, he was allowed to explore his ingenuity too. It's only after he meets Sai the Mechanist that he starts to come up with plans to get them out of situations or form battle strategies. I think it was a great, subtle, way to show Sokka coming into his own and beginning to come up with great plans alongside his warrior skills.

I know some fans of the OG show absolutely love every side quest - and more screen time in plots that aren't all that important give a lot of space for character 'down time bonding' that a tighter story structure just doesn't have room for. I think that most of the animated show's character beats and lessons in each of their episodes was really good (with a few exceptions - one of which in The Great Divide I think the live action actually took and made much BETTER) but when making an adaptation in a completely different format, stuff is just going to have to be left on the cutting room floor.

I LOVE everything the live action added in it's place (expanding Aang and Zuko's conversation during the Blue Spirit section of episode 6, all the Fire Nation royal family stuff, everything about Gyatzo, and Sokka and Katara's spirit visions) so I'll forgive leaving out some beats from the OG. I still think that several of these storylines will make their way into season 2 in one way or another, so I'm holding off on fully declaring them 'nixed' from the live action.

[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

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten 3, MAG 3 Across The Street

Part 3 of my Magnus Archives Relisten, featuring the world's worst dining room table and creepiest next door neighbor! Spoilers ahead

When I said creepiest neighbor, did you think of Amy or Graham?

Facts: Statement of Amy Patel, regarding the "alleged" disappearance of Graham Folger. Statement given July 1, 2007.

Statement Notes: First thing I noticed was how Amy and Graham are not actually "college age." I see a lot of art and people portray them as 20-somethings, but Amy's at least 30 and Graham is ten years older than her. Just kind of interesting how that happens sometimes with characters we can't see.

I also forgot from my first listen that Amy wasn't the one who revealed "keep watching," but Jon. Given that Amy never sees it and Graham fully denies writing in notebooks at all (and doesn't seem conscious of the fact that he eats one at least once), I've started theorizing that he doesn't actually know he's writing. It's a compulsion inspired by whatever entity or force is plaguing him.

Three episodes in the row, substance use is emphasized. Amy says her choices were to take night classes or become an alcoholic, and Graham does essentially nothing but chain smoke all day. I don't really know how this ties to the broader ideas of the show except for the fact that Annabelle Cane/ The Web have been manipulating things from the start, and they historically use chemical dependency to encourage that.

Character Notes: I keep wondering how Sasha found Graham's notebook. Was it in Artifact Storage? Did she go dumpster diving? Were she and Martin trekking through the local dump?

I also never realized that Jon was the first person to use the term "Not!Graham." I always thought it was a fan made term for Not!Sasha, but it's pretty cool how Jonny could think of such an effective term.

Entity Alignment: Such an incredible balance between the Eye and Stranger in this ep. Amy's "people watching hobby" definitely makes her Eye aligned, and I wouldn't be surprised if she became an Eye entity during the apocalypse. But what's really interesting is Graham's paranoia. It's such classic Eye manipulation. He's terrified, he can't stop looking out windows and locking doors and checking around corners because he has the irrational fear that he's being watched. But the tragedy is, even if his fear is irrational, he's right. Something and someone are watching him, something is trying to hurt him. There's such a season two Jon parallel; his fear is irrational and harmful, even though he technically has every reason to be afraid.

Jonny also really works in the uncanny valley vein of the Stranger here. Amy can't tell what part of the thing she sees is the hand, in terms of color she can only say that it's some kind of gray, unsure what parts are the thing and what are the piping. Classic horror stuff, but very difficult to pull off using description only.

The truly genius thing the Stranger does is, when allowing someone to know they've replaced a victim, they only ever choose acquaintances. Not friends, not strangers, just acquaintances. This is because, if the chose a friend, it would be obvious every time they see the replacement that they were freaking out. If they chose a stranger, they might just confuse the person. By choosing an acquaintance, like Amy or Melanie, they make it so they can know something's wrong, but other people can brush them off as misremembering. There's a bit of Spiral in that, making someone doubt their reality, which is why the Table comes in to play in this episode.

[trillscienceofficer]

I was thinking that while Discovery has undoubtedly changed throughout the seasons (some ways long overdue, because if your idea of being "edgy" is just being racist then you get season 1), ultimately it's always been just like itself, very fond of big plots and big speeches, enamored with unnatural dialogue (in early seasons because the writers thought they were being so clever, in later ones because the show is deliberately dumbing its writing down), plagued by poor pacing, and the hopeful message that every season wanted to convey not entirely supported by what actually happens in the story.

In the latter respects season 4 did better than previous seasons, and again I certainly don't want to return to the season 1 approach, but my reluctance to watch season 4 wasn't entirely unfounded, either. I said this before but I'm in the 'generation' of Trekkies whose point of entry to the franchise was Discovery, back when it was a new show on Netflix, and it's always been... so viscerally disappointing to watch it constantly fall short of the potential these characters were offering. Season 4 did not exactly change my mind. If anything the handful of good episodes (which were very good!) made me long even more for the ideal version of this show that I could glimpse in there, and which I could wholeheartedly support and recommend without any caveats.

And I mean, this is not just on Discovery either. All the other live-action shows suffer from the same problems I outlined above, and SNW and Picard staunchly refuse(d) to confront their "edgy" racism issue while also being mediocre TV, so Discovery is still miles ahead of them. I also don't think the more structural writing problems should come as a surprise post-WGA/SAG strike. All these shows have been made on pretty strict budgets, by cutting corners wherever and whenever the production could (eg moving to Canada). I'm assuming the labor practices in the writing room and on set were along the lines of "squeeze these people for all they got as fast as you can, one season at a time" since 2016, and that is not a recipe for thoughtful, or even just sensical, television. (Plus, Discovery has had a history of workplace harassment in the writing room since basically its inception, and that can't have helped. That is hopefully something the show has left behind since season 3.)

So I suppose Discovery will keep Discovery-ing in the next, final season. The plot will be universe-ending, there will be speeches every episode, the dialogue will make you wonder how do these people even live huddled all together without going crazy—if Star Trek is overall an allegory about the workplace, then Discovery now reflects the recent corporate tendency to deflect actual grievances through the use of therapy language and the idea that everyone should be always 100% open about their struggles with everyone else, no matter how appropriate for the situation it is. That sums up my expectations pretty well, I think.

After all these years, I'm unmoved by Discovery's promise of a future where every big problem can be solved if you say the right words, with the right attitude. Contrary to its purported message, the show proved over and over that that isn't even enough to make a scifi show I could find consistently entertaining. But I will still be there to watch season 5, if anything because sometimes I like to see things to their end, and I'm still irrationally fond of this mess and these characters. Perhaps I'll have a good time along the way as well.

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

Moriarty (TNG) as good AI Art

I got to Star Trek The Next Generation season 2's Elementary, Dear Data in my rewatch and I couldn't help but notice how the holodeck actually nicely represents the current state of AI art in its process to create Moriarty.

At first, Data and Geordi ask for a "Sherlock Holmes mystery", so the holodeck simply provides one, verbatim -- Data has obviously already read it, and so he immediately solves it. Geordi is furious and leaves immediately, because Geordi doesn't have great characterization in the show proper, and lives in our heads as a better character.

But the point Georgi tries to make eventually is that this isn't a "real" mystery if Data already knows it, and it goes kind of unspoken that the Holodeck didn't create anything new, it just regurgitated what it has without any remixing or any real reason to go through it again.

Then Pulaski gets involved and tries to prove Data can't really do anything novel -- they ask the Holodeck for an original mystery "in the Holmesian style", and what does it do? It just copies and pastes different portions of Sherlock Holmes novels into the same document, and makes it a "new mystery", while still clearly being just a hackjob made in a hurry with no sense of aesthetics or direction.

While it might have been enough for Geordi or Pulaski, Data is a machine that can recognize patterns much better, and he immediately understands that this is just a combination of patterns he already knows, and once again he immediately solves it because he knows the original mysteries. But this time, Pulaski points out: this is a fraud! This is not what a real story is like! Holmes would never do this, he would actually think about the novel stimuli reaching his brain!

And I think it's really interesting how Data, a fellow machine, cannot immediately tell what Pulaski is saying. Because for Data, aesthetic don't actually make that much sense, at least not in season 2. He can't tell a good story from a bad one made out of different pages of different stories, because for him, it's all about patterns. Just like the Holodeck, Data does think this is good enough, and confronts her about it. I mean, what else is the Holodeck supposed to do other than recombine what already exists?

It's not until Geordi stops asking the computer to make a story and instead asks for the computer to make a character that the plot actually moves forward, because at that point they're dealing with emerging narratives that arise from the fact that Moriarty is now a hyper-intelligent AI that is free to do its own plans, regardless of what Sherlock Holmes story he's from. While Moriarty may be a repetitive character, his new reactions are not, and that's good enough that it becomes a massive problem that threatens the safety of the ship.

Before, when it was being asked to make derivative art, the Holodeck performed exactly to task -- but the result only really worked on people who either 1) did not understand art at a deeper level than the superficial, and 2) did not know the original art that well. The art that it spat out was valid, it was working, it was logically sound and fit together more or less well enough.

Pulaski, however, immediately understood that this result was inferior to the sum of its parts. She respects the character of Sherlock Holmes; she goes on a little explanation about the character's relationship to the human soul and how that's the actual point of the books, as opposed to just the simple puzzle boxes that Data (and, to some extent, the Holodeck) seems to believe they are.

And I just think that's just a poignant take that easily translates to the current state of art and artificial intelligence -- there is actually no value in derivative AI art that simply copies and pastes parts of other pieces of art into one straight line, regardless if it's an image or a story or anything like that. Yes, you can get some praise from people who either don't care or aren't familiar with the originals, but people who are actually into the art form -- the ones who have proven they are invested and are ostensibly the ones you're trying to catch as a steady audience -- will recognize and be bored by the result. There's no rhyme or reason to how a machine adapts a story into another, there's no aesthetic sense that makes it interesting to the human psyche. It's just a fast food version of art that doesn't really do anything for you, and you'll forget it in five minutes. Pulaski is not offended by the attempt, she's positively amused that an AI tried its hardest to make a Sherlock Holmes story, one of the most by-the-books and predictable mystery formats known to British literature, and the best it could do was just copy what's already there.

But when it's just a collection of ideas and vague directions that then go forward on their own, that's different. Moriarty is not an AI creation of the Holodeck -- he was given a push and then allowed to go wherever he wanted. He was not even a proper villain by the end of it; the combination of things Moriarty was resulted in a curious, driven, machiavelic yet ultimately sympathetic man, who just wanted to continue living and creating his own, original story, not based on anyone else's. The Holodeck's greatest achievement wasn't making an original story, it was making someone capable of doing that on their own, without having to refer to anything else.

There are entire Youtube channels right now that make a lot of bank by using these emerging language models to help them tell a story -- DougDoug has dozens of videos of him and his chat going on wild adventures aided by text AI that doesn't actually write a story for them, but instead simply provides direction for them to make their own decisions and their own stories. It's a genuine way to improvise and give the onus of planning to something else, especially when the story isn't the point, but the experience is -- just like the Holodeck!

I'm not saying AI art is eventually going to reach that point by itself, but I do think there's something to be said about just hitting random on a trope generator that gives you, the author, different ideas so you can write a story yourself; or even just rolling the die to see what happens to your characters as opposed to painstakingly arranging your story like a hand-made garden.

Star Trek constantly showcases characters like Data, Moriarty, The Doctor or Zora as more than the sum of their parts, and it's always because they are able to be more than simple reorganization of previously experienced stimuli. They are able to make choices that don't have to happen, but that they want to happen.

Don't get me wrong -- AI Art, as an institution, is corrosive acid and will kill entire industries. But the fact we skipped straight into the hellish capitalist version of that means we never got to fucking play with it. We never got to just use it as a stepping stone or something to unclog the sink when you have writer's block. Instead of going in random adventures with a Moriarty who can actually react and develop something akin to a character, we're getting a thousand offers to buy books that are just combinations of different novels on Amazon, with no way to really filter them out other than our own eyes.

I just wanted to hang out with Moriarty.