#star trek and nostalgia

[douglasbradburyverne]

STAR TREK: VOYAGER (premiering 30 years ago today on Jan 16th, 1995) - Behind the Scenes

[lycrabustier]

Look at these little babies toasting to the rest of their natural lives.

From Journey's End: The Saga of Star Trek TNG, VHS, 1994.

[tuttle-did-it]

Netflix has posted Star Trek: Prodigy! Please watch this amazing show and show Netflix this is a show worth saving!

Star Trek: Picard- Nostalgia is the only thing that matters. Specifically, cis-het white middle class middle age nostalgia.

Star Trek: Prodigy- Nostalgia degrades over time, and is almost always inaccurate. Nostalgia can literally poison a fandom.

THEY FUCKING LANDED ON A PLANET WHERE PEOPLE TALK LIKE WILLIAM SHATNER AND WORSHIP THE FEDERATION - BUT THEY GET EVERYTHING JUST A LITTLE WRONG BECAUSE NOSTALGIA IS BASED ON WHAT YOU THINK SOMETHING WAS NOT WHAT IT REALLY IS

NOSTALGIA IS LITERALLY POISONING THE PLANET AND KILLING OFF ALL THE 'FANS' OF THE ENTERPRISE

[wrinkleintime]

enterprise text posts: featuring trip and t'pol

[all-or-nothing-baby]

let's pour one out for the fallen blorbos.

those blorbos you still think of often, who can still make you smile fondly but have taken a background position in your fandom life; those blorbos you might have dusty ol'sideblogs for that you keep even tho you know may never post there again; those blorbos who have broken both legs when falling tragically into near-obscurity in the void dimension of your brain where temporary hyperfixation goes to die; those blorbos you onced loved and will always love, just in a softer, quieter kind of way...

this one's for you, old friend.

[retrotariotr]

[weepylucifer]

i am emotional about lower decks ending

but they're actually fucking hilarious for dropping "permanently open multiverse portal" into the star trek canon and then dipping. @ all shows that come after lower decks, THIS is your problem now!!! you may have cancelled lower decks, but the impact of this will be FELT

[amethystsoda]

scifi films I need to give another watch + make sure if they’re nostalgia good or good good 🪐🛸👾

(pacific rim gets a free space on the bingo card)

[gatespage]

Cheryl Gates McFadden during the ST: TNG pilot filming (1987) (x)

[dailyplanetmedia]

Smallville 1x9

[victusinveritas]

And here's the song because now you want to listen to it

Lexx is a fever dream of a show. The first season is basically four C grade scifi movies but the second season is high art.

[douglasbradburyverne]

[mitaukano]

I always see those cool posts about the Draconology books, and all of those neat things but I was a bit too much of an adult when those came out. My childhood was howevr consumed by this as a kid

Basically it was during the time when CD-ROMS ARE THE FUTURE!!!! And everyone was making stuff to put on them. The Star Trek people went OUT OF THEIR WAY to make this one fun. It was set up to look like the computer systems on The Next Generation and you could click on articles and see video snippets and pictures and learn a ton.

I lived on this bad boy for soooo long. I think i read through every article twice!

[captian-raffi]

Ever wondered how hyperfocus can be a superpower? Welcome to my graduate school research, where I’m diving deep into the glorious realm of 90s sci-fi.

Picture this: while others are binge-watching reality TV, I’m knee-deep in the philosophical dilemmas of Star Trek and the intricate politics of Babylon 5. One minute I’m analyzing the ethics of the Prime Directive, and the next, I’m lost in a conspiracy that makes today’s headlines look like child’s play.

Next thing I know, I’m evaluating queer theory through the lens of Susan Ivanova and Talia Winters, dissecting their nuanced relationship dynamics. It’s like a sci-fi symposium in my brain! From there, I’m roadmapping how Jadzia Dax paved the way for characters like Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker to explore their vibrant, complex queer relationships.

In a world where hyperfocus is often seen as a distraction, In this academic universe, we’re all just one bizarre plot twist away from enlightenment. 🛸

[episodicnostalgia]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 109 (Mar. 14, 1993) - “Move Along Home”

Teleplay by: Frederick Rappaport, Lisa Rich & Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci Written by: Michael Piller Directed by: David Carson

This is the episode where…

Sisko makes first contact with a game-obsessed species, so they make him and his crew hopscotch for their lives, while Quark places bets because it’s his fault. No one thinks this is funny, and it is treated with the utmost seriousness, but also it’s fine for some reason.

The Breakdown

It’s an auspicious day on DS9 as Sisko and his chief staff (Kira, Dax, & Bashir) prepare to make first contact with an official delegation from ‘the Wadi’, a new species from the still-mysterious-and-exciting Gamma Quadrant. Naturally Sisko rolls out the red carpet, but his guests have little interest in diplomatic formality, and ask to be taken directly to Quark’s bar so they can play his games of chance. What could go wrong?

Initially, not as much as you’d think. …Initially.

The Wadi are quite taken with Quark’s Dabo table (essentially, Space roulette), much to Quark’s chagrin, because they keep winning. Since Sisko is also kinda bummed that his new guests seem to have no use for him, he selects Quark for babysitting duty, leaving express instructions to keep the Wadi happy. Unfortunately, Quark is… well, Quark, so he promptly orders his staff to start cheating so he can win his money back. Predictably, the Wadi call bullshit on Quark's scam, and insist that the only way to reconcile their grievance with him is to play “an honest game,” and they’re not talking about monopoly!

…because they’re aliens and that’s a human thing, but they did bring their own board game, called ‘chula’. With the opening of a box, Quark’s Dabo table magically scientifically transforms into another gaming surface [It’s hard to describe so feel free to reference the weird triangle frame, with multiple bridging levels, pictured above]. Basically, the game starts Quark off with four pieces which are placed near the top of the “board,” and then he rolls the space-dice in order to get them safely down to the lowest level, while placing bets. Simple enough, right? If you said yes, then …come on. Really? This is Star Trek, so clearly there’s gonna be a catch.

You see somehow the game has simultaneously transported Sisko, Kira, Dax, and Bashir (who were all asleep in their quarters) into some kind of virtual/alternate plane of existence (it is never explained). It turns out that the pieces on the board are all avatars representing Sisko and the gang, who are made to participate in a series of increasingly difficult (and seemingly dangerous) tasks. Of course all of this is unbeknownst to Quark, who unwittingly chooses the difficulty-and-nature of each new challenge, while placing wagers on their success.

Eventually Odo figures out that something is wrong when Sisko and his team fail to show up for work the following morning. His investigation leads him to Quark, who is finally brought up to speed, but unfortunately it’s too-little-too-late. The Wadi explain that the only way for Quark to get his people back is to safely navigate them to the end of the game. Naturally, this goes poorly, and Bashir is evaporated (he was kind of being annoying though, so honestly no big loss), and the others all fall down a bottomless cave shaft to their doom. Quark loses. The end.

Just kidding.

I mean, Quark does lose, but Sisko and co. are all perfectly fine, and instantly transported back into the bar safe and sound (somehow). Upon Quark’s realization that his friends (using the term loosely here) were never in danger, the Wadi are like “well duh, it’s just a game, man. But also you’re a douche,” and make their exit. Since a major diplomatic scandal has presumably been avoided on the grounds that no one died, the Wadi are free to go; likewise Quark is also off the hook for... reasons, I guess.

The end. For real this time.

The Verdict

There are a not-insubstantial number of fans who would regard this as the worst episode of the series, and I can see why, but I honestly can’t entirely bring myself to hate on it that much either. The main point of contention for most folk seems to be that the Wadi’s game is ultimately revealed to be harmless after 45 minutes of implying the severity of the situation. It’s a fair criticism, and certainly a part of the reason I won’t be giving this one a high rating, but I think the greater sin is that ‘move along home’ is mostly kinda boring.

Some of my favourite Star Trek episodes are also the most ridiculous, and they succeed specifically by leaning into that silliness. As alluded to in the opening paragraph, one of the games Sisko is forced to play does legitimately involve playing a game of hopscotch while reciting a children’s rhyme. Historically speaking, none of that is inherently out-of-place for Star Trek, and a perfect opportunity for some comic relief, but the scene falls flat, and feels kind of cringy, almost as if everyone involved was embarrassed (except Avery Brooks. That guy always commits). The rest of the episode tries to lean more heavily on traditional life-and-death drama, but even that feels stifled by (I’m guessing) budgetary constraints. Likewise, the sequence with the most impressive set piece (the rocky cliff that everyone except Bashir falls over), drags on for way too long, with the aforementioned lack of pay-off.

But it’s not all bad either. We do get a chance to see a little bit of Quark’s humanity (for lack of a better word) shine through when he believes that he’s responsible for the safety of the players. It’s also nice to see the dynamic between Sisko and his officers in an unconventional situation, and there are a handful of other character moments (which I’ll touch on below) that were enjoyable, if not enough to save the episode outright. Ultimately, there’s no denying this is a ‘growing pains’ episode, but there is something to be said for watching the creative process unfold as the show finds it’s legs, even as it stumbles.

Less “Bleh,” and more “Meh.” I’m giving this…

2 stars (out of 5)

Parting Thoughts

Super-Tech: We need to talk about the Wadi’s technology for a second, because these guys seem pretty stacked, and it’s just sort of brushed over. For starters, they activate the “game board” by opening a small box, that instantly replaces/reconstitutes Quarks Dabo table into an entirely different structure (and then returns it to it’s original state, after they’re done). Then we have Ready-player-Sisko and his team, who are all transported from their bedrooms, and into… somewhere. We know their physical bodies are no longer on the station, and that’s about it. Are they in a holodeck of some kind? Has their consciousness been uploaded into a virtual plane? Are they in some sort of alternate quantum-game-realm? At one point Odo tries to beam over into the Wadi’s ship, hoping to find the missing crew, but he’s thwarted by a bright flash of light that just transports him back into Quark’s bar. However the Wadi do what they do, it’s clear they’re technologically advanced enough to give the Federation a run for it’s money. Bearing in mind, we’re only ever shown how these people apply their technology towards recreational games, but it doesn’t take much to imagine some fairly awesome (and potentially horrifying) alternative applications. At the very least, you’d think they would have made a valuable ally against the Dominion (I mean, who?), but this is the last we’ll hear from the Wadi; Well, at least on this show (they make a brief cameo on ‘Lower Decks’).

Diplomatic Cover-up: I feel like Quark would have faced considerably more severe consequences over scamming the Wadi if this had happened on the Enterprise, but upon further consideration it kind of makes sense that Sisko would let this one slide. After all, the Commander did abandon his guests (who he was responsible for establishing good relations with) just because he was bored; worse yet, he left them alone with Quark! Sure, he’s a lying-capitalist-scumbag, but Sisko knew all that when he blackmailed Quark* into staying on the station! So I figure ol’ Benny decided to keep things quiet, in order to avoid having Quark snitching to Starfleet about how their newly appointed Commander shit the bed on his first major diplomatic assignment. [*it happened in the Pilot, although I failed to mention it in my review]

Parental Guidance may be advised: The closest thing this episode has to a B-Plot, is when Sisko finds out that Jake and Nog spend their downtime together, scoping out the young Bajoran ladies. Sisko has misgivings over this, on the grounds that Nog is both a troublemaker and a Ferengi. Interestingly, I’ve seen a few online threads with people arguing that Sisko is being intolerant towards Nog’s cultural upbringing, but I’m more-or-less with him on this one. Amongst other things, the Ferengi tend to be deeply misogynistic (let’s just say, they got problems, as the show will go on to highlight), so I think it’s reasonable for Sisko to express some concerns about his son taking dating advice from a young man who was raised to believe that women shouldn’t have rights (or clothing). This also nicely plants a seed for Sisko’s own relationship with Nog, as that character becomes further developed.

Security Breach: The previous episode introduced us to Lieutenant Primmin, who was brought in as Starfleet’s Chief security officer (but second to Odo as “head of security” under the Bajoran Provisional Government; gotta love Politics). Primmin shows up again in this episode, when Odo goes up to ops in search of Sisko and Kira. Primmin’s main contribution is when he reluctantly (because regulations) beams Odo into the Wadi ship, and then he’s never heard from again. Like, ever. I’m assuming the original intention was for him to return as a recurring foil for Odo, and was then forgotten/dropped in favour of more pertinent characters and storylines. But according to my headcanon, he was quietly fired (aka “transferred”) due to his critical lack of care and initiative over the disappearance of four chief staff. The dude hardly even sat up in his chair when Odo brought the situation to his attention, which is not a great look. So long Primmin! I’d say you’ll be missed, but I’d largely forgotten you existed in the first place.

[thevalleyisjolly]

Hikaru Sulu solved the ‘jock vs nerd’ debate by being both at the same time.  He’s a master fencer who loves 18th century French popular literature.  His leisure activities include xenobotany and judo.  He enthusiastically infodumps about his hobbies to his friends and daydreams about antique weaponry and aerial combat.  He likes to start his day with a cup of tea in an actual teacup and saucer, and he ends his day almost flying his ship apart and deliberately drawing fire from a cloaked Bird-of-Prey.  At any given time, he’s one polywater infection away from stripping off his shirt and going full cackling musketeer.  Truly no one is doing it like him.