#stays for a bit and then goes back to DS9

[youngpettyqueen]

alright as promised- Julian and Garak and Garashir thoughts on A Stitch in Time!

also, I am going to note before I even begin. yes, I ship Garashir, but im also going to focus on not viewing their dynamic entirely through a shipping lens. Garashir as a ship will be brought up, yes, but im making a concentrated effort to also discuss their relationship as presented because them as a duo compels me even without my shipping goggles on

without further ado, lets get into it-

I think the most important thing to take from how Julian and Garak are presented in A Stitch in Time is that Garak cares about Julian very, very deeply. whether you interpret that as romantic or not is up to you, but its at least made very clear that Garak cares about Julian. a lot. which, yes, we know from the show that Garak cares, but the depth of his care is truly revealed in this book

I think its safe to say that this book is the most open we see Garak be with Julian. and im not just saying in their scenes together- this entire book was written by Garak, for Julian to read. a chronicle of his history, entries made during their time on DS9, and letters written about what he's doing now on Cardassia, all written for Julian to read. this book is, quite literally, Garak showing everything he is to Julian. which is fucking incredible. we know Garak is a closed-off person and very defensive of himself, we see exactly WHY he's that way, and we're seeing that only because he's spelling it all out to give to Julian. this is an openness that Garak hasn't ever afforded himself in a relationship. and I think its for good reason that the first time he is this open and this honest, its with Julian

I was deeply compelled by Garak's point of view on his and Julian's relationship in the entries that took place during DS9. I love how distant they became from each other, and how strained things got. I never would've read it that way with just the show, and now I cant wait to do a rewatch with this new information in mind. Garak thinks Julian has ended their relationship, he thinks Julian doesnt want to learn any more from him, and he doesnt understand why. he's upset about it- he's mad! his feelings are hurt! but he cant let go. and that ties in with the sentimentality we see in Garak throughout the rest of the book. Garak could no more let go of his connection with Julian than he could his connection with Paladine when he was still on Cardassia. he still answers when Julian calls. he still calls Julian himself. even drifted apart, theyre still connected. they still care. and thats why they come back together before the end of the series- they still love each other. platonically, romantically, however you want to interpret it, you cannot deny that these two love each other

as for Julian's side of this rift. I dont think Julian sees their relationship as over, but I think he can tell something's off. Julian is very awkward in many of his scenes with Garak, and doesnt seem to know how to approach him, or even how to talk to him sometimes. whatever Julian believes is going on here, he knows something's wrong. so, in true Julian fashion, even though he doesnt know what to do or say, he reaches out. he keeps reaching out. he goes out of his way to get Garak's favourite food hand-made. he answers when Garak calls. he calls Garak. he tries to apologize. he tries, he tries, he tries. because he knows, whatever's going on, that he wants to be there for Garak. he wants to help. such is the nature of Julian Bashir- he always just wants to help

I love that his attempts to help are clumsy. the argument Julian and Garak have about Federation vs Cardassian politics is great! because we know Julian is trying to help, but Julian has a habit of being a bit condescending and even arrogant in assuming his way is the right way, and I love that Garak actually gets mad about it here. this argument really highlights just how different Julian and Garak are, but it also serves to point out just how strained Garak is with everything going on with the Dominion and Cardassia at this point. Garak is surprised at his own outburst, and I think part of it is because he's typically better at hiding his feelings, but I also think part of it is that he's this mad towards Julian. I dont think its a stretch to say that this might be reminding Garak of the events of Our Man Bashir. that episode comes up multiple times throughout the DS9 entries, and is an event that Garak associates with him and Julian drifting apart. its also the episode where we see Garak get mad at Julian about these same things- namely his arrogance, in assuming he can save everyone and that things will work out. while at first it surprised me that Garak saw these events as driving a wedge between him and Julian, in hindsight, I think it makes total sense

the idea of Julian pulling away from Garak after Our Man Bashir is what makes it make complete sense. Julian trying to apologize in the last entry for DS9 is what really makes it- he feels bad for hurting Garak. and he avoids talking about it, but he pointedly doesnt deny that he would've killed Garak if he had to, to save the others. of course the guilt of that's been eating him. of course he pulled away. because after Our Man Bashir, as we get into s5 and beyond, we see Julian start to go down a darker path. we see Julian kill. we see him lie, and manipulate, and do harm. we see him forced to compromise his morals, or compromise them by his own choice. so, yeah, it makes sense that he's pulling away from Garak

on the topic of episodes that get brought up- I love that Julian only pulls away further after the events of Doctor Bashir, I Presume? I'd wondered how that episode might've impacted his relationship with Garak, since we dont see it at all in the show besides Garak starting to make cracks at Julian about being augmented. I love that Julian being outed as being augmented played a part in him and Garak drifting apart. if theres one thing I wish would've been included in the DS9 entries, I wish we could've seen if Garak and Julian talked either during or right after the events of that episode. I think it'd be interesting, though, if they didnt. I think it'd be interesting if they never talked about it. I honestly think that could track with how they've drifted apart at this point. it'll be left up to me to wonder, I think, but its all very fascinating

I love that despite everything, Garak's respect and admiration for Julian is always clear- especially when it comes to traits like his kindness. its nice to see that, despite how Garak always gets on Julian's case about his naivety and optimism, he actually does love these so-called "soft things" about Julian. he loves his kindness. he loves his selflessness. he loves that desire Julian has to just help everybody around him. I think this kindness is what really helps pull their relationship back together, in more ways than one

for one thing, I think if Julian wasn't his kind and loving and open self, I dont think Garak would be able to be as open as he is with him. Garak is very much used to people having multiple agendas, and Julian is just not like that. Julian is open and honest to a fault, with his only big secret being that he was augmented, and once thats out in the open, he doesnt have anything left to hide. Julian and Garak's relationship might've started with Julian clumsily trying to be a spy, but it quickly became just... a friendship. Julian doesnt want anything from Garak besides a relationship. he just wants Garak. and its this honest, open approach to that that reminds Garak that this is Julian, who he can trust, and thats what lets them mend this thing between them

I also think its crucial that Garak's respect and admiration for Julian's kindness ultimately overpowers his desire to teach Julian his ways. Garak sees their relationship as over because he believes that Julian doesnt want to learn from him. the hurdle that Garak has to overcome here is that he needs to see that Julian can still learn from him, but not in the way he thinks. Garak has to learn that Julian doesnt need to learn how to be a hardened spy from him. he doesnt need to learn how to close himself off, or be more cynical- what he gets from Garak, what he learns from Garak, is how to be challenged. Garak challenges Julian constantly, forces him to think about things from different perspectives he otherwise wouldnt have considered. Julian gets caught up in believing his way is the right way, he cant always see the other side of things, and Garak is the one who will make him see it. thats why their relationship, even when its distanced, is never over- because Julian is still learning from Garak as he continues to challenge him, and Garak is still learning from Julian as he learns that sentimentality isnt a weakness after all

the last entry set in DS9 means the entire world to me. Garak immediately calling Julian after a nightmare. Julian going to him. the discussion they have. Garak realizing what he has to do. the apologies Julian tries to make, and how Garak won't let him. the way they come together again at last, and you know theyre going to be ok. Garak calling him Julian... you have to wonder if this is the first time Garak has actually called him by his name, because to my memory he doesnt do so at any point in the show. and of course its Julian who makes Garak see what he needs to do, and where he needs to be. just, that entire scene. its so important to me. you can feel the love, and it feels like a sigh of relief, because they've finally bridged this gap between them

to me, though, the most loving bit is the very end of the novel. Garak inviting Julian to come to his home, and see what he's done. Garak has just documented pretty much his entire life and sent it to Julian so that Julian will know every part of him, and he's ended it by inviting Julian to his home. holy shit. this is where the shipping goggles go on cause oh my god. Garak has just gone "here's my heart. here's my soul. here's my core. here's everything that's made me into me. here's what I was thinking when we weren't talking. here's how much I missed you. here's everything youve ever done for me. nothing would make me happier than you coming to see me. come see my home. come see what ive done. I love you. come to my home." this entire novel is such a massive display of vulnerability and trust, of an openness Garak has never allowed himself to express, and it end it by inviting Julian to come to his home? im going to fucking explode.

Garak wasn't this open with Palandine. he wasn't this open with Pythas. he wasn't this open with Tolan, with Mila, with Tain- there's been nobody he's been this open with. his relationship with Julian is so much different than any other relationship he's had, just for the fact that he can be truly, openly himself. and he knows he can be, because he knows Julian. this novel really highlights how well Garak knows Julian, and understands him- he knows Julian will accept him for who he is, because Julian always has. Julian would never be as harsh on Garak as Garak is on himself, Julian is the kind voice in his head, and its exactly BECAUSE he sees Garak for who he is: a man who's trying his best. nobody else has ever seen that in Garak- I dont think even Palandine saw it. I think she probably got the closest to seeing it, and I think Pythas too might've gotten close had they not been separated for so long, but nobody ever got close to Garak like Julian managed to

I think however you interpret the Julian and Garak dynamic, you can read this book and understand that these two love each other. deeply. whether that means platonically or romantically you can interpret yourself, but however you define it, the love is still undeniably there. do I think its romantic? hell yeah. they make me fucking insane and every interaction between them in this book made me scream out loud. but I think its a testament to how theyre written that the love is there no matter how you read it, and that their relationship is just incredibly solid all around. Andrew Robinson clearly put a lot of work and love and thought into how he portrayed these two, and it shows in every scene, every line where Garak even thinks about Julian

alright gonna wrap up because this is getting. so long. I love that this book wasn't about their relationship, but it also was. because this book is, of course, about Garak. but it was written by Garak, for Julian. and it ends perfectly, with Garak holding a hand out and going "you're always welcome, doctor." so, yeah, this is Garak's story, but it's also Garak's story for Julian, and that makes me, personally, feel a little insane

[writergeekrhw]

You'd mentioned a few asks back that your favorite Dresden ep to write was "Things That Go Bump" -- it's one of my favorites to re-watch! How hard are bottle episodes to write? What sort of considerations do you have to make for pacing, dialogue, etc, that you don't need to consider nearly as much for a more standard format?

I enjoy writing bottle shows, but they do create a bit of a challenge.

One big one is how to transition between scenes. On DS9, that wasn't too challenging, because we had so many standing sets, but on THE DRESDEN FILES episode, which was completely contained in Harry's shop/loft/lab, it was more difficult, especially because as the episode progressed, the darkness swallowed more and more of the set.

One trick for transitioning between scenes without actually moving locations is what's known as a "French scene." This is when the location stays the same, but the characters in it change. Every time someone enters or exits, that's a new "scene," because the change in characters changes the dynamics. I used that a lot in "Things That Go Bump," but the classic example of this is the stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers' movie "Monkey Business." We used this trick a few times. Check out Kira's "These are my friends" scene in "The Circle."

Dialogue is very important in most bottle shows. The challenge here is to vary up the emotions and types of interactions from scene to scene so things don't get repetitive. See for example DS9's "The Wire" and how each Garak story hits a different emotional chord.

It helps to have a mystery to solve. In "The Wire," it's "What's the real story of Garak?" In "Bump," it's "What's causing the Darkness?"

It's also important to use rising stakes. Moving from set to set in most shows gives the feeling of forward plot momentum, but you can't do that in a bottle show. So it's best to have clear stakes that get more dire as time goes on. Garak's deterioration in "The Wire" or the closing darkness in "Bump" are examples of this.

Hope that answers your question!

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Benjamin Sisko

By Ames

We’ve segued so smoothly into Deep Space Nine for our character spotlights here on A Star to Steer Her By that you didn’t even notice it. Thank you, Worf. So this week we’re doing an in-depth look at one of the more complex lead characters of a Trek series, Benjamin Lafayette Sisko. He might be the leader who gets tested the most out of any of our main stars, and he makes probably the most wide-ranging decisions – though typically that decision is “let’s see how this goes.”

From first contacts with the Gamma Quadrant, to yet another standoff with Klingons, to full blown Dominion War, to whatever was going on with the wormhole aliens, Ben’s got a long list of moments for us to consider. So grab yourself a bowl of jambalaya, hop in your solar sail ship, and maybe get a little war crimes as a treat! Scroll on below for our Sisko spotlight and listen to a ton of spare moments on this week’s podcast (jump through the wormhole to 1:04:00). Ow!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

There’s no hurry Our first contact with beings from the Gamma Quadrant is also DS9’s first breaking of the Prime Directive. In “Captive Pursuit,” Miles is trying desperately to save Tosk from his hunters and Sisko is doing his best to technically stay within the rules, and it’s a rare success of doing both. Telling Odo to take his time in apprehending O’Brien shows that Sisko is coming from a place of real morality.

Find something you love, then do it the best you can We could name great moments between Ben and his son all day, but there’s more to our list than that, so let’s sum things up with a perfectly pure moment of excellent parenting from “Shadowplay.” Sisko is immediately accepting of Jake not wanting to follow in his footsteps and join Starfleet, and melts our hearts. Doing something he loves and being true to himself is far more important than legacy.

Cardassians love cosmetic surgery Appropriately, we watched Enterprise’s “Judgment” on the podcast this week and spent most it comparing it to The Undiscovered Country and “Tribunal.” When O’Brien is on trial in Cardassian kangaroo court and his lawyer is doing nothing to defend him, Sisko walks in with an undercover Cardassian spy in tow and wins the whole thing without saying a word. Like a badass.

Humans used to be a lot worse than the Ferengi We brought this up last week in our Worf chat too, but there’s a general racism towards the Ferengi all through Deep Space Nine. Quark calls Sisko out for it in “The Jem’Hadar” when Sisko and he are butting heads, and by the end of the episode, Sisko has seen Quark in a new light and refuses to leave him behind because Sisko got over some his prejudice (at least a little bit).

I’ll see that you get that chance Speaking of that prejudice against our lobed friends, everyone and their moogie is dubious when Nog claims he wants to join Starfleet in “Heart of Stone,” which would be a first for a Ferengi. But when Nog tells Sisko that he’s serious and looking for a life that will earn him real respect, the commander takes him at his word and vouches for him, putting in motion one of the best character arcs in Trek.

Some taboos are made to be broken Throughout the series, the relationships between characters are probably the strongest in Trek, and a true highlight is watching Sisko with his old/new friend Jadzia Dax. It’s such a beautiful scene in the equally beautiful “Rejoined” when Ben tells her that he’d still support her if she decides to break Trill taboo and hook back up with Lenara Khan. He’s that good a friend.

Don’t you see, Admiral? You’re fighting the wrong war. Around season 4, the show really tests Sisko with some ethical conundrums during the Dominion War. This is one he passes with flying colors. In “Paradise Lost,” Sisko is able to see his old mentor and silver medal winner from Jake’s Evil Admirals list, James Leyton, for what he really is: a megalomaniac who uses the Changeling threat as an excuse to incite a coup. Until Ben steps in!

Presenting the newest honoree in the Order of the Bat’leth It takes a certain level of crazy to think you can infiltrate the best warriors the Klingons have to offer, and luck for us, Captain Sisko is just that level of crazy. Avery Brooks seems oddly at home portraying a blood-thirsty Klingon being inducted into the Order of the Bat’leth in “Apocalypse Rising,” and even better, he and Odo (mostly Odo) expose Changeling Martok!

Don’t let Bajor in the Federation! We say it all the time on the podcast and today is no different: Bajor is NOT ready for Federation membership, no matter what Picard says. So when Sisko goes fully nuts after getting zapped by a plinth in “Rapture” and crashes the Federation membership ruling, we are fully supportive of his absolute batshit meddling. And ya know what, it works out for Bajor because of it!

Sisko, you’re baby crazy Any time Sisko is with a baby is truly joyful. This from a podcast of self-professed non-baby people. But this man’s mirth is so pure we’ve got to give it to him. Avery Brooks isn’t even acting in “Children of Time” when he dandles that baby, or in “The Abandoned” when he’s nostalgic about Jake as a baby, or in “Heart of Stone” when he’s delighted that Vilixpran is budding. This man just loves babies.

Let’s pretend that the Major’s not even here… By season 6, Gul Dukat is at his lowest point – he’s lost the station, his daughter is dead, and he’s more nuts than Ben in “Rapture”! And Captain Sisko plays him like a fiddle! “Waltz” is such an amazing showcase of acting talent, with Avery Brooks and Marc Alaimo bouncing off each other like pros. Sisko pushes his Cardassian counterpart over the edge and survives the cave of madness, some-freaking-how!

The Emissary has completed his task Sisko’s final action in this corporeal plane is also the climax of the whole series, culminating the wormhole alien plot that was started at the very beginning. And while we may whine that the Kosst Amojen plotline in “What We Leave Behind” felt rushed at the end, we have to admit that it’s cathartic to have the Emissary make a huge sacrifice to take out the pah-wraiths in the series finale.

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Worst moments

This is how you hold a grudge Interestingly, the first taste we get of the jambalaya-slinging commander is him being bitter and fickle in the series premiere, “Emissary.” The show immediately introduces him being a dick to Picard, stewing with rage over Locutus’s part in the Battle at Wolf 359 (as if Picard had any control of that!). He also clearly doesn’t want to be in command of the station, starting him off with character conflict that the series will build on.

If I hear of you hanging around with him… Continuing our running gag that the only alien species the show seems to think it’s okay to be racist against is the Ferengi we brought up last week with Worf, we see more instances of it from Sisko early in season one in “A Man Alone.” When Ben basically tells Jake to not hang around with Nog anymore, it’s flavored with that anti-Ferengi racism we’re sadly accustomed to.

When in the Mirror Universe, do as the Mirror Universe people do We have a lot of issues with how DS9 trots out the mirror universe all the time, and it’s at its most uncomfortable when Sisko goes over there and sleeps with his friends’ counterparts in “Through the Looking Glass.” Sure, there’s not much you can do when Intendant Kira sets her sights on you, but it’s simply wrong to take advantage of Mirror Jadzia, regardless of how hot she is.

Abusing your power is so romantic Sisko is so blinded by love in “For the Cause” that he ignores all the signs that his girlfriend Kasidy has been aiding the Maquis. And then Ben abuses his power as commander of the station to get her out of an inspection when she bats her eyes at him, which is straight-up unethical. As we’ll see, Sisko tends to make terrible decisions when the Maquis are involved…

Red – the blood of angry men Arguably the most immoral acts that Sisko commits are the war crimes in “For the Uniform.” Even after Starfleet tries to take him off the Maquis assignment, Sisko’s obsession with taking out Eddington has gotten so personal that it clouds ALL his judgment. If we gave Picard grief about removing the residents of Dorvan V, then we’ve got to rake Sisko over the coals for POISONING A PLANET and relocating more people!

Prophets, take the wheel! Half our Worst Moments come from the last two seasons when Sisko is tested more than any other Trek captain due to the Dominion War. And so often, he chooses the messed up response. I am still trying to figure out his Hail Mary play in “Sacrifice of Angels” when he flies headlong into the wormhole against thousands of ships and ends up asking the wormhole aliens to do a literal deus ex machina for him. Leeeeroy! Jennnnkins!

What’s a better response to a “Yo Mama” joke than this? I shat on this one in our time travel post, but Sisko using his status as Emissary to let Kira play with the Orb of Time in “Wrongs Darker than Death or Night” because Dukat banged her mom and then gabbed to her about it is absolutely incompetent of him! Why anyone has access to that thing is incomprehensible because it just begs for time shenanigans!

I can live with it… because Vreenak can’t Arguably one of Deep Space Nine’s best episodes, “In the Pale Moonlight” forces Sisko to make the hardest decision a Starfleet officer has to make – and he jumps at the chance to pick the option involving committing more war crimes. While it is a huge benefit to get the Romulans on your side, Sisko knowingly accomplishes this through lies, counterfeiting, bribery, murder, and most damning of all: enlisting the help of Elim Garak!

Sisko SMASH! Here’s another instance when Ben abuses his power, this time in order to get access to an ancient artifact from Bajor in “The Reckoning.” And what does the Emissary do once he’s borrowed the tablet without asking permission, promising to take good care of it and that he’ll return it first thing in the morning? He destroys it utterly in a fit of rage, releasing some spirits that nearly gets Jake and Kira killed.

Pick a lane, Ben I will always give Sisko guff about this. In “Accession,” he has accepted his role as Emissary to the prophets while he’s already serving as commander of Deep Space Nine, and frankly, Ben, you can’t be both! It’s a HUGE conflict of interest. In “Tears of the Prophets,” Admiral Ross gives him some hell for this when he’s torn between the Prophets and Starfleet, and he’s right! Step down!

You’re outta here! “Take Me Out to the Holosuite" is a polarizing episode that fans either love or hate (even your SSHB hosts are mixed!), but you’ve got to admit: Sisko is a terrible baseball coach! He forces all of this senior staff to play a baseball game in the middle of wartime, cancels his girlfriend’s shipments to make her to play too, kicks Rom off the team, gets obsessively competitive about it, and then gets himself thrown out anyway! How many strikes was that?

They warned you that marrying me would bring you sorrow Finally, we are still cross with Sisko for knocking up Kasidy. In “The Dogs of War,” Kasidy tells him she’s pregnant because he forgot to take his contraception, even though Bashir is constantly reminding him! This is a world in which having children should always be a choice because future contraceptives are basically magic, AND he’s been told that he’s basically cursed, so take your damn meds, jackwit.

—

Well, we can live with it. We can live with it. We’ve also got more DS9 character spotlights on the way if you keep watching this blog, more Enterprise watch-throughs on the way if you keep listening to us on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, and more announcements from Ops over on Facebook and Twitter. Computer, erase that entire personal log.

[thegeminisage]

got a little internet who knows if/when it will go away so i am doing a star trek update because i am BEHIND! sunday we watched voy's "revulsion" and "the raven" and last night we watched voy's "scientific method" and ds9's "you are cordially invited."

revulsion (voy):

wasn't too sure about this one at first but in the end i decided the little freak in this episode is the fun kind of freak. hands down my favorite part was when he went on this long horrible rant about how disgusting biologics are and the emh goes with like this forced brightness "and this is the sensor array!" absolutely captures the horrors of listening to your m*ga relatives go on and on and just having to like...deal with it. also, it was incredibly fucking funny

harry and seven were SO cute but i wish he hadn't tried to woo her and i wish she hadn't done that "take off your clothes" thing. that said chakotay being like "suck it up you're gonna keep working with her"was also extremely funny

i do feel like this episode did a lot to humanize seven though, for lack of a better word...i know that chakotay's episodes at the start of voyager were way more racist than the episodes he gets now (not to say the eps he gets now AREN'T racist, but they also aren't playing the racist panflute while he helps janeway find her spirit guide). so it's my hope that eventually the incidents of sexism re: seven will sort of...die down. if they can ever get over her (sigh) catsuit. at least in picard they let her wear real clothes! and don't pad her bra

the raven (voy):

TEN OUTTA TENNNN

first of all, my new best friend seven (i knew this would happen, remember?) is EXTREMELY funny. i didn't realize it but the actress has a great sense of like, comedic timing. the whole bit with her slowly learning to chew and swallow food (neelix's cooking, no less) was fucking hilarious, the longer it went on the funnier it was

secondly my other best friend tuvok.............he and seven make such a great pair. i like that at no point did tuvok tell her she was being illogical. he stayed totally calm and helped calm her down and offered to support her through the whole thing without being a bitch because he knows she was sick, even if it was a mental issue and not a physical one. like, bitchy tuvok is fantastic, obviously, but i love that sometimes the logical thing to do is simply show compassion

AND i really loved the entire plot about this being the ship she was taken from...no fucking idea how they got out that far in her 6yo human lifetime but it was awesome to watch her put it together and then the final shot of her looking back as the ship crumbled...mwah

also shoutout to the gay people in this episode...i love when janeway reminds me of kirk and she reminded me of kirk a little bit in this one because of how like. she was so invested in helping seven learn art and finding her when she went missing and like. the bright way she said "there you are!" when she found her on the holodeck at the end. it's that same kind of over-investment kirk shows in spock in tos that goes beyond "friendly" or "coworkers." it was gay as hell

scientific method (voy):

ANOTHER WIN FOR VOYAGER? dare i say it...3 watchable voyager episodes in a row.

i didn't low tom and b'elanna's plot in this episode but they made up for it in the end by being kinda cute when they were teasing about their entire relationship having been built on alien lies or whatever and then they were getting ready to kiss the whole time. i thought b'elanna was being kind of silly insisting on secrecy when they were making out everywhere and i guess janeway did too because DAMN she gave them one of those big bad scary awful lectures...it was also redeemed by it being REALLY funny when tuvok caught them and he was just like :| because that's just what his face does

sleep deprived pissed off janeway!!!! she was amazing in this ep. another one where she reminded me of kirk, especially with the bit of her threatening to blow them all up at the end. he did canonically do that!!

seven and the doctor were so fun. seven did a great job, she was SO close, but you literally can't get one over on tuvok

the only thing i really hated about this ep was old chakotay. like, sure, fine, make somebody old, but why did they also make him white?? come on

you are cordially invited (ds9):

I LOVED THIS ONE!

headliner: i have finally forgiven odo. when kira avoided him all episode i was all but hissing at the very sight of him. when she was like "we need to talk" i was like NOOOO because i knew no matter what he did or said i would not be able to let go of my anger. i was so worked up about it that i was BESIDES myself that they skipped to the next morning without showing us what they talked about, and then...

in the closet. all night. all night they talked in the closet

and you know what? it's perfect. if i can't forgive him no matter what he said then simply don't show me what he said. show me kira and odo looking deeply relaxed and having the deepest conversation at like 10 in the morning after HAVING. SPENT. ALL NIGHT. IN THE CLOSET

idk one of my fav things they did was have kira find out about odo's feelings and then nothing changes...like, he can be in love with her and it's not a painful secret but it's also not a demand and they're still friends. that's so complex and good

the rest of this episode: mwah. my best friend quark and his unrequited love. sisko being glad to be home. julian and obrien fantasizing about killing worf and then beating the shit out of him at his own wedding. martok loving getting negged by his wife. jadzia crying into sisko's arms about her husband troubles. mwah. even alexander was funny despite me being lukewarm on him earlier. klutzy disaster isn't who he was in tng, like they just made up a new guy, which is annoying, but it is also charming, so i'll take it

the one thing that got me this ep was like...i was expecting jadzia to succeed in winning this lady's favor by defying her or capitulating to her or by doing some secret third thing, but they...never showed it? she just got married and the lady was like ok we're all good now!!

i also read that they tried to get the tng cast back for worf's wedding, just without lines...i get why they weren't there since it was on;y a week's notice (which may have been part of the reason they decided to do it like that) but can you imagine the fucking jumpscare if i'd seen picard on ds9 season 6. i would have died on the spot

TONIGHT, assuming my internet stays on: voy's "year of hell" parts i & ii. EXCITED!!!

[isagrimorie]

A little bit of a soft pushback on this post. re: curatorial fandom etc on Star Trek Picard season 3– I don’t think it's pure nostalgia and fan service.

Because I don’t think the characters we revisited stayed in one place, they weren’t who they were before. Some of them were rougher than others and some have had it done well.

I know most people were happy about Picard having almost nothing to do with the elements of TNG, and I do agree some of it was refreshing but for me, Trek is a starship and a crew -- even DS9 falls on this despite being a station, and it was always a little sad Sir Patrick Stewart was reluctant to include his friends in Picard.

He might have been a big part of the draw in TNG with Brent Spiner's Data as the other big draw but Picard wasn't the only reason why people watched TNG.

I also wanted an update on Beverly, Geordi, and on Worf.

And I know it's unpopular but as a show, Picard felt incomplete without his friends. (Also, knowing Sir Patrick Stewart was riding off the high of Logan for the reasoning behind Picard it made sense now. Logan was an excellent movie!)

But Picard not keeping in touch with the people he served with and considered family, it felt disappointing. Especially since I specifically went into the show expecting Picard to have kept in touch.

Ultimately, after returning to season 1, I did enjoy aspects of Picard s1 with a lot of niggles in between because season 1 had a LOT of big ideas and 10 episodes didn't serve the story well.

There were so many good ideas there that just didn't fly and most of season 1 was spent talking with not a lot of forward momentum on both plot and character.

I think in an ideal world there should have been 16 to 20 episodes per season to round things out. Season 1 had intriguing concepts that went nowhere and the Borg were just— there. They introduced the concept of ex-Borgs and did nothing with them.

Also, it was mentioned how S1 of Picard is very close to the plot of Mass Effect -- which is okay, good sci-fi shows share similar ideas and plots all the time! It's just funny, is all but again goes to how the show should have, at least 16 episodes.

Going on to season 3:

1. I really liked Nepenthe but I was also okay with Will and Deanna professing dislike for the planet where Thad lived and died— because sometimes the place where you spent grieving and healing isn’t and shouldn’t be the same place you should be if you’re going to move on from grief. And I doubly agree that Kestra should have been discussed or shown more. This actually reminds me of a Chibnall quote where RTD taught him: It shouldn’t just be “Don’t show, tell” but it should be “Show and Tell”.

But also, Matalas should have really included a line or a scene showing Kestra was safe in the Academy. I don't care how clunky it would have sounded or the scene would've been!

2. Geordi. I love that we see Geordi with Data, Geordi was someone I missed seeing in season 1 of Picard especially in regards to Data's death because as much as Nemesis and Picard s1 & s2 would like to show it— Geordi and Data were the two best friends in TNG. And for the majority of TNG Picard held Data with a certain distance. I didn’t even realize what a missing ingredient Geordi was in Picard until I saw Geordi with Data. LeVar Burton sold Geordi's grief of losing his best friend and the possibility of getting Data back.

Also, I like that Geordi, who was a little, uh, problematic with women (he had a romantic attraction for) grow up and then learn to become a good dad to two daughters. I love that LeVar Burton specifically requested this because he was also not fond of how Geordi was written with women.

3. Beverly. I love Action Beverly and I love Gates McFadden got that, I love that she basically worked in Doctors without Borders under the Mariposa. The medical emergency organization Teresa and Rios set up in the past. But also finally addressing all the ways losing Wesley fucked her up, losing Wesley the way she did was the straw that broke the camel’s back for her. In TNG, losing Wesley was something that was never brought up again but Wesley was a big part of Beverly’s life. (To be clear, Wesley is alive but by the Time Lord-like rules set by the Traveller, Wesley and Beverly can never meet again or communicate). I love that despite not being in Starfleet Beverly still can’t help but want to help people, especially out in the border worlds outside of the Federation. It’s no wonder Seven has heard of Beverly!

I love that she figured out what was happening in the 'nebula' and how her knowledge helped save them, leading to one of the more wonderous scenes in season 3.

4. Ro Laren. But most of all I love that Ro Laren returned— and it’s such a big thing to get Michelle Forbes back, she has famously demurred a lot of attempts to get her to become a show regular. I love the button to Picard and Laren’s relationship which festered on both sides for almost 30 years. The episode where she appeared is possibly my favorite episode of all Picard.

If only money and time weren’t an issue Picard and Laren’s relationship would have been a great foil to Janeway and Seven’s. Or even Laren and Seven interacting would have been so good.

Also, Janeway is the phantom that haunts Season 3 because it feels like Janeway should have been in Season 3. Again, money and time. But man a lot of the plot stuff in season 3 would have smoothed out with Janeway in the show.

5. WORF!

This brings me to Worf, who I adored in season 3 and I am so glad we see how he is doing after DS9. I mourn the loss of Jadzia, and even though she wasn’t named, I can’t help but feel her presence was felt, even Ezri. I feel like the comment about how Worf shouldn’t be passive-aggressive, felt like a very Ezri thing to say.

But as I’ve said before, Jadzia would adore zen, white-haired Worf. She would be with him through this shenanigans. She would enjoy Worf’s mentorship of Raffi! And she wouldn’t even be fazed with Worf waxing poetic about Deanna’s advice. Jadzia would know what Worf meant.

Worf seeing himself in Raffi and truly enjoying Raffi’s company was also such a boon. I love that he passed the torch on being a Klingon badass to Raffi— a non-Klingon.

But also this heads on to one of the things I disliked -- how Raffi's story went in the first episode. I wasn't into how alone Raffi was in scenes. I wish they could have gotten Elnor as a hologram or even Seven-- just so she could bounce off someone else, and maybe even hit on why they broke up.

I do love Worf burning Raffi’s cover. Raffi hated deep-cover work, and it only made her miserable. This way, Starfleet Intelligence won’t be compelled to use her expertise this way again. He’s seen what it's done to Miles O’Brien. But also, it's the Klingon high-handedness at work and I hope Ezri verbally head-slapped him for it.

I loved the idea of a true Borg collective and community, where one becomes Borg by choice in season 2 but its been so divorced from Seven, who could have interacted more with the idea, and the Borg Queen— who had spent, in another life, a large amount of resources to get Seven back and even indulged Seven on occasion.

Season 3 isn’t exempt from this, while I adored Season 3– I do know it wasn't a perfect season and there are things it could improve on.

One of them is that Seven should be more connected to the main bad guy plot than she was. This is where Janeway should have been in the show more because the Hirogen story? Should have been Janeway's story if we are honest, the final blow to the Borg Queen? should have been Janeway's. In a way, Picard was shafted on his own show because those were all Janeway's achievements and not Picard's.

Also, I know that people are burned by the Borg being ever present but I will be sad if they never bring up the Borg in the form of the Jurati Faction of the Borg, the xBs, and some Delta Quadrant Borgs as both allies and threats in Seven's (possible, please god) show.

The Borg is a big part of Seven’s life more than it was Picard’s. I am always a little side eye when the show tries to tell me Picard has more expertise on the Borg than Seven.

So yeah, I hope Seven gets to tackle the tricksy complicated idea of xBs and Jurati Borg.

(/edited)

[girlcockholmes]

sorry im gonna send you another ask cos im Obsessed with you. now do star trek. um specially ds9 but also tng pls and thank you also i love you . And you can answer for tos too if you want 😋

KICKS MY LITTLE FEETS IN THE AIR FOREVERRRRR 🤭🤭🙈🙈🙈 YAAYAYY MUTUAL OBSESSIONNNN ❣️❣️❣️❣️ILYYYY

Favorite character: tos is spock tng is data ds9 is quark HEEHEEEE 🤭🤭🤭

Second favorite character: tos is jim tng is UHM. IMPOSSIBLE TO CHOOSE. BUT MY SWEET ANGEL WESLEY 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 OR MY SILLY ANGEL WORF 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 and ds9 i loveeee jadzia… 💙💙💙

Least favorite character: tos i dont dislike anyone on the crew so probably mudd bc even tho i really love his eps hes a good villain hes also a misogynist </3 tng is pulaski like SORRYYY to all the thinkpiece bitches out there saying its not feminist to hate her bc shes basically the same as bones its like. 1. okay so shes kind of badly written bc they just tried to rip off bones and 2. her thing with data isnt the same as his with spock bc spock was bitchy right back but data just didnt get it. so she was just being straight up cruel to him all the time and nobody defended him. YEAH SHE GOT ME HEATED. and ds9 i got distracted by so many other tv shows shes been on hiatus for a bit but kai winn booooo we hate your ass 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

The character I’m most like: now. Uhm. literally fighting one million years with myself to determine kirk or spock and i never fully decided so we will leave it at they are two sides of the same coin and that coin is MEEEE ^_^. tng is hard to say bc i love them all but none of them ever grabbed me by the throat and shoved me into a mirror like so many other shows have done. i think either data geordi or picard (minus his leadership skills) would be the closest fit for me. and well as those who were here for biquark url know. 😏🤭

Favorite pairing: tos is obviously spirk 5ever and always like it changed the world. they are the fucking blueprint for everything they invented gay people. tng literally everything is so fun i think everyone has huge chemistry such interesting dynamics with each other. deanna and riker invented t4t bi4bi love but then geordi and data invented my lovely robot wife but then rikorf invented silly boy and autistic boy love and then qcard invented me and my wet crumpled paper bag weirdo boyfriend. HOW COULD I DECIDE… 💔💔 and ds9 quodo is everythang… i love you sillies ❤️

Least favorite pairing: this has less to do with tos and more the crimes of other trek series using tos characters but. spuhura i guess you had some moments but why did they do both your characters the disservice :(( and tos chapel and spock was so nice and hurting like i love her she crucified herself for the right to love a stoic alien (girl i get ittt) and snw fucking slaughtered her. literally feel sick thinking about how horribly they adapted her. evil and sick and twisted. anyways. tng i didnt love geordis weird hologirlfriend and also barclay stay your ass away from any woman on board. ds9 whaaaleeeee i dont really hate anything at the moment ^-^ i guess when i swing back around to it i may have more to say…. 🧐

Favorite moment: OHHHOHHHHOHHH. WELL. tos pretty much anything with spock he is my beautiful angel. but ill say the entirety of city on the edge of forever its so insanely good and has me vomiting up blood. oh also i love kevin riley when he goes crazy and is singing to the ship :•) tng oh god when data is on that planet with the little girl hes pen pals with. ingrained in my brain forever. but there are honestly so many moments i could name like i think they might be my favorite crew ever like i said the chemistry between each and every character is so fucking amazing. and also horny. i love you deanna and riker 🫶🏻 and ds9 frankly im obsessed with quark and the undercover girl ferengi bc hes so bisexual with her in drag well um. who said that

Rating out of 10: 10/10 fucking all around forever theyre my three beautiful weed smoking girlfriends. We Dont Have To Talk About The Movies.

[sreegs]

I posted 2,632 times in 2022

That's 1,578 more posts than 2021!

831 posts created (32%)

1,801 posts reblogged (68%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sreegs

@kilgorezouzou

@red-mercer

@howling-techie

@iamoutofideas

I tagged 2,367 of my posts in 2022

Only 10% of my posts had no tags

#tumblr - 378 posts

#star trek - 132 posts

#hell - 106 posts

#meme - 75 posts

#world heritage post - 74 posts

#ds9 - 63 posts

#guy fieri - 58 posts

#tumblr ads - 54 posts

#feliz jueves - 54 posts

#ai - 51 posts

Longest Tag: 132 characters

#the memories april fools was kind of one of these things that made it through as a joke about features that every social network has

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

35,469 notes - Posted June 6, 2022

#4

who's so busy they have to tag a two second video "watch later"?

38,396 notes - Posted March 18, 2022

#3

Years ago, when Tumblr was still owned by Yahoo, Yahoo wanted Tumblr to use their video player, rather than Tumblr's own video player. This was partially to unify analytics, but mostly because Yahoo planned to put pre-roll ads on Tumblr videos. You know those unskippable Youtube ads? That's what was going to happen to Tumblr videos.

The only reason it didn't happen out is because Tumblr staff pushed back on the idea, saying it was absolutely idiotic and would anger users beyond their breaking point.

The next time you're angry at staff for fucking up something a lil bit, or trying to make money in some optional way, keep this in mind.

84,463 notes - Posted February 25, 2022

#2

As the staff post about ad-free tumblr continues to get thousands of notes telling staff to fuck off in the tags, I wanna remind you that this website's days are numbered. Tumblr is still unprofitable and by some modern-day miracle none of its acquiring companies pulled the plug on this money pit. But it will happen if it continues its trajectory.

Whether you like it or not, Tumblr needs to make money off you somehow in order to stay up. It either serves ads or asks for money to use it. This has been a paradigm on the web longer than many of you have been alive. It's Tumblr's job to make money right now because it's well past its grace period of being a black hole for cash. This has actually always been Tumblr's job, since it is a corporation, but that's capitalism for ya.

If you want Tumblr to be here for free and you want to continue to use it, you do yourself a disservice by opposing any changes Tumblr makes in order to pay for its costs. When this site finally goes belly-up then you're gonna be Tumblr-less until whatever startup takes its place and the cycle repeats itself.

If you think it should just ask for donations Wikipedia-style, remember that if and when that happens, there will be users repeating the same tired bullshit about giving Tumblr any money.

105,961 notes - Posted February 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

ah you can't tip yourself

123,340 notes - Posted March 30, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[c0smic-coral]

So on the subject of Stucky [VERY LONG, TW: DEPRESSION]

And a quick note, Bucky looks at Steve the same way Q looks at Picard.

So, some member of Marvel or something somewhere if someone could find the web article for me please???

Someone who works for Marvel essentially said that Bucky and Nat were both crushing on Steve.

HAHA OK so since it’s not on the screen, you can tell us?

Yeah, that’s my opinion on a lot of things. Sometimes on screen, it’s still so damn obvious. Qcard. SO OBVIOUS. Dakavendish.

Look at Dakota’s face. This is the dorky smile I would get around my ex.

Oh also book series, specifically WARRIOR CATS in which Scholastic said “No you can’t have Leafpool and Mothwing be together” and so that didn’t happen because the Erins are pushovers (???) and then behind the scenes they’ll stay stuff like “yes Darkstripe was gay” “some of us see Tallstar and Jake as something more” “oh yeah RavenBarley is canon”

Yeah, so actually making it happen will bother the censors, right? You do realize answers are a translate away?

Yes, this is a person who is aware how broken Google Translate is but believe me.

Alright, back to Stucky. I can understand why it wouldn’t get canonized. In the comics, Bucky was actually younger than Steve. A LOT younger. They had a father-son dynamic, think Batman and Robin from DC. I don’t remember why this was changed, but I suppose it could have been a bit strange. HOWEVER!!! I, like several other people, HATE the Endgame ending with a passion. Steve’s character arc revolved around Bucky. When was the last time Peggy was relevant? When Steve helped carry her coffin? All of a sudden he sees her in Endgame and “I’m with you till the end of the line” means NOTHING and he goes and lives out his life with a woman who had a full life WITHOUT HIM.

I’m just- I’m just… UPSET with Marvel about this. I’m upset with the Russo Brothers the most cuz they directed this movie.

Guys, when a slash ship is even PARTIALLY canon, treat it with respect on the screen/page. You anger the fandom beast when you don’t.

Oh, and that brings me to another thing that pisses me off. Fandoms bringing canon LGBTQIA-whatever-letters-there’s-a-plus-here-guys+ in so late in the game. Do you realize how long fandoms like Marvel and Star Trek had to wait for this stuff? I mean, I guess Seven counts, but the Seven x Raffi romance wasn’t the best executed??? And the fact Star Trek’s first same-gender kiss WASN’T IN DISCOVERY and was in DS9 and people FORGOT ABOUT IT??? However, even though Eternals SUUUUCKED, it did the whole “Phastos has a husband and son” thing right. Still a twinge annoyed.

Having characters canonized as queer later is cool tho. Warrior Cats with Ravenpaw, Harry Potter and Ron apparently (I do not support JKR) even though if the series happens it will probably suck and their romance would probably feel like shoehorned fan service (Don’t shoehorn your fan service).

BACK ON TOPIC, don’t know if you cared about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I did. I thought it was… okay dealing with stuff like racism at a time where struggles that the Black community faces really started coming back into the public eye, as well as the idea of the interest narratives that could come from everyone returning after being gone 5 years.

But here, we’re talking about Bucky’s therapy. Don’t know if you know this, but the actress who played Bucky’s therapist, Dr. Raynor, said that this therapy, though court-mandated, could be LIFE-SAVING.

Of course he’s depressed, his best friend/love of his life (AKA NOT SARAH WILSON) ABANDONED him.

I’m just saying saying this stuff doesn’t help with how messed up Steve leaving was to begin with!

Now there was one more thing I was gonna say but I forgot so I’ll post a part 2 when I remember.

[nerdgatehobbit]

4/18/23

So as I think you all might have gathered by now, I burned out a bit in trying to screencap 3 shows at once. Hopefully I’ll be easing back into it sooner rather than later; probably when I miss doing it rather than feeling awkward about not re-watching for screencapping purposes.

As far as DS9 goes, I just got to re-watch its Tribble episode which was as fun to see as the first time around. It was also cute how its episode menu had Tribble noises rather than the usual mechanical/tech noises (as last time it was on TOS’s 2nd season DVD set but this ‘copy’ is on the DS9 box set).

I did enjoy XWP’s “When in Rome” but I’m a little nervous about the impending angst I suspect will be central to “Forget Me Not”.

Sun & Moon continues to be a bright spot for me. I am almost to the League arc; obviously I know how it’ll end but I trust I’ll enjoy seeing how Ash finally wins a League. At this rate I suspect there’ll be a smallish hiatus before I start on the Orange Islands season.

Overall I’m enjoying The Mandalorian’s 3rd season. It’s imperfect but in all honesty? A lot of the time I’m okay Star Wars having fun vibes and going ‘this will be cool’ and having a blast (sometimes literally) with effects. Like, I can’t get terribly mad at Favreau & Filoni for how they’re running the asylum when I’d be making decisions with similarly mixed fandom reactions in their shoes. Still, I hope Satine gets at least alluded to in the finale.

Tomorrow I’m definitely going to be having some kind of reaction to the MMPR special so just be prepared for a bunch of posts on it for a bit regardless of whether or not I like it. I hope I like it but well… I’m a bit nervous about it going darker/edgier which worked for the reboot movie but I’d like the original show’s roots to stay true. Which reminds me, time to switch back my icon due to the special.

Eventually I hope to do a better job of chipping away at my to watch and/or read pile (it’s and/or as I have both Sailor Moon manga & anime in there).

[defendglobe]

anyway, jumping off that post i made the other day about odo being deanna's stepfather, here's some TNG/DS9 crew interaction headcanons:

-sisko and picard keep a respectful distance from each other. neither of them want to discuss what happened at wolf 359 but it's too big an issue to ignore. their interactions are limited to stuff like "congrats on your promotion to captain" or "sorry your ship was destroyed."

-since the TNG movies first contact and insurrection take place while worf is working on DS9, the TNG crew stay around for a few days when they bring worf back to talk about their latest adventure. after first contact, data scares the bejesus out of everyone by walking through the promenade with half his face ripped off.

-whenever geordi visits DS9 he ends up helping o'brien with repairs because something is always broken on DS9 and geordi is a workaholic. it's a good excuse to catch up and find out how keiko and molly are up to. he always leaves DS9 glad that he's the chief engineer of the enterprise and not station on fire trash can.

-riker sets up a poker table at quark's and invites julian and o'brien to play. julian gets all competitive is convinced that he can beat riker but o'brien (who regularly attended poker games on the enterprise and knows damn well that riker is an amazing player) tells him that he doesn't stand a chance. they play a game and riker absolutely wipes the floor with julian.

-data, geordi, and julian keep in touch after the events of TNG S6E16 because they're all autistic nerds who love infodumping. sometimes they'll try out each other's favorite holodeck programs together (sherlock holmes/james bond).

-also because of TNG S6E16, beverly keeps in regular contact with julian and lets him swing by the enterprise-E every now and then to use medical equipment that is more advanced than the stuff on DS9. she does still give him shit for literally breaking into sickbay that one time, though.

-sisko and beverly bond over being single parents and losing their partners because of their starfleet careers. beverly busts out some baby pictures of wesley and his ugly sweaters remind sisko of jake.

-jadzia and riker probably fucked at least once. they also swap weird sex stories in the middle of the bar. beverly walks by, says "by the way, i fucked a ghost once," and then walks away. jadzia hauls ass across the room to ask for context on that one.

-deanna goes to garak's shop looking for a new outfit and since she's a betazoid, she ends up telling him he really should consider therapy because his vibes are so off. garak does not appreciate that insight and has to resist the urge to go full obsidian order on her ass.

-picard and odo get along surprisingly well, since they both tend to hold people at arms length and are emotionally constipated as shit. if picard ever needs to pass on information to the DS9 crew, he usually goes through odo so he doesn't have to talk to sisko. also picard is super orderly most of the time, which odo appreciates.

-quark tries to ban data from the dabo wheel, saying that it's not fair for an android with superhuman abilities to gamble because he could easily rig the games. julian, o'brien, worf, and the entire enterprise crew threaten to beat the shit out of him for saying that. data explains to quark that his ethical program wouldn't allow him to cheat and quark ends up having to listen to data infodump about his programming.

-data occasionally joins in garak and bashir's gay little book club, because he appreciates hearing a cardassian perspective on human literature. since he's super direct/upfront all the time, he gets a bit confused by garak constantly talking in like fifty layers of euphemisms. bashir has to explain that no, this isn't a human social norm you're missing, garak is just Like That.

-the enterprise is out on an urgent mission when worf and jadzia get married, but the crew throws a hell of a party for them when they get back (riker and beverly were the masterminds here). likewise, the DS9 crew members who stayed around after "What You Leave Behind" are invited to deanna and riker's wedding. they're just off camera because they didn't want to be seen in such a bad movie, lol.

-guinan and quark get into a "who's the better bartender" type rivalry and compete by making a shitton of different drinks for people in the bar and having them vote. it ends in them getting arrested by odo for using romulan ale or some other illegal thing.

[youngpettyqueen]

once again thinking about the post-canon dynamics on DS9

[isaacathom]

ds9 yime, s2e4

jumping in for s2e4, its kind of weird that the three parter had the whole station evacuated, ends with everyone coming back, and then e4 immediately goes 'everyones evacuated' feels like perhaps this couldve been planned better. also the subtitles seem to have hanged styling now.

okay so now its weird again because quark has, once again, been forced to stay behind by dint of there not being enough space on the shuttles despite offers to pay, which is exactly what happened in the three parter. what is going on. this is like... deja vu.

oh good quarks pulling some shit (?) whats the deal with that

oh bashirs so delighted. love my excited funky guy.

ah. hmm. "is that supposed to be some kind of threat?" "they've got odo in there" "oh. i see :(" bashir you are a fucking delight

see my issue w/ st aliens is im looking at mareel and going... what... are you? we've got a klingon, we've got a trill, is she also a klingon?? but shes so pale. half klingon? like should i know what she is.

sisko asking if she knows the trill is like assuming anyone knows everyone else from X locale. she definitely does but ? still weird. YOURE HERE JUST FOR DAX? come the fuck on man. oh i see its a trill thing, understood.

verad's fascinating. oh come on man obrien hasnt done shit.

bashir is very good and i love him. hes very good. and very much doesnt want to be here. bashir looks fucking angry as shit at this whole thing. i love him for that. just resigned and furious.

ugh. gross. i hate medical stuff. that shits nasty.

oh boring shes motivated by love. snore.

sisko, folding his hands together: well now youre dax you'll be fully aware that me and dax are chill and cool.

hate to say it but jadzia talking about how empty and lonely it is without Dax is like. ooooh. i think i get it. and that feels unfortunate

oh this actor is having a BALL, getting to play a stammering awkward man and then walk back in playing for all intents and purposes a completely different character. yes!

i love that sisko knew he'd be able to fucking get into verads head off the bat because he knows Dax! he knows Curzon and Jadzia! he knows a lot of what he knows. he knows what theyre like. its so good.

mareel is 100% the most boring character here. motivated by love, immediately feeling jealous that her symbiont-ed boyfriend has a better relationship with Sisko than to her, snore.

"we are still friends, right?" "i hope so. come down the infirmary and prove it" sisko fucking rules man. and immediately going 'well, then we arent friends, fuck off' get his ass sisko!

fuck yea quark get his ass

... did they swap mareel and jadzia? cause she doesnt sound right and shes got a jadzia vibe. is that whats happening here. have i forgotten what jadzia's vibe is. like. somethings up. theres something going on here where like, theyre taking advantage of the fact Verad Dax doesn't remember Mareel anywhere near as much as he remembers Sisko, proportionally to lifetimes. SOMETHINGS going on here. okay no i just forgot what mareel sounds like but that wouldve been a fuck of a bit right, imagine that shit. i got overexcited about science bullshit

YES

JULIAN

YES

YES BOYS GET EM

julian just gets to be more competent in s2 i love that development for him

mareel is extremely boring but i commend the efforts being made, shes got some stuff going on.

get his ass benjamin! yes! yes! get his ass!

ohhh i understand the trill spot thing now, i see now why folks are wild for em, i needed to see them on more than just the temples and neck but i do think i understand.

well thats the only ep for the night (bc i was out earlier), that was nice! i liked it!

[pikechris]

I've recently binged both bbc and cbs ghosts and been a little obsessed with it but anyway it's given me an idea for a ds9 au with the same premise, namely ghosts: cardassia.

now imagine. it's months after the finale and julian has been working with the relief unit on cardassia for some time. sometimes he visits garak (for lunch? because they got together? who knows) in his garden shed but lives with the starfleet unit. one day he has a minor accident with the power grid or something that leaves him clinically dead for a lil bit but it's ok, the miracles of starfleet medicine etc. etc. he goes back to work the next day and doesn't notice anything, but then he goes to visit garak (who doesn't know about the accident) and finds him surrounded by a gaggle of oddly dressed cardassians. he asks about the visitors. there are no visitors, says garak. he doesn't know about them. because they're ghosts. and they're staring at him, wide-eyed, shocked that he can see them.

there are nine of them, and they are, in order of death:

a hebitian woman who was something like a farmer. she's kind and religious and wears very colourful clothes. she fell from a tall tree when picking fruits.

a hebitian man who died about 1000 years later, when the first invaders came after the climate catastrophe. a scientist. he was murdered by them.

a 20-something man, a child of the invaders, who died because of the awful conditions of the planet that were unkind to everyone. there's only a 30-year gap between his and the previous ghost's deaths. they don't like each other.

the housekeeper of the very first tain who built the very first house on that land. died of an accident in the kitchen. she's a very no-nonsense woman and will criticise your manners.

an artist who was staying in the house for some reason. nobody really knows how they died and they won't tell, probably because it's embarrassing. they're kind of a romantic and all about aesthetics and appreciation of art and beauty.

a gul who was a friend of one of the tains. died of a heart attack or some such. he's older. he's very into the military propaganda and all that but during the dominion war he was very anti-dominion and a fan of damar, thank you.

enabran tain's great-grandfather's brother. the gul knew him as a child. he was a lawyer who died of an illness. he also buys heavily into the system and the state propaganda. he has a sense of humour which is kind of annoying at times.

a young politician who was too pro-democracy and anti-bajoran-occupation for everybody's liking, so tain invited him over and killed him himself. he was a supporter of the oralian way. he gets along with the hebitians and the artist most of all, but also with mila, who likes him and is sorry for tain and for having to clean up his body.

mila garak, the newest ghost.

at first julian doesn't want to believe that they're really ghosts and thinks it has something to do with the accident, but then he remembers the incident with dr crusher and the candle ghost, which every cmo knows about because it impacted the fuck form policy, and other weird things he's seen or heard about, and concludes that it might not be impossible actually. plus they're all speaking kardasi and he reckons that if they were in his head, he'd hear english, if they were telepathic entities only he can see, he'd hear english, and if they were any other sort of entity, he'd head ut'd english, so clearly they must exist, be cardassian, and go unregistered by the ut. he grabs a tricorder and finds some faint energy readings that aren't normal when he scans them. so that's it, ghosts exist, apparently... and they can be very opinionated.

garak doesn't believe him at first but then julian starts telling him all sorts of stuff related to the time in the basement and even his childhood, supplied to him by the ghosts and most definitely previously unmentioned, and horrified that they'd just tell him all that, he concedes (mostly because he does know about hebitians and the oralian way teachings, and the idea of spirits and afterlife aren't as foreign and ridiculous to him as to most others). so now he knows he lives with nine ghosts, and one of them is his mother. he's mostly glad he can't see them, but it unnerves him all the same because they can see him.

julian is a bit unnerved as well, but he does get used to them (and other ghosts he now realises he sees everywhere else) fairly quickly and sees them as eccentric friends who can tell him interesting things about history and garak when he lived there, much to garak's dismay, and most of whom listen to him and need him to do things for them so they're less bored. some need time to get used to him because he's an alien, but they come around too eventually. he speaks the language, which is appreciated, and clearly cares about the cardassian people if he's there to help, and mila's elim loves him, and did they mention he's the only one who can see them and make things interesting? so he's alright. if they could get used to the idea of being ghosts and being ghosts together with two hebitians whose existence was erased from the history curriculum, well, they can get used to a human. for him, it's chaos at times, because they love to talk and argue and it makes it hard to focus when he's there and they're around, but he's patient and listens to them in turn, actually talks to them, and, being used to garak's nonsense, knows how to deal with them if need be. so that's fun. and, being a doctor and wanting to help people, he gets them to talk about things, sometimes, in an effort to help them move on. they don't, or not any fast at least, but he can try, eh?

so yeah. cardassian ghosts au!

[superbherbz]

official list of my least favourite ds9 episodes from each season and why

season 1 episode 11: vortex

there’s a moment where a rock falls on odo and he goes unconscious and IT HAS ALWAYS BOTHERED ME HE IS GOO HOW CAN HE FALL UNCONSCIOUS HE DIDN’T EVEN REVERT BACK TO HIS LIQUID STATE OR ANYTHING. anyway all in all it was just a little dull, although it showed odo as empathetic to someone else’s struggles outside of the law for the first time which was important to see.

season 2 episode 10: sanctuary

this episode always felt a little boring and disconnected to me. the aliens come and they leave and nothing is different and nobody is different and we never see them again. also their flaky alien skin kinda icks me. but that’s nitpicking. jake and nog were cute tho.

season 3 episode 9: defiant

kind of a disappointing episode. I wanted riker to actually come to ds9 maaaaan like when the camera panned over to him leaning against the doorway at the start I was literally kicking my feet and giggling. but then it wasn’t himmmmm. and the fact that it was thomas could have still been neat, but mannnn I don’t think he would have joined the maquis. I don’t feel like the story made any sense for him. also he just fecks off to prison at the end and it’s like oh. okay.

season 4 episode 14: sons of mogh

so worf’s brother wants to be killed because worf has brought dishonour on the family? and then instead of killing him they change his identity and give him plastic surgery and then never speak again? dude just wait for worf to get his honour back! this always happens and he gets it back every time! if you just waited a second! man. whatever.

season 5 episode 13: for the uniform

I wanted to say “a simple investigation” but that one scene with odo and o brien and bashir in the holosuite brings that ep up so much that it has to be this one.

idk man. I never liked eddington that much. he seemed kinda boring to me. bit of a drama queen. and I thought it was pretty messed up how sisko made that one planet uninhabitable to the people there and I feel like the fact that he did that was totally glossed over.

season 6 episode 8: resurrection

goddamn season 6 is really good. I don’t like the last episode because of......... you know....... everything with that.......... but other than that, I never really liked this episode too much because I never really loved bareil, just his music. and I never got why he felt compelled to leave at the end. like bro just stay.

season 7 episode 13: field of fire

I just made a post about this! basically, it’s not great and it really could’ve been.

let me know if you have any thoughts😁😁😁

[wisteria-lodge]

lion primary + badger secondary (bird model)

ie A HOUSE MATCH !!

Hellooo, I’m sorry for bothering you but I’ve found this blog and I absolutely love your character analysis and overall thought about the SHC system, and I could use some help?

I’ve known the system for a while now, since the old SHC tumblr times, and while understanding my current primary situation has been quite easy, I’m having A LOT of trouble with my secondary and it’s becoming a bit of a issue for me because the more I think about it, the more confused I become, to the point where it’s upsetting me a bit.

First thing first, my Primary is a very “standard” Lion, the whole “you feel if something is right or not and if you do something that’s not right to you you feel bad/ill/it’s wrong” is extremely me. I had some doubts about a Badger model, but I think it’s just that my personal ideals and values align a lot with a Badger worldview, since I grew in a very Badger society and family (very leftist, a lot of emphasis on equality and valuing and creating communities). Reading various description/interpretations of primary Lion always feels right, while reading primary Badger always makes me think “yeah, this is all good and nice, BUT…” so this was quite easy to sort out (no pun intended).

Are you me? So far... I could have written this. It’s possible I *might* be biased going forward. 

When it comes to secondaries, I see a lot of myself in Bird descriptions: I make spreadsheets for everything.

 Pretty Bird.

I am a crafter with an apparently endless supply of books and tutorials and supplies ready, and the enthusiasm to share them. 

That sounds more Badger. 

I am the mom friend 

Badger.

who always has what’s needed in their bag. 

Bird.

I am that one person you can count on knowing a funny or interesting anecdote about almost any topic, from the mundane to the truly obscure. Learning new things, about any topic, is literally one of my biggest pleasures in life. 

Bird [model?] Whichever one isn’t your secondary is a model you clearly love.

I take pride in all these things, but I honestly have trouble understanding if I like using them as tools because they help me with my ADHD and so I received a very strong positive enforcement using them and I kept the ones I like, or if I started doing them because they are what I like doing and coincidentally they help me managing my symptoms or better navigate the world in my day to day life.

Could be either, but modeling Bird because you’re neurodivergent is very much a thing.

Also, while I love planning, when it comes to making decisions I tend to gather all information and summarize it in a way that makes sense to me so I can visualize the issue in my mind as complete and detailed as possible, but the final decision tends to feel a bit… impulsive, to me?, there’s always A LOT of gut feeling involved, and when I don’t follow it usually it ends up being a wrong or subpar decision. I do need to gather all the available information about the issue/situation/item/people, but rather than making my decision by comparison, I use the information to make sure that I’m “seeing” the truth (or as close to it as it is possible) and then once I feel safe that I’m not overlooking anything important I just KNOW what is the correct decision.

That’s a Lion primary making a call. 

Could this simply be a very strong primary interfering with the decision-making, even when it’s not about ideals but more mundane things?

Decision making is always a primary thing. Mundane stuff included. Mundane stuff is important. 

On the other hand, I am an extremely hard working person (I am changing jobs right now because I feel like my old bosses are making more and more difficult for me to just do my job properly and without needing to cut corners, and it just feels wrong to me). 

Oh good lord. I am ready to sort you as a Badger secondary solely on the basis of THAT. 

People tell me I’m a very good listener and that I am especially good at helping others unravel their thoughts when they’re all confused and tangled because I ask the right questions. I seem to gain other people’s trust easily and often I get told gossip or secrets before others. 

Badger. Also DAMN but that’s relatable. I think you might house-match me. 

I got told several times by previous bosses that I should look into becoming a team leader because people like me and I make them get along better. 

Sounds like a Lion/Badger combo. 

People get attached to me very quickly and when I have problems the stream of folks asking if they can help or just checking in is always way more than I expect.

Isn’t it weird how that happens? 

This all sounds like Badger stuff, from the descriptions I read, but many of them are not things I actively enjoy doing, I just.. do them because it would be weird to do otherwise? Or it feels like they happen to me with no effort on my part.

Because they’re just you. It’s just who you are. 

I think they might be simply a result of me growing up in a society that values hard work and being kind to others, or just me being a likeable person

Not everyone finds this easy. Not even close. I have read so many testimonials written by people in Badger secondary households killing themselves trying to fit into this model. Wanting isn’t enough. Having examples around you isn’t enough. 

or maybe coping mechanisms I had to learn in order to “pass” as neurotypical but as I wrote the more think and read about Birds and Badgers and their differences, the more I get confused and frustrated.

Now I know I’m projecting, but all my neurotypical coping mechanisms come out of the Bird secondary toolbox. 

But it would make sense since I burned out badly in my teens from trying to always try to be perfect for my family, my friends, my teachers, society 

That sounds like a young Badger secondary, more than a young Bird secondary.

and when I finally found who I really wanted to be I resolved to never let anyone define what or how I should be ever again (hello there, Lion primary!)

I hear that. 

After a lifetime of beating myself up for not living up to the absurdly high expectations I set up for myself, I have decided that the only way to stay sane for me is to do the groundwork, be as prepared as I can

Bird

 put in the work I should

Badger

 but once I’m in the thick of it just… ride the wave. And now I got to the point where I have the confidence that I am smart enough to learn the basics of a new skill on the fly, if needed.

To me, this is so fundamentally, so spiritually Badger secondary. You don’t have tools. You are a tool. You made yourself into one. And that moment where you can just trust yourself to catch the world, absorb it into yourself, and become whatever it needs you to be... it’s ecstasy. 

I’d say that lack of time is my worst enemy, but due/thanks to the ADHD that’s not true most of the time, since lack of time is what enables me to get past the executive dysfunction in the first place, so I’ll say I have a love-hate relationship with it. Doing things just before a deadline is it’s own kind of high, after all (I’m not saying it’s healthy).

At the base of your soul, you’re not really a Bird prepper/planner. 

A practical example: I usually don’t like platforming games much, but I am LOVING Immortals: Fenyx Rising because in most situations, there is a “best” way to do things but you can also get creative by using different skills, using specific items, finding loopholes, or a combination of all of them.

Sounds like a Bird secondary having fun. [a fun model?]

When I fail a level/combat I don’t get frustrated because I know that I just have to try a few more times until I find the solution that feels right FOR ME, even if it’s not the most efficient ones. And when I do it feels great, even if I look a at guide afterwards and there’s a waaay easier solution! I usually feel a bit silly for not “seeing it” but also think something like “well, I think MY way is more fun!”

Oh yeah, a Bird secondary would not have that reaction. That is the sacred Badger consistency of method. How you do something matters equally as much as the final product. 

When I cook, I usually find a recipe I like and try it as written, then I make small adjustments to improve it, see how it turns out, and so on until I have a recipe that is MY recipe, one I really like and that I know well enough to use as a basis to be changed if needed, knowing exactly how the change will affect the end result. I think this is why I prefer baking to other kinds of cooking, since it’s much more akin to chemistry I feel like I have more control over what a change will do. 

On it’s own this could be a description of rapid-fire Bird. And you clearly have Bird, you have a lot of it. You love it. 

So I guess that what really matters to me is being able to do things my way so that I can enjoy the process and live up to my standards instead of external ones? 

But then you say something like this... it’s about the process... it’s about the method... it’s about something coming up to your own personal standards. And that’s so Badger. 

This ended up being very lengthy… I’ve tried shortening it but English isn’t my first language and I was afraid I might come across not clearly. 

Your English is perfect, and insanely clear. You’re clearer than I am. 

Thank you again for the blog, I especially like your DS9 characters’ analysis and I am low-key hoping for more :)

I’m particularly proud of those ones. I’d love to do more, but before that I would have to go back and re-watch the show, or at least key character episodes. I’m not going to sort from memory. That would be doing a show I love, and a number of extremely complex characters a disservice. And it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. 

(it’s that whole Badger integrity-of-method thing, you know how it goes.) 

[philosopherking1887]

DS9 canon that I refuse to accept

...and will not acknowledge in any future fanfiction I may write:

1.  Anything remotely resembling reciprocation of Ziyal’s romantic attraction to Garak. She has an inappropriate crush; that’s it.

2.  Ziyal’s death. Just... fuck that. I want more of Kira surrogate-parenting her and teaching her life skills like shooting things and beating people up; I want Kira and Garak being uneasy, competitive co-parents but grudgingly bonding over their concern for her, pride in her artistic talent, interest in seeing her learn how to kill people, and of course their loathing for Dukat. I want Ziyal to get over Garak and get into a relationship with Jake, because they’re both sensitive artistic souls with dead mothers and fathers in high places whom they love but in whose footsteps they do not want to follow.

3.  Bashir and Garak ‘drifting apart’ or however you want to explain the fact that they don’t talk to each other for most of seasons 6 and 7. I started reading A Stitch and Time and Andrew Robinson actually does try to explain it by means of (Watsonian) character development, whereas the only explanation I will countenance is the Doylist explanation that the writers and producers were desperately trying to no-homo the gay ship they accidentally wrote. Fuck that noise. As far as I’m concerned, Garashir is canon, and may have unfolded in something like the way I described in this post. Also, Bashir definitely came with Garak to Cardassia Prime after the war to help rebuild. As someone commented on the linked post, it’s out of character for him NOT to go down there and help when there’s a massive humanitarian crisis.

4.  Julian x Ezri. Bad for so many reasons: it felt rushed and forced; they don’t even interact that much, let alone have chemistry; it felt like she was being treated as Jadzia’s leftovers, or a consolation prize for not getting with Jadzia; and ultimately, it was the capstone on a whole campaign of trying to retroactively no-homo the undeniably homo relationship between Bashir and Garak. Plus, Ezri has as much lesbian energy as Kira. You know what? Maybe Ezri should get with Kira after Odo goes back to his home planet.

5.  The whole subplot with the Pagh-wraiths, unless it’s made a lot more comprehensible as sci fi rather than weird mystical/religious fantasy.

6.  Pursuant to 2 and 5: I don’t like the direction they took Dukat’s character in. I liked when he was a little bit morally ambiguous rather than just cartoonishly, world-endingly evil.

If Ziyal doesn’t die, he wouldn’t have a psychotic break. So... what happens instead? One option: Damar still shoots Ziyal, but the good guys arrive quickly enough that Bashir manages to save her (though it’s a serious enough injury that she probably needs rehab for a fair amount of time... which creates opportunities for sweet bonding with Jake). Dukat stays on DS9 when the Dominion evacuates because he thinks Ziyal is going to die, and he’s teetering on the edge of sanity until he finds out that she’ll live.

Things could go in various directions after that. He might stay a prisoner of the Federation and actually stand trial for his crimes during the occupation and the Dominion War; that could provide an opportunity to really examine his role, how much agency he really had, ‘the banality of evil.’ DS9 did Casablanca; this would be their opportunity to do Eichmann in Jerusalem.

Or he might still escape after crashing on a planet with Sisko, but he wouldn’t be hearing voices. Then what? He could still get involved with the ‘Pagh-wraiths,’ but it would be kept clear that they’re wormhole aliens who were exiled for some reason. Why were they exiled? What do they want? It should be something comprehensible, instead of the bizarre good vs. evil “we want to destroy the Celestial Temple and/or Bajor for no good reason” thing. Maybe they want to get more involved in the lives of linear creatures than the ‘Prophets’ do; maybe they do ‘possess’ linear creatures more often to find out what it’s like to be them (though apparently the Prophets weren’t above doing that in the case of Sarah Sisko). Maybe they’re especially interested in the Changelings/Founders, whose multi-perspectival existence is more like theirs than that of most solids/mono-forms. Maybe they want to help the Dominion, or emulate or rival them.

I may add to this list after I finish A Stitch in Time. Obviously a lot of the post-canon events would be different if Bashir is also there, and there wouldn’t be the stuff explaining the distance between Garak and Bashir in season 6 if they’re not only not distant, but publicly a couple (which by that point they should be).