#we have SO much good representation in Star Trek for so many people

[greenflower21]

I love Jewish Coded Star Trek species.

You know what I would love even more in Star Trek? Actual Jews.

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 3, Wave 2, Poll 12

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

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Norma Khan-Dead End: Paranormal Park

Qualifications:

They are confirmed to be bisexual and autistic within the series she is form.

Bisexual and autistic

She's autistic and bisexual (she's just like me fr XD)

Propaganda:

Norma is very good queer and autistic representation, showing her struggles with her autism within the series (especially in season 1, episode 3) and is the one of the first characters in an animated young audience directed series to officially come out of the closet to someone, which is a big step towards good queer representation within animated series, especially those directed towards younger audiences.

She's a badass magical security guard. Also once she found out that the actress who was her special interest was a hella creepy spirit who was haunting her own theme park, Norma took her tf down. She had so many emotions about it, got her own song about how she'd adored and looked up to this actress and how betrayed she felt and how hard it was. Also! Also she is so absolutely sweet and loyal and! and her mom supports her which is so SWEET.

There's this whole episode dedicated to her and her mom, and her mom is already so supportive of her being autistic and wants to be a part of her special interest, but unbeknownst to her mom her special interest has changed. (We don't like evil ghost ladies that possess innocent actresses in this house). Her NEW special interest is the paranormal and it makes her such a badass in the show but also a mega nerd at the same time and the two are not mutually exclusive! And she gets a crush on a girl and has this whole thing about coming out as bi and even though her crush is straight it's not weird between them. She's constantly battling demons both literal and metaphorical but comes out on top with friends and family that love her.

Elim Garak-Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Qualifications:

He has PTSD due to child abuse, as well as a painkiller addiction due to a brain implant. He is also extremely gay. Like literally everybody who watches DS9 immediately understands this about him. He was explicitly played by his actor, Andy Robinson, as attracted to Julian Bashir, and his only heterosexual romance is truly painful to witness. Andrew Robinson has also said that he has had a one-night stand with Dukat, one of the main villains of DS9 and noted lizard nazi. Do with that what you will. His closest relationship onscreen by far is with Julian.

Propaganda:

This man. There is a reason so many people are obsessed with him. Former spy, current tailor, forever an incurable bitch. Guilty of many war crimes, including onscreen attempted genocide. Once intentionally blew up his own tailor shop (with him in it) because he didn't want to ask for help with something. In his very first scene on the show, he wears an shirt that strongly resembles a watermelon, propositions Julian Bashir, and leaves while canonically high on painkillers. He has PTSD due to child abuse at the hands of the head of the space lizard KGB, who is also his dad, and a painkiller addiction due to a brain implant he has to help him withstand torture. He tortures a main character in one episode, and then a few episodes later they start having regular breakfasts together. Once got high on Space Weed and started systematically murdering people while making ominous announcements about chess over the PA system. The Most Character Ever.

Anything Else?:

He once told Julian to eat his rod. It was about a futuristic USB stick (datarod) but he still very much said it.

Submitted by @convenient-plot-device

[sophiaforevs]

Between the early cancellation of Discovery, Seven/Raffi and Mariner/Jenn being erased in their respective shows, and SNW having queer coded characters but not confirming anything on screen, I'm really afraid that we're entering another "No Gays in Trek" era.

For those who don't know, 90s era star trek featured so few queer characters b/c Rick Berman largely held a policy of not wanting any homosexuality in his shows. And yes, we all remember the handful of episodes that slipped through that addressed it but the fact remains that there were no canonically queer main cast members before Into Darkness in 2016 gave us a five second shot that could be cut when whoever was showing the movie found the idea of two men in a loving relationship disgusting.

Then we got Discovery with multiple queer characters that allowed people to feel seen. And people never stopped bitching about them. The amount of times that I've had to listen to people complain that Adira's only character trait is that they're non-binary despite that literally being a single thirty second scene and never brought up again makes me understand that they very likely don't want to like the queer characters in that show. And it's not that there aren't criticisms to be made about the queer representation in Disco: Discovery Buries it's Gays before the end of the first season. Making your trans characters aliens who already have a history of gender fuckery is problematic b/c it somewhat plays into the idea that queerness is unnatural for human beings. But I never hear those complaints. Only the pronouns. Only the "We get it you're gay but don't shove it down our throats." But I don't want to get too off topic.

Now Discovery is being canceled early. And by early I mean, the writers weren't given proper notice that their show was ending. They were halfway through production and allowed to adjust the end episodes of the season to try to give a satisfying ending.

In Picard and Lower Decks, we got two sapphic relationships ("sapphic" meaning a romantic or sexual relationship between two women who aren't necessarily strictly lesbians) and they were pretty good. People had been asking for Seven to be queer and Jeri Ryan had been playing her as such since her introduction (see again: Rick Berman) and to see her finally get to express that was really healing. Mariner got off to rocky feet when the creators tried to pull a "Dumbledore is gay" where they said she was bi but didn't commit to it, but they she actually got a fairly satisfying relationship in season 3.

But in their most recent seasons, both were completely written out. Seven/Raffi gave us no explanation beyond that they "broke up." They went out of their way to keep them from being on screen together for most of the season. Mattis said in a Reddit AMA that he wanted Seven to be captain and Raffi to be first officer at the end of the season and that Starfleet would have regulations against relationships between the two despite the biggest reason Seven was promoted to captain was that she was a rule breaker. We didn't even get that much for Mariner/Jennifer. Jenn just wasn't in this season except for two background appearances.

And in Strange New Worlds there's just… nothing. SNW is the most recent new show and there's no queer representation. They code Ortegas as gay but don't actually confirm it on screen. There's just… nothing.

And this is how you loose the culture war. The bigots make enough noise that the show that is supposed to be a beacon of diversity doesn't necessarily side with them but they just kinda bow out of the conversation. They decide that it's easier to not bother than to take a stand. And so I and many many queer star trek fans are left wondering:

Does the franchise even want us any more?

[captainhattersvoyagerstuff]

Why I Still Love J/C

Okay, I just really have to get this off my chest. There are people who don't like Chakotay, or won't ship him with Janeway because of the actor or the bad way Native American representation is shown. Now if you just plain don't want to mess with the character, don't like him, whatever, fine. But please don't let something an actor said or did keep you from loving a character or a work he was in. And don't ignore bad representation - try to improve on it.

I love J/C because I look at what is on screen. Their chemistry and caring relationship is incredible and inspiring to me. Everyone is welcome to their own ships, but that's the only one I have because it just seems so obvious to me. But I keep hearing people gripe about Beltran, or the representation. You can fix that, or read work that is fixed. It's called fanfic. If you're into the fandom at all you can see that fanfic Chakotay is not just like Chakotay on screen and definitely nothing like the actor.

The actor who played Icheb did some very bad stuff, but I hardly hear anyone say they won't use Icheb in a story because of this. So why Beltran? Why can't we just ignore these people instead of calling attention to them over and over? I'm not saying justify what they did, but remember they are real people with their own faults. They played a role, and even the most enthusiastic Star Trek actors are not as in love with the show as its fans are. It's hard to understand it, but it's true. I've watched podcasts with Tom and Harry's actors. They had forgotten many episodes, and didn't even know people didn't like Threshold. Why? Because this was a job for them. Maybe they enjoyed it, but it was still a job.

As far as representation goes, yeah they did an unbelievably horrible job, it's there from the beginning when Paris says racist stuff about "Indians". So I try to research, find stuff that is more accurate hopefully, or at least more respectful. It's a challenge, but worth it because there isn't enough good literature about Native Americans. And as far as Chakotay's character goes, there was, like so much of Voyager, wasted potential. So I try to add in that potential. Many fanfic writers do this wonderfully. I can recommend so many. His background in the Maquis, his faith, etc. We have that power.

TL;DR: If there is a ship you love, or a character, I really hope you don't let actors or bad writing turn you away.

[arielsojourner]

So in Star Trek the Next Generation 5x21 Episode "The Perfect Mate" the actress who will go on to be Jean Grey has her first debut as a mutant metamorph Kamala, who becomes the perfect spouse to whomever she bonds to. I liked the episode when I saw it as a kid. I rewatched this episode today and now that I know I'm ace and may or may not be aro, it is a really weird episode. Some of the weirdness:

Kamala never interacts with any woman. Dr. Crusher is quick to argue for her rights but never actually TALKS with her! And if Kamala is so lonely why isn't she allowed to talk to other women? Probably to avoid lesbian makeouts, but if Kirk could kiss Uhura, why not Crusher and Kamala? Even if we were pretending everyone was straight, why couldn't she just bond with Crusher and Troi and have an emotional conflict over doing her duty without just being horny for everyone man she meets.

Kamala empathically bonds with Picard not the man she needs to bond with to stop a war, her husband doesn't care about marrying her until he sees her and then seems to be in lust with her, and bonding to Picard makes her resolve to go through with the arranged marriage as a loveless duty even stronger. So does that mean she is Picardromantic an Picardsexual, but will never romantically love her husband but is fine having sex with him?

And then there is a throwaway line that men are frequently born metamorphs but women only once every 7 generations. What happens to the men I ask? Kamala was raised like royalty. What about the men? Inquiring minds want to know how that even works in their society? How highly sought after are these men?

I guess this whole rambling post is because I watched this episode with new eyes and have so many questions. And then I thought, what if there was an asexual character? Even better an aroace character? And I thought of how many shows or movies or episodes conflicts could be resolved if there was only an aro/ace/aroace character.

And then Data is chosen to be Kamala's chaperone since she can't entice him physically (since she is super horny) and she cannot read him with her empathy. She can't be trapped in her room with no friends (and no woman wants to see her apparently) so Data is the answer to "protect" her from her own libido and the libido of others. So are we to read Data as aroace?

(Do we consider Data ace or aroace? I never thought of it before. I think based on the season one episode with Tasha Yar he is sex neutral at a minimum. We know he is aroace but that is because he doesn't have emotions, but then he gets his emotion chip so then he isn't aro anymore, I think? Does that make him allo? I've headcannoned lots of people ace/aro/aroace but never Data!)

But even if we are to read him as a "Safe" non-allo, Data is entirely incompetent almost portrayed with a childlike simplicity so much so that he can't tell when men are hitting on Kamala and lying to him (I mean I know I am not good at picking up flirting but the show is painfully obvious even for me that Kamala wants to party with the miners hanging out on the ship and can't keep her hands of Riker. I can pick up on what she wants).

But after one near miss in Ten Forward, Data is just fired from his job as chaperone and conversation partner. Why? An aroace character or even an ace or an aro character would be the perfect solution, so to create imaginary conflict we just make the only arguably aroace character incompetent/useless?

But then, I don't really vibe with Data being any sort of ace or aro or aroace representation (his wishes to be "human" = only allos are human). But if he is a standing for an aroace character whom she could be "safe" with, he is ditched as any sort of possible companion. So he just is a failure at keeping people company because she can't get him aroused or make him romantically interested?

I am so confused.

[langernameohnebedeutung]

TBH, I don't consider reducing/hiding scars a minor pet peeve at all. Activists for facial differences have been talking for years about 'disfigurement' being used as shorthand for moral failings. I could blame wanting to lighten the burden on makeup artists, but there's never any hesitation to make villains scarred. It's only if the character is meant to be sexy or heroic that their scars get toned down or removed.

DEFINITELY!

I think there are many aspects to this, the biggest one being the one you mentioned, this dynamic of villain = scarred, hero = not scarred.

And another thing that I hate about it is how especially in adaptions they take a facial difference and make it much smaller, less visible, move it etc. - and then try to pull off the same narrative about this character being perceived as not conventionally attractive. Which immediately becomes incredibly condescending and makes it even worse, especially when they choose a conventionally good-looking character to play that role.

An example:

He is supposed to look "monstrous" - like bro, what does that make the rest of us?

(And just to make the dehumanisation of people with facial differences more obvious: In the source material, this guy had half-lion features)

Another aspect I can think of is the fetishisation of self-hatred in this regard. It is portrayed as "good" when a character with a facial difference (especially a woman, in these tropes) puts herself down - but then in swoops a love-interest to tell how beautiful they are. Meanwhile, a character with a facial difference or something similiar who - for themselves - says: "Hey, actually I like the way I look" - is treated as arrogant and the butt-end of the joke. (There is this Colleen Hoover book I'm thinking of here, as one example, that in my defence I only watched a pretty scathing review of)

But I also think that there are some racial aspects and gender aspects to this. There are probably a lot of people more qualified to talk about these racial aspects of this and maybe I am imagining things or don't see the full scope of it but I definitely feel like they feel far more comfortable doing this "villains have scars" thing with characters of colour - at least relative to the amount of representation characters of colour get to begin with. And it feels like...well, again, I'm not the best person to put this into words but since it usually goes hand in hand with the villain-trope, it feels like an effort to dial up the othering, especially in older shows and movies that use stuff like rituals or something for shock value. To make other races or cultures look sCaRy and DifFeReNt.

Or - just the first example that comes to my mind: The original mirror-verse episode of Star Trek. The reason I'm mentioning this is because it is a piece of media where you can see side-by-side which visual cues writers settled on to make our characters look "evil": One is dialling up the sexy - especially with the women who are all much more horny - another is giving mirror!Sulu a big facial scar. And on the surface level, the reasoning even makes sense - that world is a lot more brutal so it makes sense that someone would have scars. But for one, there is the interesting choice to make Sulu the character to give it to. Not to mention: Our "normal"-verse characters also see fights and injuries. They could have scars very reasonably. Star Trek is all about inclusivity - but there is a notable absence of e.g. scarring of visible body differences in the original show - they even used body doubles and selective shots to hide James Doohan's missing finger. But the moment we go into an "evil" universe, there is facial difference and it is on the body of a man of colour.

And then you have the issue that female characters must not have visible scars in most cases - because they have to be eye-candy for the audience. And considering the huge pressure that is already placed on women to be beautiful, it feels like another body standard in the media ("we will show women suffering in all shapes all the time to the point of being exploitative, but also they heal back perfectly and don't appear changed at all. So the audience gets to eat their misogyny cake and eat it too.) Meanwhile, some male hero characters (usually action heroes, video game heroes) do get to have scars or some facial difference to show their "journey" and how much they hardened and what they survived - which I think can be a positive message - "hey, your scars talk about what you went through and what you survived and that you're a badass!" - but women get this to a much smaller degree despite having extra tons of pressure placed upon them to look beautiful so it feels really cool (also - referring back to my first point, self-empowerment is also treated as negative and almost egomanical because informing a woman that she is beautiful is a man's job)

(An example: I watched a a Netflix adaption of a book I had read recently and in the book, two major female characters have an identical scar on their face and that is pretty relevant to the story - and they just decide to place in the palms of her hands instead where it is much less visible and the scenario behind the first woman's injury becomes a lot less believable than the one in the novel)

And the thing is, I don't even always buy that it to save on make-up or effects in a lot of cases because often they are productions that have tons of budget for other things and a lot of movies and shows can show their characters for half the episode/movie with scrapes on their face and blood on their face etc. I have a hard time believing that this is so much harder to do than a scar.

[aureliacetinn]

gerodi la forge differently designed

(image desiption

Gerodi la forge without vizor eyes unfocused going in slightly different direction, wearing his yellow uniform standing stoic but proud, the spectrum the vizor lets him see from (or should only read thread as to why I think that) it refracting of his face as the effects  surrounded him a lil like he being beamed up to a ship.)

Embrace the spectrum of blind/V.I eyes artists!, embrace the nuance of disabilities people!

Gerodi la forge is a complicated representation for the blind/chronic pain  community though probably more positive than most but still falling under the technology ruining the nuance of disability.

So I wanted to draw him and show a more accurate(imo) portrayal of his eyes without the visor to 1 cuz white clear eyes trope annoys me

2 to not want to hide blind person eyes as media often tends to do (minus sunglasses needed for blind actor due to sensitivities)

3 cuz they cause pain and so he should have them off more often.

to note a lot of what im going to say is written way better an documented better by janet jay a lot of my sources are from here amazing piece on gerodi you should read: https://www.janetjay.com/what-star-trek-got-wrong-about-geordis-disabilities/ also if you in blind community are fine with his eyes portrayed as more cataract, that’s valid too.

So gerodi la forge for me as a avid star trek fan was important, hey I can exist if he can he not been erased!  Buuuuuuuut,

 it did urk me that 1 he was kinda a lil nerdy creep trope that never got a gf which levar burton himself has called out as racism from the shows writers (sources at bottom of thread) id also argue ableism also and many able bodied people treat disabled people as sexless.

 but also that he never got to be disabled really, he suffered from chronic pain form the vizor but kept choosing to not take pain pills or treatment, which you know that’s some inner ableism right there I did to myself as a teen, and I kinda think gerodi reinforced it a lil in me,

“look where he is, he deals with the pain he never shows it”

Not a great message really, gerodi never is allowed to show the struggle they choose that the vizor existing was enough, and yes we got that amasing ep where he didn’t want to be fixed, but that would then be countered by never showing the struggle. Women at warp did a great ep where on disability karrisa mehr calling gerodi a disabled version of a “manic pixie dream girl” feels very apt.

Never allowed to complain just be quirky gerodi.

And on to the vizor

The vizor is complicated , it apparently let him  see much of the EM spectrum", ranging from simple heat and infrared through radio waves” now I personally am all for mobility aids that have cool attachments but it’s a delicate balance of unique features and fixing and or making them more powerful than able bodied colleague-cuz thats fixing, and I feel gerodi with how show wrote it and portrayed him it was a magic fix more than an aid, why I chose to only show the thermal spectrum in image, instead of how it apparently can see everything more than human eyes can anyway which yeh defeat aid purpose.

image of vizor silver sem ring over eye with gold lines across not fullyblcokign vision 0

and it gave him chronic pain, they choose this as a balancer, okay…but then never portrayed it just did to show how gerodi overcame his disabilities and gets on with it like a good soldier. So yeh im mixed on it. They made great use in ep when it was hacked by cardassians this is the cool thing you can do with mobility aids (unless you just destroy them, fuck you then) and that was interesting for the time, but um then in he insolence of office the ebook gerodi forced to have his vizor REMOVED so he can stay in star fleet as its now a security risk- NOT OKAy you could have just had a redesign or a arc of gerodi having to fight for it if you must but no , brain surgery remove this part of you!!

(gif desicription men seeing tea they drink is funky to show how gross what they did to gerodi waas)

so yeh my ending take is gerodi is complicated overall that’s still a positive over most disabled rep in sci-fi but many mistakes were made and some part of gerodi was harmful and picard sure as hell didn’t address that. They show his eyes now but its still the white cloudy trope and knowing its for awful reasons kidna ruins that. So I hope my art here just shows his potential and blind eyes diversity, but opens up discussions in not fixing and overcoming can be toxic and that

pain is part of a disability its part of the rep and it sucks

this is very important to remember when depicting disability that there’s nuance guys.

Thank you

Levar burton on gerodi: https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/12/15/star-trek-the-next-generation-star-levar-burton-says-geordi-laforge-never-finding-love-was-racist-those-white-men-who-wrote-the-show-had-an-unconscious-bias-that-was-on-display-to-me-and-to/

[hitchell-mope]

Phrases I think [tumblr] needs to learn.

They are. Temporal context. Periphery demographic. Queerbaiting. Collateral damage. Three of which a lot of people use incorrectly to their advantage. And another that I’m 90% sure they’re ignorant about the actual meaning of. So for the purposes of this post I’ll be listing them along with the meanings and some examples. Like so:

Temporal context. Understanding that when a show, film or book is made and/or set more often than not influences its contents. For example. Stranger things. Friends. Harry Potter. Original star trek. Classic doctor who. You cannot and should not approach these with a 2022 mindset because things made and set twenty or a hundred or hell even five years ago are never going to match the current morality system you’ve cultivated through social media. Either continue being mad that a show set in Reagan’s America hasn’t said the words gay or lesbian to describe its two lgbt characters yet or acknowledge they’re doing a helluva lot more than an actual show from the eighties would’ve done, move on and enjoy what they’ve done so far. Trust me. You’ll be so much better off if you do

Periphery demographic. Why we aren’t getting actual canonical lgbt characters in mainstream Disney movies while the current old guard are still around. It’s all very well and good to go on about how “don’t they know what I would’ve done for representation as a kid?” But they don’t. Because they don’t care about the Tumblr demographic. They care about entertaining the five year olds and the parents with the money to spend on the film who might not want to take the kids to see it if there’s anything they might find objectionable in it. And sadly. Quite a few believe that lgbt content kids films is poisonous to their precious offspring. It’s a truly, truly, horribly shitty belief system. But still. It’s the ugly truth.

Queerbaiting. I’ve heard of it. I’ve never seen it. And all the pairings I’ve seen labelled as it. Ain’t it. Destiel. Supercorp. Swan queen. Byler. Johnlock. That’s not queerbaiting. That’s fans latching on to something that isn’t there and going ballistic and quite frankly terrifyingly entitled when it doesn’t happen. Just because you think a character that’s only ever been interested in the opposite gender is secretly gay and in love with your obsession doesn’t make them gay or make you right. No matter how much meta, fanfic or gifsets you make and consume. Clothes, eating habits, hair and way of speaking doesn’t make someone gay. Do you know what does? Actually being homosexual. Which Dean, Kara, Emma, Mike and John are not. Headcanons are fine. But if you have to change every single little thing about a character to enjoy the show. Then you shouldn’t be watching said show.

Collateral damage. Audrey Rose in descendants. Lindsey Lister in Gilmore Girls. Side characters (Lindsey) or antagonists (Audrey) that exist to be a background character in the main characters story. Unfortunately. Many fans latch onto these characters are bleat about how they deserved better. When they didn’t. Especially in Audrey’s case. Lindsey existed purely to show that Dean Forester, that poor poor mistreated boy, wasn’t over Rory. Audrey existed as the stereotypical bitch that the boy leaves for the better option. And when they tried to give her depth. Her still didn’t get wet. I hate Audrey. Always have. Always will. And I don’t care about Lindsey. But they served their purpose. And fans should leave it at that.

So there you go. Four phrases that [tumblr] should learn. If you do. Then you might wind up being ever so slightly calmer than you were before.

[happyflux]

Star Trek posting again because oh man I am rotating stuff in my mind so much. Putting it under a cut because this turned out really long but it’s about Data and autism and how much I love this funny little android.

So I know that these days, when we talk about autism representation, a lot of people will talk about the long-running sci-fi trope of the autistic coded alien/robot. Specifically they will talk very negatively about it, about how it’s dehumanizing and alienating and, to use a word that I’m aware has absolutely zero meaning these days but that’s kind of the point, problematic. Up until very recently I used to agree with that viewpoint- in the abstract it sounds reasonable, it makes sense, so being the 99 gen z I am, I just... sort of bought into it, went along with it, started complaining about it whenever i saw it without giving it much thought.

And then I started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and oh. Oh. Oh, Data.

Data feels more authentically autistic, more relatable to me as an autistic person, than any other character I’ve seen in any production, especially in productions of this scale. The only other character I can think of who comes close is Raddagher from Find Us Alive, an extremely niche indie podcast that started airing in 2019. Data was out there in the 80s, more than a decade before I was even born, and while yes he’s an android, and yes he’s not explicitly autistic... He is the first character I’ve seen on TV to actually make me feel that hey, that’s a person like me-feeling that good representation is supposed to give.

See, Data doesn’t just fit all the typical autistic coded boxes- not getting jokes, speaking overly formally, being emotionally constipated to the point of being convinced he doesn’t experience emotions at all despite very clear evidence to the contrary, et cetera. I mean- he does fit all of those criteria, but so do all those more recent autistic characters that I don’t feel this way about.

Data infodumps; whenever asked a question he will, unless interrupted, be happy to tell the asker everything he knows about the subject. He always makes sure to be as clear and direct as possible when explaining something, he doesn’t want to leave anything out, even if others might find that annoying. No matter how many times he’s told off for this, he doesn’t change.

Data has special interests, that aren’t “useful”; usually with autistic characters in media their special interests will be something like their field of science or maths or something like that, but Data’s special interest is Sherlock Holmes. He will cosplay and drag his friends into re-enactments and will quote the books and walk around with a pipe (until told off for that) and imitate Sherlock’s mannerisms in a way that is just, so familiar.

This might be a small thing to some, and it might just be because I don’t watch enough stuff, but before Data, I have never seen a character practising expressions in the mirror. Never. 

And- and this is the thing that really makes me love Data as autistic representation- Data is loved, by the entire crew, not just in spite of his autistic traits but because of his autistic traits. Even though he is not technically human, his colleagues, no, his family, never once treat him as lesser for being the way he is. There are times when he is dehumanized, for sure, but that is always coming from someone who is an outsider in some way, and it is always rejected wholeheartedly by the people who know him. Data, as he exists in the show, is a statement that autistic people are worthy of love and respect, and that it is the duty of those around us to fight for our rights to be treated as human.

I am not by any means saying that Data is a perfect analogy for an actual autistic person; he’s not, there’s a lot about him that isn’t accurate to that experience at all... but despite all that, he feels more relatable to me than a lot of characters who on paper should be better representation. And he’s been on TV since 1987.

[republictrooper]

Strange New Worlds s2e2 Spoilers

Ah, yes, yet another metaphor for modern discrimination and prejudice that doesn't really hold up and may be slightly insulting if you think about it too long.

I mean, Star Trek is a show about metaphors, I get it. But it's only so many times you can go with Metaphors that center a white cis actor playing basically a straight cis white person being on trial/in danger for some sci-fi property like genetic modification or etc. before it kinda gets a little insulting? Like, Black people, queer people, they're in danger TODAY, for various reasons that have little to do with a "justifiable" Eugenics War or fear of Magic Powers, and simply because it is useful for the powers that be that they be an underclass.

Like, you borrow from that well too much without giving the actual modern people adequate representation, it starts getting very noticeable. Mostly, it reminds me that the Federation is a centrist liberal's idea of a socialist utopia, with all the weaknesses granted from that ideology, rather than a full socialist utopia as might be dreamed up by an actual socialist, much less a Marxist Communist.

But also, HELL yes, Neera, tear through the Federation's Hypocrisy and the absolute shit-show that is the Prime Directive like a hot knife through Butter, I LOVE you. You could argue that her actions with Admiral April were self-serving grandstanding, but I felt like they were genuine and the type of needed-to-be-said thing that made it worth it, and certainly a gripping few minutes of television. I think what sealed it too was seeing her comfort La'an about her genetic heritage. This isn't just grandstanding or a crusade for her, it really is about what is right. I can understand April insisting on the regulations, but I dont think he had the right to be as angry at Pike as he was.

Hell yeah, Uhura, stand up. I was so proud of her for refusing to share people's private info. I mean, it seemed more like a way to protect La'an than protect a right to privacy, but you know. I like her backbone anyhow.

Batel doesn't know when to quit, literally and metaphorically. Like, I understand that she's trying to balance her duty to Starfleet with her need to keep access to her favorite boytoy, but like, dang. Her presence in the transporter room suggests Pike has forgiven her, but I'm not sure she earned that. As much as she was rooting for Una, in theory, she seemed more content to be relieved Neera turned out to be good counsel than actually willing to help.

Pasalk and Spock's knock-down, drag-out fight was absolutely hilarious - and I love sassy Spock on the defense stand. I'm not sure I buy Pasalk as an antagonist. He was so flimsy I didnt get why he was so insistent on doggedly pursuing Una.

This episodes climax definitely once again showed the weakness of this being a prequel. of course it's obvious Starfleet's Prejudice is wrong here, but there was no way this could have ended in anything but a loophole that let Una stay but didnt help anyone else. If it happened, then Bashir's story in DS9 makes no sense. Like it or not, the Federation still comes off as bad guys here. Which I think the episode doesn't necessarily shy away from, but it is a little depressing, not gonna lie. Like it or not, Una got off on a technicality and the Federation is everything Neera said it was in that opening argument.A true sequel set in the post-VOY/DS9 future could have dealt with that in a more meaningful way, but instead we got... this.

The clapping at the end didnt land for me, but Pike's awkward bro-hug was the perfect end to this episode. We got through it, we saved Una, and it's good to have her back, but like. Man. That was weird, huh?

Anyway, ok episode, not gonna replace Measure of A Man as Star Trek's best courtroom/thinly veiled metaphor for prejudice any time soon.

And yes, Neera and Una Are DEFINITELY exes. Can't fool me with this "friend" talk.

[sshbpodcast]

Even a fanfic season of Enterprise is better than a 9/11 season

by Ames

After the deplorable nationalist nightmare that was season 3 of Enterprise, pretty much anything would be an improvement. And the final season of the Trek prequel series was… fine, I guess? Under the eye of the late showrunner Manny Coto, the show got back to its roots. A lot. Sometimes too much. But it’s a prequel series after all and that was sort of its expectation, so ya know what, your hosts at A Star to Steer Her By can sort of forgive it.

Much of season 4 feels a little like fanfic, much of the season was made up of two- and three-parters, and the whole thing fizzled to a finale that most fans utterly deplore, but still. Better than season 3. So what did your SSHB hosts think of these last twenty-something episodes? Grab your ushaan-tor and find out below and on this week’s podcast episode (jump to 1:15:34 for season chatter) featuring bonus picks from guest star Liz! En garde!

[images © CBS/Paramount]

Top Three Episodes

It was especially hard to come up with good episodes this season, partly because they all ran together in multi-episode arcs that were hard to pick apart, and partly because so much of it was very meh. So what rose to the challenge?

“Borderland”: Caitlin The first three-part romp starts off with the potential to build to something decent (though you’ll see shortly that that doesn’t exactly come to pass). But the Enterprise folks knew enough about how to win our hearts: involve Brent Spiner! We’re really easy to please in that regard, and meeting a new Soong who loves to ham things up is enough to bring this episode to the tops list.

“Cold Station 12”: Ames And Brent is even better in the second part of the Augments journey, so we’re seeing a little more representation of that arc here. Watching Soong reunite with his loser son Smike is touching enough on its own, but then he also grapples with his own ethics when he sees the delight that his other loser son Malik takes in torturing people. Just what is a mad scientist to do?

“The Aenar”: Ames In a season that mostly scrapes by as “fine,” there aren’t a ton of standouts, so when the Aenar show up, at least they’re something original and interesting. This newly contacted race of blind telepaths who live under the ice proves engaging enough in an otherwise confounding three-parter. More of these guys and less of the Romulans, I say, which is normally sacrilege on this podcast.

“United”: Chris, Jake You’ll notice that Chris and Jake overlap entirely in their tops picks this season, which seems like some kind of conspiracy to me. They’re getting along as well as Vulcans and Andorians and Tellarites in the middle of this confusing plot about Romulan nonsense, so that’s something. And as usual, Shran proves to be an utter delight even if his fight to the death with Archer ends in a cop out.

“In a Mirror, Darkly”: Chris, Jake Chris has been bigging up this mirror universe claptrap literally since the start of this podcast eight years ago, and it turns out to be the campy nerdfest we all expected it to be. It’s definitely the most we’ve enjoyed the mirror universe since “Mirror, Mirror.” Even the title sequence gets in on the game! So if you like fun romps that are full of little easter eggs, this episode may be for you! (Chris is going to LOVE Lower Decks.)

“Observer Effect”: Ames, Caitlin This one’s actually a super simple concept executed surprisingly well! It just goes to show that bottle episodes can be some of the best episodes because, rather than going all out on bells and whistles, the focus is more on characters, pacing, and filming technique, all of which “Observer Effect” excels at! The slow build of suspense is masterful, and every actor gets to play an Organian at one point or another. Fun!

“Terra Prime”: Caitlin, Chris, Jake Many fans argue that this is where the whole series should have ended, and we’re inclined to agree. Sure, there’s a lot of fat to trim off of the two-parter that “Demons” and “Terra Prime” comprise, but who can say no to watching Peter Weller’s performance as the irredeemably xenophobic Paxton? We also appreciated some lovely work from Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock with their doomed baby thing.

—

Bottom Three Episodes

You’re going to see a couple of episodes with full sweeps from your hosts in the Bottoms list because, boy, were there some bad eggs this season. Not to mention that most of the two- and three-parters were unfortunately uneven as hell.

“The Augments”: Jake Remember how the Augments arc started out with such potential? Well it doesn’t quite stick the landing in the final installment of that arc, which just became repetitive and full of more teenage angst. Sorry, but Malik just plain isn’t that interesting a character, let alone a villain. The whole batch of augmented kids start to feel too much like a drama on the CW, with not enough substance to carry three episodes.

“Divergence”: Chris The main dumpster fire of the Klingon plot is the fully unnecessary retconning of why Klingon foreheads in The Original Series are smooth but in other series are ridged. It’s the answer to the question no one asked, and frankly makes us feel dumber for learning. Even Trip shimmying through space on a wire or some actual ethical character work from Phlox (for a damn change!) can’t save this awful premise.

“Affliction”: Ames, Caitlin We’re not even done shitting on the Klingon augment virus two-parter, as both are represented on the bad list! We start the whole thing off with some preposterous set up which includes the utter retcon that Reed is an unwilling pawn of Section 31, which we’ve been frankly over since that catastrophe “Extreme Measures” in Deep Space Nine. And don’t worry: Paramount is going to force feed us more.

“These Are the Voyages…”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake As promised, you have TWO episodes with sweeps, and this is one of them. Frequently voted as the worst of all Star Trek, the series finale is a slap in the face to any actual Enterprise fans out there (if there were any to begin with). But for Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis to basically take over the show just after it’s been canceled is rude as hell and does a disservice to the characters we’ve been following.

“Bound”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake But I’ve saved this one for last because it’s so insulting. All the men on the Enterprise end up entranced by some Orion slave girls sexing up the place, which isn’t cringey enough on its own somehow that we’re forced to watch a full music video of them writhing around. But it’s okay after all! The writers have subverted the situation by making them empowered slave girls! Who just really like being slaves! What?

—

So long, NX-01! That’s all from the abruptly canceled Enterprise. We’ll never know if this show could have bounced back from some more mediocre ideas, generally unoriginal plots, and more Archer yelling at crewmen than we were expecting. There’s nothing left to do but check out our full series Top Five Star Trek ENT Episodes and Bottom Five Star Trek ENT Episodes blogposts. Keep following along here and on SoundCloud as the podcast prepares to move into less charted territory! Bounce a signal off Echo 1 over on Facebook and Twitter, and don’t give cheese to Porthos!

[misscammiedawn]

TAGGING LIST CONTINUED (because Tumblr only allows 100 links per post)

Fandom Tags:

Rush (the band) - Our favorite band. The First Constant. London (the city) - Our hometown. The Second Constant. Coffee (the drink) - Our favorite drink. The Third Constant. Ace Attorney - Meme factory. Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul - Meme factory. Castlevania - We like Vania. We just don't post about it often. Celeste - Trans folx can double jump. Plural folx can triple jump. Control - Jesse is such a great character. Faden/Pope forever. DBZ - Mostly shitposting but I often defend that Z is well written. DC Comics - I guess DC are okay. They're not Marvel though. Disco Elysium - Socioeconomic theory through the lens of a human disaster. Discworld - Best fantasy author. Dropout/Game Changer - I love silly improv fools and their dumb torture gameshow Dungeon Meshi - Autistic representation and Italian wlw monsterfuckers. Final Fantasy - We played Seven through to Ten The Good Place - The best mainstream philosophy show. Heaven Will Be Mine - Chicks dig giant robots. Mechs and queer theory. (Worst Girls Games like We Know The Devil are also in this tag) House of Leaves - That damned maze that my mind is trapped in forever. Hulk - Hulk is our favorite. DID sad boi and angry fail system forever. In Stars and Time - Trauma, time loops and coins with two sides. Kingdom Hearts - How many kids can fit in that heart anyway? Leverage - Meme factory. Parker is best thief. Marvel Comics - We are an unabashed Marvel fangirl. Metal Gear Solid - Used to be one of our faves. It's beautifully stupid. Mr. Robot - Our favorite TV show. It has its flaws but it heals. Neon Genesis Evangelion - We love this series more than we have words for. Pathologic - Existentialism and prickly pricks. We like Clara a lot. Penlight - VN that educates on the dangers of hypnokink and the joys when done right. Persona - Used to be big into this franchise but not so much these days. Phantom of the Opera - The musical is kinda hypnohorny, okay? Sailor Moon - Don't post here much but the aesthetic and vibes are peak. Scott Pilgrim - Canadian boy who is the worst and manic pixie trans girlfriend. She-Ra - Catra is our BPD cat wife. We love her. Signalis - Sapphic existential horror with robots, time loops and SYMBOLISM! Sonic - You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum that raised me. Sonic fandom forever. Spider-Man - Spidey is also a sad boi. Ben Reilly is our favorite. Star Wars/Star Trek - As an in-joke to ourselves we tag both franchises as "Star Stuff" Tamora Pierce - Second best fantasy author. Ted Lasso - Mental health and footie mens. Saccharine show. Tsukutabe - Adorable yuri manga about asexual women finding love and themselves. It's Madison/Belladonna if you replaced the hypnosis with meals. Tumblr :) - I love it here! Tumblr :( - I hate it here =/ Twin Peaks - Best TV show. Umineko - Meme factory and earnest story about generational trauma. X-Men - Marginalized communities fight for their rights in the best soap opera. Zelda - Link. HE COME TO TOWN!

Post Highlights:

Time Loops and Dissociation - A 5 act breakdown of how In Stars and Time exemplifies the allegory of time loops while depicting a protagonist with Complex PTSD.

Dissociative Disorders and Hypnosis - At Charmed 2024 a 101 class taught not to hypnotize people with mental illnesses that include dissociation. I FIRMLY disagree and explain how to safely work with dissociative partners.

Ethical Personality Play - A post about how hypnosis personality play is edge play and though I discourage anyone doing it, if you must, I will teach you how to do it safely. I have a lot of experience.

Recontextualized Memory and Unprocessed Trauma in Umineko - A rundown of how the murder mystery visual novel Umineko handles the topics of PTSD, complicated grief and unprocessed trauma memories with an explanation of distorted Core Beliefs and how the mind recontextualizes memories as they are retrieved throughout a person's life.

Mr. Robot DID Representation - Why I think Mr. Robot has the best representation of DID in popular fiction and why the ending was a complete fumble of the ball.

Mr. Robot Back to the Future & Brainwashing - How Whiterose brainwashed Angela, focused on psychological principles being abused and how the show's reliance on pop culture references influences in and out of universe.

For editing purposes: (Link to first post)

Miss Cammie Dawn Masterpost

Introduction:

Hi all! Welcome to my combination psychology, fandom, hypnokink, fandom and personal blog!

We're a middle-aged trans woman in our 40s. We're diagnosed with DID and type about it sometimes. We are American but have a British accent and we simply type too dang much.

People seem to like us, I guess? We're a system of 5 and have a huge draw to writing about dissociative disorder representation in fiction. If that's something that interests you then check out our Media Essays tag.

-

Our Tagging System:

Last updated: 10/13/2024 -

I am addicted to tags. If you ever want to find my original content or my fandom posts you will be able to easily here. Just click on the links below and all shall be neatly organized.

Also there are secret tags which are not advertised. Those ones are for me. A little personal treat.

General Tags:

Cammie Posting - tag for a soft and playful girl. Camden Posting - tag for a traumaqueer. Dawn Posting - tag for a flirty and extravagant Fae. Craig Posting - tag for the boy that lives in the heart of a girl. Utility Tag - Wynn's tag for a survival part who is learning to live.

Original Content:

Artwork Commissions - Any time I pay a lovely creator to do some art for me <3 Cammie Photos - Photos which feature this beautiful ginger in all her glory. Cammie Stories - My hypnosis related short stories. Fictional ones this time, though sometimes inspired by reality. Hypnokink Original Content - My little submissions of audio, visual or written hypnosis stuff. Hypnokink Writings - My personal opinions, info and resources on Hypnokink. Madison and Belladonna - Our series of hypnokink stories slightly based on reality going over a pair falling in love while one navigates their dissociative disorder Media Essays - A tag for my own big lengthy posts breaking down media (sometimes includes reblogs of other people's commentary) Media, Myself and I - Essays on DID representation in media. Photos We Took - We don't often share our proper photography work on Tumblr but sometimes we do and tag them here ReadOnlyMind - External link to my full length stories shared on ReadOnlyMind Scene Stories - Posts where we describe a scene that we did IRL. If I use this tag it is a recounting of real events. Suggestion Suggestions - Ideas for hypnotic scenes. Video Posts - Posts where we are on video. Voiced Posts - Posts where we record stuff and say it with our mouth words.

Personal Topics:

Asexuality - We are a kinky ace. We don't do sex or orgasms but sometimes do horny. BPD Specific - BPD is difficult to live with and impacts our relationships with others DID specific - DID is difficult to live with and impacts our relationships with ourselves. We try to educate on the topic. Mental Health/DID/BPD Topics - Watch Me Post My Trauma In Public Personal Posts - Ones which are just me venting or talking specifically about my life and experiences. Trans specific - This Is My Gender and I am Proud of It.

Meme Tags:

Bites You Bites You Bites You - Cammie has a tag entirely for biting people <3 Camus Posting - One must imagine Sisyphus memeing Fae Posting - Our loyalty lies with the Seelie Court and we must meme about it Puns - Craig likes puns and we put up with it. Shitposting - tag for when we're being silly. We Have To Meme or We'll Cry- Mental health/plurality jokes

Hypnokink Tags:

50 Days of Fetish Masterpost - Easy links to all 50 posts about why I love hypnokink with examples, audios, photos and videos. 50 Days of Fetish - Tag list of 50 different scenes and suggestions in hypnosis that gets me going and reblogs of other folx who participated in the challenge. Community Resources - Educational resources in hypnokink. Community Safety - Topics discussing dangerous topics and predators Con Recaps - Convention recaps for Charmed! and Beguiled Hypnokink conventions General hypnosis tag - General tag for all hypnosis topics. Hypnokink -General tag for all hypnokink posts. Hypnokink Art - Artwork featuring hypnosis. Hypnokink OC - Our hypnokink content Hypnokink Writings - Our posts and essays on hypnokink Hypnosis on Display - Audios, videos, demos and photos of hypnosis. Hypnosis Events - Convention information Hypnosis Fiction - Stories featuring hypnokink.

Thirst Tags:

Hypnokink Art - Did I mention we have a hypnokink? Redheads - We like redheads. We are redheads. Stage Magicians - Stage magic is hot. Do not @ me. Sword Lady Thirst - I just want my chin lifted by a sword so I have to meet their gaze... Vampire Thirst - Cammie Likes Redheads

Friends and Loved Ones:

Daja - Beloved. Double Grinch - Absolute sweetheart. Fellow Secret Mod. EllaEnchanting - Inspiration for asexual hypnokink, cool person and opinion haver. Lady Ru'etha - Goddess, Beloved. Linny Bee - Sweetheart. Hypnokink craft lady. Nath - Incredible writer. Good opinion haver. Metamour. Paperboy64 - Absolute sweetheart. Puppet - Counterpart. Metamour. Fellow Sleepyhead enjoyer. Skaetlett - Inspiration for plurality based hypnofiction. Superb person. Secret Subject - Boss. VTuber extraordinaire and good friend. Sleepyhead - Beloved. TennFan - An inspiration in asexual hypnokink content

Ask Tags:

Cammie Asks - Asks answered while Cammie is fronting. Camden Asks - Asks answered while Camden is fronting. Dawn Asks - Asks answered while Dawn is fronting. Craig Asks - Asks answered while Craig is fronting. Wynn Asks - Asks answered while Wynn is fronting. Ask Memes - Ask based games. We try to link the source but sometimes forget. Hypno Themed Asks - Asks about hypnosis.

[rayfishandchips]

On that Chinese superman of DC and good representation

Summarized: Dear writers, do better or go home. Dear readers, go read spirit world, that one is real good representation for both Chinese culture and queer culture (a rare combination that we deserve more of).

Again, this is really just personal opinion on the specific topic of cultural representation in media. I'm writing this so those interested in learning about Chinese culture don't get confused by certain writers. I won't say I have the most mature and holistic view on Chinese culture either, but I can provide a chinese pov for reference.

So first as a disclaimer, I appreciate the writer's effort to make a Chinese story. But. Actual Chinese culture don't work like what you see in this Superman of China comics. Not at all.

One very surface-level thing is that we don't just grab a random guy from the streets for superheroism. Even if such a project really exist, candidates would probably be chosen from existing special forces or military schools. Those chosen for the project will also definitely be people with great skills and virtues because they will be held up as a national figure/role model like Chinese astronauts. Chinese people are serious about national projects folks, we even train all the volunteers to make sure nothing goes wrong before hosting major events like the Olympics. A random bully kid from the streets with one minor action of personal bravery? No. While this "common, flawed kid achieve great things for reasons" trope is totally possible under Chinese contexts, it wouldn't work if the said reason is being specifically selected for a national project. A more possible situation would be accidentally getting powers as the flawed common kid and growing up to be capable and responsible.

Then there's the justice league of China. Do some research my dear writers, we are not an unimaginative people. There's all the history, literature and mythology behind us to tap into, why would we just copy those 100% American heros with arguably dumb names? China is not a religious country, but we do have many somewhat religious practices that differ regionally. Faith depends on collective beliefs instead of religious institutions. These self-arising faiths and traditions offers great possibilities. For example, instead of "Aquaman of China", perhaps try a fisherwomen hero blessed by Mazu, a goddess of the ocean and safe sailing that is worshipped by many Southern Chinese fishermen to this day (Macau is in fact named after her). Now that is much more original.

Similar ideas apply to literature and history. There are a lot of Chinese hero storys (similar to epics, but these stories are mostly about various heros instead of one) that all Chinese people know about the way Western people would know about Hercules and Achilles. These stories also make great superhero material, because some of them are close enough to superhero stories already.

You can see the practices I suggested in the above two paragraphs in Chinese aerospace projects. We named our Mars probe after the Chinese fire god, our moon rover after a magic lunar rabbit, and our space station after the sky palace of gods. Sure I like the American names like enterprise and voyager as well (I'm a star trek fan what do you expect), but mythology-related names are a different kind of Chinese romantic.

Another problem about justice league of China is that batman. In Chinese traditions, bats actually have positive meanings such as luck and good life (“福”). In the Chinese context, a "bat" man won't really mean a "I am vengeance I am night" type. I'm seeing this as copying the JL homework on names because writers got lazy.

So in conclusion this comic is really just shoving the superman thing into a pseudo-Chinese frame WITOUT accounting for cultural differences. I would say that this is a 99% American story with a surface layer of Chinese on it for looks. If you replace all the characters with Americans it will still make perfect sense, and that shouldn't be possible if the story is really Chinese enough.

A better example will be spirit world. Sure it's not 100% accurate in mythology details, but it kept enough real Chinese elements while keeping things exciting and readable enough for audiences from all cultural backgrounds. The generally non-supportive/phobic attitude towards queers and the parent-child conflict seen in Xianthe's family are good takes on period-accurate reality. The paper burning practice is a common practice in China, and combining that with the spirit envoy concept (which is also a real thing under Chinese myth contexts) makes a creative character design that falls in the perfect zone betwen realistic and fantastic. It is rooted in cultural practices, not cliche like "oh a god blessed me with stuff". Besides, at least all the Chinese words in the background are accurate. Spirit world really did something there because it took the best of both sides instead of overriding one with the other. This is difficult, but without doing so it's impossible to achieve accurate and positive representation. Put spirit world next to that chinese superman and you kinda intuitively see the difference in quality.

Representation is always about creating narratives that belong to the represented. Shoving minorities into majority plots for the sake of it just don't do the job.

I wanted to write something about representation in our flag means death too but maybe later. It is also great because it did the job of creating original narrative. fyi "shoving minorities into majority plots" can also be known as queerbaiting :)

Oh on the other hand marvel was like "ok captain China" which is arguably just as bad if not worse.

Phew that's a lot of words. If you really read all of it you have my gratitude.

[drearymiddle]

To boldly go where many blogs have gone before: A Star Trek series analysis (Part 1)

Originally written by Mr_Turnabout on 20 February 2020 over on the old Dreary Middle website. This was the only article we ever published so we thought it would be nice to preserve it as a reminder of what once was, so enjoy!

I have seen many Sci-Fi shows, but there is something special about Star Trek that makes it stand out among the rest.

Yes, Star Trek is quite the franchise. Spanning currently 7 different series, 13 movies and hundreds of episodes, you can't complain about lack of content. I feel recently Star Trek has had a weirdly negative wrap to it. I know that sounds weird defending one of the most profitable franchises in the history of Television and one of the Father's of Sci-Fi, but hear me out.

I think that people have forgotten how great Star Trek truly is, there is this misconception that it's just a silly Sci-Fi show for nerds and....while yes that may be true it is also so much more than that. Star Trek is an incredibly well written franchise, containing some of the best episodes of a series I have ever seen, even managing to hold up against the best shows that we have today. Writing wise a lot of Star Trek has aged like a fine wine, managing to still be relevant despite some series being decades old.

Now is Star Trek perfect? No, at the worst of times you question how some episodes can even be from the same show from how awful and flat out stupid some of the episodes are. The next generation has an episode where a character has sex with a ghost. Deep Space Nine had an episode where the crew get sucked into a game board, while one of the main cast has to play the game that has them trapped. Enterprise famously has a finale that is considered one of the worst episodes in the franchise. It's stuff like this that makes me black out for 45 minutes and makes me wonder if what I was watching was even real, that being said this is the minority of the franchise and is in no way a representation of the franchise.

Now with me gushing over this franchise you would think that I grew up with it or something right? Well that's where you'd be wrong as it turns out, I myself avoided Star Trek for so long because of its representation, I thought it was the typical Sci-Fi show that didn't age all that well, quite like classic Doctor Who....or modern Doctor Who, anyway I didn't truly give Star Trek series a chance till I was 19 and even by then I was reluctant to try it out, but when I started with The next Generation, I was hooked. This post will be talking about what I like about each individual series as well as the order I watched them in, now I will like to preface that I have not seen all of Star Trek, heck many hardcore fans would say I'm not very far at all. I have finished The next generation (twice), 5 seasons of Deep Space Nine, 4 seasons of Voyager, 8 out of 10 of the original Star Trek movies, the 3 Kelvin timeline movies, the first and last episodes of Enterprise, about 2 episodes of the original series, 4 episodes of Picard and none of discovery, so this post is definitely subject to change and may require a follow up. Regardless I have at least seen enough to tell you why it is great and that you should see it if you haven't.

The Star Trek movies are a mixed bag, but when they're good they're really good.

My first real exposure to Star Trek as a whole was from a little underground YouTuber called 'The Nostalgia Critic' (irony fully intended), he was doing a marathon of the "bad" Star Trek films and my little 14 year old self, laughed and slapped his thighs together at this funny man making comments about how silly these movies were, but it had the unintentional effect of actually getting me interested in the films. My friend in secondary school was a big Trekkie (or is it Trekker?) and I asked him if I could borrow some of those films on DVD, before streaming services were the norm we had to watch our films in physical form kids. So I marathoned those films and at the time I thought some were great and some were really bad, so let's go over the quality of each one real quick.

I. The Motion Picture: Beautiful looking movie, but really boring. Great at introducing you to the main cast of the original series, especially for someone like me who has never seen it. Decent start 6/10.

II. The Wrath of Khan: One of the best Sci-Fi movies ever, tells an excellent story about one of Kirk's old enemies coming back for revenge and a very powerful ending. 9/10.

III. The search for Spock: Not a bad effort here, but it suffers from being in between two of the best movies in the franchise. Kind of undoes the ending of Wrath of Khan in quite a strange way but overall still pretty fun. 6/10.

IV. The Voyage Home: Excellent time travel story that's one of the more fun entries in the series, it's just great to see these characters go back to the past (to play those s* games that suck ass) and interact with people from the 80's. 8/10.

V. The Final Frontier: What does God need with a starship? 3/10.

VI. The Undiscovered Country: Great sendoff for the original cast, great villain introduced in this one too. 8/10.

VII. Generations: The proceeding movies goes on to ruin said great sendoff and instead shows Picard looking at an old photo album and having a little cry. 4/10.

VIII. First Contact: Very fun Sci-Fi movie, weird characterisation for Picard in this one but overall I like the horror atmosphere of this one and that soundtrack is fantastic. 7/10.

If you want my ranking personally I would rank them II > IV> VI > VIII > I > III > VII > V

And what about those characters? Well I'll go into the next generation cast later but the Original series cast are all very fun to watch and have great chemistry. It's no wonder that Captain Kirk and Spock became cultural icons, they are always great on screen together and characters like Bones is one of the funniest characters in the series for his more down to earth characterisation compared to the rest of the cast, these characters aren't particularly deep or anything but they are well written and I would recommend the movies for someone's first exposure to the series, it worked for me.

So what about those Kelvin timeline films?

Shortly after checking out those original movies, I went on to watch the Kelvin timeline movies as at the time into Darkness was on it's way out in 2013, so I thought I may as well check out the 2009 one. Here's the thing I don't think these movies are bad, in fact I find them rather enjoyable, not so much with into Darkness, but the other two are pretty good summer action movies. The characters are, again quite likable, being a reboot of the original series they captured elements of the original characters well, while putting a little twist on them. Captain Kirk was known for being a ladies man in the OG series so now we get to see him actually have THE sex I've heard so much about on the big screen, when I first saw this my eyes bugged out of my head in a cartoon like style, that's for sure.

Into darkness unfortunately has the issue with remaking an all time classic so it was going to suffer as a result, I don't think Cumberbatch captured the more spite filled performance of Ricardo Montalbán's take on the character of Khan and it reeked of "You know this right? Remember this?" That being said the other two films I do enjoy, they are more action packed than your average Star Trek and are filled with Lens flare for some reason, but I would check them out if I were you, they're enjoyable romps, but if you don't like them you didn't hear it from me.

The Next Generation is as good as your mother says it is.

When I said the Kelvin Timeline movies were my next introduction to the series, I meant it. I didn't touch a Star Trek series at all until the year of 2016, after I had saw Beyond in cinema. I felt like it was time to check it out, if I enjoyed the movies, surely, I could enjoy the series that they spawned from, right? Well to say that the Next Generation is a good series would be understatement of the century. The next generation really is something special, its characters are fantastic, the episodes tell some of the best stories you will ever see on the silver screen and it has some of the best writing I have had the pleasure of seeing.

The characters are so diverse and are more interesting than the OG series, which I already enjoyed from the movies. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (played excellently by Patrick Stewart) is the best captain in the series, not only do most the best episodes revolve around him, but it's his ideals that make him one of the more interesting characters in the series. Picard tends to follow orders from Star Fleet and for the most part even if it may seem like a bad thing to do at the time, Picard will follow orders, quite unlike a Kirk, that broke the rules all the time. It's this element of Picard that makes him really fascinating to watch, a by the books captain was the best way to go for a series like this, most the time Picard will not resort to violence and will choose to talk his way out of a situation instead. He's stern but also fair and seeing his interests in the performing arts and literature just adds more to this already interesting character.

The rest of the supporting cast are great too. Data, an android with no emotions but wishes to understand them is another great character rivalling Picard in popularity, watching him be put in situation that revolve around his lack of emotions and if he counts as a lifeform makes for some of the best stories in the next generation. First officer Riker, is also another great character to watch, he's everything you want from a first officer, he's more fair than Picard most the time but he can be quite stern too when he needs to be and a lot of great episodes revolve around what he decides to do when Picard isn't there to give him orders. The final character in this series I want to touch on is Worf, the security officer who is also a Klingon who was raised by humans. This added an element of an outsider on the crew to the series, there are many episodes where he has to deal with his culture as a Klingon vs his place on Star Fleet, this really was progressive writing for the time it came out.

I will go over some of the episodes in the show that really show off how fantastic this series really is.

The Measure of a Man (season 2): One of the, if not the most famous episode of the show. Data's identity as a lifeform comes into question when a scientist wants to take him apart. A hearing is ordered, with Picard defending that Data is indeed a lifeform. This is the episode that won me over on the series and showed me that The Next Generation was truly something special.

Yesterday's Enterprise (season 3): A fantastic episode, where the Enterprise gets caught in a different timeline where they are at constant war with the Klingons. Shows that Star Trek could tell these alternate reality stories extremely well.

The Best of Both Worlds and Family (season 3 and 4): The Borg show off how deadly they are by taking Picard and turning him into one. One of the greatest cliff-hangers is the history of television, please watch this. Family shows the aftermath of the situation and shows an emotionally weakened Picard.

Clues (season 4): A fun episode where the crew of the Enterprise wake up after blacking out for what they think is a small period but actually turns out to be longer than expected, this turns into a mystery to find out what's going on as one of the crew might be holding back some information from the others.

The Drumhead (season 4): One of the best episodes in the series for how it, for lack of a better term tackles racism. Picard has to defend a member of his crew who is Romulan, which is an enemy of the Federation. "Have we become so… fearful, have we become so cowardly… that we must extinguish a man? Because he carries the blood of a current enemy?"

I Borg (season 5): A Borg is taken aboard the enterprise with the intention of infecting the rest of the collective, but the longer the Borg stays on the enterprise, the more of its humanity it gets back. Picard has to decide whether it's right to kill this Borg or if it has the right to live like everyone else.

The Inner Light (season 5): Picard lives out an entire lifetime of someone he does not recognise, he grows close to the family of the person he is living out the life of and it becomes a rather emotional and sad tale. Don't miss this one.

Chain of Command (season 6): Patrick Stewart shows off some of his best acting, when he is taken away and tortured. This shows the psychological torture Picard has to endure and the final few minutes of the episodes are as chilling as they are brilliant.

Tapestry (season 6): Picard has a chance to redo his life after his artificial heart gives out and Q offers him to go back in time so that he never needed an artificial heart at all. Great episode that shows us not to regret our actions but instead learn from them and better ourselves.

All Good Things… (season 7): A fantastic finale that brings the series full circle with the very first episode in the series, where we get to see 3 different versions of these characters from different time periods. Excellent finale.

To wrap up what I have to say on The Next Generation, it really is a fantastic series and they don't make them like this anymore. Sci-Fi has lost a lot of the intelligent writing that went along with it, nowadays the genre needs to have action and explosions in it to appeal to a mainstream audience. No one wants to see an episode that questions what we consider a lifeform or an intelligent discussion on if we should follow orders all the time even if it's not always the right thing to do. Why watch that when we can see starships blowing up. Hahaha, I love space pew pew pew shoot the lasers KA-BOOM HAHA IS THIS SCI-FI YET? IS THIS THE GENRE YOU ALL LOVE SO MUCH? IS THIS SCI-FI YET?

Originally written by Mr_Turnabout on 20 February 2020 over on the old Dreary Middle website

This was the only article we ever published so we thought it would be nice to preserve it as a reminder of what once was, so enjoy!

[c-is-for-circinate]

Wait, isn't "anti" stuff more like "anti-pedophilia" and stuff? Like, you have a point about anti-porn attitudes, but from what I've heard just "anti" on its own means against stuff like kid porn and incest porn and legitimately f*cked up sh*t like that.

Okay!  So this, I think, is actually a great example of what I was talking about, and a really useful thing to understand.  (CW rape, child abuse, etc)

Smarter people than me have written much better essays about why policing thoughtcrimes is a bad road to go down, and I will probably reblog some of them next time they cross my dash for more context.  What I want to talk about is the trigger mechanism, the ‘oh, this looks like danger!!!’ immune response in how we look at different kinds of porn, and how that applies to anti culture.

Here’s the thing: I am anti-pedophilia.  I think that, for most people, that’s a stance that largely goes without saying!  Adults who prey on children are bad.  I’m also against incest; relatives who prey on their family members are bad.  Above all I oppose rape.  Sexual predation of any kind is bad.  In fact, I’d say that’s the most important item on the list.  There is plenty of room to argue about where the lines are between ‘adult’ and ‘child’ and how teenagers fit in the middle, and there’s plenty of room to get historical about the lines between ethically terrible incest, distasteful-but-bearable “aristocratic inbreeding” between distant cousins, and the kind of consanguinity that tends to develop in a small town where everyone’s vaguely related to everyone else by now anyway.  The core of the issue is consent, and it has always been consent.  Pedophilia and incest are horrific because they are rape scenarios where the abuser has far more power and their victim far fewer resources to cope, both practically and emotionally; because harm to children is, to us as a culture, worse than harm to adults, for a lot of very valid reasons; and because they constitute betrayal of trust the victim should have been able to put in their abuser as well as rape--but they are all rape scenarios, and that’s why they’re awful. 

These things are bad.  It is good for us to have a social immune response system that recognizes these things when they’re happening and insists we step in.  That is a good thing to develop!  It helps us, as a society.  It can help the people being victimized.  It’s the same reason educators and childcare workers in the US are all mandated reporters, why we do background checks on people working near kids.  These things happen, and they’re terrible, and it’s good that we try to be aware and prepared for them.  (Though obviously studies show we’re a lot less good at protecting the vulnerable than we’d like to pretend we are.)

The question is: why does that same social immune response trigger, and trigger so angrily, in response to fiction?

Anti culture is fundamentally an expression of that social immune response.  Specifically, it’s that social immune response when it is set off by a situation that, while it has some similarities to the very bad real-life crime of sexual predation including pedophilia and incest, is in and of itself harmless.

If you’re instinct is to flare up in anger or dismissiveness because I’m calling these things harmless, I want to ask you to just take a deep breath and bear with me for a bit longer.  What you’re feeling right now is an allergic reaction.

Humans tell and read and listen to stories about “legitimately fucked up shit” all the time.  It’s part of the human condition.  It’s part of how we process those things happening, not just to use, but to other people in the world around us.  It’s part of how we process completely unrelated fucked-up shit, playing with fears and furies and insecurities that we all have, through so may layers of fiction that we don’t even recognize them any more, playing with power dynamics in metaphor and making characters suffer for fun.  Aside from the fact that literally all stories do this to some extent or another; aside from the fact that drawing lines between ‘ok that’s good storytelling’ and ‘that’s too fucked-up to write about’ is arbitrary, subjective, and dangerous in its own right; aside from all of that, these stories are stories.  All of them. 

Even the ones about rape, about incest, about pedophilia.  They’re words on a page.  No real children were harmed, touched, or even glanced at in the making of this work of fiction.  This story, pornographic though it may be, is part of a conversation between consenting adults.  (And if a teenager lies about their age to consent, that is a different problem altogether.)

Stories in and of themselves, no matter what they’re about, are no more dangerous than a crate full of oranges.  Which is to say: utterly harmless, unless all you have to eat is oranges, all day every day, and you find yourself dying slowly of nutrient deficiency--which is why representation matters.  Or unless someone wields one deliberately, violently, as a tool to cause harm, and someone gets acid in their eye--which is the fault of the person holding the orange. And unless you happen to be allergic to citrus.

The key here is this twofold understanding:  First, the thing that hurts you can also have value to others.  Real, legitimate value.  Whether you’ve undergone trauma and certain story elements are straight-up PTSD triggers or you just don’t like orange juice, that story, those tropes, that crate of oranges may be somewhere between icky and fundamentally abhorrent--but we understand that that is still your reaction.  Even if you don’t understand how anybody could ever enjoy it; even if every single person you surround yourself with is as sensitive and disgusted and itchy about this thing that makes your eyes hurt and your throat stop working as you; that doesn’t make it true for everyone.  That doesn’t make oranges poisonous.  No real children were involved in the writing of this story.  It is words on a page.

But, secondly: the thing that has value to others can also hurt you.  Just because a story isn’t inherently poison doesn’t mean it can’t cause you, personally, pain.  That’s what a PTSD trigger is: an allergic reaction, psychological anaphylaxis, a brain that’s trying so hard to protect its own from a threat that isn’t actually present (but was once, and the brain is trained to respond) that it causes far more harm and misery than the trigger itself possibly could.  And no, it’s not just people with PTSD who sometimes get hurt by stories.  There are many, many ways a story can poke the part of your brain that says, this is Bad, I don’t like this, I don’t want to be here.  The story is still, always, every time, pixels on a screen and ink on paper.  The story causes no physical harm.  But it can poke your brain into misery, it can stir up your emotions, it can make you want to cringe and run away.  It can make you want to scream and fight and go after the author who brought this thing into existence.  It can make you hurt.

This is an allergic reaction.  This is your brain and body, your reflexes and instincts, trying to protect you from something that isn’t really happening.  And just like a literal allergic reaction, it can do actual harm to you if it gets set off.  This is real.  The fact that stories can upset you to the point of pain and mental/emotional injury is real, even though it’s coming from your own brain and not the story itself.  There are stories you shouldn’t read.  There are stories I shouldn’t read, regret reading, will never read, because they hurt me.  That doesn’t mean they’re the same stories that would hurt you.  That doesn’t mean they don’t have value.

And, finally:

If getting upset about stories is fundamentally an individual person’s allergic reaction, their brain freaking out and firing off painful survival instincts in the face of a thing that isn’t, in and of itself, a threat?  Then the anti movement is a cultural allergic reaction.

Fandom as a whole has a pretty active immune system, which doesn’t mean we have a good immune system.  We try very hard to be aware of all the viruses and -isms and abuse and manipulation and cruelty, both systematic and individual, that exists around and within our community.  We’re primed and ready to shout about things at all times.  The anti movement is that system, that culture, screaming and shouting and fighting at a harmless thing on a grand scale.  It wants to stop that thing, that scary awful thing that trips all of its well-primed danger sensors, at all costs.  It’ll swell up and block off our airways (our archives) if it has to.  It’ll turn on the body it came from.  It’s scared and protective and trying to fight, and it’s ready to fight and destroy itself.

Luckily, fans and fanfic and fandom and fan culture are a lot bigger and older than they often get credit for, and it’s not like these cultural allergies are anything new.  We could talk about shippers and slashers in the X-Files fandom in the 90s.  We could talk about the birth of fandom in the days of Star Trek.  We could talk about censorship and book burning going back centuries.  We survived that and we’ll survive this, too.

But god, does the anti movement my throat and eyes itch.  Man is it irritating, and sometimes a little suffocating, to realize how many stories just aren’t getting told out of fear of what the antis will say.  And that’s the real danger, I think.  What are we losing that would have so much value to someone?  What are we missing out?

[whispsofwind]

Ok ok I watched "The Wire" from Ds9, and it's truly just as good as I was led to believe. It's such a fascinating piece of character study for Garak, especially in the light of all the ground work the show already made with Cardassians.

Now obviously I am only on S2 and I am trying not to spoil myself too much, so half of this is probably going to be disproved later on but eh.

The most obvious side of it is, naturally, the lies. So far we have seen that Cardassians, especially when in the military, rarely tell the truth out loud, preferring to obfuscate it or outright lie. In "Duet", Marritza presents the lie as a truth to uncover, and the truth as a lie to refuse. And obviously Dukat rarely tells the truth (see his faux concern for the orphans he himself abandoned as a political move in "Cardassians").

So it's rather obvious that "just a plain simple tailor" Garak would tell his truths through lies. He tells three lies, three stories that reach the same conclusion. In this, he both mirrors and subverts the structure of the repetitive epic he and Bashir talk about at the beginning of the episode: the story repeats, but rather than ending with serving the State and dying happily, surrounded by family, each story ends with banishment, loneliness, and constant pain.

And I actually believe that the stories were true, as much as Garak is capable of being truthful. The three stories themselves are fake, but the details are true. Garak was a high ranking member of the Obsidian Order; he committed multiple atrocities, including killing and torturing civilians; he was still capable of remorse, and perhaps even acts of compassion; he is Tain's son (yes I spoiled myself that one); and there was a betrayal involved.

And obviously the most blatant fact, the separation of Garak and Elim - one ruthless, one compassionate, the betrayed and the betrayer. Does Garak deserve to live among people who hate him, where "it's always too cold and the lights are always too bright?". Part of Garak seems to think that yes, he does deserve to be in so much pain that he would activate an anti torture device just to make it stop.

Another part yearns for forgiveness - and even asks for it, in an example of vulnerability that I think indicates Garak truly expected to die. Forgiveness for many things at once, I am guessing: for being a murderer and a spy, for being cruel, for betraying Cardassia (through compassion?), for betraying himself, for telling Bashir that he hated him.

(And obviously the fact that Bashir grants that forgiveness is an amazing scene in itself. What's with Star Trek and grasping hands as a visual representation of intense homo-erotic feelings).

Another part that fascinates me about Cardassians in general, not just this episode, is the double thinking surrounding the concepts of family, State, and the military.

Family is, we are told, everything for a Cardassian. Specifically, biological family is, as a child with no family is of little to no value. Dukat swears to Sisko on his children in "the Maquis", and Rugal's father in "Cardassians" would lose his career and social status if it came out that he had abandoned his son on Bajor.

However, we are also repeatedly told that State is everything for a Cardassian. Garak considers betraying family for the State not only the best option, but the only option, and even compares his love for the concept of Cardassia to the feelings of a lover in "Profit and Loss".

Family is everything and the State is everything, and these two concepts seem to remain separate and equally true.

On top of this, the military pushes the idea that they are the State, like any fascist regime ever.

And if they are the State, and State is everything, then they are everything - which means every atrocity they committed, from the occupation of Bajor to concentration camps to torturing the enemies, it's all entirely justified, because it was all for Cardassia. And if the military is Cardassia, the military cannot be criticized without it being treason of the highest order - in fact, one could argue that betraying the military, which also means betraying Cardassia, is as close as betraying your own identity as a Cardassian as you can get.

Obviously not everyone seems to agree with this particular equivalency. The excellent "Duet" shows this through Marritza, a man who was willing to die in an attempt to purge the military and the atrocities they committed from Cardassia. If he could expose Cardassians atrocities, those atrocities could be atoned, and the planet would begin healing. And in "Profit and Loss", as poorly written as I found it, we find out that there is at least one political movement that wants the military out of Cardassia's government, which marks them as traitors of the State.

And all of this brings me back to Garak. Garak, who was a member of the Obsidian Order, who was the military, and whose biological father was the head of the Order.

(I didn't spoil it for myself, but I am guessing from the lack of family names that Garak was illegitimate).

For young Garak, there would have been no distinction between family, State and military, no divided loyalties, because for him they would've been one and the same. Tain says Garak never needed to be ordered to do anything- and why there would have been the need to give orders? With the three great loves of any self-respecting Cardassian in one neat package, I bet Garak would have done, and has done, everything he needed to do. Be it murder, spy, torture, or go under invasive medical procedures.

Which makes particularly fascinating that, as indicated in "Profit and Loss", the Garak we meet on Ds9 doesn't believe that the military has the best interests of Cardassia in mind (but will still act as if he believes it if it means he could get home).

And it's particularly interesting in the light of the two last stories he tells Bashir in "the Wire": he went against his orders in one (because he was miserable or because he was compassionate, or perhaps both), and he betrayed (or was betrayed by) someone who was "like family" in the other. I daresay Tain is the closest thing to family Garak would have had, at least with the information I got so far. Tain, who was the Obsidian Order.

And well, if Garak would sacrifice family at the altar of State every time, and if he doesn't believe that State and military are the same, I am going to conclude that something really big and really bad happened between Tain and Garak. And because of how Cardassian's double thinking works, they would both believe that the other has betrayed Cardassia, this beloved ideal of theirs (which to me explains why Garak is both the betrayer and the betrayed in the last story he tells).

Unless, as a last addendum, we consider the possibility that part of Garak does still believe in the military/State dichotomy, and a betrayal of that dichotomy is what earned his "deserved exile" in the first place. Or perhaps he thinks he deserves it for the atrocities he committed, and that guilt is by itself a betrayal of Cardassia.

Especially the lies, indeed.

(Goddammit I told I would not write Ds9 meta but characters who lie are a weakness of mine and the fascist space lizards won. I'll go hide in a corner now).