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ichayalovesyou · 2 years

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(Re)Discovering A Strange New Spock: “The Menagerie” (1x11, 1x12)

Previous: The Corbomite Maneuver

Next: The Conscience of A King

A meta anthology where I re-examine TOS, especially Spock, in light of the new information Discovery & Strange New Worlds has revealed about him to us.

Hoooooo BOY! This one is gonna be an absolute DOOZY. If any episode(s) from TOS were drastically recontextualized by the events of Discovery & Strange New Worlds it’s this particular pair.

I actually had a bit of an older piece of meta discussing theories about this episode after having rewatched The Cage, If Memory Serves, Through The Valley of Shadows, A Quality of Mercy and then these two if anybody wants to see the homework I did on this episode in particular. Tl:dr a lot of the footnotes/theories from that will be in here in a bit more polished and elaborated of a format.

Brace yourselves, this’ll be a long one! Onto the analysis!

Captain Pike’s Condition

There’s a few things that we can glean from the opener of this episode that I think people tend to forget when Chris’s condition gets addressed in a meta narrative way.

It’s a lot more than him being wheelchair bound and in need of a speech aid.

Chris has been in intensive care for months, when he’s taken to the Enterprise he needs 24/7 medical supervision. Any serious emotional upset could potentially put him in a coma. He’s canonically inplied to be in a lot of pain and is easily exhausted. The chair is confirmed to be life support and the only thing between him and his DNA unraveling to a terminal degree. Hence it’s limited capacity for mobility and as a speech aid, the device is prioritizing other things.

He survived severe exposure to delta radiation where two cadets in the same room died. Something I theorize may have to do with Una considering how she spared herself and La’an from warp core radiation, the chimeric antibodies still being in La’an afterward. If Una did something similar for Chris it may have been the difference between death and a very difficult but endurable life.

What Spock is trying to offer Chris is a chance at drastically improving his quality of life. “There’s surviving, and then there’s living.” Talos IV isn’t exile. It’s pain killers, it’s better mobility and speech aids than what Starfleet medicine can currently provide. Chronic medical problems can make leaving your house, or a planet, difficult. Chris being able to thrive on Talos IV whatever way he chooses. with various means of making life more livable. While leaving the planet being difficult to achieve beyond the planet’s confines isn’t all that different.

However indelicate and dramatic Spock’s attempt at helping Chris may be, I don’t think it’s out of some sort of unnuanced ableism.

Two Lights Means “No.”

When the triumvirate arrives, Pike dismisses Kirk & McCoy but allows Spock to stay. Which is no surprise given their relationship.

What does intrigue me however is “You know why I’ve come Captain.”

It implies that Spock had intentions to take Pike to Talos IV prior to the incident. Which makes sense considering Spock had the same foreknowledge as Chris has, if not as directly. Not only that but Spock made a game plan and Pike knows about it.

I also keep thinking about how Pike ends up in a medical facility on Starbase 11 of all places. The one space station that just so happens to be the closest to Talos IV. Which is something that Spock couldn’t have controlled, but Chris potentially could have. Which leads me to the following theory:

If Memory Serves is not the last time we will see Talos IV, I think it will be visited or at least discussed again in SNW. That plans may even be made between Spock & Pike about getting Pike there after the accident somehow. Then something unforeseen either pushing the time table forward (as in while Spock is still serving on Enterprise) or farther back (as in not immediately after the accident).

When Pike cuts him off by refusing, Spock’s response isn’t “I know you don’t want to go but logically blah blah blah”

It’s acknowledging he will be putting himself, his career, and his relationship with Jim at serious risk by doing this for Chris.

Knowing what we already do about Pike, he’s continuing to put the well-being of others above his own. Even when “well” is an extremely strong word for how he’s doing. Pike doesn’t want to risk the reason he allowed this to happen to him getting sabotaged because Spock wants to do something for his sake.

Unfortunately however, Pike taught his boy a little too well. It’s time for Spock to return a small amount of the kindness Pike showed him. With all the compassion of a Human being, and all the stubbornness of Vulcankind.

Kirk’s Faith in Spock, McCoy’s Thoughts on Spock in Private

Up until the evidence begins to weigh Jim down is incredibly defensive of Spock. Bordering on denial at the notion that he would ever be capable of betraying him, only in private to McCoy does he confide his budding doubts.

What does McCoy do in this situation? Defend Spock! He sees him how many people (especially people who have affection for him) see him, operating under the assumption that he Vulcans are honest. Which is hilarious when you consider Spock is the biggest liar between the three of them.

He then goes on to confirm what I knew he knew about Spock from the get go. McCoy is acutely aware of Spock’s utter loathing and rejection of his human side. He even admits to being more emotional and going off half-cocked, but believes Spock incapable of it.

Honestly I think McCoy will find himself liking and being annoyed by Spock in equal measure a lot more. After how he is proved right (Spock us as vulnerable to emotions like love and sentimentality as the rest of us) and proved wrong (Spock’s a liar and even a loose canon) in this episode.

Is This The Real Life? Or Is It Just Fantasy?

Spock seemingly managing to hardwire the ship to kill everyone if they undo the autopilot to Talos IV. It just doesn’t seem like a very Spock thing to do even under these circumstances where he allows the needs of the one to outweigh the many.

The entire fake-out court martial was done as a test for Kirk. However Spock does seem greatly taken aback at the idea of Kirk being punished for his actions as well. Which implies that either Spock is a very good actor, or didn’t know the Commodore was an illusion either. Which could mean that the Talosians were testing both Kirk & Spock for reasons unknown. Unless!

Spock and the Talosians share the same goal, to test Kirk’s faith. In this case, Spock is testing whether Jim’s career is more important to him than Spock or the truth. “Jim, don’t stop me, don’t let him stop me.” Which it is, but an element of trust has been broken between them, something I think takes a couple episodes to fully heal.

Pike In The Courtroom

I find the shift in Pike’s attitude from getting taken aboard to Spock’s fake court martial is intriguing. I wonder how much Pike knows of Spock’s plan and whether or not he can tell the Commodore is a Talosian illusion.

Regardless, he wants the one person who is real in that court room to see what happened to him and to Spock in “The Cage” even as the Talosian sock puppet plays devil’s advocate, very interesting indeed.

Then, when the Talosians remove the vision momentarily, Pike is the first to vote Spock as guilty. Yet allows the record of what happened to him to finish. Maybe as if to see what Kirk will do when faced with an otherwise unanimous choice.

Maybe it was also one last dig at Spock for defying orders. This further implies Pike knew the plan because I highly doubt he’d condemn Spock to death like that on the fly. Not after everything else they’d been through or why they were headed to Talos in the first place.

Then, when the chips are down, even after there are no consequences to Chris saying “no”. No punishment for Spock, and Jim finally understands what’s going on. Pike says “yes” when asked if he wants to go to Talos IV, and thanks Kirk through Spock before Spock leads him away.

Pike has finally let someone else do something compassionate for him instead of the other way around. Taking the advice that he so often gives others which frequently boils down to “let other people trust and be kind to you.” One, final assurance that Spock will be just fine as he moves on to other things. Speaking of which!

Pike Is Still Active Duty (Life Post-Talos)

The Talosians test Kirk, maybe Spock as well, the Commodore is an illusion and Spock (anc possibly Pike) knows that. Pike wants Kirk to see the whole story behind the Talosians. The Talosians want Pike alive and care about both him and Spock’s want.

Yet they’ve conceded to the inevitability of their extinction. Vina is no longer a prisoner. She has chosen to stay and act as a liason to the rare visitor as we see in If Memory Serves. Spock keeps insisting that it’s more complicated than it looks. He confirms they want Pike alive but denies that they want him as a zoo specimen.

And Pike is still an active duty officer and ranking Fleet Captain. The court martial never happened, and General Order 7 is waived for Pike & Spock specifically. Pike has explicit permission to go, and Spock’s charges are dropped.

To me this indicates that the Talosians need Pike for something, something other captive entertainment. As we know, the Talosians don’t seem to particularly enjoy doing things for free, and I’m sure they got their fill from the court drama they imposed on Kirk. Was that really enough?

I think the Talosians may need a Starfleet officer whose already familiar with them and their plights, maybe old, maybe new dangers to them. Spock’s got too many other obligations and Una isn’t present. Which leaves Chris, who has the most to gain from that arrangement.

I would like to think (and maybe it’ll be true) Chris’s career continues covertly as a liason between Talos IV and Starbase 11, continuing his career from a ground posting. If not, the guy deserves a nice retirement after how much he’s already given to the Federation.

Closing Banter w/ The Talosians

After letting Spock see Pike off to Talos IV, the Talosians make an interesting decision as Kirk stares wistfully in Spock’s direction as he leaves.

They show him Vina leaving in her romantic “happily ever after” with her illusory version of Pike. (There’s no way it was real Pike at this point lol, Pike & Spock couldn’t have made it to the transporter room that fast).

“You have your reality, may you find your way as pleasant.”

Man, if we know anything about the Talosians it’s that they love piping hot tea. Even if Spock & Kirk can’t see quite how deeply they care for one another, the Talosians certainly can.

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spockeveryday · 12 days

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#spock #leonard nimoy #star trek #st: tos #1x11 the menagerie part 1 #02337

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perlukafarinn · 8 months

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#star trek tos #star trek brackets #tos favorite episode #i used a random number generator to decide on the order #the first round will be eight polls with ten choices each #the rest will be one on one #please reblog so i can have a decent sample size!#i have a feeling i already know how this one's gonna go though lmao

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beatriceeagle · 2 years

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James Kirk’s personnel file, from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x10, “A Quality of Mercy.”

Vessel: USS Farragut

Planet of Origin: Earth

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Serial No: SC937-0176CEC

D.O.B: 03/22/2233, Iowa, Earth

Parents: Winona and George Kirk

Siblings: George Samuel Kirk

Commendations Palm Leaf of Axinar Peace Mission Grankite Order of Tactics (later attained class of excellence) Prantares Ribbon of Commendation, Second Class Awards of Valor

Assignments USS Farragut Starfleet Academy USS Republic

Training Oxygen-deficient atmospheres Hand-to-hand combat Hyperpower circuits Witness to massacre on Tarsus IV

Commendations and serial number are taken from TOS 1x15 “Court Martial.”

Assignments are taken from “Court Martial” (USS Republic), 1x03 “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (Starfleet Academy), and 2x13 “Obsession” (USS Farragut).

Birthday and place taken from a variety of sources, including TOS 2x12 “The Deadly Years” and ENT 4x19, “In a Mirror, Darkly Part II.”

Training taken from TAS 1x20 “The Pirates of Orion” (oxygen-deficient atmospheres) and 1x11 “Dagger of the Mind” (hyper-power circuits).

I have absolutely no idea why witnessing the massacre on Tarsus IV is listed under “training,” but that’s from TOS 1x12 “The Conscience of the King.”

#star trek #strange new worlds #james kirk #spoilers #snw spoilers #tos

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startrekucast · 6 months

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TOS 1x11 - "Dagger of the Mind" Review

It’s time to strap in for a little brain drain at the Tantalus Penal Colony. Get ready for Doc Adams to place this retro review into your empty, neuralized mind, maman. Can you see it? That needful eggnog nookie in the Captain's quarters? Hike up your blue skirt a little more, maman. A man could die of loneliness. In a Jim's dream.

Episode Reviewed: Star Trek: The Original Series 1x11, "Dagger of the Mind"

Hosts This Episode: David C. Roberson Effie Ophelders

Join Us: Site: http://startrekucast.com Apple: http://bit.ly/StuCast Spotify: http://bit.ly/StarTrekUCast Spreaker: http://bit.ly/StuCastSpreaker

#star trek #review #podcast #star trek podcast #podcasts #star trek podcasts #star trek review #dagger of the mind #star trek the original series #star trek tos #james kirk #tos #captain kirk #james t kirk #Spotify

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samnotsammy12 · 1 year

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watching TOS 1x11 The Corbomite Maneuver and damn Kirk is being very sexist this episode

Complaining about having a woman as a yeoman and then saying he’s “already got one female to worry about, the Enterprise”

I get it’s the 60s but REALLY?

#star trek #tos #star trek tos #jim kirk #james t kirk #captain kirk #janice rand #yeoman rand #side note her hair is ridiculous #so over the top 60s sci-fi I love it

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dascamellias · 2 years

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I love how a big part of TOS S1 is plot twists in which a hot chill person is not a hot chill person.

1x01: The Man Trap (not hot, not chill, not person)

1×03: Where No Man Has Gone Before (not chill)

1×05: The Enemy Within (not chill, kinda not a person)

1x06: Mudd's Women (not hot)

1x07: What Are Little Girls Made Of? (not person)

1x11, 12: The Menagerie / The Gate (not hot)

1x13: The Conscience of the King (not chill)

#star trek #jim kirk #kirk #st tos #star trek the original series #bones mccoy #spock #star trek tos

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tailsrevane · 2 years

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[tv review] tos 1x11 & 1x12 "the menagerie"

1x11 “the menagerie, part 1”

i’m sorry but sometimes clip shows are good, actually. this was a great way to get tos’s first pilot included in the show’s canon, and on top of that they made a great framing narrative around it that shows spock carries a similar loyalty to his first captain as he did his second.

this first episode of the two-parter is actually a bit light on the clipshow part, with a lot more time devoted to the set-up. it’s chock full of great character moments for easily my favorite tos character, and consequently it’s one of my favorite episodes of tos’s early run. a-rank

1x12 “the menagerie, part 2”

this is unquestionably a bit weaker than part 1, with quite a bit more of its runtime devoted to simply replaying the events of “the cage.” and at times the tribunal’s willingness to just keep passively watching the signal from talos iv (once they realize that’s where it’s from) feels a bit weak. like, you guys can just… go to another room? you don’t just have to stay there and watch a thing you’re canonically angry to be watching.

i still like the overall idea, though. and i especially loved the ending (with commodore mendez informing captain kirk that starfleet has waived general order 7).

b-rank

#star trek #star trek tos #tv review #reviews #tv

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sorenkingsley · 7 years

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Favorite TOS Episodes 04/??: The Menagerie Part I

#startrekedit #trekedit #tosedit #treksource #star trek tos #my gifs #*tos #tos 1x11

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frogayyyy · 2 years

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TOS Episodes in stardate order:

I finally finished my rewatch and thought this might be useful for ff writers or just anyone interested

(this is using the Netflix episode order and the star date which was mentioned first in the episode)

1x04 Where No Man Has Gone Before 1312.4

1x07 Mudd's Women 1329.8

1x02 The Man Trap 1513.1

1x11 The Corbomite Maneuver 1514

1x03 Charlie X 1533.7

1x06 The Enemy Within 1672.1

1x05 The Naked Time 1704.2

1x18 The Squire of Gothos 2124.5

1x08 What Are Little Girls Made Of? 2712.4

1x09 Miri 2713.5

1x10 Dagger of the Mind 2715.1

1x14 The Conscience of the King 2817.6

1x17 The Galileo Seven 2821.5

1x21 Court Martial 2947.3

1x12 The Menagerie Part 1 3012.6

1x13 The Menagerie Part 2 3013.1

2x07 Catspaw 3018.2

1x16 Shore Leave 3025.3

1x19 Arena 3045.6

1x28 The Alternative Factor 3087.6

1x20 Tomorrow is Yesterday 3113.2

1x23 Space Seed 3141.9

1x22 The Return of the Archons 3156.2

1x24 A Taste of Armageddon 3192.1

1x26 The Devil in the Dark 3196.1

1x27 Errand of Mercy 3198.4

2x16 The Gamesters of Triskelion 3211.7

2x09 Metamorphosis 3219.8

1x30 Operation: Annihilate! 3287.2

2x01 Amok Time 3372.7

2x02 Who Mourns for Adonais? 3468.1

2x12 The Deadly Years 3478.2

2x11 Friday's Child 3497.2

2x14 Wolf in the Fold 3614.9

2x13 Obsession 3619.2

2x05 The Apple 3715.3

2x10 Journey to Babel 3842.3

2x25 Bread and Circuses 4040.7

2x19 A Private Little War 4211.4

2x18 The Immunity Syndrome 4307.1

3x13 Elaan of Troyius 4372.5

3x06 Spectre of the Gun 4385.3

2x08 I, Mudd 4513.3

2x15 The Trouble with Tribbles 4523.3

2x22 By Any Other Name 4657.5

2x24 The Ultimate Computer 4729.4

2x20 Return to Tomorrow 4768.3

3x03 The Paradise Syndrome 4842.6

3x02 The Enterprise Incident 5027.3

3x04 And the Children Shall Lead 5029.5

3x12 The Empath 5121.5

3x16 The Mark of Gideon 5423.4

3x01 Spock's Brain 5431.4

3x08 For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky 5476.3

3x05 Is There In Truth No Beauty? 5630.7

3x09 The Tholian Web 5693.2

3x11 Wink of an Eye 5710.5

3x14 Whom Gods Destroy 5718.3

3x18 The Lights of Zetar 5725.3

3x15 Let That Be Your Last Battlefield 5730.2

3x10 Plato's Stepchildren 5784.2

3x21 The Cloud Minders 5818.4

3x20 The Way to Eden 5832.3

3x19 Requiem for Methuselah 5843.7

3x22 The Savage Curtain 5906.4

3x24 Turnabout Intruder 5928.5

3x23 All Our Yesterdays 5943.7

No Stardate:

1x01 Pilot: The Cage

1x15 Balance of Terror

1x25 This Side of Paradise

1x29 The City on the Edge of Forever

2x03 The Changeling

2x04 Mirror, Mirror

2x06 The Doomsday Machine

2x17 A Piece of the Action

2x21 Patterns of Force

2x23 The Omega Glory

2x26 Assignment: Earth

3x07 Day of the Dove

3x17 That Which Survives

#tos #star trek #for reference #.txt

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daraoakwise · 3 years

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Uhura in TOS continues, and we get another run of Uhura-lite. She does not appear in 1x8: Miri or 1x12: The Menagerie Pt. 2 other than a voiceover. Although she is in 1x9: Dagger of the Mind, it is entirely sitting at her station, of the “hailing frequencies open, sir,” variety.

Her role is brief in 1x7: What are Little Girls Made Of, with merely a background presence at the end. She has a short scene at the beginning that is, however, significant. The ship is searching, with little hope, for Nurse Chapel’s long lost fiancé. Uhura scans the frequencies, twice, with no success until, to everyone’s surprised amazement, the fiancé calls up. He is alive! As Chapel and Kirk head to beam down, Uhura gives Chapel celebratory hug/kiss.

The source of no few fanfictions, it shows, at the least, Uhura’s close friendship and connection with the other members of the crew beyond the bridge staff. There are glimmers of of this in many of her appearances. Uhura is clearly a precious person to many, many people on the Enterprise.

She has another brief and mostly background appearance in 1x10: The Corbomite Maneuver, notable largely for the gold shirt, and her inclusion in the senior staff meeting. Her look of utter boredom at various points cracks me up. We don’t see her often at these sorts of things, but her reactions suggest to me that she is a regular part of the sometime mind-numbing administrative side of running a ship.

Her glance at the Captain when Bailey jumps in, ready to order the gun crew to fire, and the look on her face when the Captain chews Bailey’s ass for it, is also terrific.

Her appearance in 1x11, The Menagerie Pt. 1, is not large. That said, the recent revelation that she did, in fact, serve aboard Pike’s Enterprise made me look a little harder at what is otherwise a fairly brief role.

Pike is, of course, this guy:

And this one

The man Starfleet names it’s medal of valor for and a captain for whom Spock was willing to risk court martial. And we now know that Uhura serves on the Enterprise with him as well, something I’m very much looking forward to seeing.

The ship has been called to a Starbase. Mysteriously, as it turns out. Uhura is aboard the ship, the bridge a bit strangely manned. It appears that they may be taking an opportunity for repairs while at the base. Spock sends up a false signal, changing their orders. “Starbase operations, Mr. Hansen,” she reports, and Random Helmsman of the day, in command, goes to take the call, a little miffed at receiving top secret orders. Why the writers do this, by the way, giving Random Helmsman command of the ship, rather than, say, series regular Uhura is always strange. Perhaps realistic from a military point of view, but it is strange television.

Following protocol Uhura calls down for confirmation; Spock fakes Kirk’s voice giving it, instructs them to keep this top secret, and states that they will be warping away in one hour. The bridge crew, including Uhura, have no reason to disbelieve Spock, who takes the ship and warps away, taking Pike with him. On the bridge, again sparsely manned, Uhura reports that someone is trying to hail them, but Spock orders her to keep radio silence, and order that clearly throws her. A few scenes later she on the bridge as Spock turns the ship over to Hansen and presents himself to McCoy for arrest for mutiny. McCoy and Uhura are speechless, and as the security officers take him away, an obviously upset Uhura follows Spock to the lift.

Beyond a call to the Captain when he arrives in the transporter room, that is the end of her participation in this story. She doesn’t know why Spock has done what he has done. She doesn’t even know Pike is on the ship. Spock has kept things close to his vest, not wanting anyone else to suffer consequences. I think that very deliberately includes Uhura.

#star trek #nyota uhura #spock #uhura #star trek original series #uhura rewatch

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seamusheaneypdf · 3 years

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taking a break from rearranging my room for the 3rd time this month to say this: dean refusing to believe cas could betray them in s6 handshake emoji kirk refusing to believe spock is betraying them in star trek tos 1x11 the menagerie pt 1

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spockeveryday · 4 months

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#spock #leonard nimoy #star trek #st: tos #1x11 the menagerie part 1 #02538

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

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TOS REWATCH 2020-2022: SEASON ONE

(reaction post masterlist)

1x01: The Man Trap

1x02: Charlie X

1x03: Where No Man Has Gone Before

1x04: The Naked Time

1x05: The Enemy Within

1x06: Mudd’s Women

1x07: What Are Little Girls Made Of?

1x08: Miri

1x09: The Dagger of the Mind

1x10: The Corbomite Maneuver

1x11: The Menagerie Pt. 1

1x12: The Menagerie Pt. 2

1x13: The Conscience of the King

1x14: Balance of Terror

1x15: Shore Leave

1x16: The Galileo Seven

1x17: The Squire of Gothos

1x18: Arena

1x19: Tomorrow Is Yesterday

1x20: Court Martial

1x21: The Return of the Archons

1x22: Space Seed

1x23: A Taste of Armageddon

1x24: This Side of Paradise

1x25: The Devil in the Dark

1x26: Errand of Mercy

1x27: The Alternative Factor

1x28: The City on the Edge of Forever

1x29: Operation: Annihilate!

#star trek tos #rewatch master post #mine

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chacusha · 3 years

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DS9 Companion live-blogging (1/?)

I’m already loving this. From 1x01 "Emissary" to 1x11 "The Nagus":

There are little maps of parts of Bajor.

Having emotions over Ben and Jake’s relationship being the core of the show: “[Brandon] Tartikoff had mentioned the possibility of the new show being a kind of Rifleman in space — the concept being that if Star Trek was originally conceived of as a Wagon Train to the stars, then the new show would be The Rifleman, a man and his son living together in a frontier town.”

Loving all these details about how they did the lighting for a Cardassian space station.

They discuss how they changed the Trill look from what was established in TNG. I forgot about that! The TNG Trills looked different! Now I’m headcanoning there are different Trill races with slightly different appearances. (They said they based the new Trill look on the empath bride character in “The Perfect Mate” played by Famke Janssen who they wanted to cast as Jadzia.)

This is cute:

I’m already appreciating the notes about how Shimerman and Auberjonois’s existing chemistry/rapport influenced the Quark-Odo dynamic.

Also lmao at the writers addressing the continuity error/retcon regarding the circumstances under which Curzon Dax died (in the pilot, he is conscious when the symbiont is being transferred to Jadzia, but later (in “Let He Who Is Without Sin…”) it’s said he died while having sex (more like, the sex eventually caused his death but he had time to go back to Trill for surgery, the writer clarifies).

This is so cute too 😭

Nana on changing Kira’s hair from the pilot: “That was my doing,” admits Nana Visitor. “I pushed for it. I just didn’t feel that Major Kira would style her hair every day. She wouldn’t care! I wanted a hairstyle that looked like she just woke up in the morning looking like that.” She’s so right.

Love these notes on Garak’s character too: Co-producer Peter Allan Fields: “We needed a Cardassian who didn’t act like one, so I finally put him in a tailor shop, and nobody hit me so we kept him there.” (A throwback to The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) Director Winrich Kolbe: “He’s not what you expect of a Cardassian. They’re the Prussians of the universe, always ‘kill, kill, kill.’ And then there’s Garak, a little bit on the effeminate side, totally different from what you expect of a Cardassian” while retaining the stiffness of Cardassians. Andrew Robinson: “I could actually visualize the guy; he’s all subtext. If a smart guy like Garak says that he’s ‘plain and simple,’ you realize that he’s not plain and not simple. […] And his eyes and the tone of his voice say something different than the words he’s speaking.”

Shimerman on Quark’s personality, plus notes on the Quodo dynamic:

Reading this reminds me of how odd the early episodes of DS9 feel compared to the later ones, because the early ones rely heavily on TNG connections like a crutch which they later discard once DS9 finds its own footing. “Emissary” uses Picard/Locutus and events mentioned in TNG as character backstory, not to mention O’Brien and his existing relationships on the Enterprise. “Past Prologue” features the Klingon sisters; “Captive Pursuit” features a Prime Directive plot typical of a TNG episode; “Q-less” features Q and Vash as guest stars (it’s nice to get a followup on this story but it definitely hits different when these characters aren’t interacting with Picard); “Dax” is mostly its own thing but also fits a familiar trial drama plot that are familiar from TOS and TNG. It reminds me of Sandman and the odd DC cameos it has at the beginning that get more phased out into easter eggs as the comic gains confidence.

Interesting notes on the tender exes relationship between Enina Tandro and Jadzia in “Dax” that precursors “Rejoined” / builds on the general way of using Trills in Star Trek to sneak in gay relationships:

Apparently “The Nagus” is The Godfather in space. I did not realize this at all. They even mentioned there is a scene in that ep that is an homage to that film and I was like, “What?? Which one??” It totally went over my head.

#star trek ds9 #star trek: deep space nine #liveblogging #book liveblogging #ds9 companion liveblogging

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