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thegeminisage · 4 months

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ok it's tng update time. im actually so behind idr when we watched what but the episodes were "the nth degree" "qpid" and "the drumhead."

the nth degree: holy shit this one sucked so bad. i hate barclay so much and it's a SUPER bad look to make him geordi's project specifically when geordi is equally as creepy in the fucking holodeck as this guy was

the only good part of this epiosde was when deanna was like, he made a pass at me. and riker looked at her SO fast and later he was like. deanna was it a successful pass. deanna. deanna please. and she just smirked at him. AND HE LOVED IT. he loved being toyed with. down to clown. that was so fun

my biggest gripe was that deanna turned him down THREE TIMES and then they eventually had the date anyway. disgusting. why do they hate her

i was gonna write a longer thing about how bad barclay's whole deal is but honestly it was ages ago, why relive it. it was bad is the point. shoulda shot him when they had the chance

qpid: i am SHOCKED to inform everyone that this episode finally brought me around to q. i didn't think it was possible because he was SO ANNOYING in every single other appearance but i think the guy playing him and patrick stewart have finally settled into a dynamic that works because it really worked for me. like suddenly it was funny instead of unfunny and embarrassing. like a switch flipped. i'm not sure what changed but it's great

the crucial element of this of course is that q wants picard to fuck him soooo bad and picard is Not gonna do it. picard Will Not fuck him. and the more picard is like i'm not gonna fuck you, you are a vile little man, the more q wants him. q is telling all his friends about him nonstop. q is drawing little hearts around his name in his diary. he is writing their names on the fog of the enterprise's windows and then sadly wiping them away. and all of this makes picard want to fuck him EVEN less which makes q want him EVEN more. it's a self-sustaining cycle and it's the funniest thing i've ever seen in my life. i don't understand people who write fanfic about them fucking. it would ruin every bit of the magic. i don't want them to fuck ever this is too perfect

sour notes: one racist worf joke. CAN WE PLEASE STOP.........we were doing so well otherwise

oh and the other sour note: ??? what is up with vash. like good for her that she will fuck q or anyone else she needs to if it gets her out of situations and even have fun doing it. but why is she like, picard how could you not tell your friends about me WHEN THEY WERE A FLING. they met on the fuck planet and they fucked and then they never expected to see each other again. why is it weird that he didn't tell everyone he fucked her? who does that? yeah thanks for asking coworker riker i went to the fuck planet and i fucked this lady named vash. let me give you the intimate details while we're on the bridge, our place of employment! ? NO

the drumhead: i think the mistake we made here was watching this one directly after ep5 of pjo. anything looks boring in comparison there you know......

i do like when picard gets good and fiery mad though. like righteously. as long as he actually does have a good reason to do this he does a GREAT job, it's some of his strongest acting. the first time i realized he actually could act was when he did this in the data courtroom episode and he does a good job in this courtroom episode i am just. tired of courtroom episodes. please. this and the holodeck. ENOUGH. i wish they had listened to gene roddenberry when he said courts don't exist in utopia

i liked worf in this episode even though they gave him the idiot ball. he's like, i would LOVE to be racist to this guy who is 1/4 romulan even though i didn't know that a second ago. wack. furthermore all he talked about was his honor in a way that reminded me of zuko. i hope he, like zuko, gets his honor back someday <3

anyway they were Saying Something in this episode about political witch hunts and you know what it reminded me of? that the cold war was Still Going when this episode aired. it was going when tos was airing and more than halfway through tng it is STILL GOING! wild.

TONIGHT: "half a life" and "the host" (i think i've heard of this one is it the gay one...nobody tell me)

#personal #star trek blogging #tng lb

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rivertalesien · 1 year

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Star Trek Picard

It's over.

Episode 10: The Last Generation

Spoilers.

Well, a quick one: they completely forgot about Laris.

Were there good things that happened during the three seasons of Picard's run? Absolutely. We got back with Seven of Nine and she's queer and awesome and a great character to go forward with for a new series. It's great to be able to say the captain of the new Enterprise-G is a queer former cyborg who really made this show immensely compelling whenever she was on-screen.

Re-introducing the Borg and Picard's troubled past with them as a major plot point was smart: it's probably the most interesting thing about the man and a massive shame they didn't explore his relationship to them, post-TNG. We got some convoluted business about synths and Starfleet's ban, we tied into the Romulans and a really promising idea involving a confiscated Borg cube: but it never went very far. Too-tied into Data (and his "children"), the first season floundered trying to find its way, when it was right in front of them: former Borg working together to redeem themselves in Starfleet/The Federation's eyes, only to find their world has already been quietly and slowly assimilated into its own drone-like collective of bureaucratic stagnation. So many terrible things being allowed to happen because no one is trying to change a broken system? The disconnection of what used to be a large, functional family? It says something of our world and was a missed opportunity, I think.

But involved storytelling seems to be a thing of the past.

Season two may have had some of the strangest storytelling decisions of all and the start of the nostalgia porn that Picard became: it blatantly ripped off TOS' films so much, Nicholas Meyer and Leonard Nimoy deserve writing credits.

Even though the title of the show is Picard, delving into his childhood history seemed way off base: it might have made a nice novelization back in the 90s, but it didn't really illuminate anything about Jean-Luc Picard (except the curious amount of Victoriana he grew up with) that hadn't already been dealt with before on TNG and it didn't really blend with the time travel story about his ancestor and ANOTHER Noonian Soong offshoot or even the Q stuff with an alternate universe to do...what? I still don't know how to make sense of those decisions because none of it really worked as a cohesive whole. The only through-line was Jurati's story and how she wound up becoming a new Borg queen, but even that ended with a thud: a new generation of Borg joining the Federation to be...helpful? They could have left some shades of grey in that resolution. Especially given what they came up with for season 3.

I really wanted to love it. I was so looking forward to it: my tv best friends from childhood, back together, doing their thing, saving the galaxy, learning what they've been up to: it could have been epic.

But they just had to give Beverly another kid and they relied far, far, far, far too much on nostalgia. Some of us were hoping for a new story with this family, not dozens and dozens of cribbed notes taken from just about every single Star Trek series or film ever made.

Involved storytelling is a thing of the past.

Could have saved some money if they'd just filmed it with the toys.

My favorite of the Star Trek films is The Undiscovered Country. It was the very last story with the complete TOS crew, on a new mission, one that involved an old enemy, but a troubling situation: they Klingons are dying out. The fall of the USSR was still recent and the impacts were felt around the world. In The Undiscovered Country, we got Star Trek at it's best: the personal conflicts of the crew up against the challenge of What Happens Now (especially when some want to go down fighting?). Kirk and Spock are given some of their best material here: we get to see the bitter and somewhat hateful side of Kirk and for Spock, the crisis of a personal betrayal.

The film works so well because instead of being a nostalgia-fest that they could have flown off into the sunset with, they are faced with a truly existential threat from within as well as without. As Kirk would have said, how we face death -- or the future -- is at least as important as how we face life -- or the past. The crew of the Enterprise did get to fly off into the sunset with a sort of quiet dignity that befits these older heroes close to retirement (but not quite ready yet): they saved the galaxy again and it's time for another adventure.

This is almost, tonally, to how TNG crew bowed out in their series' finale, All Good Things...: the universe is saved and Picard sits down with his officers to finally join them in a game of poker. It's a first for him and the beginning of something new: if only it had actually ended there.

Because the best stories kind of end in the middle. They don't always tell you what the next thing would be, we get to guess for ourselves. We get to build up the story in our own imaginations. Tell too much and you risk leaving the joy of connecting and dreaming up our own scenarios out of it. If fandom is about anything, it's about connecting and dreaming up all of that new stuff. The TNG films, though, allowed for nothing: they closed off the possibilities of learning more about Geordi and Beverly and even Troi, so everything would be focused mainly on Picard and Data: even in First Contact, they almost completely write Beverly out the story in favor of a new character who is to Picard what Beverly should have been: the close voice of reason (Alfre Woodard was wonderful, though). A chance to develop their relationship was completely thrown away.

And TNG never really came back after that: Insurrection was completely forgettable and Nemesis was bogged down with bad decisions (including what happened to Troi). Paramount was so into their cash cow, they overextended themselves a tragic amount and pretty much ruined TNG (and Star Trek in general) as a viable franchise for well over a decade.

Not that JJ Abrams did the series any favors: he and his writers were also hung up on the nostalgia aspect and while Star Trek (2009) had its fun moments, it also didn't make a lot of sense and was followed up by, objectively, the worst entry into the franchise (yes, I said what I said), that blatantly tried to re-work Wrath of Khan...without having a single clue as to what made WoK so special. If you remember what happened in Beyond, good for you.

Thanks to the success of Star Trek: Discovery, though, TNG was given an unlikely second chance. Only it kinda wasn't?

Other than the nostalgia factor, I'm not really sure why Paramount thought Picard was a good idea: there were plenty of potential series in these characters' further adventures (and not just from TNG), and maybe Picard was simply considered the best-known and loved and Patrick Stewart jumped ahead. Fine?

The immediate appeal was that we were told this wasn't going to be TNG: the Sequel. And then the first episode gave us Data and we even got to visit Riker and Troi for a bit. It was good to see them and only made it seem more likely that they should be around in the future as well. Was Paramount being sneaky?

Season 2: Q is back, Guinan is back, the one with the whales is back, even Wesley Crusher shows up for a cute little cameo. And then the announcement of the third and final season being a love letter to TNG, with EVERYONE coming back. Well alright.

But they came back to a story that wasn't really theirs (being pulled from all corners of the galaxy and beyond), felt stitched together around a central "mystery" that went nowhere (except to his own special chair and his own special title on the latest iteration of the Enterprise) and a final "battle" that was pure cringe and not at all dignified for this legendary crew (even now, reading all the compliments to the finale? Nostalgia definitely won).

We started with a compelling introduction: Beverly Crusher has been missing for years and is now calling out for help. One look at her quarters on her ship and we're basically given the entire season: it's going to be Borg again, and it's going to feature at least one character with a familiar name that nobody asked for.

And I say this even as I consider that if they'd given Beverly and Picard a daughter (and if she were played by, say, Karen Gillan?), this might have actually corrected a few things, especially if they'd written mother and daughter as mother and daughter sharing dangerous adventures (and scenes!) and could have even worked young Crusher as the new Borg Queen? Jack was written as the worst sort of stand-in: he's not there to be Crusher's son, he's there to be Picard's heir.

See the difference?

The old sexism that brought us all those terrible TNG episodes that tried to make Picard a rakish romantic lead with, potentially, an unknown child in every port, or paired up with much younger women? The same old sexism that had Wesley closer to Picard than his own mom, even in episodes where she should absolutely have been the main character dealing with him? Terry Matalas thought this was a good idea.

And the whole season suffered for it. Because there was no point to Vadic. There was no point to Beverly being missing for ages *except* to have five minutes of drama with Picard when he found out about their kid (making her the "bad guy" until Picard tells her, in the finale, how she never did anything wrong, because he's all noble like that), there was no point to Worf and Raffi running around in a city on a planet that surely knew who they were and weren't fooling anyone, there was no point to, as Gillian would have said in The Voyage Home:

Because none of it mattered.

What mattered was the references. Did you get all of them? Did you get all the Easter eggs? The Bunny was busy on this one.

Did you think it was all going to end with Picard sacrificing himself? Sure looked like it, but there was no point to building up to that, either.

Did you think they'd pull a Return of the Jedi stunt, flying into the Borg cube? Or make the Borg Queen something closer to the xenomorph in Alien? Did the visual of the cube in Jupiter's eye make you think of the Narada coming out of the singularity? Did you get all the musical cues and oh boy, was that really Walter Koening repeating almost verbatim the President's lines from TVH? (it was)

Did they really waste Seven and Raffi pretending to be in the weakest space battle (against...Space Dock?) that was never going to involve the destruction of Starfleet for a second time because hey, all those kids! Yes. Yes they did.

Oh, and in a limited space (like spacedock or a Borg cube, for example), a Starfleet vessel has to operate on thrusters, only, not whiz through it like the Millennium Falcon. That moment alone was an embarrassment.

Seriously, the resolution to this Terrible Threat made the whole thing look so painfully inept I'm surprised they didn't have an O'Brien cameo just to reset the pattern buffers on the transporters and tell everyone off for being so stupid.

I mean, they could have at least upped the ante and given us all those grown-up Star Trek kids now stationed on various ships (we don't get to see anyone on any of them except the Titan): Miles and Keiko had a son and daughter, Worf had a son (does he even remember him?), even Sisko had an unborn child by the time DS9 finished. I guess that would have been a cringe-fest too far.

Goodness knows they could have had a couple of decent cameos at the end, like Janeway or O'Brien, the current Dax and its host? Nope. We just get Picard embracing His Son for the first time, saving him from what might have been the only interesting thing to ever happen to him.

Because watching him at the end in a Starfleet (command) uniform on his way to his new post with his parents (nepo baby confirmed), cocky as ever, but, for some reason, already Beloved By All, given a chair next to the captain and a title no one would have expected (counselor to the captain, really?), while Sidney LaForge crashed her way through the Academy to get her seat? Little James Kirk (for surely you couldn't compare him to either of his real parents) gets Special Treatment and even a visit from Q (who wasn't dying after all! Season 2 didn't matter either!), just so we all know who the new series is going to be about: another white guy.

Oh, and they totally forgot about Laris.

All of them sitting around getting drunk, playing poker and not one damn word about Laris (or Elnor, Agnes, Soji, Cristobal)?

For a show about family, it really picked its favorites.

And that didn't feel like The Next Generation at all.

#star trek picard #picard spoilers #picard #star trek #the last generation #the title is nonsense #as is too much of the writing #this is star trek as the mcu would have done it #no not even the mcu #maybe the cw #star trek the next generation

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sshbpodcast · 1 year

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Tough as a Tardigrade: Space-dwelling lifeforms in Star Trek

By Ames

Star Trek spends a lot of episodes going where no one has gone before (except where someone definitely already has), and that includes just floating around in the vastness of space itself. But time and again, we find creatures who can survive even out here in the void, who don’t need a ship, a suit, gravity, oxygen, air pressure, or really any resources at all. And also who can survive cosmic radiation and all the other death traps even the Enterprise has trouble dealing with.

These are some resilient critters, so this week A Star to Steer Her By is shining a spotlight on the extremophiles of the cosmos! From lowly amoebas to much bigger amoebas, space-dwelling lifeforms come in all shapes, sizes, and tangibilities. Prepare to spacewalk with us as you read on below or listen to our chatter on this week’s podcast episode (discussion starts at 1:29:44) as we befriend these noble creatures and run away from the scary ones.

[images © CBS/Paramount]

Spore flowers – “This Side of Paradise”

You almost miss this reference in an early episode of The Original Series, but it’s stated that the spores of the motivation-draining flowers traveled through space until they settled on paradise planet. Make them a mint julep for their tenacity!

Dikironium cloud creature – “Obsession”

Kirk’s white whale… er, cloud in “Obsession” definitely travels about through space on its own, even getting into the Enterprise itself through some duct or other. You may want to keep your hemoglobin to yourself if you come across this sucker.

Space amoeba – “The Immunity Syndrome”

We almost lose Spock to this massive version of a lowly single-celled organism, which drains the energy from the ship. Unlike the Moby Dick cloud above, this one seems to have a taste for Vulcans! Must be that tasty green blood.

Beta XII-A entity – “Day of the Dove”

The angry little pinwheel we meet on Beta XII-A also likes to flap around in space to follow the crew back to the Enterprise and piss everyone off. No really, all it wants to do is piss everyone off and feed off their hate. These things should get into politics.

Zetarians – “The Lights of Zetar”

Another flashy flashy light that follows people around through space, these colorful beings are just looking for a place to live… and that happens to be inside crewmen of the Enterprise. If they’d succeeded, they probably would have gone on our character possession list!

Matter-energy cloud – “One of Our Planets Is Missing”

I remember really liking this episode from The Animated Series, which is a rarity, because of the big sentient cloud that Spock gets to mindmeld reminding me of A Star to Steer Her By’s first fanfic day! And happily, both live on today!

Q – “Encounter at Farpoint” et al

When we first meet Q in the TNG premiere, he’s just a chain link fence in space. Shortly afterwards, we see him chase the ship as some kind of translucent ball. Basically, the Q are so powerful, they can exist wherever, whenever, and as whatever they want.

Space Jellyfish – “Encounter at Farpoint”

One of my personal favorites because of just how alien these things are. Kicking off The Next Generation with a pair of space jellyfish at the center of a mysterious test got things off to a great start. The rest of season one on the other hand…

Beta Renner cloud – “Lonely Among Us”

This highly forgettable episode did at least feature some interesting creatures who bring Picard’s essence with them to live in space and do whatever it is they like to do. It doesn’t last long, but it did happen.

Crystalline Entity – “Datalore” and “Silicon Avatar”

There are few creatures as spangly and stunning as the crystalline entity. Like all the pretty ones, it just happens to also like mass murder quite a bit, and also hanging out with psychopaths like Lore. Who can blame it though?

The Child – “The Child”

When Troi gets knocked up in the season two premiere of TNG, it’s by none other than some kind of space-dwelling light being. Little Ian Andrew just wants to learn more about the human race, from the inside out.

Nagilum – “Where Silence Has Lease”

In literally the next episode, yet another space-dwelling weirdo also wants to learn more about the human race, though this one is less innocent in how he goes about it. Let’s count how many different ways people can die. You know, for science!

Subatomic bacteria – “A Matter of Honor”

Our Benzite friend Mendon spots some subatomic bacteria on the hull of the Klingon vessel Pagh and doesn’t report it until another batch is found on the Enterprise. Who knows how many other infestations of this space-dwelling scum he hasn’t reported!?

Calamarain – “Deja Q”

Many of the lifeforms in space whom we meet are just incorporeal, and that includes the Calamarain who hold a grudge against Q for some infractions over the years. They nearly get their revenge in the brief time Q is human too.

Gomtuu – “Tin Man”

Megafauna in space is less common, but we do see some good ones. Like Gomtuu, a perfectly sentient creature living out the rest of his days with his Betazoid inhabitant. Sadly, it does seem that he may be the last of his kind.

Two-dimensional beings – “The Loss”

When Troi loses her empathic powers, she’s unable to sense the two-dimensional beings that the ship comes across. They’re a fairly interesting alien race, since you can’t even perceive the dimension they live in whether you’ve got a functioning empath or not!

Junior – “Galaxy’s Child”

Picard wasn’t the only one devastated to see the Enterprise accidentally kill a space-dwelling mega-ravioli since it was a very cool critter to meet. Luckily, her child, dubbed “Junior,” survives, just a little bit al dente.

Quantum singularity lifeforms – “Timescape”

The aliens we meet on the Romulan ship are so hardcore that they raise their young inside a singularity. And like a typical outlandish Romulan scheme, Romulan ships are so convoluted they’re powered by an artificial singularity. Talk about a Black Hole Son! (Rimshot.)

Wormhole aliens and pah-wraiths – Deep Space Nine

We move on to the space hoppers in Deep Space Nine, starting with the series-wide plotline of the prophets who live in the wormhole and the pah-wraiths who live in the firecaves. But when they’re summoned, they basically go where they want.

Vash’s artifact – “Q-Less”

Quark and Vash try to sell what turns out to be the egg of a creature from the Delta Quadrant. When it hatches, it’s incredibly beautiful, but I gotta admit I don’t know what I’d do either if a million bars of gold-pressed latinum were on the line.

Rumpelstiltskin, et al – “If Wishes Were Horses”

Boy did we (as usual, mostly I) not like this episode, and most of that has to do with how contradictory these aliens are. Like some of the previous instances of aliens learning how humans work, their agenda is convoluted at best and confounding at worst.

Changelings – “Chimera” et al

Since Changelings can form themselves as whatever they want, that includes beings and objects you can find in space. We specifically see Laas swimming through the void as some kind of space whale, but certainly other Changelings must do it too.

Nucleogenic cloud being – “The Cloud”

Let’s now visit some of our outside pets of the Delta Quadrant. Early in Voyager, we meet the titular Cloud being that the ship accidentally ends up inside, and learn that, if there’s a cute animal in danger, Janeway must save it!

Komar – “Cathexis”

Another incorporeal alien we also brought up in our character possessions discussion, the Komar also can live outside the ship in space somewhere. These parasites usually reside in a nebula until a tasty-looking snack like Tuvok happens along.

Space sperms – “Elogium”

While Kes is having a sexual awakening in this rather uncomfortable episode, the Voyager herself is trying her best not to have one with these space sperms that are in the middle of a mating frenzy. What’s a nice ship like you doing in a quadrant like this?

Matrix species – “Coda”

We don’t get a good look at this actual alien species other than in the guise of Janeway’s dad, but it is insinuated that their matrix dimension they are trying to lure her into is in some kind of ethereal space. Captain, don’t walk into the light!

Species 8472 – “Scorpion” and “Prey”

Species 8472 is truly alien in many ways, including all the places they’re able to live. Normally natives of fluidic space, they can also survive in the vacuum of space, as we see when they get onto the Voyager in “Prey.”

Bioplasmic organism – “Bliss”

Like Captain Kirk’s cloud in “Obsession,” the big space pitcher plant proves to be a white whale to our new friend Qatai. This thing is huge and actually impressive to see since its CGI holds up pretty well! That is, when you can see it for what it is of course.

Bevvox – “Think Tank”

A similar (though smaller?) example of a bioplasmic organism is Bevvox, who we can only assume is some kind of space brainbox. He floated around in space for millennia before having the bright idea to form the Think Tank of the episode of the same name.

Species GS84 – “Context Is for Kings”

We now jump straight into Discovery, and season 1 had a whole bunch of space-dwelling lifeforms to appreciate. In an almost throwaway scene, these little light leeches start draining the energy of the shuttle and get the pilot killed before the Discovery picks everyone else up.

Ripper – “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” et al

The standout star of season 1 of Discovery, of course, is Ripper and I’ll not be hearing any arguments otherwise. This massive tardigrade, first thought to be a menace, turns out to be a great pilot before being freed from the slavery of the ship and straight into space to thrive.

Gormagander – “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”

Unless you’re Jonah, you don’t typically travel via whale. Harcourt Mudd, however, travels in style inside an endangered Gormagander. The space cetacean is a beautiful creature, though it does make me wonder why whales have come up so much in this blogpost?

Ephraim – “Ephraim and Dot”

We see another tardigrade in one of the Short Treks, though this one is neither massive like Ripper nor microscopic like tardigrades we may find on Earth (or on the moon!). What Ephraim is is adorable and colorful, much like her entire animated episode!

Larval space creature – Lower Decks opening credits

Another animated lifeform we see out in space comes in Lower Decks. We’ve agreed that the opening title sequence of Star Trek’s comedy cartoon show has some of the best jokes of the whole series, and the big space bug sucking on the nacelle is one of them! Ha!

Verugament – “Grounded”

In the most recent season of Lower Decks, there’s a swarm of another space-dwelling organism, the verugament. And because it’s a silly jokey show, as soon as they come in contact with the Cerritos, it triggers a mating response and things get... squishy.

Murf – Prodigy

Last but certainly not least, we have everyone’s favorite mellanoid slime worm from Prodigy! Murf can survive pretty much anything! Little seems to be known about his species except that they will swoop in and save the day whenever called upon.

—

Come back inside before you get eaten by a space monster! As always, keep following this space for more great Trek topics, jetpack along with our watch through of Voyager on SoundCloud or your favorite podcasting application, tap the glass on our Facebook and Twitter pages, and save the space whales!

#star trek #star trek podcast #podcast #space-dwelling lifeforms #aliens #extremophiles #tardigrades #space whales #sentient cloud #the original series #the animated series #the next generation #deep space nine #voyager #discovery #short treks #lower decks #prodigy #murf

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the-mad-hatter-tea-party · 1 year

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I love Sci Fi.

My love for sci-fi started with Star Trek TNG. I loved it from the first time I saw it. All the way back in 1989 (I was about 6 years old then). TNG is my Star Trek show, even though I watched all shows.. they are my crew.

I watch a lot of Sci Fi shows and movies, but non hold a place in my heart quite like Star Trek TNG.

When Picard was announced, I was hesitant, as I'm sure many others were. I didn't have any expectations. I mean, don't get my wrong, I think Patrick Stewart is AMAZING and always will be.. But these reboots are never quit the same as the originals. So I didn't have my hopes up. and certainly didn't have any expectations.

But of course I watched it hehehe

I thought season one was good. I enjoyed seeing these characters I missed and the plot was interesting. obviously there were some plot holes here and there, but hey show me a Star Trek show that doesn't have them.. it's part of the charm! The La Sirena crew was fun, and of course seeing Will and Diana again was great too. I even enjoyed the new darker look of the show, which I know many other fans don't.

Season two however, was...well, it was bad. Really bad. Which is such a shame, since Q storylines have so much potential and in the past, so good for this universe. I really hated pretty much everything about that season. Especially what they did with Picard's character. You could hardly recognize him anymore.

And now we come to season 3

With all of them coming back, it's hard not to have expectations.. I watched the first two episodes, and it's been great so far. Especially with Picard/Crusher relationship being part of the main plot (my little shipper heart is exploding).

But the trouble now is... I'm really really scared about being disappointed!! I try not to care, but I do. I keep thinking about how are they gonna end the series.. and I really hope it will not be some horrible cliché.

Anyway.. just needed to get this off my chest..

#star trek: picard #star trek: tng #sir patrick stewart #jean luc picard #picard/crusher #picard season 3 #expect many more picard posts in the next few weeks!#hehehhe #tng #and yes #my dislike of the second season extends to the strange choice to get Picard and Laris together #it made no sense #the only reason for it is so now he will have to make a decision whether to stay and get to know his son or go back to her #and that's shitty writing #like most of season 2 #lazy

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motelpearl · 3 months

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star trek: picard spoilers /

I'm gonna keep updating this with my thoughts (making threads is one thing I kinda miss about twitter so this will have to do)

somehow troi & riker having a weird horse girl daughter makes perfect sense like she does so much of the stuff I did at that age (making up fake countries & languages, drawing really well for her age, running around in the bush with an archery toy)

when riker showed up at the end of season one LORD JESUS I COULDVE KISSED THE SCREEN

also elnor is my son I love him. AND FUCK Q

omfg I know the modern day is near-dystopian but seeing 2024 earth not only referenced but actually depicted so starkly in comparison to the near-utopian future in star trek is so fucking bleak like UGH CAN THE FUCKING VULCANS COME TEACH US SPACE COMMUNISM ALREADY. WHERE THE REPLICATION TECHNOLOGY AT

the rick & Morty reference DID NOT AGE WELL IN MANY WAYS UGH IM GENERALLY ENJOYING THIS SHOW BUT SOME OF THE WRITING IS SO REDDIT

I hate to say it but agnes & the borg queen are the most toxic yuri in the known universe

speaking of toxic yuri I knew nothing about seven of nine going into this cause I havent watched ds9 but I fucking love her like if she & raffi ever need a third......tsahaha

ALSO WHY IS CHRIS SO DUMB IN THE 2ND SEASON. YOU WILL NEVER FUCK.

THE WAY THE 2ND SEASON RETCONS TIMES ARROW FROM TNG & THAT EPISODE IN TNG WHERE PICARD SEES A VISION OF HIS MOM & SHES OLD AS FUCK & HAS GREY HAIR & A FRENCH ACCENT BOTHERS ME GREATLY. NOT TO BE THAT KIND OF NERD OR ANYTHING.

ok nevermind him having visions of her as an old lady is explained.....except the french accent

was data the only soong who wasnt a total dickhead

"sweet picard, your guilt must've saved planets by now, countless lives in trade for the one you couldn't" SCREAMS OF AGONY

romulan with red bloodshot eyes....RED?

QCARD DIVORCE ANNULMENT 🥳🥳

ok I guess chris DID fuck sorry I wasnt familiar with his game

wow I can't believe I watched the entirety if season 2 in one night tbh everything I've heard about this show from people whose opinions i generally trust has been that its (and I quote) "laughably bad" & like ruined all of TNG for them & I was honestly scared it would ruin it for me too cause tbh I became a trekkie when i was 9/10 & a lot of bad things were going on in my life at that point & star trek was one thing that always gave me happiness & then later I got into it again during like the deep quarantine where no one was leaving their houses at all & just about everyone around me got radicalized into racist far-right fearmongering qanon shit but the idea that someday humans will be able & intelligent enough not only to put aside our own differences but to be able to befriend alien species & those aliens being willing to help humanity at one of its lowest points & someday even if it doesnt happen in my own lifetime, that people can exist who genuinely care about the needs of many & actively work to better the lives of people throughout the universe instead of just giving in to individualism & cynicism & irony poisoning which is such an easy trap to fall into gave me so much hope for humanity like yall I'm literally getting choked up typing this & I never cry & I was kind of worried that this show would stomp on everything i loved about star trek but thankfully it hasnt so far (though to be fair I like a lot of objectively bad things I mean my favourite decade of fashion is the 70s so maybe this is just jingling the metaphorical keys at me)

CRUSHERRRRRR SEASON 3 COMING OUT THE GATES SWINGING (no pun intended but im not changing it now)

ENOUGH NEEDLE DROPS I HATE TO SAY IT BUT ITS GIVING STRANGER THINGS/THE MARIO MOVIE (THOUGH IN A SLIGHTLY LESS CRINGY NOSTALGIA BAIT WAY LIKE AT LEAST THIS ISN'T USING TOP 40 SHIT FROM THE 80S) & at least it's mostly non-diegetic bc I feel like diegetic music has more of a chance of being used tastelessly

british accent is stored in the balls

its gotta be worf or at least some klingon giving raffi orders right....who else would call someone a warrior

NOOOOO THE DE-AGING CGI OR WHATEVER IN S3 E3 ITS SO UNCANNY VALLEY it was surprisingly pretty good on data in s1 & q in s2 though......where did the budget go

why is old man worf kinda *starts coughing*

amanda plummer is so terrifying in every role I've seen her in like even in catching fire when she was a protagonist

also why do so many people victim blame picard for being assimilated by the borg it's not like he wanted to get assimilated & become the face of a massacre. the whole motto of the borg is "resistance is futile" like there was literally nothing he couldve done to prevent it

jack better prove himself QUICKLY cause other than his parentage I don't see anything that would inspire me to fight for his life

& then cthulu was born

goddamn the changelings make the borg look like a bunch of peace & love flower children. on that note on that note if picard assimilated beverly's reproductive system with some fucked up latent borg sperm i will be disappointed but not surprised cause what is up with jack's crazyass visions

BLESS RO BLESS WORF BLESS RAFFI

if I weren't worried I might miss something important I'd skip all the scenes where jack monologues about benign shit for no reason BOOOO GET OFF THE STAGE

JUMPIN JIMINY

WHY IS THIS LITERALLY A HORROR MOVIE honestly the concept of beings that can make themselves look & sound human has always been one of the things that scare me the most which is weird because all my life I've been compared to robots & aliens WHICH IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I LIKED STAR TREK SO MUCH IN THE FIRST PLACE BECAUSE I RELATED SO MUCH TO DATA so in theory I shouldnt be afraid of that because I'm in the same predicament & I can relate in many ways but I mean idk I guess theres a difference between feeling excluded & wanting to be the ones who exclude. my fear probably comes more from the idea of unwillingly walking into a trap thinking someone you trust was going to help you & then having to wonder "what happened to the real person?"

what I meant by that long ramble is: the tuvok scene........*shudders*

would it be for for best if the borg carried out one last forceful assimilation of the changelings......could they be trusted with that capability......*strokes chin pensively*

THEYRE DOING/WILL DO THE PICARD MANEUVER IM CALLING IT NOW ok wait heres my theory they do the picard maneuver -> it looks like theres another ship but it's just like a warp imprint or whatever -> vadic tries to beam aboard the fake ship & actually beams herself into space -> the main crew beam aboard the shrike & save riker & troi & possibly take the portal weapon -> beam back to the real ship & blow the shrike up while all the crew panic cause they just watched vadic explode in space

well.

BIG DADDY WORF COME TO LAY THE SMACK DOWN GOD BLESS GOD FUCKING BLESS BRUH IMAGINE YOUR FRIEND COMES TO BREAK YOU OUT OF DEATH ROW & IMMEDIATELY STARTS FLIRTING WITH YOUR WIFE IM FUCKING DEAD

GET DATA ON THE PHONE CAN THEY NOT DELETE LORE'S WHOLE FILES LIKE WHAT CAN HE POSSIBLY CONTRIBUTE TO ADVANCEMENT OF SOCIETY

nooooo data don't misgender spot

OOOOOOOH THEY ALMOST HAD ME THERE

THEY DID BLAST THEM INTO SPACE I WAS PARTIALLY RIGHT YEEEEEEHAW

wait. are the red door & the red lady the same thing

BORG PENIS I CALLED IT

what happened to the borg using their power for good....get agnes on the phone....

hooh I knew it was coming but....enterprise d my beloved

last episode prediction: picard will have to become locutus one last time to defeat the borg & whoever else

yknow right now would be a real great time for some q or some travellers/watchers to show up & do their thing. also imagine the insane drama of wesley crusher coming to talk his long lost brother out of becoming a fascist alien king

on that note i cant decide whether assimilation is a metaphor for fascism, addiction, sexual assault, stds, something else I haven't considered, or is just a wild crazy non-allegorical concept of the kinds of things that might exist in space

JUPITER IS NOT CLASS M

one thing that keeps catching me off guard & then making me laugh is how patrick stewart's high rp shakespearean accent has slightly waned over the years so I'll sometimes be like "why did picard sound like paul mccartney there" & then I remember that patrick stewart is actually northern (yes yes i know yorkshire & liverpool are two different places but the uk is so minuscule by canadian standards that they might as well be the same and no one outside the uk can tell the difference between the accents so dont lecture me) <- yes unfortunately I'm the laziest kind of linguistics nerd as well I'm honestly just exposing myself as annoying in this post

let me guess jack is the beacon & they have to kill him

did they clone locutus

GOD I FUCKING LOVE DATA

I love troi too like when the writing gives her a chance to be shes literally so smart & so aware & in tune with everything like she's such an asset to the crew but it's rare we get to see that in action

I'm getting too good at predicting things

well now that I've finished it I can say I really dont know why I saw so much hate for it like maybe I've just operated in weird spaces of the internet but I mean I really dont see what there is to outright hate about it (I mean early on some of the characters felt very stilted like agnes in the first season was just yapping & was giving millenial cringe to the highest degree but I think by the 2nd season she redeemed herself but then was that even canon considering the 3rd season? idk I definitely have criticisms but I wouldn't call it "laughably bad" & it definitely hasnt forever ruined my view of star trek thank god)

sigh I just love these characters yall. if that's key jingling then put my ass in the crib

also I'm just going through all the seasons of tng & watching my favorite episodes & some random ones & it makes me laugh so hard when they show picard wearing anything other than his uniform cause he's always just in the sluttiest outfits ever 😭 they had patrick stewart running around in a v-neck & booty shorts

gah the best of both worlds part 1 & 2 + family work so well as like a trilogy but they're also such heartbreaking episodes like borg assimilation is one of those things that just becomes increasingly unrelentingly more & more horrifying the more you think about it & the scenario of those episodes would literally be so terrifying for anyone involved like beverly seeing the guy she's sort of in love with become the face of this genocidal fascist species but then her son is on board the enterprise & just watched his mom be sent on an away team where it was possible she might not come back or worse & also wesley having to see picard be the face of the borg & probably feeling like he just lost another father figure & like it would literally have no good outcomes for anyone cause even the borg don't want to be borg but it was forced upon them

on that note I kind of have a headcanon that the borg would have originated from like, a super technologically advanced planet's military putting cybernetic implants in all their soldiers for efficiency so they could have a hive mind & think as one & coordinate seamlessly & always be up to date on what other sectors of the military were doing & then deciding that instead of killing their enemies, they would forcibly conscript them into the military by assimilating them & by doing this they eventually took over whichever planet they originated on. eventually this wasn't enough for them so they started traveling the universe & assimilating whole planets & that's how it came to the point we see in tng & beyond

sigh they really wrote the episode hero worship for all us little weird kids who connected to data didnt they

if they really wanted to give geordi a romance with someone they couldve tried to put him with ro laren bc their dynamic in the next phase was so cute like his outgoing-ness + her aloofness & how he sort of brought her out of her shell in that episode UGH walk with me. or they couldve just made him gay which they were apparently considering but decided against? idk but I mean the man literally orders an ice coffee in the same episode where he falls in love with a girl just by watching her vlogs. how did they preemptively stereotype him before the stereotype of gay people loving ice coffee even existed (I jest) but like ugh ANYTHING EXCEPT THE PARASOCIAL INCEL SHIT THEY ALWAYS PUT HIM INTO & THEN IN THE VERY LAST EPISODE THEY SAY HE'S MARRIED TO LEAH BRAHMS LIKE NO. PLEASE. JUSTICE FOR GEORDI. END THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION. but the future in that episode isnt even canon & thankfully in picard they never outright say who he had kids with so like in my mind they are not the product of reply-guy-ification but a normal relationship (also justice for leah brahms & whoever she was married to.) idk why i even feel so strongly about this. I guess maybe because geordi is otherwise such a good character & the very concept of him is so ahead of its time & obviously characters need to have flaws but did it have to be Those kinds of flaws specifically </3

also cardassians should not have hair idc I know people think bald aliens are too cliche but what business do reptilians have with hair how would that even evolve

#motelpearl #long post /#star trek

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a-stitch-in-time-and-space · 3 years

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ok i agree w/ everything you said about those ladies besides, lwaxana gives s*xual pr*dator vibes and that is why i dont like her.

I can see that reading for sure and all things are subjective. I do strongly disagree, but hey, fandom is a space for that! Super chill.

to go a little more into this though, since it's not really so much about what any of us feel, but more about how we engage with female characters (and I'll use your example of why you don't like her - not to drag you, your dislike is totally fair, she's fictional, she won't mind, but just because it's a single line that kinda puts her in a box. And not a very nice box to be in, that's for sure...)

a little tw for mild references to some of the shadier writings of star trek vis a vis sexual assault and otherwise sexist and/or strange relationship dynamics

okay so you know how Riker has like. two? episodes that're suuuper shady in terms of his treatment of women and the rest of the time it's pretty chill. and he's one of my favourite characters, but I have gotta skip those episodes, because whatever they were trying to do, they Did Not Succeed - and there's a reading of him that incorporates those elements and if you do you've gotta contend with the character being quite probably someone who's assaulted women.

or how Worf at times espouses sexist shit that makes me roll my eyes outta my head and you're either gonna say "I don't fucking like this character" (and again, totally fair, I've seen people who don't Vibe) or you've gotta find a way to make this work for you if you want to explore that character - or both of those things, you can dislike a character and want to write about them

Or some of the weird shit the writers have Geordi do (which, Geordi is my favourite character in TNG, but sometimes ya gotta breathe and go "the writers are fucking dumb, the writers are fucking dumb")

or - the spiritual successor of Geordi, Julian Bashir (my favourite character from DS9 - clearly I have a Type). You've gotta go: This is stupid writing. I can make it work with my own read of the character, but first and foremost The Writing Is Dumb!

Or hell, Q - since we're talking about Lwaxana and I assume her interactions with Picard and Odo, let's not forget to mention Q, both in TNG and on VOY with Janeway - some of the more urgh-inducing scenes between Q and Janeway are, I think, meant to be charming and funny? And I'm a massive QCard shipper here, okay, I actually vibe so hard with him as an alien who doesn't get shit about boundaries (this mostly with Picard, with Janeway I have gone: "Hm. This doesn't feel good" a fair few times).

or how the writers of DS9 had Garak be in a very uncomfortable relationship with Ziyal, who was a teenager, then not a teenager within much too short a span of episodes (and actress changes)

or Quark. Remember the episode in which Quark tries to get Kira's likeness so he can put it in a sex-fantasy roleplay that she did not consent to? or how there are two cold opens where his female employees are told they have to sleep with him to keep their jobs

or like... Neelix (okay, I am not a fan of Neelix anyway, but for people who are fans, there are times when you've gotta wonder what in the heck the writers are thinking - not the character, the writers)

what I'm trying to say with the post I wrote is that this same graciousness isn't offered to female characters - especially female characters of colour, but in the case of Lwaxana

she's older, she's an ongoing female guest star, she's very (sometimes uncomfortably) sexual towards especially Picard and for a short while Odo, before they become really good friends.

she's also in-text several times in positions in which men are trying to control her (the episode where she gets kidnapped, the episode in which the guy who's married her is a misogynist) and she uses or tries to use her "wiles" to escape these situations.

She's really more of a faded beauty who's putting a pressure onto her daughter (in a rare interesting, complex, fraught mother-daughter dynamic that I loooove) and refuses to let go of the past, because (and here we get into my read, but mildly supported by canon) it's the only way she seems to have learned how to be loved and have relevance. She's terrified of letting that go, because where does she go next, without everything that's defined her? which is why her final episode with Odo is actually so powerful to me.

Picard is never threatened by her in-text. He's not massively fond of her (at first, she grows on him... like a mold), he would prefer to avoid her, but he's not in a powerless situation here. She undoubtedly makes him uncomfortable at times in a way that - like some of the above examples have made me go "mmmmokay" but certainly not the worst example of this in the writing.

With Odo I also don't like how some of her interactions with him go in the first episode they're in together. But once they're friends and you see how easily she accepts him ("I can swim" is always going to be one of my favourite little chuckle lines) that no longer applies. He clearly likes her and enjoys her company. There's something incredibly lifelong platonic partners in their easiness with each other.

You can argue in both cases (and argue well) that there are scenes that are kinda sus. But there are lots of scenes that offer you depth of character. She's not one-note. She's got off moments.

Some of these guys (and others - I haven't watched as much TOS and Voyager so I don't want to misrepresent anyone, but I feel sure that Tom Paris has made me squint once or twice + I've not seen Enterprise yet) have whole episodes that make me shudder.

It's really - within this fandom for sure - open how we interpret characters and I'm not saying anyone needs to read Lwaxana like this or change their minds and like her.

The point of the post is not to say you have to like any of these characters. Or even to say you have to engage with them regardless of how you vibe or don't vibe with them. It's just... I have listened to several up-until-then-enjoyable deeply analytical podcasts where at some point one of the (guys... always guys... I'm guessing white) makes a sneering comment completely dismissing their value within the series.

My point is that Lwaxana (since we're on her) has value as a character within the Trek universe. She added something important. She's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a big series, we're not all guaranteed to like everyone.

and in the original post I used "shrill" and "cringy" on purpose, because those are descriptors I've heard. And they are absolutely rooted in misogynist dismissals of female characters no matter what shape they take (Keiko, Lwaxana, Michael, and Ezri are radically different from each other and yet all easily brushed aside regardless of screentime, personality, show, age, role/job).

I'm not making points about having to engage with or like characters. I'm just saying we need to be aware of how easily we specifically look down our noses at female characters (and specifically female characters of colour - apologies, this was just because we were talking about Lwaxana, but some of the shit I've heard about especially Michael and Keiko have made me want to bang my head against a wall... or other peoples heads against walls... you know, for a nice change)

so how much sympathy or analysis of behaviour is afforded to female characters vs their male peers. What judgements are we making and how do they compare to our readings of their male counterparts?

sidenote: I hate using male and female about star trek, my brain is just like "why anyone gender? why do this? you're in space? there are aliens? y'all can't chill with the binary for two fucking seconds?"

different post

#lwaxana troi #tng #ds9 #voy #st: tng #st: ds9 #st: voy #star trek disc horse #I don't want to make statements on TOS or Disco guys - I HAVE seen them I just don't rememberrrr too much #i have entirely avoided any and all opinions by white cis dudes on adira and gray btw because I have F E A R #they're not female characters tho but like... tangentially I'm thinking hooboy about them as well #anon just wanna reiterate I'm not telling you to change your opinion or feelings about her

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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Voyager. Now that’s a kettle of fish. Obviously watch/enjoy whatever you wish, but I do recommend also checking out SFDebris’ reviews of the episodes (he’s the rwde of Voyager). He is a lot smarter and more eloquent than me.

Putting these two asks together since my thoughts on both are all jumbled!

Now, I want to emphasize that I’ve only watched the first 16 episodes (Season One + Season 2 premiere), so idk if Voyager is going to go seriously downhill later on, but right now I do really like it. And not in a, “Lol yeah compared to the other crap on it’s good, I guess” way, but in a completely honest, “It has its flaws, but is overall a solid, compelling show with lovable characters” way. Out of curiosity I watched SFDebris’ review of “Phage,” though I’m afraid I didn’t agree with it. The only part were I was like, “Yeah okay” was pointing out that they had the Doctor using a keypad when he supposedly wasn’t solid, but that’s precisely the sort of continuity error that, in an otherwise strong show, I’m willing to shrug off. For all the major points, it sounds like SFDebris is concerned primarily with the show he wants Voyager to be, rather than the show Voyager actually is. Which I know sounds familiar--I’ve heard that criticism leveled at my own work: “You just want RWBY to be a totally different show”--but the difference is that Voyager is a part of an established franchise, following three other TV shows, an animated series, and a collection of films. It’s not an original show (like RWBY) that can take itself in any direction the story may need/claim to want (again, RWBY). It has a brand and those established characteristics seem to be bumping up against SFDebris’ critiques:

Hating Neelix as a character - You’re supposed to hate him. Or at least find him frustrating (I don’t personally hate him) because that’s what all the characters are grappling with too. From Tuvok forced to have an awkward conversation while Neelix is in the bath to Janeway dealing with him taking over her dining room, Neelix’s conflict revolves around how others learn to accept him. Star Trek as a franchise is about “Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.” Voyager begins with the problem of how the trained Federation officers are supposed to work with the more violent Maquis. Difference doesn’t just create “Wow, you’re so amazing!” reactions, it also includes frustration, disagreement, and outright hostility. Creating an outsider character with a kind heart but incredibly overbearing personality is a great way to test the other characters’ convictions. Do they actually care about all life in the universe? Or do they only care about life when they personally find it palatable? Having Neelix around is a great reminder for them--and the viewer--that just because someone annoys you at times doesn’t mean they’re any less worthy of love, respect, and companionship. It also doesn’t mean they don’t have something to offer: he keeps the crew fed even if his cooking is horrible, he provides information about this area of space even if he sometimes gets it wrong, we roll our eyes at the “Morale Officer” stuff, but Neelix does provide much needed perspective for characters like Tuvok. If Neelix made fewer mistakes, stopped bugging the crew, became a “cooler” character for the audience to root for rather than be frustrated by... a lot of the point of his character would be lost.

Frustration about discoveries not carrying over to the next episode - AKA, the crew finds inanely powerful, alien tech and then (presumably) never uses it again. This would indeed be a big problem in a serialized story (like RWBY) but Voyager maintains much of Star Trek’s original, episodic nature. Though we have continuity in the form of them inching towards home and evolving as characters, the world still resets to a certain point at the end of each episode. This is what allows Star Trek to explore so many different questions and have so many different adventures. If you demand that serialized continuity--this character needs to have an arc to deal with this traumatic experience, the crew has to follow the thread they just discovered, our Doctor needs to do something with the new tech they just found--then you lose the variety that Star Trek is known for. Instead of a new story each week (or, occasionally, across two weeks) you’ve got a single story spanning months. Neither form is better or worse than the other, it’s absolutely a preference, but there’s a very specific, structural, intentional reason why the characters “forget” about the things they’ve discovered and, at times, experienced. Unlike Ozpin forgetting that he has a nuke in his cane for seven volumes, or Ruby forgetting to use her eyes at crucial points, Star Trek deliberately sets things aside to ensure there’s room for new ideas and questions next episode.

Janeway doesn’t kill the Vidiians to get Neelix his lungs back - No Starfleet captain would. At least, not during this period of Star Trek. Sisko has development in that regard (making morally gray choices), but that’s built into the heart of the show from the start: he’s on a station, not a starship, that is jointly run by the Federation and the Bajorans, and built by the Cardassians. The rules of the Federation always had a tenuous hold there and Sisko as a character always pushed the boundary of the Federations expectations (Q: “Picard never hit me!”) Janeway, in contrast, is 100% a Federation captain and, more importantly, has explicitly told her crew that they will be operating as a Federation vessel, despite being so far from home. That’s the conflict between the officers and the Maquis. That’s why Tuvok accepts the alien tech in “Prime Factors,” recognizing that Janeway can’t. That’s why Seska is a compelling antagonist, pressuring the crew to abandon their ideals for survival. The series (or at least that first season) revolves around questions about identity and whether they’re willing to give that identity up now that they’re out from under the Federation’s thumb. Overwhelmingly, they choose not to... which would make murdering the Vidiian a complete 180 for her character. We’re not necessarily supposed to agree with Janeway’s choice, we’re supposed to acknowledge that murdering another sentient being is not some simple choice to make, especially when you’re a leader devoted to a certain set of ideals. We’re supposed to recognize the challenges here (many of which SFDebris doesn’t acknowledge) like how you’re supposed to keep a prisoner for the next 75 years when you’re already struggling to feed and take care of the crew you have, or the fact that they claim to take organs from dead bodies and this was a rare time when they couldn’t. (It’s only in “Faces” that we learn this is complete BS and they actively kidnap people to work as slaves and then be harvested.) The frustration that Janeway doesn’t act here stems from wanting her to be a character who is, fundamentally, not a Star Trek captain.

Granted, I only watched one review, but that’s what the whole thing felt like: wanting a series that’s not Star Trek. Something without a token, challenging character, without hand-wavy science, that’s more serialized, and doesn’t adhere to a “do no harm” code. (I just started “Initiations” and Chakotay asks a vessel to stand down three times, while actively being attacked, before finally retaliating and then he tries to reestablish communications and then he warns them about their engine and then he beams them aboard his shuttle. That’s what Star Trek (usually) is: that idealized love of life, even when that life is actively hostile). And like, that’s obviously fine! As you say, Flawartist, “watch/enjoy whatever you wish,” but just based on this one review I wonder if SFDebris just wants something other than Star Trek.

I think one of the reasons why I feel passionately about this (beyond my love of context and recognizing when shows are actively trying to accomplish something specific) is that I went through this with DS9. For years I heard about how horrible the show was. It’s trash. It’s a mess. It’s not TNG, so don’t even bother. Or, if you do, be prepared for disappointment. There was this whole, strong rhetoric about how silly it all is--Star Trek is, by default, silly, so supposedly only the Shakespeare loving, archeology obsessed captain is sophisticated enough to save it--and then... I found nothing of the sort. I mean yeah, obviously Star Trek is silly as hell (that’s part of its charm), but DS9 was also a complex, nuanced look into everything from personal agency to the threat of genocide. There’s so much wonderful storytelling there... little of which made it into my cultural understanding of DS9. And now I’m seeing the same thing with Voyager. When I did some quick googling I was bombarded by articles saying how bad it is and now I have an ask comparing it to a show I don’t think has even a quarter of the heart the Star Trek franchise does. Which is is not AT ALL meant as a knock against you, anon. I’m just fascinated by this cultural summary of Star Trek: TOS is ridiculous but fun if you’re willing to ignore large swaths of it, TNG is a masterpiece and that’s that, DS9 is bad, Voyager is bad, and to be frank I haven’t heard much of anything about Enterprise. It’s weird! Because I watch these shows and I’m like, “Holy shit there’s so much good storytelling here.” Is it perfect? Not on your life, but it’s trying in a way that I can really appreciate. It’s Star Trek and Star Trek (at least at the time) meant something pretty specific. Criticisms about divisive characters or idealized forgiveness feel like walking out of a Fast and Furious film and going, “There was too much driving and silly combat. Why didn’t they just fix the situation in this easy way?” Because then we wouldn’t have a film about lots of driving and silly combat! If you make all the characters palatable, make Janeway harder, extend the impact of all the discoveries, remove the ridiculous science that doesn’t make any sense... then you don’t have Star Trek anymore.

#star trek #ST #mymeats #flawartist

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discotreque · 4 years

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LwD 1.08, “Veritas”

aka GIANT SPOCK IS CANON, or: “Today didn’t have to end in eels!”

Line-for-line, this might have been the funniest episode yet. It moved even faster than “Terminal Provocations” but felt like it had twice as many jokes packed in, and holy fuck were those jokes landing for me.

(Obligatory gorgeous planet shot. It’s a little anachronistic to me to see that font used for a location chyron—those weren’t really a mainstream thing on TV before The X-Files, and while I remember them on VOY and maybe even DS9, I think TNG was too early for them—so we’ve never actually seen it used like this before!)

Anyway, I loved the way this one switched up the usual LwD format of “sitcom A-plot + sitcom B-plot + entire A-plot of a TNG episode C-plot”—though I was slightly disappointed at first that it wasn’t the Rashomon-style story I thought it was shaping up to be, I didn’t really have time to dwell on that because then we were off to the RACES.

Seriously, the jokes in this one:

The execution of the bit with the Red Alert happening everywhere except their repair bay? With the almost-subconscious setup of the klaxon quietly fading in and back out of the background SFX as the doors whoosh open and closed? While you’re still supposed to be paying attention to Mariner and Boimler arguing in the foreground? And then Jack Quaid’s delivery of Boimler’s exasperated “Rutherford!”? That whole scene was just *chef’s kiss*

Mariner doesn’t want to get kicked out of Starfleet because then she’d have to live on Earth, “where there’s nothing to do except drink wine and hang out at vineyards and soul food restaurants.” If she doesn’t want to, I will definitely take her spot.

SAMANTHAN RUTHERFORD. Still not over it.

His “rebooting” into increasingly bizarre situations with absolutely no context (“Updating Klingon fonts!” “Why do I even need tha—” *thud*) reminded me a little of the Futurama episode “Time Keeps on Slipping,” and I always like being reminded of that episode.

GORN WEDDING! (Some really fetching dresses in that scene, tbh #notascalie)

Ransom mistaking Tendi for a special-ops “cleaner” (when she was just there to sticky-roll Dr. T’Ana’s fur off the chairs, another screaming-into-my-hands moment) was comedy gold-pressed latinum. Also, I’ve decided she has no martial arts training, she’s just that good under pressure and that afraid of failure (and, obviously, still in good shape from the Academy).

Okay so my personal tastes re: bleeping regular swear words in normal dialogue are that it’s sometimes funny, sometimes just distracting—I’m getting used to it on this show, though—but that’s different from using super accurate, ultra nostalgic LCARS beeps to “censor” classified information—hilariously poorly—which is a classic trope that gets me every time. Ransom’s final “There’s no indication that the Rom... (beat) ... (bleep!) ... (beat) ...ulan High Council detected us” had me scream-laughing into my hands.

“You know who I hate? Remans.” “Oh, they’re the worrrst.”

I was expecting a whole episode about Q, but this was about the perfect amount of him w/r/t Lower Decks—and Mariner just blowing him off was easily on par with Sisko punching him out, omfg

Come on, a soccer game (with a singing ball) against anthropomorphic playing cards, on a chess board, which is actually a puzzle, that they have to solve to prove humanity’s worth, except really Q is just fucking with them—that’s straight out of a Peter David novel and I was living for it. What more do you need?

Boimler giving a rousing This! Is! Starfleet! speech—and then ending it by shouting “Drumhead!” and mic-dropping the Horn of Candor—was such a perfect microcosm of this stupid, stupendous show :D

“Creepy? This is one of our nicest Event Silos! I got married here!”

And now for some prop talk! The phaser rifles that Ransom and Tendi and [REDACTED] were carrying look like they’re of a design lineage with the ones we saw on VOY (and then late-period DS9), with the angles and proportions “modernized,” in a way the others feel distinctly of-the-90’s now, and that’s such a nice subtle touch—I love how much attention LwD pays to whatever “set dressing” is called in animation.

I was going to get into a whole Thing there, about how phasers were “de-militarized” in design for TNG, and how they’ve since regressed to resemble IRL firearms—RIP the tome of Star Trek essays in my head nobody will ever pay me to write—but honestly? I’m just delighted that this show is making me think so hard about Star Trek As A Concept. I literally feel like a kid again.

TNG and DS9 left me so hungry for post–Dominion War worldbuilding, and then VOY fucked off to the Delta Quadrant, and then ENT fucked off to prequels and the franchise got stuck there for 20 years… and sure, in my heart of hearts I sometimes wish this show had maybe 15% more chill—which is just because I’m getting old—but in so many other important ways, it feels like coming home <3

Oh, and this week’s “Am I actually, literally Beckett Mariner?” moment was when she didn’t care about classified information because “knowing things means more work.” If that’s not me filtering emails at my day job...

Next week: A holodeck hijinks episode, but it looks more VOY-style holo-hijinks than TNG-style—which is basically trashy cable movies vs. PBS, so fuckin’ sign me up.

#star trek #lower decks #lwd #star trek lower decks #amy's episode notes

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calliecat93 · 3 years

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ST: TNG S6 Watchthrough Episodes 6-9

True Q: After a complete absence last season, Q is back! So why’s he there this time? A young woman named Amanda is on the ship... and it turns out that she has the same powers that the Q Continuum has. Q is there (no meniton of where Vash is though…) to take her to the Continuum, but Amanda doesn’t want to go. She’s happy with her life and she doesn’t want it or her future plans to be taken away from her. It feels like they decided to do a remake of Hide and Q, the one where Q gave Riker Q-like powers. While it is one of S1’s better episodes, I don’t particularly care for that one for a few reasons. This one I felt was an improvement. Amanda’s a really nice girl, I mean her intro has her summon up puppies! She’s struggling with her powers especially when Q makes her realize the extent of it and how she can do literally anything. Under Q’s guidance, she begins to actually enjoy it… but Q is really trying to push her away from being human. She comes close to crossing the line when she tries to make Riker fall in love with her, even using mind-control… but realizes how bad it feels and decides that she doesn’t like being an all-powerful being who forces herself on others. I love how aghast Q is that a Q can have human feelings and want to use their powers to do actual good for others. Honestly I’m confused on why they don’t bring up Amanda using her power to just make herself. We know that the Q’s can do so form Deja Q, so how come that possibility enver comes up. I think I’d have liked that better than Amanda finally agreeing to go at the end. Though to be fair she does so after realizing the greater good that she can do with her power after saving a dying planet and has clearly not at all lost her humanity/compassion. She’s gonna give the Continumm one Hell of a time, huh? But yeah, it was good. It’s not Q’s best appearance, certainly one of his more serious protrayals and kind of reminds me why I hate him. But also why I love him cause he’s just so freakin’ fun, John de Lancie is utterly fantastic in the role, and his amorality really adds so much more depth to the show. When he shows up, you know that you’re gonna get something interesting. After not having him at all last season, this was very much welcomed~ 4/5.

Rascals: We have a de-aged episode folks! Picard, Ro, Guinan, and Keiko have all been turned into young children. They’re not happy about it. Picard cause it undermines his captaincy, Ro because her childhood was traumatic to put it lightly, Keiko because it major complicates things with her husband and child, and Guinan… no actually, Guinan just has fun with it XD Now de-aging episodes can either be really fun or really annoying depending on how it’s done. My favorite one is the one in Justice League Unlimited, which did a good balance between having fun with the concept and still telling a good coherent story with a major heartbreaking line at the end that shows that being a kid again wasn’t fun for everyone. How did TNG do? Honestly IDK why they included Keiko in this. Don’t get me wrong I like Keiko… but it feels like they only included her to do some really cringy humor on how a grown woman got de-aged and is now married to an adult man. Thankfully O'Brien is a good man who’s as uncomfortable with it as I am and doesn’t do anything that he shouldn’t, but still, the show was it really necessary? Aside from that, it was fine. I feel like they’re trying to tell a serious story as per usual… and I think that was the wrong approach. That JLU episode I mentioned did play parts of it seriously, but it also recognized how absurd the whole premise was and rolled with it. There are entertaining bits, like a kid!Picard acting like… well Picard is pretty dang funny, but I just don’t feel like they struck a good balance between the seriousness and just having fun with it. It outright makes the adults all getting overtaken by the Ferengi outright embarrassing, not funny or scary. Like I said though it does have fun moments. I like how Guinan just wanted to have fun while a kid again and manage to get Ro to finally give in and have some form of a happy childhood that she didn’t get to have before. A bunch of children, including the non-de-aged ones like Alexander, outwitting a bunch of Ferengi was also hilarious, especially Picard faking being Riker’s son. Riker’s face when Picard hugged him was amazing. The kid actors were also really good, especially Guinan’s actress. But otherwise, it just kinda feels like they couldn’t decide on a tone and as such while it has its entertaining bits, it feels confused on what kind of episode it wants to be. It’s harmless and another one of those episodes that I’d say adult fans can watch with their kids, but it’s certainly not one of their best efforts. 2/5.

A Fistful of Datas: We got us a Western episode! Hooray~! The crew has some time off and Worf gets forced to agrees to undergo a Wild West Holodeck program with Alexander with Troi also joining in. Too bad that they chose that day to link Data to the ship’s computers and a power surge causes a malfunction n both Data and the computers! Oops. So yeah, the ship/Data is having issues while our trio is trapped in the Holodeck with Data’s image replacing the characters. You know how I just complained that the last episode couldn’t decide between seriousness or comedic and thus they clashed? Not an issue this time! This one was just complete and utter fun~! Even when it gets serious this was just great! The Western heme, Troi being a Western fangirl, them making Brent Spiner play a billion roles again, it is just a blast! Heck just having Worf in this role where he’s clearly dreading everything, then has fun with it (at least until Alexander gets kidnapped/the Data thing) I'm just so nice haha! I can’t think of much else to say but another fun Holodeck episode! Now if only they could stop malfunctioning every time they use it… 4/5.

The Quality of Life: So we have a scientist and these cute little robots called Exocoms. They are made to make repairs but one unexpectedly shuts down just before the terminal explodes. Upon investigating, Data begins to believe and later decides that the Exocoms have gained sentience, and are therefore living beings. This is the closest thing that we’ve gotten since The Measure of a Man, and I really like it! I loved Data here... I mean I always love Data but he was so freakin’ good here. He chooses to advocate for the Exocoms, even when it reaches a point where Picard and Geordi’s lives are in danger, and sacrificing the Exocoms is the only available option. While he knows that he’s accepting of letting them die and very much doesn’t want to, how can he sacrifice one species of life for another? Lifeforms who are very much like him, machines made by humans but unlike him who has people like Picard to advocate for his rights, they had no one. The episode doesn’t ignore the moral questions here and really raises some good questions about life, what counts as being alive, and where we draw the line when deciding between lives. I also loved Data and Crusher’s interactions in this one and him going to her when questioning how to define life. While Indo believes that Pulaski wasn’t as bad as others, her interactions with Data were just bad but Crusher comes off as so much more compassionate and understanding towards him. It just really shows why Crusher is the CMO that this show needed, sorry Pulaski. The Exocoms are really cute and while I won’t give away the ending, they truly are heroes. This was the kind of Data episode that the show needed, and they delivered pretty dang well I’d say~! 4.5/5.

#st watchthrough

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aretarers · 4 years

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TNG BABEYYYYYYYYY

im gonna kiss you on the lips

favorite character: i know i talk about data the most but like. actually its probably q tbh. but ONLY in tng he has like 1 episode in ds9 and 3 episodes in voyager and theyre all horrible. but the tng episodes?? absolutely effervescent. but like. ok how do i explain this . hes fucking funny!! but also like. hes my favorite because its a combo of “lol hes stupid and gay and funny” but ALSO “the implications of being godlike and immortal are really fascinating” AND “the writers used his character very effectively as a foil for picard and as not only a test of but also a reaffirmation of the most core themes of tng i.e. human value and progress” i could go on about this for hours

second favorite character: OKAY this one definitely goes to data ohughgh my god... oh data we’re really in it now. hes so. hjrhghh!!!!!!!!!!!!! *spends several hours thinking about how datas humanity is explored throughout the series *thinks about how datas desire to be human i.e. desire to grow past what he is is inherently a human trait and once again one of the most core themes of tng *thinks about how much data loves his friends *thinks about how data consistently shows that he does indeed have emotions even though he thinks he doesnt because hes always been told he doesnt but its so so clear that he DOES he just experiences them in a different way

least favorite character: hrmmm well theres a lot of like. characters with only a couple appearances i could probably choose from but when it comes to the more main-series id probably say tasha? not because i dislike her but like. she was only in season 1 save for a small handful of appearances past then and like. theres. very few season 1 episodes i like. so yeah its not that i DISlike her i just . like her less than all the rest of the main cast. she deserved better though :/

the character i’m most like: oh god? oh god??? ummm . ummm oh im so bad at this. im gonna say data bc *often has difficulty navigating social situations *overshares *overexplains *tried to have a romantic relationship once via piecing together outside impressions of romance due to having no idea how it was supposed to actually work

favorite pairing: q and picard, once again this is a combination of it just being funny as shit (the inherent hilarity of q literally having all of not only human history but pretty much any race’s history at his fingertips. and yet he goes for balding middleaged teadrinking picard. HILARIOUS) but also ouughghhh the use of characters is so good from a narrative standpoint................

least favorite pairing: hmmm. probalby worf and troi? its not like HORRIBLE i just dont. Get It. its like. i dont See it at all? for one i actually dislike though. its kinda cheating because its ds9 and not tng but i fucking HATE kira and bareil. WHY did it happen its. BAREIL?? kira come on sis... bareil?? really??? eugh

favorite moment: oh my god theres so many dude umm. like SO many but ONE of my favorites is this scene where data is temporarily in charge of the enterprise and worf speaks out against him and data pulls worf into his private office and is like. hey. it’s your duty to tell me if you have concerns with the way i’m commanding but you need to do that in private instead of undermining me in public. and worf is like. you’re right. i apologize. and data goes i hope i have not jeopardized our friendship and worf goes no i’m the one who has jeopardized it. i would like to remain friends if possible. and data goes i would like that. i jsut really like that scene bc like?? they handle it like mature adults?? theres no unnecessary drama they just handle it and remain friends. LOVE that

rating out of 10: this is impossible bc like. the rating i would give it in my heart and the rating i would actually give it objectively are 2 different things

#i spent so fucking long on this partially bc ive been . keysmashing with poke for like 3 hours but #i lvoe you so much peach im gonna kiss you #ask

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neth-dugan · 6 years

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Nine Worlds - Friday

Thursday found [here]

After having had only a couple hours sleep, we got up and got ready for the day. Some of us took longer than others, and no that wasn’t me. @laalratty @knittedace and I went to get breakfast outside of costume and then went back to our rooms to get properly dressed. I also had a nap on the bed as the first session doesn’t start until 10am, which helped I think. But I did spend the rest of the day very tired.

EDUCATION AT HOGWARTS

The first panel I went to at the convention proper, and @unwoundbobbin was on it which was a bonus.

It was a fun talk in which everyone agreed that education at Hogwarts is severely lacking, completely skips some very important subjects and really needs to look at quality of teaching.

As much as we are meant to root for Hogwarts and its independence, it’s an industry checking itself and what happens when people we don’t like are in charge? Someone said that it’s a great thing to show teachers who are fed up with having a curriculum and ofsted inspections. I agree. There was also a lot of talk that as much as muggle studies needs to be better and mandatory, there needs to be an introductory course for muggle raised students so they know what they’re getting into, the world they’re dumped in and so on. And, as a panelist pointed out, to better know all the shibboleths. She also mused that this may be exactly the reason they don’t do that and honestly, probably true.

ACE REPRESENTATION

So, I did a panel on a similar theme several years back and I was curious how this one would go. It took a different tone but times have moved. A lot of the panelists are relatively new to the community but then there was Nat Titman who is one of the founding persons of the asexual community.

I didn’t learn a lot, but it was nice to be in a room with a ton of aces talking about ace things. Aros talking about aro things. People still hating on Moffat for the crap he has spewed. Being inclusive aof aros and demis. Which I know for a fact meant a lot to some, as I was talking to a demi person at that meeting later that day who brought it up. I got to espouse my theory on how Yuuri Katsuki is so so very demi even if language, culture and censorship means it’ll never be explicitly canon.

BSL FOR GEEKS

This was amazing! I know how to say thank you and ‘g’ and that is it. So this was pretty great. Aside from being able to tell you my name at the end, I was delighted to learn the sign for Star Trek is literally the Vulcan salute. I also learnt how to say ‘Space, the final frontier’ though I probably do it with a massive accent. I learnt that this is the new sign coming up for trans:

...and tumblr provides a demonstration of this. Not video from the con.

Which is related to the sign for soul. Also I learned the sign that’s becoming popular for queer which is a ‘q’ in the motion of a rainbow and it’s awesome.

There were lots of character names and phrases and there’s no way I’m going to remain most of it. And I had a weird hand thing going on that this made worse. So by the end of it, my hand hurt a fair bit. But it was fantastic. It was presented by a a group of interpreters and deaf people who bounced off of each other really well. One person even forgot how to spell their own name. But given a person who shall remain nameless forgot what their name even was at a different session? This isn’t the worst I heard of.

I really loved it, and this was one of my favourite sessions at the entire convention. I wanted to go to the after dark one for adults only, in which there’d be swearing, but alas I had to take care of my hand and so decided it was a no go.

EVERYBODY HATES MORAL PHILOSOPHERS: THE ETHICS OF THE GOOD PLACE

I’m a big fan of this show. I came across it on Netflix and then got my Mom into it and it is brilliant. It’s smart and funny and thinky all at once. This session was more of a lecture than a panel or workshop which fit, because the person giving it is a philosophy professor. Not a moral philosopher, but a philosopher.

It turns out that it isn’t so much that everyone hates moral philosophers, it’s just really hard to be one. But whilst we were waiting for the session to start I spotted a person in front of me dressed up as Janet. I asked to confirm and was told, perfectly in character that interesting fact, they were Janet. And proceeded to give me a cactus sticky note with a Janet phrase on it. I sent a photo and a test to my Mom who loved it.

...I do have a picture, but didn’t ask permission to post on the internet so here is a close approximation minus cactus.

The lecture itself was pretty interesting. Turns out the writers are using real philosophy and real books and theories and the like when making the show. I can see how Chidi would get so anxious if he follows Kant. Even the text books given to Eleanor are ones the speaker has themselves and sees as foundational texts. So yay! She went through a few schools of philosophy that pop up in the show and it was fun.

Someone pointed out that it seemed that each of the human four seemed to be missing one of the classical virtues. The speaker agreed. There was lots of debate about fair or just the system in this show is, and also how much about it we can objectively know given Michael’s aim in the first season. I pointed out that the entire thing seemed to be unfair to those with disadvantages or some mental health conditions. The last episode of the latest season, without getting into spoilers too much, entirely takes advantage of things about two characters that they’ve no way of doing away with and/or find near impossible to control. It sucks. There seemed to be agreement on this. Privilege, it seems, exists in the systems of The Good Place as we currently know them.

ASSIMILATION AND IDENTITY IN STAR TREK

This was a session hosted by Jaime who some may know and is pretty awesome. I don’t always agree with them on everything but I do appreciate them. And I didn’t agree with a good amount of what was said here. Not that I think it’s wrong, just that some of it is a matter of perspective and assigning aims and motivations to characters that aren’t, to me, clear in canon. I tend to think Worf handed his son off to his parents because he never asked for a kid, didn’t know he had one, works a dangerous job, has no experience parenting and lives on a ship that goes through a major crisis on a fairly regular basis. But people can disagree.

There are some things about Trek that.... aren’t the best. The whole area around the Ferengi is a tricky area and a bit of a mess. I love them, I love the actors, I love some of their episodes, but there are anti-semitic tropes in there made all the more there by the fact that most of the Ferengi actors are of Jewish decent. It’s problematic. It’s meant to be a critic of capitalism and modern culture. Of US. I’ve heard various Trek folk basically state that of all the species in Star Trek, the Ferengi represent modern day humans. But. They fell back on some problematic crap and there’s no way of escaping that.

There was one point when I was a bit worried it was going to get a bit anti-atheist but it didn’t thank goodness. And that’s a whole other thing.

There’s a clip that’s pretty famous amongst DS9 fans, that you fan find here, that exemplifies some of what this panel was about. Not all of it, but some. It was running through my head for sure. After the session ended a group of us had a chat after. It brought up a lot of things to talk about, new ways of looking at things and agree or not that’s usually a good thing.

...Moogie!

‘OH, BRILLIANT.’ ANTICIPATING THE THIRTEENTH DOCTOR

This one had @knittedace on the panel! She’d been talking about doing it last year and here we were . She in her hand knitted Dalek dress, me in the audience feeling a bit woozy and tired.

Mostly, it did exactly what the tin said. People being excited for Thirteen, recalling days when they’d written fic on the idea but never thought it possible, what people wanted to see or not see and the like. Mostly, it was a feel good panel with happy people glad for a new start that would bring in new and old fans alike.

Someone on the panel pointed out that for some kids, they’ll have never known a time when The Doctor couldn’t be a woman. For whom their Doctor is a woman. And that is amazing. And she gets to keep her accent too, and there is hope we will see some of the North this season. Not just more London, or Cardiff as London.

For myself, I’ve always figured some Time Lords could change genders and sexes. Some couldn’t. And doing so was some kind of Time Lord intersex thing. But I was never really rooting for a woman Doctor.... yet when they announced it was going to happen? I was excited and relieved in a way I hadn’t imagined I would be.

Bring it on.

INTERVAL

At this point I found myself in the bar with some ginger ale talking to some people I’ve never med before. One was a demi person who had been at the Ace Rep talk and was very relieved to see demis included. I explained about the history of the flag and how they’re explicitly on it. Outside of some gatekeepers, the ace community I know has always embraced those other identities under the ace umbrella.

Me, them and a friend of theirs made our way downstairs after a good chin wag to get good seats for the next panel. We figured we’d probably need them and coincidentally we were all going to the same one.

FROM A/B/O TO DUBIOUS CONSENTACLES

I’m still not sure what dubious consentacles are to be honest. My mind goes to dubcon hentai but I’m probably wrong. This panel was after 10pm, the last of the day and very much adult only. I was in my TNG uniform and there was a Trek fan vid screening in the room across the hall so a volunteer checked I was where I wanted to be whilst we were waiting for it to start. Which was sweet, people do get lost down there. Also, @unwoundbobbin was there which was a hoot.

The entire thing was a hoot to be honest. Not that formal, and mostly people sharing things they’d seen online, talk about the value of tagging, and wonder at the way fandom just comes together and decides on what dubious biology looks like. I shared the story of the early early days of Star Trek fandom how writers would come up with new weird and wonderful ways of depicting Spock’s genitals. I just think it’s something everyone should know. Fandom has been like this for a long time.

I wont go into detail of the things discussed. But it’s amazing how trends change over time, how even over multiple fandoms some of these tropes become so accepted nobody has to explain anything. We just know how it works and dive right into a kind of shared ‘verse thing.

There were some things mentioned that I hadn’t heard of and are very much not talking about on this post. But interesting.

Honestly, this was another of my favourite panels this convention. It was so much fun. So much. Some people were a bit tipsy I think.

I did warn the two mods that I was pretty tired so if my eyes looked funny or closed, I wasn’t asleep, I was just squinting. I got so enthused by the cracky fun of it all though that I needn't have worried. I also found it amusing just how many ace spectrum folk there were there.

After this I went back to my room. I got changed, went to bed hoping for a better night sleep than the one before. So very very tired. I’d had a great day but I was tired and I needed sleep urgently. Especially as the tired thing was not helping the dizzy thing. Thankfully I did get some sleep, not as good as home but I god some.

[SATURDAY IS HERE]

#nine worlds #nineworlds #doctor who #star trek #the good place #harry potter

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rivertalesien · 4 years

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I'm convinced more than ever Lexa isn't coming back. That flashback wasnt even a second long. They drop all these hints but that new spoiler guy was right about madi getting wiped and said Alycia was on the set on the last day but not for acting. They made us believe. I feel so angry. I hate Jason Rothenberg with every fibre of my being.

It really does look that way, and I’m not surprised if that’s how it is, but no one can say that they haven’t been building it into the show. Four years of she’s not really dead, the Flame is Precious and must be protected, passed on, but its only ultimate purpose was as a total McGuffin in a storyline involving a character no one could give a shit about. Cadogan’s place in all of this is so contrived and pointless and robbed us the stories that could have been.

And they’ve made it so, at the last minute, that the problems are down to: Madi’s locked-in state; Sheidheda on the loose somewhere; Cadogan’s stupid war/test and whatever is happening on Sanctum, hopefully saving Emori (not that anyone cares that Echo and Niylah are missing, but I’m guessing they get out of the bunker and if the story actually did anything with them, they’d be in Polis for some related reveal). Or just...forgotten. There’s always that.

At least three of those problems could have Lexa/Becca/Alie involved, especially if it turns out that the “test” is also BS, because what isn’t mankind (note, doesn’t say humankind or womankind, haha) ready for?

Jordan is convinced there is some sort of leap in human evolution about to happen, but nothing has really hinted at what this might be, except that if he is “sensing” something, maybe its that glitch in the Matrix.

We saw two moments in last night’s episode where the image was distorted: first with Murphy, and it seemed to be about him getting hit on the head. We later see it with Clarke, and she was fine. Jordan’s spidey senses tingling.

We then get Gaia offering to help her “still” her mind much like the Commanders did when they were communing with the others on the Flame.

When Levitt conducted the m-cap of Madi, he noted that her “memories” were not on the usual neural pathways, suggesting if information is in her head, maybe its being fed from something else, information we don’t currently have.

Spoilers talked about Becca having made a “backup” of the Flame, though this is another insult to Lexa, who we know survived on the original version...if Becca did back it up during her lifetime, then only *she* is on the backup, no one who came after her. So instead of a potential appearance by Lexa, we’re more likely to see Becca. But what is the backup and why would it have anything to do with Madi or Clarke? Why should we care?

The scifi explanation might be something like the Star Trek: TNG finale, “...All Good Things,” where there were three versions of the Enterprise-D, meeting at different points in time due to, yes, an anomaly. While they were separate, they were still the same ship, same people. This particular anomaly was created by the Q, a race of higher intelligence who exist beyond our spectrum. A race that believed humanity would eventually evolve into something like them.

In that episode, Picard and his crew in each of the different time lines had to confront this (constructed) paradox: that the anomaly existed in all three time zones (larger in the past, barely there in the future) and that it was an action in the future timeline that made the anomaly appear in the past, or something like that. Basically, all three Enterprises had to fly into it at the same moment to stop the anomaly from destroying everything.

Picard sees his death, but then wakes to find himself back in the kangaroo court from the very first episode, learning that Q’s test of humanity never ended.

And so this feels like an ongoing test, but we never met the “Q” for this particular series, nor discovered how/when the anomaly was created, but going to assume it might be because Becca went through the anomaly with the Flame still connected to her. Whatever she encountered in the white out zone, might have been the place/time/event where the anomaly was created (paradox).

But I’m probably thinking about this more than Rothenberg did and can only count on it being an absolute blow-out of complete indifference.

But I’ll lock horns with anyone who says fans baited themselves “this time.”

There are simply too many winding references and potentialities spit at us, teasing us. Like the old fisherman in that commercial holding out the dollar bill on the line for the girl to grab, yanking it away when she gets close. “Oops, you almost had it.”

This show never did.

#questions #the 100 #jason rothenberg #season 7 #Lexa #queerbaiting #the lexa maneuver #its easy to believe there could be a happyish ending #who wants to end their show with everyone dead?#so believing lexa could make a return is natural #but i think rothenberg plans on going out like the genius edgelord he thinks he is #and good riddance to him and his like

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sshbpodcast · 2 years

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Haute Q-ture: A fashion show direct from the Q Continuum

By Ames

Because we caught some great glimpses of the iconic Q in this our coverage of Voyager this week, AND because season 2 of Picard just wrapped and he featured heavily in it wearing plenty of tantalizing outfits, your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By are summoning the Continuum for a fashion show. If every appearance of the omnipotent trickster has shown us anything over the years, it’s that John de Lancie can walk the hell out of a runway and we are here for every step.

There were many more outfits than I was expecting to grab screenshots of, including the very latest from Picard. They’re all collected below as best I could, so check them all out and listen to our judgements (see what I did there?) on this week’s podcast episode (discussion starts at 54:56). We’ve got a lot of different Qs to get through, most of them rockin’, so let’s snap our fingers and get to the changing room.

16th Century Q

The Next Generation: “Encounter at Farpoint” The first appearance of Q in TNG is also one of the costumes most obviously assembled out of stock wardrobe. How else do you jam a breast plate, a cloak with random rivets, and a feathered cap together? It’s mostly not even bad, especially if the idea is to look anachronistic next to what I’m inclined to call the future attire of the Starfleet crew, but that wig… Oh hunny. You were this close to pulling it off.

Marine Q

The Next Generation: “Encounter at Farpoint” Who doesn’t like a man in uniform? de Lancie makes marine attire look pretty fine: the jacket fits well, the cap is at the perfect little angle, and even the small details like medals adorning the jacket and a lit cigarette in hand complete a generally decent look.

WWIII Q

The Next Generation: “Encounter at Farpoint” While we haven’t seen World War III just yet, Q certainly has and gets to show us what shame our future holds. And boy is it silly looking. All that padding, especially around the face, just covers the body and head so as to generate an uncomfortable, awkward, impersonal look that succeeds in making the violence of warlike humans look truly stupid. I’m not hating how many pockets it has though.

Judge Q

The Next Generation: “Encounter at Farpoint,” “All Good Things…”, Lower Decks: “Veritas” The red-and-black clad judge character is possibly the most iconic of Q’s costumes, and also one of the most over the top. And I say that in a good way. That hat alone demands attention. The bright red color and lots of flashy gold adornments lift Q to being the most important being in the room if not in all of creation. The gloves. The lips. The throne! *chef’s kiss*

Starfleet Captain Q

Various episodes We see Q throughout the show mimicking whichever captain he’s talking to by wearing the same Starfleet uniform as them. It’s a nice patronizing gesture that we get so used to that we stop noticing it because we see it pretty much all the time. Q even switches to the latest uniform whenever the show updates them. Now that’s commitment!

Aldebaran Serpent Q

The Next Generation: “Hide and Q” It is just delightful how much Q has fun when he plays with his toys. And by “his toys,” I mostly mean Jean-Luc. Showing up as a three-headed serpent ball thing is just his way of showing off and it’s honestly quite cute. Extra points for the serpents having the same black-and-red coloring of Judge Q. Or Starfleet command uniforms, for that matter.

Admiral Q

The Next Generation: “Hide and Q” We talked about this thing back when we covered all the Starfleet admiral uniforms (remember that?) and it’s far from one of our favorites. Way! Too! Much! Gold! Really the only way it works is if you retcon it into Q exaggerating the existing admiral uniforms (that we hadn’t seen yet) to make fun of them. Which, to be fair, does sound like something he’d do.

Marshal of France Q

The Next Generation: “Hide and Q” Another stock costume that’s just a lot of fun. We get to see a pretty cute little red coat with tails and medals and a random gold sheep. There’s a really bold bicorne hat with red-white-and-blue plumage. There’s even a sassy little riding crop! What’s not to love?

Data Q

The Next Generation: “Hide and Q” Q disguises himself briefly as Data just to rub salt in everyone’s wounds a little bit. Does he pull the silver makeup and gold uniform off as well as Spiner? Eh, you be the judge this time.

Starfleet Commander Q

The Next Generation: “Hide and Q” Ya know how Q likes to dress up like a Starfleet captain and pester Jean-Luc? Of course you do; I just mentioned it earlier in this blogpost. Well he also dresses up like a commander to pester Riker. It’s just a nice little touch to personalize his harassment to his victim, and I’m impressed by that small detail.

Franciscan Monk Q

The Next Generation: “Hide and Q” Another stock costume but it does the trick. Any good production company has some brown robes lying around, and this one has a nice coarse texture, a good deep hood, a fun beaded belt, and some really intricate sandals. It may not be the answer to our prayers, but it’ll do.

Naked Q

The Next Generation: “Deja Q” Does lack of costume still count as a costume? I’m inclined to say yes. And what better way to portray the all-powerful Q as a vulnerable, pathetic human than by stripping him down for all the bridge to see?

Human Q

The Next Generation: “Deja Q” What the crew provides Q to dress in while aboard the Enterprise is a downright sin though. The grey color is depressing. The onesie shape is just infantilizing. There’s ample opportunity for a distracting bulge to happen downstairs. Even he and Q2 comment about how hideous this man-toddler costume looks. He was better off naked.

Mariachi Q

The Next Generation: “Deja Q” By the end of the episode, everything is happy and colorful again, and so is Q when he dons a mariachi outfit with lots of stripes and polka dots and a big belt buckle. It’s over the top, like most things Q does, so it succeeds in standing out and being loud, literally.

Archaeologist Q

The Next Generation: “Qpid”

Who doesn’t like a man in shorts? Well apparently Chris, but he doesn’t count. If you had John de Lancie’s legs, you’d be showing them off in this nice little field researcher costume too. The pith helmet matches nicely, the socks look comfy as hell, and just count those pockets. What a discovery!

Sheriff of Nottingham Q

The Next Generation: “Qpid” We’re guessing that most of the Robin Hood attire in this episode was probably mashed together from whatever the studio had lying around since it’s all just overly ridiculous and clashy. But I’ve gone off on “Qpid” before. Q himself looks mostly fine (highly embellished and too fun for words) if not for the strangely shaped facial hair we weren’t entirely fans of.

God Q

The Next Generation: “Tapestry” Some credit to the lighting design in this scene for allowing us to even see these great white robes in all their glory. The different textures are pretty excellent, and I kinda want those sleeves on everything. I feel like I’ve died and gone to the Continuum!

Bartender Q

The Next Generation: “Tapestry” Opposed to the white void of heaven, the bar scene in “Tapestry” gives us lower mood lighting that makes it harder to get a good look at Q’s bartender duds. The vest looks soft and cozy, but is that a maroon onesie he’s wearing underneath? Even if it’s two pieces, something about it just looks a little too much like Bev and Troi’s yoga clothes.

Florist Q

The Next Generation: “Tapestry” Who can say no to a man in a very adorable little red bow tie delivering flowers? For a quick scene and a simple look, it’s pretty swish with a nice jacket and dress pants. And what a nice touch including a “Florist” badge with a little cupid on it. Too cute.

Doctor Q

The Next Generation: “Tapestry” We’re back to a pretty goofy look when Q dons that stereotypical head-mirror look associated with old-timey doctors. The lab coat is pretty typical, complete with a pocket full of way too many pens. I’m digging the tie and the vest. And are those pin-striped pants I spy? Well, once we lose the laughable headgear, doc Q can really dress himself.

Old Man Q

The Next Generation: “All Good Things” I have lost count of how many layers of tattered clothing Q is wearing as an old man, but it’s actually pretty impressive. The combination adds up to a pretty complete look full of complementary textures and fittingly drab colors. I also have to give a hat tip to the old age hair and makeup, which actually hold up. Extra points for fingerless gloves.

Bajoran Waiter Q

Deep Space Nine: “Q-Less” Oh jeez. A handful of blog posts ago, we talked about how Bajorans just cannot dress themselves for some reason, and that goes for Q pretending to be a Bajoran doubly so. Why do Bajorans have to dress like they’re children in pajamas? Why can’t they choose nicer color combinations or more flattering color blocking? Why is it a onesie? This is why those prophet-obsessed fashion disasters don’t belong in the Federation!

Pugilist Q

Deep Space Nine: “Q-Less” Q in the boxing ring is ridiculous and comical and it absolutely works. When Q is going especially over the top, it is a thing of beauty. And he decided that if he were going to goad Sisko into a fight, he needed the loudest purple-and-pink sash and a really tacky mustache to go with it. I don’t think I could have punched that.

Pajamas Q

Voyager: “Death Wish” I’ve never understood the classic nightcap look: how do they stay on your head while you sleep? Regardless, Q has found yet another outdated, weird costume to taunt the next in a series of Starfleet captains and it’s something you’d see in any period piece: the oversized nightshirt and absolutely befuddling cap. Zzzz...

Lothario Q

Voyager: “The Q and the Grey” Say what you will about how gross Q is being in this scene, that robe he’s wearing is luscious. Every being in the Alpha Quadrant needs that robe right now. The deep red color and soft fabric are just droolworthy, and even the matching slippies are quite nice. Now if he weren’t being a huge sleaze, maybe we could get somewhere.

Luau Q

Voyager: “The Q and the Grey” Points off for not going full, loud Hawaiian short full of tropical birds and foliage and fruit. Perhaps Q was trying to just emulate the bartender in the Paxau Resort we met in the previous episode, but we’re still left wishing he’d gone as exaggeratedly garish as he’s gone in the past. We’d even forgive the socks-with-sandals approach!

Union Soldier Q

Voyager: “The Q and the Grey” Throughout “The Q and the Grey,” we see various states of the Union Soldier uniform, from pristine with really snazzy hat, all the way to mostly disrobed and covered in blood. And they’re all fun looks! There’s a reason people do reenactments of battles and that reason is mostly because the uniforms are so bling.

Chokuzan Commander Q

Voyager: “Q2” I skipped this one in the podcast episode because it actually is a fairly decent spoiler, but that means you get to see it here! Q dresses himself as a Chokuzan commander for reasons I won’t get into, but it’s nice to see more non-humanoid forms for the Q to shape themselves as! Not as fun as the ball serpent, but what is?

The rest of these may contain spoilers for season 2 of Star Trek: Picard, but damn does de Lancie own his scenes and I just had to include them here!

25th Century Q

Picard: various episodes Jump forward and backwards in time and you’ll see some new Q costumes in Star Trek: Picard, and one thing is for certain: damn, John de Lancie is a silver fox. Look at him wearing the hell out of this really slick black trench coat with a super trendy collar, big ornate brooch, and absolutely stylish goatee. The photos don’t do justice to the patterning of the trench coat which is really damn top notch.

Europa Project Q

Picard: “Watcher” We see de Lancie in a lot of turtlenecks in Picard for whatever reason, and this one is a very pretty shade of blue that looks just comfy as hell. And the Europa Project lab coat with big honkin’ patch complements it in ways I can’t articulate. What a nice scientist.

Therapist Q

Picard: “Fly Me to the Moon” We only see glimpses of Q acting as a therapist through a couple virtual screens and it definitely gets the point across: de Lancie can pull off a little cravat like nobody’s business. I mean, the man is a chameleon (Q-meleon?) and you can dress him in anything and he’ll look great. Look at those little glasses and vest. Now tell him all your secrets.

Benefactor Q

Picard: “Fly Me to the Moon” Another all-black look with a nice turtleneck. This one is a little more businessy and blends in with normal human society, and it looks just fine on de Lancie as well. I’m digging it.

FBI Q

Picard: “Mercy” A quick one-off to play FBI agent, which is quite fun. The jacket is pretty standard, the sleeves are rolled up because we mean business, and the lettering is really bright and stands out. Underneath we see yet another turtleneck, this one a really nice structured grey one! What IS it with turtlenecks and this season of Picard?

Farewell Q

Picard: “Farewell” One final black… thing (robe, jacket, poncho… what is this thing?) for Q to wear. The all-black symbolism comes to a head in the Picard season finale but I’m avoiding spoilers so let me just talk about this costume alone. The shape is strange to me. This one might be my least favorite look from Picard because it’s the most shapeless and the most overdone but not in that good Q way. The asymmetrical collar, the unnecessary length, the eyeball patterns (or planets maybe?) if you look really close and have the brightness all the way up: it’s all very ceremonial and liturgical which may make sense in context, but throughout the very nice end scenes I kinda just wanted that slick trenchcoat to return because it’s just so much hotter. Just me? Fair enough.

—

You’re going to see a lot of overlap in our choices for best and worst Q outfit. Which looks passed the humanity test and which ones failed and had to get winked out of existence? Patience, mon capitan!

Favorites

Honorable mention: Lothario Q

Ames and Jake: Judge Q

Chris and Caitlin: 25th Century Q

Least Favorites

Honorable mention: Sheriff of Nottingham Q

Ames and Jake: Bajoran Waiter Q

Chris and Caitlin: Human Q

—

The jury remains out on if we’ll see more of Q in Star Trek, but we sure have more action planned for this blog coming up! So make sure you’re watching this space, keeping up with us as we progress through the Delta Quadrant in our weekly podcast episodes on SoundCloud or wherever you have signal, hail us on Facebook and Twitter, and make sure you’ve hugged your Q today.

#star trek #star trek podcast #podcast #q #q continuum #fashion #the next generation #deep space nine #voyager #lower decks #picard #john de lancie #judge q

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thehumanarkle · 6 years

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[NOTE: I had to make some changes to this post after I realized I screwed up and there were 9 episodes in the first half of the season. I goofed on account of only the first 8 being visible on the CBS Discovery page. All points made refer only to the first 8. To minimize the amount of editing I’d need to do, I’ll keep my thoughts on Episode 9 to myself for now.]

Okay, I have watched the first eight episodes of Star Trek Discovery, and I have some thoughts.

1: The pilot isn’t very good, but compared to other Trek pilots, it could’ve been worse. Overall, I’d place it about equal with “Caretaker,” but better than “Encounter At Farpoint” and “Broken Bow.” “The Emissary” and whichever one you count for TOS (”The Man Trap” for air date order, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” for production order) top the list. My biggest problem is that if the intent was to convey that Burnham’s bad choices in these two episodes (I count both as the pilot since they dropped the same day) was partly the result of her concussion and partly her years of suppressed human emotions bubbling up at the worst possible time, that should’ve been made clearer. I mean, if that was the intent. If so, I actually like the idea. Not the execution though.

Also, the title was wrong. I know some people have griped about the story Burnham tells where the title, “The Vulcan Hello,” comes from, but that itself actually does make sense. But to phrase it the way they did makes it sound, albeit unintentionally, that the Vulcans shoot first with everyone else, not just the Klingons.

2: I have mixed feelings about Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd. Part of that has to do with the actor being somewhat problematic, but I’m not going to get into that. The other part is, while his performance was certainly enjoyable to watch, as a lifelong Trekkie I’m a bit uncomfortable with the idea of Harry friggin’ Mudd being kinda scary. I mean, even scarier than Capt. Lorca, who I am pretty sure is on the verge of a total breakdown thanks to his untreated PTSD. That said, his (Mudd’s) second episode is, so far anyway, my favorite of the season. Definitely one of the better uses of the Moebius Loop I’ve seen (though not as good as Stargate SG-1′s “Window of Opportunity”, but what can ya do?)

3: The new look of the Klingons sucks and I hate it.

4: I didn’t like it at first, but the design of the title ship has grown on me.

5: In Lt. Stamets, Anthony Rapp has somehow managed to give us a chracter that, IMO anyway, is somehow both more annoying AND more likable than his Rent character.

6: Feminist critiques of this show about WOC not named Michael getting killed off left and right? Valid. Here’s hoping they cut that shit out in Season 2.

7: I really wish the Fanboys would stop bitching about the spore drive. Yes, we know they don’t use it in TOS and beyond. But that doesn’t make it a plot hole; there’s still a whole half season to go, and I bet by the end of it we’ll get a reason why the drive was discontinued. I don’t know if it’ll be a good reason. I certainly hope it is. But it will be a reason. So calm the fuck down.

8: For those people ready to write the show off completely based on the 8 episodes we’ve had so far, let’s just take a look at where the other 5 live-action Trek shows at this point in their first seasons.

TOS: This almost isn’t fair considering it was this show’s iconic status that allowed the others to exist in the first place, but allowing for both the production technologies and social norms of the time, we’ve got 7 good episodes, and 1 episode that can’t really be judged fairly because a lot of the series rules weren’t in place yet; hell, they hadn’t even locked down Kirk’s middle name. Sulu was in a blue shirt. We had no McCoy, Scotty, or Uhura. Obviously, I’m talking about “Where No Man Has Gone Before” here. So, we’ll call that a success rate of 7/8. TNG: As a kid, I loved all of these, but with the benefit of hindsight, there are no good episodes here. The Ferengi were introduced, but it was Deep Space Nine that saved that Trek species from ending up just a regrettable footnote. “Where No One Has Gone Before” (not to be confused with the TOS pilot) has some pretty visuals going for it, but that’s pretty much it. 0/8. DS9: The only episode from DS9′s first 8 I would call bad is the Q episode, but even that is saved from garbage by virtue of Sisko punching Q in the face. The Pilot’s the only good one of the bunch though, with the rest just being okay. So, we’ll go with 7/8, but with an asterisk. VOY: 2 mediocre episodes, plus 1 episode that introduced an interesting villain that the show sadly completely failed to utilize properly (the Vidiians). Neelix suffers a fair amount in that episode though so I’ll round up to Good. The rest were just plain bad though. 3/8. ENT: One of the first episodes gave us Jeffrey Combs as Shran. Granted, the episode itself wasn’t that great, but later on they were able to do more with Shran, and eventually give us a greater glimpse at Andorian culture, so I’ll be generous and give that one a good score. The rest of the episodes were just varying degrees of bad (with “Unexpected” crossing over into full-on offensive). 1/8. And that’s me being generous mind you. So how does DSC stack up, at least in my opinion? Well, apart from “The Vulcan Hello” and “Battle at the Binary Stars,” there hasn’t been an episode I’ve truly disliked, and even then I didn’t hate them. I was more disappointed than anything else. So, when you add up the episodes that were okay with those that I liked (so far only 3), you get a First 8 Episodes score of 4/8.

So, sorting by rank you get (remember, this ONLY applies to the first 8 episodes of the first season, not the series overall); TOS: 7/8 DS9: 7/8 DSC: 4/8 VOY: 3/8 ENT: 1/8 TNG: 0/8

9: Oh, I forgot to mention this; he can have his douchey moments, but overall, I like Saru. Though I imagine him being played by Doug Jones has a fair amount to do with it.

10: This scene didn’t bother me at all.

If they were going to do the F-bomb, at least it was in the context of an exclamation of excitement, and not something sexual or insulting.

In Conclusion: It’s not a great show. But it’s not the dumpster fire much of the Internet would have you believe it is. I think it can be a good show though and hopefully, CBS will take at least some of the feedback they’re getting from critics and fans into account. Not all though, because honestly some of the criticisms are bullshit.

All that said, CBS All Acces is terrible and this show should be on NetFlix seeing as NetFlix subscribers already helped pay for the series to begin with and it is flat out gross that people who already paid for this show once (by way of their NetFlix subscriptions) can’t actually view it (in the U.S. anyway) without paying again. THAT criticism of the show is not bullshit. It is one I 100% agree with.

#star trek discovery #Thoughts #how long before some assholes decides i'm not a real trekkie because of this post?

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positivitycritic · 7 years

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So, I was tagged in a thing, by @horizon-runner.

Rules: Pick ten favorite characters from ten shows and then spread this benign meme-virus to ten other people.

In all honesty, if I were to do an exhaustive review of every episode of every show I’ve watched, this list would probably be populated mostly by one-off characters that only appears in a couple episodes. I don’t really have the time or patience for that, though, so here are my “Top 10 TV characters I can think of within a reasonable amount of time” (in no particular order):

1. 10th Doctor (Doctor Who)- Some of the doctors are a tad too ‘quirky’, some a tad too serious. David Tennant played the best balance of the two and provided some of the most memorable moments of the entire series.

2. Omar Little (The Wire)- in a show with a pretty impressive cast of characters (and actors), Michael Williams’ performance as Omar easily stood out from the rest. One of the best things about The Wire is that you get a lot of insight into the characters’ philosophies via their actions, and Omar’s philosophy about “the game” and it’s rules is unique within the show.

3. Q (Star Trek: The Next Generation)- As only a recurring character on the show, Q didn’t get much screen time on TNG, but John de Lancie’s hilarious acting helped him steal every scene he was in.

4. Hexadecimal (ReBoot)- As largely a kids show, ReBoot is full of caricatures and cheesiness (but the good kind, like cheddar or Parmesan). And then you have Hexadecimal, a scenery chewing villain that does a better job of embodying chaos than The Joker himself. She is funny, intimidating, and surprisingly likable given her villain status. And again, the voice performance by Shirley Millner goes a long way toward earning Hexadecimal a spot on the list.

5. Crona (Soul Eater)- The stylized world of Soul Eater seems to run almost entirely on equal parts “rule of cool” and “rule of funny”. While Crona (voiced by Maaya Sakamoto) is undeniably bad-ass when they unleash in a fight, in terms of personality they are not particularly “cool” or funny. Abused into submission as a villain by her mother, Crona has extremely low self-esteem and can’t even life comfortably inside their own mind. Of all the characters on the show, Crona is the most human and has the most believable, engaging arc.

6. Kamina (Gurren Lagann)- Another anime character, but in contrast to Crona, Kamina is the ultimate paragon of cool. Normally I wouldn’t really like that in a character, but Kamina (voiced by Kyle Hebert in the English Dub) pulls it off with sincerity and authenticity. He’s cocky, but he’s also genuine, respectful (usually), and loyal. I have to dock him some points for his attitude toward women, but he’s too memorable a character to leave off the list/

7. Kingpin (Daredevil)- Blah Blah amazing fight scenes, nice chemistry whatever. For me, the first season of Daredevil was all about Vincent D’Onofrio’s take on the villain Kingpin. If there’s a theme in this list, I’d guess that it’s authenticity. It’s no different with Kingpin, who is absolutely fascinating to watch whether he’s getting his hands (and car doors) dirty in a blind rage, or trying to make a human connection on a date. Also, while you may hate his methods, his “I have a vision of greatness for my city” motives read as much more sincere than other similar villains.

8. Petyr Baelish (Game of Thrones)- I fought myself back and forth between Tyrion and Baelish on this one. Ultimately, while Tyrion may be the one I prefer to root for, it’s hard not to admire the way Baelish plays the game (purely from a character perspective, of course). He’s faded down the stretch (it seems like the writers don’t really know what they want to do with him now), but his speech from “The Climb” in season 3 was one of the more memorable moments of the show.

9. Gustavo “Gus” Fring (Breaking Bad)- As with Baelish, it was super hard for me to pick between Gus and Hank for this one. Hank started out as one of my least favorite characters, but the panic attack arc quickly made me reconsider him. Still, the cold, calculating Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) is just too great of a character not to include. He rarely let anyone, even the audience, in on what was going on in his head, and that’s part of what made him so irresistible as a character.

10. Walter and Perry (Home Movies)- That might look like two names, but make no mistake, these two essentially are a single character. They are probably the most ridiculous characters on this list, but they own every scene they’re in, and make it onto the list for sheer hilarity and quotability.

Honorable Mentions:

Benjamin Sisko (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)- A common Trekkie debate is whether Kirk or Picard is the best captain in the franchise. I’d throw in Ben Sisko (technically not a captain until later in the series, but he still counts). I could cite the historical precedent factor (first black Star Trek captain), but I’d prefer to let him stand on the performance of Avery Brooks as a dutiful, moral, and ethical (it is Star Trek, after all) commander forced to question his values in the face of an intergalactic threat larger than any other captain has faced. Also, the episode “The Visitor” would easily make my “100 best episodes of TV” list.

Pegasus (Yugi-Oh)- He’s just super fun, alright? Yes, I like Yugi-Oh, and Pegasus is awesome.

Ben Linus (Lost)- If I was only looking at season 2-4 Ben Linus, then he’d be on this list for sure. As it stands, the entire show started to crumble toward the end, and this gem of a villain was dragged down with it.

“Ensemble shows”- Firefly, The West Wing, How I Met Your Mother, Cowboy Bebop, The Walking Dead, Star Trek TOS, Twin Peaks, and Steven Universe (among others I’m probably forgetting right now) have amazing casts of actors/characters collectively, but it’s hard to single out a single character from them that I would put in my Top 10 individually.

Now for my tags… I’m not actually sure I have 10 mutals to tag here, but let’s go with: @idontcarethatyoudontcare, @duchessofwinnipeg, @sugahthrussy, @negrek and... yeah. That’s about it. If you want me to tag you/be your friend, hit me up with a message I guess, then I can add you to the list. Forever.

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