#gene watches enterprise

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Errors, “Errors,” and Sci Fi

@strawberry-crocodile

tvtropes calls stuff like the wolf example "science matches on" which I think is a pretty fair shake

This.  This is what’s got me thinking so much about errors.  There’s a certain danger, here.  A certain way that this particular effect — delicious dramatic irony — tempts the mind when reading old stories, even true ones.

What do you know about R.M.S. Titanic? I ask my class every year, and the first hand rises.  “It was unsinkable,” the student inevitably says, and everyone is nodding, “or so they thought.”  I write the word UNSINKABLE on the board, underneath my crude drawing of a ship with four smokestacks.  It will be crossed out before the end of the hour, but not for the reason they expect.

“I find no evidence,” Walter Lord, preeminent biographer of the ship’s survivors, wrote, “that Titanic was ever advertised as unsinkable. This detail seems to have entered the collective mind so as to create a more perfect irony.”  Indeed, historians’ examinations of White Star Line documents show the shipbuilders themselves worried it would be so large as to risk collision; they stocked several more lifeboats than 1910s regulations required.

The War to End All Wars (deep breath, satisfied exhale), also known as World War ONE. Chuckle.  Shake of the head.  What if I told you that this phrase, used primarily in American newspapers after the fact, wasn’t meant to be literal? Nowadays we’d say The Mother of All Wars, or One Hell of a Fucking War, but we wouldn’t mean literal motherhood, literal intercourse.  What if I said the armistice and the Lost Generation and the Roaring 20s were all braced for another outbreak of European conflict, and yet we still failed to prevent it?

Did you know they were so confident in the safety of the S.S. Challenger that they put a civilian schoolteacher onboard? I do, because I’ve heard that one repeated many times.  Only, see, it’s got the cause and effect reversed.  Challenger launched on a day the shuttle’s engineers knew to be dangerously cold, because the first civilian in space was on board. And NASA knew its shuttle project would be cancelled entirely, if they couldn’t get that civilian’s much-delayed entry into space in the next two weeks.  So they launched on a cold day, and killed her instead.

These are all what cognitive science calls Hindsight Bias on the personal level, what sociology calls Presentism on the cultural level.  Social psychology’s a little of both, is primarily interested in why you’re sitting on your couch in a Colonize Mars shirt watching PBS and chuckling at the fools who believed in El Dorado.  It wants to know why the mind flees straight from “marijuana will kill you” to “marijuana will cure cancer” without so much as a pause on the middle ground of its real benefits and drawbacks, its real (mild) risks and rewards.

And they can paralyze the sci-fi writer, if you think too much about them. Jetsons is futurist one decade, retro the next.  “There are no bathrooms on the Enterprise,” the creators of Serenity say smugly, as if Gene Roddenberry should’ve simply known that decades later it’d be acceptable to show a man peeing in full view of the camera, nothing but the curve of the actor’s hand to protect his modesty.  “No sound in space,” the Fandom Menace says, “No explosions in space,” and “A space station can’t collapse in zero-G.”  Only then NASA burns a paper napkin outside of atmosphere, transmits music using only the ghost of nearby planets’ gravities, and logs onto Reddit long enough to point out the Death Star would implode in its own gravity field.  And now we’re the ones pointing, the ones laughing, at those earlier point-and-laughers.  Self-satisfied, smug in superiority.  As if we did the work to find out ourselves, instead of just happening to be born a little later than George Lucas.

#errors #continuity #sci fi #presentism #star wars #titanic #world war i #science marches on #history #started a new post because i got waaaaaay off topic here #if you think the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993) should've had feathers #you're a lot more ignorant about paleontology than the people you're trying to criticize #science was not handed down to us in its perfect complete form circa 1943 #stop for a second before you call out someone else's reptilian denonychus #someone else's oxygenated moon #and ask: am i better read #or am i just more recently born?

[c-nstantine]

I wonder how will go when batmom finally gives birth to the twins

lowkey forgot about the twins so thank you!! @nickikitty24

long story short bruce was stressed but here's some hc's

While Bruce does have and ungodly amount of children, this is only the second birth he's had to witness

Let's remember when Y/N had little baby Thomas, she was cursing Bruce out over the size of his head but now she's gonna give birth to two of them

Batmom is prepared for the most part, she has all of her go bags packed, she has her recovery plan and her surgery plan incase she needs a c-section

Bruce, however was a mess. Considering the man has a plan for everything, this was hilarious. He was packing, over-packing, re-packing and then he tried to build a crib which went about as well as expected.

Damian is excited for more siblings even if he doesn't act like it. He mainly enjoys having more people in the house.

Jason and Dick just want Bruce to get a vasectomy after this. Now they love Thomas and they're soon to be younger siblings but they are so tired of coming home to find new members of the batfam.

Cass is so excited, she's read a bunch of pregnancy books and is ready to take over as midwife at a moment's notice

Stephanie wants a mini army of baby bats under her wing

Duke is happy because he's no longer the newest addition

Tim takes it upon himself to create a babyline at Wayne Enterprises. (It does fairly well.)

Once the birth comes and little Martha and Alfred Wayne are born, Bruce is relaxed and once again in his constant state of tired dad.

He does take like 4/7 nights off out of the week for the first couple of months to help Y/N with the babies waking in the middle of the night.

Thomas is a little weird like his father and likes to watch his siblings sleep. (Those bat genes run deep)

#x black!reader #black!reader #x black reader #bruce wayne x black!reader #bruce wayne #black!batmom #bruce wayne x reader #jason todd #black reader #dick grayson #duke thomas #x black!batmom #bruce x black!batmom #bruce x black!reader #c-nstantine

[skyeslittlecorner]

Oh no...! The fluff...! I'm gonna have sweet tooth because of your works (jkd i luv them dun worry :'3)

So we had the kings as kids now... How about they meet their kids from the future??

Like some kind of accident(s) happen that take them back in time (yeah I'm out of idea 😭 sr)

Family's meeting!!!! *vroom vroom*

Shhh, that's my plan! If I give everyone cavities, we'll be lining up to see Morax as dentist, and he won't hurt himself in the war again lmao

The royal kids are definitely clever beasts. It wouldn't surprise me if they figured something out and were thrown into our times for 24 hours. We've already had a Christmas miracle, so I can believe anything. Let the kings meet their teenage offspring~

꧁:･ ✡ ･:꧂

Satan would like a family more than anything. When one day he saw white-haired twin nobles next to you and heard that they were your children from the future, his heart would melt in an instant. Ironically, they're both taller than him. But he's still able to get through it. He wants to take them to the front to see how they fight and then have a good beer (juice for them, they can fight but not drink) in the best pub. You have never seen him so happy and with so much love in his eyes. Do they really have to go back to their own time? Well... As soon as they were gone, Satan would grab your hand with a smug smirk. Be prepared to not get out of bed for a week, and certainly not on your own.

Mammon has a bunch of children, and nobody can convince me otherwise. You can create a whole group of idols out of them, and that's basically how they are treated in their times. He would spend time with each of them, curious to see how the future would unfold. Each of them is so enterprising that they would rule Tartaros without hesitation if he just left them alone for a while. But what he likes most is your reaction. He would watch lovingly as you happily talked and cuddled with every one of them. They also know well that the most important person in the entire country is their sweet human parent. Be ready to be spoiled by both Mammon and your entire group of children.

Beelzebub is terrified. He'd be sure he was absent so long that you'd actually had teenage child. There is no doubt that girl he met is his daughter. She appears and disappears just like him, has this petty smirk, and her first impulse was to sniff him. Besides... he just know it, okay? They actually ran into each other by accident in Avisos. After all day with her he will come back, promising you that he will visit you more often. You wonder how quickly he will forget about it, especially since he is clearly relieved when you tell him that you don't have children (yet), and it was just some anomaly in space-time. And it’s not that he doesn't want children. He would rather be there as they grow up… as much as he can. 

Leviathan first glances at you, just to find out if you and this beautiful princess have something in common. His daughter must be perfect, and only your genes and his combined would be able to create a being more beautiful than himself. Not that you'd ever heard him say that out loud. Jealousy would fight within him with duty. Fatherly pride will prevail when he sees that she is perfectly brought up and treats him with due respect. Ah, anyone who looks at her will hang. If he's only going to have her for one day, then only he and you can spend time with her. The nobles will be delighted because they haven't been hanged so lavishly for a long time. 

#whb #what in hell is bad #whb satan #whb mammon #whb beelzebub #whb leviathan

[thoughts-i-have-had-in-passing]

The Spock Universes Theory of Star Trek

Recently I made a very quick, late-night reply to a post in which I mentioned my ‘Spock Universes’ theory which to my surprise ended up being somewhat popular with the people, and so I have decided to give it its own post.

The theory is simple. Every time Spock is played by someone different on screen you are watching a different universe’s timeline.

Why does this work? First off it is canon that there are different universes. For one, the Animated Series was disavowed by Gene Roddenberry as not canon, which by extension means it had to have taken place in another universe, but we also have the mirror universe  which continues to exist even when we occasionally wish it didn’t. So Star Trek was doing a multiverse from almost the very beginning. So what is the easiest way to tell them apart?

Spock.

Spock is the key to the whole multiverse. Behold:

TOS: Nimoy Spock, Prime universe

TAS: Voiced by Nimoy but disavowed by Roddenberry, ‘Animated Prime’ universe in which everything that happened in Prime Universe also happened here, but everything that happened here did not automatically happen in Prime.

Star Trek Movies I through VI: Nimoy Spock, Prime universe

TNG: Nimoy Spock appeared in Unification Parts 1 and 2, therefore TNG is in Prime universe

Star Trek: Generations: No Spock. NOT PRIME UNIVERSE.

The evidence: In the TNG episode Relics the crew discover Scotty, played by James Doohan, trapped in a transporter buffer on an infinite loop. This is considered god-tier engineering by Geordie, who did not believe it was possible despite 70 years of advancements in the engineering space (more on that in the SNW section).

Scotty makes a comment that he thought Kirk got the original Enterprise out of mothballs to come looking for him, and was saddened to find out this was not the case. In Generations, Scotty is present when Kirk get pulled into the Nexus and everyone think he is dead. In Prime universe Scotty was not there or he would not have made this assumption, however there is one person who has to be there in order to determine if the universe is Prime: Nimoy Spock.

Who was originally supposed to be there according to the original script? Nimoy Spock.

Who forced a change to the universe by not showing up? Nimoy Spock.

In Prime universe Spock was there instead of Scotty, who had not delayed his retirement to see off the Enterprise B and instead was already on his way to the Norpin colony when Kirk was ‘killed’ the news reached the colony but not the ship, which because it never made it meant Scotty never knew Kirk was gone.

It is important to note that everything else happened the exact same way, except Lursa and B’Etor got hold of a much better ship solely because I said so.

DS9: In the episode Trials and Tribble-ations, the crew was thrown back in time to the days of the original Enterprise, in which Nimoy Spock appeared, even without the various TNG crossovers it’s still Prime universe

Voyager: No Spock, but pilot episode crossed over with DS9, and the character of Barkley crossed over from TNG on more than one occasion. In addition, in the episode Flashback there was an appearance by Captain Sulu, played by George Takei, who was last seen playing his character opposite Nimoy’s Spock. Most likely Prime universe

Enterprise: Predates the Spock schism and therefore theoretically belongs to all universes. It has been referenced in several of the newer series in various ways, however there is a continuity issue in regards to the Klingons, which may mean that the event which lead to Spock being played by someone other than Nimoy happen even further back in the timeline, with the majority of changes being negligible by the time of Enterprise other than the Klingon ridge thing, which Discovery and SNW do not follow

‘Kelvin’ movies: Two Spocks. Nimoy Spock is specifically stated to come from the future Prime universe and the events featuring Quinto Spock are now a new, branched timeline. Further proof for the theory.

Discovery: Peck Spock, new timeline. Other notable changes include the style and advancement of technology and the fact that the Klingons appear to have solved their forehead ridge-flattening troubles, plus added extra for good luck.*

SNW: Peck Spock, crossover with Discovery. Peck universe. This also means that major continuity changes like the Gorn being both known and evil monsters are due to the different universe. In addition, Dr. M’Benga hides his daughter in a transporter buffer to slow down her illness. As previously mentioned, this was god-tier engineering when Prime Scotty did it in 2294, however in this universe technology is more advanced as no one bats an eye at the doctor’s technical prowess when they find out what he did.

Prodigy: Nimoy Spock facsimile which uses Nimoy voice recordings, Prime universe

Picard: No Spock, pick your poison. Basically because there is no Spock this could be Prime or it could be the same universe as Generations. Clearly there are a lot of similarities between Prime and Generations universe, but as the ending shown in All Good Things is not the one we see in Picard, it’s possible, likely even, that we have crossed universes again. I blame Q.

Lower Decks: Somehow exists in a universe where all shows are simultaneously canon, including TAS, probably due to some weird phenomena  

*Challenges to the theory and how it has adapted.

It was pointed out to me that Michael Burnham watches a recording of old Spock once she goes to the future, and that this recording was of Nimoy Spock, and so I have had to alter my theory slightly.

The Spock Checkpoint can only be done when Spock is a young man. This is because once Spock approaches old age, regardless of who has been playing him, he begin to morph into Nimoy Spock. As Mr. Nimoy himself claimed in his second autobiography: I am Spock.

Dude wasn’t kidding.

Personally I find that this theory helps me deal with the more extreme continuity issues that NuTrek has brought to the show. It's easy to pretend that Turnabout Intruder's claim that women can't be captains never actually happened, harder to believe that everyone met the Gorn except Kirk, and that somehow they demonsterfied in about five to ten years, or that a doctor could rig a transporter as well as a master engineer with technology forty years more advanced. Spock theory has calmed my mind and soothed my soul so I can better enjoy Trek. I hope if you felt the same way then it can do the same for you.

Thank you for reading my waffle.

#star trek #star trek deep space nine #star trek tng #star trek voyager #star trek enterprise #star trek movies #star trek discovery #star trek snw #star trek lower decks #star trek prodigy #star trek picard #star trek tos #star trek tas

[gay-spock]

here’s a compilation of why rick berman of star trek fame could have ruined the franchise with his bigotry, thanks to @/thisismewhatevs on twitter:

- rick berman is usually cited by writers as the main reason gay characters were not allowed on screen in TNG/VOY/DS9/ENT even though gene roddenberry specifically wanted gay representation in the 1980s

- notably, he is responsible for demanding female actors be "sexed up" in various ways including jeri ryan's catsuit and padding terry farell's breasts

- when terry farell asked for a reduced contract similar to those of her male costars, she was fired, leading to the sudden death of jadzia dax

- with seven of nine's catsuit, not only was it berman's idea to make her "born sexy yesterday" her original costume pinched her neck so much she kept passing out. rather than change it, berman brought in nurses to administer oxygen between takes

- berman would continually comment on the appearance of female actors to the point that marina sirtis developed an eating disorder. sirtis also mentions how tight her corset and how large her breast padding was under her "uniform"

- berman was left in charge of trek because he was in the right place when roddenberry got sick. He had no experience with scifi previously and didn't really believe in roddenberry's vision of the future:

- In addition to being a dick to denise crosby after pushing her out, he's also the reason for wil wheaton was kicked out for similar contact negotiation as terry farrell

- harry kim was never promoted from ensign since berman hated his actor, garrett wang, according to him

- enterprise was a step backwards in a lot of ways because berman had far more creative control (seasons 1-3) and took a much more hands on writing role. here's t'pol actor jolene blalock discussing his sexualization of her

- as DS9 went on, garak and bashir spent less time together and garak was given zyial as an incredibly gross love interest because andy robinson's portrayal as queer coded made berman uncomfortable

- despite the "equality" promoted on the show, berman hired very few female writers, with less than 30% of episodes having even one female writer during his time

- “Rick Berman is not the only asshole to have worked on Star Trek and he is not the reason for every bad choice from TNG-ENT. However HE WAS the executive producers and show runner in charge of production so much of the sins of that time lie at his feet. When people get confused about how some people seem to "misunderstand" the point of Star Trek and don't know how they can watch/enjoy the "progressive" nature of the show and be such vile sexists and racists, this is how. They let a sexist asshole run the show for three decades. On screen representation is important. It's amazing for people to see themselves in such a hopeful future, but the behind the scenes matters just as much if not more than who is in front of the camera. Representation without responsible storytelling is a tragedy.“ -Deep Space Fine on twitter

this is not to say that TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT are bad shows, or that they shouldn’t be watched, or anything else; but that understanding why these awful choices were made behind the scenes in depicting a “progressive” future. rick berman didn’t agree with this future because he didn’t want others who weren’t white, cis, straight men like him to benefit in the ways he did.

#i wanted this info to be easier to find all-together on tumblr #star trek #rick berman #the next generation #deep space 9 #voyager #enterprise #star trek meta

[t0ast-ghost]

S2 Episode 17 (A Piece Of The Action) haven’t we had enough action? The last episode was so much. I’m tired let me rest.

I’m watching it anyway:

- What the actual fuck is happening? An intersection?

-

“Let’s not argue about it, let’s go study it.” Yeah Kirk knows they’d be on each other in a second (edit: not like that)

- Spock pushing McCoy and Kirk out of the way of a car. I can and will watch this clip all day

- “You trying to make trouble?” “Who, me?” “Don’t give me those baby blue eyes.” “What?” Hehe

- “Which one are you guys the captain?” “Depends.” Depends on what Kirk???

- He grabs Kirk and both McCoy and Spock look so protective

- Kirk just wanting to go on a fun planet study with his boyfriends and now they’ve ended up in a life or death situation

- They’re sitting on the boxes in such drawable ways. I lobe them

- Spock mumbles his objections because he thinks Kirk is just inaccurate when he’s really just bullshitting

- Kirk’s bullshitting and Spock listening so intently to the random rules he’s making the fuck up

- “Spock what’re the odds of getting a royal fizzbin?” “I’ve never computed them, captain.” “Well they’re astronomical, believe me.” Spock then just mouths ‘well okay’ while looking so defeated

- They were so ready to beat the shit out of the mobsters

- McCoy complimenting Spock

- McCoy and Spock arguing about how to save Kirk, they will go off about anything holy crap

- Kirk is more resourceful than they think, though one of these days I think Spock would like to actually rescue him

- “Incredible as it seems, Dr. McCoy and I are once again prisoners of the chief criminal boss of a society patterned after old earth gangsters.” As incredible as it seems?!? McCoy warned you about this shit, but you insisted on going in headfirst to save your boyfriend

- “Logic and practical information do not seem to apply here.” “You admit that?” “To deny the facts would be illogical, doctor.” McCoy is somehow softer in this episode? Like more soft spoken

- *Kirk leaning into the bullshit* *Spock and McCoy sharing a side eye* they’re so done with his shenanigans

- They’re so confused by cars, it’s adorable :))

- “Captain, you are an excellent starship commander, but as a taxi driver, you leave much to be desired.” “It was that bad.” I love them I love them so much

- I would not trust Kirk to be a babysitter

- For a split second, a very split second, I could imagine an au where Kirk and Spock adopt a kid and are running to find their child or smt and it made my heart melt goddamnit

- “That’s peanuts to someone like the federation. Right?” “Unquestionably.” “Riiighht?” “Right.”

- I love Kirk’s mumbled normal voice “Kirk to enterprise.”

- “Right?” “Check.” They’re adorable

- How is Bones doing?

- “Must we?” “It’s faster than walking.” “But not as safe.” “Are you afraid of cars?” “Not at all, it’s your driving that alarms me.”

- Oh there’s Bones “Knock it off, sawbones.” Sawbones and Spocko, this man is a menace

- How would you feel if Kirk called you baby then sweetheart? Poor Scotty, gotta put up with this bullshit, he’s an engineer for crying out loud

-They gave Bones a gun. Holy crap.

- Kirk is just standing on a table cause he wants to. We were also ROBBED of McCoy in a mobster suit

- Kirk looks so tired, like me when I’m in my binder all day (edit: I think I was tired from being in my binder all day when I wrote this)

- McCoy looks so pleased. He wants to go home.

- Kirk: *bullshitting again* Isn’t that logical?

- That was such a silly ending I can’t even begin to describe

What is happening. My brain is melting at this point. The sillies are getting out.

Masterpost

Episode story by David P. Harmon

Teleplay by David P. Harmon and Gene L. Coon

#star trek #star trek the original series #star trek tos #captain james kirk #tos kirk #spock #s'chn t'gai spock #tos spock #leonard bones mccoy #tos bones #tos mccoy #montgomery scott #tos scotty

[radicalbears]

Fun fact: I've started reading Star Trek TOS books this year, and they are a TRIP.

I've read six of them so far: The Vulcan Science Academy Murders by Jean Lorrah, Doctor's Orders by Diane Duane, Strangers from the Sky by Margaret Wander Bonanno, Spock's World by Diane Duane, Sarek by A.C. Crispin, and The Motion Picture novelization by Gene Roddenberry (and also Harold Livingston and Alan Dean Foster since they wrote the screenplay)

I have some Thoughts but this may be long so opinions below the cut!

I can't pick an absolute favorite, they're all so much fun for their own reasons. Objectively, Spock's World and Sarek are the two best, with Spock's World being my favorite of the two. I love any story that takes a long look at the Vulcans- either individual characters or them as a group- and these two do a fantastic job.

The Vulcan Science Academy Murders is not objectively good- the mystery is so easily figured out, some of the book is just a little bit insane, and there's way too many exclamation points- but it is a LOT of fun. Also has a very sweet perspective of Vulcans and the way they care for eachother.

Doctor's Orders is literally just this: Kirk, thinking he'd only be gone an hour, makes McCoy acting captain. Kirk proceeds to go missing. Due to Starfleet regulations, McCoy is stuck as acting captain until Kirk or Starfleet relieves him. (It's very funny watching both McCoy and literally every bridge officer be stressed about this)

My least favorite is probably Strangers from the Sky. It's extremely convoluted- there's a plot where Kirk is having nightmares about a suppressed past memory (a memory that, is being remembered because the events of this memory were recently published as a book), and half of this book is us just. Real-time reading this past memory? Either way, the memory is of the Actual first human-Vulcan meeting- when a Vulcan ship crash landed on Earth before the official first contact. The surviving Vulcans were rescued by a couple kelp farmers, and the story surrounding them is actually really sweet. The Enterprise crew has almost nothing to do with this story, they're only there because of a time travel incident. It really just feels more like the author wanted to tell this story, but because it didn't have any known characters in it, they were forced to involve the TOS cast. Still a decent read, just Very convoluted.

Finally, the Motion Picture novelization. Boy, this really reminded me that there really is not much that happens in this movie, though somehow it's more interesting than the movie. This is not to completely dump on said movie- I don't hate it, but it certainly is my least favorite. The novelization is really cool though because it adds a LOT of context for what Spock is dealing with. We get more of his inner monologue- something I actually wish we could witness better in the movie. V'ger is a really good character foil for Spock- the way V'ger is was Spock's end goal, yet Spock realizes that V'ger nothing like how he actually wants to be.

The word T'hyla is also just. Casually invented in this novelization, with the explicit purpose of describing the relationship between Kirk and Spock. This book ALSO acknowledges rumors of Kirk and Spock dating in a footnote, and has Kirk "address" these rumors (aka make some weird statement that doesn't actually clarify anything). Beginning of this book is a Wild time for Spirk fans.

Anyway I'm waiting on my library to get in the novelization for Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock. I also just picked up the first two volumes of the Year Five comics. Idk how deep I'm gonna get into Star Trek novels, but I'm at the very least still going strong.

Oh yeah I also tend to take photos of passages/lines I enjoyed from these books, lmk if any of y'all want a deeper look into any of these books- I can post the photos of my favorite bits!

#anyway more people should read star trek books they're fun #even if they're completely not canon #if you're out here reading fanfic you can deal with that #star trek #star trek tos #star trek books #diane duane

[peachviz]

finished ds9 so here’s my final thoughts:

- Ezri/Julian 👎🏼 Ezri/Worf 👍🏼 stay w me here its Worf x Dax bc regardless of Dax taking on any gender that’s Worf’s soul mate but this is Star Trek and they like to make Worf suffer. The chemistry is just there I don’t make the rules

-Kira is one of the best female characters I’ve ever seen no contest (except maybe Jadzia) I have a running joke w my partner that you can always pinpoint when Gene Roddenberry died bc the light and personality just shines through the female characters but with ds9 that was already established and gd was it a breath of fresh air

-Odo is such a sweet and affectionate character and idc if you send me to ultra Star Trek hell he and Kira had so much chemistry. The fact that his love started out totally cerebral (?) before gaining any sexuality is so beautiful like the respect he has for her is so amazing and he’s so attentive. We almost lost the plot in those few episodes in season 6 but season 7??? We are so back. To find that kind of relationship outside of spirk is so rare in Star Trek

-Julian assassination arc was so brutal to watch bc watching canon Julian not be as fun as fanon Julian was very difficult to stomach bc the man is so fine and he has all the elements of a good character and then something like chrysalis happens and well you know the rest

-side note?? Sidelining his and Garak’s relationship is so wild too when I catch you Rick Berman when I catch you

-Sisko is my favorite captain no contest sorry Janeway I haven’t even met you yet

-Nog? I have no complaints. Beautiful character development we have come so far

Now time to collect 400 clips to only use like 20 to make a massive edit that will probably get muted like measure of man 🤩

But anyway ds9 is superior idc I’ve seen everything but enterprise and voyager and I think it’s safe to say it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before

#idk this is just some notes #ds9 #I start voyager next oh boy

[frasier-crane-style]

Finally watched the first episode of Strange New Worlds and it's not bad, but there's a really dumb bit where they have to use Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be an alien race... and in other Trek shows, even in Enterprise, the way you do that is just to get advanced plastic surgery that makes you look like a Romulan or whatever.

And obviously that just works. And in SNW--and I'm bringing this up partly because they seem to be making this Nurse Chapel's gimmick, so this is like Enterprise having a main character whose job is to hand out lotion in the decon chamber--they use gene-editing to actually turn you into another species and it's horrifically painful and it actually wears off, which makes you turn back into a human or Vulcan. So it's this weird mix of being MORE advanced than TOS technology, but also way less effective.

And it's not like there's a thing where the aliens have some sixth sense that would pick up on humans, so Polyjuice Potion is the only way to fool them. They're run-of-the-mill Forehead Aliens. They don't even have antennae.

So that's my nitpick of the day. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

#star trek #strange new worlds

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Wesley Crusher

By Ames

Grab your favorite hideous sweater! It’s time to talk about Wesley Crusher. He’s one of the most polarizing characters on TNG, with a lot of hate directed his way, but he also has a number of great Trek moments which we on A Star to Steer Her By are going to sort through today!

We can probably blame Gene Roddenberry for making this character so insufferable, especially in the first season when he seemed to have the easy solution for the engineering problem of any given episode. Gene designed him to characterize a person’s infinite potential and then slapdashedly shoehorned him into every place he could, and you’ll notice that right after the big writers room turnover, the child prodigy started feeling more like a character and less like a cheat code. Scroll on for the list below and listen to our chatter on this week’s podcast episode (warp over to timestamp 57:36) for all the dirt. Just unplug your nanite experiment first.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Don’t shut up, Wesley While I’ll give Wesley the deserved scrutiny in a moment for the absurd number of times in season one of TNG that he saved the day, we do have to give him some credit for figuring out that Lore was impersonating Data in “Datalore.” Even while pretty much everyone on the crew was telling him to shut up, Wes had it all figured out and topped it off by beaming Lore into space.

Double dumbass on you! Wesley actually does get to shine during “Coming of Age,” an episode that really uses his youth to its advantage by having him take the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. And he gets pretty far! He even figures out that Rondon is a Zaldan, so Wesley realizes that apologizing for getting run into himself is the wrong reaction for that culture and comes away looking like a badass.

Teamwork makes the dream work Speaking of “Coming of Age,” Wesley is also this close to solving the dynamics relationships test first when he helps Mordock figure it out too. Wesley’s natural affinity for helping his crewmates is more important to him than getting the top score, which TAC Officer Chang takes into consideration in the final results. I’m not sure it helped much, but it’s a good character moment.

You never forget your first “I'm never going to feel this way about anyone else,” Wesley says to Guinan after watching his first crush leave in “The Dauphin.” Strangely, it’s a very mature little conversation considering Wesley was ready to write Salia off as some kind of alien monster earlier in the episode. But he learns to accept her differences, score some relationship experience points, and get his first smooch.

The minute you walk through that door they’re your team Slowly, the show starts putting Wesley in more age-appropriate situations in which he isn’t just saving the day, so it’s fitting for him to be overwhelmed when leading his first committee in “Pen Pals.” His team member Davies effectively takes over because Wes initially lacks confidence, but he soon takes charge and they work together to save Drema IV. Go team!

You told me to improvise During the war games in “Peak Performance,” Wesley thinks outside the box and retrieves one of his many, many experiments from the Enterprise to use on the less advantaged Hathaway. While Riker initially accuses young Crusher of cheating, no one said he couldn’t sneak tools off the other ship, and it’s that kind of ingenuity that could be useful in a fight.

Begin by letting go of your guilt, Wesley His mother Beverly may be on full display in “Remember Me” as we discussed last week, but Wesley also gets some interesting development. Back in “Where No One Has Gone Before” the Traveler saw potential in the child prodigy, and when the two of them use their special powers here to open the door for Dr. Crusher to return from the warp bubble, we witness some of that weird potential get unlocked.

I’ve done it all because I want you to be proud of me We joke a lot on the podcast that Picard is secretly Wesley’s father, and it’s mostly for laughs. But when we get touching scenes between the two of them like the one in “Final Mission,” we think we may be onto something. Stranded on a planet without water, Wesley keeps an injured Picard alive (can’t say the same for Dirgo, but whatever), fueling paternity theories for years to come.

I just lost the game After Wesley leaves the crew after “Final Mission,” his appearances are more methodical, and thus his character feels more and more appropriate each time. In “The Game,” he’s just visiting but his tendency to see how things work helps him and Lefler to discover that the video game everyone’s playing is actually harmful before the whole crew turns on them.

I would like to add something to my testimony We get even more glimpses of how far Wesley has come when he’s attending Starfleet Academy in “The First Duty.” All of Nova Squadron has lied about the circumstances of Josh Albert’s flight accident, and it’s Wesley who comes clean in the end because he can’t bear the guilt and the dishonesty of covering up their nefarious actions. Take that, Locarno!

These people deserve better than to be removed from their homes We found Picard’s actions inexcusable and entirely out of character in “Journey’s End” but you know who was actually on point? Wesley freakin’ Crusher. How on earth the boy was the only Starfleet-adjacent person to actually try to defend the colonists on Dorvan V is beyond us. It strikes us as opposing Federation ideals to force the colonists to move, and Wes knows that.

I had to find my own path Finally, it is a fabulous resolution to the Wesley Crusher character for him to decide on his own to leave Starfleet and go with the Traveler to discover his true potential in “Journey’s End.” For too many kids, it’s the parents who put pressure on them to walk certain paths, and we celebrate Wes for finding his own. Ya know, until he’s randomly back in Starfleet for that cut scene from Nemesis for some reason.

—

Worst moments

Wesley Saves the Day! Okay, I’m gonna lump all the obnoxious “Wesley Saves the Day!” instances into one blurb because it’s so damn repetitive. Every single time, Wesley – a child amidst some of Starfleet’s best of the best – figures out some impossible engineering problem before any of the adults in the room can, and we got so tired of it. 

Whether it’s by getting drunk and taking over engineering only to use his reverse tractor beam in “The Naked Now,” or saving the day with the Traveler in “Where No One Has Gone Before,” or spotting Picard’s brain scan from across the room and deducing there are Ferengi shenanigans afoot in “The Battle,” or cracking the lock on the holodeck door while La Forge had already admitted defeat in “The Big Goodbye,” or seeing through Lore’s disguise as we mentioned above while all the adults in the room tell him to shut up in “Datalore,” or probably a ton of others all from the first season, it was clear no one knew how to write him except as some kind of magical prodigy. Alakazam!

Keep off the grass It’s all the more clear that having a child character on the crew is just a cringey idea in “Justice.” Sure, it could have been anyone who broke the stringent rules of the Edo, but just the fact that it’s Wesley gallumphing through a flower bed like an uncoordinated doofus, destroying it utterly, makes us roll our eyes and seriously wish they’d let them execute the brat. 

Frosty the no-no man Let us not forget that it was Wesley who hit the captain with a snowball in “Angel One,” an immature and obnoxious little scene that seems to prove Picard’s point that letting children run roughshod all over the ship is an inconvenience at best and a liability at worst. And it happens to be the latter in this episode, because he ends up getting the whole ship sick with some disease!

Drug Abuse Resistance Education is futile! While we can go on about Wesley’s whole exchange with Tasha about drug addiction in “Symbiosis,” what’s most egregious is how sheltered and clueless Wesley (normally some kind of child genius) has to be to not understand how narcotics work in the first place. It’s such a forced scene that we can just feel the Reagan Era war on drugs sentimentality written all over.

I guess leaving’s gotten easy for you It’s easy to find fault with “The Outrageous Okona” – it is my least favorite TNG episode, after all. Literally everyone in this episode is annoying, and as usual, that includes Wesley who first idolizes the charming rogue, then seems really judgey of his independent and carefree lifestyle, and finally he sasses the guy into making him conclude the soap opera plot of the episode.

How do you tell each other apart? It’s a pretty cheap joke when Wesley meets Mendon in “A Matter of Honor” and mistakes him for Mordock, whom we met in “Coming of Age.” I can’t tell if the writers were trying to make a racist “you people all look alike” kind of gag, but regardless, it makes Wesley look like an idiot for not knowing anything about Benzites and Benzite culture.

Klingons hate surprise parties Everything Wesley does in “The Icarus Factor” is annoying. He blathers like a maniac at the impatient Klingon, but then takes that impatience to assume something greater is going on than just being fed up with an obnoxious tween like anyone else would be. But to make things more exasperating, the little twerp is right, as he always is, and throws Worf an Age of Ascension party. Ugh.

I think that everything that’s been going wrong might be my fault It’s not until season three that, instead of saving the day as he did so many times already, Wesley actually screws up big by releasing the nanites in “Evolution.” While it’s refreshing to see Wes finally admit to some kind of flaw, his escaped nanites end up taking over the ship and start attacking people. And what’s worse is that he tries to lie about it until Guinan catches him!

Broccoli on the side You’ll remember this from La Forge’s spotlight as well, but Geordi reveals in “Hollow Pursuits” that it was Wesley who initiated the cruel nickname “Broccoli” for Lt. Barclay. Wes, you might still be a child, but you’re in a room with adults so stop acting like one! I don’t know what’s worse: being such a dick to one of your coworkers, or all the adults in the room condoning it.

I’m the one trapped in the bubble As if his misadventure in “Evolution” weren’t enough, Wesley botches another science experiment in “Remember Me” and nearly gets his mother killed in a pocket dimension! I know we just gave him some credit for bringing her back (though I mostly give that credit to the Traveler), someone’s got to stop letting Wes hook shit up to the warp core just because he’s the CMO’s kid! Nepotism much?

The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth Here’s another Wesley moment that ended up on both lists because as much as we can see the character growth and lesson learned when he comes clean in “The First Duty,” it also needs to be said that he is fully prepared to follow Nick Locarno like a little sheep. Wesley almost certainly wouldn’t have done the right thing in the end if Picard hadn’t basically threatened him first!

You are out! Auf wiedersehen! Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t poopoo Wesley’s fashion choices. Again. It’s a trainwreck of a fashion show. Sweater after sweater – all oversized, hideously patterned, and monstrously ugly. Ames has the full write up in an early blogpost: Wesley's Sweaters: An Unfashionable Collection, but this coral nightmare from “Where No One Has Gone Before” might take the cake.

—

Well, we’re off to go exploring with the Traveler, so that’s gonna wrap things up for this one. We’re back next week with more characters to spotlight and also more Enterprise to watch over on the podcast, which you can find on SoundCloud or wherever you listen. You can also get our help on your Academy entrance exams over on Facebook and Twitter, and watch out for those flowers!

#star trek #star trek podcast #podcast #wesley crusher #the next generation #datalore #coming of age #the dauphin #pen pals #peak performance #remember me #final mission #the game #the first duty #journey's end #the naked now #where no one has gone before #the big goodbye #the battle #justice #angel one #symbiosis #the outrageous okona #a matter honor #the icarus factor #evolution #hollow pursuits #sweaters #project runway #wil wheaton

[fancoloredglasses]

[RERUN] Star Trek, Part 2: TAS (TOS Season 4)

[All images are owned by Paramount and Filmation. Please don’t sue me]

(Thanks to Intro Master)

In my last review, I covered the original series starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley. However, thanks in part to fan support, Gene Roddenberry managed to pitch to Filmation a continuation of the series in animated form for the Saturday morning crowd.

Please note that I said “animated” and not “cartoon”. That was a deliberate choice that Filmation and Gene Roddenberry made in marketing the series. They believed that if they called Star Trek a “cartoon” it would be panned by their fans, and they put a lot of effort into making the series as close to the original series as children’s programming would allow (sorry, there were no Redshirt scenes, but surprisingly there was a death!)

Another note is that, with the exception of Walter Koenig, the entire cast was present (with James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols providing voices for most of the “extras” in the series). Added to the cast were 2 aliens:

Lt. Arex is a member of a race known as the Edosians with 3 arms and 3 legs (you never saw him walk as the animators couldn’t figure out how that would work) who serves as navigator.

 Lt. M’Ress, a member of a race known as Caitians who serves as Communications Officer when Uhura is...busy? They never gave an explanation where Uhura was while M’Ress was on duty.

Despite the fact that Filmation did not have access to the original music from the Original Series, they did compose some music that they have reused in other series over the years.

(Thanks to Grim2)

Despite the fact that it was Saturday Morning fare, the series was not written with kids in mind. While the series wasn’t as preachy as some episodes of the original series were, it did have a more serious tone (even the sillier episodes didn’t feel “dumbed down”. They felt like some of the sillier episodes of the original series), and at least two episodes did tackle some pretty weighty subject matter.

Most importantly, despite a lot of Trekkies not believing the animated series to be “official canon”, several canonical facts have come from the animated series (including Vulcan emotions, Sehlots (the typical Vulcan pet), the Kzinti (a race of aggressive felinoids), and Capt. Robert April, the Enterprise’s original captain)

The series ran for two seasons (though the second season was just two additional episodes) before being cancelled (to be honest, I’m surprised it got a second season, given it was on Saturday mornings). However, this would not be the end of Star Trek, though fans would have to wait a number of years for new content.

If you would like to watch the series, it's available on Paramount+ or behind your favorite paywall.

If you have an episode you would like me to review, please let me know.

#star trek #tas #william shatner #leonard nimoy #deforest kelley #james doohan #george takei #nichelle nichols #majel barrett #uss enterprise #i hate reruns #fan colored glasses

[nonstandardrepertoire]

so we finished watching season 2 of Picard last night, and just. whew, friends, what? a truly baffling array of choices. things i simply cannot get over:

the commitment to doing every Single joke from The Voyage Home while simultaneously Strenuously Avoiding doing anything campy or goofy

like, the reason TVH works is that the main cast are all just Buffoons — Kirk does not know how money works, Spock is dressed as a jogger in a bathrobe, Scottie tries to talk into a computer mouse, and it is all GREAT. in Picard S2, it's like, they say they don't know much about this period in history, but they all seem to click into place fairly seamlessly. in general watching this new era of Trek, it feels like the writers have simply forgotten the pleasure of a good silly camp romp, and constantly referencing one of the best silliest campiest romps in the canon is uh, not helping

the climax of the season revolves around?? Q's character development??? Q???? QUEUE?????? baffling

in general what was even Q's plan here. is he . . . trying to sabotage the Europa mission or not? why is All Of This necessary for Picard to forgive himself, if that's Q's real goal? just like generally this framing does not make sense to me and so resting the entire season on it is. a choice, i guess

also when have we ever been asked to care about Q's interiority before, when have we ever been asked to be On His Side as opposed to whatever human he's fucking with

how are we relating to canon here. h o w. there are some Real deep cuts, but then also some like, fairly prominent episodes that are just?? ignored???

like, ok:

Guinan and Picard have a fairly significant adventure together in 1800s San Francisco (in “Time’s Arrow”). it is canon then that she doesn't know Picard yet. this is an incident she will remember for 500+ years and reference on board the Enterprise D. but in this season of Picard, she appears not to know him at all and to once more be meeting him for the first time. these two first meetings are . . . difficult to reconcile

but we are apparently doubling down on “Wesley Crusher was just the super specialest boy and he managed to transcend the limits of physical reality because of his big special brain”

we are apparently pretending that Robert Picard just . . . doesn't exist? isn't around for Jean-Luc's childhood? this isn't really technically a continuity error but Robert and Jean-Luc's relationship felt real and specific and grounded in the particulars of their two characters whereas Yvette just feels like generic sexist “ooooooh his mother was ~crazy~” schlock, and losing the former for the latter is uh. not an improvement

we're doubling down on Gary Seven, tho! Gary fucking Seven!!!!! remember that beloved character from an episode that was definitely a good idea??? why

actually, specifically, tho: it feels like this is a continuation of Star Trek’s reluctance/inability to grapple with the less savory parts of Gene Roddenberry as a human being, particularly his misogyny. to stick only to the example at hand, he made the “Assignment: Earth” filming experience so miserable for Teri Garr (by, for example, relentlessly shortening the length of her skirt, even over the objections of the costume designer) that Garr has absolutely refused to talk about Star Trek in subsequent interviews. i was obviously not on set, but the vibe i get is extremely that filming that episode would clearly and unambiguously been a hostile workplace environment by contemporary standards of sexual harassment. so i, personally, have a hard time being like “ah yes, ‘Assignment: Earth’, what a fun bit of forgotten canon to incorporate wholesale into our new series without grappling with the specifics of its creation in any way!”. the vibes are just . . . rancid

anyway, moving on from continuity gripes,

it feels like a real missed opportunity to have not cast David Duchovny as the FBI agent. this is really not the showrunners’ fault, but i’m in a hating sort of mood, so i’m going to take off points anyway

“Dark Page” was not a great idea in 1993 and it isn’t any better now

circling back to “covering the hits without any understanding of what made them good”, Raffi’s encounter in a camp of unhoused people feels like a nod to “Past Tense” without any willingness to actually . . . engage with what “Past Tense” was saying. for all that i have some issues with some of its narrative choices, “Past Tense” devotes significant, sustained screen time to characters that society has decided to discard and is relentless in hammering home the message that “this is not just and it cannot be reformed into justness”. here, Raffi stumbles across an encampment, someone immediately tries to mug her at gun point, she beats him up, she shares a rueful quip about “gosh, wild that such a prosperous society can’t be assed to take care of people”, and then we just move on and never mention this again. like, we get Words saying that Homelessness Bad, but what we are shown is “unhoused people are scary and dangerous and it’s ok for our heroes to beat them up”

(i actually think that In General there is a lot of wasted potential with Raffi, altho mostly the fault here lies in season 1. “very competent Starfleet officer who is also dealing with paranoid delusions and falling apart at the seams about it” is an interesting premise for a Star Trek character if done well! and then S1 is just like “oh, nope, actually, she was right about everything, there was a massive, bizarre conspiracy that did exactly what she thought they did, she's fine and correct and everyone who ever doubted her is an ass”)

(i also think that the “love always ends in grief” sequence from Discovery S4, for all of that season’s considerable messiness, is a much tighter and more powerful expression of that theme than the wandering, haphazard approach to it here. i think these shows are meant to be watched in concert, but the back-to-back seldom does Picard any favors)

we continue to lean into Human Exceptionalism and i continue to roll around on the floor going “ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” about it

more elaborate thoughts on that go in my “if i were making Enterprise” post, tho

THAT SAID

on the topic of exceptionalism, i hate the FUCK out of the bit in Crusher’s recruitment speech where he’s like “do you want to be ordinary, or do you want your life to have purpose and meaning?” as tho???? ordinary lives????? cannot have purpose and meaning???????????? look me in the eyes, writers. no, no, look me Directly in the eyes: fuck you, fuck that, i am doing cartoon violence to you. the mindset that only extraordinary lives are worth living is toxic bullshit that distorts so much of our mental, political, and artistic landscape. ordinary lives can have so much meaning and purpose, they can be so very beautiful and rich. ordinary lives can be very good to live. i think Star Trek, in general, focuses too much on elites as The Only People Who Really Matter, but to elevate that to the level of explicit text is just. fucking devastating. unspeakably bleak. absolute philosophical train wreck of a season finale, on a par with Discovery’s “a Starfleet admiral actively and deliberately planned and tried to carry out a genocide and faced zero career repercussions for it that we can see”. clown car nonsense

in conclusion: i have drunk the haterade, g-d this season sucked, i can’t wait to make April 13 “Jurati eating car batteries day” and take it away from the Homestucks

#let's take a walk thru these here stars #did i have a Picard tag? i feel like i can't possibly have #thinky thoughts #Star Trek: Picard #Picard S2 #unabashed hatery #i promise we can stop doing Wrath of Khan again now i promise i promise i promise #also like #i don't even want to get into the "why did we have to just sit thru an entire fucking fascist rally #or the implication that uh. fascist Earth would be really successful at fighting the Borg actually #IN GENERAL i think our fiction is Way too ready to paint fascists as Very Competent At War #they are not #i don't know how many people know this but there was a small little tiff called World War II #and the fascists did not win it #because fascists are incompetent and fascism is inherently unstable as an ideology #Umberto Eco said that fascists are condemned to lose wars because they are incapable of realistically assessing the strength of their enemi #and he was RIGHT #obviously that should be “enemies” but APPARENLY my tags are too long #whatever #anyway #rants #sigmastolen #i feel like you will appreciate this even if you don't watch Picard

[silverhallow]

I can't, Breathe, Without you

pairing: Benedict Bridgerton x Sophie Beckett

summary: A couple of hours with Uncle Phillip and Aunt Eloise in the park go drastically wrong and little Charlie ends up in the hospital

warnings: Whump. mentions of poison and allergic reactions in a child, very poorly child, links to the book. angst.

word count: 735 words

author's note: part of the Bridgerton Enterprise au. this has a sort of happy ending. part of Ash's Drabbles, prompt 17 "let us not go there"

There was nothing more heartbreaking than watching your child struggling to breathe. A breathing tube had been fitted and it was helping but there was not much else that the doctors could do.

Sophie had come running through the doors of the hospital, frantic at having gotten the call from a frantic Phillip.

He and Eloise had taken the three boys to the park for the afternoon whilst Sophie went to a meeting and Benedict was in his studio. Since finding out Sophie was pregnant with their fourth child, she’d been sicker than she had been with Charlie, Alex and William but with their baby girl…

She’d been weak, sick and struggling but she had found some strength, this was a big meeting and she knew she had to go. This was getting the Bridgerton x Penwood brand into America, onto more than just the fashion week, this was a chance to dress the stars at the Met Gala and she wasn’t going to miss that for the world.

So Eloise and Phillip had agreed to take the kids, with the twins, for a few hours whilst Sophie went to her meeting. 

Neither Sophie nor Benedict had expected the call.

Phillip was beating himself up, he’d taken his eyes off them for 5 seconds whilst Amanda was crying having fallen and grazed her knee only for Alex to scream as Charlie touched a plant that had an almost instant reaction.

Foxglove. Phillip went pale the instant he saw it, demanding from a terrified and crying Alex to know if Charlie had eaten it.

But he hadn’t put the plant near his lips, but he had inhaled the pollen as he’d leaned in to sniff it, wanting to pick the pretty flowers to give to their mummy and the moment he’d sniffed it, he gasped and wasn’t able to breathe.

The pollen had gotten into his lungs and filled with them liquid, an allergic reaction combined with the poison was what had caused Charlie to collapse.

The ambulance had managed to get him to the hospital and got him stable, draining the fluid from his lungs by the time Sophie and Benedict had come rushing in to the hospital frantic and worried.

And it was where they had remained for the last three days, Charlie was on a breathing machine, supporting his weak lungs, keeping him alive, keeping him breathing.

Sophie had refused to leave the hospital, Violet had taken Alex and William to allow her son and daughter in law to remain at the hospital. Though Benedict was worried about his wife, Sophie had hardly slept or ate since they’d arrived at the hospital.

“Soph you need to sleep, just an hour, something. You need to look after yourself and our little girl…” he said

“I can’t… I can’t Ben. whenever i close my eyes i wake up thinking… thinking Charlie… what if he… i can’t… I can’t do it”

“Sophie. Let’s not go there” Benedict said “Charlie is going to be fine, he’s been through worse before, when he was born and he’s made it to this point, he’s strong. He’s going to be okay, he’s going to pull through soon enough. It’s just taking time, lungs don’t just heal in a matter of hours, they’re going to take time but he is going to be okay”

“You can’t know that… you can’t promise that” Sophie said helplessly.

“I can, because you’re his mummy, you came through hell, you’ve recovered from a trauma, with your genes, there is no way he can’t…” Benedict said

“But you…”

“Do not go there Sophie, Charlie is going to be fine, but please… I need you to look after yourself, please babe, just have an hour, if anything happens i’ll wake you up i promise…” Benedict said to her, pleading with her.

Sophie looked up at him, saw the pain in his eyes and felt the exhaustion in her body, she knew she was struggling and Benedict was right, she needed to sleep “okay but i’m sleeping here, just… don’t leave me and wake me if anything happens” Sophie begged “and only an hour”

Sophie climbed into the camp bed that the hospital had put down for them, Benedict settled in the chair and before long he felt himself drifting off, unaware that little Charlie was stirring in the bed next to him, starting to eventually wake up.

#bridgerton #bridgerton drabble #benedict bridgerton #sophie beckett #benophie #benedict x sophie #benophie drabble #ash's drabbles

[weerd1]

All right, I feel it’s time to dig into my new comfort show, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Let me say up front, I love this show, so if you’re looking for someone who’s been watching Star Trek since the ‘70s to gripe about new Trek, you won’t find it here. Is this show perfect? Of course not. Is it Deep Space Nine good? Not yet, but I see potential. Episode by episode look and a long chat after the break! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

What it DOES feel like is TOS. From the variety of genres used to tell stories, to some downright weird plot points, to some remarkable social commentary, this really feels like what would happen if they just made TOS now. I lament a bit that we have 10-episode seasons instead of enough in a season to allow for some MORE variety the way TOS had more than 25 episodes a season.

So how about visual continuity?

This show looks like the way I would see this universe when I read novels or played the RPG: effects have caught up with the way I brain painted the Blish adaptations or those early novels. It works for me.

What about character continuity?

Barring the fact the show has canonized the idea that even the “Prime” timeline can shift a bit due to the influences of time travel across the universes (which I love), I think the nuances this show brings do nothing but enhance my understanding of TOS. The Spock/Chapel moments now on TOS? Christine now asking Spock, “have you ever been in love?” in the episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” becomes a bit of gut punch! What does it mean to her when he begins to lose control due to Ponn Farr? Does she think he might be reverting back to the Spock of a decade before who chanced to unleash emotion?

Visually and character-wise, we have not changes but expansion. Honestly, most of these perceived “changes” reminds me of Gene Roddenberry taking the opportunity to enhance the Klingons when he had the budget in The Motion Picture. Did he care that the Klingons weren’t bumpy? Did he care to come up with a solution? He didn’t: He was a creator who now had more tools to work with. SNW does that.

My sole complaint, which honestly stretches across many modern shows, Trek and otherwise is about language. TOS and its progeny up until Enterprise used a more stolid, slang-free method of writing which to me added to the timeless nature of the show. When characters in modern Trek use modern vernacular it ties the episodes for me more to the present rather than allowing me to suspend my disbelief that this is the future. This is just my personal preference, and is certainly not something that torpedoes my love for the show or characters.

So, if you’re still with me, let’s get into the nitty gritty, each episode rated from 1 to 5 LLAPs. 🖖

SEASON ONE

“Strange New Worlds” 🖖🖖🖖🖖

After DISCO S2 gave us a Pike which made Spock’s actions in “The Menagerie” entirely plausible, we pick up here with him knowing his destiny and he’s having to work on that. As it plays out, we get some great explorations of what Star Trek and Starfleet within the universe is about. We also get a pretty pointed commentary on our present and what allowing politicians to appeal to and encourage the baser, xenophobic impulses of their constituencies leads to. Solid start, solid introduction of return and new characters, and wow is this show gorgeous.

“Children of the Comet” 🖖🖖🖖

A solid episode which feels a little long in places. However, showing Sam Kirk is this universe’s Guy Fleegman is terrific, and we get some great Uhura moments. Also, fly, Erica, fly!

“Ghosts of Illyria” 🖖🖖🖖🖖

About as TOS as you can get! Crewmembers trapped on a planet below as danger approaches, a strange disease threatening the crew. Plus, a couple of good character revelations that start threads which will continue well into Season 2.

“Memento Mori” 🖖🖖🖖✌️(That’s a half)

The beginnings of expanding on the Gorn while giving us more background on La’an Noonien Singh (whom I originally was none to happy that she was Khan’s descendant, but S2 really uses that beautifully). She’s a terrific character and this episode helps us know why. Also- see my comment above about making the Klingons “more” because you have the opportunity as SNW picks up the way ENT showed us the Gorn were more than just a slow moving dino allegory and kicks it into high gear.

“Spock Amok” 🖖🖖🖖

A very fun episode which continues to show us that TOS’s T’Pring was more than just a diabolical woman who dared mess with our heroes. Have greatly appreciated what they have done with her. Also, Enterprise Bingo!

“Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” 🖖🖖🖖✌️

Credit here first of all for a very TOS title. Then a TNG style morality play, but one that does not end happily. Dig it.

“The Serene Squall” 🖖🖖✌️

The Orion pirate captain and Pike’s mutiny was a little too…well silly for me. However, Captain Angel and the Sybok name drop, plus Christine being badass? All in there. Also, this sets up some Spock/Chapel stuff for S2 and I dig all of that.

“The Elysian Kingdom” 🖖🖖✌️

Again fun, and a neat way to deal with M’Benga’s daughter storyline. A bit indulgent in places, but everyone seems to be enjoying themselves so much, and we get Christina Chong’s dog Runa. VERY TOS when it all comes down to it. Bonus points for the DS9 reference.

“All Those Who Wander” 🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

Oh- the Gorn are warp capable Xenomorphs. How HORRIFYING. Also, some real stakes as we lose Hemmer, and Spock really starts his S2 arc here.

“A Quality of Mercy” 🖖🖖🖖🖖✌️

Terrific method of tying in some more TOS to contextualize the show, a modernized TWOK uniform, and a new Captain Kirk. I didn’t walk out convinced by Paul Wesley’s Kirk, but he wins me over early in S2. My real complain here is Ortegas falling into the role of the bigoted Styles from “Balance of Terror.” Did NOT seem like her style. Kudos to a bit of a cliffhanger, even if it does feel a little tacked on to the episode. Also, they missed a bet not having James Frain (DISCO’s Sarek) playing the Romulan Commander.

(Also, the show misses a bet not having Rebecca Romijn or Jess Bush voice the computer.)

Overall S1 is a solid start that ties itself plenty to what has gone before, without resorting to simple, overwrought nostalgia baiting to tell a story. Like some other recent Star Trek.

SEASON TWO

"The Broken Circle" 🖖🖖🖖🖖

Spock stealing the Enterprise on a semi regular basis is now in my canon, and I am grateful. Pelia, I am convinced, is actually Carol Kane’s character from “Taxi.” M’Benga rolling out the stimulants didn’t make a lot of sense to me on my first viewing, but in context with the season, this is actually setting up a really interesting—and dark—bit of character development.

“Ad Aspera per Aspera” 🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

This. This is Star Trek. ‘Nuff said. (Ok, also, THOSE DRESS UNIFORMS!)

“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow “ 🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

Here, HERE Paul Wesley’s Kirk wins me over, even if it is an alternate version. Earning money (and apparently a lot given the remarkably nice apartment they stay in) by playing CHESS, recognizing that La’an’s universe should stay because Sam’s alive, the slow seduction…yup, that’s Jim Kirk. Plus, This episode acknowledges that time is fluid, referencing how TOS tells us the Eugenics Wars SHOULD have been in 1992, but it keeps shifting. Elegant solution that opens so many doors to future stories. Also, baby KHAAAAAAAANNN!

“Among the Lotus Eaters” 🖖🖖🖖🖖

Nice callbacks to “The Cage,” yes. But this episode BELONGS to Erica Ortegas. “My name is Erica Ortegas and I👏🏻fly👏🏻the👏🏻ship!” And let’s add “thread the needle” to awesome starship tricks, shall we? Erica makes this good episode great.

“Charades” 🖖🖖🖖🖖

Vulcan shenanigans are back with a fully human Spock, and indeed, this one is funny. Ethan Peck’s comedy chops are great here, especially with Sam Kirk’s mess. Anson Mount delivers in the funny department too as Pike serves up Vulcan food. Very poignant stuff here for Christine though, and though I was initially, “oh no,” continuity-wise, I really ended up liking what this MEANS to what we saw on TOS.

“Lost in Translation” 🖖🖖🖖

A bit cliche, but a good Uhura episode, and though it seems like they're trying a little TOO hard to bring Kirk in, the Lt. Kirk/Ensign Uhura dynamic here is really good. The Jim/Sam thing also something I enjoyed. What makes this episode for me though is when Uhur figures out what's going on, Pike trusts her. Blows up a whole-ass mining station on the word of one Ensign. Go, Nyota!

"Those Old Scientists" 🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

Just perfect. From the seemless merger of Lower Decks animated characters, to the meta commentary about "oddly specific references" and people talking "really slowly and quietly" this just works. Also ENT love! Uhura and Ortegas geeking out over Sato and Mayweather just made my day. So much fun, nothing could wipe the smile from my face! (Spoiler alert: The next episode will gut me.)

"Under the Cloak of War" 🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

Holy crap. You thought DS9 played around with questionable moral decisions in a war setting, SNW here shows us they're not afraid to travel into Moore/Behr's space and take a whirl. The weirdness with M'Benga pays off here, and as a veteran myself they way this episode delves into our inability to provide the emotional context to what war does to us to someone without the same frame of reference? Fantastic. I was pretty uptight for most of this episode, because I felt it. I cried in places, was made uncomfortable in places, and what a set of reveals for both Christine and of course M'Benga as we see those flashbacks.

"Subspace Rhapsody"🖖🖖🖖

I WANT to give this one another LLAP, as I love musicals, and I love the fact they were bold enough to do one. The cast pulls off their numbers wonderfully, there's some great moments, especially between Jim and La'an (HE'S BACK???), and they conceit that makes this work is though a hair silly, pretty consistent with Trek and it's quantum/multiversal/anomaly episodes of times past. The only thing that doesn't work for me are the songs themselves. A couple are OK, but they just didn't stick with me. And I made sure I watched a couple of times, just to see if it was my mood. I can't help but compare this to Buffy The Vampire Slayer's "Once More With Feeling" though, and there are three songs from that I keep on my permanent playlist, and can sing pretty much the whole ep verbatim. This didn't make me want to do that; I just really enjoyed it. I wanted to love it. (Shout out though to the "Once More With Feeling" Easter Egg.)

"Hegemony" 🖖🖖🖖🖖

As soon as they gave Captain Batel a first name in the musical, I got worried, and sure enough these Gorn bring that to fruition. She's not dead yet, but she's in trouble, and this is a tight action episode. I appreciate that this new young Montgomery Scott is a) played by a Scot, and b) something of a mix between the Doohan and Pegg versions of the character. My only fear now is we have this cliffhanger, and between the writer's strike and modern TV's general refusal to follow seasonal schedules, we may be in for a far worse wait than the summer of 1990 left us with William Riker's "Fire."

So that's my take. Yes, there are missteps, or things that don't QUITE work, but if I want to compare this to the glory days of 90s Trek, we're only 20 episodes in, and already having a great time when TNG, DS9, and VOY all took at least a season or two of 24 episodes each to find their way. Sure, classic Trek all but hit it out of the gate, but again, we don't have but slightly more than 2/3 of their first season of episodes. We’re 20 episodes in and the worst ones are JUST good, there hasn’t been a bad one yet. SNW has found a way to be a prequel without suffering from their audience’s foreknowledge, and fit themselves firmly into Trek lore without just relying on playing Trek Trivia Madlibs to write their scripts (though Kirk KEEPS showing up!). I'm a little worried as I was really digging on DISCO for the first two seasons as well, and season 3 was a huge disappointment to me. Let's hope whenever we get back to this, they keep up the good work. I am more than ready to again boldly go.

#star trek #star trek strange new worlds #strange new worlds spoilers

[as-roddenberry-intended]

Watching Star Trek in Chronological Order: Just as Gene Roddenberry Intended

A few years ago, someone in the comments section of a podcast that would be impossible to find now suggested an idea, and that idea has been stuck in my head ever since. It's like a worm, burrowing through my brain. I couldn't let it go. I even tried to do this as a podcast, but it turns out podcasts are time consuming to make, so here we are.

The idea is, as the title suggests, to watch all of Star Trek in chronological order, by stardate. This means starting with a few episodes featuring time travel (not all), then going into Enterprise and continuing on from there. The last thing in the current timeline is the Short Treks episode Calypso, though at the time of writing it remains to be seen how canon that is.

I am inviting you all to join me on this journey. Star Trek as a work of collaborative media that has spanned over 60 years has always fascinated me. Can so many people and so many creative visions all come together to create one coherent narrative? Well, no, but I want to treat it like one anyway.

So this means watching everything. Well, almost everything. I will be following a spreadsheet that I have been working on and been actively updating as new episodes release. The bulk of the work was copied from the Star Trek Chronology Project, weaving together many of the live action shows. All of the animated shows were fairly easy to figure out, so I have added them in as well (minus Very Short Treks).

Most time travel will be ignored, taking place where they would normally from the time traveler's perspectives rather than from the universe's. The two exceptions to this rule are DS9's Past Tense, and the TNG movie First Contact. The former takes place in 2024 and is as much about a historical event as it is about the time travelers, and the latter shows the birth of the federation and seeds some Enterprise storylines later on. Beyond that, you'll have to wait till DS9 to watch Little Green Men. Also, we will be revisiting these time travel episodes in their normal places as well. Finally, if time travel happens WITHIN the series (eg Trials and Tribbalations), we'll watch those episodes twice as well.

As far as I am concerned, most animated content is canon. This means the three main animated shows: TAS, LRD, and PRD, plus all animated Short Treks.

The Kelvin Timeline is also canon, though I don't group it with TOS. It is the result in a time travel event that occurs after the destruction of Romulus, so I have put it between the Short Trek Children of Mars and the start of Star Trek Picard.

If you're curious about the watch order, here is the spreadsheet in all its glory:

I'll be reviewing episodes as I watch them. If enough people are interested in making this a community thing, I will come up with a schedule and even maybe make a discord, but for now I'll just be posting reviews at whatever pace I happen to watch things in.

So my friends, please join me as we embark on a journey that Zefram Cochrane so succinctly calls "Some kind of Star Trek". We will strive to avoid the notice of Temporal Investigations, and adhere as much as we can to the Temporal Prime Directive.

Let's watch all of Star Trek in order, just as Roddenberry intended.

#star trek #ds9 #enterprise #tos #the star trek will continue until morale improves

[the-lady-general]

For All Mankind has fucked up my standards for good sci fi forever. I just watched First Flight of Enterprise S2. Not a single woman test pilot. A single woman in blue overalls, some lone flight controller in one shot. I think the bar might even have been segregated or something, at least I didn't see any POC either. Real men connect by beating the shit out of each other and sharing daddy issues. Real men hate books and rules because real men are always right and never have to face consequences. Real men are white.

And For All Mankind literally said

I can't even look at screenshots of Belikova without spontaneously bursting into tears because ARE YOU SEEING THIS SHIT? That's a WOMAN! On the MOON! The moon of NINETEEN SIXTY NINE! That is science fiction in TWO THOUSAND TWENTY THREE (although NASA are on it, finally). And that's just representation for half the human race, that's not even anything for minority groups, that's not even anything for women of a matching skin colour who happen to be in the wrong age or weight range.

But then For All Mankind really put multiple women in the show, black, hispanic, disabled, queer, foreign, old, young, mothers, single, divorced, remarried, astronauts, pilots, engineers, flight controllers, entrepreneurs, politicians, spies, they're everywhere! They get lines and storylines and supporting male characters!

Enterprise looks at Gene "I want a logical, calculating, female XO" Roddenberry's future and they can't imagine women being part of that future. What the fuck? What the fuck? First Flight could have been amazing? But it's all grunting about the nature of testosterone instead? Fuck off? I hope Archer dies? I hope they replace him with the ONLY Starfleet captain: Danielle fucking Poole.

#the lady general rambles #i can deal with misogynistic episodes because at least there are women in them #but first flight straight up says get back to the kitchen #fuck for all mankind is so fucking good #crying over the belikova reveal again because i'm normal this fine sunday afternoon