#same with ds9. man I just……..

[the-fandom-connection]

Plagued by the horrors (shows I’m deeply invested in that are mostly really good but make deeply disappointing writing choices near the end)

#this is about wwdits s4 and also turn a gundam which I know is like 20 years old but my sibling and I have been watching it and #finished it today and aggggghhhhhhh #this is always fucking how it is #I deeply love a show. it’s not perfect but it’s compelling and well-written enough in the good parts to pull it through. #the finale writing choices literally keep me up at night thinking how I could fix them but can’t. #same with ds9. man I just…….. #I cannot abide by them leaving sisko in the wormhole. that’s fucked up. Julian should have gone to cardassia. it would have been full circle #‘frontier medicine’ but having learned not to be a colonizer about it. odo and Kira are both gay like so gay and they NEED to realize it to #reach their character arcs’ conclusions. thinking about quark just makes me so SAD. EZRI DOESN’T EVEN GET TO BE HER OWN PERSON. SHE’S A #YOUNG WOMAN WHO NEVER WOULD HAVE CHOSEN THIS LIFE FOR HERSELF BOUNCED BETWEEN TWO MEN LIVING IN THE ECHO OF A PAST SELF #BOTH HERSELF AND TOTALLY ALIEN TO HER. AND WITH NO SISKO TO GUIDE HER :( #garak’s fate is pretty perfect but it’s also the epitome of ‘careful what u wish for’ #and he’s all ALONE out there. #god. JAKE. JAKE AND CASSIDY!!! #and worf’s relationship with his son was butchered for no good goddamn reason. #ok hold on I’m still rlly upset about wwdits and turn a gundam. I didn’t mean for that to turn into a ds9 rant. #sometimes it’s easier to talk about something that’s not as fresh.. #I hate to even think about it but bbc m*rain was the first one that really killed me with wasted potential as a kid. #and as horribly embarrassing as it is to admit it himym. I read 100ks of words of fix-it. dark times lol. #why does this happen. why does it bother me. why don’t I just start watching movies I know the end to instead lol.. fr

[csonbrr]

gull

#i just watched return to grace and im screaming crying throwing up #my art #star trek ds9 #ds9 #gul dukat #star trek fanart #ds9 fanart #i absolutely hate this man he's despicable but i always rewind the scenes with him because i fucking love his character its so slimy and #disgusting and ew ew ew but at the same time im also *side eying monkey meme* because hes kinda 🥵 #but i hate his guts and hes so fucking stupid i love his scenes #he also talks just sooo much xddd its kinda funny xdd

[silenceoflink]

Okay- so i just watched the first DS9 mirror episode and I am flabbergasted at something: SPOILERS IN TAGS

#Bashir just killed Odo #straight up #no hesitation #i know he knew it was a mirror Odo and not really his friend #but Odo looked exactly the same #Bashir didn't even pause or think about killing Mirror Odo #and they never address it again? #never mention how Bashir ruthlessly shot and killed a man that looked exactly like his friend #never explored the emotional impact of that #explored how Bashir felt about it #but none of that happens does it #hmm #star trek ds9 #ds9 #star trek #julian bashir

[everysongineverykey]

i love you azura books i love you luz's nerdiness given prominence throughout the show i love you "luzura" i love you amity and luz bonding over a "cringe" book series i love you lumity azura/hecate cosplay i love you young queer couple cosplaying as a queer couple that really inspired them as kids and helped bring them together i love you beautiful tribute to the power of representation in media as shown via a latina girl adoring and being heavily influenced by a book series starring a latina witch who she can see herself in i love you varied and beautiful discussions of representation in a show with heaps and heaps of just that :')

in the same vein, i love you cosmic frontier i love you chief engineer o'bailey-hunter parallels i love you gus captain avery cosplay i love you gus helping hunter confront his identity as a grimwalker by introducing him to a series with a character he can see himself in i love you star trek deep space nine reference i love you black boy cosplaying as a black space captain i love you camila connecting with luz using her own nerdy childhood obsession i love you power of stories and, again, representation in media i love you the owl house's constant message that representation matters i love you i love you💙💙💙💙

#the owl house #listen. i have SOOO many thoughts on the narrative weight of the azura books #and how it's a casual reminder of how important representation is. luz gets to see herself as a witch #fighting evil and saving the day #and this character also has a queer-coded relationship with her female rival #which undoubtedly helps luz as a young bi girl as well!!! #and also cosmic frontier like... it's a bit more of a joke but still #hunter finding comfort and solace in a character going through the same things as him. gus not forcing the grimwalker topic #and instead trying to help hunter come to terms with his identity in a gentler way. AND the captain of the ship in cosmic frontier is black #just like gus. i know rep probably isn't a problem in the boiling isles #since yknow. bigotry-free fantasy world and all #but it definitely is in the human realm! and it's good for gus to get what he can there. yknow? #also the reason i say it's a ds9 reference in particular is just cause i'm a stan. it's an educated guess. #point 1: it features a black captain called avery. ds9 has a black captain played by a man called avery. #point 2: it features a chief engineer called o'bailey. ds9's chief engineer is called o'brien. same kind of irish name. #point 3: it was written in the 90s like how ds9 aired in the 90s :]

[ktempestbradford]

A Story for Star Trek Day

I've told this story on Twitter before. I tell it every Star Trek Day and whenever a Deep Space 9 anniversary rolls around. It's about me and Avery Brooks (aka Best ST Captain Benjamin Sisko).

The college my mother went to specifically started recruiting top Black students in the 60s. Due to this, the Black kids all mostly knew each other as they were in that same program. Avery Brooks went to the same college and they were good friends.

(She once told me he had a huge crush on her and I was like MOM. MOTHER. WHAT. HOW COULD YOU HE COULD HAVE BEEN MY DAD.)

Anyway, many of the students in this program remained friends long after college. So over the years as Avery was getting TV gigs & such we would all watch cuz he was my mom's friend & I thought that was the coolest. There was one particularly fun night when my best friend's uncle, Frankie Faison, guest starred on A Man Called Hawk. TWO people we know on TV!

When I was in middle school Avery was touring his production of "Paul Robeson" and it came through our town, so I got to see him perform in person (awesooooome) and meet him for the first time since I was a baby (which I did not remember, of course).

Now, backing up a little bit: I am a Star Trek fan because of my mom. She loved the original series and I remember being a wee Tempest in front of the TV watching The Wrath of Khan and us excitedly going to see Star Trek IV together.

I watched TNG from the instant it appeared on TV because of her. I watched all of The Animated Series even though everyone looked "wrong". (Man... it took me 4 months to realize that dude in the red shirt was Scotty cuz I'd only ever seen movie Scotty.)

Then... they announced Deep Space 9.

We heard Avery Brooks would be the commander and there was MUCH rejoicing around our house. DS9 turned out to be the best Trek ever and, of course, Avery was awesome. This was around the time my mom dropped that "he had a crush on me but I wasn't interested" bombshell.

I'm still bitter.

I mean, I love my dad he's great. But SISKO COULD HAVE BEEN MY DAD.

I lost my mom in 1999. She was--and I'm not exaggerating--an extraordinary woman and beloved by many. I received so many beautiful messages of condolence from her friends all the way back to those college years, including Avery. So many people remembered her fondly. <3

I kept watching Star Trek and often talked to her as if she was there during episodes. She would have LOVED Discovery. Especially since she took me to RENT the year I started college. I'm sure she would have shared my opinion of Enterprise as well. But she loved her some Scott Bakula, so she would have watched, anyway.

I got the chance to interview Avery Brooks at DragonCon back in 2013 (jeez, it's been almost 10 years omg). Before the interview, I went up to him on the Walk of Fame and I said:

Hi, I'm (name K stands for) Bradford, I don't know if you remember me...

And he looked up and said: Of course I remember you.

We talked for a bit and I asked if I could come back and interview him later and he said yes (he wasn't supposed to; his handler had A LOOK). I didn't want to hold up his line, so I said I'd see him later.

Before I could go, he reached out for my hand and squeezed it before saying: I loved your mama, you know.

And we just stayed like that for a few seconds, missing her together.

...I might have been trying very hard not to burst into tears.

That DragonCon was the last time I saw Avery. Barring an extraordinary circumstance, that's probably the last time I'll see him in person. I'm glad we got to have that moment together. And we had a great conversation!

His contribution to Trek has meant so much to me. SISKO4EVA

And I'm glad that it's another tie between me, my mom, and Trek. I can't watch DS9 without hearing her voice giving color commentary. Even the episodes she didn't live to see.

I think Star Trek is part of what gave her hope for the future. She passed that on to me. ❤️🖖🏾❤️

Happy Star Trek Day to all who celebrate.

#Star Trek Day #Sisko #Deep Space 9 #DS9 #Star Trek

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

Things I think would happen if Jeeves and Wooster were on DS9

Bertie is the only person on the station who has not yet clocked Garak as a spy. He spends a lot of time in Garak's shop either ordering the gaudiest clothes imaginable or asking Garak to back him up in whatever fashion argument he's having with Jeeves (which Garak is only too happy to do).

Jeeves fantasizes about murdering Garak a thousand times a day. This goddamn lizard man is his white whale. Any attempt to find blackmail material on him takes him down a hundred different rabbit holes leading to dead ends. He's met his match. There are flames. Flames on the side of his face.

He can't even take Garak to task for his garbage opinions on Earth literature because he knows full well how that would be taken.

Garak actually quite likes Jeeves, because game recognizes game and he respects a fellow manipulative bastard when he sees one. However, since he is, at the end of the day, a little shit, he takes great pleasure in dressing Bertie in louder and louder outfits just to watch Jeeves grind his teeth.

(He's also admittedly fond of Bertie, who's too nice and trusting to treat him with the same suspicion and contempt that nearly every other person on the station does. And if Bertie vaguely reminds him of a certain doctor, what of it?)

Quark quickly figures out that Bertie is absurdly easy to scam. Jeeves spends so much time foiling him that he's practically an informal member of the station security team. Odo drops by his table at the replimat every morning to swap Quark-related intel.

Jeeves also won't stop winning at the Dabo table, infuriating Quark even further. There's an ongoing arms race between Quark trying to find excuses to ban Jeeves from the bar and Jeeves finding ways to blackmail Quark into letting him back in.

Jadzia is the first person to notice the weird requited-unrequited thing J&W have going on and finds it endlessly entertaining. She makes a game of chatting to Bertie about Jeeves as if they're already an established couple (I hear it's Valentine's Day on Earth, are you and Jeeves doing anything special? Worf and I had an amazing romantic date last week at that new Bolian place, you should try it!) Her amusement gradually fades into astonishment the longer Bertie doesn't get it.

Jeeves sees Jadzia's increasingly unsubtle encouraging glances and wishes he could incinerate her with his mind.

Worf knows Jeeves does illegal shit in the course of protecting Bertie or extricating him from accidental alien wedding rituals. He knows it. He just can't prove it. And Odo is no help, because Jeeves keeps himself too unobtrusive and is too invaluable to the cause of keeping Quark in check for Odo to want to look into him that closely.

In the absence of hard evidence to pin him down, Worf's relationship with Jeeves remains tersely cordial. He grudgingly supposes that nobody who has such an amazing depth of knowledge about Klingon opera and poetry could be that bad.

You can't let Bertie and Morn in a room together. Once they get going they NEVER shut up.

Part 1.5 Part 2

#star trek: deep space nine #deep space 9 #ds9 #jeeves and wooster #jooster #bertie wooster #reginald jeeves #j&w #j&w star trek au

[subatoism]

DS9 Characters as Shit My College Profs Have Said

Sisko: “Whatever, man. Some laws are meant to be broken.”

Kira: “We call this the Screaming Time. Because that is all you’ll want to do.”

Dax: “Isn’t that [image of mating leopard slugs] beautiful?? Someone should make this into an ornament — it would be a perfect gift for a biologist.”

Bashir: “So you should discuss philosophy, but don’t discuss it too much, because they will kill you for it.”

O’Brien: “It’s a very good book, and I would have assigned it, but uh,, I don’t want to cry in front of all of you. That would be embarrassing.”

Garak: “I’m rather fond of grand-matricide. In fact, I advocate for it.”

Quark: “Alchemy is like cryptocurrency for the Middle Ages.”

Rom: “What is this class called again?” (Survey of Major American Authors) “I don’t know what any of those words mean.”

Jake: “This isn’t work. I just walk in here, rant about whatever I’m thinking for an hour, and then leave. Ask anyone who’s run into me on the street; I do the exact same thing.”

#ds9 #deep space nine #incorrect quotes #sort of

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

My personal hc is that, though Nog was the first, post-DS9 and Rom becoming Nagus Starfleet Academy is going to start becoming an increasingly attractive option for young Ferengi women whose families are more liberal in their beliefs but aren't as ‘radical’ as Ishka.

Cause I mean, Ferengi men are going to keep experiencing the pressure to earn Profit. That's not going to go away anytime soon.

Their religion appears to centre around the idea that it is a man's responsibility to earn enough latinum to allow themselves and any dependants (meaning both female family members and male members who can't earn for some reason) to enter the afterlife. Profit essentially = prayer.

Give it a few decades and I imagine they'll come up with some way to work around it— maybe Starfleet and the Alliance will rustle up some kind of ‘cultural stipend’ for Ferengi Fleet Members, or maybe the religion will start allowing for symbolic ‘earnings’ for unpaid labour— but in the mean time almost any male Ferengi who tries to apply is going to face exactly the same issues that Nog faced.

Concern from family members about how they're going to earn a Profit, and potentially resentment from male family members who will now have to pick up their slack.

But we can tell from the fuss everyone makes when Ishka starts earning that female Profit either doesn't count or is possibly actively profane. Ferengi females can clearly handle latinum that is earned by males (Quark sends his mother a stipend to live off) but they can't contribute to the family coffers.

So what can you do, if you're a newly liberated Ferengi Female who doesn't want to be married off and have to spend your life chewing food and performing Oomox on demand, but who perhaps isn't ready to bring Ultimate Shame on your family by earning Profit?

Well now there's an Option 3.

Yeah, you'll have to wear clothes. But I suspect that that particular social convention will vanish fairly quickly once Ferengi tailors start making Profit from selling women's clothing. And you get to have a job where you'll be treated with respect, with lots of opportunities for advancement, but no Profit is involved, so you're not stepping on any male family member's toes.

Hell, you can even spin it as a positive to your Head of Family (or a potential Mate). Like, they won't have to pay for your upkeep anymore, because Starfleet covers employee room and board. And you'll be travelling across the galaxy gaining potential business contacts for the Family.

And when trading with other species, especially Federation members, I suspect that having a sister or daughter employed and living out in the open would be a real positive when it came to negotiation.

Not only would you have a (wo)man on the inside, but you'd get to present yourselves as some of the New Modern Ferengi who are respectful towards Feeemales and Hoomans and are definitely nothing like those other Ferengi you may have heard about, who are just awful.

It'd be the equivalent of irl corporations tweeting about feminism to advertise how progressive they are.

#star trek #ferengi #ferengi females #starfleet #star trek headcanons #meta #headcanons

[t0ast-ghost]

I’m having a bit of trouble with this episode, I mean it’s S2 episode 15 (Trouble With Tribbles). I promise I can come up with a better opening (edit: I didn’t)

It’s the episode in ds9! But without Jadzia Dax :(

- How can Chekov just sit like that

- Spock is not impressed with Chekov’s joke :((

- HEHEHE

- Kirk is not amused with the space station

- “And that gives him the authority.” Spock leans over and whispers in Kirk’s ear

- “What, what what.” Kirk is what-ing all over the place

- CANADA MENTION LOL (finding out William Shatner is Canadian was a fucking jump scare)

- Kirk is like “if you say Quadrotriticale one more time-”

- the audacity of this bitch <3

- “Does everybody know about this wheat but me?” Kirk is so damn lost

- “Is it alive? Can I hold it?” Uhura that looks like one of those keychain Pom poms. I wanna hold one too.

- “Is that an offer or a joke.” “It’s my offer.” “It’s a joke.” I kinda like whatever these two got going on

- Kirk’s greatest enemy… quadrotriticale

- “Ah, My dear Captain Kirk.” “My dear captain Koloth.” What is Kirk on today?

- Why do they pronounce Klingons like that cling- gones

- Is Koloth played by the same guy as Trelane

- Kirk and Koloth wanna hate fuck so bad

- I love engineering just being crazy into their field, they’re all huge nerds about it and I love them

- Spock petting the tribble in the background

- Spock take a tribble, you need to relax

- “Captain, may I ask where you’ll be?” “Sickbay, with a headache.” Get this man a drink or smt

- I love McCoy getting his own little side quest of figuring out how tf tribbles work

- Don’t you fucking date insult Scotty’s ship! THATS TOO FAR

- I love this conversation between Kirk and Scotty. Kirk just baffled that Scotty threw the first punch. “Is this off the record?” “No, this is not off the record.” I’m giggling throughout this conversation

- Scotty’s so happy about catching up on his technical journals

- McCoy and Spock’s fight in the science room. They only call each other sir when they’re fighting

- Kirk got whoopee cushioned by a tribble

- Imagine your chief medical officer is that pretty and you’re normal about it (he’s not normal about it but just imagine)

- MCCOY SAYS “BISEXUAL”

- Kirk, Spock, and Uhura are so miserable while McCoy has just a single tribble as a fidget toy

- “In my opinion you have taken this entire very important project far too lightly.” “On the contrary, sir— I think this project is very important. It is you I take lightly.” KIRK ON THAT BITCH SHIT

- Kirk: Cyrano Jones— a Klingon agent? *laughs*

Baris: You heard me.

Kirk: I heard you.

Spock: He simply could not believe his ears.

- “You can’t deny he’s distrusted this station!” You cannot deny these nuts!

- Kirk says “Au Revoir”

- Kirk has accepted his tribble fate. Him rising out of the pile. Someone got to just throw tribbles at Kirk

- McCoy comes in with a miraculous solution and then leaves to find another.

- “Mr.Baris, they like you. Well there’s no accounting for taste.”

- McCoy’s explaining the grain was poisoned. McCoy sounds more southern when happy.

- It’s not a passing around of admiration, they’re passing around blame lol. They did something bad

- whispering “you gave them to the klingons?” Oh my goddd

- I love everyone laughing and Spock just making this face

Genuinely loved this episode and was laughing throughout it. I am susceptible to tribbles.

Masterpost

Episode written by David Gerrold

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

[lordsothofsithicus]

So I promised someone I would make this post - Kira Nerys from DS9 and why she got Kicked Upstairs, quite literally

@iconsumethesoulsofthedamned

OK so - establish what we know of Kira's character at the beginning of the series She has been made the political officer on Deep Space Nine. She is not happy about it both because she has been essentially politely shooed off of Bajor but she also has to take orders from a Federation commander, and resents the very presence of the Federation because having just chased off one military authority why are the Bajorans welcoming another, one approaching making the same promises of friendship the Cardassians did, it's lunacy

Kira is Argumentative (capital A) Kira is temperamental Kira is undiplomatic By all standard political yardsticks she is a TERRIBLE choice to serve as a political officer, especially since Bajor is trying to negotiate its admission to the Federation, and she very much did not ask for the posting

So why did she get it?

Kira is a Major in the Bajoran militia. This is a command officer rank but not a Colonel or a Generalship - it is as I recall the last of the ranks where during wartime you'd be personally commanding soldiers in combat (correct me if you know better). Meaning that she is by the time we meet her a seasoned field officer

But what else do we know about her?

Kira is religious

Not in a flashy or ostentatious way, but in a deeply, sincerely-held way that some could interpret as traditionalist or conservative.

But wait - she also has a close personal relationship with more than one highly-placed Vedek, including a VERY close relationship with one (Bareil) who is on the short-list to become the next Kai... this is like having a list of Cardinals on your speed-dial including one who is placed to become the next Pope with little hearts <3 <3 <3 next to his name in your caller ID.

So not only is she religious, she is a military officer with influence over religious figures (she would doubtless find the idea of exercising that influence in a way that personally elevated her blasphemous, but that's beside the point) - this carries onto the next point

Kira is a leader of one of the most famous resistance cells on Bajor - essentially, the one that did so much damage it forced the Cardassians to relinquish the entire planet as part of negotiating the end of the war with the Federation. The Bajorans made such a stink and did so much damage the Federation said "Let them go" and the Cardassians said "Ok" and that's largely laid at the feet of the Shakar resistance cell. This is why she's so highly-placed in the Bajoran Militia. She has influence over the ex-Partisans and most of the Militia that far exceeds her rank; it becomes fairly obvious over the course of the show that when she calls, they come. Would she use this influence to elevate herself? No, but again that's beside the point.

This influence is so important that politicians like Minister Jaro who want to overthrow the government need her on their side, because if she's not - well, see what happens with Jaro's coup.

So here's a complete portrait: A military officer who's been fighting ever since she could pick up a weapon, notoriously impatient and undiplomatic but with TREMENDOUS influence over the military and ex-military civilians, probably outstripping a lot of officers who outrank her. An officer who is deeply motivated by traditionalist religious beliefs and who has a close relationship with prominent religious figures INCLUDING the man who is widely regarded as the candidate to become the next leader of the planetary religion; she ends up in bed with him later on, quite literally.

Now imagine if you're a politician who sees this quite frankly frightening, charismatic, impatient, INFLUENTIAL officer, probably when she storms into your office and begins to yell and you cannot make her leave. Your government is made of matchsticks and hope. You start to think... if Kira Nerys decides she could do a better job of running the planet she will whistle and not only will half of the Militia side with her, a bunch of farmers who used to be partisans will beat their plowshares back into swords. She could plunge the whole damn planet into civil war. Sure there are people who swear up and down she would find the idea offensive (and she would, but that's beside the point) ...But can you take that chance? What do you do with her? You can't ruin her career, assuming you're jaded enough to try. She is untouchable - incorruptible, fearless, and devoted to service. She has Friends. Maybe you're even one of them?

So set that aside... there is a posting that is technically a promotion; the Federation is establishing a presence in the star system in order to protect Bajor and help clean up the mess the Cardassians left on the planet, and the government needs a ranking officer to represent Bajoran interests and work with the Federation commander.

For her supporters, you sell it like this: Kira Nerys is tough (boy is she) and she won't let the Federation and especially the Cardassians push her around (she absolutely will not). She will represent Bajoran interests above her own (she will). She will serve Bajor on Deep Space Nine the way she always has, with every part of her being (Absolutely)

To those who are afraid of her, you spin it like this. This posting will occupy all of her time (it will) and it will literally keep her off of the planet and isolated (it will, this is one of the reasons she hates it at the beginning of the series). If she messes up, it will damage her reputation (...probably) - and if she succeeds, hardliners who might've rallied behind her will suspect her of being tainted by association with the Federation (cynical, but sure)

And that buys you time to work on strengthening the government so someone like oh, say, an extremely influential, extremely popular war hero can't huff and puff and blow the whole damn thing over

#star trek #deep space nine #deep space 9 #kira nerys

[ladyylavenderrr]

Re: Garak and psychosis

Hi! I do a lot of thinking about Garak, and I also read a lot of psychotic traits on him! I think while they didn't write him thinking of textbook psychosis, a man who has lied so much he can't really tell truth from lie because, to him, "truth is in the eye of the beholder" has to have some level of separation from reality. This is a rather looooong analysis, mostly of events that happen in "The Wire",  but I promise I have a point lol. 

So. I've been thinking about his "lies" to Bashir about his past, and one thing that caught my attention was the hesitation at calling Elim "... my friend"; 

once we found out that he is Elim himself, some stuff from the infirmary monologue got very curious: "we grew up together", true; "we were closer than brothers", true, in a very literal way; "for some reason, Enabrin Tain took a liking to us" well, the reason is that he is his father, that's some reason; 

Now, I'll address his separation of Elim from Garak: I'd say that growing up keeping the secret about who his father was, living a double life from the beggining, then such a split of the ego is almost inevitable. 

Elim is the son, the one who knows the truth, the one who knows Cardassia's love of the family and the people is a lie told to keep powerful men powerful; Tain was the Order, the Order was Cardassia, thus Cardassia's symbol is a man who is a hypocrite, one who betrays his own family- And Garak is the spy. The citizen, the servant of the State. As Tain says himself, he never had to ask Garak to put the implant in his brain, or to do anything - he was so eager to please, and that's what made him special. 

He would keep the truth, one that would make his work unbearable, as something of Elim, while he would be plain and simple Garak, the muscle, the man who did the dirty work without asking any questions. The man to whom family and state, two things he was alienated from from birth, were everything, regardless of how much his work went against that.

Onto the next bit, now: in the end of his monologue, Garak tells a more complicated story to fit into this analogy- he says he faked records to incriminate Elim, only to find out in the end that Elim had beaten him to it; Elim had destroyed him, and before he knew what was going on, he was sentenced to exile; 

But once we know that he is Elim, and if we keep the same logic that Elim represents his inner sense of truth - of knowing he is being used in a very cruel way and that none of that makes any sense - then it's logical that he would sometimes be one step ahead, and sometimes be killed by Garak in the blindness of duty; sometimes watching in horror as he let himself be driven by hunger or fatigue instead of seeing his duty to the end, for he knew the consequences; 

Then, it would be Garak's inner sense of truth, of reality, what destroyed him as the soldier, the spy. Maybe he actually did let those bajorans go for any reason whatsoever, maybe he framed himself for it- I'd say he broke down, some way or another. And he says he deserves it for what he tried to do to Elim, his own screaming sense of reason; much like Marritza killed his past self to die as Darheel - it is the coward, who covered his ears because he couldn't stand to hear the screams for mercy of the Bajorans, who couldn't stand to look at the truth and do something about it, the one who deserves to be punished. 

He became a man who is distressed and anxious during an interrogation, willing to take any answer no matter how irrelevant, just so he doesn't have to keep torturing someone he's kind of friends with, like what happens with Odo later on. We didn't see him do any torturing before that, so maybe he wasnt capable of doing it like he used to before he was exiled, not as a consequence of it; Imo life on DS9 made it "worse" as he became, slowly, part of a community like never before. 

And then, there's Bashir. Again, Garak is a man who adores the state and the family, and has neither. A man who spent his life having no ties to anyone that he couldnt cut immediately, sometimes by killing the person if it was the most efficient way.

On his deathbed, after being really rude and hateful towards Bashir while Bashir lost sleep and thought of nothing but saving him for days, he comes up with this magnificent story, that ends with something that can be interpreted as "I deserve this. Not for betraying Cardassia, the State, but for betraying my best friend." And as he says "my best friend", he stares at Bashir. He then asks for forgiveness, as if he was also asking for Bashir to forgive him for his betrayal of their friendship, for the things he said. He needs to know that, if he can't forgive himself for the horrors, at least someone is capable of forgiving him.

Always full of layers to his half truths and truthful lies, even when he really thinks he's gonna die. He haf-believes it, as a half-truth, even the bits that are made-up; That's where I'd say his link to reality is broken. Idk if any of this makes sense, but this is how I read into it, as someone who has psychotic symptoms and traits, but also as a nerd who loves to nit-pick complex characters like him. 

Peace and long life 🖖

I think it’s always really interesting if Garak truly does believe some of the lies he tells, at least partially. I really like your analysis!!

#star trek #ds9 #deep space nine #elim garak #psychosis #media analysis #schizophrenia #schizospec

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/741535020460736512/httpswwwtumblrcomolderthannetfic740933819656

It's funny because as another academic (not anon), I feel like I've seen a lot of takes that use a media text to interrogate the bigotry of the larger culture in interesting ways. I don't think academia or anything is averse to that kind of take, and I think that up-and-coming scholars can get a lot of attention with that if they do it right.

I think honestly that some of the reason that pointing the fingers at fandom stuff specifically gets attention is something even more so than the "misogyny is always popular" or "fandom drama is popular." I think especially when you're presenting to academics who are not primarily focused on fandom, it's fascinating to them to get this glimpse into this subculture that they don't understand and that's why you get special attention for that; it's the sort of voyeuristic, touristic aspect of it.

And oh my god I'm sorry I totally sound like a person with a Ph.D. right now, but idk how else to phrase this. But I think it's interestingly kind of a similar impulse to the long troubling history of anthropology and related disciplines of finding some isolated tribe in Africa, New Guinea, etc. and just observing some ritual they did and going "isn't that interesting! isn't that different!" (in fancier language, of course) and academics slurping that up in this way that almost feels like the way you clap at a seal performing a trick in a zoo exhibit.

It makes it interesting that people who seem to bank so much on how progressive they and their research are don't realize that they're playing into this. But while it's obviously not the same degree of "problematic" when you're talking about largely Western, Anglophone women in fandom rather than like some isolated Amazon tribe - it's not as tied into like, justifications for colonialism for instance - I think there's still a really gross, condescending attitude toward it that you'd think people who are so Woque would realize is what is going on when they get people patting them on the head for saying that (if I'm following this right) women writing Star Trek DS9 fanfiction are racist for focusing on this character of color over this other character of color (writing that sentence just boggled my mind, I'm not into Star Trek but like is this person aware of how many fandoms have barely any POC in them at all, or there are POC but the fans continue to prefer the white characters? and you're complaining that your fandom is somehow racist for talking about - looking back at the previous post again - an Arab man over a black man????)

--

[foone]

Has anyone written an official star trek novel about Worf's bar mitzvah yet? (long post on Jewish Worf under the cut)

He was orphaned at age 6/7 and adopted by the Rozhenkos shortly after, so he would have come of age in a Jewish household. As for "would Worf have had a bar mitzvah?", have you met the man? He loves him some rituals!

And if you're not sure if Worf's adoptive family is Jewish, two things: 1. His mother is played by Georgia Brown, a Jewish actress 2. HIS DAD IS LITERALLY TEVYE. THEY COULD HAVE NOT MADE IT ANY MORE OBVIOUS

His dad is played by Theodore Bikel, who got his start in acting by playing Tevye in "Tevye the Milkman", an adaptation of the stories that predates Fiddler on the Roof. In 1969 he started playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, the role he played more than any other.

Anyway I want to get a story about a klingon girl being adopted by a Jewish family as a child, and having her coming-of-age ritual with her new family. Call it "My Bat'leth mitzvah"

You know it's been pointed out that Worf seems to be more invested in the history and culture of the Klingons than most of the raised-by-Klingons Klingons we meet in Star Trek.

There's lots of fan explanations for this (the Klingons have lost their way, and he believed their propaganda about themselves, so he's more Klingon than Klingons, or he's on the autism spectrum) But I want to see it brought up on trek itself.

Someone asks Worf why he's so invested in Klingon rituals, in their history, in their culture, when so many Klingons have forgotten the same, and let it slip away.

Worf explains that he got it from his father, who always emphasized the importance of... *Worf stands up and begins to sing at the top of his powerful klingon lungs* TRADITION!

Three decks away, a startled ensign drops a sample container. Within hours half the ship has mutated into kangaroos and Data has to save the ship yet again while Picard swordfights Shakespeare on the holodeck

I wonder if Worf ever mentioned to Sisko that he was Moses.

Sisko: What. Worf: You're a prophet to a people just out of slavery, one raised by another culture but secretly one of them. G-d spoke to you and told you of your divine mission. Because of your actions you were told you would not enter the promised land.

Worf: Remember when you entered the wormhole and spoke to the prophets to stop the Jem'Hadar invasion fleet? And they did? Well, what happened to the Pharaoh's army when they tried to follow the escaping Hebrews across the Red Sea?

Worf: Even your name! Benjamin, son of Joseph and Sarah. These are Hebrew names! You are Moses.

And how does DS9 end? (spoilers) Oh, Ben is taken into heaven on a chariot of fire. Like the prophet Elijah.

I imagine a young Worf coming to his father, excited to point out a connection to Klingon religion he found while reading the Torah. His dad is excited that his adoptive son has taken such an interest, and asks him to explain.

Young Worf explains that he was reading about Jacob, who met either G-d or an angel, and wrestled him until he was given a blessing. Jacob was from then on known as Israel, meaning "wrestles with G-d".

Worf points out that Klingons have no gods... Anymore. They were killed by Klingons in the distant past.

Little Worf balls up his tiny fists. "Don't worry, father! I shall help you finish what Jacob started!" and runs out to practice Bat'leth in the back yard. Sergey covers his face with both hands, then looks upwards and whispers "he doesn't understand... Forgive him, please!"

He'll ask the rabbi for advice later, and they'll be a very unique conversation.

There are many difficulties with maintaining the faith and traditions in the atheist utopian future of Star Trek, but "my adoptive son read the Torah and now thinks it's his divine mission to kill G-d in his heaven and drink bloodwine over his corpse" is a new one.

little did Worf know that the job had already been done, years before he was born, and with Klingon assistance. Yes, I'm going to bring up Star Trek V...

"God" or at least a very powerful being claiming that title, is trying to kill Kirk on a planet named after the James Bond actor. Kirk reaches the top of a mountain (why is he climbing the mountain?) and he's out of options. BAM, Klingon Bird Of Prey, out of nowhere! DIE, GOD!

But it wasn't a Klingon at the weapon's console. It was Spock! (But he's Jewish too, so it was still someone who Wrestles-with-God)

From then on Spock was known to the klingons as chotwI’Qun: God Killer.

(the grammar is probably wrong on that, but if you try to correct me on my Klingon (don't you mean tlhIngan Hol?) at the end of a post about how Worf is Jewish, I will simply call you a NERD)

#star trek the next generation #star trek #worf #cw flashing lights #recycled old twitter threads

[walkingstackofbooks]

DS9 2x22 The Wire thoughts (I'm re-watching, so there may be future spoilers)

I'm so excited to watch this again!

I guess we don't know that Julian had the choice to "entertain one of his lady friends" the night before, but I certainly choose to believe he did, he wanted to finish Garak's book more :p

Garak's stammering in "Doctor, what do you think you're doing?" :3

"In my expert medical opinion, I'd say it's sick." XD

"Keiko would be proud of you." Hah - the thing is I can imagine the overly-excited Julian telling her about this at some point and her just sweetly saying "well done, I'm impressed" but in her teacher voice she uses for seven year olds

"It's not like you two are really friends." Julian is NOT being subtle here that at the very least he WANTS to be real friends 😅 this man and lying...

Okay and now he's stabbing the plant with the hypospray because he's so frustrated with not being able to help Garak

VERY dramatic entrance, doctor.

😬😂That looked suspiciously like Quark was miming giving Julian oomax while saying "maybe a late night session in a holosuite".

"Try not to yell at any more admirals for a while." "I wasn't yelling. I was just expressing my feelings. Loudly." Gotta love Sisko

Oh, his poor dejected face at the information recurring taking weeks :3

Love how Julian is called to take care of Garak - this isn't Dr Bashir being called, it's not a medical emergency. It's Julian being Garak's only known friend who's requested.

Is it just me or did Julian check Garak or when he said "We'll go to my quarters"?

That drink exchange was VERY smooth of Quark and Julian

"I routinely monitor all of Quark's subspace communications." "Is that legal?" XD

"I see your point"... That's actually the exact same phrase as altered!Julian uses in Dramatis Personae - only this time it's ihm agreeing to do something questionable with Odo, last time it was to do something reasonable with him.

" I hope you don't have one of those little bugs hidden in my quarters." "Should I?" What's the betting Julian's going to be paranoid about this for a few weeks?

Julian's "What?! *sigh*" after being told Garak had left the infirmary. Idk it gave me feels.

I'm here for his Angry Pacing

"Doctor, did anyone ever tell you that you are an infuriating pest" "Chief O'Brien all the time, and I don't pay any attention to him either." That answer came SO quickly, he didn't even have to think about it

"I'm a doctor. You're my patient. That's all I need to know" JULIAN I CANNOT WITH YOU

Ohh, his sad looking downness <3 <3

Endless endless compassion, I love you so much

"Right now I'm not concerned with what you did in the past. I'm simply not going to walk out of here and let you die. We need to turn that implant off and whatever withdrawal symptoms or side effects you may experience, I promise I'll help you through them." Is he really not in love with Garak?! Because this is some gay shit Julian Subatoi Bashir. GAY I tell you

"In that case I want to talk to him now. Wake him up." "I'll do no such thing." "Doctor, these are murder cases and Garak may be a suspect." "That may be so, but he's still my patient and I won't have him disturbed." I am WILD about calmly resolute Doctor Bashir

I love a sleepy Julian :3

Garak's manic speech is incredible. WHAT a performance. My word. I couldn't look away.

" I can't believe that I actually enjoyed ... staring into your smug, sanctimonious face." Staring into Julian's face sounds pretty gay to me, Garak. (Who wouldn't enjoy staring at it though?)

Ah yes, wrestling on the floor with your alien crush while he is out of his mind. Definitely never happened before in Trek. No parallels here to be drawn.........

"I don't want to hurt you." And presumably he actually could.

Julian whizzing through all the samples, brining one back having seen it for all of 2 seconds and immediately knowing which one to overlay it with. THAT SEEMS PRETTY GENETICALLY ENGINEERED TO ME. I swear I don't know how that crackpot retcon worked so well, but it DOES

"More than I deserve." Oooh, callback to earlier int he episode when he said "Has it ever occurred to you that I might be getting exactly what I deserve?" .... My HEART

"I've about given up on learning the truth from you, Garak."I The FONDNESS with which he SAYS this!

"We were closer than brothers...."Sons of Train" welp, that's the 'true' bit

Holding handsssss!!!

There's no way Sisko sanctioned this, right? Did Julian just steal the shuttle craft?!

Okay then, just beam into the house of someone you know to be extremely dangerous and start poking around?! Your curiosity, Julian, I swear...

*wide smile* "I always drink Tarkalian! ..." -suddenly realises that this is VERY personal information Tain has on him- "...Tea."

Did he just GIGGLE? *rewatches* Yep, it's definitely there - "Are all the Starfleet Lieutenants as brash as you are?" "I couldn't say - hehe - though I doubt it."

"I thought you were his friend." "I suppose I am." YES HE SAID IT that's the first step

"Information is your business." Julian you are bold as BRASS

"he'll never come home again" oof, knowing the double meaning of home as Cardassia and to Tain

The disappointment in Julian's face at the answer to his "Who was Elim?" question

Ohhh, that last conversation. Julian's so damn fond of him. That smile at the end. They ARE in love.

Well this was delightful. What a good episode. I had forgotten, and wasn't sure if it had just been hyped up. But no. Truly phenomenal. Thanks, DS9!

#ds9 the wire #ds9 2x22 #julian bashir #garak #garashir #andi watches ds9 #THEY'RE SO GAY THOUGH #DAYUM #WSB

[leohtttbriar]

i think the biggest mistake an audience can make (i.e. me) with a time-paradox story is to try to make sense of it. like there's the surface-level logic here that sisko can be a "chosen one" of sorts because, well, he always was. if you can look down on the fourth dimension of time and see it all laid out in the same way we can look down a two-dimensional square, then everything always is and verb-tenses mean nothing and the layout of What Is is. but that's just so so abstract. (!)

what ends up being implied by the idea of extra-dimensional beings like the prophets is determinism. which doesn't. like. make sense. not from our perspective at least. the universe is just too much for us to be able to see a character like sisko able to interpret the space between what the prophets say and what he should then decide. the prophet above is saying "you need to rest now" and the prophets said that sisko has a path he is "meant" to walk--so was he always going to decide to both marry kasidy and "learn" among the prophets in the wormhole? if his decision-making has no power, why would the prophets tell him what to do to begin with? he says he's already done all the things he is going to do, sort of, so what is his relationship with spacetime? how can someone exist in between non-linear beings and linear time? what makes sisko special--is it his decision-making or his determined life?

i get the feeling this ending for the character was supposed to provoke these sorts of questions but i can't get past how it makes very little sense to me. which i guess is my own reaction to time-paradox stories: arrival and interstellar and even the "children of time" episode of ds9, none successfully convince me of the know-ability of time. even kasidy asking in the prophet vision "is anyone here?" makes my brain hurt, because, like, yeah is anyone there? where do these creatures exist? where and when and how? and in what ways can they contribute to the fabric of a mutable and constantly morphing or expanding and evolving universe?

obviously, it's not like a few sci-fi writers are going to do what only theoretical physicists can only imagine, but something about the tone of this episode, the design and the dialogue, suggests something answer-able. "meant to" and "alone" and "rest" and "ben? is that you?" are temporal and, in the logic of this story, are determined? there are ways to suggest more ambiguity, to lean into the logic of paradoxes--using color and music to imply that nothing here is figured out, that sisko is just a man invited into a perspective that we haven't yet been able to understand. a star trek-y "how mysterious, how weird" sort of answer that emphasizes that tying-up loose ends isn't the best narrative resolution sometimes.

this conclusion for sisko is a bit ambiguous but also not. and i sort of wish kasidy had gone with him. what does pregnancy look like where everything already was and is and yet to come? what is a romance undefined by the progressive beats of relationships and intimacy? what would their relationship say about the ongoing-ness of love?

#ds9 #star trek #i mean. maybe i was also just feeling like kasidy could have been in way more episodes and now deserves a spin-off series #thirty years later lol #'my husband became an extra-dimensional alien that lives in a wormhole. these are the adventures in the weirdest sort of motherhood.' #sisko #kasidy yates

[opinions-about-tiaras]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is back for a second season after an EXTREMELY strong freshman outing, and I’d like to talk a bit about an opportunity this show has, if not this season than at some point, to right some previous wrongs.

I’m speaking specifically of those done to Jolene Blalock, and to her character, T’Pol. Let’s dive in, under the cut! This’ll be a long one.

All of the classic 20th century Trek series (TOS through to the end of ENT) had a female actress and character they did not do especially right by either on or off screen. TOS had Grace Lee Whitney’s Yeoman Rand, and Roddenberry did... not always treat Nichelle Nichols appropriately. (Roddenberry had real problems with women at times.)

TNG had Marina Sirtis’ Deanna Troi, forced to constantly parade around in that cleavage-showing onesie and regularly being written into really gross and weird situations. It also had Gates McFadden’s Beverly Crusher; the show just very clearly had no fuckin’ clue what to do with an actress of McFadden’s caliber, and while she had some incredibly episodes (Remember Me is one of the best of the series) she was grossly underutilized.

DS9 fares the best here; Terry Farrell’s Jadzia Dax was generally given a lot to work with on-screen and her character was treated with respect and dignity. Off-screen, however, she was basically harassed into quitting the show by Rick Berman. (She spoke out in detail about this for the first time very extensively in the 2018 DS9 documentary What We Left Behind.)

VOY never knew what the fuck to do with Jennifer Lien’s Kes, and it must have been extraordinarily humiliating for her to be fired to free up money for Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine. Seven, of course, became a colossal fan favorite and ended up having some dynamite scripts and episodes, holding up a LOT of the back half of VOY... but we can’t pretend or ignore that she wasn’t brought onto the show because they wanted a hot piece of ass to pour into those awful shiny skintight uniforms. Or that she wasn’t given some weird and gross materiel to try and make work.

And then we come to ENT, and Jolene Blalock’s T’Pol.

Blalock had a thankless task. She was the best part of ENT, hands down, carrying that show on her back through four seasons. For this, she was constantly put in very tight, revealing outfits while the rest of the cast got to wear, you know, uniforms, and T’Pol was often written as either a ball-breaking bitch there to be shown up by the much more clever and emotional humans, or as nearly on the verge of an explosive meltdown herself. She had a whole plotline devoted to her addiction to space cocaine.

The absolute nadir was probably the time Rick Berman responded to a press question about upcoming episodes saying they had a “fun, sexy T’Pol episode” coming up... and that “fun and sexy episode” was her getting mind-raped by another Vulcan.

(Rick Berman was a piece of shit and the franchise prospered in the 90s in spite of, rather than because of, him.)

This isn’t to say she wasn’t in episodes of worth; ENT managed to right the ship in the third and fourth seasons with the involvement of the Reeves-Stevenses, and even before that she was rather the breakout star in the same way Jeri Ryan had been on VOY before her. (It probably helped that, with respect to the rest of the cast, Blalock was leagues ahead of them as an actor and it showed.) But she wasn’t treated well, and she hasn’t been shy in speaking up about it.

This was all two decades ago, of course. What’s happening now?

Well, Star Trek as a franchise has been making some effort to... sort of apologize. I yield to no man in my utter contempt for Star Trek: Picard; I consider it a creative failure on almost every level, yes, even Season 3. But something it resolutely did RIGHT is to revisit the franchises female characters and try and make amends for past wrongs. Seven of Nine was allowed to grow into this complex, weary, mature woman, a proper leading character, treated with respect by the narrative she was in. Ditto Deanna Troi. Beverly Crusher... okay, it’s kind of weaksauce to have the doctor man the weapons console and blow some ships the hell up and quip about it as a way of demonstrating “Doctor Crusher was cool then and she is cool now, dammit” but their hearts were in the right place even if their writerly talents weren’t up to the job.

Which brings us all the way back around to Strange New Worlds, and the opportunity this affords narratively.

A major ongoing theme of SNW is Ethan Peck’s Spock trying to find his feet within both Starfleet and within Vulcan society as he grapples with his mixed heritage. This has been a theme of the character since Leonard Nimoy’s day, of course, but Strange New Worlds is finding new ground to break; Nimoy’s Spock was more mature, more seasoned, largely understanding himself and possessed of a strong, inner self-confidence and unflappability. SNW is showing him BECOMING that man we saw in TOS. Spock always engaged with Kirk as an equal, even if Kirk technically outranked him, but he clearly engages with Chris Pike as a MENTOR, which is a wonderfully different dynamic.

You know who slots directly into this narrative space, these narrative themes? Motherfucking T’Pol, that’s who.

You cannot tell me that T’Pol would not have a burning, intense interest in the first product of a mixed human/Vulcan marriage. Spock is the shadow of what might-have-been for her and Trip Tucker; where their own mixed child, conceived in secrecy and violence as a weapon, did not survive, Spock lives and thrives.

T’Pol was an unwelcome, burdensome addition to the NX-01 Enterprise, needing to constantly claw and scratch to earn the respect, trust, and confidence of her peers, distrusted by the human authorities and regarded as a suspect borderline failure by her own government. Spock is a beloved member of the NCC-1701 Enterprises family almost from day one, the first Vulcan to go through the Academy, the first of his people to be “proper” Starfleet... and a huge part of the reason he’s able to be that is the work T’Pol put in when in the UEG Starfleet, and the colossal lift she preformed in reforming Vulcan society. The High Command in her day would not have countenanced Sarek and Amanda’s marriage, and would never have admitted Spock to the Academy.

Spock exists because of T’Pol.

T’Pol would know this. SPOCK would know this. There’s no way he has not read, extensively, of the Vulcan first officer of the NX-01 Enterprise. T’Pol, in turn, would have maintained an appropriately Vulcan interest in Spock’s career, his successes and failures. As an elder, respected Vulcan, she would likely have nudged it along to the extent she was capable. She would have mentored.

This all creates a ton of narrative space for T’Pol to appear on SNW, to have some really dynamite interactions with Spock and T’Pring, and more importantly for her to get the same “uplift” that Seven of Nine, Troi, and Crusher got in Picard, just... hopefully with a lot better writing behind it.

Maybe the writers aren’t interested in going in this direction. Maybe Blalock has zero interest in returning to the franchise. But dammit, this possibility should be explored and explored aggressively. It’s a golden opportunity to salvage some of the best parts of ENT, which was, yes, a very bad Star Trek show but had some things of worth in it, and to do right by another woman, and another character, the franchise wronged.

#strange new worlds #star trek #star trek enterprise #t'pol #spock