#tng has a cowboy episode

[bisexualbuck]

STAR TREK CREATOR CHALLENGE

Week 9 - Favorite Holodeck Moment Episode

A Fistful of Datas | TNG 6x18

[ID: Five gifs from Star Trek The Next Generation

Gif 1: Shot of Worf and Alexander in the Holodeck. The setting is an Old West town, and they are wearing time-appropriate clothes, including holsters, sheriff badges and cowboy hats. Text reads, "A Fistful of Datas"

Gif 2: Close-up shots of Alexander talking to Worf. He gestures behind him before turning around and leaving. Text reads, "The episode that's got it all" and also "Alexander and Worf having a little adventure"

Gif 3: Deanna is sitting at a desk with her legs on it. She is wearing a cowboy hat, and she is holding a cigar that she waves around as she talks. Text reads, "Deanna looking good"

Gif 4: Frank and Eli Hollander, both played by Brent Spiner in Data make-up, are talking to each other. Eli is in jail while Frank is on the other side of the bars. Text reads, "Brent Spiner playing a lot of characters"

Gif 5: Shot of Geordi and Data in engineering. Data is sitting with the circuits on his skull open and a cable plugged into it. Geordi is standing next to him and talking. Text reads, "And it's all because an experiment goes wrong in engineering." It also reads, "Data corrupts the ship's files (it's not his fault though), and "(Also Geordi has a beard!"

/ End ID]

#trekcreators #trekedit #startrekedit #tngedit #trekdaily #cinematv #startrekdaily #omgari #scifiedit #tvedit #star trek tng #star trek #tng #worfedit #my gifs #myedit #i really thought i wouldn't be able to post this week because i haven't had time to gif #i hope this is good enough! i really didn't know what else to do

[fluffy-critter]

I read the first two acts of Miri and now I'm watching it, I'm not much of a Trek person and TNG when I am, but what the fuck (fond)

Classic Star Trek has some real banger episodes. Also some real head-banger episodes. But TOS is very much worth a watch if you haven’t seen much of it.

The first season is especially interesting because they were still trying to figure out how the show worked and it was more of an anthology series which couldn’t decide whether it was a Cowboy Western in Space or if it was philosophical thought experiments on different concepts like “what if silicon-based life is real and we just aren’t recognizing it.”

Even the episodes which have become Incredibly Memed were really amazing for the time and still worth a watch. Like, people only remember Arena for the big battle scene with the goofy rubber lizard suit, but the episode as a whole is actually really fucking amazing and speaks to issues of colonialism and intentional coexistence (and then the writers of Strange New Worlds completely failed to understand that episode but that’s a whole Rant).

Anyway, Star Trek TOS fills a similar space in my heart and mind as the original Twilight Zone: really good show with some great ideas, absolutely amazing writing (mostly, although there’s a few stinkers), and has been completely misremembered as meme fodder in the modern era.

(Which is to say, also watch Twilight Zone! A lot of it holds up REALLY WELL!)

[dragonnan]

list 8 tv shows for your followers to get to know you ★ i was tagged by @disappearinginq

Psych - My first true obsession since the X-Files went off the air in 2001. My biggest obsessions of the past were all WELL before streaming was a thing which meant you HAD to be in front of the TV when it aired or you simply missed out. For example, I missed the final episode of the OG MacGyver. I didn't get to see it until I bought the complete DVD box set decades later. (special mention of Monk which led me to Psych back in the great days of USA Network)

Sherlock - I was late to the party and didn't start watching until after the last season ended. This is, since 2017, my biggest current obsession. I have a strong attachment to detective shows and can't believe how long it took to finally watch. I love, in particular, the portrayal of the characters by Benedict, Martin, Amanda, Mark, Louise, Rupert, and Una (rip).

Fullmetal Alchemist (OG and Brotherhood) - Same, @disappearinginq! My love for this world never ends! Like you there are things I love about both versions. The way Brotherhood developed characters and the wider world (plus the ending) are so so good!! Meanwhile the first series handled certain emotional episodes SO much better!!! I'm sure you know WHICH one in particular. This was also one of the only times I took part in a writing group to help develop the multi-arc vision of a writer who goes by Heathenesque. I didn't write much as most has been created by her but it was so much fun! It still exists on LJ, as well as Mediaminer and The Pit (FFN).

Cowboy Bebop - The first anime anything I ever saw. My brother-in-law had it on VHS back in the day and was watching it at our house. I took an interest and was immediately hooked. I have lost track how many times I've rewatched episodes and there's a reason its considered one of the best anime series created.

Good Omens - WE NEED SEASON 3!!! Entirely quirky and initially feels like just comedy. But my GOSH there is so much depth under the humor and it poses very solid questions about faith and religion as well as friendship, love, what being human means, etc. And that was just the first season. I'm still not emotionally recovered from season 2.

Star Trek - Again, like @disappearinginq I love this show - TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager. I even had them on VHS back when cassettes were sexy lol. Star Trek was one of my earliest fandoms and I had such a crush on Spock.

Doctor Who - Thank goodness for streaming cause I watch this on repeat aaaaaall the tiiiime!! I consider it a comfort show and I don't get tired of it no matter how often I rewatch. It may be packed with, often, silly effects (particularly early on) and deeply questionable science. But I also haven't cried harder from the most wrenching scenes and emotion it triggers.

My Foundation - I'm dedicating this last one to the shows that built the tastes I'd have as an adult: MacGyver, Simon & Simon, Hart to Hart, Remington Steele, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, The A-Team, Magnum PI, Airwolf, Blue Thunder, Beauty & the Beast, The Fall Guy, Knight Rider, Moonlighting, as well as Saturday morning cartoons, The Electric Company, and Sesame Street.

Tagging: @sgam76 @theleftpill @mrs-n-uzumaki @mamahanu @villaniouslyawesome @ceruleanmindpalace @copperplatebeech @ariaadagio @aelaer

[inkofamethyst]

September 2, 2022

The fear of making a mistake is paralyzing, actually.

One of my roommates has just accepted a full-time job for after graduation which is... wild, to say the least.  It did briefly make me wonder whether graduate school really is the smart way to go but also like 1. what am I gonna do with a BS in biology and 2. what could I do with a BS in anthropology and I mean like yeah I’ve still got a choice and I could totally go and just teach myself how to code or whatever but also I don’t know if being stuck in a corporate machine is really for me.  It’s either grad school, minimum wage lab tech, or minimum wage retail.

I must admit that in my attempts to simplify my weekly cooking and make it easier to choose things to make by developing a ton of possibilities I have inadvertently given myself too many choices and have made it more difficult for me to choose things to make, somehow.  Ultimately the goal is to try two new recipes a month to gradually grow my repertoire but we’ll see how that goes.

Today I’m thankful for the Star Trek pre-TNG book I bought today for... wait for it... ninety-four cents.  I mean it’s basically fanfiction I think (there are so so many star trek books, it’d be pretty wild if they were all cannon) but STILL what a great price!!!  If I manage to finish the other Grishaverse books this semester, I’ll probably start on that one.  Today I’m also thankful that I had the foresight to make some thicc shortbread cookies before I left home because these things have been fantastic little treats this week.  A shame I’m going to gobble down my last one in a few minutes, but they brought me joy while they lasted.

Oh also I’ve been listening to EXU: Calamity E4 sporadically all week and I still have an hour and a half left and it’s fantastic and I am shaking down to my bones.  The crew is trying SO HARD to stop this inevitable event from happening.  This event that’s shaped the history of Exandria.  I need to get back to reading Crooked Kingdom; Midsomer Murders (the cowboy episode basically called me the n word and told me to go back to Africa (they had Confederate flags hangin about for a reenactment lol) but dang if it wasn’t a good’un) has held me in a chokehold during mealtimes (and during post-meal resttimes which is when the temptation to nap bubbles its way up) but I may have to force myself to call it quits.  The OG Barnaby leaves after this season I think anyway (and we still haven’t had a black speaking role (I’ve only seen two black extras, both dancers I think) (there’s been some East Asian rep but still, broken English stereotyping (more gay murderers than black ones, more trans representation than black representation oh my god (nothing against trans rep (though to be frank it was in the nineties and not favorable in the slightest) I just think it’s funny (or... perhaps culturally telling?) that there have been no black characters (and idk maybe that’s just a product of the setting: small, rural villages comprised mostly of the older well-to-do upper middle class))))).

[thegeminisage]

i don't know how i'm supposed to simply do a tng update when there was SPOCK but obviously last night (tonight as i type this, but it's late, so this post is going up while i'm at work) we watched unification part i & part ii

tng update:

🌈SPOCK🌈

okay, i'm normal again

part i: BITTERLY disappointed that all we got out of this episode spockwise was one blurry photo and him coming in right at the end. i had a feeling they'd do that. i guess now i have to talk about the nonimportant nonspock parts of this episode 🥱

ive decided i hate sarek's new wife. what business is it of hers if spock objects to sarek in public? if sarek didn't have a problem with it why make one? evil stepmother fr. why did sarek marry another human anyway does he have a fucking fetish or something...at least she was too old to get knocked up. i was reading about ages on the wiki today and amanda was only TWENTY YEARS OLD when she had spock. sarek would have been 65. i know vulcans age way different so it's not as creepy but STILL. girl, wait until you are old enough to drink

speaking of sarek...i went back and forth feeling terrible for him and wanting to attack him with my bare hands. under one hand he is on his deathbed and obviously very ill and miserable and suffering deep regrets over past mistakes and it's hard not to have sympathy...on the other, maybe if you wanted less deathbed regrets about your relationship with spock YOU SHOULD HAVE TREATED HIM BETTER! bitch.

also, whatever he and picard had going on was homoerotic. "we're part of each other" why do they talk about the mind meld that way in tng and not in tos. why did picard feel up sarek's hand on his deathbed the second his wife looked away. hes got a history of homewrecking since he (i know) had his affair baby wesley with beverly. so Whats Going On

picard forcefully obtaining the klingon ship. i LOVE when he gets to be a bitch

ROMULAN RACEFAKING??? a proud star trek tradition at this point i guess but it was truly awful to behold. DEEPLY disappointed sela did not later lick the paint off his ears as the klingons implied she would. smh

i like also how riker blew up that whole ship and nobody batted an eyelash. he really can just do whatever

part ii: SPOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the first time i cried was when spock himself came onscreen at the end of part i. then just as soon as i collected myself he mentioned jim kirk twice in the space of 30 seconds and i lost it again. we are literally bridging the gap between tos spock and spock prime from aos rn and i Dont like it.

Very Sad his dad kicked it before they could reconcile. but i saw his microexpressions when picard delivered the news. i missed them more than you can possibly imagine

i did love though that he started viewing picard as like a proxy sarek. imagine having daddy issues with a guy who is 75 years younger than you. lowkey they also had a little homoeroticism happening. "cowboy diplomacy" sure whatever

riker and the four-armed pianist 10/10 i hope they fucked. i'm so glad we wont he riker roulette and it wasn't creepy. also only riker could successfully flirt with a women after killing her husband in a spaceship battle <3

i'm a little iffy on spock's uhhh whole deal in this episode. he's lik yeah i chose the vulcan way of life these romulans are gonna have way better lives after their vulcan enlightenment but meanwhile he's criticizing sarek for his obsession with logic to the exclusion of all emotion (which is what he decided in tmp, that you need both) and also the vulcan way of life has done huge damage to his relationship with his father as well. so which is it?? idk, maybe he's not doing well because of sarek dying and all but he seemed like he was in a very "im not willing to acknowledge that i have emotions because rn theyre causing me pain" sort of mood. buddy :(

then again, it IS a tng script. we can only expect so much. it wasn't so inconsistent that it took me out of the episode but it did bother me a little because i just don't understand why he's willing to devote the rest of his life to this cause...he seemed to imply he had emotional reasons but what were they?? we will quite literally never know.

what's wack to me also is that in nineteen years romulus is gonna be GONE. like it's just going to be gone. eaten up by the sun or whatever. if someone had a baby right now on romulus that baby would not be old enough to drink before the sun swallowed them. so everything spock is doing is for nothing.

sela in this episode was really funny. "i hate vulcans." so true queen. i mean i don't care about her at all but that was hilarious

data doing the vulcan nerve pinch!!!!!!! that was so fun. i don't think it requires telepathy to do, just super strength, but i guess if you do then that makes no sense. it made me happy though.

the end when spock melded with picard to quasi-meld with his father and almost wept was me crying for the third time...i couldn't stand seeing him cry!!!!!! i can't believe sarek really just died without ever reconciling with him but i kind of like it better this way bc what sarek did was his own fault not spock's. so spock got closure and sarek. didn't. rip dude

okay. this concludes. the SPOCK UPDATE. tonight: a matter of time. and TOMORROW........the undiscovered country. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

#personal #star trek blogging #tng lb #i really wanted gifs from this episode but i only found one gifset and it wasn't the moment i wanted. any of the moments i wanted. #i would like to try and make some myself but i hate making them and i'm bad at it and also i'm running cs4 #we'll see i guess :(

[greatgatsbyhateblog]

Watched some very important tng episodes last night and HAD to scribble up some drawings :)

#Birthright pt 1 is a ds9 crossover ep that has bashir #A Fistful of Datas is just. cowboys. #Star Trek tng #julian bashir #Data #william riker #Worf #deanna troi #Forrest did a draw #I love these episodes for definitely no particular reason #The last scene of A Fistful of Data’s is my favorite thing in existence #*Datas #It’s Worf being a good dad and then he goes and stands in the mirror w his cowboy har #*hat #and he smiles and I’m like #YES YES GO GIRL GIVE US E V E R Y T H I N G #I like Worf ok #he’s the best st character hands down #like just objectively he is The Best #Garak is nowhere near as amazing sorry y’all #Worf is just. Yeah. He. Best.

[sirfrogsworth]

Second Season Blues

I'm a little upset about live action Cowboy Bebop not getting a second season. I thought the first 5 episodes were fantastic and the last five went a bit too hard into the ultra dramatic/depressing territory. They probably should have just kept it more light and fun for the entire season and gotten into the more dramatic stuff in the next season.

I thought the cast was perfect (except for discount Lucius Malfoy) and Ein was adorable. The show has a lot going for it.

It's just...

In the past a lot of shows were given at least a few seasons to stretch their legs. To find their footing. To get up and running. To get on their feet... and other lower body metaphors.

Can you imagine if Star Trek TNG was aired today? With that garbage first season they would have gotten the hook before Riker grew his beard and everything turned awesome.

There are certainly shows where you KNOW that they do not need more than one season. They are just a hot mess right out of the gate. But there are plenty of shows that have great potential and they just need a second season to figure that out.

The Office and Parks & Recreation are other great examples. They used their first season to get their shit together and then were fantastic.

And in some cases, shows are good from the get-go but they just need more time to find their audience. Firefly is a good example of that.

I just think streaming services are too quick to cancel things with potential. I think with some adjusting and course-correction, Cowboy Bebop could have been something really great. There was just soooo much pressure to live up to the Anime. And the latter half of the first season just struggled to do that.

I had a lot of fun with the first 5 episodes and I kind of wish people would look at those and see the potential I am talking about.

If anything, I think the bigger problem is letting shows go on for too long. The best shows are ones where they have an ending in mind and they stop when they reach that ending. The Good Place, Avatar & Korra, and Gravity Falls come to mind. They didn't overstay their welcome.

Anywho, I think there is a petition to save the show. I don't know if that will actually work. But I hope it does.

Ein deserves more screentime.

[replicatortrash]

what are some of your favourite star trek enterprise episodes?

oooo thanks for asking me this lovely indulgent question! I've been watching thru season 1 while I've been laid up with a cold the last week so those are in the forefront of my mind:

Sleeping Dogs is very fun - good Klingon biz & a key tender T'pol/Hoshi moment.

The Andorian Incident and Shadows of P'jem go together as a little pair and are great Shran episodes! Lots of good Vulcan lore and T'pol lead in these. (I'd say Fallen Hero is a good episode too if you're into Vulcan lore)

Shuttlepod One is essential for the Trip/Malcolm shippers and is just a great little bottle episode where these two get to become friends over a life or death situation. That formula gets me every time.

Acquisition! Ferengi episode! Jeffery Combs and Ethan Phillips play ferengi who try to rob Enterprise & chaos ensues. Bonus: Trip spends half the episode in his little blue undies!

Rogue Planet and Vox Sola both feel like classic trek to me - cool alien creatures someone has to communicate with to save the day. Vox Sola also has great T'pol/Hoshi moments and Hoshi gets to work her magic.

Two Days and Two Nights is funny. it's Enterprise's Risa episode so hijinks ensue, plus fun outfits, new sets, & cool background aliens.

Season 2:

Carbon Creek my beloved. T'pol tells the story of how Vulcans invented Velcro on Earth, or I suppose rather, the real first contact. A great Vulcan episode and such a sweet story. Great to see Jolene Blalock in real clothes also.

Ok I know everyone hates A Night In Sickbay but I love all the Phlox backstory and getting to know him in this episode, plus the dream sequence is bonkers. The total lack of sexual tension between T'pol and Archer also lands very funny to me, so it gets a pass on my list. Plus you get the follow up to the incident in Vox Sola with the insult to the Kreetassans and you get to hear the single best line in Enterprise, "this is Porthos! my beagle! my pal!"

This is as far as I've gotten in my rewatch so the rest will be kind of sparse...

I like The Catwalk cuz oooo that ship feels small & I love the potential energy of people stuck in small places together.

Dawn has Trip sweating thru a tank top and trying to communicate with an alien to survive on a desert planet together. Great star trek.

First Flight is a good flashback Trip & Archer besties episode.

Season 3

Impulse is like a zombie Vulcan episode which is very fun.

North Star gives us a cowboy episode, what's not to love!

Doctor's Orders is possibly the best Phlox episode and I love him so. He has to take care of the crew while they're all asleep to get thru some anomaly that doesn't effect him & it is SO good.

Similitude has a rapidly growing Trip clone - discussion of clone ethics, great scifi, and good acting. Definitely a heartbreaker tho.

Carpenter Street has Archer and T'pol travel back in time, steal a car and rob and ATM which is great fun.

In E^2 an Enterprise from another dimension? or is it their dimension? travels back in time so they get to meet their descendants which is v fun. Plus old T'pol of course. (I think Phlox should have been in this one as well since he's from another long lived species.)

Season 4

The Augment trilogy (eps 4-6) has Brent Spiner back with a vengeance and it's cool history.

The Vulcan trilogy (7-9) is some of the best Vulcan lore out there and such a treat to see T'pol wrestle with her culture.

Observer Effect has Malcolm and Travis possessed by noncorporeal aliens to observe Trip & Hoshi who are infected with a virus. Great classic trek vibes and fun acting.

The Andorian trilogy (12-14) is a blast. Great Andorian lore and Shran of course but also fun Trip/Malcolm biz plus twists & turns!

Okay this got out of hand, but I genuinely love this show. I love how small the ship feels and their astronaut looking jumpsuits and how the time period bridges the gap between our current day experience of space exploration and that TNG era we're all so familiar with. It feels hopeful and attainable and yes it's riddled with 9/11 era sentiment and America-centric ideology, but there's great scifi here too and I fell in love with these characters. These are just my highlights and I think @jonathanarcher has a couple different episode guides if you're looking to hop skip your way thru the series with some kind of coherence. Let me know what you think! 💗

#wow this got long #I love enterprise #sorry it's not quite in episode order #my brain is garbled #enterprise highlights #st ent #star trek enterprise #star trek #best of list #my favs #ask #faith of the heart #long post

[gar-trek]

i literally forgor to do my tng season 6 thoughts for so frackin long even though its a tradition 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 curses curses curses.... well my memory is of course foggy but here we go!!!

jesus christ....... Deanna insane milf meltdown episode happened in season 6???!!! that feels like forever ago.... it took me a very long time to finish season 6, but i did in mid December ish. overall this season had some episodes that i found kinda boring, but also some that have been my favourite of ALL TIME!!! so like very solid if not one of the best season. So strange to watch a show funny hit its stride as late as season 6, but better that then to start to dip in quality. its actually pretty crazy to me that TNG has stayed SO GOOD despite its very long run time.

Episodes that were just whatever:

-Birthright was kinda like.... uh idk i felt like it did not need to be two parts. Also i dont think ALL the kligon children would have been that eager to leave their homes. like it seemed like they had a really nice life there down on their little planet even if it was technically a prison?? i can see some of them wanting to leave after finding out they could, but like, that was there whole life what else are they gonna do. idk it was just kinda a weird message

-Face of the enemy: Literally such a convoluted plot that made NO SENSE.... like them kidnapping troi to make their fucking insane plan work out... idk just seemed so unrealistic even for star trek where literally anything could happen. it felt like it should have been revealed as a dream or something

-tapestry: weird that picard had sex with like a 19-20 year old

-lessons: dont care about picard personal life. that felt like picard fanservice but ummmm... for whom ??? who wants to see that??

FAVVVV episodes:

-Schisms: did i like this one or did i just like seeing riker in his jammies one million times?

-Rascals: AKA the most camp episode of star trek ever aired and also a genius work of art. LITERALLY so good. taking overly serious picard and making him a silly little kid like... who though of that. also the child actors were all very charming and i thought they did a good job. never ever getting over the scene where picard throws a tantrum and riker has to pretend to be his dad. so funny

-fist full of datas: again, camp. work and data and troin cowboy outfits. enough said

Chain of command: that episode is iconic for a reason...... i mean just .... it was so fucked up...

Starship mine: i literally enjoyed every single second of this episode. like begining to end. and i liked how it was all pretty fast paced. i mean i guess there was a lot at stake there but at the same time it felt small scale enough to be super engaging. and like you know me im not a picard stan or anything but rouge picard was pretty epic i must say

frame of mind: riker insanity idk i cant even begin to explain it sorry girls. all time fav. literally

Second chances: i will be writing my dissertation on this one boys. right now, second chances is fav episode of ALL time. no cap.

YAYYYY!!!!!!!!! seriously rascals, star ship mine, frame of mind, and second chances are like, so far up there on my favs of all time list on god.... very good season and im already well welll welllllll into season 7, so that overview will probably come quite soon

#season 6 #review #thoughts

[bloodyfinalgirl]

I am going to force my interests together and u can't stop me anyway here's my take on tfw and star trek

Dean: actually makes trek references in the show. Probably watched tos as a kid and at least checked out tng and ds9 in the 90s and has some nostalgia associated with it. His enjoyment is probably of the "haha sci fi go brrr" variety and I doubt he's interested in the themes. Likes aos a lot, and probably wrath of khan? Kins kirk but not the actual tos kirk, the cultural perception of him as a womanizing captain badass. Really likes spectre of the gun, possibly was a catalyst for his cowboy obsession

Sam: not as into it as dean but still likes it. Loves spock ofc bc he has taste. Finds vulcan culture really interesting and his fav characters are usually vulcans. Ds9 is his favorite overall, he actually is interested in the themes. Favorite captain is Sisko, but he totally had a childhood crush on Janeway (again, taste). Defends tmp from dean who says it's boring but sam thinks it's good. Likes the empath and historical episodes even though they're silly and inaccurate usually

Cas: absolutely enthralled by tos. Cannot get enough of the garish lighting and cardboard sets. Takes every episode as seriously as a heart attack. He didn't like the later shows as much but he likes worf. Also loves spock and is very attached to the horta and keenly feels her plight. Is fucked up by spock's "self-made purgatories" quote. Moved to tears by spock's brain

Jack: kins the fuck out of Data, obviously

#treknatural babeyyy #this post is just a lil treat for me it is meaningless to everyone else ❤

[qwertyfingers]

we know that bobby only watched ds9 and dean watched the tos movies for sure which implies he's seen tos as well (plus he calls jack spock). so what do you think everyone's favorite trek is? sam is without a doubt a tng fan first and foremost. i think out of all tos movies cas prefers the wrath of khan because he Feels Things when kirk and spock do the ta'al through the glass. charlie has definitely seen some trek (we've seen her llap), do you think she's into tos first and foremost? anyway let's talk about star trek nights in the bunker.

OKAY SO I HAVE. MANY MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS. SORRY THIS IS SO LONG.

like. like of COURSE bobby only likes ds9 of course he does i could have told you this without the show becuase like. bobby is That Bitch. i think rufus will have watched TOS at least because leonard nimoy worked hard on linking jewish faith and practices into the vulcan lore and i think that would mean something to him. bobby will catch rufus smiling at him sometimes while they’re watching ds9 and ask him what all gruffly and rufus will smirk at him and say something about sisko with jake and bobby with dean and bobby will just cough and take a swig of whiskey and rufus will raise his eyebrows but let it slide. rufus definitely makes a comment once about dean&cas being like jake&nog that totally flies over dean’s head but bobby is all knowing eyebrow raise about.

i think cas and jack would really like discovery. while it has some issues with inconsistency, pacing, being a little dark, it also does better than the other TV treks at utilising the nature of film as a medium to instill a sense of wonder, at space and the world, and that’s something they’d really appreciate. i have my own issues with disco, but an obol for charon is as close to the central core of trek that disco ever gets. cas and jack also like that one in particular because they like listening to all the different languages being spoken. they all love michael (everyone loves michael). cas’ faves are stamets and reno because they’re mean and gay, jack’s fave is tilly because she’s excitable and bright and he latches onto that. dean likes reno because she’s got spunk. sam’s fave is airiam and he will never forgive them for killing her off. sam, cas and dean all feel an uncomfortable kinship with both ash and culber - they’ve both been the one with monster teeming under the surface, controleld by something not themself, but they’ve also all spent that time in hell/purgatory, separated from everyone they love.

thinking about episodes that would really get to them all, darmok is. THE ONE. i have a whole unfinished essay about darmok as the platonic ideal of star trek; the perfect distillation of everything trek is SUPPOSED to be about. it doens’t always get there but by god it tries! that speech michael gives in the disco s2 finale - “There's a whole galaxy of people out there who will reach for you. You have to let them. Find that person who seems farthest from you and reach for them.” - that’s what darmok is about!!! it’s all about a situation where real communication seems impossible, where everything we know about talking and learning has broken down. and picard says, okay, i will find another way. i can’t relate to you, you can’t relate to me, but by god i’m going to try. we all meet people we have trouble communicating with in our lives, and often, those people will not care about changing their own ways to accommodate us. for people with autism, adhd, psychosis, the list goes on, this is a very common occurrence. it’s exhausting and frustrating and alienating. darmok is all about crossing that barrier. about reaching for someone through a world of difficulty and learning how to talk. learning how to share something with someone who seems out of our reach. it’s beautiful, it’s heartwrenching, it means more to me than i can easily put into words! 

anyway i think the bunker fam would experience a lot of emotions watching it together. there’s defintiely a lot of hugging eachother, sam cries a lot and won’t look at anyone until after the episode ends. jack just asks a lot of questions and talks about his progress learning sign language with cas. dean snakes his hand into cas’ halfway through and doesn’t let go. doesn’t show the emotion on his face, but he clutches harder at the emotional beats. cas runs his fingers through jack’s hair and thinks a lot, and decides not to say anything unless dean talks first. its just a Lot for everyone. 

dean def makes them marathon all the TOS and TNG movies. it’s an experience everyone needs at least once. i think you’re right about cas and TWOK with the ta’al through the glass, but also ‘this simple feeling’ and the hand hold would make him feel crazy. bones being the one that spock entrusts with his katra DEF makes dean feel some type of way because as much as destiel is kirkspock-coded, dean IS bones, and seeing spock trust bones so completely despite how at odds they were when they first knew eachother would dig deep into dean’s psyche and make him more than a little bit nutso. the movies are way too long for jack so he mostly sits and plays animal crossing while they watch and looks at the screen when everyone else gasps or when something exciting is happening that holds his attention for a while. sam’s fave is nemesis precisely because it’s terrible and he loves how camp it is.

dean has definitely seen all of trek. i refuse to believe someone who watches as much tv and films as dean wouldn’t sit and watch the whole shebang. i think he’s probably seen TOS and the TOS movies more than the others because its easier than sitting through 7 seasons, but i think rather than that being his favourite he’d just have really strong opinions about the best episodes of each one? like if you asked him what his favourite is he’d say you can’t answer that because they’re all so different from eachother

VOY - bride of chaotica, non seqitur, macrocosm for the favourite episodes. seven, janeway and tuvok would be his favourite characters. he think toms a bit of a knob but also feels a kinship with him for the similar brand of bab dad-ism but he wouldn’t be able to put that into words. he’s also a fierce defender of threshold being a good episode (he’s right for that)

DS9 - our man bashir it’s our man bashir. he doesn’t dislike ds9 but its very plot heavy and he didn’t care for it when he was younger. rewatching it after living through multiple supernatural wars he’d probably appreciate it more. i know for a fact he cries every time there’s an episode about sisko being a good dad. jadzia and garak are his faves

TNG - he LOVES q. he also absolutely will not be caught dead referencing how much loves q after cas comes into his life because sam will do the little brotherly knowing eyebrow raise at him and he will die of embarrassment. he regularly references ‘there are four lights’ because he’s a fucking nerd. he has made cas watch elementary my dear data and fistful of datas a half dozen times each at LEAST. cas KNEW how dean was going to be about the cowboy hat he’s defintiely got into full cowboy getup at home just for watching movies and in cas’ head star trek is fully to blame.

TOS - oh there are so many good TOS eps to choose from. obv he loves most of the series becuase TOS has MANY banger eps, his favourites are probably like. mirror mirror, amok time (baby dean defintiely had some kind of crisis watching it for the first time; i know the rituals are intricate). i know deep in my bones that dean watched the conscience of the king (introduction of the tarsus iv massacre) once and then spent his entire teenage years writing fic about that in his head, whether he posted it or not. dean related too much to those experiences of shared hunger. city on the edge of forever is one of everyone’s faves for a reason (and i’m STILL mad we never got a closer take on that episode in spn it could have been so fun). 

ENT - he definitely thinks enterprise is stupid and he’s not wrong but he has also definitely watched it and been very repressed about the whole thing. mans was like oh i feel a kinship with malcolm reed the obviously repressed queer man. i will never examine this feeling ever again thank you <3 he also makes fun of archer for being obsessed with, of all sports, water polo. shran is his favourite character because he’s a little shit and makes him laugh, and t’pol, because t’pol is a badass and he’d appreciate that. i can’t remember the title of a single episode off the top of my head though lol.

i can see what you’re saying about sam being a TNG stan. i’m conflicted though, I feel like TNG’s generally the favourite of 1) obnoxious nerds who think knowing trivia facts makes them smart, 2) men desperately trying to seem masculine and 3) people who’ve watched it three times and have extremely complex thoughts on the personhood and rights of robots. i could see sam fitting into the third group, but people who are in it for the robot feelings are a coin flip between voyager and tng being the fave, and i just have a feeling that voyager would be his favourite. i know kid sam is getting gender envy watching voyager in shitty motels while dad and dean are out, trying to find the words for it. his first semester at stanford he talks a friend into giving him the janeway haircut and rides that high for months. sam’s favourite characters are seven and EMH. 

sam and dean have definitely had dozens of long drawn out debates about philosophical topics in star trek. do the holograms deserve rights and if so which ones. are the romulans and vulcans still meaningfully the same people. was spock right for trying to foment reunification by going undercover on romulus. can the borg be redeemed. etc etc.

i haven’t seen any of picard at all so i can’t comment. i also think sam and dean probably read a lot of the trek books? they’re pretty common to find in secondhand bookstores and cheap, would have been even cheaper back in the day. sam probably doesn’t care for them much, dean has a few solid faves though. i’ve only read the disco books so i can’t comment anything specifically (besides the fact that i think dean read dead endless and cried like a baby), but some of the TOS and DS9 books are gay as hell and i know dean was eyes emoji-ing that shit. 

#spn #spn fic #tfw 2.0 #treknatural

[shanie-the-toyaddict]

Shanie's Action Figure Update 7/28/2021

Top Row: Championship Showdown Series 5 Chyna, WWE Series 122 Chelsea Green (non-chase) Second Row: AEW Unrivaled Wave 4 Kenny Omega Third Row: Star Trek Playmates Tasha Yar, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, The Doctor (EMH)

NEW FIGS!

So, yes, there's been two updates this month, but I'm really going at it lately and I have even more on the way, so I figured I'd do this now before I outpace the photo-slots again.

First things first. Yes, that Chyna is a basic. Yes, I have better Chyna figures, especially considering that one has major paint app issues. But I decided the moment that Mattel got license to make her that I would own every one of her figures they put out. So here we are. I'm going to have to try and fix her face though. At the very least clean up the mis-painted mouth and paint over the black mark on her cheek.

Chelsea... well, if you were wondering, yes her figure was released after she was, but it's still nice to have. The chase version is in black but purple is my favorite color so I got the regular version.

Kenny? All loathing for Kenneth aside (come after my cowboy like that...) this is a hella nice figure that I wasn't even interested in until I saw him in hand at walmart. And then I couldn't leave without him. The detail on his legs is spectacular. Amazing stuff, Jazwares.

As for the Star Trek figures, I bought all three of these in my continuing effort to complete the TNG and VOY crews. And now knowing that we have a chance at a whole new line of playmates figures, I'm so damn stoked. I really REALLY hope the line lasts long enough to fill in the characters from Voyager we missed out on the first time around. I need a hair-down Janeway, a Samantha Wildman and an Icheb. Naomi is optional, would probably feel a bit weird having a figure of a child. But I need the other three ASAP. Also, if the line fizzles out before I get Tilly and Stamets figures I'm going to lose my ish. I know we're getting Michael and Saru but I NEED TILLY AND STAMETS.

Anyway, this concludes this episode of action figure update. Stay tuned till next time when I will be showcasing a new Ultimate Edition WWE figure and Wil Wheaton immortalized in plastic!

#Action Figures #action figures #wwe figures #star trek figures #wwe #star trek #aew unrivaled collection #aew #Shanie's Action Figure Update #Action Figure Update #Shanie's Action Figures

[heraldofzaun]

//in light of vladimir boyfriend ratings may i present you viktor boyfriend ratings

prototype viktor in the pre-stanwick sense: 10/10. he’s in his mid 20s and is okay with expressions of emotion and is actually downright rather cute. you do have to deal with his bad haircut but he’s a delight otherwise.

modern: 9/10. generally just a guy trying to do his best. occasionally has angst and is emotionally closed off about some things, but not to the extent where it’s harmful. please listen to him talk about his work, he finds it very exciting and hopes you do too.

cosmic: 8/10. a sweetheart if you get past his odd fixations and general lack of humanity as we know it. he does care, he really does, but maybe not in the sense that you’d like him to. but he’ll make you a planet just for you if you ask him! that is what love is, right?

full machine: 6/10. if you manage to convince a robot to date you, they’ll be okay enough at it if you give them enough time. it’s horribly hollow though. you know that episode of TNG with data trying out a dating subroutine he made? it’s like that but with less arguments. also full machine viktor wants you to be a robot too. he wouldn’t want to lose you. he wouldn’t want to lose anyone. also also he’s like, chronologically 60 if not older so take that as you will.

classic: 6/10. genuinely does have emotions under there, but will assume that if you’re getting close to him romantically you’re fine with him turning himself into a robot eventually. kind of clingy if you get to him. capable of many kind acts but is also likely to accuse you of being someone trying to destroy him if you do something that he thinks is suspicious.

high noon: 5/10. he’s a cowboy who sold his soul to a demon and peaced out of russian-owned alaska. smells bad. cleans his prostheses more often than he cleans himself, although that’s mostly because it’s hard to take a bath in the wild west. fun in the committing crimes sense, if you like that sort of thing, but also definitely kinda fucked up.

black rose group: 4/10. very fucked up and evil but he knows exactly what to do to woo people and will do it. if you’re in it for the gifts and the aesthetic and not, like, connection - he’s your man. but don’t date him expecting to get anything but a nice facade of expensive gifts and nights out at the opera.

prototype in the post-stanwick sense: 4/10 at most. this man cut off his limbs as a form of coping please don’t date him please. he needs therapy not an SO. probably horribly clingy if you get past the mountain of issues he has. literally just classic viktor with even worse mental health.

creator: 3/10 at most. don’t. horrible dictator with a lot of self-inflicted issues if you dig deep enough. definitely a prick. thinks he’s god’s gift to runeterra because he’s been living in that persona for so long that it stuck. he’ll kill for you. isn’t that what devotion is? that’s what he thinks it is, at least.

#out of augments #//ok yes 2 of these aren't canon skins at all but sh! viktor doesn't have many skins!

[titusmoody]

It’s the end of the first quarter of 2021. Here’s a brief review of the things I watched/played/read.

Games

Donut County- pretty charming, very easy, fairly satisfying to play. I’d recommend Untitled Goose Game over this, though.

Heaven’s Vault- If you only have room in your life for one space archaeology game, play Outer Wilds instead. However, you get to translate alien writings yourself (in a simplified game way) in this one, so I’d recommend both. 

Donkey Kong Country 3 103%- so many fun level mechanics in this one. The difficulty of finding and completing everything in the game was spot-on for me.

Donkey Kong Country 2 102%- Each level mechanic in this one is explored and used in far more interesting ways than DKC3, though I honestly had more fun with 3 this time around. This one is the “dark, edgy” one aesthetically which is extremely dumb. Also, there was a lot of guesswork involved in finding some of the hidden stuff, which I didn’t enjoy.

The Room 4- I like escape room games. This one was good. It continued 3′s trend of trying to shake up the format a little, which is fine (better here than in 3, I think) but I wouldn’t have minded if all 4 stayed exactly the same, just with new puzzles.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales- Everything about it was competent. Not only was each gameplay activity fine-tuned to feel good, but the structure of the game also kept kept you experiencing a good variety of each activity. PS5 graphics are good, too. Nothing about it really got me excited to play it, it was just a good after work unwinding thing.

Cyberpunk 2077- Exactly the opposite of Spider-Man in terms of quality consistency. There are aspects of this game that are amazing, horrible, and every step in between. However, I’ve thought about it quite a bit and will probably continue to think about it for both good and bad reasons.

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair- Donkey Kong Country has better level design and controls. Well, the best levels of this were every bit as good as the best DKC levels, and maybe I’m just so familiar with DKC levels that I zone out a little during the boring bits, but had to pay attention to every moment of this game. Still, I didn’t have as much of an overall good time as the DKC games I played earlier.

Hue- Good 2D puzzle-platformer. I’m no longer surprised by these, but I still appreciate them, much in the same way as I like playing escape room games. I was under the impression for a few years that because I understood the potential of puzzle platformers, it meant I wouldn’t want to play any more of them, but that’s simply not true. I had a good time with Hue.

Shows

Gravity Falls- It’s fine. Pretty entertaining. I wish there were more low-stakes kinds of episodes, just to get more familiar with different sides of the characters. It would have made the characters and setting feel more rounded.

Cowboy Bepop- I didn’t get the hype for this show when I first watched it at 21, and now I can say that it’s simply not my kind of show. I have much more appreciation for it now than I did the first time, but it doesn’t hit me emotionally the same way that it seems to hit so many people. 

Seinfeld- It’s Seinfeld. There was precisely one episode that I had never seen before, plus confirmation that I didn’t dream the episode that’s told in backwards chunks like Memento and is set in India.

Paranoia Agent- While it was disappointing that this ended up being a more simple morality tale than every Satoshi Kon movie I’ve seen, I still enjoyed watching this a lot.

Aggretsuko- I liked the mundane, every-day storylines like a modern, more empathetic Seinfeld. Unfortunately as the show went on, there were more and more wacky situations that no one actually gets into. I might watch the upcoming season if I hear that it’s less ridiculous.

Over the Garden Wall- This was really cool and I’m glad it exists. It’s ten episodes long, which is perfect for it. I thought it was at its weakest during the more lighthearted or humorous moments--precisely the opposite of Gravity Falls. The word “classy” comes to mind to describe this show. 

Beastars- Really good when it isn’t falling into anime plot and dialog cliches. A lot of this first season is dedicated to introducing characters and the setting, which I thought was very well done. I’m curious to see what Season 2 is like.

Movies

Scott Pilgrim vs the World- It’s a fun movie to watch. It definitely makes many of the characters’ flaws seem like more fun than it probably should, but I’m more bothered by the criticism I hear that boils down to “it’s a bad movie because the characters are bad people” which I suspect is an impression you only get if you lack both empathy and media comprehension.

Big- Kinda bad. It has iconic moments that are only possible with its weird premise, but it’s just not a premise that supports an entire good movie. 

Phantom of the Opera- Way better and way worse than I remember. Has the precise right amount of horses.

Knives Out- Not really a movie I needed to watch a second time, but it sure is good.

District 9- I didn’t remember most of this movie and unfortunately I zoned out for most of this rewatch, so I still feel like I don’t know what it’s about.

From up on Poppy Hill- Not one of the top tier Ghibli movies, but still really good in a down-to-earth way that I like from Ghibli. 

Enter the Dragon- I knew to expect everything to be turned up to 11, which is good because it really is a lot. I liked it, though.

Shutter Island- I have never actually liked this kind of twist-reliant movie. I thought I would for many years, but I was always disappointed. At least now I am aware that it’s not what I’m into.

Soul- The premise is much too convoluted, but it does have an excellent moment near the end.

Onward- I liked this one a lot. Why don’t more people talk about this one? It’s definitely better than Coco, which itself was really good.

A Silent Voice- The kind of movie that reminds me that sometimes Japanese storytelling is more to my taste than Hollywood style, in that scenes can be more emotionally ambiguous. 

Tangled- Good in exactly the same way as Frozen and Moana. I can’t really complain, but this isn’t the same situation as puzzle platformers or escape rooms. In this case, I do get a little sick of being completely unsurprised. This movie was made first, so it’s only by chance that this is the one that I saw last.

Monsters University- A good movie, but it really doesn’t have to be about the same characters as Monsters Inc. 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail- Still funny

The Departed- Good if you want an enjoyable crime thriller to watch, bad if you want a Scorcese movie.

Titanic- Getting very drunk and watching this with Brittany might be the best time I had in the past three months. Maybe I won’t think too hard about why a movie about the overdue, violent death of a social order resonates with me right now.

Prince of Egypt- Impressive and grand, but I didn’t really care about the characters or story.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan- A good but not great (by TNG standards) concept for an episode that was made extremely enjoyable by the added budget and longer runtime of a movie.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock- Not as good, but still watchable.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home- The kind of ridiculous concept you’d only make when you’ve already had three successful movies and are confident that you’ll be able to make at least another couple. The gang go back to the 1980s (present day to the original audience) and save the whales. It’s apparently exactly the right movie to watch if this is the third consecutive Star Trek movie you’re watching.

Mamma Mia- A lot of fun, but has weird problems that seem like they would’ve been easy to solve at the script level. Maybe if the conflicts had been introduced early on instead of dragging the whole pace of the movie down for much of the last 20 minutes, I would’ve enjoyed the whole thing.

Books

The Well of Ascension- The second book of a trilogy. Very competent. Introduces a whole lot of minor conflicts that really keep the momentum going and give the characters short-term goals that contribute to the overall plot and their arcs. 

The Hero of Ages- The final book in the same trilogy. Equally competent. I wish there had been more long-term payoffs, which is the trade-off you make by stuffing the books full of those short-term conflicts. Spoilers ahead, but not ones that I think ruin the experience of reading. It’s very odd that of three of the central characters, one dies, one becomes a god and then dies, and one becomes God. 

Check Please- About as pleasant as it gets. Full of the type of minor character that sitcoms end up running into the ground because they’re too one-note (Creed from The Office, for instance) but in a series with a pre-planned length, there’s no chance for it to get stale. Plus, I really liked both of the lead characters.

Milkman- Good book about “The Troubles” in Ireland. Very odd collection of characters, but the narrator had an extremely enjoyable voice to read. 

And Then There Were None- Classic mystery story for a reason. Feels more like a Hitchcock movie than Sherlock Holmes. I read it in one day both because the prose was easy and I wanted to know what happened next. Not much substance to it, unfortunately.

Homegoing- Extremely ambitous book where each chapter is narrated by the descendant of a previous chapter, alternating between two branches of the same family. I liked it quite a bit, though because I only finished it yesterday I don’t have much reflection done yet so my opinion has yet to solidify.

[captainpikeachu]

Star Trek Picard NYCC Trailer Analysis!!

this one took a bit but here is the trailer analysis for Picard!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED FOR ALL THE NEW THINGS BUT ALSO GREAT TO SEE OLD FACES!

we began the vineyard, Chateau Picard

then we see Data standing underneath a tree, he’s painting something

Picard slowly walks up to Data, note that Picard in this shot is wearing his TNG era uniform as well - indicating that this can’t be real and is likely a dream

Data(?): “Would you like to finish it Captain?”

There is some ominous echo on the word Captain

then we are presented with image of some cloaked figure standing by a cliff side overlooking water? I’m not sure who this is or what is happening here, but this could be connected to some dark traumatic thing that is haunting Picard, perhaps someone died? (pls pls don’t let this be Beverly Crusher nope)

Picard replies to Data(?)’s question, “I don’t know how.”

Data(?) counters with “That is not true, sir.”

that weird haunting echo happens with Data’s words as we go into a montage of flashes between images of ships attacking somewhere and Data handing the paintbrush to Picard

now the ships that’s flying around attacking and setting things ablaze, I am not sure what they are, but if they are Romulan ships, they look to be similar to either the scout ships or the Valdore type warbirds 

if this is Romulan ships, then it begs the question what is happening and what are they attacking? we know that Romulus was destroyed, so is this people trying to escape Romulus or is this some refugee area or another colony being attacked by other Romulans? or another species’ planet being attacked by Romulans?

next shot is Picard waking up, this could indicate that what we saw before was something that Picard was just dreaming about and he’s having nightmares

a good doggo Number One comes to Picard, and Picard says “Oh it’s alright Number One”

the first thing this feels to me is that Picard is suffering from some sort of PTSD, and Number One is possibly and likely an emotional support dog trained to help Picard when he’s dealing with PTSD episodes

more shots of the vineyard

we see Picard and Number One walking through the fields with Picard’s voiceover, “I came here to find safety but one is never safe from the past.”

in the next scene we see that Dahj, this mysterious new character played by Isa Briones, finds Picard at the vineyard

Dahj says “Please sir, someone’s after me.”

Picard looks shocked and concerned and worried

and here we are back to good ole San Francisco, home of Starfleet WOO!

this looks like Starfleet Headquarters? or at least the administrative wing of HQ

this I’m pretty sure is a projection of the Galaxy-class Enterprise D? because the nacelles doesn’t seem to match the Sovereign-class Enterprise E

so Picard comes into HQ and has to go to the receptionist desk, a funny conversation ensues here

Picard: “I have an appointment.”

Receptionist: “Your name please, sir?”

Picard: “Picard - p, i, c, a, r, d.” 

Receptionist: “It’s nice to see you up and around again.”

LOL Picard’s face, he is most definitely not pleased at that last comment about “up and around again”

but hey, he gets a visitor’s badge!

now these two images are interesting, I am not sure where Picard is, but this is not at Starfleet HQ because his clothing is different and he doesn’t have a visitor’s badge, so this is at some other facility

the person next to him in white could be an android

these all look like androids, my guess is this is the same scene as the previous two shots of Picard at whatever facility he’s at, this could be a place that is developing androids?

this is a scene I believe that is taking place at the Borg cube, probably that same place in the last trailer where they are containing people who have been de-borged I assume? and where Dahj is being kept at?

now all the previous shots were played over Picard having a talk with this female admiral who’s name we do not know

Picard: “We have an obligation to investigate.”

Admiral: “There is no we, Jean Luc.”

Picard: “Admiral, I am standing up for the Federation, for what it should still represent!”

Admiral: “This is no longer your house, Jean Luc, go home.”

we see Picard leaving after this, and he does not look very happy. we also see a shuttle in this shot, it looks similar to the ones we see on Discovery, so this could be some old model still in use

now the conversation between Picard and the Admiral is a very interesting one, first from Picard’s side, he claims to be standing up for the Federation and what it SHOULD STILL represent, meaning that he doesn’t believe they are representing what the Federation should be right now, there is some resentment here that’s happened between Picard and Starfleet, and that may have been the cause for his retirement

but on the Starfleet Admiral’s side, there seems to be resentment here too, for Picard leaving, in the way she says how there is no “we” and that this is no longer Picard’s house because he left and he doesn’t get to just march back and tell people what to do

all of this just indicates further that something broke down between Picard and Starfleet, and it could very well be what is causing his nightmares

we see Dahj in the rain, I think this is before she goes to find Picard, but probably after she escaped from the Borg cube place

on the TV screens in the window, we see an image of Picard, and it looks like two people under an umbrella is watching this interview, I assume this is how Dahj decides to go find Picard, she probably saw this interview and somehow felt connected to Picard as we noted from her dialogue in the last trailer where she claimed that everything in her says that she’s safe with him

Picard is having a conversation with someone whom we don’t know, but Picard says “I have to help her.”

The other character (who looks to be played by actor David Paymer) asks, “You really wanna go back out into the cold?”

someone suggested that this character could be a Traveler, jduging by the clothes, hair, and hand

we see Picard looking out into the stars and then putting on his old communicator badge, the kind that’s seen last in the TNG films

and the decision is made when Picard answers the other character, “More than ever.”

so, Dahj is the catalyst to Picard having his sea legs back and wanting to do something more than just sitting around the vineyard

release date confirmed for next year! very soon now!

very cool landscape at we see Picard heading towards a house(?)

here we meet one of our main characters Raffi Musiker (played by Michelle Hurd), described to be an old friend of Picard’s and a former intelligence officer who is dealing with substance abuse, she has her ties to Starfleet as well and one of the other main characters Chris Rios

in this conversation, Picard says “I have a plan”, to which Raffi replies, “Another top secret unauthorized rescue mission?”

Picard scoffs a bit

now this conversation is interesting, because in one of the earlier trailers, it is noted that Picard presided over the biggest rescue armada in history? so Raffi’s comment here about unauthorized rescue mission could mean that this rescue armada that Picard had, it wasn’t Starfleet or Federation authorized, and this could explain the bad blood that seems to be happening between Picard and Starfleet

it is possible that the Federation/Starfleet refused to send a rescue armada to Romulus, perhaps thinking that Spock going there with the red matter was enough, but Picard refused to just stand by and do nothing so he secretly got a rescue armada out there to get people and maybe they lost ships and people died in the resulting mission when Romulus exploded? we know that Spock got there too late to stop the planet from exploding, so was Picard also there on hand to witness the destruction?

also Raffi here doesn’t sound so pleased about it either, given her sarcastic tone, so whatever that drove Picard away from Starfleet, could also have resulted in Raffi exiting Starfleet as well, hence her reaction to him at this moment

I’m not sure what this place is, but this doesn’t seem to be Starfleet? Maybe some research facility? perhaps Romulan? I’m not sure what that floating station is for? but that looks Romulan in design

but whatever it is, I think this is where Alison Pill’s character Dr. Agnes Jurati works at, we hear here saying, likely to Picard, “This is everything that ever mattered to me.”

this is a later scene, judging by her clothes, maybe she comes to Picard’s place to join him? but she says “I’m going with you.”

my assumption is that Dr. Jurati is working on something android or Borg related that is helpful on this mission or else I don’t think Picard would have gone to her

this could be a Romulan colony or refugee place?

here we meet Elnor, played by Evan Evagora, he’s supposed to be a young Romulan who is very loyal to Picard

this also seems to be the same place in the last trailer where we saw Picard going to and got manhandled by some Romulan guards

and here is our cigar smoking(?) space cowboy Cristobal “Chris” Rios (Santiago Cabrera), another ex-Starfleet officer and friend of Raffi, who captains the ship that Picard and team is going to be traveling on

the ship’s name starts with an “L”, I believe Santiago mentions it at the panel at one point and I think the name got out due to an instagram post by a younger actor on the show - Lascerina(?) or something similar, I will have to check that again

we also hear Picard’s voiceover scenes of Elnor and Rios, “I need your skill and your courage” - skill on a shot of Elnor, and courage on a shot of Rios

so this is that Borg cube we have been seeing before where a bunch of Romulans are working on

now we got some bloodied body parts? looks like Borg people are being hung up and experimented on?

but there is a body on the floor so I guess something went wrong?

and someone standing over the body on the slab?

the next shot shows that it looks like it was Seven who was standing over the body, and she’s holding the body and crying

there’s been many speculations over who this could be - some have said, Chakotay, some of said maybe hers and Chakotay’s child, or Icheb, or Hugh

I don’t think it is Hugh, as I think Hugh has a different and bigger arc in this story, they wouldn’t just have brought in Jonathan Del Arco and have him be involved in promoting the show if he’s just going to be dead

I’m also not sure that it’s Chakotay because why would the Romulans want to experiment on him? He’s Maquis, not Borg, and that hair is pretty dark and I think by now Chakotay would have gone grey?

so perhaps either Seven and Chakotay’s kid or Icheb, most likely, Icheb

here we have a shot of Raffi looking rather pensive

this is Rios’ ship flying over Earth, I think

Rios in his seat in the captain’s chair, we see Picard and Elnor to the left of the shot, and Raffi and Jurati on the right

all of this is playing over Picard’s voiceover that says “The past is written, but we are left to write the future.”

it looks like he may be saying this to Rios while on his ship, so maybe he’s trying to convince Rios to join in this scene?

then we have Rios going “Hold on...” sounding like a total cowboy, he might as well have said Giddyup! i’m starting to sense we have another horse obsessed person named Chris happening over here

new updated tech on ships than we’ve seen before, no arm rest, but holographic controls

ship is flying off to the new journey!

yes he is a legend

now this is Rios’ ship and another smaller vessel firing upon a Romulan warbird, in fact, it’s a 23rd century Romulan warbird back in TOS time - this makes sense though since with Romulus being destroyed, it’s likely that they are falling back on old tech to keep going

this is at the place where Elnor is at, looks like Picard is getting into some sword fighting with a Romulan guard? old man still got it!

here is a masked figure smashing a window - this could be someone possibly searching Picard’s place? maybe to find Dahj? Or something else is happening

yeah...so....NEW SHIP

Rios and Jurati being super cute here celebrating with a high five

they are already adorable

yes I SHIP IT

back to the Borg cube

we see Dahj, this is pre-escaping

here we have two Romulans - Harry Treadway’s Narek and another unnamed Romulan female played by Peyton List - they are discussing about Dahj, with the female Romulan saying “She was sent for a reason.” and Narek replying “I’ll get the information we need.”

well, that apparently means have sex with her >.<

Elnor drawing his sword - I think this takes place on the Borg cube, there is something in this shot behind Elnor, I think it’s Hugh

now I think this is Picard going to where Seven of Nine is living - she did ask him what he was doing there in their conversation in the last trailer

a shot of Hugh!

Seven and Picard seems to be continuing their conversation from the last trailer, and here we hear Seven say “I help people who has no one else to help them.”

again this seems to imply that bad things have been happening and Starfleet/Federation isn’t doing anything, and Seven doesn’t look like she stayed in Starfleet either, so there seems to be a lot of ex-Starfleet people running around doing their own thing

OUR QUEEN OUR BADASS DUEL WIELDING YAS YOU SHOOT THEM ALL SEVEN!!!

then we get this moment

who is this big tall fella standing in this nice kitchen??????? IS IT OUR BELOVED HUMAN NUMBER ONE WILLIAM T RIKER???

We hear a kid going “Daaaaddddd!”

Riker: “What!”

Kid: “Come out here!”

Riker: “StOp YeLLiNg!”

Kid: “It’s Jean Luc Picard!”

Riker freezes after that as we hear the TNG theme swells up to...

Picard: “Hello Will.”

A SHOCKED RIKER APPEARS! 

PICARD USES STUN! IT’S SUPER EFFECTIVE!

we then hear Deanna Troi saying “Jean Luc” as she greets him!!!!!!!

DEANNA TROI USES HUG!!!!

IT IS TOTALLY SUPER EFFECTIVE!!!!!!

RIKER AND TROI ARE STILL TOGETHER, THEY ARE HAPPY, AND THEY HAVE AT LEAST ONE KID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *inhuman screech*

this looks like more shots of Rios’ ship fighting against the Romulan warbird

someone is dribbling a soccer ball, but I’m not sure where this is, maybe Rios’ ship or some other facility

a group of people in black robes standing around a circle as some sort of wave is released, and it seems to knock them down - I’m not sure if this location is where Picard finds Elnor?

here we have Hugh seemingly leading Dahj and Picard around some corridors - I assume that Dahj somehow gets recaptured once she finds Picard and this is what leads Picard to get out there to go find her, so this is Dahj’s second time escaping from the Borg cube?

some sort of game is being played? likely by Dahj, since it looks like her hands and her clothing that she was wearing in a previous shot, or maybe some sort of tarot card reading?

Rios and Jurati ship is sailing!!!!

this looks like ships attacking some space station? not sure if this is a flashback or not?

this looks similar to the ship in Picard’s dream montage

Seven again!

this could be a young Dahj perhaps? pre-assimilation maybe? there’s a rainstorm outside

Raffi is checking a phaser 

Dahj is screaming as we see burns on her face, maybe this is how the Romulans capture her after her initial escape where she finds Picard the first time? it’s certainly on the same steps where Picard saw her fighting a couple of soldiers

a shot of Picard clapping

looks like more shots of Rios’ ship fighting the Romulan warbird

all of these shots playing over Picard saying “We all have a story just waiting to be claimed.”

and we are back to our boys on the lakeside (RIKER AND TROI HAVE A LAKE SERIOUSLY OMG???)

Picard says, “Thank you for not trying to talk me out of all this.”

Riker chuckles and replies, “Believe me, I know better.”

Picard pats Riker’s hand that’s on his shoulder

we see the shot of them sitting by the lake, just the two of them chuckling

this moment between them is so much more intimate, more warm, and more welcoming than all of their interactions from the previous episodes and films - no doubt helped by the fact that we are not longer looking at a captain and his first officer who has to remain professional, but just two old guys on equal footing able to indulge in a close friendship, since it looks like neither Riker nor Troi are in Starfleet any longer

and of course, this moment also speaks to the real life friendship between Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart as well, they are finally able to bring more of their real life bond into the relationship on screen

so, we get the title card, Star Trek Picard we will out starting January 23, 2020!!!!!

i’m honestly really really psyched! and of course the old faces coming back is always great, but I am already in love with these new characters and I am excited to see Trek move forth in the timeline and dealing with the aftermath of Romulus’ destruction and what the state of the galaxy would be like afterwards

not to mention the state of the Federation and Starfleet itself, as it seems there may be a gradual decline, as many of our heroes seems to have left Starfleet or running around doing things behind Starfleet’s back

2020 can’t come soon enough!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!

#star trek picard #star trek #star trek picard spoilers #jean luc picard #dahj #chris rios #raffi musiker #agnes jurati #elnor #narek #number one #will riker #deanna troi #data #seven of nine #hugh

[mia-cooper]

2019 fanfiction in review

I usually put more effort into pimping my favourite fics of the year, boosting a few new writers in my fandoms, etc. This year, however, I have not, for reasons both within and beyond my control. Which is pretty much my excuse for not Doing Better with writing for the past month or so, but hey. At least there’s this.

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1. Best fic(s) you read all year, and why?

How can I even begin to list all the beautiful, shocking, feel-good, feel-terrible-but-in-a-good-way, envy-inducing, page-turning, soul-destroying, fluffy, hilarious, infuriating and horny fics I’ve read this year? I can’t. So I will instead list three that come immediately to mind.

@curator-on-ao3 – The Dismissed Protocol (rated T, VOY, TNG, Janeway & Crusher)

This fic made me angry. So angry that I left a ranty and incoherent comment, slammed down the lid on my laptop and stormed around the house for a bit. Why was I so pissed, you ask? Because this fic hit a good few of my personal triggers around bodily autonomy and the right to make informed choices, and because although the fic ends triumphantly, it’s somewhat of a pyrrhic victory and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Which, considering this is fiction, is the mark of some really good writing. When it comes to tackling difficult topics with a fresh and thought-provoking perspective, and without opting for the easy answers, Curator never disappoints. This story is just one of many examples of that in her work.

@love-in-the-time-of-kolinahr​ – it will take place without witnesses (rated E, DSC, Pike/Number One)

Okay so let me start by saying it was the author’s fucking EXCELLENT pun of a pseudonym that made me read this in the first place. Then it was the poem they quoted (Discovery by Wislawa Szymborska, which is like a portentous rocket in the guts). Then it was Una’s scales-off-the-eyes, we-are-true-equals, don’t-bullshit-me-lover candidness in the way she sees, talks to, knows Chris Pike. I adore Pike in his laconic-space-cowboy-with-a-heart Disco incarnation, I like him a lot as the CoolDad in AOS, but this fic? This fic gives me smart, forthright, deeply tender Number One, and Pike as the fractured and very human hero I hope like hell we’ll see more of because they are definitely making a Pike series RIGHT? It is written. Anyway… this fic is beautiful and harsh and deft and real and sexy and poetic and at its core it’s about love, and who doesn’t love love?

@captacorn​ – Stars in a Ruined Sky (rated M, VOY, Paris/Torres)

It took me a while to read this one because CaptAcorn was posting it at the same time I was writing my epic, and I had no brain space to maintain a hold on someone else’s dark and compelling plot. But when I picked this one up, I couldn’t put it down. It is AMAZING. A Timeless AU, set in a universe where Voyager crashed and most of the crew survived, this goes where no other 100k+ epic I’ve read before has dared to tread, and it does so without flinching. The details are what make this unforgettable – there’s no magic reset button, so when something bad happens to the crew, there are actual lasting consequences – but it’s the humanity of the characters (if I can use that word to describe a crew that includes aliens) that makes it unputdownable (fuck off, my nana said that’s a word). This is not an AU I want to think happened, but CaptAcorn makes it one that rings true. And I’ll definitely read this again when I have the emotional fortitude for it.

Wow, there’s no Janeway/Chakotay in my top three. What? So here’s a bonus:

Northernexposure’s trilogy – Soft Light, Aftershocks and Resolution (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay) – three for the price of one! I mean, when northernexposure posts a new fic I race to read it no matter what, but smut! Beautifully written, true to character, sexy sexy smut from one of my all time favourite authors! How could I turn that down?

2. Best fic(s) you published all year, and why?

Mmmyeah to be honest I kinda feel as though my writing peaked in 2017, but here we go.

Desperate Measures (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay and other pairings) – because there’s angst and smut and the plot is twisty as fuck and I feel like there’s a pretty satisfying payoff. And it’s really long and relies on the reader engaging with my OCs which people seem to have done, which makes me think that if I ever do want to go write another original novel, maybe I won’t want to burn it as soon as I’m done.

This Is The Moment (rated M, DSC, Pike/Tyler) – because these two have exhausting chemistry and I couldn’t not write this but it was hard to make it come out of my brain the way I wanted it. But I’m really happy with it.

And I have a soft spot for First Officer’s Log (rated T, VOY, Chakotay & Tuvok, implied Janeway/Paris), because I just really love Threshold, okay? And while the episode is wack on so many levels there are really dark and heavy themes to explore there which I feel have gone very unexplored and I hope my fic struck that same balance between moral philosophy and holywhatthefuckery.

3. Favourite opening line(s) in a fic you published in 2019:

From Bad Maquis (rated M, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay):

The only thing more restrictive – and bosomy – than this outfit, Kathryn mused as she stared at her reflection, was her holodeck governess costume.



Still, at least she didn’t have to leave her quarters wearing this getup, and thank goodness for small mercies. Because she was on the verge of backing down from this challenge as it was, and Kathryn Janeway did not chicken out. Ever.

I mean, it sets the scene, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t love Janeway in leather.

4. Favourite closing line(s):

This is maybe cheating a little bit because this fic isn’t finished, but this first chapter can stand alone and I won’t be continuing it for some time (first, I have to finish the two prequels, haha). Anyway, these are the closing lines from Inertia (rated T so far, VOY, Janeway/Paris and others):

When the daze clears and Tom looks up to discover that his hovercar is parked in front of an address he’s never visited but has nonetheless memorised, maybe he should feel a little bit surprised.



He doesn’t. No matter how far he tries to go or how long he stays away from her, turning up at Kathryn Janeway’s door is inevitable.

Why do I like it? Well, I have an everlasting appreciation for Janeway/Paris, for one thing. For another, if you read the rest of the story and understand what Tom has just learned, you’ll want to know what happens next. I hope. I sure want to know.

5. The fic that was best received, and your favourite comment(s) on it:

That would be Desperate Measures again. It’s my longest fic by far and I was absolutely bowled over by the response to it, but one of my favourite comments on it is this one:

It actually looks like Janeway is saying gimme and it cracks me up.

Honestly though… the depth and kindness of comments on that fic in particular, the time and thought and effort that people have put into their reviews … it made up for every moment I wanted to chuck it in and never look at that fic again, or any other.

6. The fic you wish had gotten more love:

Honestly, I was surprised there was so little response to my @voyagermirrormarch​ fic trilogy, Heaven in the Shape of Hell. I really thought they’d be crowd pleasers, but it shows what I know, lol. I haven’t even finished the third one because the lack of interest made me wonder if they were just really shite, but I’m not so butthurt about it anymore and I will come back to it someday.

7. How many fandoms you wrote for in 2019, and which inspired you most:

Does Star Trek in all its incarnations count as one fandom? If so, I wrote for two (Trek and Marvel). If all the different versions of Trek count separately, I wrote for seven (MCU, AOS (that’s Trek Alternate Original Series, not Agents of SHIELD), Disco, Mirror, Enterprise, DS9 and Voyager).

Anyway, I guess I’ll never stop being inspired by Voyager, so even if Disco season 3 and the Picard show do nothing for me, I’ll always have that.

8. Your favourite pairing(s) to write for:

I mean, Janeway x Chakotay, for sure. But I’m deeply, deeply invested in Janeway x Paris at the moment.

9. What you’re writing now/next:

I’m struggling through the second part of what was supposed to be my contribution to @25daysofvoyager​. I’m actually going to post the first part once I’m done with this quiz in the hope it’ll kick my ass into gear. I’m also on semi-hiatus from Kinetic Friction, but I’ll be going back to it as soon as I’m done with my 25 Days fic. At some point after Kinetic there’ll be the sequel, and then the rest of Inertia. I’m also contemplating something for Threshold Day, possibly throwing something into @voytalentchallenge​ (don’t count on that one), and I have an idea for a pre-Enterprise D, pre-Voyager meeting between Picard and Janeway (with smut, obvs), plus all the other fics I’m definitely going to write …

And of course there’s my meat raffle. Time to pimp that one again. Donate to AO3 and if I draw your name out of the hat of randomness I’ll write you a fic to your specifications (roughly).

10. Writing goals for 2020 (word count? new fandoms/pairings? anything?):

Look, I’d just really like to actually write to some of the prompts I’ve had sitting in my ridiculously complex filing system without getting sidetracked by the newest shiny thing to catch my eye. In terms of fandoms, I hope I’ll write more for Discovery, I’m looking forward to Picard, and I would like to branch out from Trek a bit. More MCU, definitely, and maybe others if I get inspired. The main thing I want out of writing fanfiction at the moment is for it to continue making me happy, though, so I just hope I keep having fun with it.

#miamemes #miawrites #2019 fanfiction in review