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mylittleredgirl · 28 days

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Least favorite Star Trek character in each series?

i love all my children equally how could you do this to me!!!!

slightly more rational answer: i have been thinking about this since yesterday when i got the ask and it's like every time i think i have an answer i immediately go "oh but i love them for XYZ" and they move up in the ranks. ultimately most treks are ensemble shows and removing anybody from the ensemble makes it all fall apart!

gun to my head, though, bearing in mind that i love all of them:

tos: gun to my head it's chapel i'm afraid and i feel bad about it. she doesn't really get to grow much and the other most-static character is probably chekov and i had a massive crush on him. in 1967 when they went "you know this show should add a mop top for the teenyboppers out there" they were talking specifically about me 30 years later.

tng: i would take the bullet for real.

ds9: man i'm going through main characters and then secondary characters and then tertiary characters and how are they all so essential and good????? literally i have gone thru a list of characters and a list of episodes and am coming up blank. even the villains are fantastic. eddington is annoying but he's supposed to be and his episodes are all great. sloan himself is fun it's just what section 31 did to star trek in general that sucks. like????? there's not a single name that shows up in the credits that doesn't make me go YEAHHHHHH.

voy: if we can count recurring characters i'm saying barclay. i liked him a lot as a character in tng and but go "for fuck's sake" whenever i see "guest star dwight schultz" on the voyager credits. i dislike pretty much every earth-contact episode after "message in a bottle" so maybe i don't like voyager-barclay because he just happens to be there?? for main cast it'd be neelix shut up shut up i love him in the ensemble but sometimes when they give him his own episode it's too much.

ent: sorry malcolm lovers this was the only show that was an easy choice. like we SHOULD dig into the fact that essentially his greatest wish is to sacrifice himself and he won't be happy until he dies on the job. klingon behavior but not at all for the fun and glory of it just because he kind of just doesn't enjoy being alive???? archer is terrible in so many ways but he's also much more enjoyable to watch being terrible.

disco: this is actually a very weird show to even know who to choose from. the cast changes every year! we barely even know the bridge crew! who is interesting enough to count as a main character?? of the main title cast i'm kind of hot and cold with adira. i like them but the sheer amount of anxiety radiating off them at all times makes me tense up whenever they come on screen. (i just realized it's kind of ironic to say adira because they're basically a mix of wesley and ezri, who would probably make this list for most other trekkies but are two of my absolute faves.) (i will think long and hard about this)

snw: i don't know that i have enough of a read on any of them? i still haven't finished it. chapel (again?? oh no) is the one i had the hardest time warming up to early on because she seemed the most wink-y and out of place in a franchise that usually takes silly things very seriously, but i did warm up to her!

lower decks: if we can go with guest characters i hate badgey (only one on here that gathers the "hate" rating!!). i don't find him (it??) funny and i know i SHOULD find it funny which means whenever it shows up i am both not having a good time and feel bad about not having a good time. the main characters are all brilliant. gun to my head it's boims but it's a close one i love them all.

i don't even know what other shows we have i've run out of steam???

oh right picard. captain shaw??? why is such a large subset of fandom so horny for him??? and shipping him with seven of nine of all things???? is it just White Guy With Trauma because there are like. a lot of other white guys with trauma in this franchise to choose from.

#chatter post #anonymous friend #star trek thoughts #this killed me i'm going to eat ice cream straight from the container now and i didn't even get them all

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ussjellyfish · 1 month

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Star Trek asks: 🖖, 🌀 and 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾

🖖 First Star Trek Media you encountered:

We watched TNG on television when I was a kid (as it was airing the first time!). One of my earliest memories (I was 4) is of Will Riker getting sucked into the big black Armus pool and how freaky that was. I remember the face coming up from the bottom.

And they saved him! he was okay. (Tasha's death did not compute in my very small mind). Will being okay in the end was part of "Star Trek means we're all okay" which is my earliest opinion.

Often this still carries over.

🌀 If the Holodeck was real, what's the first thing you would use it for?

adventure fantasy RPGs. I'd love to be able to play something like Dragon Age. It would be incredible.

I would also use it to test out fic lines and positions and make sure they make sense. I have no sense of inner eye, so that would be helpful. Where do her hands go...

👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾 Do you ship any characters? Who?

Oh Georgiou.

I don't have any strong preferences about ships in some series. My levels of shipping are:

Ships I find cute on screen. (USS Enterprise-G)

Ships I would read fic. I would probably write fic for an exchange or a challenge. (USS Enterprise-D)

Ships I would write fic for, because I want the fic to bring myself joy and those are much more intense. (USS Voyager) I will land my starship on this planet.

Ships that are platonic for me and I adore them. (USS Protostar)

Ships where I want to read everything that has ever been written about them. I have saved all the artwork. I want to commission more artwork. (USS DIscovery) I will travel through the mycelial network for this ship. This ship is my home.

(under a cut for length)

TOS - no ships. Never really had any. TOS is not foundational for me though, I don't think I've seen the whole thing and probably never will. It's so much men talking.

AOS - I have a soft spot for Spock/Uhura. I really liked Uhura.

TNG - I shipped Deanna/Will so much as a child. They're in my very first fanfic. I liked Beverly/Jean-Luc (historical) later, but not until I was an adult. Deanna/Will I shipped as a very tiny human. I have witten fic for both of these. I also ship Beverly/Deanna, and Beverly/Deanna/Will in a very lighthearted way.

DS9 - Jadzia Dax/Lenara Kahn is gorgeous and tragic and I adore them. Kira/Dax in a very lighthearted way. They're fun. I shipped Jadzia Dax/Worf when the show first came out and probably would if I did a rewatch, but it's a very mild ship (I wouldn't read fic). I am very invested in Jadzia Dax.

VOY - Kathryn Janeway/B'Elanna Torres is fun. I've read some fic. I love how intellectual they would be together. I wrote and read much Janeway/Chakotay (historical) about ten years ago, but I'm not as into him now. (Robert Beltran makes it hard for me). Still love Janeway. I also like Seven/B'Elanna.

ENT - I enjoyed Trip/T'Pol when the show was on. I don't think I've seen all of it. I love T'Pol.

SNW - I have a passing interest in Una/La'An and Una/Pike. I've read some fic but haven't written any. I want nice things for Batel/Pike in canon. (he needs to be a better partner to her though). I ship Amanda/Sarek here simply based on how convince I am that Amanda loves him.

PIC - Seven/Raffi are wonderful and I adore them. I love their connection and their dear faces. Agnes/Borg Queen are fun and dark. Laris/Zhaban are fun. I wanted to ship Beverly/Jean-Luc again but they didn't give me much. Shipper brain was not engaged. Deanna/Will were so angsty. Will & Beverly might be my strongest legacy ship in this show. I wish Beverly & Deanna got to talk.

PRODIGY - dammit here I almost ship Janeway/Chakotay again. I ship Janeway/happiness here so much and if finding him will make her happy, okay fine. Gwyndala/Dal are cute and I want them to have nice things. Haven't wanted to read any fic though.

Crossover Trek - Beverly Crusher/Kathryn Janeway has held a special place in my shipper heart for 13 years. I love them so much. I love that they're still going and they show up in exchanges. They would be such a good couple.

Philippa Georgiou/Afsaneh Paris was such a fun thing.

Most trek crossover femslash is fun and I would try it in an exchange.

DSC - Philippa Georgiou (captain)/Katrina Cornwell. They'd be cute. They must have met. Katrina Cornwell/Gabriel Lorca (prime), Katrina sold me on that one. Katrina Cornwell/Philippa Georgiou (emperor), they have a handful of scenes and they would totally work.

Michael Burnham/Cleveland Booker are very cute on screen and I hope they get a nice ending. (I think they will). Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets are adorable and charming. Adira Tal/Gray Tal are so sweet. Saru/T'Rina are the regency couple of Star Trek and they're very cute. They're so happy in season 5, I love it. I think Joann Owosekun/Keyla Detmer are really fun, I hope they get a nod this season. I love how much the actors do with a look. Michael & Tilly are one of my favorite friendships ever and I adore them. Michael Burnham & Philippa Georgiou (emperor) variety is so complex and intense and I love how they evolve and grow together.

Michael Burnham/Laira Rillak are my top tier, own my soul, ship. I will read every fic that is ever published of them and reblog the gifs on repeat forever and memorize every nuance of every conversation they've ever had. They are the shiniest thing in my fannish heart at the moment, and I have watched their scenes together so many times.

For years I was this obsessed with Beverly/Kathryn, but they didn't have scenes together so I couldn't rewatch them.

Micahel/Laira have scenes together! They talk to each other! I have a whole arc that I can watch on repeat!! I have different episodes to watch for different feelings I need for fic!!

They're so niche and I wish I had more people to talk about them with because I love them so much and...it is a very lonely ship. People do write fic and read it and it's tiny and lovely. I am so grateful for all the interactions I ever have about this ship.

I often feel very out of step in my fannish Star Trek spaces because they are not a ship shared by many. I feel seen when someone acknowledges how much I love them.

#long post #star trek asks #watch discovery season 4 and come ship my OTP with me #they're wonderful

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thegeminisage · 6 months

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ok we watched the tng pilot. let's get into it

data is my best friend on this show and i love him

i liked riker but jonathan frakes looks like a baby without facial hair. he's gotta grow that in. also, at one point he asked someone a question and i got really excited. he should ask more people more questions i think thats what jonathan frakes was born to do. that and sit in chairs with style

also liked geordi even though we only saw him for 3 seconds and worf even though same.

the sections with q draaaaaaagged. ik people like q and whatever he has going on with picard but i'm just not there yet. this "humans are NOT savages anymore" plotline has been played out in tos many times to better effect

actually shocked picard was such a dick. idk why i was expecting him to be more kind maybe i was projecting professor x onto him?? but he kinda sucked lol like what was EVEN going on w his little pissing contest with riker

love and light, there should not be children on a starship. space is fucking dangerous. they're literally boldly going where no one has gone before. these kids could get hurt

the ship??? splits?????????? IS THAT LEGAL????

ok, furthermore, sorry, speaking of kids, not to be a misogynist but out of the 3 ladies (troi, crusher, and yar) i dislike 2 of them. love and light to deanna troi but i really hope she gets something to do besides emote and go OH THE PAIN...her look was slay. i understand completely how she turned women gay. give her something to do. give her a chance. i know she could be good.

i didn't mind dr crusher until she let her kid on the bridge even though you're not supposed to do that and they told him to touch nothing and he proceeded to touch everything and then she got mad when picard got mad. picard spent 70% of this episode being a dick and the one time he was justified she was like :/ wow you're such a dick. lmao. girl come on he literally said don't touch anything he was already being nicer than he had to be. the child was in the wrong children shouldn't even be on this ship

also they talk about wesley like he's their affair baby. idw if its true but nobody tell me. let me believe it. wesley crusher destined to suffer through male pattern baldness

also, i can see now why you're not supposed to date your ship mates. dating them is fine but being exes with them is excruciating and we had TWO PAIRS this pilot

anyway. tasha yar was rad i DID love her.

it's weird though how many of them use first names...in tos sometimes they didn't even use last names, only titles. spock called bones "doctor" almost exclusively. so riker calling geordi geordi after like 5 minutes of knowing him was a little weird

i cried when bones showed up. sue me. his prosthetics were terrible and i already miss him so much.

SPACE JELLYFISH. that part was good

overall both the adventure and the interpersonal stuff was a little ????? which is like. you can flop on one or the other. i DO have faith it will get better but i feel kind of lukewarm on it so far

there's a lot of direct counterpoints to tos, but it's shuffled JUUUST enough so it feels like it isn't copying tos's homework word for word but rewording it to trick the teacher. for example, data is like spock in that he doesn't understand emotions or whatever, but it's actually the inverse because spock understands and pretends not to, while data truly doesn't understand but wants to. then you have deanna troi who's sort of filling in for the other thing spock used to do, which is give us general impressions about unknown alien life, but she SPECIFICALLY does it through emotions so she doesn't resemble spock too much. the captain and first officer have a lot of scenes together but they're tense so it doesn't look too tempting to the slash fans. the doctor is still a bit grumpy but she's a woman this time. they don't use tricorders but geordi's special prosthetic helps them see all that shit anyway. it's tos but shuffled. lmao that it took 2 people to replace spock <3

anyway my favorite part, aside from the part bones was in, was when riker and data talked in the holodeck. and riker was like actually yeah the fact that you're a machine DOES make me uncomfortable. and data is like well i am superior but i'd like to be human actually! and you could see the little gears in riker's head turning and later he called data friend. i liked that and i love data. i love data he's very important even though the pilot wasn't good i think i would keep watching no matter what for data. and i knew it would be like that.

#personal #star trek blogging #tng lb #i'm SURE the women will grow on me. i understand now though why people want wesley crusher dead #sorry to wesley crusher i hope he grows on me too

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quordleona03 · 5 months

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20 Questions For Fic Writers

I was tagged by @marley-manson and @ofmdmash - so I will tag:

@topshelf2112-blog @remyfire @allcanonisrelative @jaelijn @amrv-5 @mycenaae @muirmarie @thebreakfastgenie @uncomfyfriendly @rescue-ram @blistersonmefingehs @fieryphrazes

(but don't feel obliged unless you want to play, and if you'd like to play, consider yourself tagged!)

How many works do you have on Ao3?

253.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

1,393,465.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily (and in more or less chronological order): Blake's 7, Star Trek: TOS, The Professionals, Highlander, Star Trek: tng. MASH, House, and The Fugitive (the film with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones). I have also written fanfic for MacGyver (the 1985 TV series), the West Wing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Quantum Leap, , and various literary fandoms as an exercise in pastiche.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The top three are MASHfics: Tuttle, All We Know, Go, tell them in Sparta - and four and five are both Star Trek fics (both Spock/McCoy): A Man of Integrity, and Through A Glass, Darkly.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh, that's a difficult question. Possibly it's ""I would not be you for a kingdom" " - my Villette slash story: though in that case I was just using the angst Charlotte Bronte handed me in the novel. Likewise with the Blake's 7 story Cruelty Has A Human Heart, and the Good Omens story Let this cup pass from me, and the Highlander story Day and Night But, even what with stories where the angst is built into the source material, I think the angstiest ending is that of the long series The Games. (I considered MASH in Drabbles and concluded that as I wrote the 80 or so drabbles in the sequence individually and out of order, it doesn't really count.)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That is an extremely difficult question to answer. I like writing in universes full of angst. Many of my stories have hopeful endings, which make me happy, but I think the unequivocably happy ending is the MASH story Responsible Indefinitely For Each Other’s Welfare. Because there they are, together, at the end of a long life: and Hawkeye is still the same delightfully annoying trickster as ever.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Sometimes. Usually for ridiculous reasons. "I hate that pairing!" Well, don't read it then. "So-and-so isn't gay, he's too masculine!" - Oh, honey, let me introduce you to some big strong bears, you'll love them.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I would say mostly no, but occasionally yes. I believe sex scenes should be essential to the plot and full of character development, so I rarely write just pure smut. But I did write a Stargate Atlantis story, What I Tell You Three Times Is True, which was purely written as a sex scene, after a giggled conversation with a friend who was into Stargate Atlantis.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I love crossovers, both the reading and the writing of them, and have written dozens. I would say the weirdest one I ever wrote was a West Wing / Star Trek:tng / Drop The Dead Donkey crossover, No More Overtime.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not as far as I know.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, sometimes. It's a fun thing to do with friends. I co-wrote the More Deadly MacGyver/Highlander crossover with Jakrar, sparked out of a paragraph she sent me in an email.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

"All time" - I don't think I have one. I've loved and still love Avon/Vila, Spock/McCoy, Bodie/Cowley, House/Wilson, Holmes/Watson - but right now my favourite ship is definitely Hawkeye/Mulcahy.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The Buffy/MASH crossover. I just don't see where I'd find the time.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, perseverance, imagination, angst.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Heterosexuality. Certain words which I always misspell unless I look them up, each time. Not understanding what is going on in people's minds, see 'heterosexuality' - also racism, sexism, and classism.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Mais c'est impossible. I prefer to write in English but signal that this is a different language being spoken. Bene, plerumque. I had to think about this a lot when writing ASL dialogue for All We Know.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Blake's 7.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Usually the one I am writing at the moment, which is to say All We Know - and the one I want to finish: A Hawk Through the Mirror. But I think technically one of my best is Friend and Stranger - a story set three years after the events of the 1993 movie The Fugitive, written in form as much like the movie as I could make it, full of sudden POV changes between Gerard and Kimble and attempting to get the emotional intensity and chemistry between the two of them that we saw on screen, down to a satisfying conclusion.

#ask meme #my fanfic #i am writing #Blake's 7 #Star Trek #Highlander #The Fugitive #Buffy the vampire slayer #house md #west wing #stargate atlantis #holmes/watson #spock/mccoy #Macgyver #crossovers #good omens #quantum leap

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startrekexplained · 4 months

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Five times The Orville did the same story better than in Star Trek

The Orville obviously borrows a lot from Star Trek, which is being generous, and not just themes and ideas, it's lifted entire ideas for episodes for the series. It does have its fair share of more original episodes too, but its at times just flat out remade Star Trek episodes. Which is fine with me. Sometimes it has done this in an inferior manner (Mad Idolatry for example, while visually impressive and on its own a good episode, was still an inferior version of Who Watches The Watchers imo), but in these cases, The Orville actually did them better: 1.) If the Stars Should Appear - For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky Episode 4 of the first season of The Orville is about the crew finding a massive generational starship which is headed for a star, and contains a population unaware that it is on a spaceship, ruled by an authoritarian theocracy. Sounds familiar, right? Yep, this is a remake of that famous TOS episode about a generational spaceship carved into an asteroid with a population unaware it's in space, ruled by an oppressive religious system (of course). While certainly not the worst TOS episode, the original episode suffers from many problems of TOS in being rather hokey and not having the special effects to really realize the concept, given it was made for TV in the mid 60s. The Orville episode, while also not perfect, suffering from the problems all the episodes of the first season suffer from (mainly the problem of immersion breaking jokes inserted in to make the episode unnecessarily more comedic), is better both visually and story wise. When not trying in vain to be funny, the episode works very well as a remake of the original premise with the actual budget to make it work and even has a cool ending featuring Liam Neeson. 2.) Deflectors - The Outcast

Old Trek really dropped the ball on LGBTQ representation and promotion, having very few instances where one can claim it was progressive on this issue. The Orville on the other hand, is far more bold and progressive on this issue. "Deflectors" is a case in point, a clear allegory on gay rights and gay acceptance. However, the episode is essentially a remake of the TNG episode "The Outcast". In that episode, the TNG crew meet an androgynous alien race who are against all gender expression and repress it. Sounds like a trans rights allegory, right? Well, strangely no, the episode was intended as a gay rights allegory but along the way, the message became so muddled that the episode accidentally comes off as a trans allegory afraid of promoting gay rights (the character Riker falls in love with was originally meant to be played by a male, with a gay kissing scene even). Kinda funny. The Orville takes a similar idea, the Moclan species which suppresses all expression of the female gender also represses any instances of heterosexuality, an obvious flipped allegory on societies attitudes toward homosexuality. Beyond just being actually clear in its message, the episode is visually and even acting wise far better, with a more interesting mystery plot woven in and a sad ending that impacts more than the ending in "The Outcast". 3.) A Tale Of Two Topas - The Outcast

Okay I guess I'm cheating by covering the same Trek episode twice, but "The Outcast" is indeed far better as a trans allegory than a gay rights allegory. But The Orville did a trans allegory far better too. "A Tale Of Two Topas" actually directly addresses the issues of children with gender dysphoria, exploring their emotions, the (lack of) acceptance of their condition and identity, and how this can lead them to suicidal ideation and other self-destructive behavior. The episode is fantastic as a trans allegory primarily because it doesn't actually shy away from the message, and it's definitely an episode needed in this day and age. Far better than "The Outcast" which comes off as an episode of Riker trying to save a woman he wants to bone from an evil non-binary society. "A Tale Of Two Topas", much like "Deflectors", feels like the LGBTQ episode TNG or one of the other 90s/early 2000s Treks should have produced to be a trailblazer but never did for whatever reason (which will be the subject of a future post). Of course because it's an allegory, some people, namely conservative fans, didn't get it and actually interpreted as an anti-trans episode, which led Seth Macfarlane and others on the show to have to tell them otherwise, amusingly enough.

4.) From Unknown Graves - Angel One

Okay, this one is a tiny bit of a stretch, because the plots are very different, however the theme is similar. The Orville has to try to make an alliance with a fiercely matriarchal species whose society discriminates against males. Yeah, sound familiar? It's a bit like "Angel One" albeit with a different overall plot, in fact this plot is only the B plot of the episode. I still wanted to include it in because it deals with the idea of a matriarchal society far better than the cheesy and bizarre "Angel One" which btw was apparently meant to be an allegory for South African apartheid? I don't get it either. Instead of having a man seduce the evil sexist woman and changing her mind, The Orville actually takes the idea more seriously despite also mixing in a lot of comedy which works because it's actually not immersion breaking. As for its A plot, not related but surprisingly does things better than Trek did too, and I might as well mention it here briefly. The scene of Issac getting emotions and being overwhelmed by them is somehow better than when Data got emotions in Generations, and it showed how good The Orville be.

5.) Electric Sheep - Eye Of The Beholder

Again, a bit of a stretch because the overall plots are different, but they both deal with the same theme: suicide. TNG's "Eye Of The Beholder" has some interesting discussions on suicide, but it devolves into a bizarre murder mystery plot that doesn't really work. The Orville's "Electric Sheep" covers the topic better by making the attempted suicide of Issac as a central point of the plot without devolving into trying to be something more exciting. The reactions and responses to suicide are just done much better in The Orville, even if it has a somewhat trite cop-out with Issac being saved in the end by technobabble. The scenes of the young Ty trying to recreate Issac in the holdeck..er I mean simulator are just another example of how much better this episode is. Overall, surprisingly The Orville covers the subject in a more adult and serious manner and this solidifies The Orville as a good remake of TNG.

#star trek #the orville #star trek the next generation

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grimecrow · 1 year

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That Moment When Picard Season Three Had Me Remember

So if you haven’t watched Picard Season 3 yet and want to stay spoiler free I suggest that you skip this post as there will be a spoiler I will be discussing. This has been your warning.

Growing up Star Trek was always in my life from watching old TOS episodes, to TNG all the way through till the end of Voyager. I remember when my step-mother knew how excited I was about watching the premiere of Deep Space Nine and how she sent me to my step-grandparents for the day saying how ‘random’ the timing was of me having to go over. She also said that it was a shame that it was something my step-grandmother would never sit through so even if I had the time to watch it there I’d still miss out. She was shocked and rather unhappy when she found out that I had mentioned to my step-grandmother about how I had been excited about watching the show but it was okay I’d just try to watch it at some other time and the response had been to have me do chores till the show came on, watch the show, then finish chores while my step-grandmother had tea in the dining room. I’ll give her credit, she knew pretty much all of my step-mother’s games and did her best to thwart them whenever she could... Anyhow I should get back on track and talk about Picard season 3 and the moment in episode nine when this happened.

Now I have a lot of issues with the Picard series and its writing; even season 3 despite how much everyone else has loved it. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it there were just issues that stick out to me as is the case with all trek. It’s one of the main reasons I drifted away from trek honestly. When it was good it was amazing and when it was bad it was unwatchable. My love for Star Trek is not absolute but then again my love for any media is not absolute. That being said when I saw the crew step back onto the Enterprise D’s bridge I had to have watched that clip at least fifty times and I cried. Seeing that old bridge brought back the memories of what this crew in specific meant to a young me. When my father took me Christmas shopping and had me pick out the one thing I wanted above anything else I chose Super Mario 3 for the NES. We went home and he had me wrap it so he could give it to the teenage kid of the woman he was dating at the time because he wanted the kid to also like him. He then left me home alone for the night on my own (I was a latchkey kid) coming back in the morning a couple of days before Christmas. It was TNG I watched to try to forget the hurt I felt. And no I didn’t get Super Mario 3 for Christmas. When my mother had once again gambled away so much of our money that were going to be evicted, when I had no idea where I would be living in the next couple of days it would be Star Trek TNG that I watched to escape that fear for a while. I’d lose myself in TNG when my hands would shake due to the damage my father did to them and my arm that night. Or any of the other numerous times he and my step-mother hurt me, threw me into walls or whatever. So I started remembering all those times when TNG helped me escape pretty horrible things.

But then I also started to remember some actual genuinely amazing moments that TNG gave me. Not when it was simply a balm for my wounds, or an escape from fear but actual genuine amazing moments. During the Best of Both Worlds cliffhanger I wrote a little bit of fanfiction and my elementary teacher talked to me about my ideas for the story. I won’t lie at that age my ideas had to be rather bad; I honestly don’t remember them all. I also know that my fanfiction was rather bleak in places and my teacher still encouraged me. Asking me why I thought certain things would happen and questioning my logic when it was way off but encouraging me for being able to defend my story choices even if they weren’t ones that she would make herself. She also told me that it was okay to use writing, even fanfiction to work through feelings that were dark or that we felt we couldn’t talk about. It was okay to write a fanfiction where sometimes the good guys don’t get the easy win, and maybe there is a cost. That really pushed me on a fanfiction writing path I’m still on today using it not only to enjoy things I love, but press the boundaries of my understanding of the source material, extrapolating ideas, and yes sometimes using it to work through things I can’t find any other way to work through. Also I can remember the TNG series finale. It was a huge event in my community and I went with my mother and we got to watch it on the big screen with a lot of other people. It was an incredible experience and still an incredibly fond memory that I have though I had forgotten it. It is probably the best memory I have with my mother. Picard Season 3 reminded me and I cried.

I don’t think I will be buying much trek on bluray at this point but I will be buying Picard season 3 because of what TNG meant to me and what it reminded me of. I won’t lie as I write this the Picard season 3 soundtrack has been released on Spotify and I’ve been listening to the track from that moment on a loop. It’s track number 32 ‘Make It So’ for those that are curious. I have also decided to collect the core Star Trek Adventure books like those pictured above that I got today. I am not a huge sci-fi guy so I don’t know if I will be able to pull off telling Star Trek stories but I want to try. Maybe in a roundabout way TNG through that moment in Picard season 3 will end up having me create even more memories with friends and found family in the years to come.

#Star Trek #star trek the next generation #Star Trek TNG #star trek picard #PIcard #spoilers #tw abuse #tw childhood trauma

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calliethetrekkie · 8 months

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Star Trek TOS S01E05: The Man Trap

Original Thoughts

"Didn't like it when I tried it when I was 15, to the point that I deemed the show boring and after trying another episode or two didn't pursue it any further. Not as bad trying it again at age 28, but still not to write home about. I can't put my finger on why, but I just do not care for it. But every show's gotta start somewhere, I guess..."

(I didn't do a watchthrough post on it, so that's me digging up my memory of how I felt)

Rewatch Thoughts

Oh Callie, you silly, silly girl...

You want proof that an episode order, even in a show that isn't continuity driven, can be important? This. As a first episode, this episode is a bad choice. You're just thrust into it first thing in an episode that doesn't quite convey the purpose of the series as well as say... The Corbomite Maneuver or even The Cage pilot. This is an episode where you really have to empathize with one of the main characters despite us not knowing or having any connection to him yet and with how it's done here, it didn't work on me.

Now admittedly my 15-year-old self was more concerned with classical/historical animation at this point in time and I only tried it because my dad told me there was a series before TNG. Because I was too stupid to realize that a show titled 'Next Generation' had something before it. I wasn't interested in the franchise in general and I think I used this as an excuse to convince myself that it wasn't worth it. You'd think as someone who had enjoyed researching animation history as a teenager, I would have been, but I wasn't.

But that was then, this is now. On the rewatch in 2021, I felt pretty much the same after it and the other two episodes from before (Charlie X and like... half of Where No Man Has Gone Before), but I decided to keep going. And I'm glad that I did since I fell in love with the show and McCoy became my favorite character. So when I watched it again sometime after finishing the TOS era, my opinion did a complete 180. Especially because I knew and could feel for McCoy so much more that time around.

So, with all that said, how did I feel this time? Oh Lord where do I even start?!

IDK the reasons why they pushed this over The Corbomite Manuever unless there was some late-game production issue, but I can kind of see why of the first batch they had to replace it with, they picked this one. Next to it, this is probably the one that establishes the main cast best, even allowing more for Uhura and Sulu than the others so far have. It also at least has an engaging plot that one can get sucked into, even if due to the events this one doesn't present the purpose the best. A show that starts with them having to kill an alien, the last of its species no less, in a show about exploration and diversity may feel a little out of left field compared to others, is what I'm saying. I can see why this was probably deemed the next best thing, however.

Despite my initial reaction both times I first watched this, I can now happily say that my opinion is FAR more favorable. There is so, so much that I want to talk about it that will cause this review to get WAAAAY too long. I'll post more on my main blog and I already did once here, but I'll do my best to convey it onto here.

Plot-wise, this is an intense one. We've already dealt with being tested by aliens, space criminals, and transporter malfunctions. Now we have something killing crew members, and this time it feels much more personal. Not only because we've now grown accustomed to these characters, but because of McCoy in particular. This is one where you really have to care and worry about him. Not just because of the tension regarding if our heroes will survive, but because of our concern for McCoy and how this is going to affect him. Kind of like how you had to feel for Kirk last episode, and next episode you're asked to do the same for Spock. This is where we are connecting to these characters and where we want them to be okay. IDK if they planned it that way, but it's certainly how I read it.

Speaking of McCoy, let's talk more about him. This is the first episode where we get some backstory, though sadly a LOT of it like about his wife and him having a daughter have still never made it into the show aside from the daughter being mentioned in the animated series. I think enough people know about it, and it's appeared in side material enough that it's considered canon, but his relationship with Nancy is still the best that we get. It starts really cute with him anxious and Kirk clearly enjoying every second of it while teasing him ain't helping him. But it gets a lot more sad the more we realize that Nancy isn't Nancy and the creature use those feelings to manipulate him. The creature outright says that it feels his much more strongly than from Crater, and ain't that just perfect for McCoy? He just feels so much and so strongly, and that made him an easy target.

A lot of credit REALLY goes to DeForest Kelley. The man did not, and imo still hasn't gotten enough credit for how freakin' amazing he was as McCoy. In this episode he's given a LOT to do, not only as McCoy, but at one point as the creature pretending to be McCoy. He portrays so much in the characterization, having that grumpiness we know and love but also this sense of... fragility, I guess is the best word? For as gruff and volatile as McCoy can be at timed, there's also this sense that he's so much more fragile and sad than he lets on. If you know more about his backstory with his divorce and about his father, it makes perfect sense. So him seeing the woman who he almost ended up with likely after the divorce, that one second chance he almost had but still lost, had to be a lot. But then everything else happens, and he finds out that not only was she dead, but from his POV he had to kill her all over again in order to save Kirk, someone he also cares a great deal about. That'll go in another post, but all that fear, sadness, anxiety, infatuation... De portrayed it all perfectly.

And while he wasn't fake!McCoy for long, he also portrays it with much more insecurity and is more withdrawn and quiet. In the conference room scene, as he as the creature acting as McCoy tries to explain how it's just trying to survive, and they shouldn't kill it and is clearly getting more and more worried as it realizes that it's running out of time. It's also really the only time we get to hear from the creature itself, showing some level of intelligence and desperation to survive. It's not just some mindless monster, it knows what it's doing, which makes it even scarier. The scene almost makes me wish we could have just had De doing Fake McCoy the whole episode, but that wasn't to be. The man was such an excellent actor, and he put his all into it in this episode especially. He did more than make McCoy feel like a character, he made him feel like a person.

We get more from other characters as well. Seriously, Uhura, Rand, and Sulu are utterly adorable in this episode and I love them. We have moments like Uhura attempting to flirt with Spock, Sulu and Rand with the plants, Kirk's utter glee at getting to hear more about McCoy's love life (his reaction when he learned about 'plum' is just beautiful). There are a LOT of good moments. Even the monster costume here looked pretty damn good, considering the show's budget. We even get a bit of a darker side of Kirk as he has no problem killing the creature, albeit only because it's killing his men, and he is NOT going to allow that under any circumstances. If that means breaking some moral codes, so be it. We have Spock realizing that McCoy is fake despite so far their longest interaction being them arguing last episode, which still says a lot if Spock could tell even at this point that something wasn't right. Really, I could ramble forever. But I guess I better try to keep this from going much longer.

It's funny thinking back to my teenaged self now. If I told her that she was going to love this episode and these characters and get sucked into the franchise she's avoided for years, she'd probably look at me like I was crazy. She was in a different place than I am now, and that's okay. It took time, but I grew to love this episode. IDK if I'd rank it as a top tier episode or anything, but it's still a good one. A tense plot, good character moments, and if you're a McCoy fan then there is so much to read into. It's just a shame that because this aired first a lot of that got lost. But if you watch it in production order or even just go back after going through more, I promise that it will be a lot better. Or you liked it from the get-go, I can only vouch for myself XD

Original Rating: 2/5

Rewatch Ranking: 7/10

[My TOS Reviews]

[TOS S1 Reviews]

[Previous Review] / [Next Review]

#star trek #star trek tos #st reviews #the man trap #tos s1 reviews #tos s1 #tos reviews

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youngpettyqueen · 10 months

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What other shows are you into, if any? 🥰

hi Ally <3

so besides MASH im into tons and tons!! ill just list some off the top of my head-

Cowboy Bebop: just finished rewatching this one, I wanted my dad to watch it. im a big anime fan, this one is high up on my list of favourites, its a classic! I even recommend it to non-anime fans because the gorgeous animation, compelling characters and story, and unique world building are just soooooooo good

Mob Psycho 100: hey. hey wanna watch something truly fucking bizarre and unique. wanna watch something that feels like going through therapy. want to cry your eyes out to the most unexpected anime dude of all time. boy do I have a show for you. MP100 makes me unreasonably emotional and I think everyone should watch it

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: my favourite anime of all time nothing else comes even close. I could write an essay on why FMAB should be required viewing. I wish everyone could experience watching it as a kid and going back to it as an adult and having your entire perspective and understanding shift because suddenly youre older than the main characters and shit is so much more horrifying than when you were the same age/younger

Gargoyles: what im currently watching. also a big cartoon fan. Gargoyles is such a wonderful product of the mid-90s and I adore it. I grew up on 80s and 90s cartoon so everything from the lore to the character designs is very nostalgic to me. I need to watch the last season still but I keep putting it off cause I know the quality dips

Avatar the Last Airbender: next show im picking for my dad and I to watch. I unironically consider it to be one of the best stories ever written, with some fantastic characters and what continues to be one of my favourite redemption arcs of all time

Batman the Animated Series: best Batman. no question. I do not accept criticism. I did watch Justice League + Justice League Unlimited with my dad recently and I quite enjoyed those, but nowhere near as much as I enjoyed BtAS. Kevin Conroy I miss you every day nobody understood Bruce Wayne like you did

Doctor Who: both Classic and New Who. we have a free streaming service with a Classic Who channel, and we've had the DVDs for New Who playing lately. my favourite show of all time! meant the world to me as a teenager and got me through a lot. I have a tattoo of 11's sonic and bowtie <3

Smallville: my dad did a rewatch of this recently and I was around for most of it. and listen, ok, Smallville is a cringe fest a lot of the time. its an early 2000s CW show. but its ironically still my favourite depiction of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, and honestly probably my favourite Lois Lane

Star Trek: various Trek shows. TOS is currently playing a lot in the house, which I have seen all of and adore, but im also a huge TNG fan even though i. havent finished it. haha. Ive also seen most of Voyager and quite enjoyed it. at some point ill get to DS9 probably

The X-Files: another one I havent rewatched in years but think about often. X-Files truly had it all. not a day goes by that I dont think about Jose Chung's from Outer Space. this was the first show to make me physically grind my teeth and scream into a pillow over a slowburn

I have more but these are what I can remember off the top of my head and what I would rewatch! im big into shows and movies so I watch a lottttttt. shoutout to some other shows ive loved like Lucifer, the Mandalorian, Kenobi, Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series, Schitt's Creek, The Owl House, Violet Evergarden, and others im sure im forgetting

#ty Ally!!#I need to finish Gargoyles #I also need to finish TNG #im not letting myself rewatch something until I finish TNG #(and by something I mean. MASH.)

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spacefinch · 8 months

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MSB kids and how they’d go about being a Star Trek fan

I headcanon all of them as Trekkies, so deal with it.

Arnold: Very chill about it. Star Trek is the kind of thing he watches when it’s too cold or rainy to leave the house. Even better if it’s accompanied by hot chocolate. (He tried earl grey tea once, did not like it.)

Ralphie: He got into Star Trek thanks to his mom. Whenever Dr. Tenelli isn’t too busy working, she sits down and watches Star Trek TNG with her kids.

Keesha: Her grandma watched the original series. Keesha herself got into it while looking for a new show to watch. Her favorite series is Star Trek DS9.

Phoebe: Favorite series are TNG and Voyager. Has dressed up as Captain Janeway for Halloween one year. She named her cat “Spot” after Data’s cat.

Carlos: Huge Star Trek fan. Responsible for getting Phoebe and Tim into it. Likes watching episodes with his brother Mikey. They’ve even cosplayed as characters from the show a few times. Their favorite series is TNG, but they love all Star Trek.

Tim: Draws lots of Star Trek fanart. Collects action figures. Favorite series is Star Trek DS9 because the characters are so fun to draw.

Wanda: Favorite series is TOS, hands down. Names the reptiles her mom brings home after Star Trek characters.

Dorothy Ann: Probably the biggest Star Trek fan. She watches it whenever she has time. She writes fanfiction. She’s even been to a few comic-cons. It only makes sense that she plans to be an astronomer when she’s older.

Other notes:

Star Trek characters that Carlos and Mikey have gone as for Halloween: (note: Carlos’s costume is in blue and Mikey’s is in green.)

Data and Wesley Crusher

Scotty and the Enterprise

Spock and Chekov

Tom Paris (they both wanted to be Tom Paris)

Two random-ass engineers

Tim, Phoebe, and D.A. have also cosplayed as Star Trek characters before. Here are their costumes:

Tim: Geordi La Forge, Captain Sisko, Tuvok

Phoebe: Captain Janeway, Dr. Crusher, Kira Nerys, genderbent McCoy

Dorothy Ann: Janice Rand, Seven of Nine, Christine Chapel, genderbent Captain Kirk

The whole class has Star Trek watch parties every now and then. Usually it’s at D.A.’s or Carlos’s house, and it’s on a sleepover night. Everyone just piles up on the couch with all the pillows and blankets and stuffed animals and it’s great.

Watch party notes:

If it’s at Keesha or Ralphie or Carlos’s house, then dinner and/or dessert is on the house (meaning the grownups make it for the kids). Otherwise, it’s “get your own food.”

Some people’s houses have plenty of couch room and chair room. Others…. not so much. At the houses with less seating, fights about who gets the best seat have broken out.

When all else fails, just squeeze eight kids onto what is supposed to be a three-person couch like it’s a clown car.

#star trek #magic school bus

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cazort · 2 years

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So my fiance and I had recently finished watching Star Trek: Voyager (after completing watching TNG, DS9, Enterprise, and TOS, in that order) and we decided to give Star Trek: Discovery a try.

Two episodes in, we both agree that, so far, it’s trash, and we don’t want to watch any further. I don’t think it even really qualifies as Star Trek.

Am I being unfair or wrongly jumping to conclusions? Here’s what I dislike about it:

The writing of the dialogue feels unnatural, with the exception of the character Saru who I liked. The dialogue between Captain Georgiou and Michael Burnham feels particularly unnatural. The show also seems to omit a lot of “normal” dialogue, only showing isolated bits of dialogue focused around action/plot scenes, which seems really acharacteristic of Star Trek and also makes it hard for me to get to know the characters as normal people.

There are very few regular characters introduced. Whereas nearly all prior Star Treks introduce most of the main crew in the first episode, at least in passing, Discovery goes two episodes in and really focuses only on a small handful of characters (Burnham, Georgiou, Sarek, Saru, T'Kuvma, Vok) and kills off two of those characters in the second episode. I’m not against characters dying in the opening episode: DS9 shows Jennifer Sisko’s death and how it affects Commander Cisko, and Voyager’s opening episode features the death of many characters, but it didn’t pour energy into developing them only to kill them off.

The cinematography is low-quality and trite, which seems absolutely inexcusable given the modern tools available nowadays, I would expect it to be better, not worse, than prior shows. It is WAAAY too dark, even to the point of being completely unrealistic (why is a Federation court of law so dark at the end of episode 2? why is the ship’s bridge so dark? It’s darker even than Ops on DS9 and that was designed by Cardassians, which live in a lower-light environment. It doesn’t make sense) and to the point of making the episode hard to watch because I can’t see what is going on, even turning the brightness up fully on my monitor. Overall the cinematography looks like that of a bad action movie, or at best, some of the worst episodes of Enterprise’s season 3, not like most Star Trek.

There is too much angst and graphic violence and the overall vibe is too negative, and negative issues are not resolved. Both of us said we felt bad, emotionally, after watching each episode. This is very different from the sort of thought-provoking-but comforting effect that nearly all other Star Treks have. Other Star Treks did not shy away from tough subjects: war, genocide, torture even, but they framed it within a bright, optimistic view of the future in which there were mentally-healthy, mature characters who set a good example even when placed in tough situations. That’s the whole point of Star Trek.

So for people who have watched more of this, is my analysis spot-on? Does it get better after these episodes or does it stay this way? Is it really trash the way we think it is?

TBH the vibe I got from watching the first two episodes is that I felt frustrated at all the money and resources and time put into creating something that seemed to be damaging the franchise by taking something negative and angsty like any bad Hollywood action movie, and calling it “Star Trek”. I found it offensive. But I don’t know if I’ve judged it too early.

I didn’t initially like Voyager when I started watching it, but I ended up watching the whole thing and loving it, especially when I rewatched some episodes. And TNG’s first two seasons were pretty rough, and it has a few abysmal episodes in those seasons, but I still consider it one of the best series of all times, in part because from season 3 onward, they figured it out.

#star trek #star trek discovery #michael burnham #star trek disco #st disco

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diesoonandsuffer · 2 years

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updated thoughts on tng

just finished s3!

the last time i wrote about tng (here) i was 17 episodes into s1 so i thought this would be a good time to update what i think.

i can definitely see that the show is starting to hit its stride more. some episodes are better than others but for the most part i’m enjoying myself. our ensemble cast has been able to flush themselves out a bit more, which i love. i guess i’ll just talk about each crew member again.

picard: i still really don’t know what to think of this bald bitch. he’s had a few moments that i can appreciate but his character still feels so...stiff? which i mean it’s fine for someone to be but it means i won’t find them as interesting. he did just get taken by the borg so RIP :’(

riker: he is noticeably less horny now which personally i’m okay with. don’t get me wrong i love a good man slut monday moment but sometimes i do be getting uncomfortable. i think he didn’t really get to do too much this season? but also i took a break from tng for a few weeks so my memory might be shoddy. his character is definitely getting there and he feels like a kind friend but we can keep digging.

data: i want to take this android, grab him by the shoulders, shake him and say “to want something implies emotion. curiosity does not come without emotion. don’t you understand? you feel. you’re more human than you think. you’re more human than some of the people on the enterprise.” but i can’t do that. however recently he did gain the ability to both a) murder and b) lie about murder so i’m a HUGE fan of this direction for him

geordi: i love the gay blind man who is in love with the android. i think any episode with geordi as the main focus is one that i’m gonna enjoy. he is just so.....he. you know?

beverly: i had to adjust to pulaski and then i had to adjust back again to beverly so i don’t think i really know what to think yet. i feel like i like her and i also feel like she will never be written with complete justice. just a guess.

wesley: i was told about wesley a decent amount before starting tng (or even tos) so i already knew going into it that i would have a fondness for this kid. but even outside of that, i don’t really get how anyone could like..hate him? he’s literally just a little guy. he’s not even in a lot of the episodes and the ones he is in he’s usually just going aye sir warp 8 or whatever. but like. he is a kid! a little guy! he got promoted to full ensign because he’s so awesome and cool and epic and has to save the day but also he has no friends his own age and is very home of sexual. i want to give him a big hug.

troi: hi troi <3 <3 <3 <3 HIIIIIIIII miss beautiful......... anyway sorry where am i? oh yeah. troi. i already know she’s never really gonna be written or explored in any way that really matters so i’ve sort of resigned myself to just looking at her like someone in an old cartoon does when a pretty lady walks by. you know, eyes popping out of my head, heart pumping out of my chest, steam coming out of my ears, i tug a train horn and go AHOOGA. that’s me. fun fact paramount+ refuses to load the episode where she has a love interest and i think they were trying to spare me. also i love whatever insanely casual on and off thing she and riker have going on. (i also find lwaxana troi interesting and also a lens through which we learn more about troi. i don’t know if this is controversial to think or not.)

worf: he still really hasn’t gotten to do much but i like whenever he’s around. he only had like one or two episodes this season that were about him. i do think it’s interesting that he now basically has no klingon honor. the zuko of it all...

um what else. oh i liked yesterday’s enterprise, i thought it was a good, actually proper send-off for tasha even though i know they are going to keep fucking with her character. i didnt mind pulaski but i think i prefer beverly since she feels more of her own character rather than a bones knock-off. i can’t remember her name but i miss that one security officer that was friends with geordi. i forgot about the borg until they came back but idk how to feel about them yet. whoopi goldberg is there. have y’all seen ghost? i watched ghost recently she was great in that. this isn’t relevant. um.

anyway i still have s4-7 to go through so imma be here a while but i’m definitely noticing the improvements and i’m looking forward to watching more.

#and by more i mean looking at troi.#i'm kidding.#if i'm in love with her that's MY business #also i am currently fighting covid and my period as i type this so #if this is incomprehensible thats why #sam's thots #tng #tng lb

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burninglessons · 1 year

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My mother and I are both autistic. This is very important to the story here.

I am on my very first watch through of Enterprise right now, which is surprising because my mother first showed me an episode of Star Trek when I was 7 years old. It has been our Thing that we Do Together for as long as I can remember. For my entire life we have been rewatching 4 of the series in chronological order over and over, an episode or two every time we have time available to sit down and watch something. I’ve seen TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager (and most of the movies) all the way through multiple times.

In all that time, we have never touched Enterprise. Any time I asked about it she would just go “eh I don’t like the captain in that one” and being a child I’d be like “ok sounds reasonable”. She had never seen Enterprise, which I had known. I had assumed she’d watched the pilot bc surely she wouldn’t form opinions about a Star Trek captain without seeing them in action right?

No!

She didn’t like his face. She did not like that the show was new and different and she hadn’t already seen it, and most importantly she did not like actor and real life man Scott Bakula’s face.

Upon actually watching the show she really likes Jonathan Archer. We both really love the show all around - all the lore is fucking awesome, the characters are all wonderful, and it has the perfect amount of trek weirdness. I now firmly believe, though, that had I been exposed to Trip Tucker at a younger age I would have taken far less time to figure out that I’m transgender.

#star trek enterprise #trip tucker #st ent #st enterprise #jonathan archer #trans

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thegeminisage · 14 hours

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STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. we have finally watched the voyager pilot! short verdict: nothing will ever be as good as ds9 but i enjoyed it!!

longer verdict: i will go through it character by character, in order of appearance, saving the maquis crew for when they have more than .5 seconds of screentime in the little opening. this feels like a REALLY big cast, by the way?? am i counting right? 11 recurring characters and we don't even have seven yet? tos has 7 with chapel and rand appearing sometimes, tng had 8 with o'brien and guinan sometimes, ds9 has seven with...man, jake nog rom garak AND keiko as recurring extras, and we don't even have worf yet. so i guess ds9's is technically bigger! anyway.

JANEWAY: i was surprised at how janeway sounded...her voice is different than i expected even though i've heard her be flemeth in dragon age. i was also kind of surprised to see her in the bun and her head looked So Big. like dax's in season 1-2 of ds9. i'm used to seeing her with it down in gifs which looks better but personally i also think she could have rocked the kira cut. that said, i like her so SO much. she has a couple of speeches that remind me VERY strongly of kirk - when she's lamenting harry left his clarinet behind and not getting to know him, when she decided she couldn't sacrifice an entire people to get one ship home. she's got the kind of compassion kirk did - when she pulled up a stool to listen to the caretaker's troubles, when she held his horrible little corpse, she was genuinely filled with real sadness for what had happened there. (as a side note, speaking of tos, the ship voyager also reminds me of the original enterprise WAY more than the tng enterprise was - especially their little cafeteria.) i was really surprised she had a boyfriend, because i feel like i've heard she gets with chakotay! sorry to her bf, she is gonna cheat on you (and i support women's wrongs), but the worst part is the dog. if they pull some odyssey shit with the dog i'm gonna be so upset. ALSO, i love that she insists on "ma'am" instead of sir (that always bugged me) and even that will only do in a pinch. YOU WILL ADDRESS HER AS CAPTAIN. even when her hair fell down she fixed it on her way down the hallway. she's such a badass. when she says she's gonna get them home I BELIEVE HER. she's got an iron fucking nerve and balls made of titanium.

TOM PARIS: i hate this man so much it's insane. i googled to see whether he died and found out he was played by one of those cadets wesley got in trouble with...girl, he was in prison, why not just make him the same guy?? anyway, he was kind of shitty to both harry and chakotay (oh boy we are already being racist to chakotay) and i cannot believe THIS is the man janeway is gonna have salamander babies with. he's extremely obnoxious all the time (him harassing that betazoid lady...fuck off lol) and i just KNOW people are writing paris/chakotay slash because of their whole deal which makes him more annoying. the "your life is mine now" thing is racist as hell. i'm not prepared to sympathetically see this man's hidden depths bc i know that as a snarky white man he already has half of whatever voyager fandom happens to exist doing that for him already. sadly, we will have to put up with him for all seven seasons. LUCKILY, aside from the racism, half of which came from this guy anyway, he was my only real sour note.

HARRY KIM: love this dude. i like how he managed to talk sense into b'elanna when she was wigging out and despite my wishing he didn't have to be friends with tom paris him going "i can pick my own friends" was a great way to show that he's not afraid to stand up for himself. i wish i wasn't feeling so anti-quark lately bc otherwise his scene in the bar with quark (and why is it always quark doing these surprise cameos!!) would've been pretty funny. i think it was a nice touch that harry, on his first EVER mission, got to be the one to deliver the news about how far from home they were. i absolutely love his whole deal of being completely green and meeting everything head-on anyway, he is so brave. as i said before, the way he is just charging through despite being out of his depth reminds me a little of chekov, if chekov had brain cells. he's very charming. i think he and b'elanna could get it also.

HOLOGRAM DOCTOR: he is so funny, i love him. like, i don't really know how he works? is all of medbay a holodeck? but it's kind of hilarious that he's sentient enough to get annoyed when people are randomly beamed away and when people forget to shut him off (he needs a nap!)

CHAKOTAY: oh i am already feeling how rough this is going to be. that "can't you use some magic to turn into a bird and fly away" and also the "your life is mine now" were rrrracist. (that said, "you're too heavy" was a really good comeback.) can we please be normal. that aside: i really like him. i like how quickly he came to grips with the situation and i like how much he hates tom paris (NOT SEXUAL!!! NO!!!!!! i just agree with him) and i especially like that he has a set of titanium balls to match janeway's like did we SEE that doomsday machine-esque suicide run he almost went on? he cut it even closer than kirk did and kirk cut it that close ON ACCIDENT chakotay was yelling at them not to beam his ass back until his ship was already on fucking fire. also, he's very handsome. ALSO, when tom paris asked him "you'd rather die than let me rescue you?" i had to laugh because quite literally 10 seconds prior out of mine own mouth was "if it was death or tom paris i might let go." i really hope there's more to chakotay than "tom paris's antagonistic buddy" because 1. a fate worse than death 2. this is not humans and vulcans this is real life racism you cannot spock and bones this. STOP THAT.

TUVOK: ALSO VERY HANDSOME. very like. he reminds me of spock so much because he's extremely bitchy but also very dialed down about it. i like that leonard nimoy was like yeah im gonna go stupid crazy and all vulcan will be like this from now on, including my funny little eyebrow thing, in which girlies will still see spock long after i'm dead. like what misha collins tried to do with cas but it actually worked. tuvok strikes that perfect balance of dignified and kind of above everyone else without feeling stuck up or prissy (though his scene where he tries so hard not to look at neelix's junk was great, he was justifiably a little prissy there), and with that undercurrent of wryness that nevertheless doesn't truly betray any emotion - you don't get the same sense of repression/unease with the self from him (at least in the pilot, who knows what will happen later) that you do from spock so it doesn't feel like voyager is copying tos's homework, and it feels nice to get to know another vulcan who's gonna be a main character instead of a one-off. i hope they are more normal about a black vulcan than they have been about chakotay so far bc we have got to get out from under all of that. i am a little worried janeway might kill him. i feel like i see people on reddit criticizing her all the time for killing some dude who i am pretty sure is tuvok and like. can someone tell me if he dies if he dies i will be SO mad

B'ELANNA TORRES: she is stupid hot. i'm a little "lol" when she's like yeah my klingon half is HARD TO CONTROL!!! (super saiyan scream of rage) bc like worf does fine (most of the time...) but i will never turn down a chance to watch a beautiful woman be insane with rage. i like how she calls harry kim "starfleet" derisively and then goes out of her way to give him breaks when he needs them and help him up the stairs when he can't make it. big tsundere energy. also like that she was questioning janeway's decisions. not that i disagree with janeway's decisions necessarily i just like that janeway will have to earn her respect from some people the way any male captain would. equality. also, potentially, girlfights.

NEELIX: i forgot to add him to "the things i know about voyager" post because i had only heard him mentioned a couple of times and got the idea he was just a horrible little gremlin there for comic relief. a rygel, if you will. a quark, if you won't. was pleasantly surprised to like him better than rygel and quark combined, though that's a pretty low bar. not only is he clever enough to outsmart the slavers, he was brave and caring enough to go back and rescue his girl. HE RESPECTS WOMEN. also, his water indulgence was pretty hilarious, as was, again, his scene with tuvok. i feel like those two could do straight man funny guy all day long. a dynamic duo. i hope they wind up having screentime together. i don't mind horrible little gremlins so much when they're charming and when they aren't trying to take holosuite videos of kira.

KES: i feel like kes hasn't done much yet except lecture her people on the dangers of having a cult-like mentality. but i like her! she's sweet and compassionate and pretty brave. she does a lot to humanize neelix, at least! maybe it's just me but i feel like she was barely in this. for now i am trusting that they do more with her later. or, idk, maybe they don't. we DO have janeway AND b'elanna AND seven eventually so i can't be too mad about it as long as they're not turning her into a holodeck sex toy like poor deanna

other things of note:

BANJOS? i counted three different southern accents in this section. it would have been offensive if it wasn't so funny. the people holding hands and jumping around in a circle like animated robin hood characters was a great touch. so was the corn on the cob. the emotional whiplash from an otherwise very serious episode was. certainly something.

the empty barn reminded me of this side of paradise <3 i love, in general, how voyager just FEELS a little bit like tos. certainly more than tng did, even more than ds9 does. like this FEELS like it's set in the same universe, it kind of bridges a mental gap between ds9/tng and tos for me, worldbuilding wise.

water thing reminded me of mad max. really good.

slaver aliens.......are these guys really our antagonists?? i thought our antagonists were the borg but maybe we don't do that until seven gets here. i feel like possibly a bunch of semi-primitive people in the desert who enslaved and beat (potentially raped, depending on how you want to interpret that dialogue) a pretty blonde girl is maybe um. not the best idea. maybe they'll get written down into side villains and eventually just guys. like the ferengi. siiigh, the ferengi.

that said, i kind of loved the story of the caretaker and the ocampa, enough that i almost forgot the caretaker was choosing to appear as a banjo-playing hillbilly. i like to think him and his wife were from andromeda like those guys from tos...and it's very nuanced that even after he fucked their planet forever he still didn't really learn to value life because he's kidnapping people and letting them die or stay stranded in order to attempt to procreate. NONETHELESS he is filled with remorse, and janeway's scene with him, comforting him that children could learn to grow on their own, was really sweet. i also like that when he died his little horrible goop body shrank down until it looked like a hunk of dried snot. do not take that to the ocampa.

i just like the PREMISE of voyager. a 75-year journey that they have to cut down by any means possible...it's like the odyssey, but it space. in tos and tng they wandered from place to place but always over the same stomping grounds in general. we have the same old players, like klingons and romulans and vulcans and andorians etc etc. in ds9 we stay in one single place and it's to our benefit because we get deep character work. but voyager is going in a straight line back to earth, and we've never been out here before, so whether or not it lives up to the potential right now it feels like anything truly could happen. we don't be running into the neutral zone and we can't call the klingons for help or stop by quark's for another cameo. we are just out here. it's VERY neat.

major concerns so far include of course tom paris and potentially him being handcuffed to chakotay as banter buddies. racism in general but also with chakotay in particular. and perhaps a lack of interesting points re: kes. rip girl.

stuff i'm looking forward to is janeway getting to be a person instead of A Woman, seven eventually, getting to know chakotay and tuvok better, and the salamander episode, someday.

okay. this concludes my voyager pilot write-up. TONIGHT: "parallax" and "time and again."

#personal #star trek blogging #voy lb

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