#do you want tos tos films star trek the animated series tng tng films ds9 voy enterprise dsc picard ld the shorts prodigy tas films?

[hamletshoeratio]

"But no new content 😭!!" that means jack shit. We have several literal decades worth of content we can watch or rewatch. The writers and now the actors too are not only fighting for their livelihoods but for the futures and the soul of their industries.

Fuck new content, fuck the executives and producers and powers that be who make millions upon millions while the people, who create the content that make them rich, can barely make ends meet.

Here's some suggestions to anyone who doesn't know what to watch;

Nostalgia rewatch; watch old favourites, shows and movies you haven't seen in years but that stayed with you, the ones that mattered to you.

Watch the shows your parents didn't let you watch growing up because they thought the show was "too mature" for you.

Watch the shows and movies people have recommended to you that you never found time for before.

Watch indie films!!!

Look at different genres than what you've watched before and give them a go.

Try films and shows from other countries and/or in other languages. There's dubs and subtitles available and these shows and movies can be just as good if not better than their American and/or English speaking counterpart.

And remember when watching shows, that you do not have to binge them all at once, you can have your own personal tv schedule and watch say an episode a week like you would've done when/if they aired before streaming

Look at some older films and shows, why does it matter if it's in black and white or the camera quality is lower than 4k and hd, so long as it's good? And so many of those shows and films, while not perfect, have aged better than shows that have come out in the last decade, like the golden girls for instance has aged so much better than say glee (ok many many many shows aged better than glee but let's be real for a second, music was better when artists were terrified of the Glee cast doing a better version of their song on the show. I do still wish it was a show my mom didn't let me watch tho, lmao glee was fine but no, her twelve year old being obsessed with Les mis and rewatching it religiously was cause for concern 😂😭 I was just as obsessed with glee for seasons 1-4 especially).

It's ok to indulge your inner child and rewatch the classics tm. The shows and movies you grew up with. Rewatch the shows that got you through sick days from school, the tv movies you remember watching premiere, the cartoons that MADE your Saturday mornings, etc.

On the topic of animation, that's literally an unlimited genre you can tap into, which rarely gets the recognition and respect it deserves.

Don't be afraid to watch the one season wonders, the shows that networks and streamers cancelled after one season in spite of strong reviews and good ratings. Or the shows that ended abruptly around the season 3 or 5 mark because networks and streamers cancelled them because they didn't want to negotiate contracts and have to pay the actors and writers more. Get angry, remember what the actors and writers are fighting for.

The privilege of older shows that either concluded naturally or that writers were given a heads up on might be on it's last season is that you get closure, unlike with the above. That might not mean an ending is good but a bad ending is better than a cliffhanger. There's always fix its fics for a bad ending. And if the ending is good, it's typically GOOD in my experience. The fear of a cliffhanger and zero closure has already turned many against watching new content until the show is renewed for another season or is fully wrapped (and fans don't hate the ending).

Watch the shows that were in their day or are popular or critically acclaimed, they usually hold up to the hype.

Watch the old shows and movies your favs were on/in before they were your favs.

Try a soap or a telenovela, they can be entertaining af (holby city my love, Tuesdays have never been the same since the BBC robbed me of you).

If you liked a reboot or a revival of a show, try the original (in certain cases, the og is even better, see boy meets world v girl meets world).

If you like period dramas, try shows and films from other countries based on their history. A lot of times when people are telling their own history it goes far better than when Hollywood tries it (see the many times Hollywood has actors brought in because producers think they're good for box office and they then go on to butcher the accent their character should have, see Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and so many others who have absolutely butchered the Irish accent over the years for instance. There's also many many instances even recently of just blatant whitewashing see Matt Damon as the last samurai...).

Listen to recommendations, watch the shows and movies you know your family and friends loved but you never got around to watching.

#wga strike #sag strong #sag solidarity #sag strike #wga solidarity #wga strong #writers guild of america #writers guild strike #like your ncis law&orders greys er spn etc all have nearly 20+ seasons WE'RE GOOD FOR AWHILE FOLKS #like the amount of content we have for star trek alone like #do you want tos tos films star trek the animated series tng tng films ds9 voy enterprise dsc picard ld the shorts prodigy tas films? #support the strikes #union strong #sag aftra #sag aftra solidarity #sag aftra strike #sag aftra strong

[itsclydebitches]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#star trek #ST #mymeats #flawartist

[lenixsocial]

spoilers ahead!!

This is a long one so bear with me here:

My rebuttal to this article:

https://www.thegamer.com/star-trek-picard-is-garbage/

Has pushed me to actively post here on Tumblr for the first time in two years, I believe. So kudos. I'm back (baby)...

To begin with: is "Picard" the show the fandom expected? I heavily doubt it. I think a lot of fandom expected to see something familiar. Ol' Jean Luc out there commanding a fleet as an Admiral in his old age, still the guy who we followed throughout TNG and films. Tempered by his experiences, but still the same basic character.

The fandom almost immediately reeled when we saw a CGI de-aged Data in previews for Season 1. What was this all about? Why de-age him (that's because Spiner is old...so too is Stewart). And then came the naysayers. Gatekeeping you see is a pastime in fandom, but it's a special sauce in Trekdom.

HOW DARE they create another show! It's NOTHING like the last one. And yeah, pretty much EVERY Star Trek show since the early 70's animated series has got this treatment:

The Animated Series: "Cartoons are for Kids!"

TNG "This isn't Star Trek. Who are these guys? They're weak. Bring back Kirk and Spock and McCoy. That's Star Trek!"

DS9 "Oh so it's just a bunch of people on a station? That's not exploring. How are they gonna find strange new worlds? This isn't Star Trek. Gene is turning in his grave!"

VOY "A female captain. They have to come up with some gimmick I suppose. This is a copy of The Next Generation and a bad one too. If you wanted to make more TNG you just should've. Gilligan's Island in space no thanks. This isn't Star Trek".

ENT: "WHAT IS THIS THEME?!?! AUGHHHH! MY EARRRRRS! Why do we keep going BACK? I wanna go forward! Too much violence and sex. Why are they always rubbing lotion on each other? Gene would be appalled at this. It isn't Star Trek".

DIS "Too woke for me. Too many SJW. Does Burnham ever stop crying? The writing is awful. The casting is terrible. Tilly is annoying. They're ruining canon. Why are the ships so futuristic looking have you seen TOS? This isn't Star Trek"

LD "Too much fan service. The characters talk too fast. The jokes don't land. The animation is awful. Cartoons are for Kids. This isn't Star Trek".

PRO "It's a kids show. It's a reskinned Star Wars show. The scripts are terrible and predictable. I guess my kids will like it. Animation is for kids. This isn't Star Trek".

You notice I didn't mention Picard and that's because it's just more of the same. Plus, I'm going to directly rebut some of the claims I hear over and over again, and those same claims just also happen to be the headers in the article itself. So on with my opinion:

It's obsessed with violence and misery

It is? Obsessed seems a bit harsh. It is a show on a major streaming platform in the 21st century. Cerebral semantics and missions to study moss on planets may have been fine in 90's syndication but Picard like it or not is a flagship tentpole of Paramount+. As such it must titillate and astound. A good way to do that is roughhousing. I heard a lot of anger over how Icheb died in Season 1. Truth is, that scene was a shock. It got everyone talking. Good and bad. And in TV, there's no such thing as bad PR. It also wouldn't have landed as hard had it been shown off screen or dumbed down. You needed to FEEL Seven's pain in that moment. I think Q's walloping of Picard in S2 also likely had the same general impact. Needed for dramatic impact, but distasteful to diehards who aren't familiar with the concept of showing these things openly with little to no censorship. Other than those two moments, the violence seems fairly par for the course. It's actually kind of laughable when you consider shows like Game of Thrones and Euphoria exist and nobody ever complains about the violence there. They commend it for being raw and real and gritty. My advice? Expand your horizons. The game has changed. Roll with the punches. Literally.

There's no actual science fiction in it

What in the flying bullshit are you talking about? Ships blasting through the cosmos, a cyborg race bent on destruction and universal assimilation, touch screen computers, holographic command crew and doctors, other worlds, and oh...time fucking travel...can't forget about that one. Are they tropes at this point? Yeah likely are. Am I pissed off? Nope. Because whether or not they are, it's science fiction. I'm curious about the judgment of 'real' science fiction. That's about the same as REAL Star Trek. So this writer has gone a bridge further and called this entire series not Sci-Fi in addition to it not being Trek. Gotcha. Double gatekeeping. It's Sci-Fi. Simply because you don't like the TYPE of Sci-Fi it is does not mean that you can't call it Sci-Fi. Also, the show has subgenres too like action, drama, and thriller. Is it any of those? I mean...the terms are labels...generic words meant to gauge your interest only. Stop applying some exalted meaning to it.

Picard feels like a totally different character

I love this one. Of all of these bulletpoints this is a fave. So yeah, he is. Because almost 20 years have passed in the series. Are you the same person you were 20 years back? No, of course you aren't. You've grown. You've changed. Your life experiences have impacted who you are. This is called character development in the world of fiction. Picard's world expanded, his duties, his position in Starfleet it all changed. Even the way he's perceived by his superiors. They find him pompus and arrogant and too forceful. Hell, you would be too if your one big career plan to save a race kinda just went kablooey in your face. Also...he's now an android. So yeah...that may have some impact on things as well. He's a shell of his former self. Hung out to dry by Starfleet, and seen as a dry, curmudgeonly old man at the end of his career. He isn't the captain of the Enterprise anymore. He isn't an action hero. He has given up his speeches because talk seems cheap when nobody is listening. He knows it's still in him (his eloquence came shining through in his speech to his ancestor in a recent episode) but life has got in his way. In that aspect, he's more real than perhaps he ever was on TV. My advice is to adjust to him now, and realize that you can always go back to TNG to see him when he was younger and and how you remember him. Also...next season is probably going to be quite a moment for you seeing all the cast and how they've grown. You probably won't like that is my guess. You'll probably think they ruined those characters as well. Your head canon isn't canon. Neither is beta canon. Like it or don't the writers room is in control and they will do whatever they feel is needed. I guess be thankful Patrick Stewart is usually in on the story sessions?

There's no dialogue, just sarcastic quips

Admittedly there are a TON of sarcastic quips. But the show is dialog heavy in my opinion. Those cute quips are often used as a nod and wink at the audience. The way this bulletpoint reads you'd think the cast barely talk and walk around cracking one liners. Couldn't be further from the truth if it tried. Sometimes I feel the show is too verbose, takes too long to explain something, but there are an equal number of times in which it isn't explained enough and blips off the screen before I can assimilate it (no pun intended). Episode review sites like Trek Culture on YouTube are excellent companions to the show if for any reason than to shine light on something you might've missed.

The fan service is relentless

In the current season, I agree. It's become less of a "oh look at that thing it's from (insert episode here)" to "here's another tongue in cheek reference to Star Trek IV". Is it bad? Well, it's a bit much, but they gotta realize everytime they do something like put the punk on the bus back into the show it now is canon. He held his neck, remembering his interaction with Kirk and Spock in 1984. So this event occured and hence we must be in the prime timeline. Did they mean to intimate that? Did they want the fans to know? Or was it just something they threw in? Because if that's the case, diehards are gonna be mad.

Everyone is an alcoholic for some reason

This is one thing I have issues with. Openly drinking alcohol as a on duty Starfleet officer would be forbidden (that's why Sythehol was invented). Also people don't smoke on ships so...unless Rios was smoking a holographic cigar, that is also deemed a canon no-no. But yes alcohol does flow like uh...alcohol. I think this may owe more to society being more obsessed with drinking. Especially the current generation. Again, the writers are courting the younger viewers and trying to be relevant. Is it needed? Is it warranted? I think perhaps yes in a few characters realms. Rios certainly had reason to become an alcoholic after what happened to him and his career. Raffi also has had her share of struggles which led her to the bottle (and drugs), and Jurati is unstable so it kind of just tracks for her character. Oh and Picard owns a vineyard and winery so yeah he's gonna drink.

They made Q boring

Actually feel the opposite. By becoming desperate he struck Jean Luc for the first time. He wasn't listening and Q had enough insolence. That tracks with his character. But once we also learn that he's unable to use his powers and he seems to be losing himself one wonders why that is. Do the Q get senile? Is he mentally unstable? Is it something related to time and alternate timelines? This season has seen him use people to gain his goals, and there's a definite air of mystery surrounding him. One perhaps deeper than we've ever seen on TV.

Ultimately, the reviews of Picard are (like Discovery and Lower Decks) very good. Critics love the show and a fair amount of fandom does as well. There will always be gatekeeping, folks telling you what is and isn't Star Trek and what would and wouldn't have upset Gene. Truth is Gene was a sex crazed, disrespectful writer who often screwed over his creative team for personal glory. He owes a lot of what we call Star Trek today to Gene L Coon, DC Fontana, Harve Bennett, David Gerrold, Brannon Braga and a whole host of others. People often forget that he created the sandbox in which the universe was created, but took a backseat thereafter (as most creators of series do). That's not to belittle his accomplishments it's just the truth of the matter. His rules were not conducive to drama, and the shows honestly needed him to go to become the cornerstones of the series they have become.

[k6034]

Hi! With all the Star Trek posts going around I was wondering what is a good part of the series/order to start watching it? I think I'm officially ready lol (pretty sure I watched some of it on tv as a kis but that's beside the point). Also - were you a part of that 'ladies imitate fancy paintings' tik tok? Wearing a pink dress sitting on a bench?

Hi nonny! I love star trek so I’m very happy you came to me to ask!

The official production order is:

Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)

Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS)

The first six Star Trek films (The Motion Picture up to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)

Star Trek: Generations

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)

Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)

Star Trek films 8-10 (First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis)

Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT)

Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek: Discovery (DSC)

Star Trek: Picard (PIC)

Enterprise and Discovery (seasons 1 and 2) are are actually prequels, and the 2009 reboot movie is set just before TOS as well.

I think if you don’t have any prior knowledge to Star Trek other than the vulcan salute and ‘set phasers to stun’, the 2009 reboot is actually a great way to introduce the franchise to new fans. It changes canon from TOS and goes down an alternate timeline, but it’s actually addressed in the film how / why. 

If you want to watch the original series first (which I love!) bare in mind that it was the 60s,they had 0 budget, and while a lot of the messages set in the episodes are progressive for their time and generally promote positives, they still come with their issues and some things wouldn’t float today. Watch with a forgiving eye, because the overall message is a great one.

I personally would recommend maybe watching TNG first if you can’t get over how bad the TOS carboard sets are, or how overdone the acting is. Sir Patrick Stewart should be a familiar face to many, so it’s an easier transition to new fans. Like most shows, it gets better after the first season. 

DS9 is also a great show with lots of really good messages. They touch on the race subject a few times and do it so beautifully.

The most recent and higher budget ones are Discovery and Picard. While it’s very tempting to go for them first because of the amazing CG and high action scenes we’re used to these days, I can’t stress enough how much better they would be with some prior knowledge of either the Star Trek universe (with the various species and conflicts and history of the federation) or the characters themselves. Before watching Picard, I highly recommend watching TNG and the movie Nemesis (movie 10). While the film is not my favourite, it has a major plot point that is addressed in the show.

If you don’t have the patience to watch all the films, I personally would recommend at least watching The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock & The Voyage Home (movies 2, 3 and 4). Watching Wrath of Khan before watching Into Darkness is also highly recommended. 

Overall, each show has its own charm and sense of honour. there ware timetravel episodes, heartbreaking plot lines, comic relief characters, morals and witty sarcasm and I love each and every show for different reasons. If you do start watching any of it, keep messaging me! I’d love to talk about it :)

Hope that helps! 

#ask #anon #anonymous #k6034 #Anonymous

[aion-rsa]

How Star Trek: Discovery Fulfills Spock’s Franchise Legacy

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Star Trek: Discovery article contains MAJOR spoilers for “Unification III,” and spoilers for Picard.

Michael Burnham has returned to her home planet Vulcan in an attempt to recover some data from a Vulcan and Romulan alliance she never thought was even possible. If this sounds like the beginning of an epic title crawl in a Star Wars movie, you’re not far off. In Discovery Season 3, Episode 7, “Unification III,” the Trek franchise has delivered one of its most epic and generation-spanning episodes in a very long time. We always knew Star Trek: Discovery’s status as both a prequel and a sequel to TOS and TNG was tricky, but for fans everywhere, it was hard to believe these time-jumping tricks could ever result in an episode this heartfelt and straight-up cool.

And yet, if the USS Discovery’s visit to the planet Ni’Var had you scratching your head, or running to Google to figure out how everything fits in, there are a few very logical answers to what’s going on here. But, that doesn’t mean these answers are simple. When there’s this much time travel involved – plus multiple, specific Star Trek shows and movies — it’s bound to get a little complicated. Let’s untangle the Vulcan-Romulan web, shall we?

Is “Unification III” a sequel to The Next Generation episodes “Unification I” and “Unification II”? 

Short answer: Yes! In 1991, during  Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, the two-part episode “Unification” featured the return of Leonard Nimoy as live-action Spock to the small screen for the first time since The Original Series. And, not counting archive footage in DS9‘s “Trials and Tribble-ations,” prior to Discovery, this TNG two-parter was the only appearance of Spock on a Trek TV series after the end of The Animated Series in 1974.

In 1991, Nimoy’s Spock was strictly relegated to appearing in the Trek feature films, and in fact, his final performance as Spock, was also in 1991, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Because Nimoy co-developed the story for The Undiscovered Country, he felt strongly about promoting the film through a crossover on TNG. This is why Spock gives a speech to Picard about committing Captain Kirk to a peace mission in “Unification II.” At the time, Nimoy and the Trek franchise were giving a small preview of what was going to happen in The Undiscovered Country, which was, arguably, the origin of Spock’s journey to becoming an ambassador. (Something that is funny that people forget, is that at the time this episode aired, there was a rumor that Captain Kirk would die in The Undiscovered Country. And nothing Spock says in “Unification II” confirms or denies that!)

So, what does that have to do with the Romulans? Well, if it’s been a while since you’ve seen “Unification I and II” the story is all about Picard and Data trying to track down Spock after the Federation believes he’s gone rogue. This is why Discovery, the Vulcan president, says Spock “left” the Federation. He did! Of course, he didn’t leave it to defect. He left it to live on Romulus and help bring together the Vulcans and the Romulans. 

Wait. Didn’t Spock leave Romulus — before it blew-up — and travel back in time and meet Chris Pine?

Yes! Old Spock did leave Romulus and, eventually die in the past of an alternate dimension. In Discovery, Admiral Vance says that the reunification of Vulcans and Romulans “took centuries after [Spock’s] death.” This, however, is a presumed death. As far as Vance knows, Spock died sometime in 2387, trying to pilot his experimental ship, the Jellyfish, to use red matter to stop the Romulan supernova. In Star Trek 2009, Spock tells Kirk (Pine) — via mind-meld — that he promised the Romulans that he would try to save their planet. Presumably, Spock had been living on Romulus this entire time. In other words, Spock started living on Romulus in 2368 (TNG) and flew his red matter spaceship to try and save them in 2387 (flash “backs” in Star Trek 2009). So, this means that in just 19-years, Spock’s teaching made a big enough difference to eventually get the Vulcans and the Romulans to hang-out together sometime before the events of 3188. 

When did the planet Vulcan become Ni’Var?

It’s not exactly clear. We know that Ni’Var left the Federation 100 years prior to 3188, but it seems likely that the integration of Vulcans and Romulans was underway a long time before that happened. Could it have been as early as the 25th century? Sometime after the events of Star Trek: Picard? Maybe. After 2387, we know the Romulans literally don’t have a home, and by 2399 (Picard Season 1) there’s a loose government called The Romulan Free State. That said, several parts of Romulan culture seem more open to peace simply because things aren’t going so great. Could the Romulan emigration to the planet have happened sometime fairly quickly after Picard Season 1? It’s possible! In fact, considering we see the Romulan Qowat Milat order in “Unification III,” it feels possible that Picard Season 2 could show us the beginnings of the planet Vulcan becoming “Ni’Var.” Then again, it’s also possible this whole Ni’Var business didn’t start until several centuries after Picard, too. There are 930 years between Discovery Season 2 and Discovery Season 3. But, that’s still 789 years between Picard and Discovery Season 3. A lot could have happened.

Okay, how the hell does this recording of Spock even exist?

IRL, we totally understand where Michael’s brief Spock clip comes from. It’s from “Unification II,” and it’s Spock talking to Picard. But, in-universe, why does this holographic recording exist? There’s really only one answer: Picard must have been recording Spock nearly the entire time they were on the mission. The speech Michael Burnham views is (mostly) from the very end of “Unification II,” in which Spock says: “The union of the Vulcan and Romulan people will not be achieved by politics diplomacy will not be achieved by politics or diplomacy — but it will be achieved.” Spock says this to Picard, while Data is watching. So, it feels possible that Data was recording the entire conversation for the purposes of the mission. After all, Picard and Data were on a covert mission for Starfleet, meaning it isn’t insane that they would have recorded it. When Burnham accesses the file, the computer says “coordinates redacted” but also that it’s from the personal files of “Admiral Jean-Luc Picard.” So, Picard is the source, the coordinates were the planet Romulus, and somehow Picard recorded this convo, maybe with Data’s help, or maybe some other way.

There is one small wrinkle in all of that. The first part of the speech that Michael listens to actually happens in a different part of “Unification II” than the second. When Spock says “closed minds have kept these two worlds apart,” this happens way earlier in the episode when, still dressed as a Romulan, Picard and Spock have some soup together. So, this recording is actually two recordings from Picard during his covert mission, which means Data as the primary holographic recording device is probably out since Data wasn’t there during the Picard-Spock soup debate. 

This leaves only two explanations: Picard had a secret recording device on his person, that allowed all of his convos with Spock to be stored and recorded. But there’s a more fun answer.

Picard is an android now—remember? 

At the end of Star Trek: Picard Season 1, all of Jean-Luc Picard’s memories are transferred into a new Synth body, meaning, effectively, Picard’s memories have now been stored using technology. This fact actually creates a pretty easy way for a holographic file of Picard’s eyewitness memory to exist. He wasn’t recording anything at the time with technology, but later, at some point, Picard pulled out a few memories from his new robot brain and turned those into holographic recordings. Considering all the stuff that Picard has seen and his interest in preserving history, this feels legit. Jean-Luc Picard would totally turn his actual memories into curated holographic recordings. And he might do it for the very reason Burnham accesses the files in Discovery. Picard, like Spock, wanted the truth to survive. Even if it meant pulling those memories out of his robot brain, and copying them onto a 25th-century memory stick.

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 is streaming now on CBS All Access.

The post How Star Trek: Discovery Fulfills Spock’s Franchise Legacy appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[traincat]

im like 99% sure you've probably answered this kind of question before but if you dont mind, i want to get into star trek but cant seem to find a consistent watch list consensus, what order would you recommend watching the various series in?

I’m probably the wrong person to ask about this because I got into Star Trek in a way I feel is very different from how most people my age got into Star Trek, which is through either having parents who watched The Original Series and The Next Generation, or just by watching The Next Generation themselves. This is not how it worked for me. I was so sure I didn’t like Star Trek until I was like 23. I’d tried to watch the 2009 movie a couple of times, because the fic was good, but I could never get through it. Then I saw Star Trek: Into Darkness on a whim with a friend, totally fell in love with it (look don’t @ me I know but it still got me into the series), then followed a friend’s recommendation on what Original Series episode to start with. Then I watched all of The Original Series as a marathon and loved it entirely.

The first episode I started with is The Trouble With Troubles, season 2 episode 15. Most episode of The Original Series are standalone, so you can always pick a summary that sounds interesting to you and give it a try – the only episode I would recommend not starting with is the first episode listed on Netflix, The Cage, which is an unaired pilot featuring a different captain and, aside from Spock, an entirely different crew – its footage is cut into future season one episodes, so you won’t miss anything by skipping because you’ll end up seeing it later anyway. But Trouble With Tribbles is my favorite: it’s hilarious, a classic, has cute pom pom fake animals (a tribble keychain lives on my purse), has great character interactions between the crew, and is a great introduction, in my opinion, to Captain Kirk. 

(A little while ago, I wrote up a TOS episodes reclist for a friend that served two purposes: episodes I thought she should see before she watched Star Trek: Discovery, and episodes I just particularly like. It is very serious. So serious. If you want, you can view it here.)

So I would personally suggest starting with The Original Series, with the caveat that I know television from the 1960s can be difficult for some people to get into due to a number of things like differences in pacing and acting norms compared to modern television, or the stark reality of how much social norms have changed. I find Star Trek TOS remarkably progressive for its time, and it definitely did try to be just that, but it is a television show from the 1960s and so the way it addresses certain topics, particularly sexism, may seem dated to modern viewers. I’d give it a try and see how it clicks for you.

After that, I would hit the original movies, 1-6. If you’ve looked up watching guides, you’ve probably come across that inane rule that “only the even movies are good”, which is bullshit, because if you skip the third movie you skip the most romantic film ever made. I am not kidding, it’s literally unbelievably romantic. A lot of people will also tell you not to watch 5, but fuck that because 5 is pretty fun actually, and if you skip it you’ll be left wondering where Spock’s brother Sybok comes from when you inevitably encounter him in fic. 

I think the common and chronological thing to do after TOS is to get into The Next Generation, which is the show that follows TOS. That being said, I had a really hard time getting into TNG after TOS. It’s a much drier show in terms of tone and it took me a while to grow attached to a lot of the characters because of that. I did grow to like TNG! But I did that by essentially leaving on all day TNG marathons on BBC America while I did other things. I would say I’ve seen about roughly 80% of the series, but I don’t feel like I’m the best person to recommend how to watch it. Similarly with Voyager – I watched about half of the show, and while I like the characters, the show itself didn’t hold my attention. (I do want to finish it one of these days, though.) Enterprise is a prequel series – I’d hit it up if you’re in a completionist mood or want more Trek, but I wouldn’t start with it.

This is the point where I’m not sure what to recommend you. Last time I answered a post like this, I said – and I’m going to stick to my guns on this one – that you could start Star Trek: Discovery with or without serious Star Trek TOS knowledge. Star Trek: Discovery is a prequel series that takes place around ten years before Star Trek TOS and stars Michael Burnham, Spock’s human foster sister, with established TOS characters like Spock and Pike joining in the second season. (Ethan Peck kills it as Spock, by the way.) Discovery has a very different format than TOS – for one, it has an overarching plot instead of an episodic one, and it’s first season is much darker and more cynical in nature than a lot of Trek, although there is a reason for that. It’s a beautifully cinematic show, though, and I have a friend with no Trek experience whatsoever who watched it on its own and loved it. There are certain things about it that are enhanced by Trek knowledge – knowledge of Spock, knowledge of Klingons – but I wouldn’t say they’re strictly necessary to your enjoyment, just like a good modern comic run should be enhanced by but not totally dependent on stuff that came 50 years before it. (My above TOS reclist does include notes on which episodes are helpful for Discovery.) 

My other big Star Trek recommendation is Deep Space 9, which, like Discovery, has an overarching plot rather than strictly being episodic. DS9 features the series’ first black captain, Benjamin Sisko, played by Avery Brooks. A unique thing about it is that, unlike most Trek, DS9 takes place on a space station instead of a space ship, which allows for a lot of plots involving mysterious travelers and visitors to the station. Like Discovery, DS9 can have a darker tone – it is a war story, and it questions the apparently Utopian future that Trek has presented. It is an extremely good show, though, and up there with TOS and Discovery for my top 3 favorite Treks. (I also just posted about how gay it is in a separate ask, if that sways you either way.) Like Discovery, DS9 benefits from some knowledge of both TOS and TNG, although personally speaking I don’t think it’s anything that would prevent you from understanding the series on its own merits, and there’s also always google for plot summaries.

Those are my recommendations! I think they’re kind of unorthodox but they’re what worked for me personally when I was getting into Star Trek, so maybe they’ll help you too.

#*replies #Anonymous

[wbwest]

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New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/07/28/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-72817/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 7/28/17

One of the best discoveries I’ve made has been the digital subchannel Heroes & Icons. If you’re a cord cutter, then get yourself an antenna and check this thing out. My favorite aspect of it, however, is the fact that it runs a 5-hour Star Trek block six nights a week. Star Trek at 8, Star Trek: The Next Generation at 9, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at 10, Star Trek: Voyager at 11, and Enterprise at 12. Sunday through Friday. And on Sundays they actually kick things off with Star Trek: The Animated Series at 7. I’ve pretty much watched nothing but Star Trek for the past 2 weeks. I’ve been reacquainted with favorite episodes, like TNG‘s “Chain of Command” and DS9‘s “Far Beyond the Stars”. I’ve discovered some hidden gems, like TOS‘s ” The Cloud Minders”. I’ve even discovered that I don’t hate Voyager or Enterprise as much as I thought I did.

I don’t talk about this too much, but the first 12 years or so of my life were comprised of pretty much NOTHING but Star Trek. From 1987-94, my favorite show on television was The Next Generation. When DS9 debuted, I expected it to continue my love affair, but it felt too preachy with its Space Holocaust allegory. It was in the later seasons, once the Dominion War began, that it actually ensconced itself as my favorite iteration of the franchise. By the time Voyager debuted, I had discovered comics, and they became my new mistress. While I watched about 4 hours of TNG a day in high school (Channel 20 REALLY loved playing TNG), my heart didn’t have room in it for a new Trek, so I “No time for love, Dr. Jones”‘ed Captain Janeway and her crew. Enterprise debuted when I was in college, and  I was simply too busy worried about other shit to watch Captain Quantum Leap and his crew. Plus, due to some kind of contractual fallout, Ithaca didn’t get UPN. So, since the finale of DS9, my Trekkerdom lay dormant.

But when I say “I’ve forgotten more than you’ll ever know”, that’s primarily about Star Trek. I had several editions of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, I had the Technical Manual, the Technical Journal, the Star Trek Chronology. All of it. I’ve got the figures, and the role play toys. I even created my own uniform for Halloween back in the 90s. I was all Trek, 24/7, and you couldn’t tell me shit. Over time, though, that trivia got overwritten by X-Men 1st appearance notations and the names of TNBC actresses. What I’m saying, though, is that Heroes & Icons brought it all rushing back. It’s like I’m 15 again, blowing the evening watching Star Trek episodes I’ve already seen hundreds of times already. It’s also given me new perspectives on things that completely went over my head when I was younger. For example, Sisko is the Bajorans’ Space Jesus, and that’s pretty heavy. Even he doesn’t believe it, but in the end, yup it turns out he’s Space Jesus. I’ve also got thoughts on the current state of the franchise, too.

At SDCC, we got the above trailer for Star Trek: Discovery, which will air in North America on CBS All Access (yes, Dean, I know you’ll say All Anal Access because it sucks that we have to subscribe to another service just to watch this thing). I had no interest in this show because everything I heard about it didn’t sound like Star Trek. Now, though, the more they try to sell it as a bunch of new ideas, the more it just sounds like DS9. It’s gonna be Trek with interpersonal conflict. Great. I can get down with that. Its aesthetic seems more like late-era Stargate than Trek, though – especially those Klingon designs. There are certain things, though, that still feel like they miss the mark.

Take for example the fact that the show will feature the first same-sex couple on a Star Trek series, played by Rent‘s Anthony Rapp and My So Called Life‘s Wilson Cruz. Yeah, I get that representation is important, but it bothers me that this is being done in a prequel series, set before the events of the original Star Trek. With the exception of Enterprise, this is the series that takes place the closest to our timeline, so it’s really not much of a leap to think that same-sex couples exist. Ya know what would’ve meant more to me (as a straight, cis male who really doesn’t have a dog in the race but is still opinionated)? If the show had actually been a post-Dominion War, sequel series to TNG/DS9/Voyager, and it featured a same-sex couple. Science fiction tends to go 2 ways: it’s either dystopian or it’s about HOPE. As it stands, from what we’ve seen, same-sex couples are pretty much nonexistent in the 24th century. Yeah, I’m sure they exist, but we never saw them. It seems like it would be a testament to how enduring they are to see them that far in the future as opposed to just a couple of hundred years from now, when Discovery is set.

I could also be politicizing this for my own agenda, as I really want to know what happened after the war ended. Sure, there are books and stuff, but those things aren’t canon. I feel there are so many stories to tell from that era, and I’d love to see the franchise move forward instead of dance between the raindrops of continuity in the past. It feels like they’re stalling, which is how it felt with Enterprise and even the Kelvin movies. Someone, somewhere out there has got to have a great idea as to how to move the franchise forward and I hope CBS/Paramount finds them sooner rather than later.

SDCC Bullet Points

The bulk of San Diego Comic Con took place over the weekend, and here’s some stuff that debuted:

Michelle Pfeiffer is Hank Pym’s lost wife, Janet Van Dyne, in Ant-Man and The Wasp

The Captain Marvel film will be set in the 90s, and introduce the Skrulls to the MCU. Oh, and Nick Fury will have 2 eyes

We got this trailer for Ready Player One, which was hella polarizing. It seems a lot of folks hated the book on which it’s based. If you ask me, it just looks like a cinematic version of this commercial:

Comic creator Frank Miller, of 300 and Sin City fame, is writing a Superman: Year One story with art from John Romita Jr. Nothing about that sentence makes me want to open my wallet.

We got a new trailer for X-Men spinoff, The Gifted. I’m actually surprised they used established mutants like Polaris and Thunderbird. And is that actually Fenris?! I want to like this, but it just looks so…Fox.

We got a new trailer for The Defenders on Netflix. I get that this is the culmination of all the Marvel Netflix shows, but it didn’t do much for me since I’ve only seen 2 out of 5 seasons so far. There’s no way I’ll get caught up by this premiere date, but I’m sure it’ll mean more to me once I’m up to date. Kinda tired of the hallway fight trope, though.

Legends of Tomorrow is such a fun show. It started kinda dry, but got so much better last year. It reminds me of a syndicated Saturday afternoon show, but in a good way.

This Justice League trailer did very little for me. It’s like, sure, Wonder Woman’s cool, but we JUST saw her. Aquaman seems cool, but he’s not really “Aquaman”. I’ll see it, but I ain’t looking forward to it. No, for me, November belongs to:

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

We’ll have to wait a bit longer for our annual dose of Abbi and Ilana, as Comedy Central has moved the Broad City season 4 premiere from August 23rd to September 13th

A few months ago, it was reported that Amy Schumer would be starring in a Barbie movie. Well, I made fun of that, she blocked me on Twitter, and then eventually dropped out of the role. Now they’re reporting that Anne Hathaway is up for the role, which is somehow more bewildering than the Schumer choice…

Justin Bieber cancelled the rest of his Purpose world tour because he was “committing his life to Christ”. This pissed off his crew, as they were left without jobs. He, then, proceeded to run over a paparazzo with his truck while leaving church. I swear, you can’t make this shit up!

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has replaced Bill Gates as the richest man in the world.

Beginning September 29th, Hulu will begin streaming the Warner Bros shows that comprised ABC’s TGIF lineup, including Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Full House, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, and Step By Step. Meanwhile, Netflix is feverishly developing Perfecter Strangers, Family Still Matters, Chillin’ With Mr. Cooper, and Step By Step By Step.

I haven’t seen a non-country music video in years, but apparently they still make them, as Katy Perry will host the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards

Speaking of the VMAs, following the lead of the MTV Movie Awards, they’re doing away with the gendered categories Best Male/Best Female Artist, to be replaced by Artist of the Year. Also, in a bit of pandering,  they’ve created the Best Fight Against the System, for those artists who have called for folks to #RESIST and all that.

Though I felt its farcical nature wore a bit thin during its first season, TBS’s Angie Tribeca has been renewed for season 4.

Smallville‘s Tom Welling is joining Fox’s Lucifer and *yawn* that’s really all there is to say about that.

Netflix has ordered 20 episodes of the animated series Disenchantment from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. It will features the voices of Nat Faxon, Eric Andre, and Abbi Jacobson. Apparently it’s about elves and trolls and shit. Not really my bag, baby.

Person of Interest‘s Michael Emerson has been cast in a mysterious role for Arrow‘s 6th season. So, he’s probably Deathstroke’s accountant or something.

Because SyFy just doesn’t care anymore, and because they need something to air between Sharknados, Wynonna Earp has been renewed for a 3rd season.

The Wonder Woman sequel has a release date of December 13th, 2019

Apple discontinued the iPod Nano and Shuffle models, as they are the last remaining models that cannot run iOS apps.

Current Superman Henry Cavill grew a mustache for his role in Mission Impossible 37: Mission Harder, which will have to be digitally removed for Justice League reshoots. Ya know, the movie where he’s supposed to be dead, but is actually the worst kept secret in Hollywood.

Lionel Richie and Charlie Puth are in talks to join ABC’s American Idol reboot as judges. Yeah, that’s funny. Unless they’re coaching the contestants on how to get caught cheating while dancing on the ceiling, I’m not sure what Richie’s old ass brings to the table. And Puth is simply too new to be judging anybody.

New James Bond film in 2019. Nobody knows who’s playing him or directing the thing, but it’s coming. Yesiree, Bob!

Since they’re handing out cinematic universes like chicken samples at a food court, the John Wick universe will be expanded by the female-focused film, Ballerina.

Michael Phelps raced a CGI shark and people felt betrayed. He’s the friggin’ son of Poseidon! He can’t race ACTUAL sharks! There would be civil unrest beneath the surface!

With DC being the political capital of the country, it’s hard for a news person to stand out because the place is crawling with them. That wasn’t true, however, for Jim Vance. Everyone knew him and the man was an institution. Coming to NBC4 in 1969, he was one of the first Black anchors in a major news market. He anchored for over 4 decades, ingraining himself into the families of those who watched him.

When I was a toddler, I was really into the local news (I’ve always said I’m regressing as I get older), and I could name every anchor on every local newscast. And this was a golden age of DC news. You had the great Glenn Brenner, you had Maury Povich before he became a talk show host, and you had Vance. There was something about him that made him seem like your aunt’s cool boyfriend. He was an old man with a hoop earring. We used to laugh about it, but secretly I was hating because I knew I’d never be able to pull that off at his age. He rode motorcycles and laughed inappropriately at news stories he found funny. He was a guy who made you glad to watch the news, especially as the cries of Fake News! grew louder.

Back in May, Vance announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and it advanced rather quickly. He passed away last Saturday morning, and the announcement touched all corners of the DC area (no, I’m not calling it the DMV!). It was touching to see all of the tributes to him on the local stations, from those who were colleagues and competitors. Last Saturday night, News4 spent the entire 11 PM news talking about Vance and what he meant to DC. This might sound crazy, but it was so refreshing to watch the news without a single drop of actual news being reported. No Trump b.s., no local murders, not even a weather report. Just 30 minutes about a man who we basically grew up with in our homes. I always kinda took him for granted because you just expected he would be there every evening, but I’ve certainly missed him since he’s gone. I know he won’t mean much to those of you outside the DC viewing area, but believe me when I say that everybody here knew who Jim Vance was, and we’re all going to miss him in one way or another. For that reason, Jim Vance had the West Life Ever.

#Books #Comics #Marvel #Movies #Music #Politics #Pop #Race #Relationships #Religion #Social Media #Star Trek #Syndication #Television #TNBC #West Life Ever #West Week Ever #X-Men

[tf2artcomp]

TF2 Art Competition

Howdy, pardners.  I’m Ugg Zombie and I love TF2.  I talk about it all the time with my BFF bestie Red Zombie.  In fact, we talked about how awesome it would be to have more TF2 art about the things we care about, especially in the wake of the excitement of The Naked and the Dead.  So we’re putting together a competition.  Send in your best TF2 art for a chance to win some $$$!

The Rules  Updated 02 March 2017 updated links to posts

Register here.  You may submit more than once, but you must register each submission separately.

Submissions open on Friday 24 February 2017 at 18:00 UTC and close on Friday 10 March 2017 at 18:00 UTC.

Submit one piece of art accompanied by at least 500 words of writing.

The art must be in one of the four Categories listed below.  It can be traditional, digital, or SFM.  Static images only, no animation, please.

The writing can be fiction, background information, headcanons, whatever.

Comics are acceptable.  If you submit a comic, there’s no word count, but keep it at four pages or fewer.

No older art, the whole point is to create new art!

You may not post the submission on your personal (or professional) accounts until after the competition.  You grant us permission to use your work to promote the next competition (if this one turns out well!), with due credit. 

The art will be judged by the reaction it gets out of us.  Quality of art helps.  Equally important is the idea and execution.  Focus on both!

Content: Use only canon and popular fanon.  No OCs.  No NSFW.  Think of the kitten orphanage!

Collaborations are acceptable.  Prizes will be sent to the email you use to submit via PayPal or Skrill.

The Categories

Crossover (Games, TV, & Film) for $100

These are some of the worlds we’d love to see the mercs cross with.  You can take these as seriously (~drama~) as you like or throw caution to the wind and crank up the silliness to 11!  Why not both?

Games

Assassin’s Creed, up to and including Black Flag

Fallout series

Dishonored 1 / 2

Portal 1 / 2

Affairs of the Court: Choice of Romance

Bonus! Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

TV & Film

Star Trek: TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY (we never saw ENT)

Pirates of the Caribbean series

Good Will Hunting

Grease (just 1, 2 doesn’t exist)

Disney universe: Inside Out, Toy Story, Atlantis, Mulan.

Mental Health for $100

We’re both living with a fun cocktail of some of these, and so are some close family and friends, and we know some of you are as well.  So hit us with some real talk– give us the mercs dealing with some of these, or explaining them, or just encouraging you to keep going through the tough spots.

Depression

Anxiety

Bipolar

Panic

PTSD

Abuse

BPD

OCD

Narcissism

Phobias

The Mighty Scriptfam Fandom and Mental Health

Out of Frame Comics for $100

Sometimes, the comics leave important questions unanswered.  Like how did Miss Pauling talk these guys into G&G anyway?  This category is for answering that and other important questions.  Just be sure to use the actual frame for reference!  Note that this doesn’t have to be a comic; sometimes one image is all you need.

Dance Fortress  Scout VA reads Comic #6 

Creativity for $100

As artists and writers, you know the struggle.  Sometimes it just doesn’t happen.  Sometimes it gets stuck for a long time before you can work it out.  So here are creative endeavours we (or our friends) have worked with.  Show us the mercs learning, working, struggling, encouraging, going through the entire experience.  Share the experience!

Writing

Painting

Crochet

Knitting

Gardening

First Aid

Robotics

Game development

Metalworking

Bookbinding

Interested?  Hit up our check-in form here.

Do you know a second language and have some time to spread the TF2 love?  We have a translation call here.

Received Queries

Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure + AUs (no + maybe) Maximum limit on submissions + livestreaming progress (no + yes except final result) How direct is direct with out of frame comics? (very direct) Post-processing SFMs (yes) Mental health categories + submitting fic for writing (stick to the list + yes)

Anticipated Queries

Crossover: I have a great idea for a crossover with [world]! Awesome!  Just be sure to let us know before you get to work.  After all, we can’t appreciate the brilliance of your work if the reference flies over our heads.  If it’s something we know, we’ll add it to the list.  PS: No Overwatch.  We haven’t played it or seen any of the canon media, so we probably won’t get it.

Mental Health: What if I want to discuss a condition you haven’t mentioned?

That would be difficult for us to judge, since the conditions listed either apply directly to us or to family and friends.  The only exception here is if your work is informative.  Otherwise, you might want to consider one of the other categories.

Creativity: I’ve got a great hobby I want to share with the world!  But it’s not on the list?

Cool!  We’re flexible about this one, just be sure to let us know before you get to work and if it’s something we’re familiar with, we’ll add it to the list.  We’re trying to keep it to things we can judge from experience.

When will you announce the winner?

We don’t know either!  It’s our first rodeo.  The announcement will depend on the number of submissions we get.  Spread the love!

Who even are you?

Two ladies whose love for TF2 has continued to grow over the years =)  If we used our actual blogs, you’d know our favourite ship is ajksldkfjgla ;)

Questions, comments, suggestions?  Feel free to message us here on Tumblr or via email: uggredzomb at gmail dot com

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2artcomp #the rules

[aion-rsa]

How Star Trek: Next Generation’s “The Chase” Changed Canon Forever

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What do space heists and archaeology have in common? The answer is one of the most important and bizarrely under-appreciated episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 6 banger, “The Chase.” Written by future Battlestar Galactica showrunner Ronald D. Moore and Joe Menosky, and directed by Jonathan Frakes, “The Chase” is a perfect example of a late-era TNG episode insofar as the characters all feel super-cozy, and the story has a subtle intensity without resorting to a ton of explosions or violence. At the same time, “The Chase” also offered a Watsonian answer to a question with a seemingly very obvious Doyle-ist answer: Why do Star Trek aliens look the way they do? In “The Chase,” we learn all about the rules of Trek aliens, and along the way, the TNG lore is expanded in other big ways, too.

“The Chase” aired on April 26, 1993, and as such, exists in the interesting time when TNG and DS9 were airing new episodes simultaneously. DS9 had already expanded the canon of Trek by permanently parking itself in the histories of both the Bajorians and the Cardassians, but in doing so, DS9 had also brought another Star Trek plot element back into vogue in a big way: The ancient space mystery! These kinds of stories usually focus on a long-dead alien species that had a profound impact on history and influenced everyone’s basic perception of why things are the way they are. In a sense, the entire first season of Star Trek: Picard falls into this story phylum. In the 1993 DS9 pilot, “The Emissary” — which aired just six months before “The Chase” —  we learn the ancient gods of Bajor, the Prophets, are really timeless aliens from another plane of existence. This kind of idea is nearly as old as science fiction itself, but prior to DS9, Star Trek did this all the time. The notion of ancient and influentially alien races pops up in TOS a lot, including references to “the Old Ones,” in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” and “Catspaw.” There’s also Sargon’s race of energy beings from “Return to Tomorrow,” who low-key take credit for the existence of humanoids. This idea also pops up with “the Preservers” in the episode “The Paradise Syndrome.” Before “The Chase,” TNG had a few episodes like this, too, including “The Last Outpost,” and pivotally, the Season 2 episode “Contagion,” the first time we learn that Picard had previously considered a career in archeology before staying on the career path that led to starship captain.

The notion that Picard has an Indiana Jones-esque tendency embedded in his personality is one of the smarter layers in his character. I love Kirk, but, other than horseback riding and mountain climbing, his hobbies are comparatively kind of generic throughout TOS and the films. (Sulu has more unique hobbies!) One of the reasons the character of Picard is so easy for people to embrace is his multifaceted love of all sorts of stuff that doesn’t have much to do with exploring space. In “The Chase,” we get a character-development metaphor that illustrates this is the ancient artifact called the Kurlan naiskos, a statue with little statues inside of it, representing as Picard says, “the many voices inside the one.” The storytelling lesson? Cool characters work better when there’s contradictory stuff inside of them.

It’s also helpful when those “many voices” can create cool stories. In High Fidelity, John Cusak’s Rob Gordon explains character development like this: “What really matters is what you like, not what you are like… Books, records, films – these things matter!” With Picard, the vastly different interests that feel divergent from his Starfleet persona — hard-boiled noir novels, archaeology — help round him out in a way that you can imagine him as a real person, existing beyond the confines of the TV show. But, prior to “The Chase,” the archaeology thing hadn’t really been explored in any real way. It’s almost like in the final two seasons of TNG, the writers remembered Picard has a cool intellectual superpower called “archaeology.”

After “The Chase,” we get a Season 7 two-parter called “Gambit,” in which Picard goes undercover using his former archeology professor’s name, Galen, to track down—you guessed it—ancient pieces of an alien artifact that could have untold power! The interstellar adventures of Galen Jones never really took off as a TNG spin-off, but again, if you squint, aspects of Star Trek: Picard don’t feel that far off from “The Chase” or “Gambit.” (As post-” Unification” stories, these episodes also double-down on the idea that Picard is personally invested in the history of Romulus and also making peace with the Romulans in general. Thanks, Spock!)

But. The reason why “The Chase” is so important to Star Trek canon isn’t just connected to the ongoing character development of Jean-Luc Picard. Picard’s personal stakes in unlocking an ancient archeology mystery help make the episode move, but the larger revelation of what is going on is slightly cooler. There’s a scene where Picard is describing the four billion-year-old genetic mystery and the camera slowly zooms in on him, really letting you know that this shit is about to get real. It goes like this:

“It’s four billion years old. A computer program from a highly advanced civilization, and it’s hidden in the very fabric of life itself. [SLOW JONATHAN FRAKES ZOOM LENS BEGINS, OMINIOUSLY.] Whatever information this program contains could be the most profound discovery of our time. Or the most dangerous.”

The culmination of “The Chase” is all about various governments trying to unlock the secrets of the genetic computer program to figure out its secrets. This is the Raiders of the Lost Ark stuff. The Klingons think it’s a giant weapon. The Cardassians think it’s an unlimited power supply. Belloq thinks it’s a radio for talking to God, even though nobody invited him. Even the Romulans are in on it, wanting to obtain this four billion-year-old puzzle for themselves. In the end, the big revelation is that all the “humanoid” bipedal species we’ve seen throughout Star Trek were created intentionally by an even more ancient set of humanoids. This tap-dance with real science doesn’t contradict evolution per se, but in the ancient message the ancient humanoid woman says: “Our scientists seeded the primordial oceans of many worlds, where life was in its infancy. The seed codes directed your evolution toward a physical form resembling ours.”

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So, the TLDR is that in the Trek universe, we evolved naturally, but only because we were given a push. This is as close the Trek canon will come to the notion of panspermia, the real-life theory that organic life could have been intentionally seeded on Earth. But, Trek alum Ronald D. Moore would revisit this idea in a big way in his famous reboot of Battlestar Galactica. This has all happened before and it will all happen again… sometimes, in a different franchise.

So what’s the big deal with the revelation that all the humanoid alien species share a common ancestor? Well, the knee-jerk answer is that this episode provided bandaid on the slightly unrealistic notion that most aliens in Star Trek just like humans with different foreheads or wrinkled noses or funny ears. And that’s true, “The Chase” does provide a Watsonian answer for why the Star Trek universe looks the way it does, at least when it comes to extraterrestrials. Haters might say this was a bad idea because it called attention to something that doesn’t need explaining, sort of like the Trek version of the midichlorians. But, that negative take misses a slightly larger truth, which debunks an important myth about the foundation of Trek.

The reason why The Original Series mostly tackled aliens who looked like humans in bad make-up is only partially an economic one. Yes, it’s widely impractical to do Hortas and Gorns every week, but in creating the writers’ bible for TOS, Roddenberry also made it clear that humanoid aliens were part of a dramatic choice, not just an economic one. In early pitch documents, Roddenberry describes “the parallel worlds” concept like this: “It means simply that our stories will plant and animals life, plus people, quite similar to that on Earth.”

Roddenberry wasn’t just doing this to save money. The “parallel worlds” concept was clearly something he wanted so the stories would connect with a casual viewer and not just hardcore science fiction fans. Prior to Star Trek, the general perception of filmed science fiction was that it was genre dominated by “Bug-Eyed Monsters.” By introducing the “Parallel worlds” concept, Roddenberry was creating a buffer against the series becoming too much like monster-of-the-week science fiction. Yes, this decision conveniently saved a little bit of money, but it’s very clear that wasn’t the only factor. Even at the beginning, Star Trek wanted to do humanoid aliens not because it was easy, but because telling those stories would be more interesting. 

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What Moore and Menosky did with “The Chase,” was to come right out and make that dramatic choice into a thoughtful and exciting episode. The physics and biological science of the Star Trek universe might not exactly line up with our own, but the way in which the various shows prioritize people over technology is a relative constant. In “The Chase,” TNG reminded everyone that Star Trek was always about telling stories about people, even if those people were literally aliens. In this way, “The Chase” didn’t so much as change canon, but rather, clarified it. The reason why the Romulans, Humans, Cardassians look the way they do has an answer. But the real answer to that question requires even more introspection than the episode has time for. Which, in a nutshell, is what a lot of good Trek is supposed to do. “The Chase” is both an overt metaphor and a hardcore in-universe story at the same time. Many voices, inside the one.

Editor’s note: Norman Lloyd, the actor who played Professor Galen in “The Chase” (and inhabited many, many other roles in his long career) passed away earlier this week. You can learn more about his life and career here.

The post How Star Trek: Next Generation’s “The Chase” Changed Canon Forever appeared first on Den of Geek.

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