I was not aware that scifi could be this good.
Only on S1 E17 (“only” as if I didn’t start watching this like 3 days ago) and I’m told it only gets better. It has not disappointed me yet even with its wildest shit.
how I feel abt some of the characters
Sisko is the chad Old Guard Stalinist who makes questionable decisions at times and is a hardass boss but his intent and his impact are always in service to the people, all people.
Kira is my forever unrequited love (as she is fictional). Kira is absolutely amazing, the revolutionary who actually seized power and is now dealing with the ugly consequences of having said power. She’s the forever-revolutionary and at least so far a goddamn aspirational one and a Bajoran global hero.
Julian needs to keep his libido in check. Thirsty as fuck and has some xenorientalism to work through. Incredible doctor and is devoted the cause when it makes necessary demands.
O’Brien is an absolute Stakhanovite and I love him for it. Wish I was raised by him instead of my dad.
Odo is so badass. So far he only has a fleeting understanding of his species, but at least from the perspective of some, Odo is a living relic. People tell ancient myths about changelings! He is perhaps the last of his kind (idk, s1 e17) and I think he stands as a wonderful representative of his people. The People’s Constable through and through.
I hope Quark has a mindbreak and becomes a communist or he’s murdered on-screen. I understand the series goes into more detail about the reasons why the Ferengi are like that… but to be completely honest, in the Star Trek universe at least, I would almost definitely be quite racist against Ferengi. Sisko didn’t want Jake to hang out with Nog and I sympathized. I like that he came to his senses later that xenoracism is uncool, but Nog so far has only gotten worse and worse in his profit-before-people shit. Hope it changes.
Dax is interesting. I like the Trill lore. I’m not sure if the Curzon Dax stuff has more context in earlier iterations or not, but it hasn’t hampered my enjoyment of Dax’s character. Old man.
Blows my mind that this came out in 1993. It feels like communist art. Diplomacy first, always. Profiteering is disgusting and condemnable and humans should have no desire to do it, to the extent that it would be literally alien to us to fuck over others just for economic gain. The Bajoran politics are fascinating and, like I said, I love Kira and stan whatever carbombings she had to do to win independence.
Also, the Cardassians are fucking horrifying and look like animated and decaying Greco/Roman statues. I get major Rome and Amerika vibes from them, though the Ferengi are also quite Amerikan.
Can’t believe I’ve put off Star Trek for this long. Also can’t believe there was ever a freakin’ debate between whether Star Trek or Star Wars is better, I’m feeling a radical difference in tone. In DS9 at least, there’s rarely been le good guys and le bad guys the way there is in Star Wars especially post-Disney. I feel Star Wars also plays up the heroic fantasy to the 14th level, which is ok, but not necessarily interesting aside from visually, at least to me.
Anyway, I love this show and would like to see what people wanna say about it.
And you haven’t even got to the really good seasons yet. Bashir, kira, and Dax really get some depth.
By about the 3rd season, you’ll love every character, they’ll feel like a family, and then shit really hits the fan, and you get to see what the show is about: AES under siege. Every character faces complex moral dilemmas, with their very survival being at stake.
Sisko goes full Stalin, who loves jazz and baseball. Kira is essentially a palestinian freedom fighter, who deals with the complexities of decolonization, and competing political interests on her home planet. Jadzia becomes the both the most fun, and wisest character. You’ll start to like quark more, because he’s an outlet for us to mock capitalism, but he also has a beating heart under there, and has some really good episodes. O’Brien is a proletarian hero who has some of the most heart-wrenching episodes.
Oooh, and you still got some great vic fontaine and garak episodes coming up.
btw I recently watched the episode Duet, its in season one, and it is one of the best things to ever appear on TV. I’ve never seen anything else that deals with the concept of colonialist guilt in such a powerful way.
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Watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars next!
Just finished Duet. Goddamn. Made me cry honestly,
especially when
Kira approached the Cardassian file clerk and told him what he was trying to do was noble, but he was not the war criminal they were looking for. Now that the Bajorans have power, they cannot become just like the Cardassian occupiers. But you have to sympathize some with the Bajoran who takes his life, later, too, to some extent. Just, shit. So good.
I will say I like when Quark’s, eh, “humanity” or soul shines through, but there’s a bit of a throwaway scene early on where Quark has apparently tricked dancers with some vague text in their contracts that makes it legal for him to sexually assault (?) them. It could have been more innocent than that and just something annoying or kinda grody (like they had to touch his ears or something lol) but it’s lingered in my mind since, even when he shows a modicum of ethics, like in ALLAMARAINE when he cares about the crew’s safety.
Also I don’t get the memehate for the Allamaraine episode aside from perhaps the earworm. I thought it was a psychadelic ass episode in the best way.
Touching a male Ferengi’s ears is basically sexual in nature - that’s made pretty clear in the show so, yeah, it’s rather gross.
Oh and yeah - Duet is fucking amazing. Easily up there with In The Pale Moonlight that gets a lot more attention.