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.
I love the Ferengi in DS9. They exist as a mirror to the viewer. The show is saying “this (the Federation) is the fantasy you want to escape to, the society we aspire to become” and then it shows us the Ferengi and says “and this is what we are.”
But it’s gentle about it. Quark is often frustrating or infuriating, but it also invites you to laugh at him, and sometimes pity him, and he’s at his best when he defies his culture and cleaves to this deep, hidden virtue that he’s culturally ashamed to admit to having. And watching how all the Ferengi characters develop over the course of the show is the most uplifting thing.
But the best thing about the way DS9 approaches the subject is that while Ferengi culture is undeniably based on contemporary human capitalism, it’s not ‘human’ culture. Normal is Ben, Jake, Nerys, Julian, Miles, Odo and Dax, and whenever they contrast with Ferengi they’re showing you that capitalism isn’t an intrinsic, inalienable part of human nature. It’s profoundly alien.
Yes! I think the Ferengi arc shows us how becoming fully atomized by capitalism deprives us of knowing our selves, and being true to who we are. Quark is regularly at odds with what his culture and capitalism demands of him, and what he knows is right. Roms greatness isn’t fully realized until he loses his chains. He could never live up to what capitalism demands of him, he never “fit” into that mold. He was to empathetic, principaled, and loyal to his friends and family, and the system he was born into crushes him for it. It isn’t until he finds solidarity that his situation improves.
I could go on and on lol.