Something Excellent

i like to watch star trek and i've been bugging all my friend about it lately so i figured id blow off some star-steam by talking about any episodes i watch here as i watch them. i'm in the middle of "The Loss" (TNG, season 4, episode 10) and when i'm done i'll tell you all what i thought

i havent really watched too much star trek in my lifetime, but TNG is definitely on my bucket list. lately ive actually been planning to watch DS9 with some friends, but coordination is always kind of difficult so i might just solo it. last time i haven't gotten farther than a few episodes. my friend speaks pretty highly of DS9 in particular though so it'll probably be worth it. do you have a favorite star trek series in particular? im very much welcoming recommendations

hah! speak of the devil, i actually just finished watching some DS9 with my parents instead of the TNG episode i put on in the background. it was a good one (but aren't they all?)

my favourite is easily TNG! it's probably just nostalgia talking (it is the first one i saw, after all), but i really think it's the closest star trek got to rodenberry's dream of the future. it's just so... morally upstanding! it's also very comfortable. the enterprise-D is built like a cruise ship, and the crew all get along very well together. that's actually at rodenberry's request, he thought that by then we'd've evolved past those kinds of squabbles. so coming up with drama in a drama show like TNG must've been pretty hard for the writers! but they totally pulled it off.

anyways, i'll stop gushing now, blargh. ds9 is pretty great, it certainly does a better job at being compelling from the start than TNG. (i rarely ever tell people to skip certain parts of anything, but unless you're making a commitment to watching TNG you may as well skip the first two seasons)
but it's also darker than TNG, it's a wartime show on the outskirts of federation territory. it's kind of the exception that proves the rule for like, all of star trek/starfleet. so as an introduction, it's probably not the greatest (even if it is quite excellent)!

plus the whole premise of the show is more interesting if you have an understanding of the politics of the alpha quadrant (part of the galaxy where star trek happens). since the first few seasons deal with the political conflict between a planet and an occupying force that only recently left it.

anyways, if this entire thing hasn't totally put you off of watching ds9 or star trek in general, i hope you give it a shot! and if all else fails, you can always watch the original. (it's not my fave, but it's easily up there)

jeez i totally forgot about this topic. anyways, i recently watched the episode of ds9 where (spoilers) THEY TAKE BACK THE STATION FROM DOMINION RULE!!!!! so fucking awesome. in every way possible. just so fucking cool. the awesome big space battle with the federation vs. the dominion and cardassia and then the klingons show up???? then the wormhole aliens/prophets join in! just so badass, cool shit happening from all sides. and then when sisko is like "plot a course to deep space nine" in his awesome deep voice.... it's so cool. ds9 is so cool.

i just finished watching Take Me Out to the Holosuite, episode 7x04 of ds9. im a sucker for feel-good episodes like this one and my former favourite episode In The Cards (5x25). i say former favourite because take me out to the holosuite totally dethroned it!!!

so as you all know, captain sisko is a lover of baseball which is a dead game by the time of ds9. when he meets kassidy yates he mentions that he thought him and his son jake were the only fans of it left in the galaxy! so its a big deal when a vulcan starfleet captain, solok, comes aboard and tells captain sisko about his baseball team, and challenges him to a game.

like kai winn, solok is a character you will love to hate. he has that aura of vulcan superiority shared among most vulcans who arent spock, and his rivalry with captain sisko is like a twisted mirror of bones and spock. while bones and spock would rag on eachother about the superiority of vulcan logic or human emotion, they were friends at heart. meanwhile, solok has been prolonging his rivalry with sisko since their academy days! and all ben wants is to give it up, but solok loves to goad him on....

it's a wonderful episode all around, seriously. its fun to watch the crew of ds9 trying to learn the ins and outs of a long dead game like baseball, and adapting to other elements of our culture (like chewing gum). if you end up watching ds9, i think it would be worth it just to see this one wonderful episode

here's a fun worf clip to close us out:

I've only seen like 5 episodes of DS9 and even I know this line. It's a classic! What did you like about your previous favorite episode? And do you think you can name a least favorite episode?

those five episodes you've seen better have been the first five! because if you skipped ahead to Take Me Out To The Holosuite I will be very dissapointed

what i liked about my previous favourite episode was how nice the ending was, and the message behind it too. jake (captain sisko's son) and his friend nog spend the whole episode trying to get their hands on a baseball card for captain sisko to cheer him up. there was an auction where it was one of the items but they're outbid by this eccentric scientist. and because the scientist won't let them buy the card off him, only trade for it, they have to trade with all the other members of the senior staff (eg. itemizing a cargo bay for chief o'brien so he can give them some piece of tech). at the end of the episode, it's just wonderful!

here's a funny clip from the episode: