Deep Space Nine: a thread for (re)watching this awesome series

does anyone want to explain to me what is going on with the Tribbles ep img with O'Brien inserted into it upthread

i don't require it to be a clone of the first series

fwiw I couldn't make it past the first episode, and you know how low my standards are

The first episode of a television series is usually its best, so that's a pretty fair assessment.

idk if you really want to have this argument but I was not given the impression that the things that were the most objectionable about it (like, say, the lead's line readings) were remedied later on

Does the Medium piece talk about how Roddenberry also wanted half-naked guys in the background holding hands?

I actually like "Move Along Home"! I think that someone who gets with TOS would appreciate its silly camp.

like, there was just nothing there that grabbed me, nothing that seemed like an interesting idea/no character that might develop into something interesting, and plenty of things I found actively irritating (Sisko, Ferengi etc.)

xps

You'll be missing out on Wallace Shawn and Space Nurse Ratched
https://s.put.re/maPB9nTX.png
https://s.put.re/PmdfguRf.png

Like while on the one hand I can accept that your objections were enough to keep you from pursuing the series further, on the other hand recommending against watching a well-regarded television series on the basis of the one (1) episode you couldn't even make it all the way through is...what's the word? Oh, yes: challops.

As Philip notes, if you haven't even gotten around to seeing Vedek Winn and Garak and the evolution of Nog etc. etc. you might as well be saying 'don't watch this show why because I saw a commercial and it looked unintersting'.

well-regarded television series

eh depends who you ask

not sure what you think Morbz would like about this series tbh

Did you read the post right after you wrote to Morbs where I agreed with you (not realizing you hadn't actually seen the show)

fair enough

anyway i'm a fan of Rene Auberjonois and Colm Meaney in other things

also there is a baseball episode

love me some Alex Siddig, that guy has been a valuable supporting actor in a lot of things over the years. he was the best thing about the worst part of Game of Thrones too (Dorne), which was an utter waste of his skill level and charisma.

I agree with Οὖτις that Avery Brooks can be a bit off-putting with his weird line-reading, but if you can get past that the rest of the series is really great. One of the first golden-age-of-TV-style shows where there is a large over-arching plot, and the first Star Trek show to have any hints of darkness or doubt within the Federation.

eh depends who you ask

I admit that I'm pretty deep into the Trek echo chamber but basically everyone praises DS9, especially for its structural ambitions.

also there is a baseball episode

i think this was the only one i skipped.

probably still prefer the later tng seasons

There's also an episode that revolves around the 1951 Willie Mays rookie card.

The baseball episode is actually really good, in a corny, sentimental way, even for someone likes me who knows almost nothing about it. It helps that it's right in the middle of long war arc, and it's clear that both the viewers and the characters need the temporary distraction it brings to all dark stuff they've been going through.

And yeah, baseball features in other episodes too, because right from the start Captain Sisko is established as a major fan of the sport (which apparently isn't played much on Earth anymore in the 24th century).

Baseball only exists as a Fortnite DLC in the 24th century.

Avery Brooks is just very theatre.

He's a joy and my favourite captain.

It wouldn't be Star Trek if the principals didn't ignore the last several centuries of their history in forming cultural interests that are uniformly familiar to viewers in the 20th/21st Century.

FTR, I get shakey's qualms inasmuch as the pilot is overlong and unwieldy and not a great entry point for people who aren't predisposed to jump headlong into a new Trek venture sight unseen. And if you don't stick around to the end, you miss the emotional payoff and best part of the episode. And, yeah, Brooks is sometimes a little much.

iirc the the TNG pilot was much worse

contains nothing as bafflingly inscrutable as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR1gdiuqAQs

TNG pilot has Q in it, which at least makes for an entertaining/watchable villain. Other stuff is stiff/stupid but that central conflict between Picard and Q in the pilot establishes a lot successfully imo.

xp
He's talking to an incorporeal wormhole alien!

Also, the Bajoran mystical stuff is some of the least interesting material in the show imo so frontloading it like that probably wasn't the best idea.

shakes, go watch 'Duet' and tell me this show still stinks.

Ignore Shakey, Morbs, he's muddying the waters.

The only thing you need to know from the first episode is that:

- Sisko's wife was killed by the Borg (which happened in TNG), and he's raising his son on his own.
- He's been sent to command a backwater space station (titular DS9), which makes him wonder if he should remain in Starfleet (his career is going nowhere).
- Bajorans are another kind of Space Jew, and the Cardassians are Space Nazis. In fact, the station used to belong to the Cardassians, but the Federation is taking it over in the hopes of negotiating Bajor's entry into the Federation.
- By the end of the episode, a wormhole suddenly opens up next to the station -- and living inside are noncorporeal aliens that Bajorans worship -- and Sisko is credited with its appearance. From now on, he's viewed as Bajor's Emissary (basically a prophet for renewing contact with Bajor's gods), and he likewise finds renewed purpose as a Starfleet officer.

That's from memory so I may have gotten some details wrong.

Also, be aware that the early seasons look butt-ugly (they haven't been remastered for HD and UHD screens).

The visual aesthetic of this show always struck me, I.e. still polished but it seemed to be an attempt at downplaying the visual interstellar glory prevalent in the previous series (which of course were journeying everywhere) but beyond that making it appear more working class and underfunded. This is just my memory from watching 25 years ago of course.

The station was pointedly a run-down wreck early in the show. It kinda develops like Deadwood, a character unto itself.

god I fuckin hate Q

excellent run about 2/3 of the way through season six: worf/dax in the jungle, kira and her mom, bashir meets section 31

(i know the next one is a favorite too, but i haven't watched it yet so shush)

Ah yes, the classic "Profit and Lace."

ayo my nerds have you all watched this?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6332276/

ira steven behr’s ~hideous~ goatee (and general “look”) notwithstanding, it’s v enjoyable

I plan to as soon as I have a couple furtive hours alone in my house

just finished season 6 :'-(

ayo my nerds have you all watched this?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6332276/

ira steven behr’s ~hideous~ goatee (and general “look”) notwithstanding, it’s v enjoyable

My post has gotten buried already! I guess that's a good thing. Deep Space Nine: a thread for (re)watching this awesome series

i just watched all of voyager so i guess i will watch this now, it's kind of relaxing watching crummy 90s tv, nothing too high-intensity, no worries about what it means

waiting to watch the doc until after i finish the series

vic fontaine and vic fontaine episodes are great. fu if you disagree!

it's kind of relaxing watching crummy 90s tv

as opp'd to crummy pretentious 2010s TV

i like vic fontaine, but he does say 'pallie' too much

i have begun season seven

maybe the nog ptsd episode managed to wring some pathos out of the otherwise risible vic fontaine thing.

pic.twitter.com/xe7vaiwIg0

— Charles Windstar (@Cwindstar) September 6, 2019

damn, i finished ds9 last night. i definitely felt bereft afterwards.

i know we have people watching rn so i won't spoilerize, but there are many elements of the finale that i was not fully on board with.