[homeboygirl]

"it was in 2020" oh so like a year or so ago. a couple years. im sorry 5? did you just say five? five years ago ?

[chiefobrienatwork]

EPISODE 395: The Friendship Enterprise

Read the previous episode→

[hellostuffedtiger]

Miles O'Brien meets a version of himself from an AU where he's never suffered a day in his life. And guess what? He's totally (drum-roll please) insufferable!

[hellostuffedtiger]

All of this.

He likes Cardassians. He flirts with Keiko like crazy. And Kira, 'cause he ain't married. Keiko thinks he's kind of hot, but Molly hates him and runs away from him.

[o0anapher0o]

Okay, I can get behind this. It makes sense. Just. Who is Molly's father I this scenario?

[hellostuffedtiger]

In this scenario, an AU Miles who's never suffered has traveled to the prime universe. All the other characters referenced including Bashir, Keiko, Kira, and Molly are just our regular prime versions and Molly's father is prime Miles O'Brien.

[cardassiangoodreads]

Other than the "ripped" part, you guys have no idea how much you've perfectly pinpointed the personality of a really absurdly large number of heterosexual male cellists

[chiefobrienatwork]

EPISODE 374: Away Mission (Part 21)

Read the previous episode→

[gayjimothy]

a scientist and an icon

[starcrossedcherik]

But how can you leave out the line where our girl says “You didnt really think I was in love with you?”

Shit was iconic

[gayjimothy]

here you go:

[chiffoun-deactivated20200409]

[midnight-spectrum-again]

WHAT SHOW IS THIS???

[count-dorkula]

STAR TREK

[startrekvsfaceapp]

[cursedtrekedits]

[pajamasecrets]

René Auberjonois behind the scenes of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine finale.

[ds9vgrconfessions]

With Captain Seven and First Officer Raffi, we finally after 57 years have a canon queer Captain and First Officer of the Starship Enterprise who've canonically been together as a couple (and if the spinoff happens hopefully will be together again).

The new captain of the latest starship Enterprise is a pansexual woman in her 50s, and her first officer is a bisexual WOC grandmother in her 50s. That's pretty cool. That's pretty amazing.

[astralbondpro]

Star Trek: The Next Generation // S03E19: Manhunt

[homewrecking-lore]

[capsfromtrek]

[chiefobrienatwork]

10TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: No. 5

Read the previous episode→

[astralbondpro]

Star Trek: The Next Generation // S0306 Booby Trap (Gag Reel)

[obstinatecondolement]

[ID: A GIFset with three GIFs. In the first, Patrick Steward, in character as Picard, says, “Didn’t anybody play with ships in bottles when they were boys?” to Michael Dorn and Brent Spiner, in character as Worf and Data respectively. In the second, Michael Dorn replies, “I never played with boys.” In the third Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner break character and laugh, turning away from Michael Dorn, who remains composed and doesn’t react. End ID]

[startrekdescribed]

[Caption: Star Trek: The Next Generation // S0306 Booby Trap (Gag Reel)]

[ds9promenade]

Deep Space Nine 2x5, “Cardassians”

Keiko does not have time for your space-racism, Miles.

[angrywarrior69]

Why is she with him

[ds9promenade]

The cynical side of me would say that the answer is “because the show writers said so”

But I think another answer is, Because Miles proves himself open to being corrected. He isn’t too proud or defensive (or bogged down by toxic masculinity) to listen when people call him out on bigoted bullshit: he listens. Keiko is with him not because he messes up so bad sometimes, but because when he does mess up, he stops, and thinks, and behaves better in the future.

I also appreciate the comments from @firespirited and @onsomekindofstartrek on how the ethnicities of the actors of Keiko and Miles influence this scene, so be sure to check those out in the notes y’all!

Someone had to be the “bad guy” exhibiting the bigoted view for this important scene to take place, and I appreciate that Miles’ actor was willing to play that role. Together, these two skilled actors create a compelling scene that demonstrates to viewers 1) that alluding to the “bad breeding” of any group is very wrong indeed in any context, and 2) that one effective method for calling out bigotry in loved ones is simply to express disgust and disappointment in them, because if they truly respect you they’ll get the message and fix their attitude.

[dgcatanisiri]

There’s also 1) the fact that O’Brien is saying this because his role on DS9, narratively speaking, is to be the everyman, the representative of the ‘guy on the ground,’ the average person. The average person has these kinds of bigoted views that they don’t recognize until it is pointed out to them, and NEED to be called out.

And 2) O’Brien saying this is also a bit of character continuity - when the Cardassians were introduced in TNG’s “The Wounded,” it also introduced that the Federation and the Cardassians had been involved in a war against one another, O’Brien being on the ground during what is commonly referred to as “the Setlik III massacre,” where Cardassians, believing the Federation colony to be a military outpost, wound up slaughtering a population of civilians. Brutally. O’Brien’s captain at the time lost his entire family in it. O’Brien later admits to a Cardassian officer “I hate what I became because of you” in response to what he went through that day - when he had to kill a Cardassian soldier, the first time he’d ever killed. 

And, particularly at this point, several years after marrying him, after living on a Cardassian-designed station for over a year, Keiko surely knows this. So she understands why he said what he said. But she is not going to condone it. She’s not going to let that he said it get a pass. She will call him out for his words, even knowing where they come from.

[wemblingfool]

And on top of that, he’s saying this in front of, or near a child who was abandoned by his people on a world full of people who hate him for his species. He’s heard this, and worse, about himself all his life.

It’s one thing for Miles to let stray comments like this slip in privet conversation lightyears away from the nearest person effected by it. As has been pointed out, Keiko would understand this comes from a place of pain and trauma.

But it’s another to say this about an innocent child in his presence. Or the presence of their daughter where she could learn this ugliness.

[artsandwitchcrafting]

This is an excellent piece of exposition on a very important scene between these two characters. Not only does it set up the dynamic of their relationship for the rest of the show, but it also gives O'Brien’s character room to question his assumptions about all Cardassians, and to realize that the average Cardassian citizen is not the evil incarnate he had made them out to be.

O'Brien does and should still hate the Cardassian military, and the Obsidian Order, but he realizes the average Cardassian citizen is not at fault for Setlik III, is not at fault for the occupation of Bajor, is not to blame for the war between Cardassia and the Federation which took place, I believe, around the beginning of TNG. Cardassia is a fascist militaristic dictatorship, and the citizens suffer just as much, though in different ways, as those Cardassia has oppressed and waged war with.

O'Brien’s newfound understanding can be seen in his interactions with Gilora Rejal; he’s not openly hostile, as he is whenever faced with Dukat or even Garak, because she’s a civilian scientist, and engineer like he is, just trying to get the bits and bobs of the station to function in order to achieve a goal. Hes willing to listen to her suggestions, and work alongside her (when she lets him). Even the awkward scene where it’s revealed he’s been flirting unknowingly with her is a huge step for him, because he’s not outright disgusted like he might have been in TNG.

O'Brien’s not perfect, not even as the ‘every man’; but the character growth we see from him is refreshing for a straight(?) white male character from the 90s. His willingness to look past his pride and change for the better is testament to that in and of itself.

[lady-sci-fi]

Allow for regular people to not be perfect and to grow from it, like he does. That’s good writing.

Miles has PTSD-type issues related to Cardassians. He was in the Federation-Cardassian War. That captain he served under then had his family killed by them. He’s going to have some realistic bigoted generalizations. But Keiko calls him out on it, and she does so in a way that’s not calling him a bad person, because he’s not. She knows about his issues.

And he paid attention. That’s what’s important.

[captaincrusher]

Liminal Trip Tucker is inside your head and he wonders what the heck is going on in here y'all.

[captaincrusher]

Transparent background Trip Tucker.

[captaincrusher]

Live Trip reaction.

[slashygirl]

This deleted scene is insane!!!