the neutrinos are in bloom

jack. main is @gendermybeloved

[mythomagically-delicious]

This is a pro Dr. Pulaski blog. I loved her so much.

[lizardsfromspace]

Thinking of Deep Space Nine as "the Dark Star Trek" without digging into what made Deep Space Nine work is so reductive. Like when people discuss Star Trek being "dark" now people bring up "DS9 was Dark and you loved that! Trekkies would hate it now!"

Deep Space Nine didn't work bc it was Dark and it wasn't Dark out of nowhere. Deep Space Nine is intimately tied to TNG in a way no other series is with another (Voyager could've been just as rooted in DS9, but. Y'know. Wasn't). Not only in characters, but that the show is so devoted to exploring deep cuts from TNG: the Bajorans, but also the Ferengi, long dismissed as failed villains, and the Trill, one-off aliens-of-the-week who DS9's writers turned into one of Trek's major species. The central thesis of DS9 isn't that the Trek Universe Is Fucked Up Actually. It's that things get more messy and complicated when Starfleet has to stick around and not dash off to another planet at the end of the episode

DS9 is darker than other Treks, yes, but DS9 is also the warmest, with the most grounded, human characters, not in spite of the fact that two-thirds of the cast are aliens but because of it. The writers treat alien characters as not representatives, but individuals. They treat everyone as individuals, with foibles and flaws, not as perfect, straitlaced future people. DS9's dark episodes are darker than other Treks, but also it's more willing to get silly and emotional. Only DS9 could do the "Sisko confesses to a conspiracy to get the Romulans in the war" episode, but also only DS9 could do the "a holographic lounge singer tries to get Odo and Kira together" episode right after it. Boiling the entire series down to "Deep Space Nine was the Dark Star Trek! Grimdark!" is...just not it

[philosopherking1887]

The central thesis of DS9 isn't that the Trek Universe Is Fucked Up Actually. It's that things get more messy and complicated when Starfleet has to stick around and not dash off to another planet at the end of the episode

Emphasizing this because there seem to be a lot of people who have only watched DS9 and are missing the point: they think that DS9 presents the Federation as an evil expansionist imperialist power no different, no morally better, than the Cardassians or the Romulans or even the Borg or the Dominion -- the only difference is that they conquer with bribes of resources and the promise of protection from the other powers. (Nice planet you got there; it’d be a shame if something happened to it...) They seem to think that the Federation is just the 20th/21st-century US/ NATO/ The West with better technology, with the same dishonest self-interest and cultural arrogance, without having learned anything or done any work to live up to its ideals.

You will not understand DS9 if you don’t understand that it also believes in the ideals of TOS and TNG, but has a more realistic view about how hard it is to maintain and fight for those ideals in a complicated world. It is NOT trying to make the point that the Federation and the vision it stands for are “Fucked Up Actually.”

[nonasuch]

I think it’s important to remember that DS9 was the first truly serialized Trek. It bridged TV’s transition from mostly episodic shows to longer-form narratives. That kind of storytelling didn’t really exist in TV, before.

I don’t even really think of DS9 as being particularly dark. It’s just that it’s the first Trek that got to follow up on things that would have been one-episode plots on earlier shows. DS9 was able to show us the cost and the consequences of Federation idealism, because it had a structure that made those stories possible to tell.

[dat4l0re]

When one of my friends is distraught, I have learned that the thoughtful thing to do is to attempt to make them feel more comfortable.

[startrekdescribed]

[Image description: a gifset from Star Trek: The Next Generation showing Data sat in a chair with a blank computer in front of him, he says, "There is no need to apologise. I was not offended." O'Brien stands in an entrance way, Data gestures to the seat next to O'Brien and says, "Would you like a pillow? Or a more comfortable chair to sit upon?" O'Brien replies, "No, sir! Thank you, sir." And sits down. Data asks once more, "Perhaps you would like some music?" /end image description]

[Caption: When one of my friends is distraught, I have learned that the thoughtful thing to do is to attempt to make them feel more comfortable.]

[julian-bashir-protection-squad]

The funniest story arc in Trek is always gonna be the DS9 one where Keiko drops every conceivable hint that she wants to add Kira to her marriage while Kira and Miles do everything in their power not to fuck each other. Incredible television.

[vanilla-phantoms]

Huh Yknow what I just realized? Vulcans were Not warp capable during suraks time, so that means that when the romulans left, they would’ve had to leave the long way round, like old fashioned sci fi long haul missions where there’s a generation or two that are born and die on the starship

[vanilla-phantoms]

Actually kinda obsessed with this because Vulcans didn’t actually achieve warp until 1500 years after the romulans left. Did anyone even remember them? Vulcan was not super space faring when they left, I bet that people assumed they wouldn’t actually survive.

Finding them again over 1000 years later must’ve been like finding Atlantis

[kaelio]

romulans fucking off to space in the equivalent of a 1996 camaro

[tinsnip]

There are some really good Star Trek books about this written by Diane Diane - her Rihannsu series.

[lorenzobane]

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

Headcanon that Bashir is constantly trying to gently be like... hey buddy, how's that trauma coming... To O'Brien and Miles sort of shrugs and says "it's honestly kinda in my past I don't think about it too much" and Bashir is losing his shit bc it doesn't make any sense and then one day the trauma hits O'Brien at once in a massive wave and he collapses at work and everyone is like "??? Where did this come from???" And Bashir goes "oh idk maybe the 20 years in solitary memories he has, the time he was on Cardassian death row, the guilt he has about coming from that only slightly divergent parallel universe and staying after this universe's O'Brien died, watching his eldest child sacrifice herself so that a younger version of herself could grow up with her parents could have something to do with it." And everyone is just like. "O'Brien is from a slightly parallel universe????"

[milfleeta]

ds9 missed the chance to do an episode of the daily lives of the promenade merchants. quark and garak get into a disagreement when quark puts up an obnoxious new sign in front of the bar. garak declares it an eyesore that’s ruining business for everyone. the entire ep is them quipping at each other and seeing who can get their petition signed first. cut to crazy shenanigans of them making their case to a wide range of merchants with increasingly hilarious results. the number of signatures remains a tie until the klingon chef is all that remains. he sides with garak after garak says something that could either be a threat or a proposition for sex. the episode ends with quark taking down the sign, and he and garak commiserate over their shared businessman woes.

and idk maybe the b-plot is sisko and lwaxana switching bodies

[ds9promenade]

Star Trek Deep Space Nine 6x7, “You Are Cordially Invited”

[ID: screencaps from DS9. Worf has O’Brien, Bashir, Sisko, and Martok gathered around a table and tells them, “Jadzia and I will be married on the station in six days.” Julian says, “There’s nothing more romantic than a wedding on DS9 in springtime.” Miles adds, “When the neutrinos are in bloom.” / end ID]

[welpyoun]

the fact that everyone else is at least pretending to be discreet meanwhile julian just pulled up a chair and is straight up just staring at them like 👁👄👁🍿

[sadfransisko]

[ID: Two screencaps from Deep Space 9. The first depicts Jadzia and Lenara at a reception on the station. They're at the food table, and Jadzia is watching Lenara as she reaches for something, saying: since the whole room is watching us.

The second image shows a crowd of other attendees all backed into the far end of the room, watching them. All of them are standing except for Julian, who is sitting in an armchair with one leg over the other and holding a drinking glass in his hand.

/End description]

[marxism-leninism-utenaism]

ezri dax is so funny. imagine if after you died a miserable girltwink with all your memories went to your neighborhood and started spilling your secrets to everyone you ever had a crush on

[joshuaalbert]

if I was a tng/ds9 writer I’d simply beat the ass of whoever introduced alexander for the drama with no clear idea of how he should fit into the plot or worf’s storyline or with other characters but saddling every subsequent writer with his existence. like. I don’t even hate him i just feel vaguely depressed any time he’s onscreen bc as a guy he’s trying his best, but as a concept 95% of the time it feels like they brought him in for an epic plot twist tee em and then were like ok you can leave now. except he can’t leave unless you’re prepared to kill this wholeass child because it’s not like trying out a new character relationship or geordi’s beard or whatever you can’t just undo it if you’re like hmm this isn’t working. worf struggling as a parent could’ve been an ok storyline later but it should’ve been done through plot choices made deliberately rather than “oh shit we need to [get rid of alexander/remember that alexander exists] so now he’s [with worf’s parents/on the enterprise/back with worf’s parents again even though we already said that was a bad idea].” there were ways this could have worked but that would have required an understanding of how this character should fit into the narrative and not just “wouldn’t it be wild if worf had a son now?”

[boyrot]

very unpopular ds9 opinion but i'm not actually bothered by ezri/julian at all on the face of it. i think they should have taken more than one season to execute it, but i think we project a lot of our own dislike of julian's crush on jadzia onto jadzia herself.

she has said many times that it's not that she doesn't think he's attractive, or funny, or that he makes her uncomfortable- she has given clear and explicit reasons for turning julian down, the primary one being their massive gap in age and maturity. he's too young for her. she does not want to take advantage of what she sees as a young man's puppy love, because she cares about him too much for that.

ezri is younger than julian. she is what julian was at the beginning of the series- brilliant but inexperienced, still finding her feet. she struggles with dax's memories and how to feel about these people that she knows, who don't know her. to her, julian does not look like the immature but endearing young loverboy that jadzia knows him as. ezri's attraction to julian, on the face of it, makes perfect sense. i think the way it was executed was rushed and could have been done a lot more delicately, but i don't think there's anything inherently wrong with ezri liking the young, handsome, flirtatious doctor she remembers through a very different lens than jadzia does. she's a different person.

my problem with it lies in the execution rather than the pairing itself. if ds9 had run for two or three more seasons and it had been treated as a slowburn, with ezri fumbling with her crush and struggling with whether or not she's even allowed to like julian, give her a few episodes dealing with her insecurity over his previous feelings for jadzia, wondering if he likes her for who she is or for the memories of her previous host. maybe even have julian be the one who has to be won over- it could have been really good. unfortunately, it was limited to the seventh season, the shortest one in ds9's run, and that relationship never actually got to realise its potential within the show. but i do think it had potential. it wasn't a bad pairing, it was just hindered by the limitations of ds9's run.

[hopeful-bat]

Julian Bashir underperformed and was chemically changed by his parents at the age of 6. Do you hear me???? Are you fucking listening ?????!?? I’m holding him so close to my heart I am placing him inside my rib cage and I am keeping him so warm and safe in there. Julian Julian Julian Annoying and Compassionate to a FAULT. He missed a question on his starfleet medical exam so that he would come in second. He didn’t think he had any right to be prioritized for his brightness. ARE YOU FUCKING LISTENING? He was engineered to succeed and he is Succeeding and it’s all a lie. He wasn’t even given a CHANCE. His parents Forced him into Starfleet Medical and he counts himself blessed every day that Medicine could be something he came to love and admire. He is a brown queer man. He is a genius. His every achievement feels bittersweet because of the horrible thing his parents did to him. He ran as FAR away from them as possible the moment he could, his whimsical smile at “frontier medicine”, the smile of a man who has been dreaming about the other side of the galaxy from the moment he realized what they’d done to him. And he is alive and has accepted his condition and allows himself to feel pride in himself. Allows himself to love recklessly. Can anyone fucking hear me?

[limonraspberry]

firmly hold that in doctor bashir i presume starfleet should have already been onto him, and the lmh thing should have been a pretext for gathering more info so they could be sure

[limonraspberry]

as the episode stands zimmerman is criminally underused as the antagonist he's positioned as--we don't even see his reaction onscreen after the secret's out; all we get is o'brien suggesting that zimmerman will probably file a report. it's fun and twisted that as soon as bashir asks him not to contact his parents he immediately does so, but i feel like it adds a little more depth to the situation if starfleet was already looking for something. and with richard bashir's not-so-secret inclination to show off combined with him finally back in contact with his prized achievement, the one thing he absolutely cannot talk about, a well-placed starfleet nudge could have tipped the balance in a much more subtle, believable way than the bashirs going up to the infirmary and casually vocalizing a secret they wouldn't even say out loud in julian's own quarters

[avoicefromthestars]

[wlwkiranerys]

[ID: four stills from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. 1: Benjamin Sisko is sitting a table and saying, “Major, there are heroes all over Bajor.” 2: the focus is on Kira Nerys who is looking ahead of her and she looks deep in thought. 3: Sisko says, “I’m sitting with one.” 4: Kira looks at Sisko who’s off screen and she is emotional. /end id]

[cineshemp]

andoria’s next top commander

[nonbinaryezrabridger]

[image description: fanart of shran from Star Trek enterprise. He stands with his back to the camera, looking over his shoulder at the viewer. He looks grumpy. He is wearing a full length heavily furry brown coat. Wind blows around him and snow falls. End description.]

@startrekdescribed