Enjoyed this three-parter, a strong mission statement about where and how this is going. We've gotten to know the characters, see them change, now it's their world's turn. #startrek #ds9

I think seven years in, you're allowed to do a big goofy space pirates one, even if Gene would've hated it. Enjoyed the layers of deception and not-knowing and knowing here, hope part two lands it.

Data here becomes the most plausible captain of the main crew, to me.

#startrek #tng

Yeah, they land it.

It's really another one that hangs on main cast not behaving like main cast, but you /can do that/ in season /seven/.

#startrek #tng

Only six episodes into season 7, I suddenly understand the specific tone of that "TNG season 8" twitter account — we're really over here doing "Data has weird dreams, meanwhile, Picard will do anything not to attend a banquet."

#startrek #tng

After the #TNG episode where Worf gets paralysed and goes, "well, I can't possibly live with a disability, better kill myself," though I do wish this one was a little more about her thriving than about her fighting the crew over accessibility — the crew frequently make utter asses of themselves — it's still nice to get an utterly unsubtle 90s-ass one about how a disability doesn't mean you're worthless.

(Hey, it's Daphne Ashbrook.)

#startrek #ds9

"Lwxana Troi has weird dreams" is a little too close to the literally previous episode to do /already/. It's not even a bad episode, and being angled for drama instead of comedy means it's not even superfluous, but it may be for the best that TNG is about to end.

#startrek #tng

Data tries to train Spot. Meanwhile, does warp drive spell the total destruction of everything?

Was TNG always a sitcom, or does season 7 just feel that way?

#startrek #tng

Great Worf episode, but Worf/Troi feels here like such a gag pairing that I dunno how they're gonna sell the idea of doing it for real in the rest of the season.

#startrek #tng

I've seen this one before, back when I watched the Enterprise finale. Still think it's pretty good.

#startrek #tng

Had to, of course. Forgot how fond I was of this crew. Maybe I /should/ rewatch Enterprise after Voyager.

Troi and Riker look notably older, with Troi's hairstyle (and accent) even totally different, but it's hard to care when all of this is clearly about how fond everyone is of them.

That, plus the main cast appearing not as themselves but as holographic projections of the official record, is kind of a problem.

#startrek #tng #enterprise

Perfectly middle of the road Prime Directive episode, though it is one that really highlights for me how the Prime Directive works as a narrative conceit but not at all as an actual rule in any kind of real context. #startrek #tng

Love a good "everyone mourns characters who haven't been told they're dead but may still end up that way" episode.

#startrek #ds9

In this one, Dr Crusher quits her job to move to Space Scotland and live with her grandmother's ex-boyfriend the Space Scottish Sex Ghost.

I don't dislike it as the show doing something different, but I do think the extent to which it relies on Dr Crusher just losing her mind to this sex ghost kinda sucks. Gates McFadden kinda crushes (ahem) it, though.

#startrek #tng

Say, "Upstairs, Downstairs"-ing TNG is a pretty solid concept. Somebody ought-a do a spinoff about characters just like these. Animated, maybe. Could run for a season or five, easy.

#startrek #tng

Extremely obvious from the off that Alixus is the reason for all of it.

You can't just force this situation on people!! If there are as many sympathetic to the cause as she insists, surely she could've just recruited for it!!

#startrek #ds9

See, this is an amnesia episode that works. Still not a great hour of television — it transparently builds up to and then basically competently executes "what if Data was Frankenstein's monster" — but at this point we know Data well enough, and what's inherent to him even without his memory is clear enough, that throwing him at the Planet of the Undereducated is at least /something/.

Troi gets a promotion for being willing to kill Geordi.

#startrek #tng

Brent Spiner tries his damnedest to make this work, but it's just not happening.

#startrek #tng

Lt. Kwan's behaviour before he ends his own life is so transparently "this man is getting telepathic instructions from some psychic entity" that it's completely absurd that it takes 15 minutes for the episode to stop investigating it as a straightforward suicide.

Good Troi episode, though.

#startrek #tng

No show on its seventh season should still be putting out episodes this bad.

And, like, bad on a premise level, not an execution level — it's executed decently, for how bonedead idiotic it is. #startrek #tng

Great premise only DS9 can do, executed wonderfully. Fun to see these three TOS Klingons again as a trio of bickering old bitches, and I like that they're all basically supportive of Dax's transition. :)

The story could've stood to hang the final decision on the conflict a little more on Dax, maybe, instead of keeping her quite so clean, but this is still a great hour of DS9.

#startrek #ds9

Finally, a TNG that feels like the show has realised it's about to end.

It's nice to see Wesley again, though to see him go all "I hate following rules!" after "The First Duty" is a little, hm, Wes, no, hold on, rules are how people don't get killed. (Ultimately he's right, though, obviously!!)

A stronger exit for the character might've rooted his disillusionment with Starfleet more directly in what happens in that story.

#startrek #tng

Oh, direct followup to "Journey's End." Yeah, that kind of thing /would/ have a direct effect on Deep Space Nine, wouldn't it.

#startrek #ds9

On the one hand, there's something rich to the idea of Future Alexander being in a lot of ways what Worf wants him to be and that clearly not being ideal for everyone involved, but on the other, I just don't really buy that the Alexander we know could become the man who would erase himself from time to save his nearly century-old dad.

I ado ppreciate that this one treats Alexander as a character instead of as a pile of stock kid clichés.

#startrek #tng

* There's a region between Federation and Cardassian space. In it, some planets have been settled by Federation populations, some by Cardassians.
* Until the Cardassian government gets a bug up its ass about border security.
* The Federation agrees to give up its planets, all but abandoning its people to Cardassian rule.
* Some of those people have a problem with that and a resistance movement forms.

That seems to me like a legitimate grievance?

#startrek #ds9

Here I fully buy the core tension. Picard is married to Starfleet, and is bad with kids, but shags around slightly too much for it not to be totally plausible that he just has a kid or two out there somewhere.

Obviously it doesn't end up being true in the end, but I /like/ the way it fills in who Picard is, what we know about how he exists in the world.

(Bok's plan does seem a touch convoluted.)

#startrek #tng

Great Garak episode and, honestly, one of #DS9's best episodes yet. Just two great actors in a room giving it their all for a huge chunk of it. (Boyfriends, I say!)

Show's really grown its beard.

#startrek

Holodeck mayhem pile-up!

Maybe not the strongest hour of television, but still, love to get a big holodeck episode as the show is on the way out. Yeah, man, throw all the goofy holodeck ideas at me! Knights on the Orient Express! Sentient ship! The ol' New York backlot!

Eos, I'll miss TNG.

#startrek #tng

Interesting to make this so explicitly a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror," a world altered by its events so specifically that Other Kira recaps its events for audience stand-in Kira. Previous TOS connections were more like, oh, yeah, this guy /would/ still exist in the world.

Another rock solid hour of Star Trek.

#startrek #ds9

Strong choice to dedicate the final hour before the end of the show to a chapter in the Maquis story that will ultimately be two other shows' responsibility to carry on with. TNG will end, but Deep Space Nine and Voyager still have twelve seasons left to come.

Ro Laren's defection here really works for me, and it all makes the Maquis even more sympathetic.

(Not that it really feels like TNG is actually working towards an ending, mind!!)

#startrek #tng

Love Kira's righteous fury at the DS9 equivalent of a concentration camp guard.

(Man, fuck Kai Winn.)

#startrek #ds9

If it's possible to nail a finale more thoroughly than this, I haven't seen it. Picard does "The Constant," a big ol' sci-fi idea — but ultimately what we care about is these /people/.

Beautiful way to sign off. :')

#startrek #tng

Two more episodes left in DS9 season two, after which I'll take a break from Star Trek for a bit — not because I'm tired of it, but because I don't want to end up tired of it, and this seems like as good a place as any to take a break.

The whole business with the Cardassian courtroom is a bit over the top, but the danger to O'Brien always feels very real, and ultimately it's a good episode because it's a series of compelling angles on every character who gets caught up in it.

#startrek #ds9

The "the Siskos and the Quarks go camping" comedy episode turns into a big season finale spectacular halfway through. Top 10 anime betrayals. Strong episode to introduce a bunch of big new stuff in. Armin Shimerman is really good in this one.

(Blowing up a Galaxy-class ship to show the Enterprise would've got fucked here, too, is maybe a little "did we learn nothing from how quickly the Borg became too strong to deal with.")

#startrek #ds9

I miss Star Trek, and so I'm gonna watch Star Trek.

The vibe shift as the station prepares for war is palpable. Unlike anything TNG ever could have done.

Everyone gets good little moments here. A good little Sisko speech, how upset Odo is and everyone trying to help him, Quark knowing exactly where not to be but Sisko knowing exactly how to play him. Everyone talks each other into everything. Love these nerds.

#startrek #ds9

Odo's crush on Kira caught me off-guard last season, but now that they're clearly doing it on purpose, I'm totally on board with it. It'll never work out, though, of course.

#startrek #ds9

Love watching Quark get swept up in some absolute nonsense for no reason other than his own hubris.

This episode never sacrifices the integrity of its characters or world for a laugh while still being a great comedy episode.

#startrek #ds9

This could easily have fallen into the familiar "episode where people don't behave like themselves for the whole hour" problem the era falls into so often, but instead it's a great little character study — Kira is always gonna be Kira no matter who they try to make her believe she is.

#startrek #ds9

The Brigadoon planet that only exists once every sixty years is a fine planet of the week type of thing — though I found Ben and Dax's goodbyes very moving — but the B-plot of Quark trying to con Kira into letting him record her holo-image for a richo is (creepy, yeah, but) a hoot.

#startrek #ds9

Oop, "Generations" has snuck up on me. Be a bit before I get to it.

RE: https://beepboop.one/@Alexis/116216501934688697

"a bit" turned out to be "three days"

Love Riker walking in on the setup for a pretty basic Kira Nerys' Day Off episode like he's the hottest babe on syndicated television.

Love, then also, the twist of which Riker.

#startrek #ds9

The kind of episode that's just, yeah, I'm sure this kind of silly nonsense happens on DS9 kinda all the time, but just about the only thing that stands out here is it's good to check in on Miles and Keiko's marriage. It doesn't quite pull off any of the rest of it.

#startrek #ds9

"Same year as it was yesterday, 2024."

woah, the Bell Riots. you know they're gonna come up eventually, but I don't think I knew they actually went to them.

Now that's an episode of television.

#startrek #ds9

Doesn't quite live up to the first half, but still, just a great hour of #StarTrek.

#ds9

Ahh, a fresh new Star Trek show.

This is the 90s Trek I'd seen the most of before this go-around — for a few years it was just on all the time right when I'd come home from school, which means I have a fondness for #Voyager specifically that no wider reputation will ever beat in combat.

It'll be interesting to see how well I remember it — this pilot matches my memories quite well, though only now do I realise it crosses over with #DS9.

#startrek

remember when I declared Tasha Yar the real main character of TNG

my new slightly deranged hot take is Neelix and Kes are the main characters of Voyager

#startrek #voyager

This is a good second episode premise — it's not at all about the other ship, which just turns out to be themselves, so it has all the space it needs to be almost entirely about how these people have to learn to work together.

anyway, look what they did to my boy

#startrek #voyager

A good effort at just a fairly standard Star Trek story, but in that way also fails because it's not doing anything TNG or DS9 couldn't have done just as well, if not better.

#startrek #voyager

"Lungs stolen, holographic lungs put in, the crew has to go get the lungs back" is such a funny horrible thing to do to Neelix specifically.

A fun bantery one.

(I also just find the Emergency Medical Hologram's ongoing plight, which really comes into the foreground here, really compelling.)

#startrek #voyager

Nog is such a good little dude.

And the Odo story here is just beautiful stuff.

#startrek #ds9

This is the first time since establishing the whole Gamma Quadrant situation they've really brought up that they're rationing, but by playing it for comedy — Neelix's better-than-coffee sludge, Janeway's coffee quest — it really fails to land as the serious predicament they're in.

I do like how this one establishes Janeway's captaining style — she /wants/ to be close with the crew in ways Kirk, Picard, Sisko never let themselves be.

#startrek #voyager

(Obviously the Chakotay spirit animal material chafes, in the context of the show's Indigenous American advisor being a fraud who'd already been exposed years before the show.)

#startrek #voyager

Finally we check back in with the Emissary story. Sisko just sort of refusing to acknowledge it while actively and constantly working with and around people who worship him does seem unsustainable.

#startrek #ds9

Only six hours into the "lost, far away from home, in an unexplored quadrant of the known universe" show, and already we're doing "anyway, here's a Romulan"?

I liked it as an hour of Star Trek — the twist that he's in 2351 instead of 2371 is great, and also I obviously love all this stuff with the EMH figuring out how to be a person — but, hm, already, really?

#startrek #voyager

The Grand Nagus moves in with Quark and devotes his life to non-capitalist benevolence, causing Quark and Rom to think him insane. Meanwhile, Bashir is up for an award they never give to people at his point in their careers, but then everyone around him gets his hopes up just because they like him.

Solid mid-season comedy episode, of the exact kind you lose in the 10-episode streaming model.

#startrek #ds9

A Holmes story with sci-fi bits glued on happens to Tom Paris. Fine — though we don't quite know Tom Paris well enough yet to know what's atypical behaviour — but we're not exactly in the Delta Quadrant here, are we.

Knowing the EMH's ongoing quest for a name of his own ends at him being called "The Doctor" for the next 900 years and counting doesn't make his earnest desire for an identity any less endearing — but it does make it funnier.

#startrek #voyager

me, whenever #StarTrek #Voyager doesn't quite embrace its premise: well well well if it isn't our old friend Alpha Quadrant-style storytelling
The killing off of present O'Brien in favour of future O'Brien is a great final twist of the knife in this season's O'Brien trauma hour. #startrek #ds9
@Alexis Neelix is somehow both great and awful

@B I half-jokingly declared him Voyager's main character, the other day, but a few episodes later, I think he's Voyager's Quark.

Though obviously Quark works because he has this whole little world of his bar and a bunch of other characters going on around him to support him, while Neelix just has Kes, and explicitly abandons his whole context to come be on Voyager.

@Alexis ...and Tom Paris' shuttle at DS9 (accidentally) crosses over with TNG.
@Alexis back in the day the only way I had of watching Voyager was a local channel that aired it weeknights at midnight.
@rand__althor Of the three 90s Treks, this one does feel like it's the one best suited to an odd timeslot like that — somehow it feels both like an afterschool cartoon AND like something liminal that doesn't quite exist.