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

*marks calendar for four years from now*

The Bell Riots were a pivotal series of events on Earth that took place in September of 2024. Started in San Francisco's Sanctuary District A, they were named after protest leader Gabriel Bell. One of the most violent civil disturbances in all of American history, the riots and subsequent crackdown resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Sanctuary District residents

By the 2020s, the American government – reacting to serious problems of homelessness and unemployment – created special Sanctuary Districts (essentially walled-off sections of the city grid) in most major cities. Unfortunately – while established with the benevolent intent of providing free housing and food, as well as prospects for future employment – the Sanctuaries quickly degenerated into inhumane internment camps for the poor.

this appalling socialism would never fly in the real america of the 2020s

xp. strangely TNG mention that in 2024 irish unification happens.

and that ds9 ep also prognosticates that the neo-trotskyists will soon be in power in france

which, if la france insoumise were more popular, would be kind of accurate maybe?

I could see the sanctuary district thing happening if it gave a huge kickback to the property owners that topped the amount they'd make from redevelopment

Star Trek had a nuclear apocalypse in the late '90s IIRC

same

i know they shared a lot of writers, but did ds9 pick up a lot of tng staff once it was off the air? would that explain the general uptick in quality with season 4?

He Has 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer and Nowhere to Sell Them pic.twitter.com/PZySdov6Po

— Carta Monir (@CartaMonir) March 14, 2020

lol, thought that scenario felt familiar. Although I don't remember ever hoping that Quark's would get looted in the wake of a failed scheme.

Anyone complaining that ST: Picard is too slow has not watched this show recently.

HOW DARE U

this one's mostly episodic though other than like 4 or 5 episodes per season that advance the Plot? its not 'slow' if its executing a complete story every episode imo

i haven't seen picard so maybe that's the same idk

IDK, because of my love for Trek and my respect for the participants of this thread, and their enthusiasm, I have been trying for a while to get into DS9. I've watched about 2 1/2 seasons over the last couple of years, but have forgotten what took place in most of the episodes so I've been rewatching select eps from S2 & S3 to keep at it. Anyway, I still find most of the characters to be less than compelling. I don't really know what Dax is or does still, Bashir I'm warming to, Quark I like, but everyone with the exception of O'Brien TALKS WAY TOO MUCH. The only person to really own it, and who I'm finally getting into as I'm getting close to the end of S3, is Avery Brooks and his demented, go for broke line readings no matter what the occasion.

By and large, the pace is excruciating, even on the self contained eps. Story arc-wise, I did like the one where the Dominion clowned the Cardassians & Romulans in one fell swoop. That was well written and paced, but it took an entire episode of setup to get there.

Anyway, I have plenty of time to keep at it and see where it goes.

I don't really know what Dax is or does still

There's behind the scenes stuff that kind of explains Dax's fuzziness, namely that the original scope for the character was to be a mentor figure dripping with gravitas, but Terry Farrell, being relatively new to acting, said she felt she couldn't pull it off, which sent Dax into a limbo until they settled on Action Barbie (her term) and party girl.

My beef with STP isn't its narrative slowness so much as its patchy and flimsy world-building, which is an area in which DS9 is unrivaled among the other Trek properties.

Other things that I love are Sisko and Jake's unbridled affection for each other, Garak, Kira yelling at people.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/05/deep-space-nine-the-trek-spinoff-that-saved-the-day-by-staying-put/

The time-traveling San Francisco episodes are overly too prescient and I hope they're not quite our world. They're much closer than I think the writers ever intended!

If Jeff Bezos wants to justify some of his zillions, he should fund the HD-ing of DS9.

just read (parts of) the 'star trek - the second 25 years' and lol

it's essentially just endless bitching by writers, most of whom were fired, complaining that they 'couldn't tell stories' because of roddenberry or berman or braga or the network. i mean it doesn't even *mention* that two ds9 actors had a baby during the show's run.

the exception is behr, who went ham at the end of ds9 (and will not shut up about it)

berman comes across as a dick, but at least a self-aware and superficially diplomatic one. except for 'it's so difficult to find beautiful young women who can actually act.' maurice hurley didn't even bother with that.

also everyone absolutely loves the bakula

I’ve gotten up to the early 3rd season in this, and it’s definitely coming together a bit more. I agree with a lot of mookieproof’s criticisms, there were a number of season 2 episodes that created interesting and difficult problems and then came up with ridiculous resolutions. (Sending a rapidly expanding mini-universe...somewhere else, Garak just killing a Cardassian officer with zero consequences, etc.)

I loved the episode with Garak’s malfunctioning implant. Really liked O’Brien living out The Trial and Kira getting turned into a Cardassian. Mirror dimension was fun, the whole cast seemed to be having a great time, especially Brooks. Still find Dax pretty boring, and Kira’s love interest is such a drag.

that is not the *least* of the shit o'brien 'lives out' (you'll know it when you get there)

and yeah if you like it so far it basically only gets better!

Standing by my offer to take Bezos off the guillotine list if he paid for a 4K DS9 remaster.

you need to ask for more

He still has to go to the reeducation camp.

can't tell if you're stupid or just not funny

let us know if you figure it out

gutted, just gutted

oof, sorry. that was lame and uncalled for by me -- apologies

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EixOp3VUcAEcp9S?format=jpg&name=small

Whomst among us has not...

Watched the documentary on the show which I thought was very good. Check it out if you have the chance

Full yet incidental series spoilers but amusing: https://youtu.be/bQPB5xzxlQQ

is ezri dax a manic pixie dream girl y/n

besides the haircut? nah

yes and no

yes outwardly v pixie dream girl
no bc inwardly = old man

manic pixie dream girl old man

i think the inner old man only really emerged when convenient, as with the *insanely* over-the-top joran manifestation or when prodding worf. which is fine

that said i think she and they did a pretty great job with her character

tbf an aspect of mpdg is always ~unknown knowledge~ but hedged behind a social anxiety that makes them accessible to dorks

as i'm rewatching S07 after like a year and a half it seems i too want to live in the holosuite

the inherent thing isn’t “wow I can introduce this girl to things only I know” but “this girl has the secret keys to fixing my internal problems” so she’s definitely mpdg

so say we all xpost

xp you and Nog just chilling in there

I've decided the only way I'll get through this series is by turning my internet-browsing procrastination into DS9 procrastination for a couple of months. Just watched the pilot. It's pretty charming, tantalising setup for all the political stuff, likably stupid but not-TNG-season 1-stupid, and some of the dialogue is... quite good? I think I will split the diff between these two watchlists.

I've seen the pilot three times, when it first came out, for previous failed rewatch sometime in the past decade, and yesterday. The only things I ever remember are the shot of Sisko in the escape pod at the start, Sisko's swimsuit, and the "OW!".

yeah i just rewatched emissary again the other day and that shot from the pov of the escape pod is stunning

For a bad first season, this is a pretty great first season, so I’m excited about when this actually gets good.

I have a watchlist of which episodes to skip, but after watching ”Progress” (moving!) and an actually enjoyable Lwaxana episode (!), neither of which were on the list, I’m thinking I might as well watch the whole lot.

i really thought the first season was not bad, although it absolutely does get better. a better first season than TNG imo (I just did the TNG rewatch, i prefer it slightly to DS9 overall but it's fairly close for me).

I'll go to bat for DS9's first season, even "Move Along Home!" And DS9's Lwaxana episodes put her TNG episodes to shame, because in the latter, she's basically a "LOL old harridan" but DS9 gives her emotional depth and shading.

I will only recommend one episode to categorically skip, that being "Profit & Lace" i.e. the trans-Quark lol emotional wimmin episode, which is irredeemably awful and objectionable.

Ok I have to watch that now. Move Along Home was very silly but not unenjoyable, so miles better than early TNG nonsense. Basically almost every one of the main ensemble is a fun character actor, so it’s enjoyable watching them even when the stories r dumb.

Oh no what have I done.

haha profit & lace was the only episode i skipped when i watched the series -- hadn't even heard anything about it, just saw the preview and thought 'that sounds terrible'

yeah i wouldn't skip anything in DS9, there's a couple stinkers each season but those watch guides throw away tons of good ones just because they're lower stakes or whatever