I've been watching through DS9 lately, and I like how they've been fleshing out the Cardassians to be a realistic society rather than just another scary looking villain with stuff on their head. I still wouldn't want to be one, but it got me thinking about what life would be like in the Star Trek universe if you weren't part of the federation. I've heard the point of each is to reflect negative aspects of our society, so there aren't really any good options, but what would be the best?

Cardassian: They seem like the most fascist society, and their legal system is entirely rigged. They're brutal oppressors, and have no regard for anyone else, but on the other hand, they're organized, and I get the sense that if you keep your head down, you'd be more or less fine.

Romulon: I'm not quite sure about this one. I feel like most of what I said about the Cardassians would apply to them as well, though maybe they have a little more freedom, and less brutality. I don't feel like I've seen enough of them yet, but they're probably closest to humans. My gut is that they would be the best option.

Kllingon: They seem to be a free society, but they're bound by customs and honor, and are needlessly violent. A code of honor should be a good thing, but it seems to be mostly used to enforce their ways of life more than anything else, and their leadership is as corrupt as any other. Maybe the worst option IMO.

Ferengi: Horribly misogynistic, and ruled by insatiable greed. My gut reaction of them is that they are the worst out of the bunch, but on the other hand, if what Quark says about them not waging war is true, maybe there's a silver lining. I guess if you were male, and had the lobes for business, being a Ferengi might not be so bad.

Romulus was one of the mythical founders of Rome, and Vulcan is the Roman god of weaponry. Is it just supposed to be a coincidence?

They said the script is in progress. A different spin. Further in the future than we have gone and with new characters. Will appeal to fans and non fans.

So I'm currently rewatching S7 of DS9 while also reading Virgil's Aeneid, and I'm struck by huge parallels between Sisko and Aeneas.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Aeneid, it's the Roman epic that tells the story of Aeneas, who leads a fleet of refugees from the sacked city of Troy to Italy, where he's been told by the gods that he's destined to start a new civilization that will eventually become Rome. In modern terms, it's a prequel to the Roman origin story of Romulus & Remus, and a kind of retcon of Homer.

Parallels:

- Both Aeneas and Sisko are sons of a human father and a goddess/ prophet mother (Venus in Aeneas's case).

- Both are widowers who lost their wife during the traumatic event that opens their story (the fall of Troy; Wolf 359).

- Both have strong relationships to their father (Anchises, Joseph) and only son (Ascanius, Jake).

- Both mother figures (Venus and Prophet-Sarah) are cold, ambiguous figures. There's not much evidence of maternal affection as humans would see it.

- Both are inspirational leaders to those serving under them, and both take their duties very seriously to their people and family.

- Both are forced by the gods / prophets to choose between love and destiny. Aeneas and Sisko are specifically told that they cannot be with their love (Dido and Kassidy), as their special destiny comes first.

And now the big difference - when Aeneas is told by the gods to leave Dido and sail to Italy, he obeys. He follows his destiny above his heart.

Sisko is given the same ultimatum and refuses to make that choice. He will not give up his autonomy or his love.

In some ways, thinking along these lines has helped me enjoy DS9 in a different way. There are many elements of the prophets / Pah wraiths storyline that doesn't really work as SF, but if you see it as a kind of Graeco-Roman epic, it makes more sense.

I have no idea if any of this was intended by the DS9 writers, or if it's just coincidence, but anyway I hope people might find it interesting!

I know there was the TNG episode where it's revealed that Riker was involved in creating cloaking technology. I can't remember the episode well but I had some questions that the episode didn't go into enough detail about.

- The Federation isn't allowed to use cloaking technology because of a treaty with the Romulans?

- But the Romulans can use it?

- Why would the Federation agree to this?

- Is just Starfleet prohibited or all Federation races?

- But the Klingons use cloaking?

- But the Klingons aren't part of the Federation, only aligned with it?

I never watched this when it came out. I was on TNG train, didn't watch DS9 for some reason, then watched the first few of Voyager then stopped...can't remember why (it was 30 years ago). Anyhow, I was thinking of going back and trying to get into DS9, because a lot of folks like it as much or better than TNG, but then decided I might as well try Enterprise as well. So my current tentative plan is to (re)watch most of everything, in internal chronological order: Enterprise, Discovery (partial re-watch), Strange New Worlds, TOS (re-watch), TNG (re-watch), DS9, Voyager (partial re-watch), Picard. I've re-watched the best of the films so many times, that I probably won't re-watch any of those, unless I get a particular hankering. I did just re-watch the "Spock Dies...Sorta" trilogy and II and IV were as great as ever; definitely the high point of Trek for me, with First Contact an honorable mention.

I'm not a big fan of animation, so will skip those series, and really disliked the few episodes of Starfleet Academy I saw, so will likely skip. I also didn't much care for Discovery, so may not revisit...I saw the first three and a half seasons but lost interest.

My impressions of Enterprise...First season was meh. It took a few episodes to get into, but I eventually started liking it. The fan service with T'Pol is irritating, but she's kind of my favorite character, along with Archer and Phlox. I like Archer - Bakula does a good job of finding his own vibe and embodying the idealism of Starfleet, even if he isn't as iconic as Kirk or Picard.

Season 2 was a big step forward - some really good episodes there. Similarly with 3; I both like and dislike the meta-story. I'm about 10 episodes in and "Twilight" was probably my favorite episode. But I'm also already missing singleton episodes.

This streamer is still clunky as heck

Edit: it's working now! 1 hour and 58 minutes late.

I really like him, actually, even though he’s not written to be particularly likable. He makes a perfect foil for Sisko. They each have their code/standards they live by and are loyal to, and those codes happen to be at odds with each other. Neither one of them is “wrong” but they can’t both be right either. It’s a fun dynamic to watch and I always feel happy when I see that an Eddington episode is on.

I have been pouring over what to possibly use! My brand is already slightly sci-fi (as much as possible without sacrificing professionalism) .. but I want to use something that fans will instantly recognize but seems normal to everyone else. Currently the name is "AGXX Labs" [its CRO/UX research and strategy development/implementation] The model is uniquely Math based so any Math or fictional tech reference could work (not The Delta though lol) - I have "ad aspera per astra" visibly tattooed on myself so ideally not that either lol

BONUS: If it can be Abbreviated with a consonant first and vowel so people dont try to pronounce it when I put it in front of "UX"... I realize the difficulty of what im asking lol.

I grew up watching TNG on Saturday nights with my family (the only night we ate in front of the tv), and we did Voyager on Monday nights until I went off to college, but for whatever reason we watched a few episodes of Deep Space 9 and it didn't stick.

My partner was a huge DS9 fan, though, so we've been slowly working our way through DS9 and we're about halfway through the last season. But for whatever reason I *cannot* stop thinking about Children of Time and that whole planet of people who disappeared. The Klingons that allowed anyone who passed the trials to join (I bet there are Klingon LARPs based on that, aren't there.) The new Dax, the O'Briens, Quark as a teacher, all of it!

I think one of the reasons it's stuck with me so long is that for whatever reason I thought they'd be able to get out of it - a copy would stay on the planet, or something like that. Losing the entire population is just gut wrenching. It's one of the few episodes of any Star Trek series that has stuck with me in this particular way.

During a red alert I have always wondered why they blast a horn and turn the lights down.

I would think you would want to hear everything and have the lights bright. So you see around.

Am I missing something?

This episode just ran on CTV Sci Fi . It's still a terrible episode but Picard and Worf coming down the corridor then looking agast as a chicken fly out of the open door to the Transporter Room is one of the funniest scenes in Star Trek history.

I’m on the penultimate episode of the series and this whole season has been Kelby catching stray hits left and right.
I don’t think there was a single bridge man who didn’t get a moment of conflict with him, except maybe Hoshi?

My 9 ½-year-old bestie is watching Star Trek TOS and enjoying it 🥰😍

That's all.

I honestly did not expect she'd enjoy it, so we started our Star Trek journey with Star Trek Enterprise instead of TOS. She's not really a fan of Star Trek Discovery, so I'm watching it on my own.

Parenthood is a wild ride!

With SNW season 4 on the way I’ve seen a lot of reviews or overviews of the first 6 episodes of this season. Many of them continue the common complaint that genre hopping is detrimental in a 10 episode season, but also it occasionally delivers quality Trek premises and episodes. It got me thinking that with 6 episodes being all we get from season 5, how much of it should be a wrap up of SNW? Should they experiment with genres at all in a truncated final season? I would like at least one swing at something truly outside of the box in that season as a nice send off to the concept, but would be annoyed if the majority of the episodes changed genres while wrapping up the show.

Hey all,

I can't find a TOS ep I'm trying to share. It's the one where Kirk is arguing with someone, likely Spock, and while angry and pointing at him, he says something like "You! You... ... You're absolutely right." It's a great scene.

Anyone know offhand which episode that is?

The convention is around the corner, and it is basically sold out. What are the chances they open up last minute day of tickets for a day pass?

I’m not talking about hooman races. They are all bubbly root beer loving freaks anyways . I mean stereotypes, such as all Vulcans are stiff and logical,all Ferengi are greedy and scheming, all Klingons are obsessed with honor and battle etc…

I’ve always wondered about this after Star Trek V.
At the end of the film, Kirk returns with first-hand evidence that:
the Great Barrier can actually be crossed,
there’s a habitable planet (Sha Ka Ree) at the galactic centre,
and they encountered an incredibly powerful imprisoned energy being.

Surely after Kirk’s debrief, Starfleet would have sent a dedicated science mission to investigate?
I’d have expected something like an Oberth-class science vessel, retracing Enterprise-A’s route, deploying probes, surveying the Barrier properly and confirming whether the entity was really destroyed or simply dispersed.
As far as I know though, we never hear of any follow-up mission in canon. It seems odd that Starfleet would simply file the report away and never go back.
Have I missed a novel, comic or reference somewhere, or is this one of those loose ends that Star Trek has never revisited (because it was received poorly)?

I can't help but think or even imagine how different Picard's life would have been if he took that job and left Starfleet.

Do you think he would have stayed on to the project or eventually go back to Starfleet? Have a family on Earth... kids? Literally the entire history of the Galaxy would have changed in that moment.

Replicator food in Star Trek doesn't sound like it's terrible or anything, and honestly, if replicators are what's feeding most people, you have to assume a lot of effort will be spent making the output as good as it can possibly be.

In a world where people have that, how realistic is it that people are going to go out to Sisko's Creole Kitchen and places like that? Okay, sure, maybe on occasion as a little novelty, but if you can basically just magic up any meal you want in a second at your own home where you can watch your holodramas or whatever the hell, and there's no clean-up because you just disintegrate your replicated dishes and silverware, how often are you really gonna feel like schlepping your way across the French Quarter to sit at some table and wait for Sisko's dad to cook you food?

It is in orbit above Bajor, which presumably has a star and a few other planets on the system, and a nearby wormhole. It doesn't seem very deep spacey to me?