DS9 Versus: A viewing experient

[Kegg]

I have no idea how good the B5 episode is since I still haven't started watching the show, which I intend to do one of these days,

You haven't seen B5 or Farscape? My, don't we have geek catching up to do?

typical. a traumatic childhood experience produces biased judgement.

We are all the sum of our experiences with a little bit of genetic predisposition added in, and childhood/teenage experiences are the most important in determining who we are.

Also Kai Winn, come on.

No, really, come on.

Hasn't everyone felt like Odo at some point?

I guess perhaps not if you've been consistently gorgeous and lovable from the moment you emerged, Shirley Temple-like, from your mother's womb - but the rest of us sad saps probably at some point sort of have had reason to empathise with where Odo is in that story.

 

[DevilEyes]

I have no idea how good the B5 episode is since I still haven't started watching the show, which I intend to do one of these days,

You haven't seen B5 or Farscape? My, don't we have geek catching up to do?

Yes, yes, I do. Maybe I'm not a real geek?... On second thought, I post on Trek BBS... that's definitely geeky, right?

I've been meaning to see B5 for a while, and I watched "The Gathering" and "Midnight on the Firing Line" a few months ago - the first impressions were positive (well, "The Gathering" was so-so, but I liked MOTFL), but I didn't have time to continue. In the meantime I've downloaded the entire show (including the TV movies and "Crusade") - and although at the moment I am having my hands full of finishing a few other series, I intend to start with B5 again quite soon... In fact, when I do, I'll do a big parallel DS9 rewatch, Sykonee-style, and I'll probably start my own thread about it. (Only without the competition part.)

 

[TheGodBen]

Hasn't everyone felt like Odo at some point?

I guess perhaps not if you've been consistently gorgeous and lovable from the moment you emerged, Shirley Temple-like, from your mother's womb.

No, it happens to us too.

 

[Kai Winn]

Also Kai Winn, come on.

No, really, come on.

Hasn't everyone felt like Odo at some point?

I guess perhaps not if you've been consistently gorgeous and lovable from the moment you emerged, Shirley Temple-like, from your mother's womb - but the rest of us sad saps probably at some point sort of have had reason to empathise with where Odo is in that story.

no, really, you come on. love exists between people who share some fundamentals, for example a good night's rest together in a double bed. what would it be like with odo and kira? odo retires every 15h to his bucket for an hour, kira probably needs the average 8 hours per night. well, odo can join her, eyes wide open all night, and ask every time she stirs, 'are you sleeping darling?' becomes irritating soon. same goes for the breakfast together. let's remember that odo experienced climaxes every time he mixed with another liquids, and joined them in the end.
all that interspecies love in star trek is absurd. we don't love our relatives the apes who share the same world, and 98% of the genetics, we can't have offsprings with them either. but with the descendants of alien crustaceans (klingons), hominids with copper based metabolism (vulcans), etc? i really love feelings, but made the experience they are based on a rationale.

 

[Kegg]

How about watching B5 and Farscape at the same time, DevilEyes? As opposed to that and DS9. Just a thought, but I need to find more inventive ways to encourage people to watch Farscape.*

no, really, you come on.

Alright, allow me to phrase it in a far less self-indulgent way:

Have you ever liked somebody who didn't love you back? Or you didn't know if they liked you or not, because you didn't ask?

Hm?

Because that's what this episode is about, really.

*WATCH FARSCAPE!

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I have no idea how good the B5 episode is since I still haven't started watching the show, which I intend to do one of these days,

You haven't seen B5 or Farscape? My, don't we have geek catching up to do?

Yes, yes, I do. Maybe I'm not a real geek?... On second thought, I post on Trek BBS... that's definitely geeky, right?

I've been meaning to see B5 for a while, and I watched "The Gathering" and "Midnight on the Firing Line" a few months ago - the first impressions were positive (well, "The Gathering" was so-so, but I liked MOTFL), but I didn't have time to continue. In the meantime I've downloaded the entire show (including the TV movies and "Crusade") - and although at the moment I am having my hands full of finishing a few other series, I intend to start with B5 again quite soon... In fact, when I do, I'll do a big parallel DS9 rewatch, Sykonee-style, and I'll probably start my own thread about it. (Only without the competition part.)

Babylon Five is probably my favourite TV show, and I would love to hear your thoughts on it, ElfEars.

 

[PSGarak]

Babylon Five is probably my favourite TV show, and I would love to hear your thoughts on it, ElfEars.

This. One of the best sci-fi shows EVAR. Ahem.

Farscape is a lot of fun, too. I've just started a rewatch of that.

But B5? Epic win.

 

[PSGarak]

no, really, you come on. love exists between people who share some fundamentals, for example a good night's rest together in a double bed. what would it be like with odo and kira? odo retires every 15h to his bucket for an hour, kira probably needs the average 8 hours per night. well, odo can join her, eyes wide open all night, and ask every time she stirs, 'are you sleeping darling?' becomes irritating soon. same goes for the breakfast together. let's remember that odo experienced climaxes every time he mixed with another liquids, and joined them in the end.
all that interspecies love in star trek is absurd. we don't love our relatives the apes who share the same world, and 98% of the genetics, we can't have offsprings with them either. but with the descendants of alien crustaceans (klingons), hominids with copper based metabolism (vulcans), etc? i really love feelings, but made the experience they are based on a rationale.

People marry dogs. I'm not talking about in cultures where there's some ritual atonement involved and it's symbolic. They do it for real (even if not legally) because they decide they luuuv their dog. Is it weird? Yes. Does it happen anyway? Yes.

If apes had the same degree and level of sentience that we do, who knows how people would handle that or what they would or wouldn't do with them?

Human sexuality is wide and varied, and relations of the heart even more so. I don't find it as easy to write off as all of that.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Babylon Five is probably my favourite TV show, and I would love to hear your thoughts on it, ElfEars.

This. One of the best sci-fi shows EVAR. Ahem.

Farscape is a lot of fun, too. I've just started a rewatch of that.

But B5? Epic win.

Damn straight. I adore it.

As for identifying with Odo, yeah, I guess I can, but I don't think it makes for a great DS9 episode, especially since we've been down this road before.

 

[Tulaberry whine]

Dupe post.

 

[Tulaberry whine]

Also Kai Winn, come on.

No, really, come on.

Hasn't everyone felt like Odo at some point?

I guess perhaps not if you've been consistently gorgeous and lovable from the moment you emerged, Shirley Temple-like, from your mother's womb - but the rest of us sad saps probably at some point sort of have had reason to empathise with where Odo is in that story.

no, really, you come on. love exists between people who share some fundamentals, for example a good night's rest together in a double bed. what would it be like with odo and kira? odo retires every 15h to his bucket for an hour, kira probably needs the average 8 hours per night. well, odo can join her, eyes wide open all night, and ask every time she stirs, 'are you sleeping darling?' becomes irritating soon. same goes for the breakfast together. let's remember that odo experienced climaxes every time he mixed with another liquids, and joined them in the end.
all that interspecies love in star trek is absurd. we don't love our relatives the apes who share the same world, and 98% of the genetics, we can't have offsprings with them either. but with the descendants of alien crustaceans (klingons), hominids with copper based metabolism (vulcans), etc? i really love feelings, but made the experience they are based on a rationale.

If DS9 was intended to be a documentary I might have to agree with you. However ...

 

[happydave]

How about watching B5 and Farscape at the same time, DevilEyes? As opposed to that and DS9. Just a thought, but I need to find more inventive ways to encourage people to watch Farscape.*

*WATCH FARSCAPE!

I haven't seen Farscape either. I watched the first 15 or so, but I found it fairly flat, and considering I haven't really seen any talk about Season 1 being much worse than the rest (like Babylon 5), so am I right in thinking this or does it improve?

 

[Kegg]

I haven't seen Farscape either. I watched the first 15 or so, but I found it fairly flat, and considering I haven't really seen any talk about Season 1 being much worse than the rest (like Babylon 5), so am I right in thinking this or does it improve?

It improves, but opinion seems to be divided on season one. It's not as universally panned as B5's S1 is - some like it, like me, others don't. Stick it out till Nerve, which IIRC is episode 19. The end of season arc is something else and is really where the show's mytharc begins to kick in.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

It's not as universally panned as B5's S1 is

Panned by many, but not by all of us! It can get kind of creaky, but you've still got Mind War, Signs and Portents, A Voice in the Wilderness, Babylon Squared and Chrysalis. Most of the worst bits were early in the season and even there there were moments and stirrings of something better. Sure, Season 2 was a big step up, but I still view Season 1 more fondly than the early stages of many sci-fi shows. Plus, it had original Na'Toth!

 

[Iasius]

It's not as universally panned as B5's S1 is

Panned by many, but not by all of us! It can get kind of creaky, but you've still got Mind War, Signs and Portents, A Voice in the Wilderness, Babylon Squared and Chrysalis. Most of the worst bits were early in the season and even there there were moments and stirrings of something better. Sure, Season 2 was a big step up, but I still view Season 1 more fondly than the early stages of many sci-fi shows. Plus, it had original Na'Toth!

I think the first seasons of B5, DS9 and also Farscape have one thing in common: You don't really fall in love with the series based on them, but they look much better once you've seen where things go later on.


(IMO and all that)

 

[PSGarak]

Sure, Season 2 was a big step up, but I still view Season 1 more fondly than the early stages of many sci-fi shows. Plus, it had original Na'Toth!

This, all the way! I loved original Na'Toth!

 

[DevilEyes]

How about watching B5 and Farscape at the same time, DevilEyes? As opposed to that and DS9. Just a thought, but I need to find more inventive ways to encourage people to watch Farscape.*

No, I definitely want to do a DS9 rewatch... and the idea was to watch them in the airdate order, like Sykonee did in this thread...which would be particularly interesting since I originally first started watching DS9 around 2001. That way I'd try to see the episodes in the original context when they were made... I thought of even checking and reminding myself what happened in the real world on those dates... not that I don't remember the 90s very well (very turbulent decade for some of us, although probably not for the majority of people on this forum). I wonder if I'll see some parallels... the first episode of B5 gave me a weird feeling, particularly with two of the main alien actors having Eastern European accents (one real, one fake), unlike the humans who all spoke perfect American accents. Hm....

Anyway... Farscape doesn't actually fit there, since it started in 1999.

 

[Kegg]

True, I meant ahistorically, because, again, any excuse to pimp that show. I happen to like it and I don't get to talk about it much because I don't know many who do (and none offline.)

Also, you didn't catch DS9 when it was on the air? Ye gods I feel old. I remember talking about in school about "Call to Arms" and what a surprising finale that was... but one gets ahead of oneself, naturally.

 

[Harvey]

Farscape is pretty far removed from making direct reference to contemporary politics, in any event. It does make a rather surprising (and effective) reference to the 9/11 attacks during the fourth season, though.

 

[Kegg]

It does mine pop culture very thoroughly, though, but I don't think that's dated as bad as it might have (as the references include plenty of stuff that was decades or even a half-century old, Abbot and Costello, The Three Stooges play a pivotal role...)

And there's one reference in particular that should be priceless to any Star Trek fan.

Spoiler: Farscape

The Priceline commerical nod, of course. The best line in an brilliant episode.

Also: Is Londo's accent Eastern European-ish? The continent is something of a mush to me. His entire race are basically Space Venetians, though, so I had guessed he was going for more of a pseudo-Italian thing.