Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
If I had to pick just one quote out of the entire franchise to sum up the universal theme of Star Trek-a thesis statement of what it’s really all about-it would have to be this line Data says in The Offspring:
“We must strive to be more than we are, Lal. It does not matter that we will never reach our ultimate goal. The effort yeilds its own rewards.”
(However, “get the cheese to sickbay” is also a strong contender)
@Kawaiite-mage You are so right. That is one of the most important lines in Trek lore. It reminds us that even a “utopia” like the Federation/24th century Earth has it’s blindspots, and it’s easy to become so complacent in your sense of moral superiority that you don’t realize you are holding people to standards that are only feasible for people with the same level of privelege as you. Good thing that never happens in real life huh 🙃
Recently I had a Star Trek The Next Generation dream. I was watching an old VHS rip of a “making of” documentry, which was hosted by, of course, Johnathan Frakes.
And it starts off pretty normal. Frakes was doing this thing of giving us the viewer a tour of the sets, and talking to us as if he’s a TV presenter and fan of Star Trek, and then does the gag of saying “and now let’s investigate the changing rooms of our prestigious stars” they enter Will Riker’s room “it may surpise you who this handsom devil is plaid by” as the camera pans to a signed poster of Riker on the wall, naturally depicting Johnathan Frakes as Will Riker with his signature.
Haha ha funny gag, but it has that Johnathan Frakes charm so I don’t think much of it.
Then Frakes tells us were going to the set and we’ll meet the director of the episode being shot, they get there and Frakes says “it might surprise you what handsom devil directs for us” and the camera pans across the set from Frakes as the presenter to Frakes sat in the director’s chair.
Okay this wasn’t so weird because I know Frakes directed First Contact, the camera pan just seemed like a charming camera trick, and it seemingly validated the earlier joke.
But then we go to the make up department, Frakes is leading us there, still dressed as a director, and Micheal Dorn is in chair recieving Worf’s prosphetics, and Frakes starts talking about their dilligant make up team, and the camera pans across to reveal Johnathan Frakes is the person applying Worf’s prosphetics, again in a different costume.
At this point I’m confused, and I come to the conclusion that this must actually be a comedy skit I’m watching.
But now Johnathan Frakes is touring us through the set, dressed as a make up artist, saying “time to see a scene of a episode being filmed, an episode you’re yet to see, where Deanna Troi discovers a secret of her mother’s past, and you’ll never guess who that handsom devil Deanna Troi is plaid by.”
And it’s Johnathan Frakes. Dressed in Deanna’s jumpsuit with plunge neckline and giant eighties hair, doing Deanna’s space accent.
Quickly it becomes apparent that Johnathan Frakes is the ONLY person working on Star Trek, and the studios suddenly feel utterly desserted as Johnathan Frakes is the only person there dressing up as different people and some how single handedly producing a prime time television show while also filming it’s documentry.
man what the hell do you think was happening on deep spaces 1-8
deep space 3 is mentioned in the TNG episode Interface. they have an interstellar athletics carnival every year.
deep space 4 is mentioned in the TNG episode The Chase. there was something about the ancient DNA chase or something.
deep space 5 is mentioned in the TNG episode Parallels. they design ships there.
deep space 7 is mentioned in the Voyager episode In The Flesh. it is uninteresting.
if you really want to worry, the Discovery episode There Is A Tide… apparently mentions the 31st century’s deep space 253. unanswered questions only increase.
yes, this reply was entirely unnecessary but you can’t stop me.
One of the things I like about Star Trek generally is how most of the characters skew older/middle-aged.
Like they fully acknowledge Bashir as really young in season 1 of DS9 and he’s 27. And it’s just like… I feel like so much media everyone, even people in highly ranked positions, are under 25. Another note- I’m really glad they made the “young ingénue” genius doctor like… still a reasonable age for a person to be a doctor.
Or how so many of the movies with the original cast are when they’re much older men. Like Spock, Kirk, McCoy they’re in their 50s/60s for most of those movies! These people are all seasoned, competent professionals. Most of them have worked in other places before the place they work in the show or movie. They have a history, and other friends, and I really appreciate it because I feel like it’s one of the few series where being experience and age and not being a 22-year-old bombshell is actually normal. Which makes sense! Why would the first officer of a flagship be some dude who just graduated?
Anyway- no point to this, just really appreciate how as a series, across all of them, they really seem to acknowledge that great big adventurous things can still happen to you after you turn 30. You can still achieve remarkable things, you can still fall in love, you can still get promoted or change careers.
In honor of an (Emmy-award winning?!) “WTF” inducing episode from Star Trek’s long, colorful history. Guaranteed to make you scream in confusion and ask “Why did no one stop this?” as it boldly goes where no one has ever gone before without so much as a B-plot to give you a moment’s reprieve.
First Contact Day - April 5th
The in-universe holiday celebrating the day that Zephram Cochrane became the first human to achieve warp-1 speed, leading a group of nearby Vulcans to make first contact in Bozeman, Montana.
Captain Picard Day - June 16th
A school event on board the USS Enterprise-D that the ship’s children looked forward to all year and Picard himself dreaded.
Star Trek Day - September 8th
In celebration of the first day that Star Trek aired on television (in the United States… Canadians got it a day earlier) in 1966!
