17 Responses:

1. Paul says:

   3 years ago at 11:06 pm

   Booze or death! If only they had more advanced home delivery technology.

   • Line Noise says:

     3 years ago at 11:29 pm

     Holy crap! The gig economy is run by the Ferengi! I never made the connection before.

     • Karellen says:

       3 years ago at 4:45 am

       See rules of acquisition 28, 68, 101 and 198.

       Also 193, but that's just a good general life rule. taps nose knowingly

     • jwz says:

       3 years ago at 9:30 am

       Also the episode began with a throwaway gag about how the hostesses have a line item in their contracts requiring them to have sex with Quark, so that's some lighthearted hilarity there.

       But the Federation has a long history of endorsing this sort of thing.

     • Dude says:

       3 years ago at 11:44 am

       Not only that, but that son of a bitch straight up spammed the OS of DS9, including the food replicators:
2. Jef Poskanzer says:

   3 years ago at 7:09 am

   @realGulDukat says we're doing REALLY well, medically, on solving the MacroVirus situation (Phage!). And that he has been taking ketracel white.

3. jwz says:

   3 years ago at 9:23 am

   [Comment thread deleted because a bunch of you decided to feed the first-time-poster MAGA troll.]

4. Dude says:

   3 years ago at 11:41 am

   Yeah, this ep was on BBC America the other day (which runs, like, eight-hour blocks of DS9 on Mon & Tue, similar blocks on TNG on Wed & Thurs), and that part threw me for a loop.

   Well, that and the first season Odo make-up where you can more clearly make out René Auberjonois' face.

   • Elusis says:

     3 years ago at 7:36 pm

     The best Trek by far.

     • jwz says:

       3 years ago at 1:17 am

       Jim keeps saying that, so I'm giving it a try, but... wow, it's really, really bad. Back in the day I gave up some time in S2, and I'm halfway through S1 now and it's just complete garbage.

       But he keeps saying things to me that make him sound like an anime fan -- "Oh, the first 6 seasons are terrible, but then it gets really good! But if you don't suffer through all that dreck, you won't understand anything!"

       • Elusis says:

         3 years ago at 9:31 am

         Yeah, I know you have no tolerance for that shit.

         1) DS9 is fundamentally a political show about, among other things, "what happens when the oppressed become the oppressors?" And "how does the US's Federation's view of itself as wholly benevolent and correct stand up to real-world situations that aren't black and white?" And "what makes fascism such an appealing sell for some people?" And "when all the sides want to use you in different ways, where should your loyalties lie?" So it's an easy sell for me.

         2) Yes, there are some mind-blowingly bad eps early on ("Move Along Home," I'm looking at you). Not unlike many shows of that era. Turns out producing 24 episodes a season rather than 10 or 12 means you wind up with some stuff that's filler, some stuff that's regrettable. And some that's amazing.

         There's an episode guide here that just makes suggestions of watch/skip and has summaries + AV club reviews if you click through.

         I relied on a version of this guide when introducing F to the show some years back. Reliable. Sadly this

         There's a lot of essay which you can read or ignore, but Max Temkin's guide is also good.

         Look, if you dump the whole series, you miss some of the best story arcs, best character arcs, and best individual episodes in all of Trek. Personally I enjoy forehead-slapping over some of the really bad bits early on (OK "Move Along Home" is just painful) but you can absolutely follow any one of these, perhaps enjoy reading some snarky summaries to catch you up on bits of character stuff or setups for later, better eps. Your call.

         • Dude says:

           3 years ago at 11:31 am

           I see both sides:

           When this show first aired, I was not into it. The pilot just didn't hook me. If I hadn't been unemployed a decade-or-so later, I probably wouldn't have given it a second chance - and even then... damn, those early episodes are rough. (As were TNG's. I mean, have you seen TNG's first two years lately? They're absolutely unwatchable.)

           But yeah... if you get past the early episodes, this show has something TNG never really did: continuity. I mean, TNG had it, but it was way more episodic, whereas DS9 was telling one big story. Overall, that story's really good.

           Having said that, even the great episodes have overly-expository dialogue; I think the "final battle" in the last episode was anti-climactic; and I hate, Hate, HATE that Sisko never gets closure with Picard. There were 30-or-so crossover eps with TNG (not even counting O'Brien and Worf joining the station), the two captains never address the "Locutus" factor outside of their one meeting in the pilot.

           To this day, I've never seen Voyager or Enterprise, and I'm not paying for another streaming service (nor will I bootleg or torrent), so I haven't seen Discovery or Picard. But I love DS9 overall... even with that dumb story of Worf killing a kid during a soccer game.

           • Elusis says:

             3 years ago at 12:03 pm

             Agreed on pretty much all points. The lack of resolution of "you killed my wife/I kinda had no say in the matter" was disappointing. And the ending was anticlimactic, but which TV series is not, aside from TNG, which is a real unicorn among series (and not even Trek series) frankly? (TNG, Six Feet Under... mayyyybe Mad Men? I'm trying to think of series with endings I thought were even "meh OK" and not outright "that fucking sucked".)

             I noped out of Voyager somewhere in S2 and never tried Enterprise though I admit I'm curious about it.

             Pro tip: Take the CBS All-Access free 30-day pass, watch Discovery S1 & 2 and Picard. My partner and I managed to finish both of them up just a couple days shy of our cancellation date. Worth it, IMO, especially S2 of Discovery, and maybe in a year we'll pay for a month of it to catch S3/S2 or something.

             • jwz says:

               3 years ago at 12:14 pm

               I never watched Voyager, but I do love this supercut of them firing all 121 of their 38 photon torpedoes. Which, in a nutshell, is why my favorite Star Trek show is still Stargate Universe.

               Discovery is pretty good, though. Picard was a snore.
               • Elusis says:

                 3 years ago at 8:24 pm

                 That supercut is awesome.

                 I enjoyed the first half of Picard, and then it's like all the writers took a vacation and left their interns to finish up.

                 • dzm says:

                   3 years ago at 10:13 am

                   Picard is/was a mix of nostalgic pastiche ("Aww. I remember that!") with nearly every damn thing from TNG that made TNG terrible. Plus a ton of fan service (which is, in fact, distinct from the nostalgic pastiche previously mentioned).

                   My wife described it as "a promising start, but then they Star-Trekked all over it."

           • thielges says:

             3 years ago at 7:59 am

             If you’re willing to handle filthy antiquated physical media* then the public libraries are a nice, free, and legit alternative to paying for streaming. They will eventually reopen.

             (* but they sure are pretty in the sunlight)