@JohnnyShoulder I do have a habit of using terms from pop-culture as if everybody knows what I'm on about. Still, if any term transcended the medium... it probably wouldn't be umbasa actually, i think you're right!
@colonelkilgore I love DS9! Easily one of my favourite Treks. Obviously the first few seasons are pure cheese but once you sit through that and get to know and love the characters it's all good. I've spoke to Rog about it a bit in the past so I'm sure he's heard all this from me already!
I love the underbelly aspect of it and the scrutinization of the Federation's utopia. They've always had outright villains in Trek so why not have the shades of grey too. It's not realistic to think that everyone is so evil that they have to be a villain or that the good guys have no foibles. I think as a person that falls in to that grey area myself, I quite like the everyman sort of aspect to it. Well actually I suppose the last few years of every day politics has kind of shown that you are considered evil if you have even a single character flaw but it's not necessarily representative of humanity's development as a whole.
It's all well and good for the Federation to say we don't have money, we have infinite resources etc but up until DS9 we had only really followed the crew of the flagship of the Federation. Naturally their status and experiences are going to be vastly favourable in comparison to someone scrubbing the plasma conduits on a 40 year old freight ship.
A utopia works if you are at the top of it and you embrace it's culture. The moment you want to do something that's not constructive but is just fun for the sake of it, the utopia becomes stifling. There's no freedom unless what you want to do aligns with the greater good.
It's also about the acceptance of cultural differences while calling out the stuff that is categorically wrong. The lines get blurred but why not allow a bit of Dabo gambling and scantily clad women when you can deconstruct a people trafficking ring or establish gender equality on Ferenginar.
Anyway enough rambling! I do think DS9 manages to balance the ideological scrutiny with the uplifting themes of Trek as a whole quite well. One could hope that a middle ground could be found where the smugglers, gamblers and pirates could find a place in a society dominated by scientists, explorers, engineers and writers.
@ralphdibny I knew I couldn’t be alone... love your thoughts on the show too, they mirror my own quite closely. I’ve always seen the Federation as the idealised version of the United States (probably a sci if version of pre 9/11 USA) and that Deep Space 9 was an expose of what it really took behind the scenes to present the idyllic facade. Like you I felt season 1 was a real grind but seem to remember it picking up a bit in season 2... once **** really started hitting the fan in the later seasons though there was some real magic. Shame not that many people stayed around that long.
@colonelkilgore there are more of us! I know a few DS9 fans in real life too so we are not alone.
@RogerRoger cheers and same to you! I think it goes without saying, but you've more of less said it to me and Kilgore so I should also say that I respect your opinions and find them very interesting. It should be a given though considering the long conversations we've had about this and MGS in the past! I wouldn't engage with you if I didn't enjoy it!
I want to say that the first couple of seasons are more traditional Trek which might be why you enjoy them more. But I'll refer back to my thoughts on the "eras" of Trek and say that the first couple of seasons are better described as classic "90s" Trek. They are more cheesy than the previous TNG era.
@ralphdibny yeah I know one or two actually... it does seem to be the least favourite of the ‘general’ audience though. Most people I know preferred Voyager, I’ve disowned a lot of friends for that reason 😜.
This DS9 chat has kinda made me wanna watch it through again... there is no way I could find the time though as the missus would not wanna watch it and when I ain’t watching stuff with her I’m gaming .
@colonelkilgore haha. Voyager is my least favourite as a whole but generally I do love the later seasons after Seven of Nine joined the show.
I started rewatching the whole series in chronological order with my partner last year. We got through Enterprise, the first 2 seasons of Discovery and half way through TOS before she had to go back to work (we live in different towns). Luckily, watching Enterprise first sold her on the overall marathon - as it did me when it first came out. Enterprise was my intro to the universe and it is a good one.
@RogerRoger haha well don't shut up on my account! You know I'm always up for a bit of Trek chat even if it is a Janeway Vs Sisko discussion (as opposed to a Kirk Vs Picard 😅)
@RogerRoger haha yeah me too, the Vs. discussions are always a bit dumb. I think like you, it's hard to pick a winner out of a team of winners!
Glad you got started on the X files! I hope you manage to stick with it, there are a lot of lulls and it's easy to get burned out but it can be a rewarding experience if you manage to get through it (and the spin offs/games - shame these aren't on Disney+). If you do decide to go all in and track down the spin offs then I might be able to help you with a list of episodes that they fit between/before/after! I could do it anyway, just for fun....
Hooray at you finally watching The X-Files@RogerRoger!
Glad to hear you enjoyed watching the first few episodes too! Yeah like @ralphdibny says there can be a few lulls/bad episodes here and there but it's pretty strong most of the time! It'll be interesting to see how far you end up going with it and your thoughts on various episodes/storylines... Be sure to fill us in on how you two do with it!
Obligatory post of praise for WandaVision. Although I had basically put everything together on my own, this week’s episode was a nice exposition to wrap up what the heck has been going on the whole time. Fantastic production quality and they really have set a high bar on these Disney+ shows.
And, as could be predicted, after watching this week’s episode I got a notification that the monthly charge for the D+ service is going up next month. 😅 Glad that I just paid for a whole year!
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@RogerRoger I’m usually a patient man, and I rather wait and binge my media, but for some reason I can’t wait for each week’s episode of WV to drop. I got that way in the second season of Mando too, where it was just a weekend tradition to cozy up to the TV, soda and snack in hand, and watch the latest episode.
WV is much more fitting for weekly viewings, especially early on, but I’m sure watching the whole season in one big session will be even more impactful. It’s just I can’t seem to wait! 😄
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@RogerRoger Yay! The X Files is one of my all-time favourite programmes. Me and my sister were/remain obsessed with it! Like Foxy says there are some naff episodes here and there, and I'm not a big fan of the comedy episodes. It gets really exciting from season two onwards, although there are a couple of rather scary episodes in season one. Mulder and Scully have such good chemistry. And the main villain is so sinister. Even though David Duchovny isn't the best actor, he fits the role so well.
@RogerRoger the FMV game is so good! It doesn't really feature much of Duchovny and Anderson but I completely fell in love with the new characters in it when I played it last year. I'm not sure the best way to play it really, it was quite glitchy on PS1, luckily the story and acting were good enough to weather both the glitches and the sometimes obtuse puzzles/hidden objects (use a guide for some of it I think, particularly one bit set in a warehouse!).
I've read that it's even glitchier to play it on a backwards compatible PS2 or ps3 so the PC version may be the way to go! God knows how you'd get it to run on a modern PC though
Gillian is wonderful as the ever skeptical Dana Scully and they play off of one another quite well.
I take it the horror elements you were discussing in the original post might have been the episode "Squeeze" with Eugene Tooms? There shouldn't be anything you'll watch anytime soon that'll be too horror focused Rog... Though I'm sure any one of us will happy to point out some episodes you may want to skip over.
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@RogerRoger fair enough! I haven't tried it on the PS2 and PS3, I've just read that it is glitchy.
I just wish someone would adapt it as like a browser game or interactive video or something so people can enjoy it now. The choices are the best part of it, your relationships with the characters can end up significantly different depending on how you treat them!
@RogerRoger Just to warn you Eugene Tooms is in another episode in season one, and I actually heaved at the end! There are certainly "disturbing" episodes rather than outright horror, but being a total wuss I did find it quite scary at times. It's funny rewatching it, because it's been cleaned up in HD beautifully (especially on Blu Ray) but obviously has a bit of that '90s naffness to it.
David Duchovny is a terrible actor, but he also fits Mulder perfectly. I find it hard to imagine the role being portrayed by a more talented actor. 😂 Gillian Anderson is fab though.
Ted Lasso is frikkin great. I'd heard that it was but not being a fan of sit-coms, I wasn't overly keen on the idea but the missus just got a years free Apple TV so we thought it would tide us over until Saturday when we binge WandaVision.
Well, I love it... and WandaVision will have to go some to entertain me half as much as this. Ted himself is an absolute gift to the human race!
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