hey. i missed you. not in a slint way.

in the time since the last some kind of STAR TREK, i've been living the orion pirate life -- i cancelled my paramount+ account (reason given when asked why: YOU CANCELLED STAR TREK DISCOVERY) and started watching all my TREK and most everything else on a pirate streaming site. it's hard to imagine ever going back. i still love my physical media collection, and the DISCOVERY and LOWER DECKS complete series sets will proudly join my STAR TREK shelf next to DS9, TNG, and those old scientists.

but all the streamers with their pricing games and series deletions? fuck those corporate assholes. they had my money for as many seasons my favorite show had, they don't get a cent more.

all of that to say...

DISCOVERY, i missed you. in a fucking slint way.

what a first episode! best season premiere of modern trek?? more fun than all of the kelvin movies?? clearly illustrated what lame "old man" shows PICARD and STRANGE NEW WORLDS have been?? sorry not sorry??

love:

• michael
• vance.
• book.
• a very vulcan marriage proposol.
• hull surfing.
• SO MUCH CRONENBERG?!
• leoben from b-star-g.
• using the ships as literal shields.
• THE BIG REVEAL!

making the macguffin this year the technology of the progenitors, the engineers (*wink*) who seeded the galaxy with humanoid life... i can't think of a better story to culminate this series. that was one of the biggest dangling story threads from the '90s era of trek, and following it up 800 years in the future feels exactly right.

i hate that this show was cancelled, but somehow that did feel like a premiere worthy of a final season. i really do think it's going to be the best season yet.

and i hope it ends on a cliffhanger.

i just began the final season of DEEP SPACE NINE too, so i'm nearing the inevitable ends of my two favorite STAR TREKs.

on this rewatch, my third viewing of DS9, it's been impossible to ignore the siskos. my second rewatch might have been more kira captivated, kira and bashir both perhaps. but this time it's all about benjamin, jake, and kasidy too.

cirroc lofton mentioned on THE 7th RULE that the series begins with jake losing his mother and ends with him losing his father... that the series itself is really quite traumatic for jake. DEEP SPACE NINE in retrospect really ends up being about a father's last few years with his son, his last few years after what had already been more than enough tragedy.

i'm really absorbing the whole "sisko being space jesus" story in a way i hadn't before. the series ending that on first viewing left me somewhat cold now feels earned and inevitable. it really illustrates why sisko was undeniably the greatest captain of them all. he was chosen to save an entire people, and we watched him come to know and understand exactly what that meant over the course of literal years. he made sure that when the time came he was leaving bajor, kira, and jake poor jake in a position to live their best lives, their future bright. i often can't help but think about this absolutely perfect piece of art by @purrka on tumblr as i watch.

the sisko. what a fucking character.

i wish he got to build his cabin.

2024.04.05