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"we're all scalies for garak"

@deepspacefeels / deepspacefeels.tumblr.com

watch me re-watch ds9
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ititledit
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lj-writes

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was not a perfect show but its treatment of imperialism, war crimes, and genocide was light-years ahead of some of the stuff coming out today (looking at you, Star Wars).

In DS9:

  • Bajor, a world struggling to recover from decades of genocidal colonial policies, is front and center
  • Bajoran characters, most prominently Kira, are allowed to grapple with their own trauma and their stories don’t revolve around making their oppressors, the Cardassians, feel better
  • Kira’s history of violent resistance against the occupation is not sugarcoated, nor does the show shy away from the fact that she hurt innocent people in the process. But neither does the story condemn her for using violence to resist genocide
  • Not only was Kira a terrorist, but a religiously driven one as well. Belief in the Prophets held Bajor together during the occupation, and is a major subject of exploration in the show
  • Despite all that Bajor suffered, Bajorans are not relics of the past or a destroyed, defeated people–their culture is vital and alive, they are rebuilding against incredible odds, and are working toward Federation membership
  • Bajorans themselves are not some misty spiritual cardboard cutouts, either. They are complex, they lash out, they are spiritual, they are lovers, killers, reactionaries, weirdos, mystics, the full range of experiences and personalities
  • And then there’s Kai Winn, who is an entire book in herself. She is such a well-drawn female villain, a complicated portrayal of self-serving ambition, self-deception, and self-entitlement
  • Because Bajorans are given their own stories, it actually works when some Cardassians–generally minor and one-off characters–are shown to be dissenters, or themselves traumatized from the occupation
  • We actually see Dukat, the leader of the occupation, trying to play the misunderstood hero/redemption card only to get slapped down by the narrative time and again
  • Dukat isn’t a one-note villain either; he is often charming and sometimes inspiring, as when he has a stint as a resistance fighter himself against the Klingons occupying Cardassian territory
  • Ultimately, though, the story reveals Dukat to be a liar, a virulent racist, an abuser, and at heart an imperialist megalomaniac who almost destroyed the Alpha Quadrant with his lust for power
  • David Brin was right and Star Trek is better
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lastvalyrian

You are right to center Bajor in this but let me talk about Cardassians too:

- the show makes an effort to explore Cardassian culture without ever trying to excuse their imperialism and the brutality of the Bajoran occupation

- Cardassian civilians who just want to do their thing outside of the military or secret agencies are shown

- the complex questions of accountability of small cogs in the machine of the administration of totalitarian regimes are explored without easy black/white answers

- they are shown as victims of imperialism as well without diminishing their own responsibility

- the reasons (lack of resources, cultural pride, militarist society) that drove Cardassians to occupy other planets including Bajor are explored openly without excusing their actions

- the selection of characters complicit in Cardassian imperialism range from true believing patriots to small minded bigot to ambitious asshole to nihilistic egotist, just like real world dictatorships

#deep space nine#star trek#ds9
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old-type-40

The DS9 fandom was a little asleep today. It's now the end of the day where I live and I just saw that this is the 25th anniversary of In The Pale Moonlight. I feel like the captain's log entries in TOS had the potential to be a great narrative device but it never came close to be used as effectively as it could be. Leave it to DS9 to use a captain's log entry to deliver a powerful narrative and have a clever way to break the 4th wall. And it doesn't matter how many times I see this scene, I always get the chills when the screen goes black at the end.

#deep space nine#ds9#captain sisko#in the pale moonlight
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animentality

Kira Nerys be like hello, I am the most nationalistic bajoran you will ever meet, which includes being very religious and also a terrorist and also a little suspicious of other races. But here is my adopted father, Ghemor, who is Cardassian, my adopted daughter, Tora Ziyal, who is both Cardassian and Bajoran, and a son that I actually gave birth to...but he's not bajoran at all, he's Japanese-Irish.

Also my boyfriend is goo.

#ds9#kira nerys#star trek#deep space nine
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