QHC

Jokes can usually include a message, and often are more effective at delivering that message than a serious monologue with full citations.

Therefore, saying something is meant to be silly or a joke does not do anything to address whether the message behind that joke is a good one or not.

These are PEOPLE!

Out there, there are no saints!

Completely agree. The first two seasons are criticized for using leftover TNG scripts. While I think a lot of that is due to the nature of episodic TV production in the 90s, I also think those seasons are incredibly necessary to establish the context of the Federation and how that differs to other cultures in the galaxy (and even on the fringes of the Federation itself). The connection to TNG and the overlap with Voyager also goes a long way to establishing the ethos and morality that the rest of the DS9 story is commenting on.

Take away that foundation and backstory, and you just have another generic space opera.

I am usually on the other side of this argument, in that my main enjoyment of Star Trek is the exploration of ideas and morality plays that we get from TOS, TNG and the early seasons of Voyager. The utopian setting and unrealistic morality of all the main characters in TNG especially are what makes an episode exploring the nature of individuality or whatever topic work so well.

I enjoy DS9 for what it is, but it also set the stage for modern Trek which is so obsessed with “realism” and galaxy-spanning plotlines in a way that I do not enjoy. If I want to watch just an episode or two, I always reach for TNG or Voyager, but if I want to do a longer re-watch then DS9 is definitely my preferred choice.

Episodic is not always a bad thing, and sometimes it is actually a very important feature! I wish modern TV writers and producers would have the same perspective about serialization, but in reverse.

TNG had some multipart episodes and some plot lines that ran across the better part of a season, but the entirety of DS9 takes place against a continuous plot line.

“Entirety” is doing a lot of work in that sentence, IMO. While there is a general setting and eventually a serialized plot, it really doesn’t get to the point where there’s a continuous story until at minimum season 3 and in practice doesn’t stop being episodic until even later.

Even once the main baddies are introduced–which does not actually happen until the final episode of season 2–there are still multiple self-contained episodes that have nothing to do with any kind of ongoing story or character development.

Don’t get me wrong, compared to TNG and even Voyager or Enterprise, DS9 definitely had a story in mind that took multiple seasons to tell, but it’s not like things were carefully known from the beginning. Lots of details change or are quietly retrofitted to fit better once the writers knew where things were actually headed. And that’s fine, by the way! There is still a great story to be told.

I agree with all of this. The Borg Cube especially was very difficult to assemble, and I’ve done some pretty big official Lego sets so I’m used to a good challenge. I had to resort to gluing some parts in place, as some of the plates were bent and just would not stay in place while I worked on the next side.

I also really came to dislike the tiny black pieces they use to add studs to the bottom of some bricks. Too small, too hard to insert, and way too easy to just roll away and never be found.

That said, the final product looks fine and nobody ever questions if they are legitimate sets or not. I don’t regret the purchases, just didn’t enjoy the build process like I normally do.

Generations gave us Data’s lifeforms song, which is certainly a positive in my book.

Big fan of Insurrection getting some respect! I love it for being the big budget, high production mashup of TNG that it clearly is, even though it also doubles down on the Picard-as-Action-Hero trend that ends up ruining Nemesis (IMO).

Putting Generations and Insurrection below Into Darkness is a slight I won’t tolerate. Whatever flaws those movies had, they at least tried to explore something about the human condition.

And to have Nemesis above both of those… oof.

I agree! The pace things are moving has me very excited. I might need to brush the dust off my soldering iron so I can convert my 5+ nest speakers into something that is fully local and open source.

I bet they would be well supported if they opened up donations (if that hasn’t already happened). From what I have gathered, the community funds that WAG and other unions manage have been incredibly well supported so far.

Yeah, it’s the old story of the immortal who refused to cross the street. The kind of risks that someone expecting to die by 80 would take are much different than risk assessment of someone expecting to live–comfortably, with their mind and body intact–to at least 160.

Another big vote for The Expanse. I always tell people to give the first season 3-4 episodes before judging. The main plot doesn’t get started until around then and the full cast isn’t even fully introduced after the first episode (IIRC). It’s one of those shows that doesn’t make it easy early on, but rewards those who stick through for the whole ride.

I think the personal drama is just fine in For All Mankind, but if you are looking only for the “science” part and not the “fiction” (i.e. stories about humans), I can see why it would be annoying or feel like it’s taking valuable time away from what you are there to watch.

They are trying to find a new distributor for the second season, presumably the first would be packaged with that deal.

The ones I use the most are:

• Turning on lights and setting specific scenes when I turn on TVs in my bedroom, living room and theater room.
• Brighten lights whenever Plex is paused or finishes playing, which is great in a dedicated home theater where the lighting is very dark when watching a movie. This has actually helped improve many hang out nights with friends because the moment after a movie finishes is less awkward, leading more naturally into a nice conversation before every heads home.
• Reminder notifications for when washing machine or dryer cycles finish, or when my garage door has been open for more than 15 minutes (unless I override that with a toggle on my dashboard).
• Turning off all of my lights and switches when I leave the house, unless a boolean variable is flipped (e.g. if someone else is at my house w/o me, which is unusual since I live alone). Well, not quite everything, there are a few devices like a couple power monitoring smart pugs that always remain on.