Is it just me or are there a ton of Ezri focused episodes in season 7? Like a lot. Like it seems that during the middle season episodes like every other episode is Ezri focused and even if it’s not she’s still a major character in the episode or a major part of the B plot. Even the Mirror Universe episode had her take center stage.
Not complaining. I like Ezri. She’s funny and she’s sweet and I actually like the way she’s all mixed up from the joining. Like she’s still intelligent and capable so it doesn’t annoy me like it so easily could have.
Plus she’s sexy as fuck.
Anyway… Im thinking that they wanted to give this actress and character a lot of work but since she wasnt going to fit neatly into the ongoing story they gave her a major spot in almost every episode that WASNT part of the ongoing plot. Which I also feel like. Like guaranteed if the episode wasnt going to advance the main story much we were going to get a lot of Ezri.
What is interesting is a lot of these had to be new or at least reworked scripts because they wouldn’t have worked with Jadzia. In fact many of them are explicitly about her NOT being Jadzia.
Anyway just re-watching DS9 again and it’s just seemed like Ive seen a lot of Ezri lately.

"I didn't take an oath to Starfleet. Neither did Jake, your sister, or anyone in your family. We have rights, Ben, including the right to be as stubborn or thick-headed as we want."

It's interesting to hear the perspective of 100% normal Federation citizens without a military career background. Starfleet is a public institution that he's placed his trust in, and even touching him is in violation of his privacy and bodily autonomy.

r/Treksons

Have you ever tried yamok sauce ensign young lad?

I just finished another long day and turned on DS 9 to wind down. Doesn't disappoint. S1 E18 Dramatis Personae

A Princess Bride reference from Quark of all people.

Keira tells him to get lost. His response

"As you wish."

Did you try stroking his lobes?

For the most part this was like the mirror opposite to The Magnificent Ferengi. Unfocused narrative that somehow did not land, I think these episodes do better with a plan or real crisis. Might be near the bottom of the list for episodes in DS9, can't even tell you what this is really about anymore after so many skipped rewatches.

Both Andrew Robinson's and Marc Alaimo's IMDb pages feature pictures of them being threatened by Bajoran sympathizer Clint Eastwood

Originally created around 1999, with clips sourced from VHS recordings of TV broadcasts, the old video looks awful by modern standards. So I decided to recreate it from high quality DVD rips.

The process was a lot more involved than I expected. Every frame of the original was matched against the DVD episodes to find exactly which footage was used, and each shot was rebuilt to follow Saba's timing, including the deliberate stutter and slow-motion effects. The original capture appears to have been done at 15fps and frame-doubled to 30fps, with the occasional dropped or frozen frame from the capture process, so the pacing was smoothed out rather than copied glitch-for-glitch. AI frame interpolation from RIFE filled in the gaps; it made the slow-motion shots smooth, let shots match Saba's pacing exactly, and patched a few faults in the DVD rips themselves. The old video also ran about 0.2% fast, so the song now plays at its true speed and pitch.

Weyoun's monologue at the beginning was ripped straight from the DVD audio for Favor the Bold. I even recreated Saba's original title card, out of respect for his work. Wherever you are, thanks for making an amazing video. It's been watched over and over through the years.

This video wouldn't have been possible without the aid of Claude. It went through 11.5 million frames of DS9 to find the timestamps in the episodes the clips came from, determined where edits needed to be made to tighten up the timing, and did in few hours what it would have taken me weeks to do myself. I would have given up out of frustration long before I got anywhere near the finish line. Hope you all enjoy this, it's been a dream of mine for many years to remaster it.

Watching through DS9 once a year or so as I inevitably do, Im constantly amazed by how good the writing on the show is. I don’t mean the overall multi episode structure of the storytelling, which is very good, but the timing both comedic and tragic of much of the dialogue and one liners. To the point that I believe if DS9 was a film it would be one of those films where people are constantly quoting the dialogue. Like Pulp Fiction or the Big Lebowski.
Im towards the beginning of the 7th season right now. A couple of moments of dialogue over the last couple of days of watching Ive been thinking about are when O’Brien and Nog are talking and O’Brien tells him, “Dont do anything I wouldn’t do.”
And Nog replies, “I can’t operate under those constraints Chief.”
I really like some of the religious hypocrisy, blind faith, and doublethink displayed by Weyoun. Like when Weyoun and Odo are talking in the episode where Weyoun 6 defects and Odo says, “Hasnt it ever occurred to you that the reason you believe the Founders are gods is because that is what they want you to believe? That they built it into your genetic code.”
And Weyoun responds, “Of course they did. That’s what gods do. After all… Why be a god if there is no one to worship you?”
I especially like when Weyoun and Damar are talking and off the top of my head it goes something like this…
Weyoun: “All this talk of the Prophets and gods strikes me as superstitious nonsense.”
Damar: “Thats funny coming from you.”
Weyoun: “Why?”
Damar: “Because dont you think the Founders are gods?”
Weyoun: “Thats different.”
Damar: “Why?”
Weyoun: “Because the Founders ARE gods.”

I thought of it the other day when a Jew in the YouTube comment section made a post talking about how ludicrous Christian theology was. I even quoted him the dialogue. lol.
Anyway… Any other favorite short pieces of dialogue or one liners from the show? There are so many. I just quoted a couple of humorous ones from the last week or so of my viewing. But there are great moments of pathos and tragedy in the dialogue as well.

Edit: A couple more from the episode with Laas. The non Founder changeling. Whos pain in the ass but funny.

Odo is introducing Laas to everyone.
Laas doesnt like solids.

Laas is talking about how humanoids killed off a herd of some animal he was being for a while by fencing off their grazing land. He says humanoids inevitably “disrupt the natural balance.”

Quark: “Who ordered the vilm-steak?”
Bashir: “Umm… Better keep that warm.”

Theres fog all over the Promenade.
O’Briean: “Wheres all this fog coming from?”
Odo: “It’s not fog. It’s Laas.”
Bashir: “Whats he doing?”
Odo: “Being fog. Whats it look like?”

Klingon: “Your hands are stained with the blood of Klingon warriors.”
Laas: “But then the stench would still be on them.”

Quark also has a great talk with Odo and tries to explain to him that humanoids are genetically ingrained to not trust what they don’t understand. That their tolerance only extends to the “two armed, two legged” variety. Then tells him that the Federation is at war with Odo’s people. It “isnt the time for a Changeling Pride demonstration on the Promenade.”

Heroes and Icons right now! So bad it’s good. 🤣

So Im aware that the whole “money-less society” thing was never much explored in the Trek media much less explained and never really made any cohesive sense… Plus out of all the Trek shows, DS9 does away as much as it can with the idea of a money-less society, since our characters are living amongst peoples who still operate under capitalism and has its characters making and spending and gambling etc “money”. I.E. latinum.

That said, any personal theories or head canon on how a business like Sisko’s would actually work? Or has
anyone read any Trek book or even fan fiction with a good explanation of how this sort of quasi capitalistic “business” would work in a money-less society? Like does Sisko’s dad get free food, probably mostly replicated, from the Federation government and then just cook it for free for people because he enjoys cooking? On the surface it doesn’t seem exactly crazy that there are people who would be chefs for others and run restaurants “for the love of it.” But once you get into the details… Whos going to be a waiter for free? Whos going to clean the bathrooms for free? Who owns the building and the equipment? Plus, whos going to eat replicated meat-loaf when you could have a great chef like Sisko’s dad make you meals whenever you want? Shouldnt the place have a line around the block? I could list inconsistencies and issues all day with the idea of a money-less society in general and especially how it’s portrayed, or should I say not portrayed, in Trek.

Anyway Im not trying to get into a political discussion. Im more just interested how people envision how these things might actually operate in the Trek universe.
I remember that The Orville made a VERY minor attempt to explain their version of a Trek style “money-less” society by saying that their society was money-less but not necessarily class-less. It’s just that prestige is used in place of money. Like a starship captain is going to have a nicer place to live than an ensign and while no one is going to starve or be homeless but not everyone is going to have a beach front condo. Im reading a lot into it. Im pretty sure that was basically what they were trying to say. Again they barely touched on the subject. You can see why. It’s extremely difficult to even envision how such a society would operate. Both because such a society is unfamiliar and antithetical to our own society and, also, in my opinion, because such a society isnt actually feasible in the first place.
But again… Forget the political stuff. Im interested in the world building of the thing. Again any book or fan fiction or simple head canon you know of that makes a decent stab at explaining how a restaurant like Sisko’s would operate?

Edit: Ive been reminded of something… Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age also examines a post scarcity society where nano technology has created what are essentially Star Trek style replicators. Money still exists in his world. One example used in the book is while everyone who wants/needs one would get a sleeping bag, you would have to pay for one with Mickey Mouse or SpongeBob on it. Like intellectual property still exists. There are still rich and poor. It’s been years since I’ve read it and anyway it’s super involved and it’s too much to get into on a post (even for me, who can clearly write long ones) but he definitely gets into the idea of a post scarcity society in far more detail than Trek ever did with very different results.

Second Edit:
Quickly addressing the notion that the Trek universe is automated enough that basically all menial work is taken care of. Not true. Sisko’s has waiters and people clearing tables. The Captain himself scrubs oysters and he doesn’t like it. Hes doing it to help out. It has a lot of automation. We can wonder if toilets fully clean themselves or if anyone has to clean up holodeck after Riker gets through with it. 🤢🤮 Or if it’s automatic.
Their world isnt fully automated. It’s just not.

For the people saying that plenty of people would wait tables and be janitors and scrub oysters… Although I notice no one says “scrub toilets…”
“Toilets are self cleaning.” So you do admit there ARE jobs you wouldnt be able to get enough people to work them. Because we aren’t talking about a single person with a poop or oyster fetish. We need LOTS of people engaging in generally undesirable labor.
A bigger point is however is that I don’t just think it’s naive to believe ENOUGH people will do all these jobs for free… I don’t even think it’s DESIRABLE.
You have no artistic ambitions whatsoever? No literary ones? Film? Photography? Culinary? How about unfettered travel? Spending time with friends and family? Gardening. Interior decorating. Reading philosophy. Writing philosophy. Discussing philosophy. Learning about alien races or xenobiology or studying Klingon opera or Vulcan stoicism. Learning every Rule of Acquisition.
And are you not altruistic? Theres a whole universe out there of people in distress you can help. The poor. The sick. You can spend all day spending time with the elderly. You can launch a coup against the overlords of Xagnat 6. You can help that planet of junkies from NG get clean. You can literally travel the stars and explore alien worlds you can’t even dream of. This is STAR TREK. There are fucking GODS out there to meet.
“Oh I’d just stay at my job if you gave me a roof and a replicator. Once their basic needs are met people will blah blah blah.”
Like you fucking suck. Youre BORING. And far from altruistic. Like you think it makes you a good person because you SAY youll wait tables for free when instead there is a whole galaxy of people who far more desperately need your serious aid? It doesn’t.
Thats just rote script youre regurgitating in an attempt to promote the feasibility of some science fiction notion of far left utopianism. When, again, using that roof over your head and full belly to help OTHERS would be far more altruistic. Far more utopian. I mean if I believed you… Which I don’t.
Basically it’s the idea that we could just equally redistribute all the wealth tomorrow and then burn all the cash, then dissolve all government and stop there and everything would just work out. We would have our utopia…

It got political. lol.

What is your favorite or most obscure background extra. Bonus if they have lines (like this guy)

This is Jeff Pruitt as an Ensign in S1E17 Dramatis Personae

I just finished my first watch of DS9. It was so heartbreaking watching the ending, especially knowing somewhat what would happen, having watched Lower Decks.

To be honest, that only made it worse, since I was just waiting for it to happen.

As far as bittersweet endings go, What You Leave Behind was brilliant.

Also a bonus: GIF of Kai Winn getting atomized.

I both feel bad for her getting somewhat manipulated by Dukat, but at the same time, it ended 7 Seasons of BS.

Hello everybody - I recently finished a re-watch of DS9, and got reminded of the old After Dark screensavers (I'm old) - and one thing lead to another, and I ended up with a DS9 screensaver and website. It serves no real purpose other than to remind me of my love for DS9. I'm sharing the website here, and if people are interested, I could also share the screen saver (for Mac).

I’ve torn my pants.

I love the laughter here.

This episode is just absolutely one of my favorites. A bright spot that bucks the view of DS9 as the "dark Trek" while still having emotional weight to it. The family dynamics of Quark and Rom and Moogie (and Keldar from the grave) are so multilayered and interesting and feel so real in how they're shaped (and constrained) by Ferengi society. Seeing how Quark tries to be/thinks he is following the rules of Ferengi society but we see him in contrast to Brunt and he's so much more progressive than he thinks he is and Rom is the most perceptive one who sees it even before Moogie.

And Sisko's utter joy when finding out about the baseball on Cestus III is so infectious and I love Jake being so happy that his dad is letting himself be open to a connection with Kasidy after grieving so deeply and for so long.

I also love all of the details of Ferenginar: the constant rain, the low doorways (I'm assuming they took inspiration from cultures that have low doorways with high steps so visitors have to come inside in a vulnerable position), the little rituals when a visitor comes to your home (the special head towels and "my house is my house" "as are its contents" and the waiver and the little fee lol), the constant stream of commodity prices, also Rom and Quark's weird little duffle bags - I should come up with a sewing pattern for those.

Anyway I just love this episode!

There are many. However I came across a "heros" that hits the mark well. Bowie would approve. -> https://youtu.be/-SEFvhEr3Lw?si=p1k9mvdD_1oGYdn0

Really though, it's sort of odd watching deep space nine from 2026 and seeing how social issues used to be tackled, what is and isn't taboo, how their progressivism is still couched in the acceptable norms of their production time and American culture more broadly. Makes it feel charmingly optimistic at times, and depressingly disappointing at others that we are so far from that future in the stars.

https://reddit.com/link/1x3nko1/video/cfmjoe01ixuh1/player