Thinking Of Deep Space Nine As "the Dark Star Trek" Without Digging Into What Made Deep Space Nine Work

The Assignement: an episode where Rom is a man to count on.

Hot Take: the reason why 'Lower Decks' (and 'The Orville') "feel more like Star Trek" than do 'Discovery' or 'Picard' is because the baseline for American drama series has gotten so dark over the last twenty years that a tone matching 90s Star Trek can now only be achieved by marketing it as a comedy.

And yes, when you think about it, that's...kind of sad.

my question is why did tom never create a holodeck arcade?? or like... bowling alley?? that seems so him??? can you imagine that... seven tries bowling and literally can ONLY get strikes. and tom is like tch yeah of course i can do that! but he literally cannot hit a single pin... but then for whatever reason he can play skeeball like NOBODY’S business.

an arcade date with b’elanna where he secretly replicates whatever she buys with her tickets?? and brings it to her the next day??? also obviously weekly ddr competitions. janeway is the leading champion there, but tuvok’s been known to “bust a move.”

harry would probably be really good at like, claw machine games? he strikes me as a claw machine game kid. also like pacman. b’elanna really likes those games where you sit inside a little dark booth and shoot things. TOM PLAYS THOSE MOTORCYCLE RACE GAMES... but chakotay somehow beats him EVERY time. but that’s okay because chakotay’s usually following janeway around and playing 2p games with her.

seven can and will DESTROY you at any kind of fighter game, but generally chooses to stand behind people and watch what they’re doing instead. neelix is running around making sure everyone’s having a good time (and occasionally jumping in to play ddr) and the doctor, KNOWN to be extremely competitive and has a need to be the best, is uncharacteristically sitting at the bar drinking some fancy fizzy drink the whole time. except for when HE decides to get in on the ddr, and puts the captain to shame in a single game. although if there’s any kind of golf game, he’s there.

and lastly, naturally, bumper cars. tuvok wants nothing to do with it, but neelix begs him to join. tom and b’elanna are menaces they WILL bump into you and they WILL send you spinning into oblivion. janeway chases tuvok specifically, tuvok wishes he was not present. neelix is just roaming having a good time. the doctor is trying to pose as much of a threat as tom and b’elanna, and eventually surpasses them to become Bumper Car King. harry and chakotay just kinda spin around and are happy to be there. thank you for coming to my ted talk

Janeway and Chakotay alone on a planet. What could happen 👀

(yes, I'm finally watching Resolutions)

5 minutes in and these two are already bickering about interior design and lack of bathtubs

Being Friends With Tom Paris and Harry Kim:

Requested by anonymous

The three of you get into trouble all the time

Janeway learned not to assign you to work as a group the hard way

You have weekly holodeck meetings scheduled, and you managed to rope the rest of the bridge crew into them at one point or another

You encourage Harry to play his instrument

He even offers to teach you to play; you’re a fairly fast learner

The three of you make competitions out of everything

It started with holodeck games; you’d see who was the better driver or could solve a mystery fastest

And soon you were competing over who could get the most praise (or admonishment) from Janeway in a day

The three of you always eat your meals together

Whenever any of you expresses romantic interest in a crew mate, the other two tease them relentlessly, and, of course, offer to be the wingmen

The three of you get into late night conversations about anything and everything

Sometimes you talk about the alien worlds you’ve come into contact with, sometimes you express your fears about never making it back home

The three of you know exactly how to comfort each other

(If you’re ever feeling down, you can expect to be bombarded with your favorite snacks and holo programs, and possibly a cuddle pile)

The entire crew knows that the three of you are practically inseparable

🤣

The little look between Chekov and Yeoman Landon (and even the security officer behind them). What does it mean? is it:

a) Chekov has been telling everyone that Kirk and Spock are in love but it was hard to get others to believe. This is his, "I told you so" face.

b) They, and most of the crew, ship their two superior officers and are inwardly gushing, excited to share the details after the mission is all over.

c) They have a betting pool on how much Kirk can flirt with their oblivious XO. Big points for the skin-to-skin contact there so someone just won a lot.

confessions in ten forward

obliterate my entire ass I can’t stand this

i want to see some crazy old trek shit on strange new worlds like i want an episode where the crew is forced by an alien entity to perfectly reenact the events of some nineteenth century novel in full period dress or be vaporized or something. it’s not star trek until they start larping

Definition of College life.