Far Beyond All Those Distant Stars

*prolonged silence* “oh my…”

“sir…sir how will we make first contact with them? surely we…we cannot refuse this handclasping ritual, they will take it as an insult, but what vulcan would agree to such a distasteful and uncomfortable ritual??”

Bonus: here’s a screencap of Solkar doing the “my body is ready” pose right before he shakes Zefram Cochrane’s hand:

That’s why he’s so slow in doing it, and so sensual. A part of Solkar can’t believe this is happening, despite it being a perfectly logical thing to expect from a human, and the rest of him can’t believe how good it is.

I bet that if the camera zoomed in any further we would see the dilation of Solkar’s pupils and a quickly-repressed shiver of delight. Cochrane’s firm, businesslike clasp is probably (in sexual terms) being perceived as a deliciously carnal display of dominance.

garak, tinkering away in the barely lit room: so, damar, how long have you been thirsting for dukat?

garak, painting kira's toenails with old nail polish from his teens he found in a corner: he'd do that

kira, exhaling smoke: he fucked my mom

damar: *chokes*

garak, painting with extreme precision as if he was dismantling a bomb: he'd do that, too

“When will you be back?”

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

first it was the klingons—they’re originally supposed to be this cruel, bloodthirsty, war-obsessed people—and then tng comes along and it’s like wait no maybe war and violence is a part of their culture and actually ties back to ancient traditions and philosophies so we have to be woke about it.

hey these are the ferengi and they’re supposed to represent everything we hate about capitalist society; they’re greedy, scheming, profit-obsessed, and they look like ugly little trolls to emphasize how much we fucking HATE capitalism. oh wait fuck here comes deep space nine and we have to recognize that they’re PEOPLE. okok what if the pursuit of profit is actually part of their culture and ties back to ancient traditions and philosophies. so we have to be woke about it.

this is the borg, they’re a hivemind race of cyborgs who have no sense of individuality and their only motivation is assimilating people into their society. they want to assimilate humanity and we are completely defenseless against them because their technology is eons ahead of our own and they’re incapable of being reasoned with. oh sweet we have a borg prisoner this is the perfect opportunity to commit genocide against them. fuck actually we can’t commit genocide we’re woke and communists and in space.

hey these are the cardassians, they’re part of a cruel and vicious empire which is supposed to be a representation of fascism and authoritarian regimes, they’re a cold, bloodthirsty people with no sense of empathy or compassion, their society literally references 1984 on multiple occasions, and they’re known for the insanely cruel and inhumane methods of torture they use against their prisoners of war. we hate the cardassians…….. except, here’s a cardassian kid who grew up on bajor, and……. fuck. he’s a person. now we actually have to consider his humanity. and being racist is actually……. bad.

this is the jem’hadar, they’re genetically engineered soldiers who have no sense of individuality and only live to defend the state. they’re all born addicted to a synthetic drug that’s manufactured by the state and administered by their masters—this is how they’re kept subservient. they’re ruthless and powerful and they’re incapable of being reasoned with because their only motivation is violence and killing. so we should kill them all, right? FUCK….. what if they’re actually people. goddamnit. now we have to consider their humanity.

And at the same time ...

From the perspectives of affect theory (e.g. Doty), star apparatus theory (e.g. Dyer), indexicality, etc., etc. the fact that Shatner had romantic feelings for Nimoy, and the fact that these feelings came across on screen, strongly informs and supports a queer viewing of Star Trek.

But because Shatner seemed genuinely sad when he spoke about these feelings and lack of societal acceptance decades ago, and because he hasn't brought them up since then, it kinda feels like an invasion of his privacy to do a deep dive into the implications of these feelings while Shatner is still alive. (You know, like, just because he said some stuff 40 years ago doesn't mean he wants that to be circulating now.)

I'm definitely not the most knowledgeable about William Shatner, but my general impression is that he's a bisexual person who was made to feel like that part of himself was unacceptable. And now, he seems to be uncomfortable with the labeling of queer identities (or with other discussions of queerness that "make it a big deal"), not because he doesn't like queer people, but because he grew up in a time when it wasn't safe to celebrate these identities. (Also I personally think he is someone who tends to accidentally come off as more abrasive than he intends to be.)

A lot of my impression is based on a conversation I had with him, where I referred to myself as queer, and he was like "I don't like that word. It's derogatory. Why would you describe yourself that way? You're not queer. You're just a person. You're beautiful." And I totally get how someone could misconstrue what he said as being homophobic. But as the person he actually had a conversation with, it was pretty clear to me that he just grew up hearing labels used as slurs, and so he didn't like the terms themselves. But he seemed happy when I said I wasn't straight.

I know that he has kind of flip-flopped between being in support of Kirk/Spock shippers (e.g. telling them to "keep on queerin") and seeming annoyed by them. But like, imagine you were in unrequited homosexual love with your best friend who you couldn't be with and who you had a falling out with, and 60 years later, people were still talking about how longingly your character was staring at his character? (And in fact, the way your romantic attraction came through on screen was the foundation of slash shipping???) Maybe you would also want people to stop asking you about it sometimes.

In terms of his morals more broadly, he recently expressed pride over the fact that Star Trek has always been woke. Also, he doesn't run his social media accounts (he literally told me he doesn't), so stuff that has been posted on his accounts doesn't necessarily reflect his values.

The grimy, unpatrolled streets of Laket are a dark and dangerous place. Inspector Levok of the Ministry of Justice is one of the few men standing in the way of total anarchy.

When the industrialist and philanthropist Pravet is found brutally slain in his opulent mansion in a room locked from the inside, it is just one item too many on Levok’s docket. In a city full of drugs, gangs, theft, and mysterious disappearances, the murder stands out because of its victim’s prominence. His civilian supervisor advises him to close it quickly, but the deeper he digs, the less the case makes sense.

The wealth on display in the family's townhome doesn't match the numbers in his account books. His grieving widow is desperate to protect the family's reputation. His eldest son stands to inherit a fortune but from where? His younger daughter harbored a bitter feud against her father, while the man's ambitious brother insists his business is above reproach. The missing nephew is not mentioned at all.

Worse still, Levok's on-again, off-again lover, a streetwalker named Saraol, was with the industrialist the night he died, but despite leaving while he was still alive, Saraol confesses to the murder the moment she's brought in for questioning.

As contradictions mount and powerful interests close ranks, levok finds himself trapped between family secrets, political pressure, and a crime behind a locked door that should be impossible.