Nerd Drama

I think this ship (spaceship) is really funny

So from poor Graces point of view a human no Eridian has ever seen before stumbled into his biom and no one has heard from Rocky in a few days. So for at least a little while Grace is both trying to get to know his new overly familiar human roommate, while desperately trying to get the Eridian authorities to find Rocky.

I'm sure Rocky would try to tell him, but poor Rocky is dealing with a lot of new senses right now.

Deep Space Nine 4x3, “The Visitor”

I adore how Benjamin Sisko encourages and nurtures his son’s fledgling writing career, while also ensuring that Jake doesn’t let life pass him by. That’s a tough balance to strike, but you can tell that Benjamin does it and does it well by Jake’s response at the close of this conversation: Ben promises to read and discuss what Jake’s written so far if Jake will just come watch the wormhole with him; Jake says “Deal.” Jake lets Ben read his drafts, and values his father’s insight! Let me tell you, when I was Jake’s age I was secretive af about my writing; I didn’t like my parents to know it existed and I certainly never let them read a word of it. Jake trusts his father, respects his father, because Benjamin does the work to ensure that Jake knows how loved and respected he is.

This exchange is even more poignant when you know which episode of DS9 this is – it’s the one where, just minutes after this conversation, Benjamin is zapped by the warpcore and eventually discovered to be not dead, but lost in subspace. Jake is devastated by the loss of his father, his greatest supporter; and for all the long decades of his life, he is unable to gain closure for his grief because Ben is not dead, but truly, simply, “lost.” Not unlike his father, Jake drifts through the years – unable to make marriage work, scarcely able to write, because the need to help his father who had so often helped him eats at him so intensely.

“It’s life, Jake! You can miss it if you don’t open your eyes” – or if you are too overcome by grief without closure to pursue your own joy. But, spoiler alert for the episode, the love between father and son wins out – at the close of his long life adrift, Jake saves his father and gives them both a second chance to live life together.

Executive producer Ira Steven Behr wrote: “A love stronger than death. Usually that’s romantic love, but for this show, this series, we chose the love between a father and son” (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 270.

In her article on DS9′s revolutionary depiction of Black fatherhood, Angelica Jade Bastién writes:

“No series before or since has a portrayed a black father with such complexity, crafting him as a widow, a powerful authority figure, a religious icon, a man whose morals are formed in shades of gray and whose love of his son remained his guiding principle.

You KNOW classic SF used the limited displays of CRT television and the static of transmitted signals the way theaters use stage makeup and lighting to make inexpensive props look great fine— take advantage of the medium! But it's hard to imagine how it looked if you've only seen Blu-ray HD restorations.

"The Daleks" 10/10 Yep that's them.

"The Dalek Invasion of Earth" 8/10 Just a little marked down because the story isn't about the Invasion per se. That already happened. "The Dalek Occupation of Earth" would be more precise.

"The Chase" 9/10 It is about that but that is also a game show.

"The Daleks' Master Plan" 7/10 They're doing a bunch of stuff in this. The title implies only one plan. Need more clarification.

"Power of the Daleks" 10/10 great double meaning

"The Evil of the Daleks" 7/10 not wrong but also any Dalek story could be called this.

"Day of the Daleks" 5/10 There are at least two different days in play in this story.

"Planet of the Daleks" 3/10 That would be Skaro actually, whereas this takes place on Spiridon

"Death to the Daleks" 6/10 I like the imperative voice here but the story fails to deliver on this intention.

"Genesis of the Daleks" 10/10 That is exactly what happens.

"Destiny of the Daleks" 2/10 bears very little relation to anything going on here. Fundamentally a backward-looking story, and these sleepy ramshackle Daleks don't seem destined for much of anything, frankly.

"Resurrection of the Daleks" 2/10 Really misses the mark. There is a resurrection in this story but it's pretty unambiguously not of the Daleks. "Resurrection of Davros" would be a more accurate title. Or even better "The Resurrection of Davros by the Coward Eric Saward"

"Revelation of the Daleks" 2/10 Once again the verb in the title is fulfilled by Davros, not the Daleks! Sure hope someone got fired for that blunder!

"Remembrance of the Daleks" 4/10 Not much better I'm afraid. It is a nostalgic story so Remembrance is at least vaguely relevant, but it's not really the Daleks either being remembered or doing the remembering.

"Dalek" 10/10. Clean, simple, right on the money. That's a Dalek alright.

"Bad Wolf". 3/10 And we whiff it again. While the phrase "Bad Wolf" is indeed central to the cliffhanger reveal, it's not related to the Daleks, or to anything at all. It's a self-fulfilling tautology. The actual words are irrelevant. Could have been anything.

"The Parting of the Ways" 9/10 now this is more like it. Not only are there multiple partings of ways between multiple characters, every atom in every Dalek parts ways from every other! That's so much parting!

"Doomsday" 6/10 Again points off for vagueness. This could be about anything.

"Daleks in Manhattan" 10/10 There they are!

"Evolution of the Daleks" 8/10 doesn't succeed but that is what they're going for

"The Stolen Earth" 9/10 Yep that happens!

"Journey's End" 4/10 Come on. Literally the only person whose "Journey" Ends is Donna and that of course gets reversed. Vague and inaccurate.

"Victory of the Daleks" 5/10 sure they achieve their stayed goal in this one episode but thats pretty well undermined by the fact that nobody likes these Daleks and they get retconned out of existence within a couple years

"Asylum of the Daleks" 9/10 Straightforward. Only knocking a point off because there doesn't seem to be much mental health care going on here

"Into the Dalek" 10/10 that is what happens!

The Magician's Apprentice 4/10 We're stretching here. Name based on a one-time gag and not related to the Daleks anyway

The Witch's Familiar 6/10 this one is set up better but still isn't about Daleks

"Resolution" 7/10 A New Year's Resolution is made! But it's something the Doctor would have done anyway

"Revolution of the Daleks" 0/10 This is complete nonsense. The Daleks are cops and then the other Daleks come in to be cops to the cop Daleks. Nothing is revolutionary about this. Nothing

"Eve of the Daleks" 9/10 Yeah this one works. It's New Year's Eve and there's Daleks.