Now you might be thinking that what with all this social distancing and staying at home during this coronavirus pandemic, I'm watching more TV than ever.
Well, not quite.
As I write this, I am two weeks behind on Supergirl and Batwoman and 1 week behind on Stumptown and Star Trek: Picard. And I am also 3 weeks behind on Outlander.
Changes in lifestyle around the ol' Fortress of Ineptitude has cut into TV viewing time. Space had to be found for Andrea to work from home. Randie had to clear out her dorm room which necessitated both of us each driving a car back to her college and filling both cars to their absolute capacity. Now those cars are empty and the ol' Fortress is full of boxes all over the place as Randie slowly transitions all that stuff into dressers, closets and shelves. And her online course work started Monday here at home.
Somehow this all conspired to cut in to TV viewing time.
I thought that for today's Tuesday TV Touchbase, I would take a look at another Star Trek series that I've been re-watching off and on for the last few weeks, Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
An odd thing about my TV viewing habits. I'm still not fully acclimated to the concept of watching what I choose when I choose as facilitated by streaming services. For example, Star Trek Deep Space Nine is available on CBS All Access where we watch Star Trek Picard.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine is also available on Netflix.
But where have I been watching Star Trek Deep Space Nine as of late? On BBC America where it runs on Mondays and Tuesdays and I catch whatever episode might be on when I have a moment to catch one.
Anyway...
If I were forced to make a choice of my favorite Star Trek series of the Rick Berman era, to choose from among The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Yoyager or Enterprise, my choice without a doubt would be Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek Picard has garnered a lot of attention for being a darker, more mature take on the Star Trek mythos. But Star Trek Deep Space Nine has been there, done that and has commemorative t-shirts that Quark will be glad to sell you in his bar.
What made DS9 distinct was that it's principal location, a space station, was not mobile. Any changes or upheavals on Bajor, the planet below, could not be easily dismissed. There was not going to be a new planet under our cast each week. Anything that happened on Bajor in any given week, the consequences of those actions would have to be dealt with in subsequent weeks.
DS9 was a guardian, a sentinel keeping watch over a wormhole to the distant Gamma Quadrant. Any threats that poured through that wormhole on any given week could not be summarily dispatched and then moved on from. Actions taken by aliens from the other side of the wormhole in any given episode usually created consequences for the DS9 crew and the Federation in the future.
The idea of actions having consequences is a major theme for Star Trek Deep Space Nine both in terms of story and character development. Ben Sisko is dealing with the emotional fallout from the death of his wife during the Borg attack at Wolf 395. The consequences of this trauma informs his thinking and his growth in the role of commander of DS9.
Kira Nerys spent her young life on Bajor as a terrorist against the Cardassian occupation. This impact of this brutal life impacts her perspective and her character as she is thrust into the role of an administrator on DS9, 2nd in command of the space station.
Odo, the shape changing chief of security, tries to cope with life as an outsider, unique among all other humanoid life but he yearns for knowledge of who he really is and if there are others like him. Odo spends much of the series trying to deal with the consequences of that knowledge.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine was a series that didn't shy away from the hard choices. The good guys don't always win. Sometimes it's not always immediately apparent who the good guys are.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine had a remarkably strong back bench of supporting players. Strongest among them was Garak, a Cardissian in exile, working as a simple tailor on the station. Over the course of the series, we learn there is nothing simple about Garak, a former operative of Cardassia's most feared agency, the Obsidian Order. Garak winds up helping the Federation quite a bit but without foresaking the sinister and lethal skills as an agent with the Obsidian Order.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine was the first Trek series to fully embrace serialized storytelling. The Dominion War informed the bulk of the latter seasons of the show with episodes running one into another as the fortunes of war ebbed and flowed.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine was also the first Trek series with an African American lead. Avery Brooks as Ben Sisko projected power and gravitas with just a hint of danger. If you're a bad guy and you see Sisko smiling at you, you're about to get your ass kicked. But Sisko could also be warm and human, embracing his role as a single dad.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine sometimes can be overlooked, lost in the warm nostalgic glow of the original series and the Next Generation. But it deserves to be remembered and acknowledged as a remarkable achievement, a show that challenged the principles of Star Trek while aspiring and achieving those principles.
Not sure what I'm posting about in next week's Tuesday TV Touchbase. I'm hoping the disruptions in my lifestyle caused by my exile will settle down a bit and I can catch up on some shows.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another.
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