space is big when you're in love

[sab]

I'm still interspersedly watching DS9 season 7, which is really almost more crack-addled than anything Chris Carter ever came up with. I mean, this season gives us "Chimera," the big gay crazy Odo episode, and I don't think I ever even NOTICED how insanely gay it was because when I initially watched the season I can only assume I was distracted and confused by ALL THE CRACK. To wit:



Observe the soap opera worthy crackiness, whereat at this point in the series it can be recapped thusly: Odo has a big gay affair with a male changeling vagabond, and has sex with said changeling several times, while being condoned in his actions by his new girlfriend Kira, who Odo finally got the courage to ask out after Vic the hologram created a holographic Kira for Odo to practice on. Which is fine, because at this point Kira is busily getting over having given birth to the O'Brien's baby and breaking up with Shakaar, so it makes sense she'd have a season of heavy changeling sex with Odo who learned it all from the hot changeling sex he had with Ma Changeling last season, combined with the hot humanoid sex he had with Ms. Bedroom Eyes.

Meanwhile, Julian, who it turns out was genetically engineered in his childhood, is falling in love with Ezri Dax, the latest incarnation of Jadzia Dax, who married Worf but got killed by a Pah-Wraith possessed Gul Dukat before she could have Worf's baby. Ezri returned and tried to rekindle her tryst with Worf, but shouted out Julian's name in her sleep and the rest unfolded as it does in those situations.

Dukat, of course, didn't mean to kill Jadzia, but only did so because he also found himself reborn as the leader of a Bajoran cult, and so he underwent plastic surgery to look Bajoran and started up a marriage of eeevil with Kai Winn Adami, who also learned she'd been bidden to do the work of the Pah-Wraiths. Fortunately for us, the Emissary of the Prophets stands ready to challenge the forces of eeevil, except for the fact that the Prophets told him not to marry his Maquis-aiding freighter captain girlfriend Kasidy, and Sisko went ahead and did it anyway.

I seriously think everyone on this show is having sex at the moment. Has there ever been a season of any OTHER Star Trek with so much soap operatude? I mean, could you imagine a season where Picard was taking up with Crusher after having a short fling with Deanna, who rebounded in Data's arms but then married Geordi, and Riker gets killed and reincarnated as a woman who has a hot lesbian affair with Vash, who has returned with Q powers to conquer the universe? Meanwhile, Worf and Wesley Crusher finally admitted their deep and abiding love and, with the help of Dr. Barclay, were able to give birth to a child comprised of all three of their DNA. Her name, of course, is Lillianna.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, DS9 definitely was unique among the Treks in this regard. Apropos Chimera and the gayness and interpretation of some, londonkds came up with a very dark interpretation, which continues to disturb me, though I really don't think that is what the writers intended. He also clarified with a
follow-up.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

That is a dark way of looking at it -- I was much less queerly offended, though honestly the thing that struck me more than Quark's "Changeling Pride" line was Sisko's "it's okay behind closed doors, just not on the Promenade" speech. Which is less dark, but, you know, there's still a lot of don't ask/don't tell about that episode. What's important, of course, is that Kira accepted Odo's gayness, and more than that was willing to do whatever it took to love the man whatever shape he might choose to take.

(Though I have to agree with londonkds that it is highly dubious that Kira's never seen/played with Odo in anything other than humanoid form. I mean, the very MOMENT they first chose to have sex you'd think they'd immediately start exploring, especially considering Odo's had much more experience with Ma Changeling than he ever had with the bedroom-eyes girl, AND I think it's wildly out of character to think that Kira wouldn't want Odo to be himself around her. Dax's comments about Kira's xenophobia re: Capt. Boday's transparent skull excepted.)

I was also noting how unique Odo and Kira are as far as interspecies alien TV sex. I mean, sure, we've had Klingon/Human and Vulcan/Human and vague energy being/Human, but Kira and Odo had a real opportunity to explore the problems inherent with sex and intimacy between two totally different species. Sadly, Chimera's really the only episode that handles it at all -- too bad TPTB dropped the ball on that one. Fortunately there was a lot of good fanfic to make up for it back in the day.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Not only is it out of character, but I'm fairly sure there's an episode before Chimera where we see Odo giving Kira a shoulder massage with his hands completely "melted" onto her.

In terms of human/alien sex, I agree that it's never really been dealt with in any TV show (I understand the Roeg/Bowie film The Man Who Fell To Earth does something interesting with the idea, but I've never actually seen it) but I suspect that until very recently the taste/decency standards would have made it impossible. Another problem, which I've seen in a couple of LJ friends' reactions to sexually explicit Odo/Kira fics, is that some people see any story about human women mating with aliens as having overtones of degrading the woman - tentacle rape and suchlike.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Oh- also, without question the sparkly enveloping at the end was sex, if for no other reason than it had all the hallmarks of Trek-produced TV sex, it was shot like a sex scene, and Kira's expressions were definitely the sort where she was directed to "look like you're enjoying yourself, but keep it G-rated so we can get it past the censors." That and there's nothing vague about the Link being sex, they've said it flat out on a number of occasions, and in this case Odo and Kira set out to very decidedly "Link."

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It never struck me as anything else, and that's why it impressed me as a great example of interspecies love going for a truly alien aspect.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

How can you mention slashiness and the seventh season of DS9 and not mention Bashir/O'Brien? "I love Keiko -- but I like you better"? Hello, that's TEXT.

DS9 was indeed most cracktastical in the end, but in the best way. Except for Dukat/Kai Wynn, which was just bad acid.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's no question. Bashir/O'Brien is canon in season 7. Even the genetically engineered freaks know it! (Where freak is used in the most loving way possible.) I want the fic where Lauren says, "Miles wants to fuck you, you know?" and Julian says, "he does?" and then Jack launches into a musical number that teaches Julian and Miles how to be pretty and witty and gay.

And Dukat, oh, I miss him so much. Dukat, as we all know, was character-assassinated in S5's "Waltz" and was never heard from again. This new guy is PUUUURE EEEEVIL and, strangely, not nearly as hot without the Cardassian makeup.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I have no problem with Dukat as pure EEEEEVIL; there's bad guys and then there's genocidal guys, and Dukat was the latter. They definitely made him less three-dimensional as the show went on, but OTOH, it was less of a character assassination to make him pure EEEEEEVIL than it would've been to make him misunderstood.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Actually, Dukat/Winn was the only thing that mollified me about the EEEEVIL!Dukat characterisation post-Waltz, just as the EEEVIL pagh wraiths appeared as a stupid plot device (B5 did the two powerful races of quasi-gods using mortals as pawns thing far better with the Vorlons and the Shadows, because we weren't asked to accept either as the good guys unquestioningly) except for what they contributed to Kai Winn's season 7 storyline, which was fab.

*is Winn fangirl all the way and would like to point out that Adami is clearly the predecessor of Laura Roslin in Ron Moore's mind, except Roslin is written as the hero, not the villain*

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Winn is totally Roslin, with a dose of Tigh-- I have been wondering what your take on Tigh is, as he meets most of your standards but somehow is still so reprehensible-- and her having Anjohl to play off of is one of the only interesting things about S7, it's true. But WHYYYY did it have to be DUKAT? She coulda just as easily risen to power and squared off with Sisko one on one -- and left Dukat to square off with KIRA one on one -- in the hypothetical finale we didn't get. *sigh*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Actually, the only reason for it being Dukat I can see, even a decade later, is that in the finale they knew Sisko wouldn't be the one doing the deciding thing to end the Dominion War (that would be Odo via linking with Ma Changeling, preceeded by Kira & Co. helping the Cardassians), and they needed him to do something traditionally male and heroic, so we got the stupidest thing since Kirk, Soren and Picard slugging it out in Generations, i.e. male/male fisticuffs (or shoves, to be more precise, in that case). Which I guess wouldn't have been possible with Winn, who'd have raised her eyebrow and said "Emissary, you can't be serious".

My ideal DS9 would have had Dukat getting Damar's storyline, actually - i.e. after Ziyal's death he self destructs via alcohol, not madness, while being dictator and finding all of this totally hollow, and then in season 7 finds himself again via teaming up with Kira. He'd have died in the finale the same way Damar did, as a by-product of the battle (we don't want to feed his ego) to free his homeplanet from the misery he brought on hit. Can you imagine the triangle situation with Odo in the last six eps?

(Not that I don't like Damar, but...)

Winn could have had her spiritual tragedy sans E!Dukat, true, though Louise Fletcher and Marc Alaimo had some delicious chemistry of their own, and I salute the producers for showing us women around 60 can enjoy sex, too.

Tigh in short: I find him interesting and like his Edward Albee relationship with his wife, but don't love him. Don't know why the love didn't strike in this case, since as you point out he meets most of my criteria.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

You know, I think it's that Tigh is closer to being the Damar character, which explains a good deal about how I feel about both of them. And, yes, Dukat should have been the alcoholic aging hero under Weyoun's irritating thumb, joining forces with Kira and dying tragically, and YES the triangle UST in the last half of the season would be tremendous, MMMM, dammit.

[deborah-judge.livejournal.com]

I was fairly happy with the way Winn seemed to take over Kira's dynamic with Dukat. The whole lovely confused business of Dukat wanting absolution/love/vengance from a Bajoran, and from a Bajoran who is identified as Bajor for him. I think he always wanted Kira to love and then kill him, and that's exactly what Winn does.

My sense is that Kira resolves her part of the dynamic with Dukat through Damar, just like Dukat resolves his part through Winn. And that makes sense to me as a way relationships resolve themselves sometimes.

[runpunkrun]

Jadzia Dax is starlight.

(Also, A LOT of that sounded familiar and I'm pretty sure I've NEVER SEEN THIS SHOW.)

the dyke mafia

[projectjulie.livejournal.com]

ahahaha! I read that as "Jadzia Dax is straight" and was about to get all huffy with you, stranger. even though I was pretty sure you were joking -- how couldn't you be?

Re: the dyke mafia

[runpunkrun]

I'm sure if I had said that, it would have been a joke. Though, I'll admit, if forced to pick Jadzia Dax out of a DS9 lineup, I think I'd only be able to do it if the other folks were, like, Ferengi and Julian and the guy who lives in a pail -- Odo! Everything I know about DS9 I learned from Sab writing fic for it.

Re: the dyke mafia

[projectjulie.livejournal.com]

heh, then I'm sure you learned that Jadzia is most certainly NOT straight ;P

[memorycharm.livejournal.com]

Gah, DS9 was my favorite EVER Trek. It was like Melrose Place in Space, and I loved it.