I’m starting this thread to move off-topic discussion about Star Trek into a dedicated topic.
I figure this topic might be useful for any future Star Trek discussions here on overgrow.
After all, Star Trek has has always been pretty popular among the cannabis community.
I’m pretty sure stoners watching late night reruns kept that franchise alive from 1974 until the first movie came out in 79. haha.
When I watch DS9 I only run the Quark heavy episodes. Star Trek/Paramount would be fools to not do a Quark spinoff.
I don’t know much yet but this was generally the conclusion I was headed toward. Outside of the packs I’ve already got… I think I’ll stick to OG beans for the foreseeable future 
Armin Shimmerman on a podcast in 2020:
Hell yea, I watched lots of his interviews this past 2 years. IMO, Armin is the most underrated actor of our generation. His character was the linchpin that allowed for my suspension of disbelief while watching DS9. What’s your favorite episode?
@Gonzo
Oh man there are a lot of good ds9 episodes. Armin Shimerman is great, I love his voice acting roles too.
My favorite Quark episode is probably the one where Jake is trying to buy/ barter for a Willie Mays baseball card. The quack scientist and his concept that death and old age is actually caused by “cellular boredom” was excellent.
I think my favorite thing about star trek is the core of morality and political commentary. They can be very heavy handed, and yet make people receptive to the message by changing the context of the issue.
I really enjoy the subconscious dream episodes taking place in the 1950s with Sisko as Benny Russel, a science fiction short story writer. That was great allegorical storytelling and the elements of surrealism make it very interesting.
The 2 part episode with the Gabriel Bell riots was great political commentary. they travel back to early 21st century and witness the homeless population of San Francisco forced into a walled ghetto under the guise of social progress and charity. It’s just become more relevant than ever, as Portland Oregon city council has voted to force homeless people into four large fenced in camps.
The 30th anniversary special where the ds9 crew time traveled into the original series episode “the trouble with tribbles” and interacts with the original series cast blew my mind when it first came out. That’s a really fun one.
The dominion war arc was very interesting, it was the most ambitious serialized storytelling in star trek. They kept the episodic format but told a story with a grand scale over a large period of time. More like what we used to see in comic books, individual issues had a distinct story but when read together they form a coherent story arc.
In the dominion war arc, some of the standout episodes are the one where they infiltrate a klingon ceremony in order to identify and unmask a changeling on the high council. That episode had an epic twist ending.
And my favorite dominion war episode is probably the 3 part story where Worf ends up in the dominion prison camp. Spoiler alert-- the reveal that doctor bashir had been a changeling for months was amazing. I loved the way they used the change in the uniform design to show just how long the changeling had fooled them, with doctor bashir in prison still wearing the old uniform.
In general all the large scale dominion war episodes were very impressive, with the visuals of massive fleets doing battle. But they still stayed true to the classic star trek tone and ideology.
It was a really great and ambitious show. I wish new star trek was written up to that standard. The new shows have no narrative consistency, and just don’t seem to respect the source material in the same way.
It’s also a shame that Avery Brooks was blacklisted in hollywood for insisting on a degree of freedom and creative control for his character, to make sure it was a positive depiction and not a stereotype. He didn’t just agree to his contract every time he was up for renewal, he insisted on directing and writing a certain number of episodes per season. After that the producers spread the rumor that he was difficult to work with and got him effectively blacklisted.
His performances on ds9 are great, he plays it big like a performance on stage, and his voice is amazing. He reminds me of Paul Robeson, another amazing black performer who was blacklisted for his ideals, creative integrity, and politics.
Rewatching ds9 recently, I think the first 2 seasons or so were pretty rough. You can tell they really have a standard method and camera angles for filming in each set, and that the actors are rushed. It makes it feel pretty stiff.
But the show really picks up steam in the third season, and by season 4 or 5 it’s consistently very good. It’s very refreshing seeing their filmmaking techniques. The lighting is great, the camera work is smooth and clear. the special effects are a very good compromise with mostly practical effects augmented by cgi, and some pretty creative cgi animations. By todays standard they are basic, but they still look great. The sound design is very clean, it tells the story, it’s engaging, but it’s not annoying or oppressive.
in terms of clear concise storytelling, it’s way better than the constant camera shake and lens flares, bass rumbles, and ear ringing sound effects that we see now.
Wow we got a true trekkie & excellent writer here ar OG thats dope. I remember every episode/plot you mentioned (I’ve watched every ST series 30x over, except for the new junk) & agree with just about everything. Including the core of morality (everyone deserves a roof over their head, food, healthcare & to not be forced into a modern ww2 style ghetto).
I’m just a simp for Armin, can’t help it. I’d chill with Armin over Patrick Stewart, Sisko & Capt Kirk combined 
Oh, I will say… I really enjoyed Lower Decks. What’d you think of that?
I really enjoyed Archer as well. That was a fun series in the first warp 5 ship. Not to mention the cute Vulcan.
Man now I gotta go rewatch ds9. I forgot how much I loved that show. Thanks for that write up!
Hellll yea
Seven of 9 & T’Pol!
That’s what I’m doing when Holodecks become a thing. First on my list. I’m letting my nerd flag fly on this one, I’m out of the nerd closet! 
I think it’s definitely the best of the new trek series. It’s the most similar in tone, and the only one that’s actually following up on established material and plot threads for its content.*
My only real criticisms are that the voice acting and character animations for expression and body language can be a little generic, and that in general the stories feel rushed.
When you think about it, what really separates star trek from other sci fi series is the careful set ups that establish an allegory to present or historical social and political issues.
They take issues that hit close to home for some people, and alter the context so people can set aside their personal feelings on the subject, and appreciate the points made by the show without getting offended.
After easing the audience into accepting the metaphor with a classic sci fi plot structure, the episodes can make effective social commentary without feeling forced.
I don’t mind that the cartoon doesn’t go out of its way to include social commentary, but the half hour episode length and very short seasons lead the writers to rush through setups. The narrative plots and eventual punch line of each episode’s narrative tends to feel rushed, and a little forced. Without the careful setups, it feels a little more like generic sci fi.
The overall story arc in season 3 was really solid. But it still felt like it was rushing to the payoff compared to a classic trek series which has one shot episodes that add up to an overarching narrative and character development over the course of each season.
Overall a decent animated comedy with well defined characters and good visual design, which would be better served by either hour long episodes, or half hour episodes with a traditional 22 episode season.
I really enjoyed it, especially the deep space nine crossover episode. I would enjoy seeing the deep space nine cast get their own animated sequel show. In animated form, they could even pick up right where the series left off.
footnote:
*By comparison, Picard uses existing characters but ignores their narratives, and shortsightedly capitalizes on cameos by killing off all the recognizable secondary characters like Icheb. Icheb was a well thought out character played by a good actor, and had a lot of potential to become a main character in a reboot. Unlike the stars of Picard who are too old to keep this up after the next season, he is the right age for this work and has a well established and recognizable character that could have been expanded upon.
Slow follow-up here @Gonzo but I didn’t forget haha
I have watched Star Trek originals and reruns. Not much into the new ones.
Check out Red Shirts by John Scalzi, you folks will love it…
The audiobook is narrated by Wil Weaton… 
He really gets into it… 
Cheers
G
LOL, ok now I am confused @zephyr. Was this not in a dedicated thread called " Star Trek- always popular among stoners" ? This content keeps bouncing around and you got me questioning how stoned I am, lol.
Yeah that’s right. I split the off topic posts into ‘always popular among stoners.’ I moved them here so that I could give the thread a coherent topic post, instead of starting in the middle of a conversation.
Edit- I just fixed the redundant closed topic that was still showing up in the smokers lounge.
Makes sense to me.
not sure i’d agree with the “too old to keep up”. it’s acting, not a job that involves much heavy physical work. i was out last night ‘til 10 installing a starlink system. me and an old guy putting up a 21’ pole with the starlink on top using a tractor bucket. took almost 10 hours because he had to run and get some stuff and i’m not young anymore. looks great though, but just about killed me. actors regularly work into retirement age, and in some cases almost until the end of life. well, the famous ones do anyway. admittedly i don’t know much about them though, i could be wrong about it all.
332 am HST and on the phone so just reserving my seat here until daylight 
Enterprise sucks.
Ok few things…
I liked Enterprise but if you are going to talk about it you got to mention the opening theme song, I mean wtf were they thinking. How did they get a room full of folks to say “hey that it’s been a long time song is really good and works great here”. Well those folks should be thrown off the highest point of the tower of economic commerce.
Voyager wasn’t bad as a whole and was a little different.
Best ds9 quark episode is the one where they thought morn died and had robbed a bank. While holding the Latium in he stomach for years.
Lastly Geordie leforge and little Wesley crusher should have died a long time ago. Geordie barely does anything without data (who is amazing) and little crusher is a punk bi***.
Often overlooked character freaking garack, amazing and liquidator brunt
All of the above should be taken as law as your nagus has spoken.
Stargate or Babylon 5 anyone???
