Bad Timing

[redthroatedloon]

So we watched the last episode on our current NetFlix Stargate DVD -- Fail Safe, an okay, if somewhat scientifically questionable, episode -- and I suddenly realize that the next one is going to be the last DVD for Season 5. Which means that, first, I'm going to have to sit through the commentary for Meridian, which I'm not totally sure I want to (the directors and writers tend to spend a lot of time justifying their choices, and I'm not sure I want to listen to 40 minutes of why it was a good idea to introduce Jonas in that manner), and second, we're about to embark on the DVDs for Season 6, which on the whole I found dreadfully boring.

It would be all too depressing, except that the Spike channel (a name I find unfortunate, since I associate it with sexy platinum-blond vampires, and the network seems geared toward male morons) has just started running Star Trek: DS9 from the beginning, and I'm rediscovering why I enjoyed that series so much. It was one of the few series of the time that tried to use political and religious intrigue as plot points instead of space ships.

Comments

[saffronhouse.livejournal.com]

Oh, me too! I really liked DS9 and it's been ages since I've watched it. But I remember how impressed I was by the -- maturity, maybe? -- of the series. The references to current affairs on the show weren't the clumsy, over-simplified metaphors so typical of Trek (although I admit always having loved that Star Trek dared even that much), but in so many cases, including the entire underpinning of the show, were a very sophisticated reading of decades-long political problems. What fun. (The show, I mean, not bloody political turmoil)

[redthroatedloon.livejournal.com]

What was really strange was the relevance of the episode, so many years after it first aired. You had a society that had recently cast off a totalitarian regime, that was now in complete turmoil, was heavily influenced by its religious leaders, and that was being administered by a well-meaning power (the Federation) that was not trusted by many of those newly in power. Interesting.