I’m so glad today is a work-from-home day. Tomorrow I’ll be in early for a special event, so having this quieter morning feels like a small gift.
Since I’m working on Saturday, I had yesterday off—and because I’m working from home today, I’ll still need to head in early to get everything set up for the program I’ll be doing. It’s one of those in-between days: not exactly a day off, not quite a full workday either.
I only wish today’s weather was what we’re expecting tomorrow. Today will warm up to about 23 degrees—the mildest it’s been in weeks. Tomorrow, though, is a very different story. We’re under a severe weather advisory, with wind chills expected to drop 20 to 30 below zero. At least the museum should be warm.
I have a few things to take care of while working from home today. Tomorrow’s program should wrap up by around 10 a.m., and after that, the rest of the day will be paperwork and taking things easy until it’s time to head home.
Some days are about bracing against the cold. Others are about finding the small comforts where you can—and today feels a bit like that.
* 🚨 * 🚨 * Red Alert * 🚨 * 🚨 *
🖖Possible spoiler ahead…
Starfleet Academy Update
Y’all know I’m a Star Trek fan, so you’ll just have to get used to at least five more weeks of me sharing my thoughts on Starfleet Academy. My favorite Star Trek series has always been Deep Space Nine. It’s one of the most complex and intriguing of all the Treks, and I’ve watched the entire series dozens of times.
I think we all have a movie or TV show we return to when we need something familiar—mindless comfort, a pick-me-up, or just a way to quiet whatever’s rattling around in our heads. For me, that show is Deep Space Nine.
So when I read that this week’s Starfleet Academy episode was being described as a “love letter to Deep Space Nine,” I was—needless to say—very excited.
There were definitely things I loved about the episode. The little bit of gay drama between Jay-Den and Kyle was fun, and Darem’s jealousy was about as subtle as a photon torpedo. Drag queen Jackie Cox appears, Tawny Newsome guest stars, and we get to see Cirroc Lofton again—who has grown into quite a handsome man.
That said… there is one thing about the episode that genuinely pissed me off.
If anyone’s curious what that was, let me know in the comments. I’m happy to answer there, or I may save it and talk more about it on Monday—once everyone who wants to watch the episode has had time to do so.
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I'll tell you about Star Trek Academy tomorrow as I record the episodes and will see it this evening. I didn't read your comment to not know what will happen.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested. I liked the episode very much.
ReplyDeleteAvery Brooks famously insisted on changing the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine finale to include a promise that Benjamin Sisko would return to his wife, Kasidy Yates, and their unborn child. Believing the original ending depicted a destructive stereotype of a Black man abandoning his family, Brooks ensured Sisko's fate involved a return from the Prophets.
DeleteOriginally, Sisko was to remain entirely with the Prophets, but Brooks insisted on the line, "It might take a year, it might take yesterday," indicating a future return to his family. Brooks felt strongly that Sisko, as a groundbreaking Black lead character, should not be portrayed as abandoning his family, ensuring his legacy as a devoted father remained intact. While the change provided hope, Sisko did not immediately return in the show's canon, leaving his fate as a "Schrödinger's Captain" for many years.
In this week’s Starfleet Academy episode ("Love Letter") revisited this, with Noga Landau and Tawny Newsome (the writers for the episode) mentioning that they honored Brooks' vision by having characters suggest Sisko, though non-corporeal, never truly left his family. This is something that can be interpreted as he did come back. The episode has Sam’s version of Jake Sisko as insisting that his father never truly left and was always present in their lives, though it’s unclear whether that was meant figuratively or literally. As a non-corporeal Prophet, Sisko could have taken physical form by possessing humanoids, something the Prophets occasionally did on DS9, which raises the possibility that he found a way to be with his family without the galaxy ever knowing.
If that’s what happened, Jake never shared the truth publicly and took that secret to his grave, and the episode offers only the faintest hint of that possibility. Still, it’s hard to imagine Dax , his mentor and friend, not knowing if Sisko had truly returned.
I guess sometimes Star Trek fans have to read between the lines to preserve Star Trek canon—something the franchise hasn’t always done consistently—but in this case the ambiguity, intended or not, leaves us questioning whether Sisko ever fulfilled his promise. Sisko may have been a Starfleet officer and a Prophet, but first and foremost, Benjamin Sisko was a family man who would not have abandoned his family.
Sit in the chair and I’ll spin it, slowly.
ReplyDeleteHi Joe. I'm really enjoying Broken Dawn. Like you said, it's hard to put down
ReplyDeleteI’m really glad you’re enjoying it. I can’t wait for the next one to come out.
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