I've started watching Deep Space Nine with some friends this morning. You have to admire the confidence of a franchise where, after Wesley Crusher, the people in charge were, like, "Nah, we're gonna have another kid." (Jake Sisko is great tho.)

Deep Space Nine is my favorite Trek, but I probably haven't seen it since... it came out on DVD? So it has to be almost 20 years.

This premiere is very long, but not in a way where I mind. I find the relaxed pacing of '90s shows incredibly soothing.

A very good premiere -- nicely sets up that this Trek is going to have a more forthrightly emotional core than the two series that went before it and gets at the show's whole "St. Elsewhere in Space" vibe.

Also: Is DS9 the most trans Trek? y/y?

(Like Discovery has canonically trans characters, and I'm STILL tempted to pick DS9 for its very '90s gender fuckery.)

(DS9 has some VERY problematic episodes in re: trans stuff, but unlike with a lot of transphobic '90s TV, I really do think they were trying in their "written by cis people" way. It doesn't EXCUSE the episodes, but it contextualizes them for me.)

DS9 episode 2 is a step down from the premiere, but I love storytelling about establishing an outpost at the fringes of some galactic civilization. Can't get enough of it. Give me space Gunsmoke.

(Worth noting that Star Trek's whole deal is taking TV Western architecture and building a sci-fi show using those blueprints, so it makes sense for DS9 to have a heavy, heavy influence from the "small town out on the prairie" subgenre.)

Also all of the scenes where Dax is, like, "Well, my old host body was male, but now I'm an extremely awesome lady" clarify for me why she was my favorite character as a teen lol.

Somebody has to have done a remake of the Odd Couple credits with Odo an Quark, right?

There is something so soothing about watching Star Trek. Even when it's not great, it's calming.

Honestly, I'm digging the first season of DS9 quite a bit on this watch. It's super episodic, so it's hit and miss, but the hits are really great, and the misses are usually entertaining.

I've been doing some idle reading about DS9 recently, and this piece by @angelicabastien is my favorite: https://www.vulture.com/2018/01/deep-space-nine-revolutionary-depiction-of-black-fatherhood.html

OK, I've made it to the board game episode.

I am R E A D Y.

My immediate note is: The leader of the board game aliens (the Wadi?) should have been played by Rip Torn. That would instantly make this episode a must-see.

Great moments in Rip Torn sci-fi: In the film Men in Black, Rip Torn says, "We're not throwing an intergalactic kegger down here," and my friend Zeb thought the phrase "intergalactic kegger" was so funny he laughed for legitimately five minutes.

This episode is basically just about aliens trying to explain the rules of Twilight Imperium to Sisko and his friends.

They clearly spent a ton of money on the board game episode, which makes it even funnier that it's so bad.

The DS9 board game episode where no one will explain the rules to Quark, and he has to learn them as he plays, is a really great episode about the dangers of hanging out with hardcore board game players.

Was the DS9 board game episode remade as the film Cube?

In the end, "Move Along Home" was FUN bad Trek. Very, very stupid, but agreeably so.

Wallace Shawn as the Grand Nagus in DS9 has enormous "COME INNNNNNNNNNNNN" energy*.

*-joke may only make sense to listeners of Blank Check

Holy shit that’s Jonathan Banks (in this DS9 episode).

The Jonathan Banks episode of DS9 slaps.

DS9 S1’s reputation for being bland/boring/messy is a little undeserved. It’s not what the show becomes, but it’s still supremely watchable.

I like DS9 S1's focus on the aftermath of the Bajorian/Cardassian war.

Kira straight up sets a house on fire to end this episode, and it totally makes sense.

Rumpelstiltskin is in this episode, which is why I love Star Trek.

It turns out that Odo's greatest dream is to put his lover, Quark, in prison.

This episode isn't great, but it does make me wonder why we had an English language Force Majeure remake when we already had O'Brien really thinking about selling his daughter to a fairy tale goblin.

One thing I miss about long, long, LONG seasons of TV is that each and every character could get a showcase episode or two. It's one reason people get so attached to EVERYone in a show's ensemble on these broadcast shows.

DS9 is one of a handful of ‘90s shows that were key in establishing the template that would become the prestige drama of the 21st century, so it’s amusing to watch now and see the occasional episodes where they appear to have installed the Game of Thrones module on the holodeck.

I’m tired of the “Which Star Trek captain is best?” discussion.

The real question is “Which Star Trek captain could best handle an alien from the movie Alien infiltrating their ship?”

(My answer to this question is Janeway, because the Alien from the movie Alien is canonically bad at understanding women. Also, Janeway was really good at solving problems by just doing whatever, so I think she would figure out some neat way to jettison the Alien into space.)

I have finally made it to "Duet," famously the best episode of DS9 S1. Excited to see i it holds up.

I'm less than halfway through "Duet," and it absolutely is a cut above everything else this season, and I like this season so much more than I thought I would. It's "Three Men and Adena" in space! What's not to love?!

"Duet" is just a really great episode of television! You can probably watch w/o knowing anything about Trek or DS9. Check it out.