There are many things one may find as shocking in one's life but this has to be one of the most impressive:
Someone out there, to be left unnamed at this time, prefers Kathryn Janeway to Jean-Luc Picard and Benjamin Sisko.
I'll let the shock sink in.
Need more time?
Alright, hopefully now you're ready to heed my request.
The source of this outrageous comment lies not in maliciousness but in a lack of understanding. Said individual has not had the pleasure of a full immersion in the universes of Star Trek The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine. As such, I'm putting a call out to my trusty and nerdy readership to submit to me, via comments, the top ten greatest episodes so that I may begin the process of ideological reassignment. If you're familiar with only one series please do a top 10 for that one alone, if you're doubly-skilled try both but keep them separated by series.
I'll then put together a 10 hour marathon of TNG (and DS9 for a later date).
Double-episodes count as 2 episodes unless they cannot be separated (i.e. the first and last episodes of a series such as Encounter at Farpoint and All Good Things...). If you select a double-episode your list gets shorter (a top 9 for instance...).
So please help me out to correct his horrific blunder before it does real harm!
5 comments:
While I strongly support any nerdy indoctrination, I do think that ideological reassignment should strive to elevate the subject’s worldview, not degrade his/her tastes and opinions. In simpler language: it’s clear that Kathryn Janeway is the single most badass captain to ever grace space exploration, and Picard or Sisko should be happy to sweep the floor she walks on. In simplest language: you’re wrong; your unnamed friend is right.
The news of a female captain was, at first, a bit of a groaner in the Star Trek community. I mean, lets face it, nothing looks more like forced political correctness than following a black captain with a female one. However, Captain Janeway’s character, like Sisko’s, is accomplished enough to silence most doubters (at least the intelligent ones). Janeway is brilliantly written and acted; her presence marks the peak of Star Trek command history (Enterprise, unfortunately, initiated a decline in that category).
Janeway is strong and principled like Picard, clever, intelligent and stubborn like Sisko, and passionate like no captain before her. Thrust into a difficult situation, Janeway excels at navigating uncharted territories, while keeping her crew sane and thriving. She manages to be a strong leader without reverting to copying male machismo – she embraces her strengths as a woman, and brings a sense of empathy and understanding that has been missing in previous captains. While Janeway is not afraid to use force, she keeps an open dialogue with her crew and the Delta quadrant inhabitants. Her reasons and motivations are clear, and it makes for much better drama/dialogue than if she had simply barked orders or commands.
If you are the type of person who needs a detailed list for why Janeway is better than Picard (and you seem to be the type of person who does), you need only to look here (http://www.ejge.com/People/janeway.htm) for a list of 72 items. Most of the list is silly, but here are some favourites:
#1: Hair
#10: Commanded ships blown up: Picard: 2; Janeway: ½
#26: Janeway acknowledges freely when she breaks the Prime Directive instead of trying to weasle her way out of it with philosophical ramblings.
#46:Janeway's holo-characters fall in love with her. Picard's holo-characters want to kill him.
# 72: Q asked Janeway to run away with him and she refused. Q asked Picard's girlfriend to run away with him and she accepted.
If all that wasn’t enough, she’s friends with Leonardo Da Vinci!
So instead of clinging to your nostalgia for TNG of DS9, perhaps it is you who needs to see some top-ten Janeway moments. Rather than recommend a marathon, I recommend watching the whole thing. I’m sure you can find the time, in between kissing that autographed portrait of Patrick Stewart. When you get to the end of the series, “Endgame I” and “Endgame II” will not leave you unconvinced.
okay, the smack has been laid (easy to lay some smack anonymously). first, my responses to the janeway apologists' list. next, my top 10 TNG and DS9 episodes, in no particular order.
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#1: Hair -- yeah, give me closely shorn and sexy (both sisko and picard) to overly-hairsprayed any day of the week and twice on sundays.
#10: Commanded ships blown up: Picard: 2; Janeway: ½ -- gotta give that one to you.
#26: Janeway acknowledges freely when she breaks the Prime Directive instead of trying to weasle her way out of it with philosophical ramblings -- and why wouldn't she acknowledge it? there's no one out there in the middle of frakking nowhere to demote her if she doesn't follow the rules. when there's no enforcer, it makes rule breaking a whole lot easier and whole lot less noble.
#46:Janeway's holo-characters fall in love with her. Picard's holo-characters want to kill him. -- who then has the most frakked up psyche given the fact that they get to choose their own holosuite programs?
# 72: Q asked Janeway to run away with him and she refused. Q asked Picard's girlfriend to run away with him and she accepted -- just a shamless deux et machina to make us like her -- if an omniscient character wants her, she MUST be worth having. also, i gotta point out that Q mellowed and changed into marshmellow between his TNG days to his later ST incarnations.
thing is, i could go on, but i don't need to dis janeway to prop up my boys. they stand up pretty well on their own, though perhaps not quite as stiffly as janeway's awful hair.
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best TNG episodes:
1 and 2. all good things -- still the best series finale i have ever seen.
3. inner light -- touching, especially if you've lost someone close to death.
4. reunification -- leonard nimoy. nuff said.
5. chain of command, part 2 -- "there are four lights!" harrowing.
6. darmok -- fascinating exploration of language, metaphor and communication.
7. measure of a man -- what makes us people instead of property?
8. best of both worlds, part 2 -- i am locutus of borg. resistance is futile.
9. deja Q -- funny.
10. Q who? -- introduces the borg.
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top 10 DS9 episodes
1. the wire -- garak is one of the best star trek characters ever.
2. the jem hadar -- first encounter with the new enemy, and we learn more about the dominion.
3. life support -- another villain, kai winn, is explored more deeply in this episode.
4. homefront -- are the writers precognitive? this pre- 9/11 episode is about paranoia and freezing people's rights in order to maintain their "safety."
5. trials and tribble-ations -- an homage to the original trek with some cool effects.
6. call to arms -- the war begins.
7. the changing face of evil -- the war changes.
8 and 9. what you leave behind -- series finale, very revealing of the characters (the important ones, anyway).
10. shadows and symbols -- sisko as The Sisko.
I’ve never seen the show so I’m afraid I can’t offer a real comment. But I’ve seen every episode of DS9 and the Next Gen and I think it would be difficult for any captain to be better than those two.
But here’s my list for top ten DS9
10) Badda-Bing Badda-Bang
Vic's is about to be taken over by the heavy-handed mobster Frankie Eyes (contrary to what some fools believed….Vic ruled and this is the best one about him).
9) Whispers
O'Brien returns from a security mission to notice that the entire crew has seemingly turned against him (a great swerve).
8) The Ascent
Odo and Quark are forced to cooperate when their runabout goes down on an unknown planet (my favorite exploring their relationship).
7) Tribunal
O'Brien is arrested by the Cardassians and put on trial for a crime he insists he did not commit (who doesn’t love a good Cardassian trial).
6) Hard Time
After an alien race implants false memories of a 21-year prison sentence into O'Brien's brain, he has trouble readjusting to station life (a great plot).
5) Trials and Tribble-ations
Deep Space Nine crewmembers travel back in time — and integrate with Kirk's Enterprise crew (an absolute classic).
4) Shadowplay
Odo and Dax try to solve the mystery of an alien planet whose inhabitants are disappearing without explanation (this episode always stuck with me)
3) The Die Is Cast
On the eve of a Romulan/Cardassian attack against the Dominion, Garak may have to prove his loyalty to his former mentor by eliminating Odo (the last person was right…Garak rules and this was his best episode imo).
2) In the Pale Moonlight
Sisko goes to great lengths to enlist Romulan support in the Dominion war (this was the most badass episode in the entire series).
1) Paradise Lost
Preparing Earth for war with the Dominion, Sisko and Odo discover evidence of a Starfleet plot to seize control of the planet from the Federation (this episode speaks for itself)
Well, it’s clear that I love O’Brien. Hmm this list makes me want to go and watch more Star Trek.
Cheers
Shayne
It hasn't been long enough since I saw them for me to find it acceptable to go back to the episodes now just to pick ones to recommend, but I will say this: no matter how far behind in the dust Janeway managed to leave that jerky-speaking commander-with-an-extra-pip called Sisko, she never reached Picard's level. It's doubtful that any captain ever will.
As for the gender equality part, I'm convinced the point would've been made much more successfully if they'd cast a more _feminine_ actor, one that didn't look like a soviet state secretary during the first seasons and didn't have a quasi-masculine voice.
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