A Geek History of Time - Episode 76 - Deep Space Nine Watch Along Part II

Episode Date: October 10, 2020

BELLS Blow in her face and she'll follow you anywhere. You are destroying the Constitution of the United States may God have mercy on your souls. Good day. Yes. It's a very sad thing. We could be sad if we just elected the right white man to power. That's creepy but that's a different category of creepy. Zizuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and find out what the fuckin' truth that man was trying to get at. Like with most episodes I can bring him back to wrestling. Oh, right. Well, he's got other people who work for him who also do things.

And they can get new take-out, human size, into smaller worlds after all. Fuck you. I still don't give a shit about getting fake property in a fantasy game. This is a geek history of time. Where we connect to Mercury to the real world. My name is Ed Blalock. I'm a world history teacher here in Northard, California. Currently engaged in distance learning

And earlier today I had the wonderful fun of for the first time having a student Try to join my class under the pseudonym Ben Dover. I don't get it. Is that not his name? No, he's not on my roster. I don't know weird sentiment accounts. Yeah, so I'd be like I'm sorry Mr. Dover you're gonna have to go speak with the principal because we don't have you on my role Yeah, here we go Yeah, so We did we did wind up having an issue come up Where a number of kids got kicked off of everybody's roster

Because they they don't have their current TDAP records turned in. Which like, here's the deal. I fully believe that, you know, if a kid isn't up to date on their immunizations, then they shouldn't be going to school. With that being said, though, right now, of course, this is Northern California and I'm in a county on the watch list, which means they're not actually going anywhere to go to school. So like, it kind of seemed, I mean, like, I understand we need to make sure they get those records updated, but like, do I need to actually have the conversation with them that I can't let you into my class right now,

because we don't, because your parents deducted the office. Like I actually had to say that to students today, because the office told me I had to say that to students today. And it was one of the most surreal experiences I've had in this air slow motion catastrophe is like, well, okay, your immunization records aren't up to date, so you can't come to school, but you're not actually coming to school. Yeah, it feels like all the anti-vactors would actually be able to attend class. You could think, right? But, you know, so yeah, it was, it was truly like, it felt like, like, like, waiting for good dough. I mean, it felt like, and I can't remember the author's

name right now, but it really, it really felt like that kind of blanket. No, no, I'm sorry, it's comedy of the absurd. Yeah, that was back at, yeah. No, no, I'm sorry, it's comedy, the absurd. Oh wow. Yeah, that was back it. Yeah. Yeah, it literally felt like something out of back it. Like, no, I can't let you into my, you know, plague classroom because you're not immunized. Wow.

Like, hold on. Yeah. Yeah. So that was the bass aquatness of part of my day today. Who are you? I'm Damien Harmony. I'm a Distanced Latin teacher. I haven't had to kick anybody out of my Zoom rooms for not being vaccinated, but I do

know that every couple years I have to get a tuberculosis test. And because I taught kids who were from refugee camps in the early part of my career, I ended up testing positive for tuberculosis because I had developed antibodies. I never had TB, but I was around kids who had it or who had themselves been exposed to it. The result is I can't do the little sticky in the arm test.

I have to get a chest X-ray. So every couple test. I have to get a chest x-ray. So every couple of years, I have to get a chest x-ray showing that I don't have TB. So I went to them and I got a chest x-ray. This was a few years back. And when I did, I said, okay, can you send it over to my employer? No problem. Boom, boom, boom. So I got the x-rays.

The employer says, oh, we need to have the actual X-rays. I said, okay, I can have them email to you. Well, an email won't count. I said, okay, well, what do you need? They said, well, if you could fax it to us. I said, you do realize a fax is a paper version of an email, right? And they said, well, if you emailed it to us,

it would have to have the letterhead or like the masthead of the the website of the hospital on it as well. I said, okay, well if I faxed it, it wouldn't have that. And they said, oh yeah, but that's fine. A fax works. I said, um, so yeah. And it was this weird like, I'm not even gonna say it was it was Beckett like or even a Yinesco like, I even gonna say it was it was Beckett like or even Ian Esko like I'm gonna say it was Kafka-esque. It was there was no way I could get out of this Gordian Not that was also a mobius strip like

And it was and then here's the thing. I'm okay interrupt because the the punchline is coming Go ahead, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna argue, I don't think it's Kafka. I think it's Heller. What you're describing is a literal catch, 22. Could be, could be. Just, here's why I'm gonna say that it's actually Kafka. Ask, because at the end of it all, I got them what they needed and they said, okay, you're still not clear to work with kids.

I said, why not? They said, because you need to fill out this survey. And the survey was two boxes. Yes and no. Do you have tuberculosis? No. And then I handed it to them. They said, great.

I said, did you actually need any of the other stuff then? They said oh no, this would have done just fine. You can just do no I said what do we need to do next time and they say oh you just fell out the survey next time and it's fine You know that I could have lied on that And I wouldn't have to go get the damn x-ray and take a day off And I wouldn't have to go get the damn X-ray and take a day off. So, here's the thing. I have two wonderful children. And they grow up, Lord.

And they say, they come home, dad, I'm queer. Cool. You met someone? They come home, they say, dad, I'm voting for whatever party exists at the time. Okay, that's fine, I guess. Maybe we'll have some ideological differences, but hopefully they'll have gone way further left than I did. They come home and they say,

Dad, I'm gonna major in business. I'll respect their lifestyle choice, but I won't endorse it. They come home and they say, Dad, I've gone to work for your district. And I'm going to be the one instituting these, these kinds of policies. They will not be allowed in my house ever again. ever again. Because I raised them better than that. I raised you to people, the people, God damn it. Yeah. No, I understand. Yeah. So, all right. Last time we talked about a couple of really good episodes of Deep Space Nine that are eerily prescient this time. Yes. We're going to do a watch along.

So what we're going to do is I'm going to ask you as well as everyone else to queue up on Amazon Prime if you've got it because I don't think Netflix does it anymore. Or if you have Hulu without the commercials, this will work too. You're gonna queue up episode or season three, episode 11. It's called past tense, part one. Yep. I have it. I have it queued up already.

I'm right there. So, and while people are queuing it up, honestly, y'all can just hit pause while queuing it up, honestly, you all can just hit pause while you do it. It's, you know, you don't have to do this live. Um, beauty of podcast. This is asynchronous. This is asynchronous learning time right now. You can do this at your own pace. That's right. And now you, sir, you, you specifically at this. Yes. You need to make sure you skip the ad and you need to make sure you scrub that little ball all the way back and hit pause. This is what we call targeted instruction. Okay, so we have our camera turned off so I can't show you five fingers for I'm totally on board three fingers for I'm mostly there in one finger for like I'm completely lost. Right. I can't do that one, but I can tell you that I have done all of that.

Good. I'm at 0000 ready to hit play when you say. Good. I actually, I had the kids today, you know, I was like, hey, I'm teaching them how to use the zoom and I said, hey, go ahead and click on the react. Give me a thumbs up if you've done this. And then they, you know, they do that. And like all these thumbs just fill the screen and I'm like

I haven't seen this many thumbs up since I was at the doctors and Some of the kids are like wide-eyed like what the fuck? I'm like I just have really good health and the doctors are all very proud of me and moved on Because it also works that see See you teach high school so you can get away with a joke like that. Yeah, I can be the middle schooler. I, I, I envy you. Yeah, no teaching, no, seven, seven eighth graders. No, I, I'd, I'd be appearing, they're to 100% be a parent complaint. Oh, yeah. So, all right. So everybody's cute. I'm V free birds. Yeah. All right. Here we go. All right.

I'm going to say 3 2 1. I'm going to wait. I'm going to say go. After I say go, you click play. All right. So we'll just practice real quick. Here's the cadence of it. Don't everybody do it yet? 3 2 1 go. And then you'd click it. All right. Here we go. now make sure that your close captioning is on Ed Because we're not gonna do it with sound because then we'll get busted for copyright Everyone else watching the sound just have us in one ear All right, we ready Three two one go

go. All right. Cold open. The usual yeah, cold open establishing shot of the defiant. Here we go. And they are flying to earth. Yeah. And somebody has a stirring important. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. And for some reason, they managed to fit the entire ops crew on the bridge. I don't get how or why. I don't get why Jizio would be the, as the science officer, sir, she would be at the helm.

I don't get why O'Brien would be, I guess he's an engineer, so that would make sense. So, I don't, yeah. And Bashir, I could understand, an engineer, so that would make sense. So yeah, and Bashir I could understand, but again doesn't the Station need all of these senior officers? So here's Cisco before he shaved his head and before he got his beard. Yeah, yeah And then I'm trying to look at who else. Oh, and why would why would anybody from Bajorin Liaison offices beyond this ship going to Earth? Earth. Yeah, I don't know. That's bizarre. Oh, and here's here's work making an appearance because we got to we got to see everybody. Right. You're on an emergency channel. Yeah, and he he is

Basically, he's doing what he can to talk about the grandnakes. And again, why would Odo be there, too? Yeah, well, yeah. It is a writing choice. I don't quite understand. Mm-hmm. Oh, okay. So, yes, like misunderstanding, yeah, okay.

So, so, nepotism amongst the foringy big shock. Yeah And here's where Cisco actually quotes back the rules of acquisition to court to Quark I Have I have been reading up and and he has suitably impressed Quark have been reading up and he has suitably impressed quirk. Yep. It also reminds him it's 117th world of acquisition. You can't free a fish from water. Nice.

Yes. We sure the Niggas gets the message. So here we are. And I love how since this is a smaller ship, it's got a tiny transporter. Which again, O'Brien, by the way, is stuck using the the transporter. Yeah, oh, that's strange. Nothing serious, you say. Power fluctuation.

Annual air confinement beam. Well, that's impossible. Well, that's impossible. Yep. And so now we've got the tech talk, tech talk, tech talk that gets us to the actual. They're just gone. What happened? Yeah. And?

Oh, hey. So, okay. All right. I just kind of want to say that, you know, based on the conversations I've had about, you know, transporters actually being suicide machines, I feel like O'Brien ought to be a little more horrified of the fact that, you know, three of his friends have just been disintegrated and not shown up where they were supposed to be. Like, yeah.

It seemed an awful lot, like, you know, uh, uh, did you notice there's a blog in sleeping on the streets? Yeah, oh yeah, and they're asking for ID verification image see card Oh first mention of dims Those shotguns and cops cops haves. You're about this. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they're, they're,

since it was yesterday, 2024. You know, there's, there's something, I don't know how I was wondering how they, really, how they divided them. Notice that DAX is actually physically not too far from them, but she ended up on the subway. Inside the subway station. Now I'm not skipping the intro, so we're just gonna let that play.

Okay, okay, and while we're playing that, you know, there's something about 90 science fiction shows, and DS9 was one with pretty high level production values, but there's something about the, I don't know if it's lighting or the medium of on which stuff was recorded, but there's that scene in broad daylight with everybody in the uniforms in their outfits, reminded me very strongly of the kind of aesthetic that you got on shows like monsters and tails from the dark side, which I don't know how familiar you are with either one of those. I'm not. Okay, something about the jumpsuits, the cops were wearing and there's a certain, I don't quite want to say cheapness,

but a certain, I don't know, it feels very studio. Yeah, well it is, it's a back lot. I mean, you saw the back round there and it was a, you know, a quick, easy shop front. And you have just a nice tight shot on everything. So you don't really see what's going on. Yeah. So by the way, the guy that played the guy that called them dims, he's his name is Dick Miller. Yeah. He has been in everything. He was in the terminator. He was the pawnshop clerk. Yeah, like he has been in everything. He did voice work. He's kind of one of those every man. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. On TV tropes, the name of that trope is, hey, it's that guy. Mm-hmm. So, all right, here we are back. All right, so here we are, okay, Jetsia.

Now, she's in the subway and she's wearing her communicator, which means that she's got a little bit of gold on her. Mm, good point. Get jacked or something, you know, robbed. And he's asking her, now notice, white woman, not being asked by the authorities, asked by a private citizen, right? And he's doing everything to be nice, as opposed to, oh, you guys must be dims. Yeah.

Should be walking around with that idea but or some replacements. Come on up to my office with me. Yeah. I also like that 90s thought that in 30 years that style would still wouldn't have neck ties anymore. Yeah, well, yeah, that the male uniform since, you know, practically, well, since the easily Victorian era, since Dickensian times that, well, you know, he kind of has a tie, but it's not. It's of has a time it's not a long time it's a word

yeah uh... now this is an exterior shot that was probably shot in l.a. but yeah could be could be just about the xd exterior just about any you know high rise office building now here here we're back with cisco or not cisco O'Brien, and Kira trying to figure out what happened. So we're just going to see that they're trying to solve the problem, and it's going to be a little bit.

This is the service to the fact that they're in the future and that they're trying to fix the problem. But it's not the real deal. the service to the fact that they're in the future and that they're trying to fix the problem. But it's not the real thing. Well, not ordinantly. That's, that's, yeah. No, it's, it's not, it's, it's the, it's the explanation of, you know, meanwhile, in order to try to find a way to get them back. Because. Oh, chronotone particles. Nonotone particles.

Oh, Jesus. I'm admitted by the clock and sometimes it's kind of lodged in the ship. Good God. Are you kidding me? Okay, you know, here's the deal when when the series was on there was a certain amount of like, there's a surge in there's a surge in temporal and that's the science explanation. It's in the transporter. Yeah, tell me it's a clue, all right. I just don't know what that means yet. Yeah, so back when the series was ongoing,

it was kind of a loving joke of, you know, look at all this techno babble, you know, nonsense. No, sure. After, you know, after 25 years, after it was on, that was actually a little bit hard for me to read. I have to be honest. Yeah. You know, it flows a lot better when O'Brien's saying it though.

But now what you see here is interesting because you actually see a multi-story building with lots of people stuffed into it and then essentially like the Berlin Wall style behind them, right there behind Bashir, including like a large iron gate that basically keeps everyone in. Yeah. And then what, and then we find a way home. So see they are being, I don't wanna say roughly handled, but they're being handled and they're being taken They're definitely

Yeah, they're being man handled. I wouldn't you know Even DS9 was to Gentile to to show the marriage. Like, roughed up. Yeah, you know what I mean? Not roughed up by the authorities. By other, by other, but they'll get roughed up by other homeless people.

Well, yeah, because, you know, this series was made by Americans, so that's how that's gonna work. Now, you see here, and when I went and did comedy in San Francisco before the plague times, like there were tents everywhere on the street. So this is not that different from San Francisco that I've come to know. These guys are giving all the exposition tax by the way. What's that? Okay.

sitting while. What's that? Okay. Just the the just your your description of what's going on in the city. I mean, it's been a while since I've been down there. So that it's that it's gotten that that bad. That is. I can't unfortunately I can't say it's shocking, but it's disappointing. But they're giving all the exposition texts to what had happened there. And so now she's, what I love too is like, okay, you just went from that scene where you had everybody crammed into such a small space. His office, number one, very high up, very clean, tons of space. Lots and lots of space for work really lines. And she's using his computer, which they thought that we would still have desktop consoles. Yeah, there's a number of things about that that...

Oh, yeah, watch. Okay, hold that. Because they're going to talk about the tattoos. And he's it's is so bro, we have him. Just like everybody in the nine had to have it removed. Yeah. Everybody doing that. I think every contract that they weren't trying to like all the rest of the drought. Yeah.

So yeah. So she passes off her, her trill marks as, as tattoos. Body art. Yeah. And, as tattoos. Body art. Yeah. And he mentions, you know, as a white guy, urban professional, he's actually a tech bro that he had a Maori tattoo down his arm. I just, I love that. Yeah. So anyway, you were saying. No, you know, the failure of science fiction writers to predict the internet. Yeah. I mean, by the time this was made, of course, it wasn't a, you know, predicting the internet, but not being able to, or overlooking. I don't want to say not being able to, but the fact that the way our

interlinked net connected present was completely not thought of by you say that everybody, but actually she just used the internet Choose on as terminal Okay, good point. Let me let me let me change that a little bit the the use the internet. Choose on as terminal. Okay, good point. Let me, let me, let me change that a little bit. The, the, you ubiquity in our current world of Wi-Fi. Sure. Is kind of more where I was going. Any idea that, you know, now we have moved, you know, we, you know, shit is moved into the cloud. We don't have like, you know, the,

the hard drive on your computer is almost, you know, turning into a vestigial device, you know, now, you know, all that kind of stuff was, you know, yeah, totally overlooked. No, I, so okay, now, so now they've been, they've been fingerprinted. Oh, and the fact they're, they don't have an interface account. That's an interest to records for. I just brush rest like cloud. You figure it out. So this is kind of, this is where, you know, this is social services.

But it's been, uh, it's been defunded quite honestly. Yeah. Well, it's, well, yeah, well been uh... been defunded quite honestly yeah well it's yet well it's been defunded and the guys that are handling it are you know have i mean it's a fabric badge but it's still a badge and shotguns like this is literally the the opposite of defunding the police i i. I do find it remarkable that they're making, that there was clearly a point made to select extras who were people of color. Yep.

For the scenes in the sanctuary. Yeah. Oh, I know. What I'm saying is, you know, the point that's being made there was, you know, quite a point to be made for the 90s. Like, it's quite a thing. All right.

And so we have TechnoBabble, TechnoBabble redirected where, not aware when. That's such a star trek, TechnoBabble line. Oh, yeah. They arrived in San Francisco just like I suppose to, but not when they were supposed to. Right. And now you've got to figure out. And that's what this is basically the B story or a C story line because the B story line would be Jidzea.

This is the C story line of people who clearly are in need of medical care, mental health services, and Bashir is actually trying to actually get things moving along. That's three words. Yeah, in his very bashear way. Yep. What I find in a character reveal here in just a second. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah Oh, yeah, yep, this is actually we're recording this God damn about a week late A week and four years late. Yeah A week late and four years early. Yeah, Well, we've late and four years early. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So. So yeah. By the way, cute that they thought we'd get to the Celsius system by now. Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, come on by 2024. We have to have woke it up from our, you know, English system, Imperial system nightmare. Right? Yes. Yes. I mean, come on by 2024, we have to have woke it up from our, you know, English system, uh, Imperial system nightmare, right? Yes. Yes. I mean, for God's sake, the British Empire doesn't even use the Imperial system anymore.

But we do. Oh, and, and we have, you know, one of them having paid attention in history class, and the other one not, which gives us exposition. Those moments and it shows, you know, which gives us exposition, that's one of those moments I always enjoy as a history teacher is when one of the characters remembers what they studied, and the other ones like, wait, what?

Yeah. You moron, were you not paying attention to that high school? Of course you weren't. And now he's telling me, that you're basically what's gonna happen, where you have essentially sanctuary riots, the Gabriel Bell riots. Yeah.

Starfleet, okay. I love how Starfleet has a temporal displacement policy. Yes. Like, what kind of freakish, super science organization do you have to be part of, where you can talk about the temporal displacement policy with a straight face. Yeah well and in evidence organization too. Yeah yeah you know now what's what's really remarkable of course is that they are in the middle of a temporal displacement so me saying that I'm not giving them quite enough credit because

So me saying that I'm not giving them quite enough credit because clearly, you know, that means that something like this has clearly happened before. Right. So. Yeah, well, we've seen several temporal episodes by this point anyway. So. This is true. That's a good point. I just want to take a second to give a really great credit to Avery Brooks. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Because I mean, he's an amazing actor anyway, but in moments like this is when you remember that he played Hawk in Spencer for higher. And he has that really, the timber of his voice and the way that he gets very serious that way. Yeah, there's level of gravitas he has a level of there's a level of gravitas. He has in moments like this that's that's oh yeah amazing. Now I love this room. So he's they're working with a social worker. She's got a screen.

Not even a flat screen, very small screen on the wall. But um, she like look at how well they've dressed up her office, paper, paper, everywhere, stains on the wall. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So, and then she's, she's even saying like, so again, we're getting a ton of exposition because this is part one of a part, a two-parter. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, but she's, she's basically, you know, do you have anything lined up? And she's explaining the way the system has broken down and she's explaining it from the inside. I'd also point out she's African-American. She's an African-American woman social worker. Yeah. So.

But here's the interesting thing. They are restricted for their own safety. By law. Yeah. And then, and here comes the paradox. Some work live. We're stuck in here. Yeah. Right.

Catch 22. How long does that usually take? Yeah. I'm sure I can give you your answer. Yeah. And you basically, yeah, what with the economy and all? Yeah. And what I find remarkable about the actors here is you can see the the differences in in they're having internalized their own characters. Yes. In the way the two of them are responding to the Cisco is like, yeah, of course, right. And and Bashir meanwhile is like utterly baffled by all of this because even even in the

classless society of the Federation he's He's he's He's an upper class to it. Let's I say it lovingly, but he really is the upper the upper class Three seasons he was very much that that was That was a thing he really pushed hard in and all. So yeah, and then we get to the B story of. Yeah. Yeah. So Dax is in the upper crusts and she's getting

all the help she needs, she's got a place to stay, she's got money, she's got all the help she needs. She's got a place to stay. She's got money. She's got all kinds of things. He's not actually making any passes at her. That's one of the things I like about this. He's just a nice guy. But meanwhile, those guys just got told, you could stay anywhere you like,

which is code for, we don't know, we don't care. Yeah. And for people who are wondering, we're at the 22 minute, 25 second mark now. Yeah. So. Or roughly halfway through the episode. Okay. Yeah, this is a very sympathetic portrayal of the tech, bro.

I'm going to say. I wonder, you know, speaking of, you know, everything is the product of portrayal of the tech, bro. I'm gonna say. Yeah. I wonder, you know, speaking of, you know, everything is the product of the time in which it gets made. I wonder if his character would be as sympathetic if this was made today in the wake of, um, the Me Too movement. I don't know. It can be in, you know, high-powered tech bro who are being a helpless woman in that situation.

You know, I mean, because I had forgotten the B plot of this episode. And I'm remembering as we're going along, but like I'm still expecting at any moment for there to be the, well, you know, I kind of think you're hot and, you know, I've done all this stuff for you. You're like, kind of sort of opening the door kind of thing.

Yeah. Yeah. And that and none of that has happened yet, which I think I hate to say it, but I feel like it's almost naive. Hmm. You know, yeah, they can cure that now today if they gave a damn. Yeah, it's not that they don't give a damn. They've just given up right. Yeah. So there you go. Now this is again written at a time where homelessness was beginning its decline, but nobody knew that it was declining. decline, but nobody knew that it was declining. Yeah, but causing people to suffer because you have forgotten how to care.

Right. See, and this is where we see that the upper class twit is actually a deeply decent guy. Yes. You know, he is an upper class twit with, you know, all the privilege in the world on his you know as his baggage but he is Truly a soft-hearted compassionate guy and so yeah Oh here we come to that line talking about yep Mm-hmm Yep Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he should be breaking the fourth wall and just asking us that.

Yeah, he really should. Yeah. By the way, good job. Jonathan Frakes directing. Like, there's a lot of exposition here There's a lot of preaching is here and he's keeping it fairly Keeping it fairly organic Yeah

So, and then you get to the aggressive homeless guy who probably needs mental care as well. Well, certainly he's being played with some particularly wide eyes, which might be a thing. I, you know, I want to know, where did they think in 1995, where did they think that all of these guys were gonna get those hats? Well, they're old hats. So, yeah, I understand that, but talking like we talked about, Marin, not wearing a necktie,

like as a costuming choice not wearing a necktie, as a costuming choice, who made the decision that, oh yeah, we're gonna dress these guys like hobos from the 20s or the 30s. Like, yeah, that's a good point. Where did those, again, you're complaining earlier about the cheapest code? Yeah, it's kind of a whole code kind of thing.

You know, you know, so I mean, I mean, that's an explanation, but it feels like lazy costumeing to me. Yeah. Through the pulpitized chronotonic particles, technical battle, technical battle. Where in time, Cisco and the other, sorry, narrowed it down to a dozen different possibilities.

Now what's great about that is that you can have little technical glitches that get them to different costuming surpluses essentially. Yeah. You're going to go to San Francisco. What I would have loved is if they showed up in San Francisco during Times Arrow and like you just see data walking behind them real quick. So, would have been cool. Yeah, that would have been a remarkable stunt right. By the way, let's go playing with a toy there.

Kind of a nice touch. A lot of cardboard everywhere. They did a good job of dressing up, which again, they would have seen, it's not like you didn't, you had to go far, you know. Yeah. If we forget home, I promise never to complain. Yeah.

The station's courtesy of bads ever again. I also love that Cisco is able to laugh about things. Like he just, he shows so much range of emotional capability. Also, this also speaks to the warmth of their outfits because San Francisco at night is cold as fuck. So yeah, well, yeah. Now, of course, this is being filmed in LA. Which also, depending on which part of LA you're in,

you know, could also, and it can, can, if you're down, you know, in the, any more coastal regions, it can get pretty chilly at night, but not everybody's layered up though. You see that there is fire, fire pits everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. And people are squatting a little bit like sick. Yeah. Yeah. She's going to access the roof. What he got on her.

That's what I thought. Yep. So you see tarps in the background like there's, there's Yeah. You know, and this is all very obviously a back lot set, you know, I've seen these same building fronts when people are in New York, I've seen these same building fronts, it feels like I've seen the same ones in Twilight Zone, which I very well might of because this is paramount.

You probably could have this paramount, yeah. At least now we look like we belong here. Yeah. Well, you know, there's something to be said for social camouflage. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Just throwing that out there. Oh, man. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

What? They're introducing a youngster who's in, you know, dire straits illness and, you know, my kid is a toddler. I might not be emotionally prepared for what's gonna happen to this kid. Oh, he's, he's, he's, it's really the focus here is on Bill Smittrovich.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Who was the dad in life goes on, by the way? Yeah, he was. I was trying to place where I'd seen him before. Yeah. So, but she can't help being a doctor and doing good doctor-y stuff. Yeah, so, well, you know, but here can't help being a doctor and doing good doctorate stuff. Yeah, so, well, you know, but here's the thing.

So, is he a star fleet member? First or is he a doctor first? Because, okay, we can't interfere in the timeline, but has a doctor he's taking the hypocritical oath. Right. Well, you know, and Cisco gives him some leeway. Oh, so this is the guy that got beat up the night before, by the way. Oh, okay. Yeah. But Cisco gives him some leeway. Oh, so this is a guy that got beat up the night before by the way. Oh, okay. Yeah. But Cisco gives him some leeway because Cisco, he kind of danced the line quite a bit. Anytime they had an episode where they went to

the alternate universe, which by the way they had like four or five of them. Um, he had no problem interfering. So. Oh, yeah. You know, yeah. No, you know Yeah, no Cisco I'm gonna solidly put Cisco in the category of neutral good. Yes here. Yeah Because he I don't I mean it's later it's later in the series. It's it's you know app I'm yeah, but he he winds up. I mean, it's later in the series, it's, you know, app, I'm, yeah, but he, he winds up, I mean, we know spoiler alert for those of you unfamiliar with the series after, you know, 25 years. There's, there's, I remember one of the most pointed moments in the whole series is him recording a very long capsule log entry. Hang on, hang on.

And then he's talking about unionizing. Oh, yeah, just organizing. Yeah, I thought you wanted to get out of here. Only way. Oh, there we go. So of course, you know, he's going to die because he's talking about organizing. Like you can't, you can't let a leftist live and have it be a tragedy. Yeah. So, or he ends up being the one who gives them the plan to set everything up.

Like it's one of the two. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, extra long log entry. Oh yeah, no, he winds up. It's after a whole bunch of skull duggery and chicanery has been committed, you know, for the greater good of the federation and, you know, civilization. Oh, yes.

Anyone that you're racing the whole entry because everything he just admitted to is like eight kinds of illegal. Yes. And massively and and on top of that massively unethical. They had to cancel their... The hotrotski. We're gonna put the stuff in there. No more luck than the goal is. The goal is the Europe is falling.

Yeah. At least we don't have to worry about that kind of thing. Oh, so so uh... And optimistic. Okay. And seeing these people all dressed up. Yes. I have to say, I was complaining about lazy costume before, but I think I see something

at work here. There's a very art deco aspect to all of their, all the upper crust stuff that they're wearing and the feathers in her hair, by the way, that's a gorgeous hairstyle she's got on. I just, I like, I cannot get over that. And the materials and the cut, like a collar on her jacket is like as a Dickensphere fan, that is, like there is a very distinct kind of historical era involved in this. And so I think I see where those old hats are coming

from is the everything old is new again retro idea in action here that we're looking, they're queuing us up to understand the mention of the net by the way. Oh right, right. Her hair is reminiscent of Gibson girl. Okay. Now while you're talking about costuming, I want to break in for just a second, because the rich people there, first off, there was pretty good racial representation in the rich too. But also the things that they were talking about, they even said, wait, they still have that? Like, they've completely

ignored this 20 square block area that they don't have to see because they live so far which gets back to what you were talking about in terms of What do you call it? In terms of the Dickensian kind of aspect to it Yeah Yep now is where the clock thickens Yeah, also you, Picard, like, danced all over the place for Q and talked to him and argued with him. Cisco punched the shit out of the first time he met him.

Cisco does not give a fuck. He will punch you. Yeah, no, Cisco. Cisco. He's like Picard's punch-up. He's like Picard's morality plus Kirk's willingness to fight Yeah, he's well, he's he's Picard's sense of righteousness plus plus Kirk's willing us to to mix it up is is what it is. Yeah Now this gentleman who helped get them into that building before, he's about to get stabbed. And it's a problem.

Yeah. And notice no medical care. Yep. And his body is just kind of left there and then the police show up. Yep. And this is going to be the, you know, sinking in the gut moment where they actually get a look at his ID. Right. And I mean, you know, anybody who saw the beginning,

beginning of the episode and saw Cisco's, you know, info dump earlier knows what they're about to realize because I mean, there's narrative, there's no way. The man who just got killed. That man was Gabriel Bell. Now this will actually kind of shake up the sea storyline. You know, if I'd got him in new hospital, yeah. Now what's interesting is that Bell died in the riots anyway, right?

So in some ways, you kind of have, I'm not gonna say lazy riding, but I'm gonna say riding that is limited in scope and imagination in that the black guy who preaches non-violence gets killed. Yeah. So I love that they're like, okay, we're gonna dress like what we think people might

that, man. Well, yeah, it's like wizards dressing up to try to go amongst the muggles. Yeah. Yeah, that's the same kind of thing. And I do appreciate things are going to fall apart now. Not getting your response from Starfleet. Oh, shit. Come on, line with. Oh. there are no Federation satellites in orbital habitats. Oh, oh, you

topia planicia. I love how they call it utopia, but it's like let's just be pointed here. Our further vicinity of Elf and Centauri. And it's Romulans because they have expanded. Yeah. Might have somehow altered the timeline. And so now it's really important to get things the right way. Oh, okay. Why aren't we affected?

But maybe. Oh, for God's sake. But maybe. Oh, for God's sake, what is everybody have to use the phrase singularity for? I mean, like, come on. I saluted it from the changes in the timeline. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One thing is for certain, right down to this ship is all that's left to start. That's pretty heavy duty. So nobody nobody was like shocked or stunned or or you know like horrified when Cisco and and Daxon Bashir had been you know Jackson Bashir had been, you know, disintegrated with no known destination

where they were put back together. But now, oh God, we're all fucking horrified because there's no star fleet. Well, no, they figured out that they had been shot back in time and they were trying to solve that problem, but now it's become that much more urgent. Well, yeah, but before they figured out they'd been shot back in time,

like when we went to the first commercial break, all that they knew was, well, they didn't show up anywhere that we can tell. And yeah, anyway, it just bugs me. That's it. Now you see, get everybody at a rally with their families and their kids. Again, you've got people protesting.

Yeah. Kind of funny because I think after this, this couple of episodes, he ends up, oh, look at that big ass cell phone and where he hangs it up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, they're trying to rally. Yeah. It's the whole point of the sanctuary.

So you give people in trouble food in a place to stay. Yeah. That's a pointed question. Thank you, Dex. Thank you for pointing that out. Day after tomorrow. Try to be there until everyone else, you know.

500 people want to talk to you. You see a big old fire? Oh no. There's a big old a whole fire. Now, see, it's a cocktail being thrown. And they're beating up the cops and this is when the riots start. And I mean, again, what had happened just two years earlier? You know, I mean, how does this not look a little bit like the Reginald Denny attack? It does look like the Reginald Denny attack. And then you have, you know, and this is the thing that bothers me a bit about

Pretty much any show in the 90s that does tackle Social justice stuff is that You always like they they handle racism, but they handle it in such a way where like they they handle racism but they handle it in such a way where the black people are at once the saviors and the ones who are themselves also racist and they had to learn about themselves. Like it's really catering to white fragility a lot. Oh yeah. So now you've got the tension between the guy who's prone to violence and everyone else. So, okay, let's get this guy's name and tread remember from high school history, whether this guy died in the riots or not. Right.

And if he did, let's push history along a little bit yeah because I already don't like kid rock here that's it that's who he reminds me of oh god I'm fucking wrong no you're not wrong he's he's like a less racist kid rock. Oh, and then you claimed his name. Yeah, well, because somebody has to. Yeah, now that is to be completely new policy. Yeah. So to be continued, which means the next episode will be the final episode of this. So we finally developed it. We finally got it off the ground. And usually that's what happens is you end up

padding the first episode of a two-parter a bit. And then you make sure that it cliffhands on the major drama. And then the whole second episode is the pain of that. Yeah, so. Yeah, you set it up and then the second act is where you get to the payoff. Yes.

So what do you think so far? Again, Cisco is just the boss. Like, everybody always wants to talk about, Cisco is just the boss like yes, no Of you know, everybody always wants to talk about well, you know pickard or Kirk or you know who and and I'm like well, okay Cisco um, and and I'm a big pickard fanboy Patrick Stewart is like goals for me. But Cisco is the... He's attainable. Yeah, he's the one that is like, okay, no look. If I was actually put into that kind of leadership position,

I would not be able to be as staunch in my eternal rectitude as Picard. And I don't want to wind up being the absolute id of everybody on my crew like Kirk. So Cisco is, no, no, here's the deal i i i have i have a moral compass that is that is immensely powerful and and i know what is right and i know what is wrong and i also know what needs to get done in order for the right thing to happen right and you know and and again, you know, solidly neutral, good. Like, you know, I believe, you know, he is a guy who is obviously part of the system. He is a starfleet, you know, officer for God's sake.

But you know, so he believes in the institution he believes in the system But he also looks at and goes okay, no look. I'm gonna do what's what's the right thing to do whether whether that's The rules or not you know And yeah, so he's he's yeah and and avery Brooks portraying him Just like there's there's too, almost too much charisma going on there. And then, I did not like Bashir, like I actively disliked Bashir

for at least the first two seasons of the show, just because he was such a twit. Yeah, like, oh my God, aren't we, aren't you supposed to be existing in a society where privilege like yours doesn't fucking exist? Like, doesn't your entire attitude disprove the success of Starfleet, like,

or the Federation, I should say, like, come on. And then to find out that, you know, or the Federation, I should say, like, like, come on. And then to find out that, you know, he's a, you know, genetically engineered, you know, spoiler alert. Um, you know, it was just like, well, but of course he is, because he's just so smart and so pretty, like, how can he not be right. And and seeing him here. I think this is this is one of those steps toward understanding that no, no, I need to give this character a shot. Mm-hmm. Uh-hmm.

His humanity really starts to develop because he's not just a fuck boy. Yeah. It's really what it is. He's been the first season trying to be a fuck boy. And the second season, he was just a twit. And then you're like, no, he's actually got depth. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And yeah, I think, I think what, what you said about the 1990s lens of trying to be progressive in the limits of what that meant in terms of portrayal of characters of color and especially African-American black characters, that there were these really limited set of tropes that they were allowed to operate in because majority culture was still not ready for them to have like full agency.

Right. Full, I don't know if agency is the right word for that. But they had to fit into the kind of magical minority stereotype, or they had to be, they couldn't be balanced flawed. Right. And as much as this is very obviously making a point, I'm not even going to say trying to make a point, it's making a point, you know, it's still mired in that culture. Yeah, I would agree.

So, cool. Yeah, I just, I think that's that's that's an observation that's that's a well worth kind of kind of hitting again and and in a way How to put this the the subject matter of the episode kind of makes me Sat well does maybe it's kind of depressing that like I'm like this going, you know, somebody could be writing this about, you know, five years from now, and I'd still be like, yeah, okay, that's near future. Sadly, I can see. And it's still, you know, way to way to relevant. And that's depressing, but at the same time, I can look at the way it's written. And I can see that we've gotten to a place where our narrative is better in that way, or it can be better, it's not always better, but it can be better than that in that way.

Yeah. You know, we have started to get to a place where the stories we tell give room for non-white characters to be people Mm-hmm And in a way that they kind of weren't allowed to be in 95 Yeah, I think and that's hopeful. Yeah, I I'm going to push back a little bit on that because you go the other way too.

In Star Trek universe, like his ethnicity is really never touched, which is fine, but at same time, you're erasing things. And Cisco brings it up when they all start to go into the holodeck and start to do like this heist film kind of episode and he's like, I'm not going to do it. And his girlfriend at the time, she's like, why not? He says, because we weren't treated like equals back then. This is some bullshit. Like, this is a fantasy. This is not real history. And then, you know, and, know, and then they kind of make amends about it. But like, he brings it up his blackness. And also his blackness is brought up

in the episode where he goes back in time. I think he gets some sort of fever and he dreams that he's a sci-fi writer, which is just, it was a phenomenal episode. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, I know that when you're talking about it. Yeah. Everybody does. Yeah. But like, yeah. So that tackles his blackness too. But like, I think if you end up too far in the future, you end up erasing people's cultures.

And if you stick to the old tropes of their stuff. So it's a hard line to dance. I do think so. And I think that... I think DS9 actually did a pretty good job of it. I think Voyager took steps backwards because they kind of fetishized Chicoetay. They completely desexed

Ensign Harry for a little while while and then they over-sexed him. Oh, yeah. Oh, they, well, no, they screwed Harry got screwed over. Like, six ways to Sunday. It's just like never promoted. Of all of the, yeah, yeah. Of all of the, of all the boy's of the, of of of of of you know the writers of Star Trek hair. Yeah, Harry is just yeah, the poor son of a bitch. Yeah.

You know, and you're your point is well made. And I think I think Cisco gets the opportunity to do Cisco does get the opportunity over the course of the series to do that. And I think it's important that he did. I think it was groundbreaking that he did. But I'm kind of talking in broad time. I'm not so much just talking about DS9 here. I'm talking about in broad terms, talking about the narratives that there were at this time. You know, in other shows, in other places, we didn't get to see that. And we do see that in different places over the course of the series. But this series was one of the ones that actually started saying, you know what, this is

going to be a part of this character's personal history. This is part of this character's family history, and we need to be honest with it, and we need to be true with it. And we have Avery Brooks, who I'm just going to continually stand the whole time we're talking about this, because he's an amazing actor, and he don't think he gets enough credit for it. And it's like, we have this guy who, like, we can give him this stuff to work with, and he will do

Amazing compelling shit with it. So let's do it and consciously so too He absolutely chooses those those choices like if you listen to interviews with him He's a little crazy sounding in his interviews, but at the same time like he is dialed in on I am a black man in charge of something on TV. I am a black father. I am going to portray the warmth of fatherhood. I'm going to portray the responsibility. I'm good. Like he was very, very much dialed into the conscientiousness of his role. Yeah. Well, outside of our podcast together, I know you've talked to length about rewatching the series. Yeah. And especially the issues of fatherhood with Cisco and Jake being a thing. And for the time in which it was made, that was groundbreaking. And I think again, Avery Brooks and the writers and the production team for this series deserve a lot of credit for kind of breaking ground with that. Because every

place else but here, and in this episode, we're kind of seeing it that we have this, you know, nodding to white fragility kind of over and over and over again and that was just that was landscape. And since then partly because of what the writers did with Cisco and what later series and later shows have done have been able to do. We are now in a place where if this kind of writing showed up in a show today, mainstream TV critics would criticize it for, well, we have these tropes of the black savior and the stand-the-other, these people are being trooperized. It would be a criticism.

And so, I think the fact that we've got new place where that is something that would be criticized is a reason to be hopeful. I can see that. Yeah. Like an odd, an odd indicator, but yeah. Yeah, but, but you know, people, people who wouldn't have been aware of it, then are aware of it now. Yep. And, you know, and it's a thing. So, yeah. Yeah, just great TV pull around.

Yeah. Awesome. I agree. So we're going to watch the next episode next week. And so, you know, keep everybody. That's the fun thing about binging now too, is I don't have to wait weeks between Stuff which the downside is that I yeah, I don't grow with the care after weeks

But the upside is that I can notice patterns a lot quicker so oh Yeah, yeah for for for Nernary like what we're doing. Yeah. Yeah, being able to binge a whole series in you know five days is Amazing. Yeah, you know a downside to binging is of course, you know having you're gonna work the following morning Very true. It's just one more episode. It's just one more episode right at one o'clock in the morning. I'm almost done with the series. Okay. Yeah one more episode, one o'clock in the morning. Okay. I'm almost done with the series. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. But you can start to see narrative structures. You can start to see like recurring characters, recurring themes a lot easier when you're bingeing. But the downside is you're not growing as a person as these characters are growing. And I do think that there's something lost in that.

So, hey, any, what's that? No, I just said, I can see that. That makes that an extent. I, that's valid argument. Yeah. Any books you wanna recommend? Any shows you wanna recommend besides Deep Space Nine? I'm, you know, if we're going to talk about shows with it with an overall

narrative arc, we did a couple of episodes about it. I'm going to, I'm going to say I'm going to highly recommend folks go back and look at the reboot of Battlestar Galactic up because as much as the episodes of DS9 that we're talking that we're talking about, that we're watching right now are sadly relevant to our current political situation. The issues that come up in several different storylines over the course of Battlestar Galactica about military involvement in law enforcement and you know the role of government versus the military how powerful should the government be you know all of those issues religious fundamentalism I mean it's so much stuff that that series touched on so so brilliantly and again talking about a great set of actors.

You know, really getting their teeth into some really good writing. I really recommend everybody go back and take a look at BSG also. That's that's really worth doing. I like that. So how about you any reading recommendations, any other series? Yeah, actually, I'm going to say, uh, and you can also find this on Amazon. So when you're done other series. Yeah, actually, I'm gonna say, and you can also find this on Amazon. So when you're done watching this with us, there's something that came out in,

I wanna say 2018, 2019, I forget which, it's called What We Left Behind. And it's essentially the entire cast of Deep Space 9 gets back together and talks about what they did 20 years ago. And you get the writers, they even like storyboard out a new episode, like a new season, it's kind of fun, and it starts with Garrick singing, and then it goes to all the Ferangue. I think the Feranghi sing to end it. I mean, it's just hilarious, but they don't dress anybody up

and make up or anything like that. But they touch on all kinds of stuff with it. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. Okay. Yeah. So I would say, yeah, check that out. And if you...

No, I'm going to leave it there. Check that one out. That's worth checking out. So, okay. Yeah. So, where can we find you on the social medias? Okay, on the various strands of social media, you can find me on Twitter at EH Blalock.

You can also find me on TikTok at EH Blalock. I actually recorded a TikTok earlier today for the second time. And on Instagram, I am at MrBlake, BLAYLOCK, and of course, if you want to tell us we're wrong about anything or preferably tell us how right we are about something. You can find us collectively on Twitter at Geek History Time and where can they find you, sir? If you're looking for me, you can find me at the harmony, that's the harmony on the Twitter and the Instagram 2Hs in the middle. You can

also find me every Tuesday night at twitch.tv forward slash capital puns at 8.30pm Pacific Standard Time and I will be slinging puns with the best pun slingers in all of... well from from here all the way to England so far. And so, yeah, it's a good tub of fun. I invite you to dive into it. But again, if you want to yell at me for my inability to understand certain things that came out in the episode, I'monounced a name or something like that. Yeah, hit me up at Harmony on the Twitter. So, uh, for, uh, history of time, I am Damien Harmony. And I'm Ed Blalock and until next time, make it so.