Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch?
April 16, 2015 1:04 PM - Subscribe

Is there any interest in a ST:DS9 rewatch? If so, what post frequency might work for everyone?

Over seven seasons, the show clocked in 173 episodes.
posted by zarq (46 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'd do one per week.
posted by chaiminda at 1:07 PM on April 16, 2015


Based on the amount of times I've re-watched DS9 (I'm at the mid point of my second for this year), I'm happy to fit in with the consensus.

One big sticking point: are spoilers allowed?
posted by Solomon at 1:09 PM on April 16, 2015


I'd vote yes, but would also fit in with the consensus. Might be worth noting that first watch threads of older shows tend to gather fewer comments, possibly because people are afraid of spoiling plot points for others.
posted by zarq at 1:13 PM on April 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'd watch one or two a week. 173 episodes is a lot. Is there any interest in trying to pick a reasonable subset? I'm not sure I can manage to watch Rumpelstiltskin again. I'm most interested in it for the long story arcs like the Dominion War.

Here's some proposed episodes to skip I found after literally minutes of Googling: Essential episodes, Skippable, Barebones story only, Let's Watch Star Trek. I've never done a rewatch on Fanfare, if I'm totally off base and everyone's committed to the whole thing then I'm on board.
posted by Nelson at 1:20 PM on April 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'd also agree with yes - - - if only because talking about how things become relevant may be the only way I can get through some of the first season, and the second season is also far more interesting in how it sets up later developments/facets-of-the-universe than ... what actually occurs onscreen.
posted by Seeba at 1:21 PM on April 16, 2015


And with that - - maybe 2/3 at a time? I seem to remember the AV Club did that for reviews, and there are certainly some natural pairings once we get to the more serialized bits of the story.
posted by Seeba at 1:22 PM on April 16, 2015


Seeba makes a good point - I think episodes that come as a pair or triad should count as one episode. There's only a few, if I recall correctly, and it would be nice to cover the mini-arc in one unit.

Re spoilers, I have no strong feelings one way or the other, other than my own exuberance.
posted by Solomon at 1:29 PM on April 16, 2015


I'd be interested in yammering about them whether or not I actually sit down and watch any given episode for the nth time, and am happy to thumbs up anything that will encourage more people to actually sit down and watch DS9 for realsies.

One big sticking point: are spoilers allowed?

I could see going either way on this, but my personal feeling is that the show is in general more interesting looked at in context as a whole (and as part of the larger whole of the preceding and following entries in the franchise) than it is as a strict spoiler-averse per-episode narrative.

As much as DS9 took the idea of season- and series-length story arcs more seriously than prior Trek shows, it's still a product of a somewhat earlier age of television, with a great deal of episode-to-episode stasis and relatively little that depends on not knowing what's coming. It's an interesting show for the cast and the characters and the morality plays, more so than for the WHAT A TWIST! moments, and to the extent that the characters develop over the series it'd probably be more interesting conversationally to be able to acknowledge and talk about that on both ends of that development process.
posted by cortex at 2:21 PM on April 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


I've been creating content-heavy posts for the GoT First Watch threads. There's no way I could do the same for a couple of hundred DS9 episodes, but would anyone mind if I did a few posts like that every once in a while? If not, no worries. I know they may not be everyone's cup of tea, so I thought I'd ask first.

Which I guess also leads us to the question of who will post regularly?
posted by zarq at 2:34 PM on April 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


Is there a way to do those posts that just show up as a single line on the main Fanfare page (like how OITNB's full S2 was posted) for certain episodes? There are some episodes that, for instance, are bad but in a way that's interesting to discuss (...mostly ones that involve the Ferengi.) We could pick out one of the curated viewing schedules for "full"/canon posts once a week, and have the in-betweeners posted either as a single multi-ep post each week or as individual threads with whatever formatting magic gets used on full-season episode drops to keep from cluttering Fanfare.

That way we could have...

( •_•)>⌐■-■

...The Best of Both Worlds

(⌐■_■)
posted by kagredon at 3:42 PM on April 16, 2015 [3 favorites]


Is there a way to do those posts that just show up as a single line on the main Fanfare page (like how OITNB's full S2 was posted) for certain episodes?

Not with the current setup under the hood, no, though it's an interesting idea to think about for future stuff.
posted by cortex at 4:05 PM on April 16, 2015


Would prefer to allow spoilers for reasons others have mentioned. zarq, of course we want content-heavy posts!

I feel like I just finished watching DS9 for the first time--but I actually started watching it in 2011 so I really don't remember much about the earlier seasons. I'm excited!
posted by chaiminda at 4:36 PM on April 16, 2015


I'll join in any DS9 but a first watch. I've done once through already.

In a perfect world, I would love it if the posting schedule for the first went really fast, and then slowed down in the second season on.
posted by drezdn at 5:54 PM on April 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'll help out for posts if y'all end up putting together a rotation. I agree with drezdn on the speed... the beginning of the series has some gems, some so-bad-they're-fun, and a decent amount of dreck.
posted by Seeba at 7:43 PM on April 16, 2015


I've been creating content-heavy posts for the GoT First Watch threads

I'd like a few of those, but I'd also be up to make hazy, indistinct limited-description posts like I did for the first season of Fringe.

One way of arranging it would be to create a list of 'highlight' episodes like here, and talk about the filler episodes as bunches in between.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:31 AM on April 17, 2015


Depending on the complexity of the posts, I'd be happy to help. If it's a case of "Kira did this, Sisko did that", then I'd definitely be up for that. I've no experience with this sort of thing though, so bear that in mind.
posted by Solomon at 3:37 AM on April 17, 2015


I can help with basic posts too, if needed.
posted by drezdn at 6:17 AM on April 17, 2015


For those of you without Netflix or the DVD's, there is a "Star Trek Deep Space Nine" channel on Youtube that has full episodes in an inset of the standard video frame. Uploaders usually do that to bypass YouTube's copyright detection system.

They're watchable, although you won't have the full experience. .
posted by zarq at 6:46 AM on April 17, 2015


Beyond the whole Dominion plot, I'm particularly fond of the "terrible things happen to O'Brien" theme that runs through the series. And I can definitely help post episodes, too!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 7:35 AM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]




I'd be interested in this, mostly because it might force me out of the first three seasons. I have watched the whole lot, back when it originally aired. And I have them all on DVD. But I keep doing rewatches that start at season one and taper off around three or four. Mostly because there's too much else to watch, not because I necessarily dislike late DS9.
posted by crossoverman at 11:23 PM on April 19, 2015


I would be a partial first time viewer (I watched regularly for a few seasons, but I missed the seasons everyone thought were so good), and I would be perfectly fine with spoilers. I've wanted to watch the complete run for a while, but the scope is a little intimidating. A weekly posting of an episode or two would give me the impetus I need to get it done, so I'm fairly excited for this.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:30 AM on April 21, 2015


I'm the only one who's expressed interest in watching a subset, so I should probably just let this idea die, but here's a couple of other viewing lists that seem useful. Memory Alpha has a Story Arcs page which calls out the stories that are told in multiple episodes. And this viewing list has useful annotations both to quality and to episodes marked "filler".
posted by Nelson at 10:02 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'd be interested in participating in a rewatch thread with spoilers permitted, and would prefer one or two episodes per week, though I don't mind if Season 1 is a bit compressed. (But Duet should get its own thread, because it's head and shoulders above every other Season 1 episode.)

I'm so excited about this! Mr. creepygirl and I are watching it now and are midway through Season 4 (partial re-watch for me, first watch for him) and I've been pleasantly surprised at how well most of it holds up. But it's hard to have discussions about a 20-year-old show in most online fan forums.
posted by creepygirl at 8:20 PM on April 22, 2015


A suggestion:

2 episodes per week, one on Sunday night, one on Wednesday night. Story arcs are given their own week, first episode Sunday, second Wednesday. Spoilers allowed.

What are people's thoughts on this?
posted by Solomon at 1:44 AM on April 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


That seems like a decent approach to me.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:41 AM on April 23, 2015


I'd be happy to post on Wednesdays. Can someone else do Sundays? Would that be okay with everyone?
posted by zarq at 10:52 AM on April 23, 2015


Works for me.
posted by cortex at 10:53 AM on April 23, 2015


Sounds good.
posted by drezdn at 11:20 AM on April 23, 2015


I can do Sundays, unless someone else wants to? Question - tell me how you feel about this what time should postings go live? The latest I'd be willing to post would be 10PM GMT, but that's going to be a few hours earlier for folk in the US. Is that going to be a problem?
posted by Solomon at 12:18 PM on April 23, 2015


LOL, please don't hold me to a scheduled post time. I'm perpetually, obsessively tweaking my posts, and would never get them done on time.

What about, "Sometime On Wednesday, Eastern Time"? Or Greenwich Mean Time. Whichever works.
posted by zarq at 12:34 PM on April 23, 2015


Sounds fair to me.
posted by Solomon at 1:17 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]




Coming late to this thread, but I have to say, even at two episodes a week, it would take more than a year and a half to finish DS9. I think we'd have a lot more activity in the threads if we did it faster than that. I absolutely agree with Seeba that doing a few episodes at a post would be the best approach (or at least the one I'd favor).

I would love to contribute some posts for this, and I suppose it would depend on the amount of coordination we could muster, but yes, there are some multi-episode runs that can be condensed into a single post, while on the other hand there are definitely some episodes that deserve to be considered individually.

What if we took an approach of, say, two episode posts, twice a week? Even within the existing Fanfare architecture, it would be possible. If you click on a show's name, FanFare conveniently lists all the episodes in chronological order. I'm imagining the posts to go something like this:

1. "Emisarry" - 2 hour episode, so one post
2. "Past Prologue" and "A Man Alone"
3. "Babel" and "Captive Pursuit"
4. ...and so on.

In the FanFare architecture, it would really be listed as S01E01 - "Emissary", then S01E03 - "Past Prologue", then S01E05 - "Babel", but we could make it clear in the post that we're covering two episodes at a time. It wouldn't take more than a sentence or two for each episode in the post, really. If you want to be more detailed, you can, but you wouldn't have to. (I'd love to, though.) The nice thing is that FanFare would still list these episodes all in order.

Taking four episodes a week would put us down to about 10 months, which seems a little better to me. I'd even be fine with two, three-episode posts per week, which would put us down to six or seven months.

And I absolutely think that it should be a rewatch, spoilers allowed and often. Let's talk about foreshadowing and callbacks, that's where the real fun of sequential television is. Look at how much fun Mad Men is having with itself right now. I know DS9 is not nearly on that level, but it definitely pushed Star Trek ahead in that regard.

I would like to reiterate that I would love to make some posts for this, and we should start it soon.
posted by malapropist at 10:25 PM on April 24, 2015


Speaking for myself, I'd prefer to have a separate thread for each episode or story arc. Trying to discuss one episode while trying to discuss another in the same thread sounds like it could get confusing quickly.

I would be up for an increased amount of posts, though.
posted by Solomon at 2:29 AM on April 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


I would participate less if we did more than 2x a week. It would be too many shows for me to try to watch at once. I simply don't have that kind of time.

It's fine if y'all want to do it at a faster frequency. But I don't think it would necessarily make the threads more active. That many shows per week would quickly outpace anyone who isn't binge watching.

And to be perfectly honest, I don't really see why we should be rushing.
posted by zarq at 6:54 AM on April 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I can see that. What does the majority say?
posted by Solomon at 1:14 PM on April 25, 2015


Maybe 2/week to start, with the option to do extra off-schedule posts for longer arcs or to burn off some "inessential" episodes?
posted by kagredon at 2:05 PM on April 25, 2015


The bad news is DS9 does not reach this quality level until Season Four. In fact, for much of Season One, the characters are actively irritating. Some of them (Dax and Bashir in particular) take even longer than that to get cool. And more still (Kira) never quite make it. (Though her ultra-horny bi-sexual Mirror Universe counterpart is badass from the get-go).


Dear lord no one has ever been more wrong on the Internet.

I will watch any number of eps per week. I too see no reason not to take our time.
posted by chaiminda at 7:07 AM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


My personal meter for consumption is definitely gonna cap out a lot closer to 2 a week than 4.
posted by cortex at 7:23 AM on April 26, 2015


So:
  • 2 eps per week
  • Sunday and Wednesday evenings, at some point
  • spoilers allowed
  • Long episodes (eg, Emissary) count as one episode
  • I'm covering Sundays, zarq is covering Wednesdays - will check in at the end of the season to see if anyone else wants to take over
?

Assuming no problems, I'll commence with posting Emissary this evening.
posted by Solomon at 8:48 AM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]


I'm fine with that, Solomon. Thanks!
posted by zarq at 9:23 AM on April 26, 2015


Waiting on the show's title being added to the list of approved shows.
posted by Solomon at 10:55 PM on April 26, 2015


God I love me some DS9. If I'm going to pick individual favorite Trek episodes, the list is heavy with TNG, but I do think DS9 is the best Trek series. Having not seen the original.
posted by rocketman at 2:35 PM on April 28, 2015


In case anyone else was waiting for the memo, Fanfare – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
posted by Nelson at 9:52 AM on May 4, 2015


I think season one went pretty well, eh?
posted by Solomon at 3:06 PM on July 2, 2015


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