(he/they) ND GNC mad Trekkie merchmonger; tinkerer, putterer, fixer of broken things; deconverted seminary dropout; antifascist, propagandist for a better world being possible. Opinions mine, not my employer's. Self-employed. www.willburrows.art
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Initially I was gonna have Garak as Dr Furter and Bashir as Rocky, and then I considered Bashir as Dr Furter with Miles as Rocky. But I couldn't figure out what to do with Worf. Then someone suggested Dax as Furter and Worf as Rocky and that was the key. He already had the shorts!
We're gettin there #wip
I'm placing my order with the print shop on Monday 9/8 (coincidentally the 59th anniversary of the premier of Star Trek) if you want to get in on this round. Other shirts are freshly restocked and / or available on backorder as well.
Damn
Like I 'know' why, I just find it very hard to identify with anyone who doesn't ache to see it overthrown.
On an intellectual level I understand it's an extremely common manifestation of the effects of trauma on the human brain But on a much more visceral level why would you ever be a cop for the system that hurt you?
Oh damn! I really thought they did but I looked it up and you are correct.
My imposter syndrome: "you know who else has thumbs? Raccoons."
You're too kind
If you're not familiar with Will's work, please check him out. I featured links to his page on the site this month. IMO he's one of the best, politically-minded pop artists around. Always does amazing work. 🖖🏻
Thank you so much!
I'm placing my order with the print shop on Monday 9/8 (coincidentally the 59th anniversary of the premier of Star Trek) if you want to get in on this round. Other shirts are freshly restocked and / or available on backorder as well.
At the same time that old familiarity is something I value about it that new Trek can't ever give me. But that's about me, not about new Trek.
All that to say, I think there are reasons DS9 has been reevaluated by the fandom that aren't *simply* because it used to be new and different and now it's old and familiar. And there are other reasons forthcoming Trek might genuinely suck.
There was so much I didn't pick up on the first time. Partly just because I was a kid but also if you missed a few episodes there was no easy way to catch up and despite the writers trying to mitigate that with sometimes clunky exposition, it could still affect your ability to follow the plot.
And I've watched it through a few times now. But for the most part I just want to rewatch DS9 again. I loved it when it first aired but always considered TNG my favorite until I rewatched DS9 as an adult.
And another secret Spock sibling. And I hated Lorca. But I got over that stuff and eventually came to like the Klingon redesign (at least the prosthetics if not the armor) What made me try it was Tig joining the cast in S2 My biggest complaint about Discovery now is that there wasn't enough of it
I've tried several times and Enterprise and Abrams Trek are just not for me. So I was skeptical of Discovery and it took me a while to start watching and a while to warm up to it when I did. It bugged me that they were doing a prequel on a ship with more advanced technology than the sequels...
All the nerd fandoms do this; it's not just Trekkies. And individual complaints might be more or less valid but a lot of it stems from the desire to recreate a feeling from childhood that can never really be recovered.
I mean the IP rights to Star Trek were just acquired by people with a demonstrated willingness to appease Trump and a stated desire to increase use of AI for creating "content," so this time around there may be more to it than the typical resistance to change (which, tbh, I also get).
Yeah it's even legal in a lot of states now
New statement: IDSA, APHA and partners call for RFK Jr. to resign: "Our country needs leadership that will promote open, honest dialogue — not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programs that keep us safe." bit.ly/3JOgDya
There's also a German vampire opera that includes a song called "Totale Finsternis" which has the same melody as "Total Eclipse of the Heart" but its own lyrics (not just a translation of the English version)
No but I'm intrigued
Going out on a limb here but "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a banger actually
This is a response I got on Instagram for saying "Trekkies against fascism"
All kidding about this nonsense answer aside: The regime is asserting the power to murder without trial a boat full of people suspected of drug trafficking, who easily could have been intercepted and arrested instead. That is unconscionable and horrifying even assuming everyone aboard was guilty.
So of course I see the similarity in that situation but one thing that stands out to me is that the Japanese government and society were radically restructured after the war in a way that we don't see happen onscreen with the Cardassians.
Yeah, that's a tough line, because the way I understand it, the first "you" refers to the specific Cardassian he's talking to, but the second "you" refers to Cardassians as a whole, and he hasn't fully distinguished between them.
Maybe the analogy would be to an Allied soldier who helped to liberate a concentration camp, and had to grieve some friends in the process.
On this last point, this is my sense too, hunnerd percent. On the previous point, I agree he's not in the same position as a Bajoran, but he's also been traumatized by the Cardassian state.
Yeah, he does have that vibe. I remember making a similar comparison once when I got into a discussion like this before.
Because as a white male-ish USian dissident I fully expect people to be suspicious of me and I understand it's on me to do the work. I don't think trust is something owed to me.
I think we see Miles suspicious of Cardassians but willing to give them a chance and to work with them even when he doesn't trust them. But is it wrong to expect dissidents from a fascist society to earn your trust?
But the Cardassians are a fascist society that practices torture and has a very different concept of justice. TNG Miles is a veteran of the Federation-Cardassian War and has comrades who were tortured by Cardassians. In DS9 he experiences it himself. But there are also Cardassian dissidents.
And the Jem'Hadar, but that's complicated by the fact that the Jem'Hadar literally are genetically engineered to have certain traits.
Racism at least in the Anglophone world is a manifestation of white supremacy. Miles isn't a white- or human- or even Federation- supremacist, I don't think. He has an open attitude toward alien cultures even outside the Federation. But he has a particular issue with the Cardassians.
Like, it's clear that he's prejudiced against them, for reasons that are understandable if not justifiable, and Keiko calls him out on it at least once, but the dynamic is different from how we typically understand racism IRL.
Okay, here's a shit-stirring question: is Miles O'Brien racist wrt his attitude toward Cardassians?
Not even that far. DS9 is next to a wormhole that connects to a quadrant of the galaxy previously not accessed by humans from Earth.
"Frontier medicine," he said
I kinda had the reverse experience wrt Neelix. I was 11 when Voyager premiered and just didn't understand the implications of his relationship with Kes, which was really uncomfortable to watch as an adult. I think I do get what you mean though.
And my sense is that DS9 really caught its stride in the Dominion War story arc, but all that to say, there really are some very interesting storylines possible apart from all that too.
I do kinda remember from the time that the introduction of the Defiant in S3 and Worf in S4 were gimmicks to draw in viewers. If that was indeed necessary to keep DS9 going I'm grateful for it.
I don't disagree The early seasons of DS9 weren't well received and that calcified into a conventional wisdom that they were bad when there's actually some really good stuff in there. We had the politics and relationship stuff alongside occasional aliens of the week coming through the wormhole
But, like, on DS9 the guy in charge is a Black single father and widower and a messianic figure to his first officer and his science officer is a conventionally attractive woman in her later 20s who was until recently a dirty old man and also his mentor, and...
Voyager, for me, suffers from a lack of chemistry among the characters. I do wonder how much this is a reflection of how the cast members got along offscreen.
Also, DS9 is the Trek that still works best for me as an ensemble, followed by TNG. TOS focused on the relationship between Jim, Spock, and Bones - which is a relationship I love, but it's to the detriment of other characters' development.
DS9 took a deep dive into both local Bajoran politics *and* the politics of multiplanetary empires *and also* interrogated the soft-imperialist liberal democracy represented by the Federation.
Previous iterations of Trek did include recurring interactions with other powers but for the most part only got a superficial introduction to the aliens they encountered.
I reject the premise that they weren't exploring, but they were doing it differently. TOS, TNG and also Voyager had an "alien of the week" format that even DS9 played with, primarily early on.
When DS9 was in production Trekkies complained that they weren't out exploring and negatively compared it to a soap opera. But I would argue its connection to a specific place and the complex web of relationships among main and recurring characters are the very reason it's aged as well as it has.
So the cities the administration is targeting for military occupation all have Black mayors, don't they?
"See the way you're acting like you're somebody else gets me frustrated"
Lwaxana Troi to Odo:
Thank you!
Drop an old person you're going to turn into in the future: (This is somewhat aspirational, but) Lwaxana Troi in DS9 "The Forsaken"
Fuckin A
I don't think very highly of the Founding Fathers but sometimes I'm grateful they did what they did.
It sounded just like the one I knew!
"Everybody Hurts" literally the least good song on that album
Automatic for the People is an album with no skips and even in that context "Nightswimming" stands out. It's not only my favorite REM song but probably my favorite specimen of early 90s acoustic rock overall.
This is one of my top favorite songs REM notwithstanding, but what is / why is there a British version? (listening now)
Lotta demand for document shredding among American patriots I guess. Little too on the nose for me though.
It isn't, tho
*9/1/2025 Labor Day noncooperation thread* Making art that allows you to express both your heartfelt passion and your heartfelt defiance, AND lets other folks do the same (and pays some bills?) - friends? THAT'S noncooperation! 10/
This thread is from a month ago but what it says is true!
OTOH if someone sees my work in the wild and says "I know who did that!" I'm always really touched.
But the people who make such a thing - a TV show or a movie or what-have-you, don't own the intellectual property rights to it. The corporate entities who funded it do.
But I will note that, even considering Paramount has historically been more lenient with fan art than other corporations, the people actually involved in making Star Trek, as far as I'm aware, seem to actively appreciate it. Several have ordered things from me!
It means the world to me that Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Chase Masterson carried my work on the picket line. Neither of them has ever purchased from me or has any idea who I am, and I'm more than fine with that. I was building off of their work and it was nice that they seemed to appreciate it.
I don't really feel like they owe me attribution. Partly because I intended to release it out into the world, but also I was using characters I didn't create.
The IG account @roddenberryofficial shared my art (rad!) albeit without attribution (fine actually), but what I'm really touched by is that four or five different people put my @ in the comments.
Mid-70s Susan Sarandon in a brassiere gets flagged as "adult content." SMH but I get it.
Happy Labor Day!
Thank you!
Why do you hate our freedoms
Lotta demand for document shredding among American patriots I guess. Little too on the nose for me though.
Randy Travis, the guy from King of the Hill
I had to go make sure Randy Travis was still alive because my first thought was that this was the worst claw machine meme in recent memory
Crocs really don't look nice but they kind of lean into it and there's a tomato red pair I keep coming back to.
I used to wear chucks a lot and I still have a pair of docs boots but I'm looking for something I can kick on and off hands-free. DM actually has some clogs I'm thinking about but I can't decide if I'm in the market for that atm.
Thank you!
I just want to buy a pair of casual shoes that aren't aggressively ugly but apparently that's not something the market will bear.
Thank you so much!
Shirts from my last round of preorders are currently en route to me and should ship by the end of the week. Coming at the same time are restocks of some of my best sellers, which I've just added to inventory at willburrows.art/shop
Trekkies Against Fascism t-shirts and tank tops are open now for presale! They'll ship in about 4-5 weeks. willburrows.art/shop
Thanks, yeah, I was just realizing I'd forgotten that
I would wear tf out of this.
You talk about perfect and pure as if respect for human rights is some insurmountable hurdle. (Okay, when we're talking about the presidency, maybe it is.) We still have three years to find someone.
Workin on something
BRB on my way to sandwich a filling
It's that time of year again! Bell Riots 2025 stickers are 33%off through September 3 at willburrows.art/shop
Apropos of nothing