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DS9: Past Tense

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 2:57 am
by BridgeConsoleMasher
Part I

Part II

Chuck gave Part II a negative rating, but I thought the episode was kinda bad.

As a Frakes episode, I was surprised to learn that it established Frakes as a competent director for First Contact.

Also: Something I was delighted about SF Debris bringing up was Bashir's competency on subject and object pronouns. lol

Re: Past Tense - DS9

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 3:57 am
by Beastro
I remember as a kid avoiding it at a glance.

Having a Trek episode in a slum (add in time travel too, which I disliked more than I was ever aware of at that age, especially in Trek), let alone a two-parter, was not something that would get me psyched to watch.

Re: Past Tense - DS9

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:25 am
by BridgeConsoleMasher
I actually really liked the concept of the encampment. The first episode was fine too because it handled the characters discreetly, but the second episode was just horrible.

Re: Past Tense - DS9

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 5:59 am
by Deledrius
This is one of my favorite episodes of DS9! The pacing isn't perfect in places, but I think it handles the message aspect really well by having a lot of different characters illustrate the issues from many perspectives, while still taking a pretty firm stance on the topic.

Re: Past Tense - DS9

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:17 am
by Yukaphile
Really loved this two-parter. It's shockingly prophetic and a scary glimpse into what could be a very real possible future in our own contemporary world...

Re: Past Tense - DS9

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 1:29 pm
by clearspira
Yukaphile wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:17 am Really loved this two-parter. It's shockingly prophetic and a scary glimpse into what could be a very real possible future in our own contemporary world...
Its not though, lets be honest. People love the ''Escape From New York style closing off a bit of the city to dump people in'' scenario. But realistically it simply would not happen.

Re: Past Tense - DS9

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 3:21 pm
by FaxModem1
First, I'm going to point to my own thread about this episode/review: link
clearspira wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 1:29 pm
Yukaphile wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:17 am Really loved this two-parter. It's shockingly prophetic and a scary glimpse into what could be a very real possible future in our own contemporary world...
Its not though, lets be honest. People love the ''Escape From New York style closing off a bit of the city to dump people in'' scenario. But realistically it simply would not happen.
Thing is, during the filming of the episode, something very similar to this was actually proposed by city legislatures. Because the homeless is not really a problem as long as those who aren't homeless don't have to look at it.

We eventually just settled on Unpleasant Design/Hostile Architecture.

Re: Past Tense - DS9

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:37 pm
by Yukaphile
You really think our government couldn't slowly try to set up Sanctuary Districts? Hell, they were trying to do that very thing at the time of the shooting!

Re: Past Tense - DS9

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 6:12 pm
by clearspira
Key words: they tried.

Tried and failed.

Re: Past Tense - DS9

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 6:53 pm
by FaxModem1
clearspira wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 6:12 pm Key words: they tried.

Tried and failed.
Well, we're already comfortable with putting illegal immigrants, IE, non-citizens in cages. I'm not quite sure how far the line is between that and non-productive citizens, as the US has already criminalized being homeless to some degree. All you really need is for the economy to go bad enough, or the homeless problem bad enough, that local or national legislatures make a dedicated area to put them in, and rather than rehabilitating them through work programs, education, or healthcare, just lock them up. The only thing that's really beyond belief is the fact that they would use up valuable San Francisco real estate, as opposed to a camp 50 miles east in the desert somewhere.