[gplusbfics]

From “Empok Nor” (5x11)

Garak, frustrated by playing kotra with Nog, tries to get Chief O’Brien to play with him. Predictably, it doesn’t work. 

Garak: Kotra is not about regrouping or hoarding assets, it’s about bold strategy and decisive action. Chief, would you like to take on the winner? I’d love to play kotra against the hero of Setlik III. 

O’Brien: And what is that supposed to mean? 

Garak: Oh, we all know your distinguished war record. How you led two dozen men against the Barrica encampment and took out an entire regiment of Cardassians. If you play kotra with half that brazenness, we’d have quite a match. 

O’Brien: I’m not a soldier anymore. I’m an engineer.

Garak: I see. So when you and Dr. Bashir go into the holosuite for hours at time you’re just repairing them? 

O’Brien: What’s your point, Garak?

Garak: I’m just curious. Why do you and Dr. Bashir spend hours in the holosuite dressed as fighter pilots reliving ancient battles?

O’Brien: We do it for fun. It’s a game. 

Garak: And so is kotra. [Places a piece.] And I’d like nothing more than to play against a man like you. 

O’Brien: Maybe some other time. 

---

OK, can we talk about this? First off, Garak is on a shuttlecraft and he’s bored, so of course he’s going to start messing with someone. It’s what he does. He did it to Worf. Now he’s doing it to O’Brien, who he knows doesn’t like him either. Second, he brings up Bashir, whose relationship with O’Brien he’s gotta be jealous of. Third, Garak is loving getting in all these good lines. And last: FORESHADOWING. 

[gplusbfics]

From “Empok Nor” (5x11)

As the shuttle approaches the abandoned station

O’Brien: Take us out of warp. Run a full scan. I’ll take the helm.

Nog: The station’s main power supply and life support systems are off-line. No life-signs. 

O’Brien: I’ll take us into transporter range. 

Garak: Oh, I don’t think we can risk beaming aboard. There are probably pattern scramblers rigged to go off if they detect a non-Cardassian transporter signal. 

O’Brien: That could be messy. We’ll have to dock. Landing pads are sealed. We’ll have to try an upper pylon. 

Nog: Won’t the airlock have booby traps?

Garak: You can count on it. And someone’s going to have to disarm them before we dock. 

Nog: I volunteer, sir.

Garak: The scanner in the airlock might mistake your enthusiasm as Cardassian but not your DNA. No, I’m afraid I’m the only one who has a chance of getting through. 

---

Three things: 

1. “That could be messy.” Nice understatement there, Miles.
   
2. Nog is pretty brave. (But actually his father is too.)
   
3. Garak is respectful toward Nog here and on other occasions, even if later in this episode the drugs make him tie up the Ferengi with space duct tape.
   

Empok Nor - Behind the Scenes

[gplusbfics]

As I post screen grabs & dialog from “Empok Nor,” I’ve been looking things up on Memory Alpha, and doing so, I came across a couple of background tidbits on the episodes which were quite interesting.

Garak and O’Brien

First, this bit on the evolution of the script (broken into paragraphs for easier reading:

Hans Beimler’s first draft of the teleplay for this episode did not feature any of the various exchanges between O'Brien and Garak. There were no mentions of Setlik III, and no sense of rivalry between the two. 

This draft was not popular with either the cast or crew. According to Andrew Robinson, “After I finished the first draft, I thought, ‘Ugh.’ I felt like the writers were intruding on Garak. I never could have done that first script. We were vacuums. There was nothing in my character. It made no sense." 

Similarly unimpressed was Ira Steven Behr; ”I told Hans, 'This doesn’t work. Not even close. There’s no character, no meaning. It’s just a series of events and none of it makes any sense.’“ 

Beimler returned to the script and composed another draft, this time adding much more depth to the relationship between Garak and O'Brien, and also bringing O'Brien’s background as a soldier into play. As Beimler himself acknowledges, ”I thought it was there after I did the first draft, but there was no bottom to the story. The second draft got into the relationship with O'Brien and Garak, and that really gave it some substance and content.“ 

(Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

Proof that feedback, working together, and editing can improve a story!

Psycho Killer

The second thing that caught me was this bit about Andrew Robinson’s reaction to the part:

Although Andrew Robinson was a lot happier with the episode after Hans Beimler’s rewrite, he still wasn’t thrilled with the project; ”It turned out okay, but it made me uneasy to do that character.“ Robinson’s breakout performance had been as the Scorpio killer in the 1971 film Dirty Harry. For some years after that performance, Robinson had fought against being typecast as a psychopathic killer, and he was a little disappointed to see that now, 25 years later, he was presented with a Deep Space Nine script which depicted him as just such a psychopathic killer. 

(Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

Although this thought did occur me, you have to admit, he makes a REALLY GOOD PSYCHOPATHIC KILLER! 

[humanoidhistory]

The astronauts of Apollo 7: Donn Eisele, Wally Schirra, Walter Cunningham. Via @floridamemory​.

(State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

[bbcamerica]

Peter Capaldi to leave Doctor Who

BREAKING NEWS! “It (the new series of #DoctorWho will be my last… I feel it’s time to move on,” says actor Peter Capaldi. Peter confirms he’ll be stepping down in Xmas 2017, but “I’m still Doctor Who! We’re doing epic stuff! I’m not done yet!”

Mr Capaldi shocked fans by making the announcement during a BBC Radio 2 show with presenter Jo Whiley. He said he will leave Doctor Who at the end of the year. “I feel it’s time to move on,” he said.

The 58-year-old Glasgow-born star became the 12th actor to play the Doctor in 2013.

[old-type-40]

This is not a surprise. Given that Capaldi has been a lifelong Whovian and that those in the title role usually step down after a few years, I was expecting he would do the same as those who preceded him. And if you’re sad or dismayed, just remember this is a show about embracing things which are new and different.

I’ve seen plenty of Doctors come and go. And I’ve seen Whovians go through stages of grief, denial, some anger, and acceptance with each change. There will be some who will never accept the change which I suspect is due to something I call step parent syndrome which can be summarized as, “I can’t have who I love so I’m going to throw all sorts of hate at the person who is the replacement.”

[vintagegeekculture]

Even Canadians like to punch Nazis!

[vintagegeekculture]

Frank Kelly Freas.

[elvisomar]

I’m not happy to see Peter Capaldi leave Doctor Who for very many reasons, he is wonderful in the role. But there are at least two good reasons to celebrate him leaving. Number one, and most importantly, he is a brilliant actor and I look forward to seeing what he chooses to do next. Secondly, I think now is the time to have the Doctor regenerate into someone who doesn’t so obviously appear to be a male Anglo-Saxon from the island of Great Britain.

Off the top of my head, I would love for Chris Chibnall to put all of these names on his list of people to match up against his vision of what he wants Doctor Who to try and do during his tenure:

Paterson Joseph, Olivia Colman, Anna Maxwell Martin, Alexander Siddig, Michael Smiley, Amara Karan, Tilda Swinton, Richard Ayoade and Hayley Atwell.

Or, you know, he could have Peter Capaldi come back…

confabcon.com

Programming Submissions for CONfabulation 2017 Now Open! – CONfabulation

[confabcon]

Just a reminder that you can submit your programming now! If you don’t want to moderate a panel, don’t worry! Go ahead and submit your topic anyways; we just want to get a feel for what the con wants to talk about! Submissions close Feb 16, but don’t delay!