Deep Space Nine

Some things hold up over time.  Some don’t.  I remember watching an episode of Laugh-In, about 10 years or so ago, and being astounded at how bad it was.  It was hard to believe that back in 1970, that had us absolutely rolling on the floor and crying with laughter.  With the 20/20 vision of hindsight, it was downright cringeworthy.  On the other hand, people still Love Lucy, and probably always will.
I am currently rewatching Deep Space Nine, binge watching I guess is what they’re calling it, two or three episodes at a time, more days of the week than not.  It holds up pretty well.  Of course, our perspectives change according to who we are at any given point in time, and a couple of the characters I like better this time around (O’Brien, Odo), and the whole thing seems a bit less profound than it did the first time around, but I’m enjoying it just as much.
Here’s the thing about starship programs, and it’s the kind of thing that if you roll with it it’s all good, but if you’re looking for something more, it can be frustrating:  although they throw in a lot of sciencey sounding words, they tend to examine social and ethical dilemmas of OUR time, rather than exploring the ethical dilemmas we are likely to have in the future.
The episode with the Skreeaa wanting to settle on Bajor was all about refugees, because yes, this has been a big issue for that long.  Keiko and the school on the space station had to deal with the whole church v. state issue when the Kai wanted to shut her down for not teaching the Bajoran prophets.  Quark’s, of course, is the perfect locale to talk about all sorts of vice and petty crime.
I was just watching one where O’Brien was a replicant O’Brien, though, and he couldn’t figure out why everybody else was acting weird, and that was cool.  I already know how I feel about things currently happening on Earth.  I want to know how to deal with being usurped by a replicant.  That’s what will prepare us for the future.