Yeah, Lore totally just calls the thing. On the phone, basically. And just plain-old speaks English to it. Best not to think about. Keep your memories of anything in season one NICE and hazy, and everything will be fine.

Dude, "Bajora" is NOT the preferred nomenclature…

Yeah, Riker pretty clearly means that as a shot across her bow. (Heh.) He pre-emptively hates her because she's famously insubordinate, so he's gonna hold to her every little regulation, the way he never would with somebody like Worf.

Well, those ships weren't warp-capable. They could get to Cardassia because of some typical Trekkian "anomaly" that just happened to be in the right place. Analogous to a very fortuitous ocean current, I guess.

Oh, I wouldn't presume to criticize "Darmok's" implausibility; I absolutely agree that would be silly. It works on a mythic level, just like the stories it's referring to.
…and once you've seen it enough times, you CAN sort of follow the "alien" conversations, which is really pretty neat. Though of course they're not…

Oh, Darmok. I'm very excited. Not the BEST episode, certainly, but by far my most beloved. Almost nothing about it makes any sense at all, but neither does the Epic of Gilgamesh. Just saying. The whole "death" scene is just so lump-in-the-throat awesome. The only Trek scene that compares is the Death of Spock, and…

Excellent break-up. "It's not me, it's…who are you again?"

If we're gonna talk about remakes…
…somebody's gotta mention David Gordon Green's Undertow, which essentially IS a remake of this movie, if a very free one.