"2) Another episode of TNG presumes that you're already familiar with a complicated story element from DS9, depending heavily on it with zero explanation for those not in the know."

Aw, geez. I do try.

Yeah, I have to agree. You could search in vain through vast fields of Star Trek of any series and not find much in the way of "reason," per se. Plenty of characters paying lip service to the notion, but that's just what people do.

'Sblood! Tho' this draught, styled "PBR," shalt in days far hence be deemed the very nectar of city fops, and the right ruin of many a fashionable knave, methinks it a most fitting flood in which to drown my unquenchable choler!

"…and do you think this was at all related to the way she jerked you around about your wedding? Or the experience of having your daughter become a feral teenager?

Mrs. Peel, I'm 40 minutes away from RoboCop Central. We'll make a day of it.

Yes! And he's hilarious. I can never get enough of Sisko's deranged little giggle when something hits him just right.

Nah, Buckaroo; I don't like that one, either. Although it's got Iggy freaking Pop.

He got us one step closer, that's what.

I'm just commenting because….uh…I got nothing.

Cid —
Sigh. You're a piece of work, kid, but I like ya. "Phantasms"/"Altered States" double feature!

Yeah. Tennant is firmly in the twitchy, batshit-crazy-from-the-get-go school of Hamlets. But he's fun to watch. And Stewart, of course, knocks it out of the park.

Oh, man. To be a fly on the wall at a Miles O'Brien therapy session.

A pox on thee! Forbear from looking upon my visage! An thou be a good neighbor to yon harlot, thou shalt in good time feel my rapier!

@ Bad Horse — Indeed. I always thought Sisko's fandom is a nice meta-commentary on that Baseball Nostalgia Fetish. He's obsessed with a game that hasn't been played professionally for three hundred years.

I came up with "Measure of a Man" last time, and that's excellent. I wouldn't have thought of "Who Watches the Watchers," or "The Defector," but those are terrific choices. "Watchers" in particular hits a lot of Big Trek Themes, and has some great Picard.

No, totally; you didn't dream it. He had a moustache in the RSC "Macbeth" he did. Which is BAD-FREAKING-ASS, btw. It's on Netflix instant and it may be elsewhere online for free. I'll watch any Shakespeare with him in it. (He's greet in the recent David Tennant "Hamlet," too.)

I COULD do both. I just choose not to.

And Slasher Data is actually sort of chilling.

Yeah. Of course this is a fanatically beloved episode, so we knew this would be a blockbuster week. But yeah, the regular crowd is getting increasingly dedicated and consistent. It's nakedly obvious that NONE of us got any work done yesterday. I have no regrets!