Star Trek Mirror Universe
Jan. 26th, 2021 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lucymonsterInspired by sirvalkyrie, I decided to watch every mirrorverse-related episode of Star Trek. It's a trope I've loved in fandom for years, so it was a lot of fun to follow it back to its source. It also spurred me to finally get (mostly) caught up with Discovery, which I've been dragging my feet on ever since Ash got written off. I watched in release order.
TOS (Mirror, Mirror; Tholian Web)
You know what, I get it now. I've watched my first episodes ever of TOS and I already ship Kirk/Spock to the exclusion of every other character. They're just wonderful together. I've always figured I'm too Millenial to get properly fannishly invested in a show with such glaring 60s production values, and tbh, that will probably prove true if I get around to watching the whole thing. But even with the cardboard set dressings and the dated gender politics, I was mesmerised by how much chemistry those two had. I loved how prime!Kirk was able to connect with mirror!Spock, and how completely the mirror characters failed at passing as their prime counterparts. I kind of want to go through now and look up the TOS episodes for more of my favourite fic tropes, because this was great.
DS9 (Crossover; Through the Looking Glass; Shattered Mirror; Resurrection; The Emperor's New Cloak)
For some reason, I struggled more with this than with TOS as far as production values go. It was dated enough to break my immersion but not dated enough for the clunkiness to start feeling like a feature instead of a bug. I pushed through it, though, and I'm glad I did, because the role-reversal from Disco and TOS was really interesting. In this part of the timeline, the Terrans are at the bottom of the galactic totem pole instead of the top, and their freedom fighters are a riveting mix of sympathetic and still trope-appropriately brutal. My favourite part was when the captain's mirror wife abducted his son. The father-son tenderness got to me, and I loved how the wife managed to be calculatingly ruthless and full of deep, painful feeling at the same time.
ENT (In a Mirror Darkly Part 1 and 2)
These two episodes had a bit less kooky charm but lots more grit to make up for it. I LOVED that modified opening sequence, oh my god. I was completely hooked on the fake concubine's various schemes and connivances, and I cheered aloud when she landed her final victory at the end. Objectively I know the midriffs and cringy 2000s GirlPower(TM) aren't much different than the 60s miniskirts and secretary jobs, but they feel more familiar and were therefore easier to tune out. This might be the next series I watch in full. It was really good.
Discovery
I only quite recently watched season 1, so I didn't include it in the rewatch. What I did do was watch up to the end of season 3 episode 10, and cried my fucking eyes out about the end of Georgiou's arc. Why do they have to keep writing my favourite characters off? But man, she went out with a bang. That mirrorverse two-parter was absolutely wonderful. I loved how ruthless the reformed Georgiou still was - too soft for a Terran, but still far too hard and cruel for a primeverse human. She doesn't really fit into either world anymore. Captain Killy was an absolute delight, and mirror!Michael ... god, I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was perfect.
What I love most about the whole mirror saga (I mean, other than the aesthetic, which probably goes without saying) is how the Terrans' feelings and vulnerabilities shine through every little chink in their evil armour. It's definitely a mirrorverse rather than just upside-down-world. Even at its most giddily over-the-top, it doesn't take the Terrans anywhere that you can't imagine ordinary humans going given the right (or badly, badly wrong) circumstances.
sirvalkyrie, I decided to watch every mirrorverse-related episode of Star Trek. It's a trope I've loved in fandom for years, so it was a lot of fun to follow it back to its source. It also spurred me to finally get (mostly) caught up with Discovery, which I've been dragging my feet on ever since Ash got written off. I watched in release order.TOS (Mirror, Mirror; Tholian Web)
You know what, I get it now. I've watched my first episodes ever of TOS and I already ship Kirk/Spock to the exclusion of every other character. They're just wonderful together. I've always figured I'm too Millenial to get properly fannishly invested in a show with such glaring 60s production values, and tbh, that will probably prove true if I get around to watching the whole thing. But even with the cardboard set dressings and the dated gender politics, I was mesmerised by how much chemistry those two had. I loved how prime!Kirk was able to connect with mirror!Spock, and how completely the mirror characters failed at passing as their prime counterparts. I kind of want to go through now and look up the TOS episodes for more of my favourite fic tropes, because this was great.
DS9 (Crossover; Through the Looking Glass; Shattered Mirror; Resurrection; The Emperor's New Cloak)
For some reason, I struggled more with this than with TOS as far as production values go. It was dated enough to break my immersion but not dated enough for the clunkiness to start feeling like a feature instead of a bug. I pushed through it, though, and I'm glad I did, because the role-reversal from Disco and TOS was really interesting. In this part of the timeline, the Terrans are at the bottom of the galactic totem pole instead of the top, and their freedom fighters are a riveting mix of sympathetic and still trope-appropriately brutal. My favourite part was when the captain's mirror wife abducted his son. The father-son tenderness got to me, and I loved how the wife managed to be calculatingly ruthless and full of deep, painful feeling at the same time.
ENT (In a Mirror Darkly Part 1 and 2)
These two episodes had a bit less kooky charm but lots more grit to make up for it. I LOVED that modified opening sequence, oh my god. I was completely hooked on the fake concubine's various schemes and connivances, and I cheered aloud when she landed her final victory at the end. Objectively I know the midriffs and cringy 2000s GirlPower(TM) aren't much different than the 60s miniskirts and secretary jobs, but they feel more familiar and were therefore easier to tune out. This might be the next series I watch in full. It was really good.
Discovery
I only quite recently watched season 1, so I didn't include it in the rewatch. What I did do was watch up to the end of season 3 episode 10, and cried my fucking eyes out about the end of Georgiou's arc. Why do they have to keep writing my favourite characters off? But man, she went out with a bang. That mirrorverse two-parter was absolutely wonderful. I loved how ruthless the reformed Georgiou still was - too soft for a Terran, but still far too hard and cruel for a primeverse human. She doesn't really fit into either world anymore. Captain Killy was an absolute delight, and mirror!Michael ... god, I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was perfect.
What I love most about the whole mirror saga (I mean, other than the aesthetic, which probably goes without saying) is how the Terrans' feelings and vulnerabilities shine through every little chink in their evil armour. It's definitely a mirrorverse rather than just upside-down-world. Even at its most giddily over-the-top, it doesn't take the Terrans anywhere that you can't imagine ordinary humans going given the right (or badly, badly wrong) circumstances.
