Rom Ds9 - Blog Posts

Something I picked up on while rewatching “Little Green Men” S4:E7

When the humans go to greet the Ferengi and we see that their UT’s aren’t working and they all do the head bangy thing Rom and Nog only do it to one side of their head with one hand while Quark uses both hands and hits both sides of his head/both his ears

And when we turn and see the humans copying them all the men copy Rom and Nog and only use one hand, but the lady copy’s Quark and uses both her hands, and only later when Quark switches to use just one hand does she follow and they all use one hand.

Again later in the episode the nurse and her fiancée have a conversation about the three of them possibly being family. They correctly identify Rom and Nog as being father and son but then she points out that Quark could be the mother to which he immediately agrees, switches pronouns, and calls Quark out saying, “If she is the mother, she’s quite a shrew.”

Idk if I had a genuine point to all this aside from a shout out to this legend of a couple and specifically nurse Garland for recognizing the pure feminine energy radiating off of Quark at all times.

Side note: Love that she absolutely clocks Quark's “My hero” moment towards Odo with that look on her face, meanwhile her fiancé is just freaking out trying to wrap his mind around whatever the hell Odo is in the background

Rom has an honest-to-goodness stutter. He stammers and sometimes has trouble expressing himself.

Before Deep Space 9, I had never seen that on any screen without it being a joke. Or a couple times as a character that appeared for less than 2 minutes.

HOWEVER, on DS9, not only does Rom have a decent-sized part, but:

- he's portrayed as a loving and supportive father, son, brother, and husband

- he LEADS his co-workers in forming a union

- he leaves a toxic workplace for an equally menial but safer job, and does it with dignity, and then earns promotions

- he invents new technology, and comes up with it almost as a side thought while planning his wedding, showing the genius that he's usually not recognized for

- and ultimately, he's chosen as the next ruler of an entire planet

I still don't see anything equivalent to that now, in the 2020s. And DS9 was made thirty years ago.

If movie and television producers are so keen on reviving things from the past for the sake of nostalgia, how about looking at Star Trek for ideas on not only increasing diversity and inclusion, but normalizing and celebrating them?