It's precisely that it avoids "TNG-ness" that makes it a better movie.
There was virtually nothing about the TNG television format that translated well to the big screen.
Unpopular Trek opinions game
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It's precisely that it avoids "TNG-ness" that makes it a better movie.
There was virtually nothing about the TNG television format that translated well to the big screen.
I agree. They should have done a better job.
I agree. They should have done a better job.
Well, I think it was just a very difficult task, and it didn't help that Paramount likely had their fingers way too deep in the pie. They likely demanded certain things (as is well-documented with Generations), like that these be action-oriented blockbuster style movies, and that's not at all what TNG was or did well. TOS could pull it off. TNG wasn't designed that way. So, rather than letting it be what it is, they put way too many conditions on the scripts to contain certain elements that, frankly, just didn't work.
Insurrection in particular feels like it is crammed with useless set pieces and juvenile humor just because some studio executive thought it would sell more tickets. The result was a horrible film that was really no one person's fault.
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As a vehicle for Patrick Stewart to display his acting ability, it served that purpose. But it was a lame Star Trek episode.
My unpopulars.
Q should only have been seen once, in the first TNG episode, no further appearances.
The Borg should have been retired after The Best of Both Worlds, no further appearances.
DS9 should have been the only time we saw or heard of Section 31, no further appearances.
Wesley should have been at the Riker/Troi wedding, but as a Traveler.
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Agreed!
In fact, I'll go a step further: Wesley Crusher was an important role that a certain audience could more easily relate to, and TNG would not have been as successful or entertaining without him.
Aside from your first one, I'm not sure I'd disagree with any of this. The exception would be Q, who I think fit nicely into "...All Good Things" as a bookend for the series, and perhaps "Q Who" as the instigator of the Borg encounter.
Unpopular (very unpopular):
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is overrated, and has far more plot holes, contrivances, and general sloppiness than most of the other films.
I don't strongly disagree with any of that.
I love Star Trek VI...and yet, I still don't disagree with you.
That said, (new unpopular) I think I prefer all of the TOS films over any of the TNG or Kelvin films. Even ST5. (Ouch!)
unlike most trek fans, i openly despise q.
less the super powers i've known far too many people like him. the additude, the undeserved superiority. i understand that farpoint was thin and they had to insert an entire second story to flesh out the two hours, but nothing would have made me smile bigger than if q had never been created.
biggest thing i had with six was the motivation for the "evil" admirals. oh well they're racists. that's it? the writers could not come up with anything more complex? the admirals maybe knew something, the fed prez wouldn't listen, the fed prez was in on "it."
oh no, they're just racists.
There is nothing wrong with Turnabout Intruder. It is the most unintentionally funniest episode ever with great acting. It should be held as a classic episode.
Tasha Yar as Enterprise security officer, thumbs up. She was a decent, competent character.
Tasha Yar as Enterprise security officer, thumbs up. She was a decent, competent character.
You dodged a bullet bigtime. Battlefield Earth is bad... like really bad. I read the book, too, and I hated it so much that I burned it in a trashcan. I felt uncomfortable doing that because one of my co-workers at the time really loved the book and I respected him as a person so I lied about my feelings regarding it when he asked me.As I understand it, he only worked for three days and mostly agreed to it because a free trip to Rome (where the movie was filmed) appealed to him.
As for BATTLEFIELD EARTH, I've never seen it . . . although I once came dangerously close to editing a prequel to it. The book was on the schedule, the contracts had been drawn up, an author was lined up . . . then the deal fell through at the last minute.
Dodged a bullet there!
I loved the book, and the Mission Earth series, too - say what you will about him otherwise, but L. Ron Hubbard was a very talented writer. And just so you know, I hated the movie, too - because it disrespected the source material so badly. NOBODY liked the movie "Battlefield Earth" except maybe the people who allegedly
ran off with most of the 73 million dollar budget the Church of Scientology gave them to make the film and turned out that cheap hunk of steaming crap. The fact that they allegedly deprived the Co$ of money they could have used to do other nasty things with is the best thing about the film. Well, that, and Forest Whitaker turned in a frankly AMAZING, even heartfelt and touching, performance given the awful, awful, AWFUL material he was working with. But he's freaking Forest Whitaker, so, duh. Agree with that, she could have been nicely developed further if only Denise had wanted to stay - I think a more "mature" Season 6 officer Yar could have been very interesting.
I like Threshold more than many very mediocre formulaic "yet another space anomaly" or "yet another alien presence (in a crewmate or on the ship)" episodes. Yes, it's a ridiculous premise. Yes, it's horrible in science concepts and even internal consistency. Yes, it evokes this feeling of "what the hell were they smoking when they produced this". But at the least, it's entertaining, more so than many episodes you can pencil draw after having seen the first 10 minutes. And - in spite of the nonsense story, I see some genuine character development of Paris as a character in this ep - understanding that other's peoples opinion of him are not that important after all.
Option 1: ...as long as *the Captain* likes him enough to have salamander babies with him.
Option 2: ...because he can be the focus of the worst episode of Trek ever (up to that point) and people will still like him.
Honestly, I'll give Threshold points for being way more memorable than any number of blander, safer, by-the-numbers type episode. I still remember my jaw dropping at the salamander babies part--and I mean that in a good way! The whole episode is ridiculous, but that's not always a bad thing. (I like TNG's "Genesis" for much the same reasons.)
Unpopular opinion: Benedict Cumberbatch was fine as Khan--and no less authentically Indian than Ricardo Montalban.
Unpopular opinion: Benedict Cumberbatch was fine as Khan--and no less authentically Indian than Ricardo Montalban.
Agreed, I don't care about the ethnic make-up of an actor as long as he's a good actor which BC definitely is. I'd rather have him interpret the role than someone who'd look more than RM but would be talentless.
Unpopular opinion: Avery Brooks had a few annoying tics that marred his interpretation of Ben Sisko.
Unpopular opinion: Avery Brooks had a few annoying tics that marred his interpretation of Ben Sisko.
Agree. And with that out of the way...
I've got another one! I can't believe I forgot about this! This is a good one. Are your ready for it? Here it is: I don't hate "Fair Haven" or "Spirit Folk".
There is nothing wrong with Turnabout Intruder. It is the most unintentionally funniest episode ever with great acting. It should be held as a classic episode.
Tasha Yar as Enterprise security officer, thumbs up. She was a decent, competent character.
I agree that Turnabout Intruder is unintentional comedy gold. And I liked Tasha.
My unpopular opinion is that she should have stayed dead the first time. Space is dangerous, and everyone doesn't - or shouldn't - get a heroic death.
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