Unpopular Trek opinions game

[Mojochi]

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.

Agree. Nothing they did with her character after that original death offered us much beyond giving Crosby a gig anyhow

Unpopular opinion: Benedict Cumberbatch was fine as Khan--and no less authentically Indian than Ricardo Montalban.

He does however contradict a lot with Khan's original series, & movie appearances...which is apparently the more likely gripe. It would be like casting an African woman character with someone who was of Puerto Rican/Dominican descent...….. oh wait....

You want to be really shocked? I don't think either guy who played Scotty were Scottish either!

All this BS about condemning character retyping, or casting outside of whatever gene pool is ridiculous, & ultimately impossible to sensibly apply. Will you never have actors do accents ever again? Just do your best to avoid disrespectful stereotypes, & let actors act whatever parts they can convincingly play

My unpopular opinion? It would be perfectly sensible for an institution like Starfleet to employ abstinence policies on interfering in alien race extinctions (Like Homeward) I'll agree that, it doesn't reconcile all that well with their other sensibilities is all, but I could understand not getting mixed up in saving every planet of primitives that might be blighted from existence, especially in a universe so fully stocked with intelligent races. Space is a cold place. Their charter is exploration, & while that does include seeking out new life & civilizations, there's nothing in there about bestowing fertile futures for them all

To be fair though, if you're going to employ noninterference policies to that extreme, then you should be extreme about it across the board, as in no more secret observation posts, no open commerce with non-Federation worlds, no more 1st contact initiatives, etc... In all of those cases, you do or might impact their society. That's what I mean by their other sensibilities. They play fast and loose with other cultures in lots of ways. So it's kind of silly they'd be hard bent on upholding the extinction thing. However, in and of itself, it's not the appalling issue I see people get bent out of shape over

 

[USS Triumphant]

The whole episode is ridiculous, but that's not always a bad thing. (I like TNG's "Genesis" for much the same reasons.)

Brain and brain, what is brain?

I like MST3K. "Threshold" was perfect for that sort of thing. And it could have even been a decent episode if there had been the slightest hint *in the episode* that anyone involved in the production thought it was absurd. Or if some of the characters had had that same jaw-drop you mentioned. I mean, seriously, how was B'elanna not either permanently disturbed or continuously ribbing Paris about having offspring with the captain from that point forward?

Unpopular opinion: Benedict Cumberbatch was fine as Khan--and no less authentically Indian than Ricardo Montalban.

Agreed...

I'd rather have him interpret the role than someone who'd look more than RM but would be talentless.

...I think the problem was the implication that either no talented Indian actors were available, or that the casting director didn't even bother to look. I mean, India makes up about a sixth of the human population, and they have their own film industry with stars some of whom have more fans than some Hollywood A-list celebrities, but somehow, there wasn't a suitable candidate? Sure.

 

[Tenacity]

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.

Tasha died in the line of duty, attempting to save two shipmate, one whom was a close friend. Pretty heroic.

Nothing they did with her character after that original death offered us much beyond giving Crosby a gig anyhow

Tasha in Yesterday's Enterprise, the best I say.

It would be like casting an African woman character with someone who was of Puerto Rican/Dominican descent ...

And let's throw in some Lebanese to really piss off the racial purity squad.

 

[Discofan]

Brain and brain, what is brain?

I like MST3K. "Threshold" was perfect for that sort of thing. And it could have even been a decent episode if there had been the slightest hint *in the episode* that anyone involved in the production thought it was absurd. Or if some of the characters had had that same jaw-drop you mentioned. I mean, seriously, how was B'elanna not either permanently disturbed or continuously ribbing Paris about having offspring with the captain from that point forward?

Agreed...

...I think the problem was the implication that either no talented Indian actors were available, or that the casting director didn't even bother to look. I mean, India makes up about a sixth of the human population, and they have their own film industry with stars some of whom have more fans than some Hollywood A-list celebrities, but somehow, there wasn't a suitable candidate? Sure.

How many of these stars do you know by name? I for one don't know any. How many of these movies have you seen? I haven't seen one and judging by the extracts that I've seen, I am not particularly eager to change that.

 

[Defiler-Of-Redshirts]

Here's a very unpopular opinion: I liked Robin Curtis as Saavik much better than the whiny Kirstie Alley. Curtis seemed more smoothly, logically, Spock-like Vulcan. Alley's Saavik just seemed too emotional for my taste. Not to mention, Curtis was so much hotter than Alley, she looked like Sigourney Weaver's long-lost sister. Also, Curtis played the Vulcan T'Lara in the TNG episode "Gambit." The Vulcans seem to be the species in which Robin Curtis has her "niche."

 

[FredH]

I like “Masks”, quite a bit. For the most part, it’s a smart anthropological-sf piece, only slightly marred by the magic “put-the-corridors-back-the-way-they-were” effect that I rationalize as alien nanotech.

 

[USS Triumphant]

How many of these stars do you know by name? I for one don't know any. How many of these movies have you seen? I haven't seen one and judging by the extracts that I've seen, I am not particularly eager to change that.

Admittedly, I don't know many of the male actors, but I know a good number of actresses - I guess they just get more of my attention. However, I'd say that you're doing a great disservice to Bollywood if you're judging it entirely by the clips that get shared *because* they're funny or horrible, or entirely by the dance musical stuff (which, to be fair, is a LOT). They have plenty of serious and talented dramatic and comedic actors and actresses, too.

But okay, let's limit it to Indian and Indian-American actors known from the American film industry: Kal Penn would have done an excellent job if available (and the 'Harold and Kumar go to Kronos' memes would have been pretty terrific, as well ). I believe Aasif Mandvi would have been good in the role. Dev Patel. Sendhil Ramamurthy. Naveen Andrews. Rahul Kohli. All due respect to Montalban, but the primary skill needed to play Khan is an ability to chew the hell out of scenery. And I'm all for diversity and not choosing actors strictly based on nationality or ethnicity or what have you, and I love Benedict Cumberbatch in many of his roles, but, he is the OPPOSITE of chewing scenery, tending to play emotionally detached, cerebral characters very well, and *perhaps it would be better not to have had an Indian character played by a prominent actor of the specific nationality that freaking COLONIZED them!*. Even paying homage to Montalban's performance by choosing another Mexican actor would have been better than that.

 

[Nyotarules]

Unpopular opinion- in this age of globalisation/migration where actors come from diverse backgrounds, the next reboot of TNG and Jean Luc Picard should at least have a French speaking actor in the role with a real French accent. La Forge is meant to be Somalian, there are East Africans actors out there, it won't kill a casting director to find one. Ideally I prefer a reboot TOS to have actors that reflect the nationality of the characters as well. Its not impossible to do, there was no non Irish actor playing Irish, Miles Edward O'Brian.
New Star Trek actors do not need to be A list famous, none of their predecessors were.

 

[seigezunt]

Unpopular opinion: "The Wrath of Khan" is plagued with errors and really silly plot points that haven't stood up well over time, and were honestly pretty noticeable when the film came out, and we've all excused it because it was awesome to see Star Trek with action on the big screen, and there were enough positives to balance the problems out.

Agreed, but I still love it. I think ST6 is a better-written movie, better structured, but just lacks the charisma of TWOK.

Unpopular opinion: Star Trek V wasn't that bad. Star Trek TMP was the most unwatchable piece of shit ever committed to film.

Agree, and HARD disagree. I do get that there's a fair amount of "you had to be there at the time" in enjoying TMP, but I maintain it's the only actual motion picture of the bunch.

Agree!

Unpopular opinion: DSC is, so far, better than DS9.

I love both, and trying to decide whether I agree or disagree makes smoke come out my ears.

(new unpopular) I think I prefer all of the TOS films over any of the TNG or Kelvin films. Even ST5. (Ouch!)

Half agree. I will always watch any TOS film over any TNG film, but I find myself watching 2009 or Beyond a lot.

I don't care if Discovery is set in the 'prime' timeline or not.

Agree-ish. I was kind of hoping that they would have kept it vague and never said, and just let people figure it out for themselves. But they've said it, so in my mind, the discussion basically ends there, and we just have to figure it out, much as fans always have done.

Unpopular opinion: Benedict Cumberbatch was fine as Khan--and no less authentically Indian than Ricardo Montalban.

Agree-ish. I think he was fine. It was what people were doing around him with his Khan-ness that bothered me more.

My hot take: DS9 is possibly my favorite of the TNG-era series, but I don't watch it as much as I might because it's a bit dark. I don't mean dark in tone. I mean literally dark. There's always been something about the design of the station and the lighting of the interiors that was a little off for me.

 

[Discofan]

Unpopular Opinion: I hate typecasting, I would have no problem with the next Kirk being played as a short black lesbian as long as the actress is talented ( although that could be the last straw given the amount of scenery chewing by the predecessors).

 

[Armus]

Unpopular opinion: There is much to admire in the third season of TOS. Better music, slicker uniforms, Shatner's best toupe, and a dozen or so good episodes .

 

[Discofan]

Unpopular opinion: There is much to admire in the third season of TOS. Better music, slicker uniforms, Shatner's best toupe, and a dozen or so good episodes .

I particularly like the toupee.

 

[Ovation]

Unpopular opinion:

Ensembles are overrated. I much prefer a core group of two-three characters and secondary/tertiary characters (none of whom “need” a “special episode” about them). This is one (among several) reasons why I prefer TOS Trek above all others. I really don’t have much interest in an “Ensign Bhsdfrwgzl” episode to further explore his background. Backup transporter operator on the night shift doesn’t deserve my attention.

 

[Discofan]

Unpopular opinion:

Ensembles are overrated. I much prefer a core group of two-three characters and secondary/tertiary characters (none of whom “need” a “special episode” about them). This is one (among several) reasons why I prefer TOS Trek above all others. I really don’t have much interest in an “Ensign Bhsdfrwgzl” episode to further explore his background. Backup transporter operator on the night shift doesn’t deserve my attention.

I am not sure it's an unpopular opinion.

 

[Armus]

Unpopular opinion: the first season uniforms on TNG were a cool design and they looked much better on screen than the redesigned season 3 uniforms, especially for the male actors.

William Theiss's design was meant for a form fitting jump suit not a frumpy two piece jacket.

 

[Ovation]

I am not sure it's an unpopular opinion.

I dunno. Seems unpopular with a good many people who complain we don’t get enough screen time with the bridge crew on DSC, for example.

 

[Discofan]

I dunno. Seems unpopular with a good many people who complain we don’t get enough screen time with the bridge crew on DSC, for example.

That doesn't mean these people represent the majority of the viewers.

 

[Discofan]

Unpopular opinion: Kirk's obsession on TMP with having a Vulcan as science officer is disturbing, borderline racist in fact. What if he had said, "I want a black woman as communication officer?"

 

[Nyotarules]

Unpopular opinion: Kirk's obsession on TMP with having a Vulcan as science officer is disturbing, borderline racist in fact. What if he had said, "I want a black woman as communication officer?"

Starfleet practises species segregation already USS Intrepid, its an in universe norm

 

[Armus]

Unpopular opinion: Kirk's obsession on TMP with having a Vulcan as science officer is disturbing, borderline racist in fact. What if he had said, "I want a black woman as communication officer?"

Kirk obviously wanted another Spock, and the audience knew where he was coming from. It wasn't racist because Vulcans weren't a different race of human; they were an alien humanoid species.

I agree Kirk's line wouldn't have sounded right with any other group.

Apropos I could see Picard on a new starship after the Enterprise wanting to have a Betazoid as his counselor again.