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Unforgivable Trek errors by writers..

Within the last few years Marina Sirtis did an interview with the Mission Log podcast where they bring up "The Child" and that it's a troubling rape trope, and I was fascinated by how she doesn't seem to view the episode that way at all. She cites other times Deanna was violated -- "Violations", "Nemesis" -- but doesn't seem to include "The Child" in that category.
I suppose violation is in the eye of the beholder. And, I think that Sirtis handles it well. I think the rest of the episode handles it very, very poorly.
 
Full stop: This whole arc ended the wrong way! They should have kept Seska on board. Like Suder, just longterm. At first just having a snarky villain in a prison cell. But then having to work together with her from time to time. Kinda' like Dr. Smith on "Lost in Space". That would have been awesome!

That being said - neither this, nor the "alien male pregnancy" is stuff that I think is "unforgivable". Just a waste of potential.
Just keep her in the brig all season long, so every few episodes a character can go down there for some friendly manipulation? This sounds very familiar. Where have I seen this before?
 
The ENTIRE run of Star Trek: Voyager
^^^

(Hey, that's just my personal opinion, but I'm just being honest. ;))
 
That being said - neither this, nor the "alien male pregnancy" is stuff that I think is "unforgivable". Just a waste of potential.
If by "unforgivable" you mean "morally repugnant," then no, neither of these would qualify. But the criteria set by the OP was:
bad decisions made by the writers that still leave a bitter taste in your mouth for years to come
The resolution to the "Seska's baby" plotline essentially broke my faith in the writers' willingness to play fair with the audience. So to me it was unforgivable.
 
And, as an example of something that I was initially fine with but began to bug me over time, I'm not nuts about the implication in TNG's "Relics" that Scotty constantly padded his repair estimates just so he could look good to the Captain. On TOS, he genuinely was that good.

Except that Scotty basically copped to this (at least for his reputation's sake), in The Search for Spock:
James T. Kirk: Scotty, progress report?
Montgomery Scott: Almost done, sir! You'll be fully automated by the time we dock.
James T. Kirk: Your timing is excellent, Mr. Scott. You've fixed the barn door after the horse has come home. How much refit time before we can take her out again?
Montgomery Scott: Eight weeks, sir -- [Kirk opens his mouth] -- but ye don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for ye in two.
James T. Kirk: Mr. Scott. Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?
Montgomery Scott: Certainly, sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?
James T. Kirk: [over the intercom] Your reputation is secure, Scotty.
 
Destroying Romulus - No more Romulus. I know it was done as a major plot point for the 2009 movie, but if the Kelvin franchise has been cancelled prematurely, it seem like it was all done for nothing anyway. Did it really have a huge impact on anything?

The direction they took with Kirk and his crew after the 2009 movie. Shouldn't have made them senior officers on the Enterprise like that. It cut the franchise lifespan in half and hurt character and story development.

Voyager--too much Borg and a little too much Q. Burned the fans out on it.
 
Destroying Romulus - No more Romulus. I know it was done as a major plot point for the 2009 movie, but if the Kelvin franchise has been cancelled prematurely, it seem like it was all done for nothing anyway. Did it really have a huge impact on anything?
The Picard show will tell.
 
Destroying Romulus - No more Romulus. I know it was done as a major plot point for the 2009 movie, but if the Kelvin franchise has been cancelled prematurely, it seem like it was all done for nothing anyway. Did it really have a huge impact on anything?
It's a major plot point in the forthcoming Star Trek: Picard. Note all the Romulans in the trailer.
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What about cloaking in the mirror universe, and later saying they don’t have that tech.

Shocking, especially since it was on the same series. What the hell were they thinking? In my head I've explained it away as it's not as good as the real universes, when they said "we don't have cloaks" they meant that specific type. It's a stretch but it works for me.
 
Not only that but it wasn't any writer's decision for Terry Farrell to leave the show.

At DST she said she just wanted fewer hours but they just let her go instead of accommodating that. Two sides to every story as they say though.
 
The High Ground (TNG):
DATA: I have been reviewing the history of armed rebellion and it appears that terrorism is an effective way to promote political change.
PICARD: Yes, it can be, but I have never subscribed to the theory that political power flows from the barrel of a gun.
DATA: Yet there are numerous examples where it was successful. The independence of the Mexican State from Spain, the Irish Unification of 2024

Tone-deaf Americans once again trying to wade in to the Ireland issue. Extremely offensive on the part of the writers at a time when people in the UK and Ireland were regularly being murdered in IRA bombings.

This episode was banned in both the UK and Ireland for 15 years as a result. It wasn't shown on any of our TV stations until 2006/2007.
 
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