What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

It's very subjective. Personally while there is a something of a focus on Sisko, DS9 feels to me to be very much an ensemble show. Assuming that a ensemble show is what you would like to see.

STD does have other players besides Burnham, but (to me) doesn't feel like a ensemble show, too much focus on one character. It's "The Micheal Burnham Show."

TOS had three major players, it was never "The Captain Kirk Show."

Even Voyager during its Janeway-Seven-EMH phase payed attention the other characters. We knew more about them that their names.

Both superior to Masks and The Inner Light.

 

Controversial opinion: I like Masks.

 

I think it's ok, too.

 

Apparently controversial opinion: I love The Inner Light.

 

That's because it's supposed to be The Micahel Burnham Show. Discovery isn't meant to be an ensemble.

 

Threshold was an entertaining episode.

And it was great to see Picard having fun with the Argo buggy.

 

Controversial opinion: Michael Burnham is a direct descendant of the slack-jawed farmer who shot the Klingon in Broken Bow. They've been carrying on a century long feud with "them wrinkly headed sumbitches that done blew up our grain-ry" and shoot on sight.

Not just one of the best episodes of Trek, but one of the best episodes if tv, period.

 

Yet another mind rape episode, with us watching Picard watch a movie and Riker acting like an idiot to boot. Oh yeah, the probe that shuts down completely after one use, quite a way to save the memory of your civilization.

 

Just go with it, man.

 

I love the tonal shift in the show from TNG, it is a far more "realistic" feel to it, with so much of what happens being shades of grey, add to that great writing, strong characters who grow and develop over the series run but are still damaged and flawed, relationships that feel earned (O'Brien going from being annoyed by Bashir to seeing him as his closest friend). The war was an interesting direction to take, but from the likes of "Duet" in S1 the series showed that it could do some great story telling with just two people in a room, but the war does add more external pressures on the characters (it always comes back to them) and again shows what they are made of (Sisko selling his soul to get the Romulans involved, Nog wanting to be a good soldier and then having to deal with his PTSD after losing his leg), as well as showing the glimmers of hope even in the darkest of circumstances. For me, everything just worked on the show. From the first episode I saw I loved Kira, I loved the alien look of the show, I loved the sketchy dealings of Quark and the cat and mouse dynamic he had with Odo, it drew me in and wanted me to see more.

Discovery just doesn't resonate with me, I find the writing weak and the characters unlikable. But IDIC.

 

The two things I like best about TOS:

1) The cast. They had fantastic chemistry from the very start.
2) Almost every episode, even the bad ones, had a cool concept at its core.



Controversial opinion: other than City in the Edge of Forever, I dislike all the episodes where the crew transports back to modern(ish) times. Yes, even Far Beyond the Stars. This also includes visits to duplicate Earths.

 

Look, I'll pm Guy Gardener and see if he can spin a theory about a Ressikan Elon Musk type who was all about playing the flute and gangbanging alien brains if that's what you guys want. Or we can just watch Picard chill out and get his Kenny G on with the fat guy from Office Space. It's up to you.

 

I can't believe I'm going to say this but good idea. If in PM he's anything like he is out here, you'll probably have 50 replies to sort through over the next 24 hours. Lots of material to work with.

 

I prefer the Guy Gardener option. Anything to make the concept interesting.

 

Hrm...

Klingons shouldn't had been in ENT, is that controversial?

At least, they should not had been the pilot. And what a pilot that was. Introduce the TCW, Klingons, the Warp Five project, the Helix. It felt like they were shoving in everything to overcompensate.

The Klingons of ENT have one thing going for them, that their culture is a bit more nuanced. A bit. The lack of uniforms by the forces was odd, though, but I liked that the Klingon society was a BIT less than what it would become; if that was fleshed out more the Klingons might had been enjoyable. Maybe even a little comical, they have this empire but it's stagnating (but not imploding with the thousandth civil war) and they're going more Brazil than 1984. Thats what I sort of expect from a prequel, ya know, these entities would be different than they would be later.

 

On The Inner Light:


I think you guys' criticisms are legitimate, but I still think it's a beautiful episode. Everyone has a different tolerance for how much they are willing to suspend their disbelief. God knows I do my share of nitpicking. I mean, why couldn't Edith Keeler have just gone through the Guardian of Forever instead of getting splattered by the Mack Truck of Destiny?


My fanwank for Inner Light. Feel free to skip:

Ever read Theodore Sturgeon's "A Saucer of Loneliness" ? I like to think the probe is sort of like the message in a bottle in that story. It's a message meant for only one type of person.

Picard had sacrificed a lot for his career; no wife, no kids, estranged from his brother, no close friendships, and hesitant to get into a relationship with a woman.
Maybe he just used his career as an excuse because he doesn't know how or is afraid to let people get too close. I don't know.

So maybe the Ressikan probe is meant for someone like that. Someone who needs friends, needs family. It didn't choose Riker, or Crusher, or any of the hundreds of other people on the ship.

Instead of "mind rape" I like to think of it as a gift. Picard gets a second chance to make up for all the things he missed out on. and I think it changed him. What's the last image of TNG? Picard joining the poker game with the crew and saying that he should have done so a long time ago.

There are so many times I look back on my youth and think "If I'd only known then what I know now" but I'll never get a chance to relive those days. Picard did, in a fashion, and I envy him for it.

Plus he got a sweet antique flute out of the deal.

 

I love “The Omega Glory”, so you shouldn’t be too irked by my opinions of what you like. You do you.

 

So,
IDIC?

 

I don't know. I mean that one guy likes The Omega Glory. Diversity is nice and all, but you gotta draw the line somewhere, right?