What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[Shawnster]

The most you can ever have is a consensus of opinion. Most people think that the Beatles were great, but two people at my last job hated them. No matter what you think of a particular piece of art, someone out there has the exact opposite opinion.

Actually, I think your example of the Beatles can illustrate that quality can be objective. A person may dislike Beatles music, but admit that they hit all their notes correctly and where in harmony, as opposed to musicians who were not in harmony and whose instruments were out of tune and they played the wrong chords or notes.

A musician is an artist but that art actually has certain elements that can be measured for quality. Gotta learn how to play the guitar.

 

[tesral]

A musician is an artist but that art actually has certain elements that can be measured for quality. Gotta learn how to play the guitar.

Classically trained Violin here. Don't even get me started.
IN·TO·NA·TION!

FYI Lennon and McCartney are hard reads. We did a couple of Beatles pieces (Orchestral arrangements) including Eleonore Rigby. Complicated melody, harmony, and rhythm.

Dumb de Tweedle the most well played pile of stinking crap I have ever heard.

 

[Lord Garth]

Technically Speed 2 was a quality production from a technical standpoint. It was just a flaming bag of poop from a storyline and premise standpoint which made the movie terrible by extension.

I never even bothered to see Speed 2. Nothing about the original Speed screamed, "I need a sequel!" It looked to me like a one-and-done.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Actually, I think your example of the Beatles can illustrate that quality can be objective. A person may dislike Beatles music, but admit that they hit all their notes correctly and where in harmony, as opposed to musicians who were not in harmony and whose instruments were out of tune and they played the wrong chords or notes.

A musician is an artist but that art actually has certain elements that can be measured for quality. Gotta learn how to play the guitar.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say that some successful pop star cannot sing....

 

[cooleddie74]

I never even bothered to see Speed 2. Nothing about the original Speed screamed, "I need a sequel!" It looked to me like a one-and-done.

It should have been.

 

[tesral]

If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say that some successful pop star cannot sing....

Except he did not. He said that some people may not like it. A subjective observation.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Except he did not. He said that some people may not like it. A subjective observation.

Actually, he said, "Gotta learn how to play the guitar." By extension, you gotta learn your instrument, whatever it is, and that includes the human voice. Whether you can play, or to the point play well, is not only subjective, it's context-specific.

Hewing back to Star Trek and related matter, there's an often-discussed example from TOS: that of Melvin Belli as Gorgan, the friendly angel.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Melvin_Belli

Belli was a famous personality of the 1950s-1970s who worked primarily and by training and qualification in the legal profession. He was not a trained actor.

Many fans find his performance in "And the Children Shall Lead" to be awful. I think he does fine in a thankless role in a horrible episode. Those evaluations are all entirely subjective, regardless of whatever consensus there is regarding them, and regardless of the factual content of the preceding paragraph.

IMO, Belli has substantial screen presence, and you can see that in the documentary Gimme Shelter (1970) in which he commands attention in whatever footage he appears.

 

[Vger23]

Soooo....getting back to "Controversial Trek Opinions...."

I think Ensign Ro is a considerably grating character. I know she was supposed to be that way in some respects, but I find as I dabble in afternoon episodes on BBC America during "work from home" lock-down, I find her just generally irritating and unlikable.

 

[cooleddie74]

"Masks(TNG)" is a damn good episode.

 

[1001001]

"Masks(TNG)" is a damn good episode.

If by “damn good”, you mean “unintentionally hilarious”, I would agree.

 

[cooleddie74]

Now we're throwing Klingon piss on a coolant leak!

 

[Farscape One]

"Masks(TNG)" is a damn good episode.

Completely agreed! One of my favorites of TNG, and I will defend that episode. Always. (And I have already.)

 

[fireproof78]

"Masks(TNG)" is a damn good episode.

I'll stand with you on that one. I found that episode to be an interesting exploration of a culture's mythology.

 

[1001001]

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Now we're throwing Klingon piss on a coolant leak!

Out of both sets of genitals?

 

[cooleddie74]

Don't cross our streams, Peter.

 

[cooleddie74]

Brent Spiner can do profoundly creepy and unsettling when he wants and nobody else in the TNG cast could touch him.

 

[Tribble Threat]

I'll stand with you on that one. I found that episode to be an interesting exploration of a culture's mythology.

It absolutely is! And the notion of a person as a collection of multiple different personas is splendid!

 

[Farscape One]

Exactly! Picard even has an artifact that reflects a society's opinion of that very notion... the Kurlan Neskoss.

 

[Lord Garth]

Controversial Opinion: I'm looking more forward to Discovery Season 4 and Picard Season 2 than the rest of the upcoming line-up.

I think Strange New Worlds will win me over, but Standard/Traditional TOS/TNG/VOY "back to basics" type Star Trek isn't what I really go for these days. Probably because of the (IMO) diminishing returns: TOS>TNG>VOY>Early-ENT. Hopefully SNW breaks the pattern. The 2019 Shorts, which were effectively SNW Shorts, were okay but that's it. "The Trouble With Edward" was a lot of fun... but I think "Q&A" and "Ask Not" -- along with DSC's "New Eden" -- give a better sense of what SNW will really be like.