What's the worst canon decision in the history of Trek?

[C.E. Evans]

But Lower Decks is a cartoon. With a live show, it's a different kettle of fish.

Not at all, because it's not about whether the show is animated or filmed, but how well it connects with what came before. So far, Lower Decks hasn't shown any attempts to change how things were in Trek's past.

There really was no way a show made in 2017 was going to replicate the 1960s look exactly.

That's not actually true, because replicating looks from any era is what art directors have been doing since TV was invented, with many winning awards for how well they did it. That doesn't mean that the special effects, graphics, and photography from TOS can't be updated as was done in the already mentioned DS9 and ENT episodes that revisited the era.

 

[Swedish Borg]

Not at all, because it's not about whether the show is animated or filmed, but how well it connects with what came before. So far, Lower Decks hasn't shown any attempts to change how things were in Trek's past.

That's not actually true, because replicating looks from any era is what art directors have been doing since TV was invented, with many winning awards for how well they did it. That doesn't mean that the special effects, graphics, and photography from TOS can't be updated as was done in the already mentioned DS9 and ENT episodes that revisited the era.

Don't tell me that you like what they've done in TATV.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Don't tell me that you like what they've done in TATV.

More so in "In A Mirror Darkly."

 

[Swedish Borg]

More so in "In A Mirror Darkly."

Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that, this two-parter is pretty good actually.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

Will this competition end when someone brings up a canon decision so poor the bar is jammed and can’t be lowered any further? What’s the arc here?

 

[Swedish Borg]

Will this competition end when someone brings up a canon decision so poor the bar is jammed and can’t be lowered any further? What’s the arc here?

It's not a competition, it's each giving his/her point of view on the question.

One fan's poor canon decision is another fan's genius innovation.

 

[Orphalesion]

(I'm gonna forgive all the problematic stuff from TOS because it was the sixties and they never planned for ST to grow into a mega-franchise that spans multiple decades)
But in 80s/90s Trek:

The Klingon Augment Virus
It really creates a very silly explanation to a "problem" that never needed any other explanation than "We updated the makeup, due to a higher budget"

 

[Oddish]

(I'm gonna forgive all the problematic stuff from TOS because it was the sixties and they never planned for ST to grow into a mega-franchise that spans multiple decades)
But in 80s/90s Trek:

The Klingon Augment Virus
It really creates a very silly explanation to a "problem" that never needed any other explanation than "We updated the makeup, due to a higher budget"

I actually liked that, just the way I liked the premise of "Star Trek" (the Kelvin timeline). It creates a unified Trek canon, for better or for worse.

 

[Orphalesion]

I actually liked that, just the way I liked the premise of "Star Trek" (the Kelvin timeline). It creates a unified Trek canon, for better or for worse.

It really wasn't needed for that, at all, there already was a unified Trek canon, as much as there can be.
The only thing they should have done, imho, is that they should have dressed the Klingons in ENT more like the TOS Klingons (so the uniforms and hairstyles and such)
Then again I would have preferred ENT to be not Feature Klingons at all.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Personally, I disagree with the notion that "We updated the makeup" constitutes an in-universe explanation.

On the other hand, I liked the non-canon explanation provided by a number of novelists, that Klingons are not all the same species (and I hope we see something similar to canonically explain why all Trill Humanoids we've seen since the debut of DS9 look entirely different from the two we saw prior to DS9). After all, we've seen a wide variety of crests adorning the heads of HemQuch Klingons over the years.

Getting back to Klingons, I dislike the way they were portrayed in at least the early episodes of DSC.

 

[Orphalesion]

Personally, I disagree with the notion that "We updated the makeup" constitutes an in-universe explanation.

To me there is no in-universe explanation needed in a case like this. They updated the makeup and in-universe they were "always" looking like the 90s version.

I never liked the "Klingons are different species" stuff from the novels (then again, I don't like the Novelverse in general) and it has already been contradicted in canon, even without the Augment Virus: two Klingons who showed up in TOS, show up in DS9, as 90s-style Klingons.

 

[Sci]

I never liked the "Klingons are different species" stuff from the novels (then again, I don't like the Novelverse in general) and it has already been contradicted in canon, even without the Augment Virus: two Klingons who showed up in TOS, show up in DS9, as 90s-style Klingons.

To be clear, the novels that established Klingons as encompassing multiple species were ones published in the early-to-mid 1980s. Many of these novels had a shared continuity largely built around the old Space Flight Chronology reference book and Diane Duane's Rihannsu novels and John M. Ford's The Final Reflection. When TNG contradicted much of the backstory of that 1980s novel continuity (which has no name), the novels mostly stopped referencing that continuity and were consistent with TNG and its spinoffs. Those novels were therefore published before DS9 even premiered on TV, and long before DS9's "Blood Oath" featured Kor, Koloth, and Kang in TNG-style makeup.

The term novelverse is often used to refer to the continuity shared by many of the novels starting from about 1999-2000, with the 2000 publication of the first post-series finale DS9 novels often being considered its start and the 1999 standalone novel A Stitch in Time by Andrew J. Robinson being "grandfathered" in. After the post-finale DS9 novels established themselves, new TNG, VOY, DS9, and ENT novels were all published that took place after their respective shows ended (and regularly crossing over with one-another and with original novel series like Corps of Engineers and Titan).

In this continuity, which again has no formal name, Klingons are not multiple species -- they are one species, and the reason for their difference of forehead is consistent with ENT Season 4. The only innovation they introduced is giving Klingon language names for TOS-style smooth-headed Klingons and TNG-style bumpy forehead Klingons: QuchHa' (TOS style) and HemQuch (TNG style).

The 1999-2020 era novelverse is basically being retired, since PIC has contradicted and thereby nullified many of its events. The upcoming Coda trilogy is the "grand finale" of that particular shared continuity, and going forward future Trek novels will, as always, remain consistent with canon.

 

[Eckauskas]

Getting back to Klingons, I dislike the way they were portrayed in at least the early episodes of DSC.

I know this point has been made over and over again, but they really screwed the Klingons in DSC. Turned them from space Vikings into a race hell bent on all out war. Meh.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I know this point has been made over and over again, but they really screwed the Klingons in DSC. Turned them from space Vikings into a race hell bent on all out war. Meh.

In TOS, the Klingons were a species hellbent on war. In their very first appearance in "Errand of Mercy," all-out war with the Federation was what they wanted.

Also, Kor, Koloth, Krass, Krell, and the unnamed Klingon commander in "Elaan of Troyius" were all quite dishonorable. Kang arguably was dishonorable too, at least to a point, before Kirk got through to him and he made the only practical choice, to stand down.

TOS Klingons were quite different than the TNG "Space Vikings."

 

[Orphalesion]

The TOS Klingons were different in behaviour from the 90s Klingons and they are different from the DISC Klingons, which....well we're seeing their culture at different points in their history and culture can shift rather quickly, dramatically when faced with considerable stress. And if we believe the Klingon Lady from Day of the Dove, then the Klingon Empire was under the stress of procuring more resources from early on, so I see not that much of a problem with them shifting the way they worked and policies frequently. For all we know several Ruling Councils came and went in the timeframe depicted in the various shows.

 

[Oddish]

Given how widely human races and cultures vary, it's far from unreasonable that Klingons enjoy similar variety: tan or brown or black skin, long hair or short hair or none, Viking or warrior or thug, et cetera.

 

[Yanks]

Making Spock scream "Khaaaaaaan!" in Into Darkness. The mirrored Wrath of Khan death scene was fine. Khan blood was fine. The scream was pure fucking cringe, I facepalmed in the cinema and it's what EVERYONE remembers. It was so bad.

Agree. It's sad that everyone just focus's on the scream. Pine's acting in that whole scene was outstanding.

 

[Orphalesion]

Given how widely human races and cultures vary, it's far from unreasonable that Klingons enjoy similar variety: tan or brown or black skin, long hair or short hair or none, Viking or warrior or thug, et cetera.

Still I say in the 90s Trek continuity, they are all crested.

Also, I'm pretty sure one of the Klingon episodes of DS9 showed a 90sTrek Klingon with short hair, as well as a blond Klingon and a female Klingon with dark red hair.

It would have been nice if we had seen more variety like that (and maybe more exotic variety, why not have some Klingons with greenish-brown skin or green hair or such?). One of the good things about Picard is that they show some variety to the Romulans.
Similar things can be said about the large variety of skin colours seen in DISC Klingons, though I still say the latex masks make them look dopey/goofy.

 

[Swedish Borg]

The Klingons are different in each movie where they appear. But the best look of the Shatner movies is the one in TUC. In later movies, it's STID that gets the prize IMO.

 

[Yanks]

I don't think Warp 5 was the top limit in TOS.

It was Warp 7.