What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[PCz911]

Beverly not so much. At all. Other than having sex with a candle ghost. That was cool.

YMMV

There were multiple problems with dr crushers character.
Not terribly interesting, bland , boring would be some…
It’s further compounded by the fact that gates is not a good actor.

Now there were several reasons, as I understand it, that Pulaski was written. They wanted to add a bit of tension into the group. The writing may have been clumsy, but I applaud the attempt. Diana is an amazing actor,but was given a poorly written character.

so, between the two I am obviously in camp Pulaski. It would have been better, in the long term drama wise, to have a character who was a bit edgy.

full disclosure: I’m but an old age pensioner now,but during TNG I was working for a major corporation and was in the advertising dept and decided where to place our annual $800million ad spend. So I was fortunate enough that paramount catered to me…. and had lunch with gates (who was less than charismatic) and at another time with Diana (who is the nicest person on the planet). So this biases my opinion somewhat.

 

[Orphalesion]

I just want to be clear that when I spit vitriol against Pulaski it has nothing to do with the person who portrayed her but everything with how the Gorgon Queen was written (similarly monickers such as Gorgon Queen and Queen of the Space Harpies only apply to Pulaski's character and have nothing to do with her appearance. Really with a more flattering hairstyle she would have been beautiful).
Though hearing that Diana Muldaur is supposedly a nice person in real life (and I had the same impression from that one interview of hers I have seen) fits nicely with my observation that, aside from her horrible, horrible prejudice and mistreatment of Data, Pulaski doesn't come across as "grouchy" or all that combative to me. I mean watch her episodes she appears to react to most things with a slightly amused smile. In contrast the other thing I take umbrage with when it comes to Pulaski is that she came across as too "sober", as I say she strikes me as the type who each time she got married she already pencilled "divorce by this date" into her calender.

I still think that on the show Gates McFadden comes across as charming enough with what little material she is given, and some very few scenes, like her interaction with Data in the episode I mention show that she could have done a lot more with better material.

I have expressed it in the past, but it might beat repeating here; I would have liked to see a version of Voyager where Diana Muldaur was cast as Janeway.

 

[plynch]

I am in Camp Pulaski. Gates never struck me as a bad actor. Just a bland character. Like Geordi. And Riker. And Deanna. Nice people who are usually nice. Not without little quirks, I admit. Chocolate! Trombone! But with Pulaski -- she was right, wasn't she? Data can't feel. They make kind of a big deal about that with the emotion chip later.

 

[Macintosh]

Chocolate! Trombone!

I really wondered where this was going for a moment...

 

[Macintosh]

I really want to love Lower Decks, but I find it's failing to recapture the heights of the second half of its first season for me. It's becoming... almost boring.

 

[Lord Garth]

Pulaski fit in well next to Worf and Picard. Not so much anyone else. Read into that what you will.

Diane Muldaur was also great in "Return to Tomorrow" (TOS) as Dr. Mulhall.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

And even Adam Soong was kind of a wasted character. The first Soong that, well, sucked.

Not even close to the first.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

StarFleet needs a dedicated IT Security Staff for every StarFleet Ship/Base/Facility.

Given how many times that Software Vulnerabilities has caused massive damage to StarFleet Ships/Vessels, I think it's paramount that there needs to be active Computer System maintainers and dedicated Software Teams to patch vulnerabilities.

- Geordi La Forge's VISOR being compromised and leaking critical sensitive data via Video Feed to the Duras Sisters which causes the loss of the USS Enterprise-D.

Spoiler: Star Trek: Prodigy Spoilers

- Vau N'Kat Living/Active Weapon Construct that hacks StarFleet Ships/Facilities via a software vulnerability.

Spoiler: Star Trek: Picard Spoilers

- Turn-Coat/Double-Agent Vulcan/Romulan StarFleet Head of Security was able to trigger the "Synth Rebellion" that causes unprecedented damage. What kind of lax Software security or vulnerability was implemented that let her take control of the entire "Synth/Droid" labor force?

- The countless times that Data has been hacked/compromised.

- The countless times that "The Doctor" has been hacked/compromised.

 

[Gul Sengosts]

True, although I think the problem is bigger than that, namely that hardly anyone in the Trekverse seems to take security seriously. Often they can't even be bothered to place guards, as if they wanted their prisoners to escape. And even if there is a guard or two, they're typically total fools who are overwhelmed in a second. Or they place two male guards to prevent the pheromone-bursting Orion women from escaping. Great plan.

Then (aside from a tiny few exceptions) there are never security cameras, as if that technology was unknown in the 24th century. Unknown and potentially dangerous aliens are free to wander around the ship unsupervised. Someone murdered the ship's doctor and was free to walk around the ship afterwards anyway (not to mention it took a while until anyone noticed). And then there's the cavalier attitude to contamination etc.

I also love when they're like "Computer, locate Commander La Forge"--"Commander La Forge is not aboard the Enterprise". Who thought it would be a good idea to make the computer not alert you if a crew member disappears??

One of my favourite examples is when Sela tells Picard, Spock and Riker her evil plan and then goes "ok, gotta leave now, and I'll take my guards with me so you'll be alone in my office. If you want to try something, the computer is over there. Don't worry, there are no cameras or microphones". So that's the infamous Romulan security/surveillance, apparently. Wow.

 

[cooleddie74]

Not even close to the first.

At least Arik posed a menace to the heroes in his particular series. Adam had all the menace of a drunken uncle rambling at Thanksgiving dinner about how immigrants took his job. The whole Q-Adam Soong subplot to kill Rene Picard was just a snoozefest and beneath Q's usual quality of scheming.

And yes, Q may have been dying but he wasn't the Continuum's version of senile so this plot was just dumb.

 

[Orphalesion]

I am in Camp Pulaski. Gates never struck me as a bad actor. Just a bland character. Like Geordi. And Riker. And Deanna. Nice people who are usually nice. Not without little quirks, I admit. Chocolate! Trombone! But with Pulaski -- she was right, wasn't she? Data can't feel. They make kind of a big deal about that with the emotion chip later.

But you can make characters friendly/nice and interesting at the same time. Look at most of the characters in SNW. Most of them are friendly/nice and personable but also interesting, Uhura especially.

And no, Pulaski wasn't right. Data clearly had some capacity to feel, jut did so differently than the average biological humanoid, he states so at Tasha's funeral for example.

And even if he "can't feel" that's no reason to be a racist bitch to him. If I had been Picard I would have disciplined her for calling him an "it".

 

[plynch]

But you can make characters friendly/nice and interesting at the same time.

Why do that?

So many ppl here report being on Team Pulaski, the writers obviously didn't need to make her nice. They had nice. In spades. The contrast worked.

And frankly, I still don't think she wasn't nice! She was talking about an AI that -- as per the whole conceit of his character -- doesn't feel. Hence the BIG deal about an emotion chip years later.

One of the losses in DSC, and they are legion (getting to be almost VOY-scale in lost possibilities) was the not-nice Stamets.

You need a little spice in a show. Also a loss: Saru's fear/wariness -- a new thing other than Reg in TNG: a character who can apparently function well, but has fear operating loudly, and as an asset. Which it is. Hence our still having it in our genome.

So bring on the cranky/un-nice. Y'know, your early Kira, your T'Pol, your early Tom Paris, your Reed. All bland and no cranky makes TNG a dull show.

 

[Farscape One]

Agreed.

Plus, it gives them a starting point for a character to grow and evolve.

 

[Vger23]

Why do that?

So many ppl here report being on Team Pulaski, the writers obviously didn't need to make her nice. They had nice. In spades. The contrast worked.

And frankly, I still don't think she wasn't nice! She was talking about an AI that -- as per the whole conceit of his character -- doesn't feel. Hence the BIG deal about an emotion chip years later.

One of the losses in DSC, and they are legion (getting to be almost VOY-scale in lost possibilities) was the not-nice Stamets.

You need a little spice in a show. Also a loss: Saru's fear/wariness -- a new thing other than Reg in TNG: a character who can apparently function well, but has fear operating loudly, and as an asset. Which it is. Hence our still having it in our genome.

So bring on the cranky/un-nice. Y'know, your early Kira, your T'Pol, your early Tom Paris, your Reed. All bland and no cranky makes TNG a dull show.

Agree on a lot of points here, particularly the neutering of Stamets and the development of Saru into the most generic alien ever to grace the main cast of a Star Trek show.

 

[Orphalesion]

Why do that?

So many ppl here report being on Team Pulaski, the writers obviously didn't need to make her nice. They had nice. In spades. The contrast worked.

And frankly, I still don't think she wasn't nice! She was talking about an AI that -- as per the whole conceit of his character -- doesn't feel. Hence the BIG deal about an emotion chip years later.

One of the losses in DSC, and they are legion (getting to be almost VOY-scale in lost possibilities) was the not-nice Stamets.

You need a little spice in a show. Also a loss: Saru's fear/wariness -- a new thing other than Reg in TNG: a character who can apparently function well, but has fear operating loudly, and as an asset. Which it is. Hence our still having it in our genome.

So bring on the cranky/un-nice. Y'know, your early Kira, your T'Pol, your early Tom Paris, your Reed. All bland and no cranky makes TNG a dull show.

I was talking about in general. It seemed to me like you were trying to create a dichotomy between nice and "interesting" characters. Not just with Pulaski. Not just with Star Trek but with fiction in general.

And to that I say a character doesn't have to be an asshole to be "interesting". I will never agree to a statement like that. A character can be both "nice" AND interesting.

And I have said in this and other discussions about Pulaski that if it wasn't for her racism (why should I sugarcoat?) against Data, then she is a remarkable inoffensive character, who, as I quote myself "seems to react to most things with a slighlty amused smile"
They tried to give her the trappings of McCoy, but only in a superficial way. Like for example, she did go to Ten Forward before meeting Picard formally, but she wasn't there because she wanted to get a drink. She was there for Troi's benefit to discuss her pregnancy in a more relaxed environment.

Plus...really, T'Pol as a positive example? ENT was ridiculous with how dickish the characters were to each other.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

True, although I think the problem is bigger than that, namely that hardly anyone in the Trekverse seems to take security seriously. Often they can't even be bothered to place guards, as if they wanted their prisoners to escape. And even if there is a guard or two, they're typically total fools who are overwhelmed in a second. Or they place two male guards to prevent the pheromone-bursting Orion women from escaping. Great plan.

That's a fundamental problem with the people who write the challenging scenarios that our protagonists are supposed to get out of.

Then (aside from a tiny few exceptions) there are never security cameras, as if that technology was unknown in the 24th century. Unknown and potentially dangerous aliens are free to wander around the ship unsupervised. Someone murdered the ship's doctor and was free to walk around the ship afterwards anyway (not to mention it took a while until anyone noticed). And then there's the cavalier attitude to contamination etc.

Again, the writers don't understand "Basic Security".

I also love when they're like "Computer, locate Commander La Forge"--"Commander La Forge is not aboard the Enterprise". Who thought it would be a good idea to make the computer not alert you if a crew member disappears??

Writers fault

One of my favourite examples is when Sela tells Picard, Spock and Riker her evil plan and then goes "ok, gotta leave now, and I'll take my guards with me so you'll be alone in my office. If you want to try something, the computer is over there. Don't worry, there are no cameras or microphones". So that's the infamous Romulan security/surveillance, apparently. Wow.

Yeah, that was dopey / goofy as hell.

 

[at Quark's]

Yeah, that was dopey / goofy as hell.

They should have gone meta and have Sela say: Realistically I would have put you behind bars, from which you were able to escape using some ingenious method, incapacitating some of my less able cronies heroically, after which you covertly found your way back to my office, evading all surveillance systems and guards. As it is, we've got only 7 minutes left, so no time to show all that. Let's just assume you did. If you'll excuse me, it's time to send our ships on their journey. <leaves>

 

[Anduinel]

Seven's portrayal was good and Stardust City Rag wasn't bad. But yeah I hate that show. Plus...I haven't seen Season 2, and never will, but...what was even the point of Elnor's character? He kinda just existed and looked cool.

I suspect if Chabon had stayed on as show runner, we'd have seen more aspects of Romulan culture through Elnor and Laris. He seemed interested in giving Romulan culture more depth, like what DS9 did for Ferengi or TNG did for Klingons. But he didn't, so both characters kinda wound up as loose ends for S2.

 

[Orphalesion]

I suspect if Chabon had stayed on as show runner, we'd have seen more aspects of Romulan culture through Elnor and Laris. He seemed interested in giving Romulan culture more depth, like what DS9 did for Ferengi or TNG did for Klingons. But he didn't, so both characters kinda wound up as loose ends for S2.

I really, really don't like what Chabon did with PIC, so him staying on board for Season 2 would not have been a positive development (or maybe it would have been irrelevant for me since I was never gonna continue with that series)
It sucks that Elnor kinda got lost in the retool, but still better than keeping Chabon onboard.

 

[Farscape One]

Elnor's character was even more wasted than Mayweather on ENT. And that's saying something.