What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[Space Socialist]

If I could go back in time and change ENT's setup, I would replace Montgomery with a much older actor with more gravitas and make Mayweather the captain. Bakula could pilot the ship if he wanted or be replaced with someone else if not.

Well, if he was a Captain, he wouldn’t be Travis Mayweather, would he? I thought the whole concept was that he was a young Ensign who ho ironically had more space experience than his superiors, but as with a lot of ENT, the writers never used the good ideas they had properly (or had nearly-good ideas which they didn’t revise enough to be good).

 

[gweeps]

Faith of the Heart is the 2nd best opening theme, behind The Original Series.

Speaking of opening themes, I think they could have trimmed DS9's a bit. I know they sped it up later on, but that just made it sound rushed.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Well, if he was a Captain, he wouldn’t be Travis Mayweather, would he? I thought the whole concept was that he was a young Ensign who ho ironically had more space experience than his superiors, but as with a lot of ENT, the writers never used the good ideas they had properly (or had nearly-good ideas which they didn’t revise enough to be good).

I mean, honestly, I'm not saying this out of an idea that Mayweather was a great character as presented. I honestly think he barely had any real focus and was also played by one of the worst actors in the franchise.

But the idea of him as a boomer had huge potential. It was just stupid to waste him as a greenhorn pilot supporting character instead of letting that awesome background become genuinely central to the series, especially when the alternative was the utterly generic take on Archer as the son of the famous fleet celebrity who somehow gets to be in charge because he helped test the engine like that's some kind of qualification to be a captain.

 

[Tallguy]

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Omicron Ceti III colonists not “accomplishing” anything, so long as they didn’t want to. What Starfleet should have done is given everyone freed from the spores full information on the situation, then slowed anyone who wanted to to be re-spored and returned to the planet, with buoys set up in orbit warning approaching ships of the effects that both Berthold rays and the spores would have. In fact, since there are 24th-century-shows’ references to people being born there or the system serving as a resort, I expect that something of this sort is what happened.

I thought there was a line that the spores didn't work anymore.

Also, there was a problem because the colonists DID want to accomplish expand-y colonial things and the spores took that away.

Are there any do nothing layabouts in Star Trek who are considered favorably? (Even the in tune, mellowed out kind?) It's kind of a "go getter" kind of show.

 

[FredH]

There’s that art colony with the mud baths, I guess.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I appreciate that they honored the fans by skipping all the necessary exposition, or wasting precious time getting the uninitiated up to speed.

...Not bringing potential new fans up to speed with some simple exposition is "honoring" the existing fans? WTH?

 

[1001001]

There’s that art colony with the mud baths, I guess.

 

[Frightscape One]

"Well, that's a conversation stopper if I ever heard one."

 

[cowboydiplomacy]

Encounter at Farpoint isn't the worst pilot. I wouldn't say it's good per say, it's certainly rough, but it's fun enough to work. TNG season 1 in general isn't *that* bad. I think they struggled to find a way to make it distinct from TOS but it isn't impossible to watch or anything. On a similar note, the Final Frontier isn't that bad, it's quite fun. Ezri is quite likeable, I don't find her to be a cheap replacement or anything of the sort to Jadzia; they're different, and I like that quite a lot. Spock's Brain is far from being the worst episode of TOS, at least it's silly enough to be notable and laugh at.

 

[Zombie Cheerleader]

I like that Archer wasn't as discerning a captain right out of the gate.

Mayweather was inexcusably boring.

Who?

 

[GhoulEddie74]

Guy at the helm in Galaxy Quest. And not Guy. The other...guy.

 

[Zombie Cheerleader]

Guy at the helm in Galaxy Quest. And not Guy. The other...guy.

Walsh?

 

[Paul755]

I mean, honestly, I'm not saying this out of an idea that Mayweather was a great character as presented. I honestly think he barely had any real focus and was also played by one of the worst actors in the franchise.

But the idea of him as a boomer had huge potential. It was just stupid to waste him as a greenhorn pilot supporting character instead of letting that awesome background become genuinely central to the series, especially when the alternative was the utterly generic take on Archer as the son of the famous fleet celebrity who somehow gets to be in charge because he helped test the engine like that's some kind of qualification to be a captain.

I would have liked to see Travis be an older character. Maybe he was the Captain of a cargo ship that was lost so he enlisted in Starfleet. Then he expected to get Enterprise but it went to Archer and he was made first officer. Replace that Human/Vulcan tension with older vs younger tension.

 

[GhoulEddie74]

Walsh?

No, you must be thinking of Frey. Or Henley.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Omicron Ceti III colonists not “accomplishing” anything, so long as they didn’t want to.

They were colonists to accomplish something, but were turned into people without a purpose by the spores. They were just collecting dust at that point.

 

[Crewman Commander]

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Omicron Ceti III colonists not “accomplishing” anything, so long as they didn’t want to. What Starfleet should have done is given everyone freed from the spores full information on the situation, then slowed anyone who wanted to to be re-spored and returned to the planet, with buoys set up in orbit warning approaching ships of the effects that both Berthold rays and the spores would have. In fact, since there are 24th-century-shows’ references to people being born there or the system serving as a resort, I expect that something of this sort is what happened.

The point was that they'd set out to accomplish something. The one complaining about not having accomplishing anything was the head colonist.

 

[Tallguy]

Encounter at Farpoint isn't the worst pilot.

It's worse than The Emissary. It's worse than Caretaker. It might be better than Broken Bow. I don't remember.

I'd have a hard time comparing it to The Vulcan Hello. Same with Lost and Found (Prodigy is such a slow burn.) It's worse than Second Contact. It's definitely worse than Strange New Worlds.

It's not even in the same league as The Cage, Where No Man Has Gone Before, or The Corbomite Maneuver. It's better than The Man Trap.

So it might be the worst pilot. But that doesn't make it bad.

 

[GhoulEddie74]

"Broken Bow" is definitely better than "Encounter at Farpoint."

 

[Tallguy]

"Broken Bow" is definitely better than "Encounter at Farpoint."

I have a feeling I'll be watching Enterprise in the next few years. I don't think I've seen BB since 2001.

 

[Vger23]

I like Encounter at Farpoint a lot, actually. I think the Berman-era writers got much better at writing and executing pilots as they went along, so it’s only “worse” in that it went first in the new era, and therefore didn’t have the benefit of learning lessons from others.

Here’s my take on the “Pilots” in Star Trek (and this has NOTHING to do with my feelings on the series themselves):

Emissary
Where No Man Has Gone Before
The Cage
Caretaker
Encounter at Farpoint
Strange New Worlds
Broken Bow
Vulcan Hello/Binary Stars
Lost and Found
Second Contact

I can’t really rank PIC’s “pilot” because it was basically a continuous 3-part first act. I guess if I had to rank “Remembrance” as a single episode, it would be somewhere below “SNW” and above “Lost and Found.” But, that entire 3-part act was really quite good.