What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[Citiprime]

I've no idea whether how the writers of SNW will address any of this.

What bothers me is that, given what Goldsman says is their approach to the Gorn and what they’re going for, I don’t think their concern is connecting it and making it work.

Goldsman makes it clear that storytelling trumps canon here, and that he’s going for an “unthinking” monstrous Cthulhu-like adversary.

 

[fireproof78]

What bothers me is that, given what Goldsman says is their approach to the Gorn and what they’re going for, I don’t think their concern is connecting it and making it work.

Goldsman makes it clear that storytelling trumps canon here, and that he’s going for an “unthinking” monstrous Cthulhu-like adversary.

So far it's working. And the Gorn were monsters in Arena. Just they told Kirk he would die quickly rather than slowly.

 

[Oddish]

I thought Zachary Quinto did quite well with poor material. I think Ethan Peck is doing less well with better material. In particular I don't like that he's being used so frequently for comic relief. Spock always had a dignity in TOS and the movies that seems to be missing here.

I tend to see this version of Spock as younger, and still wrestling with his human half.

 

[fireproof78]

Quinto is still my favorite Spock after Nimoy.

 

[Paul755]

Quinto-Spock gets way too much hate.

Peck-Spock gets a bit too much love.

Nimoy-Spock is still the undisputed champ.

 

[Farscape One]

Quinto-Spock gets way too much hate.

Peck-Spock gets a bit too much love.

Nimoy-Spock is still the undisputed champ.

Mostly agree.

Somewhat agree.

Completely agree.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I thought Zachary Quinto did quite well with poor material. I think Ethan Peck is doing less well with better material. In particular I don't like that he's being used so frequently for comic relief. Spock always had a dignity in TOS and the movies that seems to be missing here. I've just never been able to see the DIS/SNW Spock as the same character as Leonard Nimoy. He's the only main character in SNW I haven't warmed to yet.

I think in TOS, Spock was often used as comic relief. The dignity part comes in where usually he rises above it rather than respond to it.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Controversial opinion: SNW main theme (opening and closing credits) is my favourite of all. Only one I don’t skip.

I never skip ANY "Star Trek" Themes, no matter the series.

Ethan Peck is the best Spock.

Ethan Peck is my favorite "Young Spock" portrayal.

 

[Oddish]

I never skip ANY "Star Trek" Themes, no matter the series.

I skip most. I'll do VOY, LD, and SNW, though. And if I can't skip ENT, I'll mute it.

 

[Orphalesion]

I honestly skip all the themes. By this point I even skip LD's, and at least that one is funny. The 90s ones (TNG-VOY) are particularly skippable imo. Each of them is nothing but 1:45-2:00 minutes of overwrought orchestra music and some early GCI depicting space. Ain't nobody got time for that.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I almost always skip the themes on any show.

 

[Gul Sengosts]

I'm rewatching PRO and I stopped skipping the theme. I'd probably regret it once it's gone.

 

[fireproof78]

I almost always skip the themes on any show.

Same.

 

[JoseNoodles]

Dune Buggy Picard just sucked. I get it, 74-year-old Captain feeling the passage of time after events like the Ba'ku crisis and watching Riker and Troi get married and start their new life together but still, the Argo is one of the dumbest sequences in a Trek film that on a GOOD day ranks #12 out of thirteen movies and usually dead last.

That was the moment I was sucked out of the movie.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Wasn't the thing with the Argo actually Patrick Stewart's idea? He always wanted to be the action hero, so why shouldn't he be allowed it?

 

[Orphalesion]

Wasn't the thing with the Argo actually Patrick Stewart's idea? He always wanted to be the action hero, so why shouldn't he be allowed it?

I don't think the scene being Stewart's idea/wish should have any influence on how it's perceived.

I, for one, am among the people who found it both confusing and silly. I mean...what's even happening here? Are our heroes exposing themselves to a pré-warp civilization, and killing the local law enforcement to get B4's parts? With the absolute lack of context we're given in the movie it's impossible to tell.
Which is really the biggest problem with that scene, it's a big lipped alligator moment.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't think the scene being Stewart's idea/wish should have any influence on how it's perceived.

The assumption seems to be that action sequences like the Argo are an imposition by uncaring, unfeeling studio executives, Patrick Stewart is a Trek actor, who knows more about playing Picard than anyone. So if the Argo is his idea? Hell yeah, it should carry more weight! If he wants to be an action hero, why not let him?

 

[Citiprime]

There's an argument to be made that Patrick Stewart, while an amazing actor, does not have the best instincts about where to take Picard as a character. That Stewart was tired of doing the cerebral speech-maker from the TV series, and wanted a version of Picard that was "fighting and fucking." And once the movies began he had the clout to insist on it as a condition of doing them.

Also, this became an issue when doing Picard too, where reportedly his conditions for doing it were:

1. No Enterprise
2. No uniforms
3. Not a TNG reunion

If you look at season 3 of Picard, it basically throws all of those conditions out the window, while also reversing everything season 1 intended to do. They didn't want the show to be a TNG reunion. Its become a TNG reunion. When you couple that with season 3 reversing the death of Data in season 1, gets rid of most of the characters from season 1, and had Riker and Troi making fun of their circumstances in season 1, it sorta seems like the powers that be, as well as Stewart, knew how a huge chunk of the audience reacted to the first two seasons and were purposely going the other way.

 

[Orphalesion]

The assumption seems to be that action sequences like the Argo are an imposition by uncaring, unfeeling studio executives, Patrick Stewart is a Trek actor, who knows more about playing Picard than anyone. So if the Argo is his idea? Hell yeah, it should carry more weight! If he wants to be an action hero, why not let him?

Wow. I don't even know how to unpack this.

First of all no. It should not carry more weight. I don't care who wanted a scene or plotline in the movie or how it ended up in it. I care whether the scene or plotline is good, fits with the rest of the movie, and makes sense. And in my opinion the dune buggy scene fills neither of those criteria.

Second of all, only because somebody is a good actor and has played a character for a while, does not automatically make them a good writer or skilled at crafting scenes or plots for that character. Just like writers aren't necessarily good actors. Painters aren't necessarily good writers, musicians aren't necessarily good painters etc. It's different skill set.s Best example; Season 4-8 of Charmed. When it comes down to it, Jean-Luc Picard and Patrick Stewart are two different people.

Finally, for what Patrick Stewart wants...well, I don't think anybody ever forced him to play Picard. It was a job he chose to take, chose to return to, and got paid for. And I know this is a little bit fastidious but...if he decides he wants a scene of Picard clubbing baby seals to death, should we let him have that to and applaud it?

 

[fireproof78]

should we let him have that

What say do we have?

and applaud it?

Um, I don't think we are to applaud any acting decision just because. As you say, it must be evaluated in the context of the work.

The Argo scene sucks, not because of Stewart's wish fulfillment but because it made little sense in universe or the story.