Roddenberry's Worst Ideas

[T'Girl]

James T. Kirk is named after his mum's 'Love instructor'.

I planned on just leaving that one alone.

Given the scene in the last movie where Kirk's first name was arrived upon, umm exactly who was mommy's "love instructor" again?

Icky

Humans mating successfully with Vulcans and Klingons was a pretty bad idea.

That there could have been a rare occurrence Vulcan/Human "mule" in the form of Spock is one thing, that a wide variety of species could have children together is kind of loopy.

If someone refuses to perform in your supposed "post-scarcity" society what happens ... Force? Penial colonies?

As to the "what happens if someone refuses to perform" question, well, what happens when someone doesn't think it's right that they have to pay a chunk of their income in taxes in our modern society?

Well they could drop their income below a certain point and tie into the social service system, there by effectively paying no taxes.

Consider Sonak, while I do pay taxes, my government doesn't mandate what legal means I under take to earn that money. I am not assigned a job, nor required to live in a certain area to be reasonably adjacent to that job.

Or they don't think they should be forced to wear seatbelts?

Public transportation. No seat belts.

people like to act like coercion is somehow the deal-breaker in a socialist or quasi-socialist system, which I always find hilarious.

Coercion isn't the deal-breaker, having to live in a socialist system would be. Hopefully the future Federation is free society, and not a socialist one.

There's coercion of some sort in EVERY society that has and ever will exist, so let's just be open about it.

Okay, but it is matter of degree. At some point the level of "coercion" becomes unacceptable. My society forcing my activities and occupation would be far beyond that point, and a clear indication that the societies involvement needs to be drastically reduced.

Better still, never allowed to reach that point in the first place..

 

[marksound]

I've always thought his worst idea was hiring Rick Berman? Well, nobody's perfect.

I've a feeling the franchise and TNG would not have survived without Berman.

I always thought it was Paramount that sent Berman in to keep an eye on things.

 

[yousirname]

It doesn't matter how implausible you think a successful society without money is. It's not physically impossible. From what we can tell, accelerating past lightspeed is exactly that, and they do that in every single episode to general indifference.

People who refuse to do anything are presumably regarded as unwell or maladapted. I guess they get offered counselling. If they don't respond to that, it seems to me like they'd just be left alone and pitied. It's not as though exceptionally smart people are going to be prone to doing that. I'm not sure Einstein was in it for the paycheque.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I've always thought his worst idea was hiring Rick Berman? Well, nobody's perfect.

Oh, please. Modern Trek wouldn't exist without Berman. Irrespective of whether you like Voyager or Enterprise (I've only seen seasons 1-2 of Voyager and 2 episodes of Enterprise, so can't really comment), Berman's contributions to TNG and its success are critical.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The worst I would say about Rick Berman is that his tenure was a mixed bag.

The positive: I liked all four spinoff series. They had charismatic casts and generally took a much more serious approach to continuity and consistency than the movies did.

The negative: Berman is reputed to be the executive who discouraged emotion and melody in the episode music scores, often resulting in a generic ahhhmmm note to tell you when the commercials were starting. Blah.

Overall, the franchise could have done a lot worse!

 

[sonak]

James T. Kirk is named after his mum's 'Love instructor'.

I planned on just leaving that one alone.

Given the scene in the last movie where Kirk's first name was arrived upon, umm exactly who was mommy's "love instructor" again?

Icky

That there could have been a rare occurrence Vulcan/Human "mule" in the form of Spock is one thing, that a wide variety of species could have children together is kind of loopy.

Well they could drop their income below a certain point and tie into the social service system, there by effectively paying no taxes.

Consider Sonak, while I do pay taxes, my government doesn't mandate what legal means I under take to earn that money. I am not assigned a job, nor required to live in a certain area to be reasonably adjacent to that job.

Public transportation. No seat belts.

people like to act like coercion is somehow the deal-breaker in a socialist or quasi-socialist system, which I always find hilarious.

Coercion isn't the deal-breaker, having to live in a socialist system would be. Hopefully the future Federation is free society, and not a socialist one.

There's coercion of some sort in EVERY society that has and ever will exist, so let's just be open about it.

Okay, but it is matter of degree. At some point the level of "coercion" becomes unacceptable. My society forcing my activities and occupation would be far beyond that point, and a clear indication that the societies involvement needs to be drastically reduced.

Better still, never allowed to reach that point in the first place..

hopefully the future Federation is a socialist(or at least socially democratic) society, and therefore a free one.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

James T. Kirk is named after his mum's 'Love instructor'.

I planned on just leaving that one alone.

Given the scene in the last movie where Kirk's first name was arrived upon, umm exactly who was mommy's "love instructor" again?

Icky

Well, in the TMP novel Kirk says he was named James

"because it was both the name of my father’s beloved brother as well as that of my mother’s first love instructor."

The 2009 movie says he was named after his Mom's dad. Maybe James is a very common name in the 23rd Century?

 

[scotpens]

Everyone walking around naked? "Love instructors"?

G.R. must have had more kinks than a well-used garden hose.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Everyone walking around naked? "Love instructors"?

"love instructor" was just a euphemism in the novelization of TOS for "first sexual partner."

G.R. must have had more kinks than a well-used garden hose.

Roddenberry was never prudish about sex or sexuality. He thought they would still be around in the future.

 

[mos6507]

The negative: Berman is reputed to be the executive who discouraged emotion and melody in the episode music scores, often resulting in a generic ahhhmmm note to tell you when the commercials were starting. Blah.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this way. Bad enough some of the show's producers thought crew conflict was a bad idea, never mind the obvious lack of drama. But then to dilute all the musical composers's work for the sake of.......lower ratings?? Yeesh.

There's another thread where some people are piling on TOS music for being too in-your-face. But if you compare the two, I much prefer TOS music and acting style to the TNG shows. Music in the mid to late 80s on TV was pretty terrible across the board, because it was then that synths started to supplant acoustic instruments, and it resulted in stuff that sounded more at home to the intro of a Sega Genesis game than a TV show about space exploration.

 

[yousirname]

You seriously prefer the acting in TOS? I mean, to each their own, but wow...

 

[CaptainMurdock]

You seriously prefer the acting in TOS? I mean, to each their own, but wow...

Hey, I prefer the TOS acting too.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

^ So do I.

 

[C.E. Evans]

^^^
Another one here.

 

[scotpens]

There's another thread where some people are piling on TOS music for being too in-your-face. But if you compare the two, I much prefer TOS music and acting style to the TNG shows.

TOS Trek had some of the best music ever written for a dramatic TV series, by some of the top composers working in the industry at that time: Alexander Courage, Fred Steiner, Gerald Fried, Sol Kaplan, George Duning. True, the music occasionally overpowered the acting and dialogue -- which, in the case of some third-season episodes, wasn't a bad thing.

The music in TNG and all the subsequent Trek shows is the aural equivalent of wallpaper.

 

[StarCruiser]

Count me in too!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Everyone walking around naked? "Love instructors"?

G.R. must have had more kinks than a well-used garden hose.

Anyone who's read the TMP novelization knows that.

 

[T'Girl]

You seriously prefer the acting in TOS? I mean, to each their own, but wow...

Throw me onto the TOS pile too. It isn't that they alway got it just right, but the majority of the time when they did, the acting exceeded the best of any of the other series.

Everyone walking around naked? "Love instructors"?

"love instructor" was just a euphemism in the novelization of TOS for "first sexual partner."

That wasn't my impression. What I got from "her first love instructor" was something like her parents sent her to a sexual tutor , a professional instructor or private teacher situation, who would be the first person she had sex with.

Never saw it as simply her first boyfriend that she had sex with.

 

[CaptainMurdock]

The thing I always enjoyed about the acting in TOS is that everyone acted larger than life instead of normal people living on a starship. Though IMO DS9 had a larger than life cast too so I give them credit for being like TOS but not copying it. That's not to say I didn't like TNG but it's acting at times was just boring. With Voyager and Enterprise. everyone just seemed one note. The Larger than life/charismatic characters are who I enjoyed watching. The more grounded to reality characters were just meh.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

If you want to turn the contrast up to 11, compare the acting in ST:TOS to the remake series of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. One is gloriously big, bold, and theatrical; the other is downplayed and utterly matter of fact.

Both are great at what they set out to do.