On making references: For or Against

[Ketrick]

If a TNG-era Trek had a tattooed, red skinned alien in the background it could be a Thallonian. If there's a display graphic listing nearby ships, it could have the USS Excalibur NCC-26517-A on it. If something's incredibly tough, someone could say, "That's tougher than a Brikar's hide."

Those are the kind of New Frontier references that I think would work well. If the next movie mentioned "Vanguard station" in the same kind of way Regula One got a shout-out in STXI (when assignments were being called out in the academy hangar), that would work well, too. Little things that make fans' ears prick up and think, "I know that!", but not things shoved down our throats.

I like those ideas. Though, some of the examples you gave in the first paragraph wouldn't necessarily have to be specific to the TNG era. You could have a Thallonian in the background in a series set in the 25th or 26th century and it could still work.

 

[Jerikka Dawn]

ARCHER: Someday my people are going to come up with some sort of a doctrine, something that tells us what we can and can't do out here, should and shouldn't do. But until somebody tells me that they've drafted that directive I'm going to have to remind myself every day that we didn't come out here to play God.

...it treated viewers like complete idiots who needed their hands held and to be told, "Look! He's talking about the Prime Directive!"

Another cringe-worthy example was "The Augments", where Arik Soong jumps up and down waving a big sign marked "TNG REFERENCE HERE! HE'S TALKING ABOUT DATA!"

SOONG: I've been thinking. Perfecting humanity may not be possible. Cybernetics. Artificial lifeforms.

ARCHER: Good-bye, Doctor.

SOONG: I doubt I'll finish the work myself. Might take a generation or two.

This is the kind of crap that irked the hell out of me when I'd watch. And the hilarious/sad part is that the writers thought they were being clever and subtle and completely failing to the power of 10. About as subtle as an anvil in a cartoon. Horrible.

 

[RandyS]

I'm all for the next series referencing to previous series.

Me too. Nothing wrong with it at all.

 

[R. Star]

ARCHER: Someday my people are going to come up with some sort of a doctrine, something that tells us what we can and can't do out here, should and shouldn't do. But until somebody tells me that they've drafted that directive I'm going to have to remind myself every day that we didn't come out here to play God.

...it treated viewers like complete idiots who needed their hands held and to be told, "Look! He's talking about the Prime Directive!"

Another cringe-worthy example was "The Augments", where Arik Soong jumps up and down waving a big sign marked "TNG REFERENCE HERE! HE'S TALKING ABOUT DATA!"

SOONG: I've been thinking. Perfecting humanity may not be possible. Cybernetics. Artificial lifeforms.

ARCHER: Good-bye, Doctor.

SOONG: I doubt I'll finish the work myself. Might take a generation or two.

This is the kind of crap that irked the hell out of me when I'd watch. And the hilarious/sad part is that the writers thought they were being clever and subtle and completely failing to the power of 10. About as subtle as an anvil in a cartoon. Horrible.

That reference was rather hamfisted I'll agree. Though it amused me his thought process was, "Humanity can't be perfected, screw it, I'm building robots."