What's the worst non-canon decision in the history of Trek?

The entire team was killed off in a one-panel “fight” to demonstrate how dangerous a new villain was.

 

I mean, I'm pretty sure the United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation does not have the legal authority to issue orders to the commanding officer of the USS Gerald R. Ford, nor does the British Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran have the authority to issue orders to the commanding officer of the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

 

"But Starfleet isn't a military/is more than a military/is other than a military/is Schroedinger's military."

 

I understand you're being facetious, but the pedant in me insists that I point out that U.S. ambassadors didn't have the authority to issue orders to the commanders of NASA space shuttles, either.

 

[Insert ramblings about Star Trek is in the Future and things are different because Future.]

 

I literally just watched a TOS episode where an Ambassador gives Kirk direct orders, and overrules him on his own bridge

 

"A Taste of Armageddon"?

 

Yep, Fox was an ass, although I love the bit when Scotty tells him "No sir, I will not" which parallels his past in the Royal Canadian Artillery

 

I'm not a fan of the Geordi and Leah Brahms relationship.

 

Me neither. Whether it be Geordi's creepy stalking in "Booby Trap", or them actually being married in "All Good Things".

Indeed, the latter is almost as bad as the former. As we all know, Dr. Brahms was already married when she first met Geordi. So he's not just a stalker, he's also a homewrecker?

(then again, AGT was a false future generated by Q, so nothing in it can really be taken at face value.)

@ThetaSigma I agree wholeheartedly that Fox was an asshat of the highest order, but what really gets me is that one of the El Aurian ships from Generations was named after him. So he must have been doing something right!

 

I was simply under the impression that in the thirty or so years since “Galaxy’s Child” Brahms marriage collapsed and years later she met Geordi again as they move in similar circles and something happened

 

The situation is not quite as cut and dry as "Ambassador outranks Captain." In the episode you speak of, the Enterprise was on a diplomatic mission, and Fox was the ranking diplomat. Meaning Fox could issue mission related directives to Kirk, but could not assume authority over Kirk, the Enterprise and the crew otherwise. He shouldn't have been allowed to overrule Kirk on the bridge, even Admirals have to respect a ship Captain's command on the bridge of their ship, but TOS always did portray its ambassadors, commissioners and other civilian authority figures is douchebags of the highest order.

Regardless, since Riker and Spock were not involved in any diplomatic missions in Coda, Spock would not be able to "pull rank" on Riker.

 

Fox definitely struck me as the type who would try to assert authority even if he doesn't actually have it. Meaning, he'd bluster his way through the situation in the hopes that none of the crew would have the guts to fight back.

 

The episode never really implies that.

Considering some of the things in that episode still come to pass, like Picard's brain problem, plus the uniforms and badges being used in later productions, seems to imply it was based off a potential future.

Her full name was never mentioned so you can easily pretend it was someone else.

 

in the age of "polyamory" becoming a buzzword, and 40yrs after the first time Gene Roddenberry and Vonda N. McIntyre introduced mentions of "group marriages" into the first run of Pocket TOS novels, we really are having a hard time accepting that Geordi could have become a "co-husband"?

 

Funny, Geordi and Leah don't look Denobulan.

Hmm. Assholes exercising authority that isn't rightfully theirs. Seems like I've seen this in real life, not too long ago.

 

There have been multiple human cultures that practiced polygyny or polyandry. As captainmkb says, it's becoming more acceptable in our own culture.

By the same token, there are probably Denobulans who are monogamous, because no entire species can be reduced to a single stereotype, despite the lazy tendency of Trek (and other SF) writers to imply that they can.

 

i believe i provided a solid TrekLit citation for Human participation in group marriages.

but the "co-husband" term was not Denobulan, but Bolian - DS9 "Field of Fire"

 

And of course, Andorians do it canonically in groups of four. (Has the TrekLit assumption that this means a four-gendered species made it into canon? As I recall, the assumption was that one of the genders didn't actually contribute genetically, so presumably that would make Andorians a triploid, rather than tetraploid, species)

Then of course, as Diane Duane so succinctly put it, all twelve Sulamid sexes claim to be male, especially the ones who bore the children.

And of course, my Denobulan line was never intended to be anything other than a crude ethnic one-liner.

 

ENT solidly ignored the DS9 novels, DIS and SNW have thus far not touched the matter in detail, but several people here are optimistic about the novels' idea becoming canonical because LD nodded to it in a character name.