Alexander was a loser

[john titor]

Yeah Worf is an asshole absentee dad. Jake was a bit of a slacker, he didn't do anything except "write" and hassle Odo and Kira. Sisko had the technical know how, knew how to fight, fix things, strategize and lead people. Jake was just this slacker kid who sat around on the station all day and "wrote" stuff about whatever. Sisko must have been dissapointed, he had so many skills and his layabout son just lazed about all day.

 

[Jono]

Damn that Jake, all he did was write when he wanted to be an author and while he had a job as a reporter...Huge dissapointment to his dad for sure. He only got accepted into a prestigious school on Earth and got a job for the Federation News Service when he was eighteen. Never did anything worth while, it isn't like he taught a Ferengi how to read when he was 12 years old or write a speech for the station's first officer...

On a serious note, Jake was a bit of a slob as we saw when him and Nog moved in and he didn't seem to be a morning person either. As we saw in "The Visitor" if Jake wanted to he could take up a hard science as a career if that was what he wanted, however in the "normal timeline" he didn't want to be a Starfleet officer or a scientist, he wanted to be an author. Also he was just a kid throughout most of the show.

 

[PSGarak]

Since when are tech skills the end all be all and writing or other creative endeavors crap? It's a flawed premise from the get-go.

 

[JustKate]

^ That's kind of what I wondered, too. Y'all are showing your geek bias.

 

[Thor Damar]

Hey, I worship the written language of English and detest technobabble of any sort. Which is why I liked Jake Sisko's turn as a author.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

It also didn't help matters that it's all but outright stated that Worf abandoned Alexander and never bothered contacting him for years.

Absolutely right. Worf was a deadbeat dad. There is no getting around that. Worf was more concerned with being a warrior than with raising his own son. Which kind of makes all of his statements about honor a complete joke. Tons of people on the E-D had kids, but somehow Worf can't handle it???

Worf kept doing the easy thing, and shipping his son off while convincing himself that it was best for Alexander...when it was obvious that Alexander wanted and NEEDED to be with his father. So basically what Worf did wasn't what was best for Alexander. Worf did what was best for Worf.

I do like Worf, but his horrible treatment of his son over the years really made me lose a lot of respect for him.

Alexander was a loser as a Klingon warrior, sure. It obviously wasn't his thing. That doesn't mean he was a loser in other ways.

And to John Titor: Are you trying to say that all writers are slackers?? Why shouldn't Jake be a writer, not everybody has to join Starfleet.

 

[john titor]

It also didn't help matters that it's all but outright stated that Worf abandoned Alexander and never bothered contacting him for years.

Absolutely right. Worf was a deadbeat dad. There is no getting around that. Worf was more concerned with being a warrior than with raising his own son. Which kind of makes all of his statements about honor a complete joke. Tons of people on the E-D had kids, but somehow Worf can't handle it???

Worf kept doing the easy thing, and shipping his son off while convincing himself that it was best for Alexander...when it was obvious that Alexander wanted and NEEDED to be with his father. So basically what Worf did wasn't what was best for Alexander. Worf did what was best for Worf.

I do like Worf, but his horrible treatment of his son over the years really made me lose a lot of respect for him.

Alexander was a loser as a Klingon warrior, sure. It obviously wasn't his thing. That doesn't mean he was a loser in other ways.

And to John Titor: Are you trying to say that all writers are slackers?? Why shouldn't Jake be a writer, not everybody has to join Starfleet.

It would seem goofing off all day is a prerequisite for being a succesful writer.

If you're not in starfleet you often have to wear really bad clothes/baby suits so yes I'd say anyone not in star trek is a loser, unless they're scientists or doctors or professors in some discipline. For example Soong was not a loser whereas Neelix kinda was and for the record he wasn't a proper starfleet officer.

 

[JustKate]

^ Writing is a discipline. If you want to be any good at it, that is.

Besides, we had almost nothing but scientists on Trek. What's wrong with a little - a very little - variety?

 

[PSGarak]

It would seem goofing off all day is a prerequisite for being a succesful writer.

If you're not in starfleet you often have to wear really bad clothes/baby suits so yes I'd say anyone not in star trek is a loser, unless they're scientists or doctors or professors in some discipline. For example Soong was not a loser whereas Neelix kinda was and for the record he wasn't a proper starfleet officer.

Hopefully, you're being tongue in cheek, but if you're not, with all due respect, you don't know a lot about writers or how much work it is.

 

[john titor]

It would seem goofing off all day is a prerequisite for being a succesful writer.

If you're not in starfleet you often have to wear really bad clothes/baby suits so yes I'd say anyone not in star trek is a loser, unless they're scientists or doctors or professors in some discipline. For example Soong was not a loser whereas Neelix kinda was and for the record he wasn't a proper starfleet officer.

Hopefully, you're being tongue in cheek, but if you're not, with all due respect, you don't know a lot about writers or how much work it is.

No I'm being serious. Writing is just sitting around all day using the English language correctly. Seriously whenever I read the newspaper its just opinions backed up with some research, and its not even hard research, its just current affairs. Its not like they have study quantum physics or mechanobiology, all they need to read up on is sociology. Piece of cake really. As for creative writing, all it involves is learning a few rules, eg beginning middle end, not repeating yourself, making the dialogue believable, a little bit of practice, and there you go, professional writer already!

 

[PSGarak]

No I'm being serious. Writing is just sitting around all day using the English language correctly. Seriously whenever I read the newspaper its just opinions backed up with some research, and its not even hard research, its just current affairs. Its not like they have study quantum physics or mechanobiology, all they need to read up on is sociology. Piece of cake really. As for creative writing, all it involves is learning a few rules, eg beginning middle end, not repeating yourself, making the dialogue believable, a little bit of practice, and there you go, professional writer already!

As I said, you don't know what you're talking about. Your elaboration simply proved my point.

 

[john titor]

No I'm being serious. Writing is just sitting around all day using the English language correctly. Seriously whenever I read the newspaper its just opinions backed up with some research, and its not even hard research, its just current affairs. Its not like they have study quantum physics or mechanobiology, all they need to read up on is sociology. Piece of cake really. As for creative writing, all it involves is learning a few rules, eg beginning middle end, not repeating yourself, making the dialogue believable, a little bit of practice, and there you go, professional writer already!

As I said, you don't know what you're talking about. Your elaboration simply proved my point.

Actually I do know what I'm talking about.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

No I'm being serious. Writing is just sitting around all day using the English language correctly. Seriously whenever I read the newspaper its just opinions backed up with some research, and its not even hard research, its just current affairs. Its not like they have study quantum physics or mechanobiology, all they need to read up on is sociology. Piece of cake really. As for creative writing, all it involves is learning a few rules, eg beginning middle end, not repeating yourself, making the dialogue believable, a little bit of practice, and there you go, professional writer already!

As I said, you don't know what you're talking about. Your elaboration simply proved my point.

Actually I do know what I'm talking about.

No offence, my friend, but you cited as your experience of writing the fact that you read the paper. Reading the paper doesn't give insight into the work, effort, research and, yes, practice that are essential to becoming a successful writer, whatever it is you're writing. I'm studying English Literature myself. "Hey, they just lazed around writing, easy" is a sure way to get laughed off the course.

 

[DevilEyes]

It would seem goofing off all day is a prerequisite for being a succesful writer.

If you're not in starfleet you often have to wear really bad clothes/baby suits so yes I'd say anyone not in star trek is a loser, unless they're scientists or doctors or professors in some discipline. For example Soong was not a loser whereas Neelix kinda was and for the record he wasn't a proper starfleet officer.

Hopefully, you're being tongue in cheek, but if you're not, with all due respect, you don't know a lot about writers or how much work it is.

No I'm being serious. Writing is just sitting around all day using the English language correctly. Seriously whenever I read the newspaper its just opinions backed up with some research, and its not even hard research, its just current affairs. Its not like they have study quantum physics or mechanobiology, all they need to read up on is sociology. Piece of cake really. As for creative writing, all it involves is learning a few rules, eg beginning middle end, not repeating yourself, making the dialogue believable, a little bit of practice, and there you go, professional writer already!

I am really hoping for your sake that this is your sense of humor and you're just winding us up.

 

[PSGarak]

No offence, my friend, but you cited as your experience of writing the fact that you read the paper. Reading the paper doesn't give insight into the work, effort, research and, yes, practice that are essential to becoming a successful writer, whatever it is you're writing. I'm studying English Literature myself. "Hey, they just lazed around writing, easy" is a sure way to get laughed off the course.

People who think writing is a piece of cake are typically the same people who think abstract art is just flinging paint on a canvass or sculpting is playing with dirt. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

 

[john titor]

Abstract art is crap. Seriously anything can be called art under that school of thought. I could arrange a few objects in a shape, call it art and justify it. Have any of you watched Spaced? There is this character called, I can't remember her name but she's a writer and she just procrastinates all day. Then she's forced to work washing dishes in a restaurant and all the other employees are writers.

 

[JustKate]

John...you simply don't know what you're talking about. I'm sorry, but unless you're simply winding us up (a distinct possibility), you don't know the tiniest about it. What Spaced says about it is immaterial. Writing is work. If you want to be good at it, it's hard work.

In fact, almost anything is hard work if you want to be good at it. Lots of stuff isn't that hard if you only want to be mediocre at it. That includes writing, being a college professor and washing dishes.

It isn't just "using the English language correctly," and you know that perfectly well, because otherwise there wouldn't be much to differentiate a good writer from a poor one except things such as comma use and knowing when to use their, there and they're. And you know, because you've read books and articles yourself, that there's more to it than that. Don't pretend an ignorance that you don't actually have.

 

[PSGarak]

^^ My point in case.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I think DS9 dropped theball on the Worf/Alexander storyline... as Sykonee said, according to the TNG episode Firstborn he decided to be a diplomat and peacemaker (though in the end he was intently involved in Klingon politics and the homeworld... despite being raised in the Federation) and the young Alexander had no desire to kill even holographic opponents, nor was he a particularly skilled warrior.

Suddenly jump forward a few years and he's gone and joined the Klingon army... it just didn't seem to ring true to me.

Agreed.

I am still baffled as to why they even brought him into DS9. I wonder whose idea it was to do an Alexander story. Because as I said earlier, we already had two father/son relationships to deal with on DS9. So why bring in this one? Especially since he was a pretty lame Klingon in the TNG days. Why not let us just assume he went and did something that would have made him happy?

 

[PSGarak]

I would've been happy making that assumption, PKTrekGirl, if I even gave it any thought at all. When Worf showed up on DS9, I have to confess, the furthest thought from my mind was, "OMG, I wonder what happened to Alexander!" I just really didn't care.