Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

[F. King Daniel]

Again, ST V was the out of character movie, not VI.

There was nothing out of character about Star Trek V.

Star Trek VI features Spock mind-raping a screaming Valaris on the bridge, with everyone sitting and watching. It was a disgusting, character-ruining scene.

Kirk's suddenly turned into an Klingon-hating racist, completely at odds with the guy from "The Savage Curtain", "Let That Be Your Last Battefield", Star Trek III ("Fine, I'll kill you later", "I lied"), Star Trek V etc etc.

There's sudden inexplicable incompetence, too:
McCoy, the ships doctor, who's treated countless aliens in his career, has no clue about Klingon anatomy. Despite the Klingons being the Federations main rivals for decades.

Uhura, the communications officer and linguist, doesn't even know Klingon!

 

[Timo]

That's mainly fan expectations and misconceptions, though. Uhura was never a linguist in the previous installments of Trek - why should she be that in this particular case? Klingons are indeed the enemies - why should the Federation have abundant knowledge on them? McCoy never treated one in his life as far as we could tell.

Why should "Let That Be" count one way or the other? Our heroes found Bele and Lokai annoying. But that hardly frees them from charges of racism, which by the very definition is directed at specific identifiable groups and need not follow any rhyme or reason. Kirk has always despised the Klingons, from their very first "Errand of Mercy" appearance on; in contrast, the cowardly, backstabbing and scheming Romulans he had nothing particular against.

Being racist should be in character for a 1960s military hero kind of by default, and Kirk never really indicates he should form an exception. He's a regular herbert and minion of orthodoxy, but no less a likeable hero for that.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BillJ]

Star Trek VI features Spock mind-raping a screaming Valaris on the bridge, with everyone sitting and watching. It was a disgusting, character-ruining scene.

To potentially save thousands to millions of lives that could be lost on both sides if war broke out. The Needs of the Many...

There's sudden inexplicable incompetence, too:
McCoy, the ships doctor, who's treated countless aliens in his career, has no clue about Klingon anatomy. Despite the Klingons being the Federations main rivals for decades.

On screen, he never treated a Klingon prior to The Undiscovered Country. Besides, how much do we expect a given individual to know?

Uhura, the communications officer and linguist, doesn't even know Klingon!

Uhura has never once been referred to as a linguist in the Prime timeline. She actually always seemed to be more of an engineer.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Well, we know by TUC he was a Court Reporter.

Well, we know that the same actor played the Court Reporter. The Klingon forehead bumps were different. Or was he disguised?

AFAIK, the Klingon translator in ST VI can't be seen clearly, he's in a darkened room with all of his equipment. So it's possible that it is indeed Klaa. And wouldn't that be a fitting punishment for Klaa's actions in ST V?

 

[T'Girl]

Kirk has always despised the Klingons, from their very first "Errand of Mercy" appearance on; in contrast, the cowardly, backstabbing and scheming Romulans he had nothing particular against.

The Klingons were a immediate threat, invasions, killing civilains, disputed territory. The Klingons were "pushing" the federation.

The Romulans were an old opponent, their days of killing large numbers was in the past, and except for BoT, they basically stayed in their own space.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

I found the crew to be portrayed consistently with what came before.

They're not perfect, they're human.

My feelings exactly. In fact, it never occurred to me that the Enterprise crew's attitudes in TUC might be seen as "out of character" until years later on the internet...

 

[BillJ]

I found the crew to be portrayed consistently with what came before.

They're not perfect, they're human.

My feelings exactly. In fact, it never occurred to me that the Enterprise crew's attitudes in TUC might be seen as "out of character" until years later on the internet...

I think to this day, the fact that the TOS gang remains my favorite is because they were the most like real people. They had flaws and they made bad decisions. While I love the show, the characters on TNG never felt like real people.

 

[Elder Knight]

They were watching Frankenstein (1931) in one episode of Enterprise. Maybe they still appreciate the classics . . . and Spencer Tracy qualifies.