So name a Star Trek moment that you just didn't "get".

[kirkfan]

Lying for a good cause is still lying. But sometimes it's necessary, as the Vulcans know quite well.

I take exception to the use of the word "duplicitous" to caracterize Spock's actions in that episode; "duplicitous" implies an evil agenda. It's ironic that people stigmatizing Vulcans about their alleged lack of honesty can't do so without resorting to that kind of bastardization of the language.

Not sure anyone is trying to bad-mouth Vulcans here. Just pointing out that they're complicated and occasionally contradictory, just like any other species. They have their virtues and their flaws. They can be heroes or villains or morally ambiguous.

Which, to my mind, makes them all the more fascinating--and believable.

And "duplicitous" is not necessarily a bad thing. Secret agents are duplicitous. Kirk can be be duplicitous. (Remember "corbomite" or "fizzbin.") Outwitting and misleading your adversaries can be admirable sometimes.

Heck, that was the whole premise of Mission: Impossible. (Also produced by Desilu.)

I can only take the old Mission:Impossible in small doses, after a while the whole routine becomes boring as hell, unlike ST for example that I can't get enough of. I also like the invaders, danger man, the prisoner (which is a continuation of the former), the avengers (John steed et al), plus about a dozen of others.

 

[T'Girl]

But for some reason, the Federation seems to take a particular exception to the Ferengi. The Ferengi who were introduced as "yankee traders" in The Last Outpost

To which, Riker said he liked the sound of that.

I can't remember Riker ever condeming the Ferengi for their capitalistic ways.

 

[Greg Cox]

Remember when Kim said that he'd been warned at the academy about the ferengi, (to Quark's face at that, subtle)? I wonder how many other species he'd been warned about.

"Don't pick fights with Nausicans!"

"Never mind how cute they are. No tribbles allowed!"

 

[Jedi_Master]

Remember when Kim said that he'd been warned at the academy about the ferengi, (to Quark's face at that, subtle)? I wonder how many other species he'd been warned about.

"Don't pick fights with Nausicans!"

"Never mind how cute they are. No tribbles allowed!"

"Don't provoke the Borg!"

Oh wait, that was something else.

 

[Greg Cox]

"Don't drool over the Deltans."

 

[kirkfan]

Remember when Kim said that he'd been warned at the academy about the ferengi, (to Quark's face at that, subtle)? I wonder how many other species he'd been warned about.

"Don't pick fights with Nausicans!"

"Never mind how cute they are. No tribbles allowed!"

"Don't provoke the Borg!"

Oh wait, that was something else.

Q to his son.

 

[kirkfan]

"Don't drool over the Deltans."

Travis got that advice.

 

[Darren Mooney]

But for some reason, the Federation seems to take a particular exception to the Ferengi. The Ferengi who were introduced as "yankee traders" in The Last Outpost

To which, Riker said he liked the sound of that.

I can't remember Riker ever condeming the Ferengi for their capitalistic ways.

That said, Riker admits to liking them before they actually meet them. Data immediately clarifies that they are "yankee traders" without the stuff that Riker likes.

DATA: A comparison modern scholars have drawn from Earth history likens the Ferengi to the ocean-going Yankee traders of eighteenth and nineteenth century America, sir.
RIKER: From the history of my forebears. Yankee traders.
DATA: Who in this case sail the galaxy in search of mercantile and territorial opportunity.
RIKER: And are those scholars saying the Ferengi may not unlike us?
DATA: Hardly, sir. I believe this analogy refers to the worst quality of capitalists. The Ferengi are believed to conduct their affairs of commerce on the ancient principle caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.
RIKER: Yankee traders. I like the sound of that.
DATA: Well, sir, I doubt they wear red, white and blue, or look anything like Uncle Sam.

And then the Ferengi are revealed as obnoxious little trolls, who manage to be presented as villainous without even proving a threat to the ship. (The Last Outpost is just a terrible script, like so many scripts around it.)

Despite claiming to like the idea of them at the start of the episode, Riker is quite condescending towards them at the climax

Riker does get a bit more tolerant towards the Ferengi as the show goes on - which makes sense, given his character. The relationship between William and Quark in the seventh season and the implied relationship in Defiant makes a great deal of sense given Riker's roguish attributes and fun style. But that comes six or seven years after the Ferengi arrived.

 

[kirkfan]

In The Last Outpost, the ferengi keep jumping around like they were part monkeys or something. It gets really annoying. Fortunately, they never did that again in subsequent episodes of any series.

 

[T'Girl]

DATA: Hardly, sir. I believe this analogy refers to the worst quality of capitalists. The Ferengi are believed to conduct their affairs of commerce on the ancient principle caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.

RIKER: Yankee traders. I like the sound of that.

Maybe Riker likes the idea of the so called worst quality of capitalists? Riker, certainly during the first season, was written as a non-conformance, he looked at things differently. So if some "scholars" look at the Ferengi in a negative light, Riker would by his nature be prepared to see the Ferengi in the opposite.

 

[kirkfan]

DATA: Hardly, sir. I believe this analogy refers to the worst quality of capitalists. The Ferengi are believed to conduct their affairs of commerce on the ancient principle caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.

RIKER: Yankee traders. I like the sound of that.

Maybe Riker likes the idea of the so called worst quality of capitalists? Riker, certainly during the first season, was written as a non-conformance, he looked at things differently. So if some "scholars" look at the Ferengi in a negative light, Riker would by his nature be prepared to see the Ferengi in the opposite.

Riker is a Yankee at heart. He likes any references to them.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Riker was indeed a Yankee. He tried to yankee Troi's pants off, he tried to yankee other alien women's pants off, I believe he yankeed Ro's pants off...

 

[eyeresist]

Surely that would make Troi the yanker, if Riker was the Yankee.

 

[kirkfan]

Riker was indeed a Yankee. He tried to yankee Troi's pants off, he tried to yankee other alien women's pants off, I believe he yankeed Ro's pants off...

He did the latter while under the influence of an alien brainwash though...

 

[Ziriath]

Not a moment...In Patterns of force, when Spock disguised himself as a nazi. Did he really think he will not have to remove his helmet in public?
It would be most logical, if he had put some (red!) blood soaked bandage around his head, thus he would cover the ears and eyebrows. Nobody would like to see what's under it. It would also explain his weird colour. And if someone asked, he could say he injured himself during a sexy time with Gertrude, or so. Also he should remove the eyeshadows, when he wants to disguise himself. I know, it must be hard for him to leave his quarters without it, but, there were times when make-up wasn't for men.
And the most logical it would be, if he did not go to the planet at all.
Another thing there was the way he and Kirk escaped. Well described in Aurelio Voltaire's USS make shit up

''I was stranded on a planet, just me and Spock
We met a nasty nazi alien who locked our asses up
We found a hunk of crystal and a metal piece of bed
We made a laser phaser gun and shot him in the head..''

 

[kirkfan]

I don't get why even on Voyager they still bring padds containing data ON FOOT, instead of say, send the 24th century equivalent of an email? That seems kinda stupid, like, I don't know, people dropping their guns and starting to fight with swords, fortunately we never see that kind of stuff, do we?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't get why even on Voyager they still bring padds containing data ON FOOT

Because characters need to be seen doing that, on orders from the network bean-counters. You don't get any drama from people pushing buttons. Or so they say.

 

[kirkfan]

I don't get why even on Voyager they still bring padds containing data ON FOOT

Because characters need to be seen doing that, on orders from the network bean-counters. You don't get any drama from people pushing buttons. Or so they say.

I don't know, apart from the bridge crew and maybe three or four other people, we barely get a glimpse of the others. It wouldn't matter if they were seen carrying padds or pushing buttons.

 

[Greg Cox]

I don't get why even on Voyager they still bring padds containing data ON FOOT

Because characters need to be seen doing that, on orders from the network bean-counters. You don't get any drama from people pushing buttons. Or so they say.

I don't know, apart from the bridge crew and maybe three or four other people, we barely get a glimpse of the others. It wouldn't matter if they were seen carrying padds or pushing buttons.

Well, it makes the bridge scenes look less static visually, and given that so much of Trek consists of people sitting in chairs staring at a big screen, I can see where the shows might seize on any chance to add some motion and physical activity to the staging.

But, yeah, this is an aspect of Trek-nology that's growing increasingly dated. The crews really should be able to email reports and data back and forth to each other with a push of a button. It feels weird, to modern eyes, when they don't do that.

Still, we're making progress. Back in "The Cage," the consoles and computers still printed out paper reports.

 

[kirkfan]

Because characters need to be seen doing that, on orders from the network bean-counters. You don't get any drama from people pushing buttons. Or so they say.

I don't know, apart from the bridge crew and maybe three or four other people, we barely get a glimpse of the others. It wouldn't matter if they were seen carrying padds or pushing buttons.

Well, it makes the bridge scenes look less static visually, and given that so much of Trek consists of people sitting in chairs staring at a big screen, I can see where the shows might seize on any chance to add some motion and physical activity to the staging.

But, yeah, this is an aspect of Trek-nology that's growing increasingly dated. The crews really should be able to email reports and data back and forth to each other with a push of a button. It feels weird, to modern eyes, when they don't do that.

Still, we're making progress. Back in "The Cage," the consoles and computers still printed out paper reports.

Yes and we get to see what the viewers back then couldn't, for example read the reports in Where No Man Has Gone Before in detail instead of getting a subliminal glimpse of them as was intended by the makers of the episode.