Star Trek peeves

[Starfleet Engineer]

Anytime they had a story or scene where LeVar Burton tried to act outside of technobabble. The worst was when he tried to do a British accent on the holodeck as Dr. Watson. Also, whenever the character attempted a relationship or talked about them. Terrible.

 

[The Old Mixer]

His British accent was supposed to be Geordi trying to do the accent, and in the style of a specific character, not a professional actor doing an accent for a character of his own. In that context, I thought it worked for the episode.

 

[Starfleet Engineer]

His British accent was supposed to be Geordi trying to do the accent, and in the style of a specific character, not a professional actor doing an accent for a character of his own. In that context, I thought it worked for the episode.

No, it doesnt. In any context. Ever.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

That was an intentionally bad accent.

 

[Drone]

^ Remember Voyager's Repression?

INT: HOLODECK
PARIS: We thought maybe the intruder left behind some kind of negative image.
KIM: Displaced photons. Tom figured that if we dampen the photonic ambience and enhance the polarity -
TUVOK: We can applaud Mister Paris' ingenuity later. What have you found?
(Kim calls up a shadowy figure on the front row.) ETC.....

Thinking about it just a wee bit more, this isn't an example from a security camera, but simply through a clever utilization of scanning technology as you quoted yourself in the ending inserts. TUVOK: - Or a seat belt. Now get back to enhancing the polarity of the photonic ambience, or whatever....." So no dice as an example of the former it would seem unless I'm being totally clueless at an attempt of joviality

1. My worst peeve in Trek is the conscious and subconscious sexism that has pervaded right up to modern Trek. Things have improved in that Voyager did at least place women in the command and engineering fields but when you strip out the top layer of female characters you discover that there are over twice as many men as women throughout the franchise. If you then strip out characters who are primarily parents or love interests, the ratio drops even further.

From what we see on screen, Janeway had only Stadi among her senior crew and if it hadn't been for Chakotay pushing for B'lanna, she would have had no women after combining command crews either.

Troi was kept out of uniform so she looked hotter (a matter of opinion) and was treated like she passed Starfleet officer training by winning a competition on the back of a cornflake packet. Scientists like Keiko or Samantha Wildman tended to appear in stories linked to their relationships rather than their scientific qualifications and their qualifications were overlooked in stories where they might have been relevant in favour of using other characters (albeit Keiko was a civilian, and a very whiny one at that).

I know she was an ensign, but so was Kim. So doesn't the fact that Wildman seemed to to be stationed on the bridge at, from what I can tell was a primary scientific post count for something? I'm not sure what the exact definition of senior crew entails, but again given that Kim was included, why couldn't she have been as well? Only by virtue of her not attending Command Staff meetings?

 

[Triskelion]

Thinking about it just a wee bit more, this isn't an example from a security camera, but simply through a clever utilization of scanning technology as you quoted yourself in the ending inserts. TUVOK: - Or a seat belt. Now get back to enhancing the polarity of the photonic ambience, or whatever....." So no dice as an example of the former it would seem unless I'm being totally clueless at an attempt of joviality

If I get your point - right, it was not a security camera, which would have made very short work of the whole mystery and deprived us of an act or two. Just being facetious, don't credit that post too much dignity Drone, though I appreciate the thought energy.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm not sure what the exact definition of senior crew entails,

In Star Trek "senior staff" basically just means "main character" sometimes expanded to include recurring characters (like Nog on DS9).

 

[Starfleet Engineer]

In Star Trek "senior staff" basically just means "main character" sometimes expanded to include recurring characters (like Nog on DS9).

Like the president's cabinet are senior staff, I've always assumed the captain's senior officers are senior staff.

 

[cultcross]

Like the president's cabinet are senior staff, I've always assumed the captain's senior officers are senior staff.

That would make sense but we see officers of senior rank to main characters who aren't included in the 'senior staff do exposition and get their contracted screen time' scenes, and those who are included have included some pretty junior people who just happen to be main characters. Wesley and Nog being the best examples. Nog was treated like a senior staff member on DS9 for the last two seasons for no real reason apart from that he was a main recurring character.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Usually on Star Trek 'Senior Staff' refers to department heads. But, that would exclude Kim, and he was present at the senior staff meetings. In DS9 they usually referred to the senior staff as Sisko, Dax, Bashir, Kira and Odo, then later Worf. Nog was treated more as a bridge officer than a department head. He was there for the major battles but he was only there for strategic discussion when they needed his Ferengi hearing for something.

 

[Pauln6]

Realistically, ensigns would not be senior staff but might be included at senior staff meetings if they had expertise. TOS also used to have note-takers but why that would be needed, I don't know. Just an excuse to have a woman who could fetch the coffee at the meetings I guess. Voyager is slightly different in that they have only 120 ish crew. On the basis that they would have only a few officers, ensigns might be senior staff. So Wildman could conceivably be chief science officer. She's certainly the only scientist we see who isn't an astrophysicist.

So yeah, my peeve is using the main cast for inappropriate roles, like sending Neelix instead of the ship's geologist on the basis that he went caving once.

 

[The Wormhole]

Usually on Star Trek 'Senior Staff' refers to department heads. But, that would exclude Kim, and he was present at the senior staff meetings. In DS9 they usually referred to the senior staff as Sisko, Dax, Bashir, Kira and Odo, then later Worf. Nog was treated more as a bridge officer than a department head. He was there for the major battles but he was only there for strategic discussion when they needed his Ferengi hearing for something.

Thing is there are times when Sisko will say "assemble the senior staff" and we see Nog present when the senior staff is assembled. Likewise, Picard will say the same thing and Wesley shows up.

 

[TheGoodStuff]

Another peeve of mine [that may have been mentioned]:

1. Humanity seems to infiltrate so much and, more specifically, our heroes are involved in almost everything. The Voth originated on Earth, Shinzon is a Picard clone, B'Elanna/Spock/Troi are all half-human, Tom's daughter is Kuvah'magh, the Breen/Xindi/Borg all attack Earth.

I completely understand this from a story telling perspective, and many stories would lose their emotional impact if it told from another species point of view, but I do sometimes roll my eyes when ANOTHER alien happens to know one of our crew, or ANOTHER alien is descended from/hates/ is endebted to humans.

 

[Tracy Trek]

So yeah, my peeve is using the main cast for inappropriate roles, like sending Neelix instead of the ship's geologist on the basis that he went caving once.

Was the mission to capture the Maquis the shakedown cruise? Since it was basically a military operation, would it be necessary to have a full complement of scientists on board for this? I got the impression that this mission to the Badlands would only last a few weeks (Voyager was assigned because it's bio-neural circutry was needed to navigate the Badlands) and then they were supposed to start dedicated scientific exploring afterwards.

Or is the full crew assigned no matter what their first mission is?

 

[Pauln6]

I guess they might vary the crew based on mission specifics but there would be crew with varying specialties on board. Sulu is a helmsman who trained in physics, Chekov seems to have some zoology knowledge etc but what a ship with 120 crew would not do is have the helmsman ALSO be the staff physicist or the Doctor ALSO be the staff astrobiologist. The workload would be impractical. Even then other characters did stand in as surrogate parents more often than Wildman did herself.

 

[Richard Baker]

I have been watching scattered episodes from all the different Trek series and one thing jumps out at me.
When something happens and they need bridge personnel to either go to a meeting/away team/deal with something- replacement personnel are immediately on the scene to fill in the now empty spot.

Where do they come from? You pan the camera around the bridge, no extra people standing around, just the ones needed to run the ship. Data gets out of his chair and some guy plops down into it before Data takes three steps away. Even if they beam the replacement straight out of his quarters and onto the Bridge there is not enough time for this.

 

[maneth]

I have been watching scattered episodes from all the different Trek series and one thing jumps out at me.
When something happens and they need bridge personnel to either go to a meeting/away team/deal with something- replacement personnel are immediately on the scene to fill in the now empty spot.

Where do they come from? You pan the camera around the bridge, no extra people standing around, just the ones needed to run the ship. Data gets out of his chair and some guy plops down into it before Data takes three steps away. Even if they beam the replacement straight out of his quarters and onto the Bridge there is not enough time for this.

I agree with you on this, although for me it's a fairly minor peeve.

 

[Vandervecken]

Anytime they had a story or scene where LeVar Burton tried to act outside of technobabble. The worst was when he tried to do a British accent on the holodeck as Dr. Watson. Also, whenever the character attempted a relationship or talked about them. Terrible.

He had this false-sounding hearty laugh that made me grate my teeth.

Also, Gates McFadden had this affected-sounding upward lilt at the end of some sentences that also made me wince.

 

[stardream]

He had this false-sounding hearty laugh that made me grate my teeth.

Also, Gates McFadden had this affected-sounding upward lilt at the end of some sentences that also made me wince.

Robbie McNeil had something similar going on with his voice early in the Series...it was like he was asking a question without really asking one (mostly when he was acting defensive) but fortunately he stopped that.

 

[Tracy Trek]

I was rewatching Caretaker last night and I noticed something. Actually I've noticed it before. When Kes, B'Elanna and Harry beam up from the surface of Ocampa, B'Elanna still has the clothes on that the Ocampa doctor gave them and then when she and Chakotay leave sickbay she's got her Maquis leathers on (Chakotay's barefoot I think and I don't believe he stopped to put the shoes back on).

With a nod to the fourth wall, I suspect the real reason for why she's not in the same clothes her character beamed up in is they were shot out of order. But it just seems funny for someone to take the time in the middle of a crisis to change clothes. Her leathers she was wearing when they were taken would no doubt be left on the array so they would have to replicate some more. It's little things like this that will pull you out of the narrative sometimes.