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Things I Hate About Star Trek

^ I've been using too many smilies lately, so in the spirit of this exchange, I'll just say...

::ladylike snicker:: Although actually I laughed aloud. I'd better get back to work before somebody hears me and wonders what so darn funny back there in JustKate's office!
 
Yeah, actually laughing out loud can be quite...embarrassing. ::Gentlemanly chuckle::

Also you missed an opportunity for a Spike Mulligan classic there.
 
I never understood what was so human about him. Any human genes he possessed appeared to have been rather unexpressed. Honestly, I suspect he's a clone of Sarek with some junk coding thrown in to placate Amanda.

Then there's the fact that the writers were inconsistent with explaining why Vulcans were emotionless. Sometimes they seemed to imply that it was genetic - and other times, a thing of the mind. Eventually we're told that Vulcans swore off emotion because they were so violent as a species. So if Vulcans are by nature emotional, then why would Spock's human half have any role to play in his upbringing on Vulcan?
 
Perhaps they have been trained to be emotionless for so long that their behavior has become a part of their genetics?
 
Hm... I dunno. Isn't that like saying if you paint a white bird black, it'll eventually grow black feathers on its own, and so will its progeny?

It's been ages since Biology, so... forgive me if I'm getting my book learnin' mixed up.
 
OK, here is my hates after giving it much thought after reading through the other posts...

I will start by saying I am a child of the 80's I grew up with TNG onwards, and didnt like the original crew until Wrath of Kahn, so here goes...

TOS
I hate how starfleet is never shown in detail, just the odd official here and there with no consistancy.

I hate how every ship is either a cargo ship or a Constitution class vessal.

I hate how Kirk is always snogging the Aliens, its just pathetic and of its time.

I hate the miniskirts, how dimeaning to the female crew-members.

I hate how Sulu and Chekov were ancillery characters and they didn't have any personal relationships or life.

I hate the Klingons without the ridges, it feels very anti-black in its portrayal.

I hate the engine room being practically empty, and how all the rooms were disconnected from each other.

I hate the 60's look for everything, but this is as I look back at them, and cannot be justifyed at the time, but I will say I did and do like the retro look in Thunderbirds.

Phew thats that done, now onto the movies...


TOS Movies
I hate the bridge design for the Enterprise before Star Trek V. It actually felt less futuristic than the awful TOS bridge.

I hate TMP's pacing and premise, its dated badly compared to other films like Wrath of Kahn or The Undiscovered Country.

I hate the shoddy sets/locations used for the Genesis Planet in The Search for Spock.

I hate the captain of the Excelsior, not Sulu, but is it Harrison, and that Riding crop????

Ok, not so much to hate there


TNG
I hate the fact everyone wares such boring and skin tight/all in ones for their casual clothing.

I hate the fact that the Ships Councellor did not have any episodes with crew members undergoing intense sessions. So much lost potential in exploring deep psycological issues.

The Holodeck was such a crutch, and some of the scenarios were so contrived and felt out of place. God forbid a return to Picard as Robin Hood, or the Sherlock Holmes scenarios.

Not enough shown of the interpersonal relationships or families living on the ship. O'Brian and Keiko was as close as they ever got.

The Reset Switch...

The lighting of the set was so drab and boring. It doesn't have to be dark, but its just full brightness and no contrast. Generations made the Enterprise D look so much nicer.

I hate how every ambassador or admiral used an excelsior class starship.

The fact almost every planet was in a cave!

The fact that the Cardassian and Bajoran conflict was treated with such disinterest, its almost like ignoring the holocaust. Ro Laren was good, but how did she escape the work camps to join starfleet???

The first and only Clip Show!!!!!!!?!?!?! ARGH!!!

Most of this was new trek finding its feet...


Deep Space Nine
This is my newly favourite series. I never watched it when it was on air, but got them on DVD and fell in love, but as this is a hate thread.

The Changling infultration of the Alpha Quadrant was not really resolved, and much more of life on Earth and within the federation's politics could have been developed before the war started.

We should have had more of Dukat's inner demons, and his knowledge of the pah' wraiths could have been slower and more intreaguing.

Cardassians put on trial for their war crimes, and showing the bajoran process of recovery.


Voyager
Ok this was my favourite series before I discovered DS9, but it started badly and ended badly.

The conflict between the Marquis and Starfleet personel was resolved too easily.

The struggle to keep the ship going could have been an interesting way to create tensions and conflict on board.

The Holodeck locations were AWFUL, not a single one was good. Janeway as a childminder/house nanny, going to fairview and their WARPED view of Ireland, and then on to Da Vinchi?!??!

Neelix could have taken a bit longer to blend into the group.

Year of Hell should have been a 6-8 episode arc.

The Krenim could have been the best alien race from the delta quadrant, their whole attitude, the searches of the ship, Voyager could have become a ghetto like the jews in germany, smuggling people, groups of disperate races teaming together to evade them.

The void could have been an entire arc also, crew members loosing their mind, relationships breaking down. More of the captain isolating herself, etc.

The borg should only have come into play for the entirty of the final series. They are a great threat, but were cheapened with Species 8472, and Janeway's unbelievable ability to control them lol. We could have had crew-member thought dead for say 10 episodes, only to be found as still alive and then liberated, that way Seven of Nine (or actually known as the Horny Teen Magnet) could have either been ditched, or introduced earler as a borg drone Aparently disconnected, retracing her past (the raven etc) before becoming a threat in the final series.

Voyager should have ended with them coming home, and a final series, showing the crew go back to their normal lives, some successfully, some not, and Tuvok's mental instability becoming a feature.

What annoys me about Voyager is that it had some of the best episodes of any Trek, and had the potential of some great arcs, but was ruined by Berman, and the studios who passed at a year of hell season etc. This was along side DS9 which had the best characters and characterisations and the arcs with the profets/pah' wraiths, the changling threat, and the dominion war.


TNG Movies
Generations could have been better had it had started with the original crew and the Enterprise B, rescuing Guinen and Dr Soran. The old crew dealing with the death of Kirk, some in disbelief, and the hint he may have survived in the nexus. Then moving away from that era, and focusing on the battle with Soran and Picard, and Guinen warning of the Nexus.

Once Picard enters the nexus, he should actually be unable to resist the idea of staying in there, until Guinen introduces him to Kirk, and Kirk telling him his regrets and persuading him to go back for the crew, the ship, and for the future, and that be Kirk's final send off.


First Contact only has one flaw in my opinion, and that is the fact that Picards experience as locutus was not explored in as much depth as I would have liked. Flashbacks to the things he did, and things he experienced, would have helped sell his instability and anger. The borg experience is to Picard, what Kahn was to Kirk.

Insurrection this should not have been based around the baku and the sona, but could have been about Starfleet collaborating with another race to persecute and destroy another race. I know this isn't what Starfleet would usually do, but if it was a corrupt officer, and be a politically focused story, Picard could have become almost like the Marque, taking a stand against the Federation, bringing down the president himself, and causing lasting repurcutions for the future of the federation, which could have led into the next film, with the Romulans taking advantage of the situation.

Nemesis This is a controversial view, but I actually liked this movie. The thing I hated was the whole negotiations and potential of peace with the romulans became a backseat element. The romulans could be on the verge of civil war with the Remans, and their one great backup plan of infiltrating the federation, a clone of Captain Picard, is leading the remans. He could have started by destroying the romulan senate, luring the federation to the planet, before starting an all out assult on Earth. Then he comes face to face with Picard, and as he foils their plot on earth, Shinzon should have then become obsessed with Picard, and this would lead to the confrontation with the Prator and the Enterprise, and Data sacrificing himself to save Picard, without any B4 nonsense, this alongside the Troi and Riker Wedding, which we should have ended on, Happyness, and Sadness at Data's death, with Picard bittersweet ending the film on a slightly dark tone.



God that ended up longer than I thought it would, and to think all this hate is small compared to all I love about Star Trek!!!!
 
^ What a fab and thoughtful post, Martin! We do have a "Things I love about Star Trek" thread in this form as well, so if you might want to visit it...after you take a breather. ;)
 
There is much to dislike... despite there being so much to like. A number of people have spelled it out quite well. There are a couple of things that really stand out as being the "worst offenders" for me. Just plain outright violations of established ideas ("canon") and reality.

First and foremost: Computer Science.
OK, we're beyond the 23rd century. Seeing how advances have gone with computer technology in just the last 50 years, you have to believe that things only get easier and not more convoluted in the future. A COMPUTER CAN ALWAYS BE TURNED OFF. You have a CPU handling the holodecks. Got a problem? Shut it down. This "lockout" sh*t is for the birds. Completely unbelievable. On military vessels there is ALWAYS a physically activated manual override for any systems. Circuit breaker. Control valve. Whatever. So... ALL of these blasted holodeck based episodes where people are trapped is just plain ridiculous. "There's some kind of forcefield surrounding the manual override controls". OK. Turn off the damned power grid. Everything reboots. Case closed. Sorry writers... there's plenty of other material to focus on.

The EMH. I'm sorry, but he's a PROGRAM. Any program can be copied, copied, copied. Backed up. Restored. OK, you might lose a day or two of memory depending upon your backup cycle. But GIVE ME A DAMNED BREAK. The EMH could be copied ad-infinitum. Why is there only ONE EMH operating at any given time when a bunch of casualties come in? Activate a copy! Call it EMH-2 and give him a toupee. Shut it down when you're done. I understand the idea of a pseudo-sentient hologram building up a sophisticated AI type database, as he learns and has more experiences over time. But it's data... which can be backed up and restored. This whole issue of "losing the EMH" is ridiculous. Now, I can understand concern about losing the mobile emitter... that makes sense as it is a physical device. Anyway... I've ranted enough on that.

The Borg. Y'know, when we first get to know them in TNG, we fear them. They are this "faceless" monstrosity of impending death. They are cold, calculating, relentless, and something to seriously run away from at all costs. You don't engage the Borg--they are way too powerful. We see ONE BORG CUBE decimate all starships at Wolf 359. ALL OF THEM. "Half the fleet". And then a clever means is devised to thwart this one ship--by leveraging Picard's connection, the Borg cube is destroyed. So, we get this established. But then... what happens? "Voyager" and "Enterprise" trivialize them to "just another threat." I also think the introduction of a "queen" doesn't make any sense. The Borg have a collective consciousness, much like the Internet. A web of interconnected beings and computer systems. You destroy one ship, and it has little impact to the rest of the collective. A "queen" is unnecessary. A collective doesn't need a singular control source. They're cyborgs, working collectively. They have their mission objective--assimilation--and they carry it out wherever they go. If effective resistance is encountered, reinforcements are called upon. Anyway, the writers really blew it. The Borg could have been a far more effective story element for various episodes... I was extremely disappointed with how they were handled. And don't get me started with Enterprise. The Borg never should have been there. NEVER.

Damage miraculously disappearing in subsequent episodes. I'm sorry, I know these folks have amazing technology, but physical damage is physical damage. Unless you have repair robots that are mysteriously hidden from view that work on everything from hull breaches to interior conduits, restoring everything to "like new" condition, then it's just not believable. I really wish we saw some damage continuation. At least in TNG and DS9, we'd see it repaired from time to time at starbase or DS9 facilities. But in Voyager? Lost deep in the Delta quadrant with no Federation bases? No breaks from the wrath of enemies? Short on resources all the time? I'm sorry... but that ship ought to look pretty badly beat up after halfway through the seasons.

Q. I like the character and what John de Lancie did with him. Sarcastic biting humorous wit. But the whole 'Q' thing was overdone and abused. TNG started with it, from day one. I really wished Gene had held off and introduced him later. Anyway, "All Good Things" was an interesting take on past/present/future and of course all tethered together by Q. We couldn't have expected to see the Enterprise-D pull up into space dock and the crew disembark for other assignments... we had the movies to look forward to. Anyway, 'Q' is this "we can do anything" plug and it's just plain dangerous. It has to be conserved and used with caution. But I think it got overplayed... especially the visit to the continuum. Bah.

The technobabble did annoy me, but I took it in stride. Up to a point. When the usage begins to lose consistency and presents contradiction, I get irate. If they're going to create a taxonomy of technology, stick with it. Make it believable. It's really not that hard to do... not doing it is just plain lazy and inconsiderate.

Wrap it up in one episode. There were plenty of stories that were just too rich with ideas and complexities to do in one episode. I would have liked to see double the number of 2 part episodes. TNG finally broke out of doing it with just season cliffhangers and incorporated a couple here and there. DS9 did a pretty good job with that. But Voyager should have had more of them.

Well... that's about it. I could go on, but I think most of the other points I'd like to make have been made well enough by others. :)
 
A COMPUTER CAN ALWAYS BE TURNED OFF. You have a CPU handling the holodecks. Got a problem? Shut it down. This "lockout" sh*t is for the birds.
Yes!

Why is there only ONE EMH operating at any given time when a bunch of casualties come in? Activate a copy!
Yess! They would even use the same knowledge-base in memory to reduce memory requirements.

The Borg. Y'know, when we first get to know them in TNG, we fear them. [...] "Voyager" and "Enterprise" trivialize them to "just another threat."
Yesss! The Borg in Q Who? and The Best of Both Worlds were SCARY. I miss them so.

We see ONE BORG CUBE decimate all starships at Wolf 359. ALL OF THEM. "Half the fleet"
Was it stated somewhere that this was half the fleet?

Lost deep in the Delta quadrant with no Federation bases? No breaks from the wrath of enemies? Short on resources all the time? I'm sorry... but that ship ought to look pretty badly beat up after halfway through the seasons.
Yessss! Voyager should've had parts falling off all the time.

Q. I like the character and what John de Lancie did with him. Sarcastic biting humorous wit. But the whole 'Q' thing was overdone and abused.
Yesssss! I regret having used him in a fanfic recently. Actually, there are way too many races in Trek that non-chalantly threaten to destroy the Enterprise because it annoys them, but not because they really want to. Such as in When the Bough Breaks, Clues, etc.

The technobabble did annoy me, but I took it in stride. Up to a point. When the usage begins to lose consistency and presents contradiction, I get irate. If they're going to create a taxonomy of technology, stick with it. Make it believable. It's really not that hard to do... not doing it is just plain lazy and inconsiderate.
Yessssss!

I like your ideas and wish to subscribe ;)
 
I agree with most of what everyone has said, especially in regards to TNG.

I'd like to add (not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but probably) that I absolutely LOATHED the complete lack of any military accuracy on the ship. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure hostile alien species boarding your ship would be treated as a slightly bigger threat than it normally was.

Also, when exactly did humans decide that carrying their weapons properly was just entirely too much of a hassle? The Enterprise regularly had "security teams" acting pretty damn lackadaisical during what should have been incredibly dangerous situations.

Take Nemesis for example... the ship has been boarded, you're all under extreme threat of death, and what do you do? Worf and Riker go waltzing through the halls, chattering and carrying on, with a few security officers behind them. No one is holding their weapons correctly, no one even bothers looking around corners before strolling around them casually, and no one takes cover of any kind. Hostile aliens on board trying to kill you, RED ALERT, ship could be captured/destroyed, and we still can't take it seriously?

It's the friggin 24th century and no one can aim? Everyone just fires randomly and carelessly? 24th century weapons eh? Ugh....

I know the show was never meant to focus on the military aspect of interstellar exploration and all that... but damn, how hard would it have been to make a few MINOR changes that would've added a hell of a lot of legitimacy to these scenes? I'm not asking for perfection here, but CMON!
 
I hate on-again, off-again romances... Worf 'n' Troi

Worf and Troi weren't really off again/on again. They started dating, and then the show ended, then Troi rammed the Enterprise into a planet, and he got transferred to DS9.

Fixed this for you.;)

It always annoyed me when people would give non-answers to questions in order to create a "dramatic" hook.

RIKER: Several vessels have just dropped out of warp, Captain.
PICARD: Identities, Number One? (tugs at shirt)
RIKER: (dramatic pause) Trouble....

FADE TO BLACK.
 
I was just watching the "You are Cordially Invited..." episode of DS9 and I was reminded of something I've always hated...Kira clapping by hitting the back of her hand with the palm of her hand! What the hell is that? It looks so stupid and annoys the hell out of me! Is this supposed to be some 'special' Bajoran way of clapping? Of all the ways they could have imagined to make an alien culture look unique, this is what they come up with? IDIOTIC!
 
I was just watching the "You are Cordially Invited..." episode of DS9 and I was reminded of something I've always hated...Kira clapping by hitting the back of her hand with the palm of her hand! What the hell is that? It looks so stupid and annoys the hell out of me! Is this supposed to be some 'special' Bajoran way of clapping? Of all the ways they could have imagined to make an alien culture look unique, this is what they come up with? IDIOTIC!

But is it any worse than the Vulcan salute? Of course, the Vulcan salute is far more geek-tastic...At least I think so. Really.

But it's not as though this were the only special thing about Bajorans. If it was...well, yeah, that would be lame.

Edit: As it is...you know, I never thought about it, but it for one thing, it would kind of hurt, and for another...wouldn't it be kind of, um, subdued? How much enthusiasm can you really show that way?
 
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Red Squad.

Oh yeah the cocky arrogant fools who committed suicide by Jem'hadar.

Not to mention attempted to overthrow the legitimate government, under Leyton's command...

If we Cardassians were in charge--they wouldn't have lived long enough after that to commit suicide by Jem'Hadar! And if anybody even so much as MENTIONED Red Squad again...well, let it be know that WE know how to deal with traitors! :evil:
 
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