What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[Vger23]

Controversial Opinion: I'm looking more forward to Discovery Season 4 and Picard Season 2 than the rest of the upcoming line-up.

I think Strange New Worlds will win me over, but Standard/Traditional TOS/TNG/VOY "back to basics" type Star Trek isn't what I really go for these days. Probably because of the (IMO) diminishing returns: TOS>TNG>VOY>Early-ENT. Hopefully SNW breaks the pattern. The 2019 Shorts, which were effectively SNW Shorts, were okay but that's it. "The Trouble With Edward" was a lot of fun... but I think "Q&A" and "Ask Not" -- along with DSC's "New Eden" -- give a better sense of what SNW will really be like.

This isn’t controversial from my seat.

SNW has the potential to be great because the cast is amazing. But, if it’s just “mission of the week” stuff we’ve had 700 times already, I’m not sure I’ll care too much. It will have to be REALLY GOOD anthology-like science fiction for that to hold my interest.

I also worry that they are moving DSC in that general direction, which would even further frustrate the situation.

 

[Lord Garth]

SNW has the potential to be great because the cast is amazing. But, if it’s just “mission of the week” stuff we’ve had 700 times already, I’m not sure I’ll care too much. It will have to be REALLY GOOD anthology-like science fiction for that to hold my interest.

If the quality level hits TOS, mid-TNG, or the original Twilight Zone (while we're speaking of anthologies), I'll be very happy with SNW.

If it's like late-TNG, VOY, or early-ENT, I'll be like "Well, I hope you people who wanted this show so badly like what you've got! See you on the flip-side."

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Probably because of the (IMO) diminishing returns: TOS>TNG>VOY>Early-ENT.

I'm curious: Did DS9 break the pattern of diminishing returns for you, or did you just not watch it?

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm curious: Did DS9 break the pattern of diminishing returns for you, or did you just not watch it?

I watched it, but it's not traditional, episodic starship Trek. I'm comparing similar shows with a similar format to each other. I like DS9 better than TNG but not as much as TOS.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I watched it, but it's not traditional, episodic starship Trek. I'm comparing similar shows with a similar format to each other. I like DS9 better than TNG but not as much as TOS.

Gotcha. I'm the same way. DS9 is my second favorite series.

 

[Disposable_Ensign]

Ditto.
I really dislike DSC, because it shows the decade before TOS being more technologically advanced than after TOS/TAS. I also think that no one can really play Spock but Leonard Nimoy, same with Kirk, Scotty, Checkov and McCoy.

 

[Xhiandra]

I watched it, but it's not traditional, episodic starship Trek. I'm comparing similar shows with a similar format to each other. I like DS9 better than TNG but not as much as TOS.

DS9 was quite episodic for most of its run. There were longer arcs (starting with the 5-episode arc early in S6), but even the last 2 seasons were peppered with standalone episodes.

 

[fireproof78]

If the quality level hits TOS, mid-TNG, or the original Twilight Zone (while we're speaking of anthologies), I'll be very happy with SNW.

If it's like late-TNG, VOY, or early-ENT, I'll be like "Well, I hope you people who wanted this show so badly like what you've got! See you on the flip-side."

Indeed, yes.

 

[Lord Garth]

DS9 was quite episodic for most of its run. There were longer arcs (starting with the 5-episode arc early in S6), but even the last 2 seasons were peppered with standalone episodes.

Splitting hairs. I said "traditional episodic Starship Trek". DS9 wasn't a Starship Show and its setting was non-traditional, along with a lot of the characters. It was a different format with different types of characters and it stayed within the vicinity of one planet that we spent a lot more time with and got to know its neighbors. What I like about DS9 is that it was something besides what TOS, TNG, VOY, and ENT were doing. There were certain types of Star Trek episodes that you could only do on DS9.

So what I say stands: I think TOS was better than TNG, I think TNG was better than VOY, and I think VOY was better than the first two seasons of ENT. With each new series in that type of setting and format, it became worse on average than what it was before. Which keeps my enthusiasm for SNW firmly in check.

But ENT Season 2 was the nadir. If nothing else, I'm pretty sure SNW will be a lot better than that, at least.

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm an unapologetic fan of ENT but even I can't defend the laziness of Season 2 episodes such as "The Communicator" and "The Seventh." "A Night In Sickbay" was inane and awful but in its defense at least it tried something different. It just failed in my opinion. The two others I mentioned are just borefests.

 

[1001001]

I'm an unapologetic fan of ENT but even I can't defend the laziness of Season 2 episodes such as "The Communicator" and "The Seventh." "A Night In Sickbay" was inane and awful but in its defense at least it tried something different. It just failed in my opinion. The two others I mentioned are just borefests.

Yeah, but Carbon Creek and Dead Stop are two of the very best of Trek, IMHO.

 

[Vger23]

Ditto.
I really dislike DSC, because it shows the decade before TOS being more technologically advanced than after TOS/TAS. I also think that no one can really play Spock but Leonard Nimoy, same with Kirk, Scotty, Checkov and McCoy.

There are plenty of reasons I could see for someone disliking DSC.

These would be at the bottom of that list though.

 

[cooleddie74]

Absolutely. Season 2 is the biggest conflicting mess of quality I've seen in a season of Trek. Amazing classics of writing combined with pure boredom and drivel and episodes that just sort of...exist but don't excite nor insult the intelligence. The swing in quality from "Carbon Creek" and "Dead Stop" to "The Communicator" is jarring. "Minefield" may be an egregious canon violation to some fans but it's solid entertainment and brings with it a creepy atmosphere that the series needed more of when it came to the mysteries and dangers of exploring deep space.

"The Seventh" is seen by at least a few as character development for T'Pol and to a degree I suppose it is but man, is it almost painfully uninteresting and just a rehash of every TNG or DS9 episode about tracing a fugitive and facing dark truths about yourself during the pursuit.

 

[Vger23]

Splitting hairs. I said "traditional episodic Starship Trek". DS9 wasn't a Starship Show and its setting was non-traditional, along with a lot of the characters. It was a different format with different types of characters and it stayed within the vicinity of one planet that we spent a lot more time with and got to know its neighbors. What I like about DS9 is that it was something besides what TOS, TNG, VOY, and ENT were doing. There were certain types of Star Trek episodes that you could only do on DS9.

So what I say stands: I think TOS was better than TNG, I think TNG was better than VOY, and I think VOY was better than the first two seasons of ENT. With each new series in that type of setting and format, it became worse on average than what it was before. Which keeps my enthusiasm for SNW firmly in check.

But ENT Season 2 was the nadir. If nothing else, I'm pretty sure SNW will be a lot better than that, at least.

My thought on another episodic, planet of the week Trek show is that if you’re going to do that after TOS, TAS, TNG, VOY and ENT have all done it...it had better be fucking amazing and it had better have a different “hook” rather than just “here’s Pike and a Spock aboard the Enterprise,” or it’s going to have the a worse case of replicative fading than the clones from Up the Long Ladder.

They will need unique and compelling science fiction stories every single week, in almost an anthology format, for it to hold my interest. If it’s derivative, I’ll be off the bandwagon fast. If it’s not REALLY compelling, off it fast. If it becomes “Number One’s aunt visits the Enterprise” or other mundane character drama that TNG attempted, I’m off it. If it’s all just fanwank (tonight we get a visit from Lt. Ron Tracy yayyyyaaayyy!), I’m off.

So...it’s a tall order. That’s why I’m worried. I love the characters and the cast, but like DS9, DSC and PIC...it has to be different or it’s just a copy of a copy of a copy.

 

[Oddish]

"A Night In Sickbay" was inane and awful but in its defense at least it tried something different. It just failed in my opinion.

I have mixed feelings about that one. It's ridiculous and it seriously craps on Archer's character... but it's also frickin' hilarious. Especially if I've had a few drinks, and I think the idea of doggy funerals, T'Pol's clothes disappearing, or Hoshi air-snagging a bat are the funniest things in the world.

 

[1001001]

ANIS was not that bad.

 

[cooleddie74]

ANIS was not that bad.

[*Snicker*]

 

[at Quark's]

Well, I think it has some entertainment value if you don't think about it. To me, the main problem with it is that it shows an Archer that's seriously unfit as a Starfleet explorer and diplomat.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Enterprise was doing season 7 fluff stories in season 2.

 

[Disposable_Ensign]

There are plenty of reasons I could see for someone disliking DSC.

These would be at the bottom of that list though.

That's just one of the many. I hate reboots in general, because DSC just ruined the magic of the TOS era.