What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[Vger23]

My controversial opinions:

TWOK would be middle to the lower end for me when ranking the films. It has its strengths but for example I prefer watching INS.

I feel the same way about TUC. To me, it's one of the weakest of the TOS films. I can't buy in on INS, though....that's the only film in the entire franchise I actively dislike.

Sisko and DS9 are good but not the best Star Trek because they don't portray the positive future I want to see. Into the Pale Moonlight is a brilliant episode but also not Star Trek to me.

I'm the opposite. I like Star Trek with an edge. It can be edgy and optimistic at the same time, which I think DS9 pulls off nicely, but pure roses and sunshine don't interest me nearly as much.

 

[Disco]

I get why you wouldn't like INS. It's not the best film. For me it's nice easy escapism though.

It's great there's so much Star Trek now that there's something for everyone and the message is reasonably consistent throughout.

 

[Vger23]

It's great there's so much Star Trek now that there's something for everyone and the message is reasonably consistent throughout.

I agree 1,000% with that!

 

[fireproof78]

Sometimes a franchise transcends the quality of an individual entry not just to the point of making up for the bad but to the point of making it worthwhile despite being bad. And that also doesn't mean that it stops being bad or that you don't still wish it was better. You just find the parts about it that you do enjoy to be significant enough to endure the rest.

Interesting. So, basically the overall love of the franchise makes it possible to go through parts you don't like?

That makes sense sort of. Personally, I don't treat Star Trek has one all encompassing whole, even with obvious continuity between the various shows. Each show passes or fails for me on it's own, and not one gets a pass because "Star Trek" from me.

 

[1001001]

I didn't think Insurrection was all that bad. Like a two-part episode.

There are several films I'd rank below it.

 

[cooleddie74]

INS isn't even in my Bottom 3 or 4.

 

[Phil123]

My controversial opinions:

Sisko and DS9 are good but not the best Star Trek because they don't portray the positive future I want to see. Into the Pale Moonlight is a brilliant episode but also not Star Trek to me.

with you on this. It’s a wonderful bit of drama and performance and in one sense I love it, but as Trek it depresses me and wish it had been different. I want the optimism!

 

[fireproof78]

I don't feel like many fans who prefer the TNG approach would like TOS that much if it wasn't grandfathered in. The optimism was there but it had to be earned, not given away freely. And sometimes the episodes ended a bit down.

 

[Oddish]

I didn't like "Pale Moonlight" because it just makes no sense. Ben Sisko is a station commander, a shipbuilder, and the emissary to the Prophets. For him to be engaging in high level espionage is like a bricklayer or baker or toy shop clerk deciding to become a spy or vigilante or whatever. Their heart might be in the right place but they lack the skill set.

 

[fireproof78]

Honestly, while I don't like the episode it has nothing to do with Sisko, and far more to do with Garak's involvement. Sisko is willing to trust Garak because...?

The espionage is slightly off putting, but more in line with Trek's history of the main character doing espionage (Kirk, Picard, Worf).

 

[shapeshifter]

My dear moderator...ESPECIALLY the stuff that contradicts the other stuff....

Yeah. Every Time some noob blows into town crying about "Teh Cannon" being violated, it is like chumming the sharks. Pass Go Collect 200 Likes!

 

[FormerLurker]

For instance. You can watch the world's most shithouse low budget movie ever made and find thoroughly entertaining.

Done that.

You can watch the world's most well crafted high budget movie ever made and find it an insufferable slog.

Done that, too.

Of course then you've got the little wrinkle that whether a piece of art is good or bad is a personal opinion and not a fact. You know the whole "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" thing.

Agree with this wholeheartedly.

 

[plynch]

I would somehow argue S1 TOS is “better” than TOS S3.
But I am as entertained by S3. Really. Y’know whut, with Tholian, Plato, Eden, Spectre, Last Battlefield with the Riddler . . . Maybe even more entertained.
But S1 is better.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I get why you wouldn't like INS. It's not the best film. For me it's nice easy escapism though.

It's great there's so much Star Trek now that there's something for everyone and the message is reasonably consistent throughout.

For better or worse, Insurrection is like a TNG 2 parter put on the big screen. It's my preferred of the four TNG movies because it actually feels like a continuation of it's parent show and is true to the characters of it.

It's not a great movie, but it's not dreadful. I'd rate the much loved First Contact well below it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I didn't like "Pale Moonlight" because it just makes no sense. Ben Sisko is a station commander, a shipbuilder, and the emissary to the Prophets. For him to be engaging in high level espionage is like a bricklayer or baker or toy shop clerk deciding to become a spy or vigilante or whatever. Their heart might be in the right place but they lack the skill set.

Eh, it's Star Trek. A Starfleet officer is the master of many trades.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Eh, it's Star Trek. A Starfleet officer is the master of many trades.

That's not too different from the IRL navy.

Many officers and crewman hold multiple jobs and pull multi-duty and are multi-disciplinary.

 

[Watersluis]

but if this is where you stand on the franchise, why waste your time on a message board that is for fans?

I mostly spend time on the D.S.9. board, there is obviously no forum specific to D.S.9. alone. I make very few posts in the Discovery or T.O.S. boards as I don't like those titles.

D.S.9. was a rather good television series for the æra where they were not planned entirely ahead and has some exceptional episodes, but still suffers from the strange eurocentric warts and that alien cultures do not truly feel alien.

 

[cooleddie74]

Original makeup Worf from 1987 was more Klingon and more intimidating. Also creepier and more nightmare-inducing but still.

 

[Paul755]

Honestly, while I don't like the episode it has nothing to do with Sisko, and far more to do with Garak's involvement. Sisko is willing to trust Garak because...?

The espionage is slightly off putting, but more in line with Trek's history of the main character doing espionage (Kirk, Picard, Worf).

I happened on this episode on H&I a few weeks ago. The thing is, Sisko doesn’t really trust Garak but he has to go along with him because he (and Starfleet) are getting desperate. He has to make huge compromises…but he CAN live with it.

Whenever I watch this episode I always wonder what the other Trek Captains would do in the same position.

Pretty sure Kirk, Archer and probably Burnham would do more or less what Sisko did. Picard and Freeman probably wouldn’t. I can just picture Picards impassioned speech to the Romulans and Freeman is too by the book.

The only one I can’t figure is Janeway. I could honestly see her doing either.

 

[Lord Garth]

I would somehow argue S1 TOS is “better” than TOS S3.
But I am as entertained by S3. Really. Y’know whut, with Tholian, Plato, Eden, Spectre, Last Battlefield with the Riddler . . . Maybe even more entertained.
But S1 is better.

I don't really know that I believe that I think TOS Season 1 is the best season of TOS.

I know that's what I'm "supposed to" say, but when it comes to stuff I'm "supposed to" like and dislike, I already left that port (thank you Disco and Picard!). And since I'm already there anyway, I can say I revisit the second and third seasons of TOS just as much, if not maybe more.

And look at where I got my username from. So, yeah.

The movies are different, though. I'm "supposed to" think TWOK is the best and I actually, legitimately do. But I also like TMP and TFF, which I'm "not supposed to". So that balances it out, I guess.