What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[Vger23]

I rank NuTrek:

Lower Decks
Prodigy
Strange New Worlds
Picard
Short Treks
Discovery

DSC (largely on the strength of the first two seasons and some of the goodness of S4…it’s admittedly been on the decline for me, but still in the top slot)
PIC (last season was massively inconsistent…this next season will make-or-break it)
SNW (could quickly rise to the top, but too little data to make a judgement right now. Easily the best first season of the bunch, though)
PRO (see my comment for SNW…this has been the surprise of the entire franchise so far)
ST (meh…a few gems…a few stinkers)
LD (I watch and enjoy at times…far too inconsistent and annoying to care about with any level of passion)

 

[ananta]

"Turnabout Intruder" --> Mixed Opinion. If I pretend Lester-Kirk is Trump, I get a big kick out of it.

That’s hilarious! I just rewatched the episode and you’re absolutely right—Lester/Kirk is totally Trump, complete with the histrionics, megalomania and casually wanting to execute anyone who stands in their way.

 

[Prometheus59650]

I love "Requiem for Methuselah." An example of a Season 3 episode with a story to tell that relies on a bare minimum of special effects. Kirk's love for Rayna is the weakest part of the story but even that has a nice payoff at the end with Spock's mind meld to make him forget her.

I absolutely love half of it. Flint is a great Sci-Fi idea. It's so good in fact that someone should take the idea of him and at least do a mini on it. But it falls apart when, after we've spent years seeing what Kirk is willing to do and what he's willing to sacrifice for his crew and then he has to be reminded that if he doesn't get the Rytalin processed and back up to the ship, everyone is going to die.

 

[Nyotarules]

There are more hours of acceptable/so-so Trek than truly great.

Bad? Then why even be a fan?

Controversial opinions need no justification on this thread

 

[cooleddie74]

I absolutely love half of it. Flint is a great Sci-Fi idea. It's so good in fact that someone should take the idea of him and at least do a mini on it. But it falls apart when, after we've spent years seeing what Kirk is willing to do and what he's willing to sacrifice for his crew and then he has to be reminded that if he doesn't get the Rytalin processed and back up to the ship, everyone is going to die.

Yeah, her falling in love with him and being so puppy dog eyes in love over a blonde android that he forgets his entire crew is dead if he doesn't hurry up with the ryetalyn is the worst aspect of the episode and could have potentially sunk the entire story had they spent any more time on Kirk and Rayna. I adore this episode but Kirk is either the loneliest Captain in Starfleet or so horny that he'll let 430 officers and crewmen die so he can bone a metal woman and neither is a good look for him in this.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Unfortunately, not everyone respects the notion that other people are entitled to their own opinion.

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
— Holy Babel, New Pokédex, Gospel of Luke Skywalker, written in the original Klingon, OICU:812

 

[Lord Garth]

Following up my previous post, which leads to somewhere I didn't expect...

TNG Season 1
"Encounter at Farpoint" --> Okay. Drags a bit in some areas, but has a lot of good moments.
"The Naked Time" --> Guilty Pleasure, but still okay. People need to loosen up.
"Code of Honor" --> Bad. Could've been Middling, if they hadn't made it racist, but they did.
"The Last Outpost" --> Mixed. Actually wasn't bad until they beamed down to the planet surface.
"Where No One Has Gone Before" --> Excellent. Captures the imagination and the wonders of space.
"Lonely Among Us" --> Okay. I liked it and there are worse ways to kill time.
"Justice" --> Horrible.
"The Battle" --> Solid. We get to see the Stargazer and it's the best Ferengi episode of TNG.
"Hide and Q" --> Ehhh....
"Haven" --> Okay. Luaxana Troi makes a quirky impression. The Tarellians look like they're from a music video.
"The Big Good Goodbye" --> Good episode, but it's no "A Piece of the Action".
"Datalore" --> Awesome episode, Lore is great, and it has one of my favorite soundtracks for an episode.
"Angel One" --> Ehhh... This was Gene's idea for a planet dominated by women?
"1001001" --> Best episode of the first season.
"Too Short a Season" --> Poor. If this were on MeTV, it would fit right in-between an episode of The A-Team and the '70s Battlestar Galactica.
"When the Bough Breaks" --> Mixed Opinion. Equal parts cute and cringey. I have to be in the mood for it.
"Home Soil" --> I could take it or leave it.
"Coming of Age" --> First good episode since "1001001".
"Heart of Glory" --> Even better! It also has another favorite episode soundtrack of mine.
"The Arsenal of Freedom" --> Fun episode! Three good ones in a row!
"Symbiosis" --> Bad. I keep waiting for McGruff to show up.
"Skin of Evil" --> I don't really like this one, but I do like Yar's goodbye recording.
"We'll Always Have Paris" --> Okay.
"Conspiracy" --> Second-best episode of the season!
"The Neutral Zone" --> Good, despite the anti-climactic ending. "We're back!" That's it?

Overall:
Okay/Good/Better --> 16 episodes (counting EAF twice)
Mediocre --> 3
Poor/Bad/Worse --> 7

Which do I think is better: TOS Season 3 or TNG Season 1? I think I have to actually give this to TNG Season 1, when I look at it like this. They have a similar number of bad episodes, but TNG Season 1 has more good episodes.

So there we go: I actually think TNG Season 1 is better than TOS Season 3! Even I'm surprised!

 

[Richard S. Ta]

TNG Season 1 and TOS Season 3 are both enjoyable seasons of Star Trek, despite their bad reputations.

In fact I'd take Season 1 of TNG over Season 4 onwards when it comes to Picard's pals. It's reach so often exceeds it's grasp, yet still it is reaching.

In terms of Season 3 of TOS, well honestly there's not a single episode I couldn't rewatch. I'd probably say I prefer the third year of TOS to the entirety of DS9/VOY/ENT.

 

[plynch]

In terms of Season 3 of TOS, well honestly there's not a single episode I couldn't rewatch.

We reach. Mudd's Women I think is my only no-go.

"Picards Pals" is hilarious btw. Sounds like a Saturday animated spin-off in the 70s of kids with PIC as their leader and a silly mascot character . . . oh, wait . . . but I LIKE Prodigy, ha ha

 

[Mytran]

We reach. Mudd's Women I think is my only no-go.

"Picards Pals" is hilarious btw. Sounds like a Saturday animated spin-off in the 70s of kids with PIC as their leader and a silly mascot character . . . oh, wait . . . but I LIKE Prodigy, ha ha

Why mess with perfection?

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

TNG Season 1 and TOS Season 3 are both enjoyable seasons of Star Trek, despite their bad reputations.

TNG's 1st season is nearly unwatchable, and set the stage for the clinical, looking-down-the-nose-at-everyone characterization that poisoned TNG long after its debut season. From sterile, heartless main characters, stories about as exciting / thought-provoking as watching a sidewalk, and episode music scores leaving much to be desired, TNG/S1 is--again--close to being unwatchable. TOS/S3 had far more winners than losers, including some of its best episodes / building on the relationships of the Big Three.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'll do TNG Season 7 and (drumroll!) ENT Season 2 next! Together in the same post.

It'll be interesting to see where TNG S7 lands... But ENT Season 2? I'll fall asleep even thinking about it...

 

[cooleddie74]

ENT Season 2 gave us "Carbon Creek," "Minefield" and "Dead Stop." Those are peak small screen Trek at any point over the past 25 years. There's a lot of mediocrity in Season 2 for sure and it's my least-favorite by any measurement but it also gave us a few gems.

 

[Oddish]

Dead Stop was one of my favorite ENT episodes. And my favorite Roxann Dawson role, too (didn't actively dislike B'Elanna, just found her sort of meh... but that creepy station was awesome).

 

[cooleddie74]

The way it began repairing itself at the end of the episode was one of the most effective fadeouts of any Trek episode this century.

 

[Lord Garth]

I promise I'll try to be fair...

 

[cooleddie74]

For the record I can't get enough stimulants in my system to ike "The Seventh" or "Precious Cargo."

 

[Paul755]

Dead Stop was one of my favorite ENT episodes. And my favorite Roxann Dawson role, too (didn't actively dislike B'Elanna, just found her sort of meh... but that creepy station was awesome).

I never realized it was her until a few years ago. But now that I know, every time I watch the episode she kinda sticks out.

 

[Lord Garth]

Okay, let's do this. The very heart of Berman Trek. First, TNG Season 7: His reign was at its peak. Not its best, but its peak. Right before the following year when it finally, officially crossed over into Oversaturation.

Cue the bland, bland, bland-bland music. (Thanks Rick!)

TNG Season 7
"Descent, Part I" --> Dull. Not Lore's best appearance. Not the Borg's best outing. Nice to see Hugh again, but it's not enough.
"Liaisons" --> Mediocre. They could've gone somewhere with the alien who wanted to understand love, since it turned out to really be a guy... but nope. They glossed right over it.
"Interface" --> Zzzzzzz.......
"Gambit, Part I" --> Fun episode! I'm awake now!
"Gambit, Part II" --> Keep it up!
"Phantasms" --> Okay, kind of weird, but weird is good.
"Dark Page" --> Ehhh....
"Attached" --> Okay episode.
"Force of Nature" --> Nope. The lack of follow-up across Trek means they were never serious about the allegory.
"Inheritance" --> Indifferent about most of it.
"Parallels" --> Fun episode. The best since "Gambit".
"The Pegasus" --> Excellent episode. TNG back in top form.
"Homeward" --> I could take it or leave it.
"Sub Rosa" --> The "Spock's Brain" of TNG.
"Lower Decks" --> One of the best episodes of the season.
"Thine Own Self" --> It kills time.
"Masks" --> Nice, weird episode. I love what they did with the sets.
"Eye of the Beholder" --> Worf/Troi feels like a Bad Romance Novel, the rest I could take or leave.
"Genesis" --> Guilty Pleasure of mine. De-Evolved Worf was channeling Jurassic Park! I'll split the difference.
"Journey's End" --> Good. Adds some wrinkles to the Federation. Sets up the Maquis and Wesley's future.
"Firstborn" --> Good. Worf learns to accept Alexander for who he is.
"Bloodlines" --> Stupid episode that went nowhere.
"Emergence" --> Middling.
"Preemptive Strike" --> Best "DS9" episode of TNG ever. True to Ro's character.
"All Good Things" --> Controversial Opinion: I don't think it's the best thing ever... BUT it's a fitting finale for the series.

Overall:
Okay/Good/Better --> 14 episodes (counting AGT twice)
Mediocre --> 6
Zzzz/Poor/Bad/Worse --> 6

Ouch. I know it's the hipster thing to say these days, but I have to say it: I think TNG Season 1 is better than TNG Season 7. Sorry, but TNG was getting really stale by this point.

 

[Farscape One]

ENT season 2 is a mediocre season, but it did give us "MINEFIELD", "DEAD STOP", "SINGULARITY", "COGENITOR", and "REGENERATION"... all outstanding episodes of the series.