You don't like THAT?!

[Piper]

We all know that down the years Trek has come in for more than its fair share of criticism. There's no conflict. It's too formulaic. The bland wallpaper music. Nemesis. Voyager. But is there one aspect of the franchise, in any of its incarnations, that regularly gets ripped apart that genuinely surprises you? Something which, when you hear it being criticised yet again, makes you stop and think, "Actually, I really like that fact about it."

For me there are two, both movies. I love Final Frontier, and rank Generations as my favourite TNG film, and whenever either of them comes in for a scolding yet again makes me think, "But I like them!"

Anyone have anything else?

 

[Mistral]

The jokes about Shatner's portrayal of Kirk. If you go back and catch the better episodes of TOS-he did good. Iconic, even, or they wouldn't have anything to make fun of in the first place.

 

[RyanKCR]

ST:TMP

 

[Chrisisall]

Final Frontier has it's excellent moments.
Generations... not so much after the first 20 minutes IMO.

 

[RyuRoots]

The character of Ezri Dax and Star Trek: First Contact for me. Honestly though, I think there are more things I'm amazed people DO like. I won't go off on that here since it'd be off-topic, but I could probably make a list.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Ezri, First Contact...and "I, Borg"/"Descent." Hell, to me, the whole Seven of Nine thing actually irked me as a canon violation of those two episodes.

 

[Pegaritaville]

I never understood why there was so much criticism about mini-skirts or catsuits. Especially the mini-skirts: I always thought they looked kind of comfortable (although obviously not too practical for some away missions).

Agree about ST: TMP. One of my favorite Trek films.

Many folks seem to have distain for the Ferengi, but they're one of my favorite races in Trek.

 

[DevilEyes]

I don't understand people who dislike Kira or criticize Nana Visitor's acting, and I don't understand people who find Bajorans and episodes about their politics boring.

I also don't get how some people can dislike "This Side of Paradise".

 

[Eyes]

I never understood the criticisms for Favourite Son. It's not a bad episode, actually it's quite a good one. Of course, that's probably because I'm in the minority who actually likes Harry Kim, and well, dare I say it, he's my favourite character on Voyager. I can think of worse episodes in Season 3 alone.

Also, Generations, Ezri, and several reportedly bad episodes of DS9, in particular Let He who is without Sin.., and The Emperor's New Cloak, aren't as bad as many people say.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Most people seem to dislike the DS9 episode Fascination, but I love it! And I liked TNG Rascals as well.

 

[Trek Survivor]

Good question.

1. Rick Berman & Brannon Braga. As you'll be able to tell from my other posts, I'm fed up of the demonisation of these two - most of it from bandwagon jumpers. I never really watched the last few years of Voyager or Enterprise, but regardless of whether they were good or not, both Berman and Braga (esp. the former in his role of exec producer/co-creator of two of the series) did an enormous amount of GOOD in the franchise as a whole. I can sincerely state that if there had been no Berman 1987-1995, then there wouldn't have been much Trek beyond 1990, and we certainly wouldn't all be yapping about it now.

Sure, point out his flaws, but this whole ridiculous and annoying notion that the franchise would be better without him is...dumb.

2. Nemesis & V: The Final Frontier

Maybe they weren't great movies; maybe they weren't great Trek movies... but again, the bandwagon-jumpers ("LOLZZ!!! NEMESIS SUCKKKSSS!!!) annoy me. I don't consider either movie that bad.

3. DS9

I realise that now loads of people seem to rate it highly (where were you all 15 years ago!?!) but it really annoyed me circa 1993-1995 when loads of people kept complaining it was "too dark", "depressing" etc etc, obviously without ever having watched the darn show!

 

[Deranged Nasat]

3. DS9

I realise that now loads of people seem to rate it highly (where were you all 15 years ago!?!)

As a massive DS9 fan, the answer is "nursery school"

 

[Mrs_Whatsit]

I've never quite understood the hate for Jonathan Archer. Yeah, he was a little on the crabby side, but I always liked him. Of course, that could be my love for Scott Bakula showing through, but still...I never thought he was a bad character.

 

[Wheo]

Good question.

I realise that now loads of people seem to rate it highly (where were you all 15 years ago!?!) but it really annoyed me circa 1993-1995 when loads of people kept complaining it was "too dark", "depressing" etc etc, obviously without ever having watched the darn show!

Yeah, I was...three years old. -_- After TOS, DS9 is my all time favourite Trek! There are still those who dislike it today (granted, they never know much about Trek, and almost certainly haven't actually watch Deep Space Nine). Still...it isn't cool.

 

[apenpaap]

Enterprise. It's awesome.

 

[NightCastle]

Wesley Crusher. I never understood the hate. So what, he has an all too "childlike" personality and is overly molly cottled. He adds a "Jar Jar" type of feel (at least in my opinion) to the universe of personalities in Trek. I never got the hate.

Let the games begin.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Shatner as Kirk (brilliant, at times), TMP and TFF.

 

[The Badger]

The jokes about Shatner's portrayal of Kirk.

Agreed. Whilst there was always a tendency to play a caricature of himself, especially in the later days, there were times when Shatner excelled. There's no denying his vital influence on Trek.

Final Frontier has it's excellent moments.

There's some good ideas in TFF. It's such a pity the studio executives forced such crappy attempts at humour in. Trying to copy the success of TVH. And failing miserably.

I never understood why there was so much criticism about mini-skirts or catsuits.

Oh, I can understand the criticism. I just don't share it. So perhaps it's just as well I'm not in charge of making new Trek, there'd be a lot of complaints!

 

[Islander]

Enterprise. It's awesome.

I agree on that one. I loved the show overall and it got cut at its prime. Season 4 of Enterprise is the Best Trek season after season 3 of TNG for me.

 

[Rush Limborg]

This is NOT an exhaustive list:

Rick and Braga.

Wesley Crusher. (Now I'm gonna get it....)

Enterprise.

The TNG films--INCLUDING Nemesis.

STV.

The Bajorans. (Granted, some folks were a little annoying, but by-and-large, the Bajoran people were VERY well realized.)

Ezri...especially Ezri. (Honestly--I am ASTONISHED that there are actually folks who HATE her. I mean c'mon...how can you not fall in love with her after seeing Nicole DeBoer's SUPERB performances in "Afterimage", "Protigal Daughter", "Field of Fire", etc.?)