A Response to "A Collection of Controversial Opinions, Part II" - The Wrath of Kilgore
Out of all the fandoms I belong to, Star Trek is the most my jam. Let's go boldly.
In this post,
outlined 43 positions on Star Trek (should have gone for 47, just saying…), and since time worked in my favor on this one, we’re going to be celebrating the 57th anniversary of the debut of The Original Series (TOS), along with sharing some art and some controversial opinions of my own.September 8, 1966, a date which will live in fandom forever. The American debut of “The Man Trap”, which was actually episode 5 (six if you count “The Cage”). Canada got it two nights earlier because William Shatner, so I’m basically posting this between the two days.
My Star Trek experience began with the movies primarily, starting with The Motion Picture. The refit Enterprise “beauty pass” is one of my all-time favorite cinematic moments. Star Trek The Next Generation debuted September 28, 1987, and had a profound impact on my life, both for the escapism, and the fact that I was 12 and the Enterprise D was amazing and gorgeous.
I have the six series’ (more on that later) and all the movies on disc, I have had, and still have models, various memorabilia, and a lot of art I’ve done over the years with more planned. I also did a birth announcement for my son based on the opening credits for TNG:
I got to see Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country opening weekend with a theater filled with Trekkies after going to a Star Trek convention in Boise with friends (and meeting James Doohan), and saw Star Trek Generations opening weekend in LA at Universal Studios Citywalk, where I was working at a photography place that did stuff like this:
The original series (TOS) is indisputably the greatest of them all.
False. Deep Space Nine. TOS started it all, but in terms of storytelling, I believe DS9 completely knocked it out of the park.
Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy are the greatest characters in Star Trek.
Bold claim considering the history of the franchise. But, then, I also think Picard was a better captain.
In spite of constant claims to the contrary, Star Trek is essentially a work emanating from the Christian tradition.
This is true. And, I would like to add that the economics of the future are not based on socialism, but post-scarcity.
With the exception of two or three episodes, TOS’s third season is just as good as the first two.
Agreed.
The TOS series’ worst episode was not Spock’s Brain.
It’s pretty bad though.
The TOS series’ worst episode was The Mark of Gideon.
Disagree. The Way To Eden, hands down.
The plot device of duplicate Earths was a great idea that should have continued in later Star Treks.
Not sure if you’re just referring to “Miri”, or the concept of Earth-like cultures on other worlds. I thought the actual duplicate of the planet in that episode was silly and never really explained. I did like episodes like “A Piece of the Action”, “Bread and Circuses”, “Patterns of Force”, and “Plato’s Stepchildren”.
Star Trek II is the greatest of all the films.
Agreed.
Star Trek III is the second greatest of all the films.
Disagree. Star Trek First Contact. It hit all my buttons.
Most of the human characters in The Next Generation (TNG) are artificial and unreal.
Commander Riker is mostly kind of a wuss.
I always thought he was pretty badass, actually. That showed in a few episodes… “Peak Performance”, and “Best of Both Worlds”, for example. Plus, I like jazz.
The holodeck ruined the plot of many an episode.
Yes, but it also gave us Data’s Sherlock vs. Moriarty. And a couple great Broccoli, erm… Barclay, episodes. And Vic’s place on DS9.
There are many great episodes of TNG, some the best in all of Star Trek.
Wholeheartedly agreed. “The Measure of a Man”, “Best of Both Worlds”, “Inner Light”, and “…All Good Things” spring immediately to mind.
The Borg is the best villain race in all of Star Trek.
YES!!
The first two TNG films feel like movies; the second two are like two-part television episodes.
Partially agreed. I did like Nemesis.
Deep Space 9 (DS9) is better than TNG.
Agreed, but TNG will always hold a special place in my heart.
The best regular character in DS9 was Quark.
You have these reversed ;)
Odo is a close second to Quark.
You have these reversed ;)
The best guest character in DS9 was Garak, who is also one of the greatest characters in all of Star Trek.
Hmmm… I think that goes to Nog, actually.
The Chief is the best human character in DS9.
No. It is The Sisko.
Sisko is a great masculine leader and character.
I love how he decked Q. And his personal log entry in “In the Pale Moonlight” is profound. Oh, and “Far Beyond the Stars”. That was an amazing episode.
The Bajorans are kind of annoying and whiny.
I think the religious leaders and administrators were. People like Kira Nerys and Ro Laren, along with other “fighters” and later the Maquis were real salt of the earth types.
The Major is still a good and sympathetic character in spite of this.
Yes, because she stands up to aforementioned whiner babies.
We’re told often how wonderful and special Jadzia Dax is.
Yes. And I think the Trill are pretty amazing, as a race.
It’s hard to understand why Worf would fall in love with such an annoying character like Jadzia Dax.
She had the heart of a Klingon warrior.
Ezri Dax was a better, more real character than Jadzia Dax.
She was annoying. I was pissed when they killed Jadzia, and pissed again with the way they introduced Ezri. Far too much angst and confusion. Plus the love triangle crap with Worf and Julian was silly, especially after they took a lot of time to talk about how Trill don’t maintain previous relationships from former hosts.
Doctor Bashir only gets better as the seasons progress.
I agree with this.
The best villain in all of Star Trek was Gul Dukat.
I agree. But, Louise Fletcher makes you really want to hate Kai Winn.
The Prophets’ limited ability to communicate with linear creatures is their own shortcoming.
I thought it was a good way to explore not only their perception of the universe, but allowed for exploration of Sisko specifically.
The best character in Voyager is the Doctor.
I agree. Robert Picardo is a helluvan actor. And he’s got a lovely singing voice as well.
Captain Janeway is a good character but her Katherine Hepburn voice is difficult to listen to.
True, but watching holographic Broc- Barclay do an impression of her was hilarious.
Captain Janeway’s hairstyle dramatically improves in the later seasons.
Agreed. But, “in-universe” it kinda made sense after the first couple years.
The human characters in Voyager suffer from the same problems as TNG.
Disagreed then, disagree now. Tom Paris, for example.
The alien races in Voyager are mostly kind of boring.
I was really happy when they finally entered Borg space LOL
The human characters in Enterprise suffer less those from those problems in TNG and Voyager.
The series, at first, spends too much time explaining how technical advances were made.
I’m covering both of these in one response. I think they really managed to portray the crew as explorers and pioneers, and how their actions shaped the future. I think I was good to see the very first days of Starfleet. And to see what they came up with and what we know would come from those advances. I wish it had been renewed for a fifth season, Enterprise would have gotten a refit that included a secondary hull.
The series tries too hard to explain certain differences between TOS and later series.
I’m not sure I understand this one. If it’s about the augments and the Klingons, I think it was perfect. There was also a nice little nudge in the DS9 episode “Trials and Tribble-ations”.
The Vulcans in Enterprise are quite insufferable.
These Vulcans had strayed from the teachings of Surak. Badly. T’Pau got them back on track. With the help of Archer.
Later Star Treks had trouble explaining what was so special about humans.
Ambassador Soval (Gary Graham) had a conversation with Admiral Forrest that I liked…
"We don't know what to do about Humans. Of all the species we've made contact with, yours is the only one we can't define. You have the arrogance of Andorians, the stubborn pride of Tellarites. One moment you're as driven by your emotions as Klingons, and the next you confound us by suddenly embracing logic!"
"I'm sure those qualities are found in every species."
"Not in such confusing abundance."- Soval and Maxwell Forrest, in the halls of Earth's embassy on Vulcan. (ENT: "The Forge")
"Ambassador... are Vulcans afraid of Humans?"
(Soval answers with a slight nod)
"Why?"
"Because, there is one species you remind us of."
"Vulcans."- Forrest and Soval
The Mirror-Mirror universe idea got overused and thus should have remained just as the one TOS episode.
I disagree, the stuff they did with it on DS9 was spectacular. “Disco”, not so much. Loved the Mirror Universe episodes of Enterprise as well.
Star Trek has the best alien races in all of science fiction.
Yep!
Star Trek has the best ship designs in all of science fiction.
Yep! Not just the Enterprise, or even the Federation either. Hell, the Klingon Bird of Prey (HMS Bounty, yet another time machine stolen from Christopher Lloyd) is iconic in and of itself.
Star Trek died as a franchise in 2009, and its corpse has been decomposing ever since.
Yep! Though, I will say I enjoyed the first and third Jar Jar Abrams movies. I’ve watched season one of Disco, season one of Strange New Worlds, season three of Picard, and none of Star Trek The Rick and Morty Generation (Lower Decks).
Little more art and design ;)
Live long and prosper!
Kilgore