Star Trek peeves

[Tebok]

What are the more annoying things about Star Trek? Overused Cliches, or things that just irk you?
These are my top 3:

1. How the system that is needed the most is always suddenly damaged just before they need to use it.
"Beam them out of there!"
*Ship his by Torpedo*
"Transporters are offline!"

2. Unnecessary dialogue. This is when characters say more than they really would, but do so to help the viewers understand more of what is going on. Unfortunately it just sounds corny.
For example;

Reality:
"Lieutenant, is the probe in position?"
"Yes Sir, waiting in your orders."

Star Trek Universe:
"Lieutenant, is the probe in position?"
"Yes Sir, the probe is now in orbit around the moon and is now scanning for life-signs in order to locate the captain who is still missing after 4 hours."
(Somewhat exaggerated, but you get the idea)

3. Killing People Off. I feel that they went overboard with this cliche. DS9 really went over the top - It was as if the Mirror Universes sole purpose was to allow them to let the counterparts to recurring characters die.
Damar should never have been killed off!

 

[Yanks]

One of mine is the "two-handed star trek punch" that turns the wielder into a devastating physical unstoppable fighting machine regardless of size or the physical strength and size of the opponent.

 

[T'Girl]

Kind of a peeve of mine is that they don't show a "proper" hierarchy of ranks and positions aboard the ships. From captain to basic enlisted. One example of this is them having a officer (sometime fairly high ranked) at the helm, when it really should be a petty officer.

Right from the first pilot there have been non-officers, just not enough of them.

Another is the security personnel who often don't seem to know what they're doing, the "I'm guarding this door/cell, I better turn my back to it."

.

 

[hux]

Self-aware holograms.

Fuck off.

 

[Tebok]

Self-aware holograms.

Fuck off.

Not only that, but the Hologram broke down in a way that it endangered peoples lives way too many times.

Imagine running a Holodeck program based on one of the old Horror movies of the 20th century - Friday the 13th and being told, "Oh hey! We have a problem with the Holodeck. The safety is off and you won't be able to leave. Just hang on while we figure this out."

 

[Greg Cox]

That "Khan" is always being misspelled on-line.

What? You didn't mean that kind of pet peeve?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I felt Trek was pretty tame in killing recurring characters. Which brings me to my biggest pet peeve of redshirting. Treating some characters as perfectly disposable examples of enemy threat while giving others an overly visible magic bubble of protection.

Another pet peeve is when they make the Federation too human centric when it is supposed to be an equal alliance. Granted alien makeup for extras equals higher production cost but they could have worked harder on the illusion of diversity.

 

[Drone]

Another is the security personnel who often don't seem to know what they're doing, the "I'm guarding this door/cell, I better turn my back to it."

I would think that issue should really confound Timo, considering that Starfleet personnel are professional killers and one would think that those security folks would be especially adept at that and all other serious violent miscellany, apparently. A real head scratcher, that it is.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

My ST peeves:

- No money.

- "Look how evolved we are, that makes us better than you."

- Eddington.

 

[Tosk]

"Sir, there's a blah blah blah"
"What is it?"
"I think you better see for yourself."

 

[The Wormhole]

3. Killing People Off. I feel that they went overboard with this cliche. DS9 really went over the top - It was as if the Mirror Universes sole purpose was to allow them to let the counterparts to recurring characters die.
Damar should never have been killed off!

Interesting, most people complain that Star Trek doesn't kill off enough prominent characters. Although your example confuses me, Damar was killed in the series finale, so regardless if he had lived, that would still have been the last time we'd see him.

 

[2takesfrakes]

My "Star Trek peeve" is when the franchise uses that television trope where it's not so important what's being said, as much as it is who it's coming from. As an example, in the TNG episode Where No Man Has Gone, Before ... The Traveler's assistant is supposed to be stupid and disliked, so that when he brings up the fact that the Traveler's abilities were only so much magic, without any basis in reality, at all - which is absolutely correct - this is completely dismissed by Picard, of all people, simply because it came out of the mouth of the "stupid" assistant. All in an effort to try to sell the audience that this guy's powers are within reason, somehow. The strength of the story just couldn't stand on its own, apparently, without trying to spin "reality," even in-universe.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

They never once in Trek say that being 'evolved' makes them better than anyone else and they rarely even mention being more evolved outside of TNG season 1. When they do it's more to stress that modern social problems have been overcome.

Another is the security personnel who often don't seem to know what they're doing, the "I'm guarding this door/cell, I better turn my back to it."

.

Also they *never* look for cover. They stand in the middle of the hallway. And that's the smart ones, the dumb ones just run directly into the cell.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

The EMH and his God complex (it makes him a far more unbearable character than even Wesley).

How, no matter what phenomena they encounter, one of the crew is always immune to negative effects due to their species, the fact they an Android, or partially cyberised.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The EMH and his God complex (it makes him a far more unbearable character than even Wesley).

Particularly that bit in "Latent Image" where the EMH apparently has convinced himself that he's the only doctor in history who has ever lost a patient.

 

[Tracy Trek]

The arrogance displayed by certain characters at times about anything that came before.

 

[Tebok]

Interesting, most people complain that Star Trek doesn't kill off enough prominent characters. Although your example confuses me, Damar was killed in the series finale, so regardless if he had lived, that would still have been the last time we'd see him.

I was delving into the expanded universe (Comic, books, etc) that takes place after the last episode. Dumar went from being a tyrant to a passionate leader and also gained Major Kira's respect. I would have been great to see how his character would evolve leading the new Cardassia.

 

[T'Girl]

"Oh hey! We have a problem with the Holodeck. The safety is off and you won't be able to leave. Just hang on while we figure this out."

The very first time they couldn't get the door open, it should have been replaced with a lose hanging shower curtain. Or for safety just have a open archway, we saw that the door can be open and the holodeck still functions.

Another pet peeve is when they make the Federation too human centric when it is supposed to be an equal alliance.

There's a line in Journey to Babel (to the effect) that when Vulcan speaks - others in the Federation follow. I've never been under the impress that the Alliance was of equal partners, maybe on paper perhaps, but in fact there were a few heavy hitters and then there were member being lead around by the nose. Earth (and a few others) are like German in the EU, or America in NATO.

Granted alien makeup for extras equals higher production cost but they could have worked harder on the illusion of diversity.

Thing is, all it really takes to make a human actor into a alien character is a unusual name, or a line of dialog, or dark contact lens, or the minimal nose piece of Kira.

 

[Yanks]

Interesting, most people complain that Star Trek doesn't kill off enough prominent characters. Although your example confuses me, Damar was killed in the series finale, so regardless if he had lived, that would still have been the last time we'd see him.

I was delving into the expanded universe (Comic, books, etc) that takes place after the last episode. Dumar went from being a tyrant to a passionate leader and also gained Major Kira's respect. I would have been great to see how his character would evolve leading the new Cardassia.

Agree. His death at the end was senseless. His character development should have led to something other than death.

#2 pet-peeve for me?

"We are approaching the blah-blah system"

Captain: "OK, take us out of Warp"

Ship comes out of Warp at close proximity of name your planet or ship.

It's impossible for any human to react fast enough to judge coming out of warp with such precision. You're traveling at 186,000 miles per second at Warp 1 (which no one ever dials up aside from TMP) and Warp 2 and up increases velocity exponentially.

#3?

Time. Saying "1300 hours".

It's just 1300. there is only one 1300 when referring to time.

 

[Commishsleer]

My "Star Trek peeve" is when the franchise uses that television trope where it's not so important what's being said, as much as it is who it's coming from. As an example, in the TNG episode Where No Man Has Gone, Before ... The Traveler's assistant is supposed to be stupid and disliked, so that when he brings up the fact that the Traveler's abilities were only so much magic, without any basis in reality, at all - which is absolutely correct - this is completely dismissed by Picard, of all people, simply because it came out of the mouth of the "stupid" assistant. All in an effort to try to sell the audience that this guy's powers are within reason, somehow. The strength of the story just couldn't stand on its own, apparently, without trying to spin "reality," even in-universe.

The same could be said of Wesley when Riker or Picard told him to shut up when he contradicted some adult stranger on board. To me it made Picard/Riker look stuffy and stupid. I know this is just my "peeve". Everyone else just hates Wesley. I think in Season 1 TNG if an "adult" was found on board holding a blood drenched knife over a dead Ensign and blamed Wesley, Riker would have believed them