What do you HATE about Star Trek?

[Robert Comsol]

Things I absolutely can't stand I tend to ignore and blend out, much like the Roman tradition of "Damnatio Memoriae".

The ethical problem, IMHO, is apparently that IIRC some people may feel that totally "ignoring" something is often worse than to "hate" it.

So I can't possibly list things that I do "hate" because I have either forgotten those or do not address these in public for the above reasons.

Bob

 

[2takesfrakes]

I hate B'Elanna Torres' forehead and I hate Michael Westmore for making it up and I hate Rick Berman for making Roxann Dawson wear it ...

 

[Commishsleer]

'Cogenitor'.
I don't know why anyone can stand this episode. It made me hate Archer (at least until the end of the episode).
Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[desfem79]

I also disliked how the Enterprise crew used to get annoyed by Mrs. Troi. yeah, she was overbearing, but hmm... she meant well and was generally a good person, so yeah a crew of optimum social skills can't accept that? lol..

And Sisko and co. were little better. The first time they met the Grand Nagus, they flagrantly disrespected him lol.. So if I'm the CO of an outpost in the Royal Navy and the PM of Japan comes by (or even the Emperor) I can disrespect him and get away with it?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I also hate the lack of sexual orientation diversity in Trek.

 

[T'Girl]

I think it makes more sense on Voyager where they are lost and the only Federation folk out there. There were no options for forming bonds with people outside of the ship.

Voyager had what I believe is the strangest "ship is a family" moment, in the sixth season (i forget the episode's title) Janeway wanted a member of the crew to hand her a phaser, she referred to the guy as "crewman." Crewman. After six years on a ship with 150 people and she doesn't know this guy name yet?

I also hate the lack of sexual orientation diversity in Trek.

I will give TOS something of a pass on this matter, but the lack of gays on the show should have been remedied at some point during TNG.

It becomes almost ominous that there are no obvious signs of gays, like something happen that none of the characters want to talk about.

 

[USS Triumphant]

The "family" sentimentalism was worst when it warped the "rules" of the setting. Like Riker effectively sabotaging his own career to stay aboard the Enterprise despite however many offers of promotion -- which rather undercut his vigor and believability as a character.

I half-way agree with teacake about Riker - I think he wanted either the big chair on the flagship, or, he wanted something else special. He'd have probably also gone for a ship with a new and advanced engine like Aventine - or one with the challenge of a radically diverse crew, like the Titan. The fact that the latter was also a good challenge for Troi may have played into his taking the command, too. OR, he may have still wanted to hold out for captaincy of the -E, but heard rumors from friends at Starfleet Command that if he passed up one more center seat, he would be out of the running for a command for good.

As to the rest of the crew being family, well, Picard's life is his ship and command, and he felt close to the Crushers from the start due to past friendship and tragedy. Riker was estranged from his dad, and had a previous relationship with Troi. Data was an android with no family, Worf had TWO families he was estranged from, Troi's dad was dead and her mom was a busy member of government and some sort of royalty or nobility, LaForge was from a broken family with a missing mom and had previously served with Riker and had previously known Picard, and Yar was an escaped orphan from a failed colony where there were rape gangs.

So on one hand, it seems like a given that these people would all end up as a sort of family, but on the other hand, I never really realized how much these characters were like a bunch of D&D characters where the players tried to eliminate family from their backstories so the DM couldn't use family against them.

 

[T'Girl]

Trip Tucker.

I take the opposite view, I think that the character of Trip would have made a much more capable and interesting Captain than Archer ever was, especial during the Xindi arc considering the murder of his sister by the Xindi.

I half-way agree with teacake about Riker - I think he wanted either the big chair on the flagship, or, he wanted something else special.

I personally have considered that one of the reasons Riker stayed on the Enterprise was simply so he could remain near Deanna. His thoughts might not have been fully formed that that was what he was doing.

 

[Armored Saint]

Not hate, but..
I'm me too annoyed by the "no money in the future". As CorporalCaptain, it wasn't well thought-out. It remained at the immature utopian idea stage. It would have been plausible to state that money is less important in the Star Trek economy than there's no more money. No more Wall Street, free medicine and free education? Ok! Starfleet officers are not paid? Yeah, on a ship, they don't need money, but it means Starfleet has to take care of their family to compensate their absence and ultimately their loss.
Of course, there's the direct and explicit contradictions as Vash or Kivas Fajo.

There's also the frequent containment of non-human races as castes. The El-Aurians are listeners? At least Soran made fun of it. The Ferengis are always talking about profits. On a Ferengi starship, everybody are talking about profits, including the doctor and the janitor. Fine, we understood, they are traders! But wait a minute, on Ferenginar, they are always trying to make profits? They’re always trading between them? Captain Picard is from a winemakers family , but he’s a Starfleet officer and an archaeologist. A DaiMon? PROFITS PROFITS PROFITS! My father makes profits! My both grandfathers made profits!
So yeah, in a human society, you can have some ethnic groups that are more presents in some types of activity, but’s it’s not an absolute and it’s possible because there are interractions between groups inside this society.
The first time I saw Suddenly Human, it was for me “NOT AGAIN ANOTHER WARRIOR RACE?!?!?”.

 

[Jeyl]

Not focusing on the alien cultures who are members of the Federation. Heck, the point was even brought up by Azetbur in Star Trek VI.

Azetbur: Inalien... If only you could hear yourselves? 'Human rights.' Why the very name is racist. The Federation is no more than a 'homo sapiens' only club.​

And really, she has a point. For showing a future human society that prides itself on welcoming other cultures and societies into one united origination, there was very little to show for it. Even some species who appeared quite often like the Bajorans never became members of the Federation even though they almost did. There just isn't enough of an alien presence in Star Trek to make it feel like the Federation spans many worlds. Certainly doesn't help when Earth of all places is treated as the center of the Federation where if it gets destroyed, the Federation will be crippled and the galaxy is doomed.

I suppose a lot of this could stem from the belief that Star Trek as a franchise should be about "humanity", and I can understand that point of view. I just think that if it's just going to be about humanity, why have exploration at all? Why bother with the potential discovery of different alien life forms if the purpose is to make these aliens a reflection of us?

When I look at the alien characters in JJ Abrams' films, all I see is "cool background things" and nothing else. Hardly any of them speak a line of dialogue and we never get to know one by name.

 

[JarodRussell]

I like the utopic ideas. Warp drive and beaming might be impossible to achieve as well. But they use it, and that's okay, and scientists dream about it all the time.

Enlightened humanity, no money and total peace on the entire planet might be just as impossible. But why is it suddenly not okay to dream about it? I like that aspect about Star Trek very much. 23rd and 24th century humans are supposed to be alien to us, because we are the savages and they are more advanced. That has always been the point in my POV.

That's probably what I hate about Trek. When the people in charge bring their own miserable attitude towards life into it and think they need to destroy a nice vision of the future, just because they don't like the utopy.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It [the no money thing] remained at the immature utopian idea stage.

I think this summarizes the problem pretty well.

 

[RandyS]

Trip Tucker.

I take the opposite view, I think that the character of Trip would have made a much more capable and interesting Captain than Archer ever was, especial during the Xindi arc considering the murder of his sister by the Xindi.

Ugh. If anything, the moronic Xindi season made Trip's general unlikeability and assholishness even worse.

 

[RandyS]

I like the utopic ideas. Warp drive and beaming might be impossible to achieve as well. But they use it, and that's okay, and scientists dream about it all the time.

Enlightened humanity, no money and total peace on the entire planet might be just as impossible. But why is it suddenly not okay to dream about it? I like that aspect about Star Trek very much. 23rd and 24th century humans are supposed to be alien to us, because we are the savages and they are more advanced. That has always been the point in my POV.

That's probably what I hate about Trek. When the people in charge bring their own miserable attitude towards life into it and think they need to destroy a nice vision of the future, just because they don't like the utopy.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I love the irony that the present generation thinks of itself as so enlightened, but hates in Star Trek the very qualities they think they are living today.

 

[T'Girl]

Chakotay's ethnicity and ancestry.

We know the real world hometowns of Picard, Janeways, Sisko and Kirk.
Many of the other Human characters we get a actual state or country or at least a real region.

Chakotay ancestry is completely made up, he doesn't correspond to any actual native american group, who the hell are "the rubber people" anyway? Does that make him amazonian Tupi, from a place on Earth where there are naturally lot's of rubber trees?

There were characters we simply didn't get much background on for sure, and the alien characters background were obviously made up out of whole cloth, But we did hear a fair amount of Chakotay's background and it could have easily been tied to a real native american group.

This does rise to the level of "hate." Really pisses me off.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Chakotay ancestry is completely made up, he doesn't correspond to any actual native american group, who the hell are "the rubber people" anyway?

"The name "Olmec" means "rubber people" in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec, and was the Aztec name for the people who lived in the Gulf Lowlands in the 15th and 16th centuries, some 2000 years after the Olmec culture died out. The term "rubber people" refers to the ancient practice, spanning from ancient Olmecs to Aztecs, of extracting latex from Castilla elastica, a rubber tree in the area." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec

 

[Jeyl]

23rd and 24th century humans are supposed to be alien to us, because we are the savages and they are more advanced.

More advanced? This advanced and enlightened group of humans think a financier, a red neck and a homemaker represent the worst of humanity to the point that they wonder how the human race could have survived past the 20th century. And as for us being "savages", I would never reassure someone that NOT saving a child's life was the right thing to do.

This is one of the reasons I like First Contact more than I should. We have a war torn Earth that still relies on money in order to get around, yet it's one of these "irredeemable savages" that manages to knock some sense into our number one "enlightened" hero of the franchise.

Lily: Like you killed Ensign Lynch?
Picard: There was no way to save him.
Lily: You didn't even try. Where was your evolved sensibility then?

Yeah. We're the savages.

 

[tomalak301]

I don't like the Music of Trek. I think the thing that the movies do much better than the series is the epic music scores, but for the most part, they are either over the top (Star Trek) or background annoyances (TNG Season 5 through Enterprise Season 2) When I watched the feature on the music of TNG and Ron Jones was talking about the directives put on him and how the scores changed, I couldn't help but just nod my head in agreement.

 

[Jeyl]

Chakotay's ethnicity and ancestry.

The part where the "My people ____" quotes gets shoved down our throats, or the part where Star Trek portrayed Native Americans as dumb, backwards thinking people who only grew smart after they were enlightened by a white humanoid alien from space? I can handle misinterpretations, but never for that awful and disrespectful episode that was "Tattoo".

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I like the utopic ideas. Warp drive and beaming might be impossible to achieve as well. But they use it, and that's okay, and scientists dream about it all the time.

Enlightened humanity, no money and total peace on the entire planet might be just as impossible. But why is it suddenly not okay to dream about it? I like that aspect about Star Trek very much. 23rd and 24th century humans are supposed to be alien to us, because we are the savages and they are more advanced. That has always been the point in my POV.

That's probably what I hate about Trek. When the people in charge bring their own miserable attitude towards life into it and think they need to destroy a nice vision of the future, just because they don't like the utopy.

Exactly. Not every TV show has to feature humans behaving badly as they do in real life. Is it realistic for humans to completely overcome the selfishness of their nature? Probably not, but that doesn't mean we have to fully embrace that part of our nature when we know it's causing harm and strive toward that goal.

The problem in real life is, it's a prisoner's dilemma. If everybody behaves like they do in Star Trek, everybody wins. If everybody behaves like they do in real life, everybody loses. But if some people behave that way and everybody else behaves the way they do in Star Trek, those people really win. So people use that fact as a justification for behaving that way, and then everybody starts just opportunistically taking whatever they can. In Star Trek everybody chooses 'C' over 'D', and I like my fantasy worlds to work that way.

Shows like Star Trek encourage