LOL I started writing this having only seen your title. I happened to glance up and you beat me to it. You're right that Data is the best vessel that TNG has to explore humanity. Data shows us things about ourselves that we tend to take for granted. This exploration of what makes sentience and consciousness really shaped how I think about AI and all the current debate we're currently having. It makes me feel better that we don't have it all figured out in 2023 since they were still debating it in 2365.
The whole concept of Riker being forced to argue against Data is excellent. It shows his character for so many different reasons. The conflict he feels as a Starfleet officer and also as Data's friend, as well as the inner contradiction of needing to do his best to argue against his friend in order to save him, is some of the best Star Trek, IMO.
I loved the scene where he pulls up data's schematics, studies them, smiles in satisfaction and then visibly sobers with the realisation that his discovery might just cost his friend their status as a person
I’ll only include the captains (and Sisko) that I’ve seen:
Picard > Sisko > Freeman > Kirk > Janeway
Picard is the consummate captain to me. Perfect in most regards, at the cost of having no personal life.
Janeway just doesn’t do much right, in my book. She often has good intentions, but comes across as incompetent, reactionary, and inconsistent. Sometimes the Prime Directive matters. Sometimes she disturbs independent civilizations. Sometimes she’s spiritual. Sometimes she’s secular. Sometimes she’s pacifistic. Sometimes she commits murder. As opposed to all the other captains, I just don’t have a solid grasp on what her opinion of a situation will be.
Granted, being stuck in the Delta Quadrant was no picnic, and it’s possible I might have put any captain in such a position low on the list.
Oh yeah it's 100% just a preference thing on my part. I grew up watching ENT with my Grandpa, he loved all versions of Trek but for some reason loved ENT the most, so Archer just has a special place in my heart. Sisko is awesome too though, no shade toward him at all.
I really hope that they don't try to Cinematic Universe this; it should be possible to watch and enjoy a Star Trek movie without having seen any other recent Star Trek movies or TV shows, and you shouldn't have to go to all of the movies to understand what's going on in any specific one.
(a trilogy is fine - that's what 2/3/4 were - but keep the story arc to that size or smaller; of course 2 was also a continuation of a specific Original Series episode, but you didn't actually need to have seen it to understand immediately what was going on with everyone)
Good article but this is old news. He's mentioned before that he's embarrassed by that performance since in retrospect it's a departure from the standard depiction of a Ferengi. But we can cut him some slack. It was their first appearance, and the show writers intended them to be bad guys, the next Klingons.
God that would have been terrible. Not just for the show, but also for the obvious parrallels between the Bajorans and Jews and the Cardassians and Nazis. Imagine if the backlash if a show had a Jewish freedom fighter in a relationship with Hitler...
That's what happens when a story that is completely unrelated to another franchise is grafted into that franchise in order to cash in on the name value. Can't be too surprised when there are significant departures from the original material.
My headcanon is that Discovery never happened and can be ignored.
I am getting worried that Strange New Worlds is going downhill. First there was a "musical" episode. Then the showrunners indicated they are going to move towards Soap Opera In Space and "genre jump".
That is pretty good. Although I would have preferred TOS style Klingons since it is TOS era. Or it would be cool to see a mixture of TOS and newer Klingons.
Star Trek
Hot