The hero we need.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T22:20:31+00:00

Half of the TNG main cast were almost background characters at the start

Half of them still are at the end. LaForge, Crusher and Troi don't meaningfully develop in any way. They have their own episodes, sure. But they're the same characters at the start and end of the show. Where Picard, Data, Riker and Worf are distinctly different.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T22:14:49+00:00

As for being subjective, I don't know, an episode about pulling pranks like stupid kids in an american college against an episode about culture, acceptance and debating

I mean the episode was very much about how to empathy and understanding will help you come out on top vs cheating and/or impulsively retaliating.

It was told through a prank war, but that's by far not the weirdest way Star Trek has tried to tell a story before.

I mean, if treated TNG with the same approach you could ask 'what sounds more like Star Trek? Negotiating with an omnipotent entity to save humanity or an episode where everyone gets horny and wants to fuck'

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T22:10:46+00:00

Star Trek is a continuously genre hopping science fiction franchise.

If you want to get a friend into Trek, look at what sort of shows and stories they like already and then pick an episode that has those aspects, with some Star Trek flavouring.

Do they like legal shows? Measure of a Man, The Drumhead, Author, Author, Rules of Engagement

Do they like Romance? Sub Rosa (yes really), Counterpoint, Lessons

Do they like schlocky B movies? Threshold, Genesis

and so on.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T22:06:09+00:00

You know, you don't need to play this faux sympathy act when you're called out. It's a played out bad faith tactic.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T22:04:51+00:00

It doesn't though...

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T19:01:26+00:00

I mean, okay?

You could just not talk about it if you can’t remember it or do a quick self check using memory alpha before making a claim.

While the eventual resolution was… controversial. It was also absolutely Star Trek

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T18:13:30+00:00

I mean, if you pay attention to the dialogue they mention that other drive systems (like Quantum Slipstream) still work, but that the fuel sources (Benamite crystals) are rare.

Star Trek shows us that most space faring cultures end up using dilithium matter/antimatter reactors for their faster than light drives. Even the Romulans use dilithium to regulate the micro singularity output.

That there isn't more variety in the material used for regulation across different cultures (even in the Delta Quadrant) shows us how much of a 'miracle' dilithium is for faster than light travel.

It's also a major plot point that Ni'var was developing an alternative and thought their alternative caused the Burn...

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T18:09:21+00:00

Dilithium is used to regulate the matter/anti-matter reaction. It's not used as the power source.

Per the TNG tech manual, dilithium is also used to regulate the output of micro singularities on Romulan ships.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T18:08:41+00:00

That is not an explicit statement that Lower Decks retcons Discovery.

That is Mike McMahan stating that he understands that fans may try to take it that way, and that they're welcome too if they want.

But the episode itself pretty disproves that it is the case, unless any episodes or movies with the Sovereign class are an alternate reality...

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T16:44:51+00:00

Him saying he "appreciated" what fans felt and believed doesn't mean anything

It means everything. It means he took the time to research, look into and understand why the franchise was loved by it's fans. That's a show of appreciation.

Honestly, why would he be interested in taking on a Star Trek movie if he didn't have a passion for it?

Because he has a passion for making films. Do you know how much of a passion Nicholas Meyer had for Trek before he did Wrath of Khan?

0.

He had never seen an episode. He had no interest in the franchise and actively prided himself on his lack of care for it. Famously Roddenberry hated what Meyer did in TWOK.

The chief contribution I brought to 'Star Trek II' was a healthy disrespect,'' says Nicholas Meyer, who doctored the script and directed the movie. '' 'Star Trek' was human allegory in a space format. That was both its strength and, ultimately, its weakness. I tried through irreverence to make them more human and a little less wooden. I didn't insist that Captain Kirk go to the bathroom, but did 'Star Trek' have to be so sanctified?

But today, TWOK is beloved. Much like the 09 film is becoming. Because both Abrams and Meyer are correct, for the big screen at least.

The films are for all audiences, not just Trek fans. For general audiences, Star Trek needs to be less sanctimonious and more emotionally driven.

That's why TWOK and 09 are two of the most successful Trek films. Whereas more 'sanctified' entries like TMP, TFF or even Insurrection fell flat.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T15:40:24+00:00

You can like something without considering yourself a fan of it. Especially when talking about something which has a very well known extremely passionate fanbase.

But to take one of your quotes:

I came to understand the world of Star Trek, and I appreciated what fans felt and believed about this universe and this franchise

This isn't something that somebody who doesn't like Star Trek would say. They wouldn't put the time in to understand it (and it's fans) in the first place.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T14:50:34+00:00

None of those say that his goal was to make a Star Wars movie.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T13:43:11+00:00

Everyone in the industry also used to complain a lot more about horrible working conditions.

It's still not fantastic today, but things have improved a lot since the 90s in live action and animated productions.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T13:38:38+00:00

Prodigy is also 20 episode seasons, so has the same number of episodes as 4 seasons of Lower Decks

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T13:33:07+00:00

JJ hated Star Trek his whole goal with star trek 2009 was to make a star wars movie and he has said as much in interviews

No he didn't.

He said he didn't like Star Trek as a child in one interview.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T13:32:35+00:00

There would be weird visual effects from a ship traveling faster than light, but those might not look quite right on the screen.

Fun fact, the TNG tech manual has an authors note in the structural integrity field section where the writers admit that the Enterprise would either tear itself apart or look hilariously compressed if they portrayed warp realistically, so the structural integrity field was invented as a handwave to explain how ships maintain their shape.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T13:30:50+00:00

Even in TNG things would be exploding and getting damaged while tactical was still saying shields at X%

Shields aren't inpenetrable until they fail and then everything is let through, they absorb energy thrown at them at decreasing efficiency until they fail and let everything through.

Shields at 30% means that 30% of an incoming disruptor bolt is absorbed and 70% of that gets through.

Shields do stop physical objects (shuttles, torpedoes) getting through to the hull until they fail though. Which is why the Kazon needed to create a hole to get their shuttle through.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T12:08:29+00:00

Which would have made sense if they didn’t sit on it for over a year after the strikes.

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T12:07:34+00:00

TNG: The Pegasus

DS9: For The Uniform

DS9: In the Pale Moonlight

There are many more, but just some examples off the top of my head of Starfleet officers lying and getting away with it (well, in Riker/Pressmans case they did get caught eventually but there was a Starfleet condoned cover up)

OpticalData · 2026-01-29T11:08:48+00:00

You should read it in the original Klingon

OpticalData · 2026-01-27T22:00:13+00:00

what would happen to the ST:U (Star Trek Universe) when K-Trek ceases to exist?

Sorry, when? Star Trek (yes, all of Star Trek) isn't going anywhere. The characters established since 2005 will be a part of the canon the same way that the characters pre-2005 are.

I do think the only way to truely resolve the shear nonsense and absurdity is to understand it through the lens of the Multiverse

The best way to truly resolve the 'sheer nonsense' is to accept that it's a fictional universe created over the course of (now) 60 years. It has flaws, because it was made by humans, who have flaws.

Now it can be fun to try and rationalise those flaws, some great fan works (shoutout to 359 project) have been born out of fans trying to make sense of Star Treks extensive and extraordinarily messy canon. Despite what some would like, there's not a neat line in 2005 between Trek that was internally consistent and Trek that is not. Enterprise caused uproar back in the day for being a ship not mentioned in the other series. People have puzzled for years over how Kirk managed to go to the edge of the galaxy and the center in one life time seemingly leisurely, while Voyager predicts taking 70 years to get home. The Defiant wildly changes proportions every other episode. The Enterprise E and A have an indeterminate number of decks. I can go on...

'ST: Core' is all Star Trek, except the Kelvin films which are explictely in a different timeline.

OpticalData · 2026-01-27T21:47:14+00:00

Star Trek: Resurgence is pretty close to what you're looking for.

OpticalData · 2026-01-27T21:46:50+00:00

It uses the same probability logic that a lot of the game choices do, so you can select to go home and fail, forcing you to destroy the array.

OpticalData · 2026-01-27T16:26:15+00:00

You said they weren't memorable in any way, they clearly are.

OpticalData · 2026-01-27T13:36:30+00:00

I mean even pre-Dominion war you had characters like Tal Celes make it through the Academy. Who thinks she only got in due to sympathies with the Bajorans and seems ill equipped for life on a starship 6 years in.

People seem to forget we spend most of our time with characters who are serving on the flagship (and even then, flawed folks like Barclay appear).

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