I love a good geek fight. No, not the fisticuffs type, though I have to admit I’ve never witnessed one. I would be willing to part with a dollar to watch one. I’m referring to arguments. Specifically, the kind where inflamed Comic Book Guys write things like, “Worst. [fill in the blank]. Evar.”
Thanks to the interwebs there is no shortage of arguments. And, let’s be honest here, we geeks are not needing for things to argue about. That is doubly so when it comes to sci-fi.
And then there is Star Trek.
I would like to pose a The Original Series (TOS) versus The Next Generation (TNG) question in hopes of stirring the pot. Forget all that mess about who is the better captain. That isn’t an interesting question considering both Captains are only as strong as their weakest links. Their weakest links, on the other hand, has possibilities.
So, I pose the following question: Which crew is the weakest link? Kirk’s (TOS) or Picard’s (TNG)? There are some weak links in both chains of command.
I specifically want to examine two episodes, one from each series, which showcase just how thick both crews can be.
Click “next” below to start the debate;
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5 Comments
Agreed, not the best episode. Perhaps their overwhelming stink of patchouli overwhelmed the crew?
But my god, how TNG sucked! Oh look, here’s another episode of TNG where the Enterprise must intercede between the Douchebaggian ambassador on a peace mission to the Lameassians…so tedious.
Kirk vs. Picard is an understandable argument, but not Spock vs. Data, or McCoy vs. Crusher, or Scotty vs. La Forge.
Riker, Yar, Worf and especially Troi, they were simply terrible. It’s hard not to cringe at how terrible TNG is, when TOS has held up in its own oddly endearing way. I can still watch any TOS but it’s a rare TNG I don’t roll my eyes and immediately change the channel.
Jake:
Lol! I will have to remember “Douchebaggian” and “Lameassians”. Your snark is spot on.
One of the things that annoys me about TNG is the way that Worf is used. Or not used. Or owned. Call it what you will, but instead of being a KLINGON WARRIOR, he’s a poodle: there for show and constantly dismissed.
A fan of TNG, I’ve found recently that a lot of it (A LOT) isn’t watchable to me anymore. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not holding up very well to repeated viewings. “Best of Both Worlds” will always be the best, followed by “Darmok”, but a lot of it just doesn’t translate well anymore. I wish I could put my finger on what it is.
That said, Space Hippies. LOL! The best of Star Trek (any version) is its timelessness. It’s the *awesome,echoey sci-fi voice* FUTURE. It could be ANY future. When you stick things like Space Hippies in there, it’s plainly obvious when it was made.
As to who’s the stupidest crew? Hm. My vote, considering these two episodes alone, would have to be TNG. Sure, Kirk and co. should hang their heads for being conquered by the interstellar road show of “Godspell”, but when your security officer is telling you “Dude, it’s a trap. Let’s just send them a fax and be done with it” and you flat-out ignore him because you’re clearly feeling like you know best (hint: you don’t – every time you’re in charge, you crash the ship)… yeah, you’re the dummy. I wanted Worf to just storm out of there yelling the Klingon version of “I TOLD YOU SO.”
Kate:
I absolutely agree. I don’t think it would have been any different if Picard had been on board. Worf gets shafted all the time. Someone actually took the time to clip 15 minutes worth. You can check it out here: http://youtu.be/edflm7Hh3hs
Picard does his fair share of patting Worf on the head for being a “good boy” while completely dismissing him.
Oh, there are much worse TNG episodes like the one where Picard, Guinan, Keiko, and Ro become 12-year old kids and the crew of the Enterprise-D lets some renegade Ferengis conquer their vessel, and that ship WAS actually the flagship of the Federation. Nowhere does the canon mention that the TOS Enterprise was the Federation flagship.