Star Trek

[Buster's Uncle]

The Gamma Quadrant was packed with lame aliens.  The villains on that show were weak, if we leave the Borg out - and I'd argue that they suck, too.

Well if your judging my missed opportunity in the characters basic premise, then yes Chakotay takes the cake in the sense that what should have been a 7 year transition from Maqui rebel to a prim and proper Star-fleet Officer took place in 7 minutes, after which their was nothing left to develop, the other 'rebellious' characters in the crew Paris and B'Elanna at least took a while to really fall in line.

But contrast that with Harry Kim, a character with absolutely NO dramatic potential right from the get go, he was always going to just be the competent yet self-doubting, shy yet friendly stereotypical Asian male.  For me he is absolutely the worst character in Voyager because he literally fades into the background, can you honestly name anything he ever DID, not just done TOO him, something he actually did that was pivotal to the plot.

I liked Kim at first.  Hey, he was me only nicer - getting to serve on the Enterprise, overwhelmed by it all - only he never grew to the next stage.  The writers didn't know what to do with him and the actor wasn't very good.  Burned through the newb arch in a season or two, and never had anything else to offer.

Now, Paris and Torres are other sorts of missed opportunities, but I don't want thrash that out first thing in the morning.

[Rusty Edge]

I thought Sylar was playing Tuvok, not Spock.  Think it over; his "Spock" was a peevish unlikeable [male member], like his annoyance at humans was showing all the time, not the deep, shy trying-to-be-cold real Spock we admire.

I think we love Spock partly because he's a heroic figure.  He gets results, he has superpowers, he works hard.  He's different, as you say, but in a way you can wrap your head around easily.  It's a credible attempt at suggesting alienness within the limits of 60's TV, but the issues Spock struggles with -self control, trying to be the person he wants to be, alienation in the lonely sense- are ones the target audience, us nerdz, can really get behind.

I am Spock.

That sounds logical.

[Buster's Uncle]

 

[Green1]

The Gamma Quadrant was packed with lame aliens.  The villains on that show were weak, if we leave the Borg out - and I'd argue that they suck, too.

Even TNG had this problem. VOY just took it over the top. I think they called it "plastic forehead of the week".

You would think there would be vastly different aliens other than just humanoids with weird heads.

[Buster's Uncle]

Yep, yep, yep and yep.

[Unorthodox]

ALL scifi has the funny forehead problem, frankly.  And there's nothing wrong with making a creature of the weak series either (see early xfiles).  But make them interesting creature of the weeks. 

In all honesty, I can't remember a single alien from voyager outside the crew. 

Oh, well, there was Fear the clown, he made me laugh.   

[Buster's Uncle]

creature of the weak series

That's Voyager all over...

[Unorthodox]

creature of the weak series

That's Voyager all over...

You could describe the original series the same way.   

[Buster's Uncle]

No.  No I could not.

They only met makeup people, not forehead people.  And this part of the galaxy is full of parallel Earths, for some reason.

You don't even know real ST well enough to insult it right.

[Unorthodox]

It was a creature of the week show.  What form that creature takes doesn't really matter. 

[BlaneckW]

You don't even know real ST well enough to insult it right.

Episodes were more atomized, but you didn't need to have Janeway remind you every five minutes that they are explorers.

[Rusty Edge]

They only met makeup people, not forehead people.  And this part of the galaxy is full of parallel Earths, for some reason.

Yes, that would be my impression/ characterization. Except for Tribbles and the silicon based mine monster. Sounds like budget issues, doesn't it?

Has Fan Fiction or anything else come up with a backstory? You know, all of the "Earth-type planets" were seeded or colonized or something by a dying civilization?  "The Athenians", or something of the sort, which fell prey to the Romulans, or a super-Nova?

[Unorthodox]

Has Fan Fiction or anything else come up with a backstory? You know, all of the "Earth-type planets" were seeded or colonized or something by a dying civilization?  "The Athenians", or something of the sort, which fell prey to the Romulans, or a super-Nova?

There's a TNG episode that is pretty much that, exactly, though I forget what killed off the civilization in question. 

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Chase_(episode)

[Buster's Uncle]

Real ST did it first - Sargon's people in Return to Tomorrow, and the Preservers who put generic Native Americans on the planet in The Paradise Syndrome.  No indication whether the two are connected, though I'd bet that way.

It was a creature of the week show.

Disagree.

It was sometimes a creature of the week show - if that had been the case in general, they'd have had more rubber suits - the Horta, the Salt Vampire and the Gorn being the exception, not the rule.  The Mugatu counts, too, despite the fur, and maybe the little puppets at the end of Catspaw.  The Tellerites when they appeared.  You can't come up with a lot more rubber suits, because I think I just nearly swept the table - maybe one tenth of the episodes.

No, the typical alien was a funny color and/or had space hair, occasionally funny ears, but most often was indistinguishable from an Earth human if they even dressed funny.

The Enterprise explored Strange New Worlds, and encountered space monsters, sure.  But the worlds/aliens weren't very imaginative as mainstream science fiction, Star Trek being heavily influenced by Twilight Zone before it, and being more about ideas and being science fiction in a very old Swiftian tradition - holding up a mirror to the issues of the day in which it was made.

Now, The Outer Limits, to name something almost contemporary, was definitely monster of the week, and so did Lost in Space become.

They only met makeup people, not forehead people.  And this part of the galaxy is full of parallel Earths, for some reason.

Yes, that would be my impression/ characterization. Except for Tribbles and the silicon based mine monster. Sounds like budget issues, doesn't it?

Has Fan Fiction or anything else come up with a backstory? You know, all of the "Earth-type planets" were seeded or colonized or something by a dying civilization?  "The Athenians", or something of the sort, which fell prey to the Romulans, or a super-Nova?

I've said before in the Valjirr thread, that there's a good fanfic idea in there.  Cher had actually already done a little something on those lines, though I don't know much about it.

[Unorthodox]

You're too obsessed with the costuming.  Makeup, rubber suit, body paint, doesn't matter, a creature of the week doesn't really matter appearance.  Supernatural's first two seasons are no more than a creature of the week, and every other episode is insert ghost of the week.  The difference is in the interesting uniqueness of the individual creatures.  TOS had originality going for it, Supernatural has unique back stories going for it.  Voyager had...cliche after cliche.