IIRC, the Maquis were never introduced in TNG, although the seeds were planted in the seventh season episode when they agreed to leave the Native American settlement on the planet that had just been traded to Cardassia because they wouldn’t agree to leave. That was season 7, wasn’t it?
Edited to add - No, there were Maquis in TNG after all, because Ro Laren went undercover with them in her last episode. I think it was after they’d been introduced in Deep Space 9 though.
Do you r’lyeh think something like that could ever be popular?
Yep. Especially in early seasons—things got better after Roddenberry got kicked upstairs, and other writers (such as Maurice Hurley, it seems) left. SFDebris’ reviews provide a bit of behind-the-scenes info about these, as well as critiquing the episodes themselves.
It’s interesting, and a bit humbling, even disquieting, to see how a work can really grow beyond what it’s creator had envisioned; and how it can blossom into something roundly regarded as much better only after it’s taken out of the original creator’s hands.
I’d go as far as saying that a Trek continuing under the much stronger control of Roddenberry would have been really fascinating to behold—and bearing strikingly little resemblance to what we’ve come to know as “Star Trek.” And probably not for the best.
I guess smugness is subjective, but from my 20th century point of view, various characters drop a comment that seems smug to me.
From the first season episode “The Neutral Zone” (three 20th century humans are thawed out, Picard must deal with touchy Romulans):
^ Riker seems like an ass there.
So, this raises a question. If the technology (replicator?) and infrastructure is sufficient to eliminate hunger and “want”, the society “matures” to something better, then what have the humans really learned? They didn’t change emotionally, right? I mean, it’s one thing to teach your kids the value of hard work and a dollar earned, and another to just hand them there luxuries unearned, right? Doesn’t replicator tech make luxuries “unearned”? (Who would appreciate the hard work that went in to cooking a gourmet meal, or painting a new Mona Lisa when you can just dial one up on the machine.)
If that infrastruture is disrupted for an extended period, do the humans “revert” back to their infantile ways, or not? Is there any indications in the series that Humans have “learned” anything?
WTF? Picard doesn’t think trying to control your own life [path] is worth striving towards? Does that seem in character?
If he does, then why is he giving Offenhouse so much flak? Seems to me Picard is annoyed (as he was through most of the episode) with Offenhouse, and probably looks down on this 400 year old barbarian who intrudes on his finely tuned starship.
I agree with this. Not only were the other species monotone, they were cripplingly flawed because of their culture (belligerent, greedy, oppressive, etc) and needed the Federation to moderate in one way or another.
Of course the smuggest of all were the betazoids.
It wasn’t as bad as Voyager often was, with Tuvok’s being a Vulcan being regarded as some sort of disability at best.
I can’t remember or find the exact quote, but there’s a scene in the Voyager episode “Flashback” (the one where Tuvok and Janeway “remember” his experience working under Sulu on the Excelsior during ST:VI) where Tuvok complains about how humans think their way of life is the best.
It was also mentioned in one of Diane Duane’s TOS novels that being a starship captain tends to drive one stark raving mad… Janice Lester, the guy on the Nazi planet, the guy on the prison planet… everybody who ever left the center seat was a certified nutcase.
Oh trust me, it’s not just you. Quite frankly, the best thing that ever happened to the Trek franchise was when Roddenberry died, because that freed up the writers to write stories where the Federation isn’t perfect, and the main characters aren’t all holier-than-thou assholes.
Unfortunately, they mostly regressed in Voyager, wasting about 95% of the concept’s potential. (No significant conflict between the Maquis crew and the regular crew, no sign of the shortages that should have been an everpresent part of the journey, not even any grumbling about a captain who could be rather heavy-handed and unlikeable sometimes.)
Since when did any of them serve in Starfleet, much less in the captain’s seat??? 
Most Trek novels suck big-time anyway! :mad:
If you’re referring to Garth of Izar, it was an insane asylum, not a prison, and he went mad from injuries sustained during a rescue mission, not from the strain of command.
In fairness–each of those archetypes has an episode or two that breaks it down somewhat and contextualizes it.
These characterizations started as a way to distinguish alien races from humans–to increase diversity. It may be something of a ‘wank,’ but IMO the best way to watch these depictions is to see them as the human-eye-view stereotypes of macro-cultures as potentially variable as ours, but with different centers. Recall also that each of those cultures has their own stereotype of humans.
They wrapped that up decades ago in a single episode — Spock With a Goatee.
However, compare TNG to TOS. Q, the representative of a superior culture in TNG is a child, who Picard outsmarts and yells at. In TOS Kirk is mostly humbled when meeting truly superior beings - like in Arena, where they tell him that humanity has promise. Most especially in Errand of Mercy where Kirk finds himself shoulder to shoulder with a Klingon objecting to not being allowed to have a war - to Spock’s great amusement.
And Q tossed the Enterprise up against a Borg ship to teach Picard some humility - and also to give the Federation a heads up about what was on the way. But that was a rare exception to the general smugness.
It was Kirk & company who were trying to fix the rest of the universe (or at least the planets that had dilithium). At least two members of the Enterprise-D’s command staff were willing to allow a sentient species to be completely exterminated by a natural disaster when it was within their power to save them, and none of them were surprised that Picard would consider doing so. They E-D gave more than lip service to the Prime Directive; they followed it to a ridiculous and immoral level.
I have asked Janitorial to clean up after you, but in the future please use an adult diaper if you feel you will be unable to always make it to the restroom.
The best episode of any Star Trek was when they merged Wrath of Khan into Trekkies and ended up with Galaxy Quest
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