Yeah, and never mind the fact that by allowing him to apply, join, go through training, and then once commissioned, decorate him with several medals for his service, it’s sort of implied that Data is his own person.
Y’know, on thinking about it, this interpretation doesn’t hold up. You have to interpret characters’ reactions in the light of what they would have known at the time. When the heroes initially saw their crew members reduced to sand, they probably already thought at the time that they were irretrievably dead. Which, yes, is bad news: Nobody likes dealing with dudes who kill people just to make a rhetorical point, and they’re not really sure how he did it. But it’s no worse than if, say, the aliens had just killed them in an ambush with pointy sticks.
Then, the alien crushes the cube, and goes through the schpiel about how that crewmember is now dead. Blah blah, more immature display of power and villain gloating. They’ve seen that plenty of times before.
But then, the aliens bring back one of the blockified crew. It doesn’t matter which one-- The ability to do that is quite impressive. Now we know that the homicidal aliens have super-advanced technology, and that is genuinely scary.
As for LaForge’s rapid rise to the position of Chief Engineer, that’s just because the first-season writers made the idiotic decision to not have a Chief Engineer on the ship (or, if there was one, to make him such a minor character that nobody knew who he was). The ship absolutely needs an engineer, though, and so they had to promote an existing, established character into that role. And of the existing characters, LaForge was the best choice.
Say that “Let he who is without sin” is a bad episode, but it had conflict to spare, what with the guy thinking that the Federation has to “man up”.
And maybe Nagilum just liked Geordi. Come to think of it doesn’t Q call Picard “Jean Luc”, but call everybody else by last names?
Regarding the sand block death of Julie Cobb… one wonders how (in your mind), it would have been made less racist? Seems all permutations can result in complaints.
- White girl killed - oh, we only mourn white people?
- Black guy killed - oh, we only kill blacks?
- Make them both white - oh, where are the blacks? under-representation! lack of diversity!
- Make them both black - oh, of course only the blacks are in peril!
Seriously, someone is bound to find fault in some fashion if they want.
From the viewpoint of saving money by not adding another regular character, yeah, he was about the ONLY choice! Doesn’t explain his suddenly acquired expertise in the field of starship engineering, though.
Speaking of the Kelvans, ever wonder what their reaction was when they received the Federation’s invitation to come settle in our galaxy?
*"Holy crap, guys, we’ve struck the mother lode! These pussies actually **want *us to come and dominate them! Get that invasion fleet ready, we sail tomorrow!" 
Dark green go to the back of the Enterprise. :dubious:
I thought Roddenberry had already been handed his gold watch by the time DS9 went into production. :dubious: 
Come to think of it, this would have made a good “Temporal Police” episode on Voyager: 600 years in the future, the Kelvans show up on our doorstep to, you know, “accept” our “invitation.”
What do they do? Let them in? Travel back to Kirk’s day to keep the invitation from ever being sent? Go even farther back and intercept Rojan’s party, thereby ensuring that the events in “By Any Other Name” never happen at all (and there’s no need for Julie Cobb to die)?
Another great missed opportunity!
**
I HEREBY COPYRIGHT THIS IDEA!!!**
I HEREBY COPYRIGHT THIS IDEA TOO!!!
Good, but missing one touch: Send the Kelvans to the Gamma Quadrant. Or the Delta Quadrant. Either one gives better stories. 
Wanna collaborate on a Trek novel that’s actually worth reading?
Deal. Do we want to watch a Dominion/Kelvan war or risk the Kelvans getting assimilated into the Borg Collective?
I’ll be back in Toronto on Wednesday. Lemme think about it until then. 