# Lamest Star Trek Character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331 "2005-10-15T05:48:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/81 "2005-10-17T00:45:13Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > …and yet they are always talking about how the Enterprise is the flagship of the Federation and how hard it is to get stationed on it. I would think that the ability to interact well with others would be a top priority. I’m not saying that cooperation, teamwork and competence wouldn’t be the order of the day, but in a crew that size, not everyone would or could like each other. Would you thing that all the crew members of the USN flagship, the USS Blue Ridge get along like one big Sears catalogue picture? You think that some of them might be “losers”, “weird” or at the very least, kinda socially awkward? Barkley was that… the human face in the sea of sameness. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/82 "2005-10-17T00:59:37Z")
I’d like to nominate the entire Borg collective, including 7 of 9 \*and \* the ubiquitous Borg Queens. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/83 "2005-10-17T01:00:58Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Ah, you youth. You really have no concept of lame. > > **Yeoman Janice Rand**. The Enterprise employs a woman whose entire raison d’etre is to melt into the Captain’s arms whenever something awful is about to happen. What about Leeta, the Dabo girl? Talk about nothing but eye-candy and plaything. That slut slept her way all the way to the top of Ferengi society. Ew. At least Janice had a professional job. And hey, if I were Kirk’s (Kirk in TOS, not the movies) yeoman, I’d melt into his arms at the first sign of trouble too. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/84 "2005-10-17T01:39:16Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > What about Leeta, the Dabo girl? Talk about nothing but eye-candy and plaything. That slut slept her way all the way to the top of Ferengi society. Ew. > > At least Janice had a professional job. And hey, if I were Kirk’s (Kirk in TOS, not the movies) yeoman, I’d melt into his arms at the first sign of trouble too. 😛 Damn, another woman who goes for handsome good looks over the intellectual, logical type. ☹😛 ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/85 "2005-10-17T03:04:33Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Barkley When Picard accidentally called him Broccoli, I almost died laughing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/86 "2005-10-17T04:45:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Mama Tiger wrote: > Not to worry, you’re far from alone. Although I do prefer him without yellow eyes. Yes, the blue eyes are dreamy. But I’ll take him with blue, yellow, or red eyes. 😉 > [@](#): > > Chanteuse wrote: > Whew! I’m not the only one, then! WHOOO! I’m not alone in my Data addiction! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/87 "2005-10-17T05:14:54Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Ah, you youth. You really have no concept of lame. > > **Yeoman Janice Rand**. The Enterprise employs a woman whose entire raison d’etre is to melt into the Captain’s arms whenever something awful is about to happen. During the entirety of the Original Series, she is never given anything useful to do. On a ship that, generally speaking, didn’t treat the women members of the crew as female playthings, she stood out as being nothing more than eye-candy and a male plaything. Especially lame because the ST Writer’s Guide made an explicit point that female crewmen would not, repeat, **not** do that. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/88 "2005-10-17T05:18:36Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > **Deanna Troi** : Started out lame, and was redeemed. Deanna suffered from guest-star syndrome in that most of the shows featuring her in a large role were pretty well built (okay, wrong word) … uh, okay, those shows were stacked in her… well, they were designed to show off her… those shows were meant to highlight her as a character. This isn’t a sign that the character is lame, just that the character didn’t have as much integral purpose to the crew as originally planned. Later episodes with Troi were actually pretty decent once she was more of a well-rounded… uh, once her character was firmer and… yeah, just… uh, later. If you remember, Roddenberry’s original concept for Troi was that she had four breasts. (Something he seemed to be hung up on.) The character is lame because if she could do what the character was supposed to, most of the stories would vanish. And was there anything more pitiful than Troi in command? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/89 "2005-10-17T05:47:10Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > If you remember, Roddenberry’s original concept for Troi was that she had four breasts…if she could do what the character was supposed to… Heh. Heh heh heh. Eeheeheeeheee Heeee! Hoooo boy that got a chuckle… ---
**Author:** ![AmbushBug](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ambushbug/32/4600_2.png) [@AmbushBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmbushBug)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/90 "2005-10-18T03:12:26Z")
> [@uglybeech](#): > > [Alexander](http://www.starfleetlibrary.com/tng/images/TNG23401.jpg). A lot of people have seconded Alexander, but when I first read this post (before following your link, I thought you were talking about another [Alexander](http://members.fortunecity.com/pjc1/org/3rd/65platosstepchildren.htm). Which I was going to argue with, as Michael Dunn was a very good actor. Most of the attention on this episode is focused on the kiss, however. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/91 "2005-10-18T04:14:50Z")
The Borg. Somehow they can magically adapt their protection to keep themselves safe from any weapon in the universe. Except weapons that use kinetic energy. Like fists, swords, and bows. Meaning, of course, that your average Native American Tribe could have probably killed the entire contents of a Borg Cube with minimal losses. And you can only be so hard on Nana Visitor, cuz of the rack. -Joe, yes, I am shallow ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/92 "2005-10-18T04:22:56Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > Lamest Trek character? I can’t speak to Enterprise because I lasted about three episodes and gave up in disgust. And I’m not a Wesley hater, although I do hate what the writers did with him. My vote goes to Lore, too – utterly pointless, and as far as I can tell he was written for nothing more than pure cheese. Look at me! I’m a loser who is double-posting! I’m the lamest ever! Too bad I’m not a Star Trek character. Anyways, those complaining about Lore are forgetting what has basically become the center of Trek writing: Trying to unpaint themselves out of corners. Their technology makes magic look inadequate, so the writers always have to spend a chunk of the episode explaining why last week’s trivial bit of mundane technology can’t fix this week’s problems. Lore was much the same thing. There is nothing, NOTHING, that Data couldn’t do better than anyone in Starfleet, and better than, basically, anyone in the universe (omitting the frequently-appearing omnipotent/omniscient beings). So, what do you do? Come up with a Deus Ex Machina to paint themselves out of the Data corner. Enter Lore! Enter Moriarty! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![wissdok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c4cdca/32.png) [@wissdok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wissdok)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/93 "2005-10-18T05:11:44Z")
I am really getting beat up on another thread, so I might as well get my complaints here too. I would say the lameness is in the overly powerful characters. Mr. Spock, Data, and Seven of Nine were so dominating in almost everyway i didn’t understand why there was a need for the rest of the crew. They are stronger, faster, and smarter that the rest of the crew. There are several episodes that they seem to know more about engineering that Scotty, Geordi, or B’Elanna Torres. In others they somehow end up in command and everyone doubts their judgment but it turn out they were right. They never seem to be effected by any alien mind control. I think in one episode Data breaks Worf’s arm, but it didn’t matter as Worf could have hit him with a 2x4 and it wouldn’t have dazy him. Who needs Worf? Really in I was Captain Picard I would transfer all the human off the ship and get me a bunch of half-breed Vulcan Borgs. And the next time Lore came to visit I would just reprogram him and stick him on the bridge too. I think it was lame as written and it would have been better if the writers had dealt out most of their power to other crewmen. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/94 "2005-10-18T05:48:20Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > The Borg. > > Somehow they can magically adapt their protection to keep themselves safe from any weapon in the universe. > > Except weapons that use kinetic energy. Like fists, swords, and bows. > > Meaning, of course, that your average Native American Tribe could have probably killed the entire contents of a Borg Cube with minimal losses. > > And you can only be so hard on Nana Visitor, cuz of the rack. > > -Joe, yes, I am shallow And Starfleet never thought of replicating old fashioned firearms to fight them. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/95 "2005-10-18T19:28:57Z")
> [@wissdok](#): > > I am really getting beat up on another thread, so I might as well get my complaints here too. > > I would say the lameness is in the overly powerful characters. Mr. Spock, Data, and Seven of Nine were so dominating in almost everyway i didn’t understand why there was a need for the rest of the crew. They are stronger, faster, and smarter that the rest of the crew. There are several episodes that they seem to know more about engineering that Scotty, Geordi, or B’Elanna Torres. In others they somehow end up in command and everyone doubts their judgment but it turn out they were right. They never seem to be effected by any alien mind control. I think in one episode Data breaks Worf’s arm, but it didn’t matter as Worf could have hit him with a 2x4 and it wouldn’t have dazy him. Who needs Worf? Really in I was Captain Picard I would transfer all the human off the ship and get me a bunch of half-breed Vulcan Borgs. And the next time Lore came to visit I would just reprogram him and stick him on the bridge too. > I think it was lame as written and it would have been better if the writers had dealt out most of their power to other crewmen. In general, true. In defense of Spock, though, the Original Series did try to take pains to show that a group of people who make all their decisions by logic don’t always end up making correct decisions. I’m not certain that they really managed to hammer that home too well with how _Intrepid_ dies, though. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/96 "2005-10-18T19:37:55Z")
> [@wissdok](#): > > I am really getting beat up on another thread, so I might as well get my complaints here too. > > I would say the lameness is in the overly powerful characters. Mr. Spock, Data, and Seven of Nine were so dominating in almost everyway i didn’t understand why there was a need for the rest of the crew. They are stronger, faster, and smarter The thing with these guys was, despite being smarter, stronger & faster, and in most instances you’d want to send these guys in first, but at the end of the day, their superior abilities were usually trumped by basic human emotional gut-level instinct. I imagine there was a moral there someplace. Personally, I’m with you though. Forget humans. I want a ship filled with Vulcans, androids & hot looking Borg drones. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/97 "2005-10-18T19:54:24Z")
> [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > I never really liked Dr. Pulaski. Something about about her just rubbed me the wrong way. What is was about her was the the actress never bothered to memorize her lines. She never looked where she was supposed to, because she was always looking at the cue cards. Drove me nuts. Sua ---
**Author:** ![AmbushBug](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ambushbug/32/4600_2.png) [@AmbushBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmbushBug)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/98 "2005-10-18T20:00:44Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > And Starfleet never thought of replicating old fashioned firearms to fight them. Picard, in a rather lame detective holodeck sequence, in _First Contact_, manufactured such to use on the Borg in order to elude capture. There are probably command-level-override safeties on the replicators to prevent casual creation of weapons and such. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/99 "2005-10-18T20:12:55Z")
> [@AmbushBug](#): > > Picard, in a rather lame detective holodeck sequence, in _First Contact_, manufactured such to use on the Borg in order to elude capture. > > There are probably command-level-override safeties on the replicators to prevent casual creation of weapons and such. And, of course, dropped the gun and forgot about it pretty much instantly. Instead of replicating a couple dozen clips and taking out all the Borg all on his own. And this is why I say Star Trek has bad writing. Gosh, you think they’d turn those overrides off to save the human race. Naaah…Picard probably couldn’t find the forms or something. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331/100 "2005-10-18T20:16:31Z")
I never got why Starfleet never replicated a good old .50 caliber machine gun. The only way that the writers can get around that problem is if the Borg suddenly start having personal shields that can stop all projectiles. Of course, at that point, they’d be unbeatable unless you say that the shield only stops objects with high kinetic energy coming in, so then why don’t you replicate a bunch of bows and arrows? Or deck out the security officers in armor, give them swords, and let them hack away? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-star-trek-character/326331.md?page=6)