Yes, mirror-universe Kira was bisexual, but in a silly, vampy Sharon-Stone-in-Basic-Instinct kind of way that I, for one, can’t see as a positive gay character.
Have there been any openly not-strictly-hererosexual characters in the ST universe which were portrayed as reasonable, balanced people before the Trill came along?
Granted, in a universe where they don’t have toilets on their spaceships, GBLT’s aren’t going to be making the front page news, but still…
I always thought Harry Kim was gay when he turned down 7 of 9’s advances.
And who knows just what Soong programmed into Data to make him fully capable in a variety of positions and techniques.
And you don’t think the vulcan neck pinch is all Spock’s hands were good for gripping, do you?
Starved? We’ve got Andromeda, Invisible Man, Stargate SG-1, Earth: Final Conflict, and as far as I know, Farscape is still going… I gorge myself on scifi on the weekends. (And Andromeda is actually pretty cool.)
Ethelrist: Is appearing in Maxim an indisputable mark of an un-serious actress? What’s so serious about pretending to be fictitious people for money, anyway?
That’s ok…I’ve done the same thing myself.
Shameful as it is for a Trekkie like me to admit, I don’t know if this is true or not, nor do I have the episode on tape. Can any real Trekkie help us out?
Yes, one of the sillier scenes in an otherwise great movie…why would they have a little phaser mini-armory in the galley??? Unless…it was a makeshift galley put in for this particular mission, thus supporting my theory! Aha!
I’ve heard of all of those but the Centarians. Who are they?
I was gonna say, speak for yourself, that’s the kind of character I like…but that got someone mad at me in another thread, so I guess I won’t 
About the galley on TOS: remember in the tribble episode, when Kirk(?) tries to get a meal out of the dispenser and gets a plate full of tribbles? I think this shows pretty clearly that the food is prepared, not replicated. Or else the tribbles had reprogrammed the replicator to make more of themselves.
Got a cite? (I’ve always wanted to say that!) I’ve heard this little factoid before, and I always wonder where it comes from. I’ve seen every episode of all the Star Trek series at least once, and I don’t recall it ever being mentioned. Like Weird_AL, I have never heard of the Centarians. My suspicion is that this may come from one of the novels, and has somehow crept into Trek lore. In any case, I don’t think it’s canonical.
Also for Weird_AL, yes, the turkey scene in Charlie X takes place exactly as described above. Sorry, but I think we’re going to have to go with prepared food, not replicated, on TOS.
No, it only proves that they had a galley, not that they didn’t have replicators.
Cool handle btw.
Actually this is one of the scenes that makes my point. Kirk goes up to the thing that looks like a microwave, says “chicken sandwich and coffee” (IIRC), and boom, there it is. It couldn’t have been prepared that quickly.
MGibson wrote:
*Voyager[\i] came soooooo close to doing something really, really cool with the Borg.
Remember the episode where Chakotay got plugged into that “mini Borg collective” with those ex-Borg natives on that planet? Remember the look of sheer ecstasy on his face as he partook of the thoughts of all the other people in that mini-collective? I took one look at this scene, and screamed, “Aha!! That’s it! That’s how the Borg got started in the first place!! Some humanoid species discovered a way to make this thought-sharing neural link, and the experience was so addictive they didn’t want to unplug from it. But then, they started getting bored with all the old, familiar thoughts in their proto-collective, and realized that in order to regain the thrill of sharing new thoughts, they would have to keep feeding their addiction by assimilating more and more people!”
It was a great idea. The Borg were mental-collective-aholics!
But naturally, since this idea was so neato-keen and had so many far-reaching implications for the Borg and for the potential future of the Trek universe, the Voyager writers decided to drop the whole concept and never went near it again. The rest of the episode turned into a garden-variety mushy love story between Chakotay and one of the women on the planet. Bleah.
Weird_AL_Einstein wrote:
I went into a McDonald’s yesterday, said, “hamburger with fries”, and boom, there it was. It couldn’t have been prepared that quickly. Then, I went to a vending machine, and pressed the “chicken sandwich” button, and boom, there it was. It couldn’t have been prepared that quickly, either. Therefore, McDonald’s and sandwich vending machines must use replicators.
Voyager has replicators, but it also has a galley, though God knows why.
And what is with this “home cooking is better than replicated” thing that crops up all the time? If they can’t make replicators that can turn out duplicates of existing dishes that are perfect at the molecular level and below, then God help anyone who steps into a transporter.
MrAtoz wrote:
I believe it comes from the old Star Fleet Technical Manual, first published in the mid-1970s by Franz Joseph Designs.
(This Franz Joseph technical manual went on to be the basis for the Star Fleet Battles wargame, which is so not canon it will make a hardcore Trekker’s little pointy ears explode.)
Conservation of energy. They didn’t know where they’d be able to get their new source of power (being without starbases to dock at for fresh, shiny new dilithium crystals) so they had to save energy. Additionally, they often bartered with other cultures for actual food. And, of course, they needed to give Neelix something to do after Kes dumped him. 
Esprix
Esprix wrote:
… which is why Voyager’s Holodeck seemed to be in operation round-the-clock.
IANAVFan in any way, shape or form, but I do remember in the pilot episode the explanation was given that the holodeck ran on a different energy source than the rest of the ship, one that was incapable of providing any power to the rest of the shp, thus they could keep it on all the time.
To which, most people just said “right!”
Sir Rhosis
Incorrect.
The holodeck, like the replicators, were rationed - they often talk in the series about “I used up a whole month’s worth of replicator rations to make you that pie,” or “I had to give up my holodeck privileges for a month.” It was very clear in the series that energy had to be conserved, and there were also times during the series that energy supplies were an issue.
Esprix
Esprix,
I may be incorrect, but I swear I recall somesuch explanation delivered, IIRC, by Ensign Kim in the pilot or very early episode, at a briefing, perhaps in Janeway’s Ready Room.
Sir Rhosis
Back to the OP:
Here is a site with artwork showing Bakula in a retro-fifties-looking uniform shirt, etc. There a link that supposedly shows a photo of the new “old” Enterprise. It’s fan-ran, so take it with a grain or two of salt.
Sir Rhosis
So… you’re admitting that Starfleet personnel are no better trained than McDonald’s employees…
Weird Al Einstein wrote:
"Actually this is one of the scenes that makes my point. Kirk goes up to the thing that looks like a microwave, says “chicken sandwich and coffee” (IIRC), and boom, there it is. It couldn’t have been prepared that quickly. "
Actually, it completely disproves your point. If that was a replicator, then before Kirk pressed the button, the food did not exsist. So when could the tribbles have eaten it? No, obviously the food had to have been prepared in advance and stored in the machine Kirk was using, during which time the tribbles got in and ate it. Then, when the Cap’n orders, instead of his food being dispensed, he gets the tribbles that ate it.
Have I mentioned that I don’t even like Star Trek?