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29 Days of Star Trek Meme: Day 11
Feb. 16th, 2012 11:22 pm11 - What's your least favourite species?
A few options here. The Ferengi, who were responsible for some of the most cringe-worthy episodes of Star Trek, and who never really managed to develop beyond being one-dimensional caricatures – at times seeming to actually regress. Deep Space Nine’s handling of them barely improved things, as just as it seemed the Ferengi could be developed into something more than a laughing stock, there’d get something like ‘Ferengi Love Songs’ or ‘Profit and Lace’.
Then there were the occasional bizarre moments where we were apparently meant to take seriously Quark’s criticism of Federation society compared to Ferengi, criticisms that require one to completely ignore the Ferengi’s institutionalised misogyny, or the fact that every single Ferengi episode was built around the concept of ‘The Ferengi seek to exploit and cheat everyone they ever encounter’…
On the other hand, there were the occasional enjoyable Ferengi episodes, I do at least like the look of the species, and I like the concept of there being a major merchant power in the Trek universe, even if the execution fell flat.
There’s the Kazon, who somehow managed to be recurring villains for two years without ever doing anything of interest whatsoever. But they weren’t so much bad as tedious, and if they hadn’t been around, presumably there’d have just been a string of interchangeable belligerent aliens instead. Their main problem is they feel like some sort of no-name brand Klingons.
No, I think if I had to pick one species that I utterly despite, it’s the Prophets and the Pah-Wraiths. The Ferengi and the Kazon were in some bad episodes, but that was all. Skip every Ferengi episode of TNG and DS9, and you’re not missing much. Jump ahead to Voyager’s season three, and you’ll never need to worry about the Kazon. The Prophets, though, became more and more the focus of Ds9’s plots, and ended up impossible to ignore, even as they became less and less interesting.
The Prophets in Emissary are, at least, a neat concept. The execution needs some work – they’re worried about Sisko ‘destroying’ them even though they’re meant to have no concept of linear time – but they’re a very interesting idea. Used sparingly, they were fine. Then… then they started being used more and more, until they ended up the focus of entire ongoing plotlines, even as they became less and less interesting.
The Prophets as the mysterious wormhole aliens who may-or-may-not be the Bajoran gods is fine, but at some point it was apparenty decided they were the Prophets, elements of ultimate good, and their enemies, the Pah-Wraiths were, by extension, implacably evil. None of this was ever actually shown, and the Prophets actual behaviour is, at best, morally dubious.
(Selenak’s written a wonderful drabble emphasising just how dodgy the whole Sarah Sisko situation is…)
So we’ve got a war between good and evil where we’re just meant to accept those labels, pretty much on the ‘good’ side’s say-so. Bad enough on its own, but then major characters, important, multi-faceted characters get dragged into this mess. Dukat and Kai Winn ally with the Pah-Wraiths and end up one dimensionally evil, Sisko unquestioningly follows the Prophet’s orders because… I don’t know, because a plot involving a magic book and demonic rituals isn’t the place to have actual character motivations, I guess.
Then there’s the effects the Prophet’s existence had on Bajoran storylines. Ds9 was a bit more accepting of religion than the other series… but then, that’s easy to do when the gods are showing up every few episodes and getting involved in mortal affairs. Of course, actual religions don’t have that advantage, so any storylines dealing with Bajoran faith ended up a lot weaker than they could have been.
And that’s why I despite the Prophets. Not just because they led to bad storylines, but because they poison other character’s storylines as well. The Ferengi, at least, only ruin their own episodes.
A few options here. The Ferengi, who were responsible for some of the most cringe-worthy episodes of Star Trek, and who never really managed to develop beyond being one-dimensional caricatures – at times seeming to actually regress. Deep Space Nine’s handling of them barely improved things, as just as it seemed the Ferengi could be developed into something more than a laughing stock, there’d get something like ‘Ferengi Love Songs’ or ‘Profit and Lace’.
Then there were the occasional bizarre moments where we were apparently meant to take seriously Quark’s criticism of Federation society compared to Ferengi, criticisms that require one to completely ignore the Ferengi’s institutionalised misogyny, or the fact that every single Ferengi episode was built around the concept of ‘The Ferengi seek to exploit and cheat everyone they ever encounter’…
On the other hand, there were the occasional enjoyable Ferengi episodes, I do at least like the look of the species, and I like the concept of there being a major merchant power in the Trek universe, even if the execution fell flat.
There’s the Kazon, who somehow managed to be recurring villains for two years without ever doing anything of interest whatsoever. But they weren’t so much bad as tedious, and if they hadn’t been around, presumably there’d have just been a string of interchangeable belligerent aliens instead. Their main problem is they feel like some sort of no-name brand Klingons.
No, I think if I had to pick one species that I utterly despite, it’s the Prophets and the Pah-Wraiths. The Ferengi and the Kazon were in some bad episodes, but that was all. Skip every Ferengi episode of TNG and DS9, and you’re not missing much. Jump ahead to Voyager’s season three, and you’ll never need to worry about the Kazon. The Prophets, though, became more and more the focus of Ds9’s plots, and ended up impossible to ignore, even as they became less and less interesting.
The Prophets in Emissary are, at least, a neat concept. The execution needs some work – they’re worried about Sisko ‘destroying’ them even though they’re meant to have no concept of linear time – but they’re a very interesting idea. Used sparingly, they were fine. Then… then they started being used more and more, until they ended up the focus of entire ongoing plotlines, even as they became less and less interesting.
The Prophets as the mysterious wormhole aliens who may-or-may-not be the Bajoran gods is fine, but at some point it was apparenty decided they were the Prophets, elements of ultimate good, and their enemies, the Pah-Wraiths were, by extension, implacably evil. None of this was ever actually shown, and the Prophets actual behaviour is, at best, morally dubious.
(Selenak’s written a wonderful drabble emphasising just how dodgy the whole Sarah Sisko situation is…)
So we’ve got a war between good and evil where we’re just meant to accept those labels, pretty much on the ‘good’ side’s say-so. Bad enough on its own, but then major characters, important, multi-faceted characters get dragged into this mess. Dukat and Kai Winn ally with the Pah-Wraiths and end up one dimensionally evil, Sisko unquestioningly follows the Prophet’s orders because… I don’t know, because a plot involving a magic book and demonic rituals isn’t the place to have actual character motivations, I guess.
Then there’s the effects the Prophet’s existence had on Bajoran storylines. Ds9 was a bit more accepting of religion than the other series… but then, that’s easy to do when the gods are showing up every few episodes and getting involved in mortal affairs. Of course, actual religions don’t have that advantage, so any storylines dealing with Bajoran faith ended up a lot weaker than they could have been.
And that’s why I despite the Prophets. Not just because they led to bad storylines, but because they poison other character’s storylines as well. The Ferengi, at least, only ruin their own episodes.