What?!! Another POLL?!!

[General Chang]

I would have to say that at heart, I am an action fan when it comes to Star Trek. The shows have great ideals about a possibly semi-utopian future, with fantastical ships, and people with a moral compass that makes Harry Potter Hating Soccer Moms look like three dollar prostitutes, but for me, it was always the action in a lot of the stories. When I was but a wee laddie, watching Star Trek TOS, I didn't quite get the lofty ideals that the show was purported to pose....but I understood "Battle Stations", "Red Alert", and "Phasers on Stun!" (I also understood the concept of the hot chick in the tin foil bikini....but that's another thread.)

As I grew up, I got to understand what it was Star Trek was trying to say...and for that, I will always be appreciative. Even as a teen watching TNG, Worf was my role model in matters of honor. (Not the, "I must kill you as a matter of honor!" motif...but the "I must do what is right!" motif.) Starfleet officers, regardless of their propensity for Political Correctness (thank you DS9 and Enterprise for being a breath of fresh air, and showing us just how flawed we as humans really are), still always wanted to do the right thing.

But, in the end....I am always spoiling for a good battle...and the Star Trek series and movies have shown some of the most spectacular space battles, rivaled only by another great Sci-fi franchise "STAR WARS!"

Respectfully,
General Chang

[qerlin]

I plead the fifth...

Actually, the thing I like least in Trek is the utopian aspect; hopeful is good -- blatantly unrealistic about the human condition bad. The ships are cool, the characters are generally good, though the 'head of the week' alien crap needs to stop.

[C5]

I first discovered Trek through TNG and the first thing that appealed to me was that... I could understand what people said (I watched TNG in English with subtitles, and Stewart, Spiner and Sirtis were quite understandable). Soon after that, I realised that I fully agreed with the "to seek out new life forms and new civilisations" motto, and keeping watching, I found that I just loved the utopy (more than everything) and the way they used the future to critic our current world.

So, I'd say, in order of preference :

The Roddenberry Utopian ideal (far above)
The Human Adventure and the political aspects of the Trek Universe (on par, equally important for me)
The occasional comedy of Trek (I find very important for a series to be able to turn itself into derision)
Space Battles, Phaser fights, and Slugfests (since a good fight or space battle with nice FX is always enjoyable - one reason which will make me forever unable to be really enthralled by Balance of Terror, since I discovered it just after having watched one of the late DS9 episodes...).

Quite an interesting poll, BTW, General. I think I'll watch closely the results to test a theory of mine.

[Ramage]

Hope, exploration, the nobler aspects of humanity over the darker, the notion that some large problems can be solved through negotiations...

...and of course going where no one has gone before.

For me Trek is about hope, discovery, and moves towards a more positive view of humanity.

And yet, for all that, I still like DS9 the best, which showed the warts and rough edges...

[REG]

At the risk of getting flamed, I think DS9 brilliantly displayed the crux of the human adventure. It has both positive and negative aspects, but they don't skimp on the wide range of humanity's struggle with adversity.

It is not just a war between the Dominion and the Alpha Quadrants, but the effect of war on humans. The effect of conflict in that region between the Occupied and the Occupiers. The effect of having conflict of loyalty and duty (Garak), or simply the effect of losing a limb (Nog).

That's why I prefer character development story over episodic, even if it does border on the angst. I don't want them to solve a problem in less than an hour, I want to see how they struggle through it every step of the way.

[General Chang]

REG, I agree with you 100%! I like a good ongoing story...not just the "alien world/bad guy of the week" schtick. DS9 started out episodic...but as with the series which followed it..became more of an epic singular tale.

Respectfully,
General Chang

[Cmdr Powers]

The Spaceships!

[qerlin]

Originally posted by Cmdr Powers
The Spaceships!

YUP

[Ineti]

My ideal Trek would have a little bit of everything. DS9 is as close to my ideal as I've seen. Any games I run follow that spirit.

[Phantom]

Nah, it's the chicks and the guns. You all know that, you're just too afraid to admit it.

Really, I like the adventure aspect of Trek. Not so much action...My favourite ep is "City on the edge of forever" not alot of exciting action, but it was still a good adventure. Both in the literary sense and the sense of one man doing something (or not doing something in this case) that he knows he must for the greater good.

The ships and the space battles, though well done, were so short they never really added anything to the show for me.

I never really bought into the Utopian ideals either. We may learn to live in peace in the future, but not in the "peace" Gene believed. Unfortunate.

[REG]

Originally posted by Phantom

Nah, it's the chicks and the guns. You all know that, you're just too afraid to admit it.

You mean like Pamela Anderson's BarbWire film and VIP TV series?

You ... silly ghost.

[ghosty]

Gotta be the women.

7 of 9, the two Daxs...hot...

[REG]

Don't give Rick Berman any silly idea of taking...

"Three very different little girls, who grew up to be three very different women (a Starfleet Academy graduate, a Vulcan Science Academy honor graduate, and a reformed convict of New Zealand Correctional Facility). But they have three things in common. They're brilliant, they're beautiful, ...and they all work for me. I'm Director Charlie of Section 31, and these are my stellar angels."

[General Chang]

REG, you are too much, amigo! ROFLMAO!

Respectfully,
General Chang

[StyroFoam Man]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster