I am officially scared to read the comments on this post. Be merciful, Macloserboy!

Since the only option available that Star Trek did actually originate is the holodeck (and I'm not even sure of that), I guess... the holodeck?

No aliens that were actually "alien". But I guess you can cram that into #2.

But I'm really pissy this morning so I'm not gonna pick it.

SuperFans... thats my pick.

The only bad thing about Star Trek is that the lack of a TV show or movies for

Great, you've gone and made Scott Bakula cry again.

Eh, Trek is sort of like the pop music of sci-fi. It's like asking, "What's the worst thing the Spice Girls did to rock and roll?"

God I hated the Holodeck. Hard to think of a good story that utilized that POS idea (DaVinci - ugh!, Robin Hood? Kill me). I guess the only one I didn't mind was when the sentient life-form hijacked the Holodeck (TNG, S7), but even that one was just ugh.

Did finally warm to Vic Fontaine though...and 'It's Only a Paper Moon'(?) was a great episode.

the technobabble choice got me in trouble for an eruption of laughter at work. funniest thing i've read all day. and i'll have to go with the forehead acne - it definitely let the costume designers get lazy.

I can not believe Sybok is not an option. Or for that matter "anything from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier"

The worst thing Trek ever did was give you guys a reason to post over and over and over and over again about how you don't like it. We got it! Move on.

@zerofritz: Yeah, "ST:E" didn't end that long ago... or is that supposed to be some kinda dig against it? I liked "Enterprise"!

Anyway, I think technobabble was bad when it was used to solve a problem, as in inventing something new just for storyline-convenience's sake.

Technobabble + Will Crusher + miraculous save = Damn, you Star Trek

to follow up on my Star Trek V point, this in turn unleashed "William Shatner: Director" on to this world.

The most hateful thing I've found in the trek universe is the "Warp Core is Overloading and We Can't Eject It" crap. I would say the Federation should sue its starship manufacturers for fraud, but I recently saw an episode of Voyager that had an alien waste hauler that couldn't eject it's warp core! GAA! Is there something about the physics of a universe that allows faster than light travel that also prevents the design of reliable safety features?

As a side note how about a "STARFLEET LEGAL" series? Imagine the depths of legal jargon that could be generated!

What about convincing a generation of uber-geeks that sex with a female-like creature, be she green, blue, or flesh-colored, was not outside the realm of possibility for an officer in the Federation of Planets?

Shows how much emotional investment I have in ST:TNG

I meant to say

Technobabble + WESLEY Crusher + miraculous save = Damn, you Star Trek

@Annalee Newitz: I'd say you people constantly whining about Star Trek is the worst thing Star Trek brought to science fiction.

That's as nice as it gets.

One good thing about the Holodeck/Alternate Universe/Reset Button: It replaced the Original Series penchant to create entire planets where a Holodeck was the (ahem) 'Logical' option. Remember Gangster planet? Roman planet? Nazi planet? Or the need to have an identical Earth for no other reason than to see what a planet was like run by post apolcalyptic Children?

@joemono: Oops. You beat me.

@Frozen-Tex: Yes, technobabble was not necessarily bad because of the damage done to the english language, as much as the consequence free nature of it's accompanying super-fix. They were constantly re-calibrating this or that, with no long term damge to either this, or that. That upsets me.

@PVIII: Well, there were a few that dealt with people and their relationship with the holodeck (or their relationship with the holodeck). That was interesting.

The worst holodeck thing ever was Moriarty. Apparently, all an AI researcher needs to do to create a human-like AI is demand that his computer create a challenge for Data.

WHAT? Centuries of effort on AI and that is all it takes?

Trekkies.

While I'm as irritated by the deus ex machina technobabble as the next person, at least TOS did a decent job at social commentary - I know, most of those efforts seem cheesy now, but it was (comparatively) really well done for the time. If you ask me, Star Wars has done more damage to SF than Trek ever did, by ensuring that SF is seen (by people that don't read it) as merely mindless escapism with a lot of whiz-bang effects and no relevance to the real world.

Worst Thing? The idea that all televised science fiction had to be written and acted like this: two (or more) people stand around and politely take turns speaking words that normal people would not, in ways they would not, almost as if they're performing a monologue for the back row.

Mentally swap the casts of Star Trek: Voyager and Battlestar Galactica, and you'll see what I mean. Makes a fun drinking game, too.

I would say the holodeck because it took all the adventure out of TNG -- why explore strange new worlds when you can just go play on the holodeck?

So all that training and hard work to get on this fantastic exploration starship and all you want to do is play video games? Also, the command staff has hours and hours to kill on these things? It was a lazy idea that kept the show writers from exploring what life might really be like in such circumstances.

The idea worked much better on DS9 where there was a commercial reason for holodecks to exist and where life stuck on a space station really would get a bit monotonous.

@PVIII:
Agreed.

The number of malfunctions that thing had would have freaked out any quality engineer (they had quality engineers in ST:TNG?) If my DVD player had the same kind of problems, I would have taken an axe to it.

Unless the holodeck SW was made by MS then I'd understand, but I'd still take an axe to it no matter how many times Riker cries about his "sexy funtime" programs.

@Macloserboy:
Being a former Trekkie myself, my problem isn't Star Trek itself. It's the fact that a vocal portion of the fan boys only see ST as the be all and end all of SF (which is my major pet peeve about any show fan base, but more so with Trek fans. I'd say the same thing about B5 and Dr Who fans if they did the same damned thing.)

@t3knomanser: There's an easier way to create an AI: just spill champagne on your mid-80s model home computer.

What? You never saw "Electric Dreams"?

@Macloserboy: Likewise, doesn't that mean your whinging about a self-interested character in Gattaca make that it's greatest flaw?

i love everything and everyone in the S.T. universe... stick that in your pipe..

What's the worst thing? Let's see...
1) It took Science fiction from the fringes of societal culture into the mainstream.

2) Inspired a generation of scientists, academics and philosophers to accomplish and dream of better and brighter futures.

3) Gave work and careers to countless writers, actors, artists, technicians and the myriad of people who support them in all science fiction endeavors.

4) Gave a reason to exist to whole crops of snarky, cynical, elitist know-it-alls that pop up every so often, who think that anything so mainstream couldn't possibly hold any value whatsoever.

That last one is not only directed at you guys, if it wasn't at the present time written in blog, it would be written in some moronic fanzine from 20 or 30 years ago (Trust me I've got more than a few).

End of Line

@Gopherit: Green, blue, OR flesh-colored? You racist piece of shit. You make baby Obama cry.

The worst thing that Star Trek brought to science fiction is the idea/celebration of a rabid fandom. Not enthusiastic, not active, not supportive or large. Rabid. As far as I can tell, Star Trek was the first show to attract a movement whose passion has previously been reserved for religion and select sports teams.

This paved the way for everything that has given SciFi a bad as Genre fiction. No one complains about cop show fans or mystery fans, or even about soap opera fans. SciFi fans?

I just wanted to say how edgy and "controversial" it makes this site to bag on Star Trek all the time.

Don't you people have a list of Top Seven Sci-Fi Underpant Designs to be polishing up or something?

@SeeingI: Silly me, didn't know Obama wasn't made of flesh, you know, like Hillary. Isn't this on the wrong Gawker page?

Neeerrrrds!

@Garrison Dean: You got that right. That and the complete and total lack of acting talent by any character, with the possible exception of the tribbles.

@Ryan H: I'm telling you, Kirk (and later Riker) getting all of that inter-galactic strange struck a chord amongst the undersexed fan-nerds. Don't get between a geek and that geek's fantasy life.

That was my buddy Ogre's suggestion, not mine. I don't want a fight.

Those shirts. Those gawd-awful shirts.

@Garrison Dean You just made baby Sybok cry.

I want to stay out of this one, because I can't articulate how much it annoys me that the technology they posess from TNG onward is so ultra-powerful that it would take massive reserves of energy to actually do any of those things (holodeks, replicators).

Plus the holodeck still doesn't make sense.

Someone tried to explain why people don't run into walls in the Holodeck and, no, it still doesn't make sense.

Plus, how does the federation's economy work when there's no money?

@Macloserboy: Hahaah. That's actually pretty nice.

Easily the worst thing that Star Trek brought to Sci-Fi (and the world) was Shatner.

@Seth L: The UFP is a socialist collective.

@Seth L: You hit the nail on the head for me. I love star trek to death, but I still can't figure out how an officer can afford a vacation to Riza or play at the Dabo tables if there's no money? Who wants to be in the military for free? How do you retire, how do you pay at the Sisko's restaurant in New Orleans. That stuff has always bugged me.

You nailed it in the picture at the top of the article. It was the PAINFUL need to end almost every episode with a knee-slapping laugh between the main charcaters on the bridge.

What, an entire civilzation was wiped out in the first half of the episode by the planet killer? "Spock, I think you're human after all!" and hearty guffaws all around.

Three security officers were vaporized by Nomad, along with an entire star system. How does the ending go? "Wow, Nomad was like a son to me - my son the doctor!" Ha ha ha.

An entire civilization has been contaminated and turned out like 1920s gangsters, complete with violent street bloodshed as a regular daily event. "Hey, they may want a piece of OUR action in a few years." That's a real gut buster, Cap'n.

Roddenberry continued that tradition with the first season of TNG, but the writers wisely gave it up by midway through the second season of TNG.

@Seth L: A nice write-up on Star Trek economics here:

[stardestroyer.net]

I love my Trek, but the technobabble sometimes went a bit too far for my tastes. Futurama said it best.

Fry: Usually in the show, they come up with a complicated plan and explained it with a simple analogy.
Leela: Hmmm... If we could reconfigure the ship's engines to Melllvar's frequency, we could disrupt his matter.
Bender: Like blowing too much air in a balloon!
Fry: Of course! It's all so simple!

@Tim Faulkner: When I do it every. freaking day, you can say something. And that self-interested character is the freaking hero we're supposed be rooting flaw. It's not like I was complaining about seeing the boom mike. And thank you for being dweeb enough to drag a totally separate conversation over here.

Voltaire (the musician) must be loving this post, considering he performs a hilarious song titled "The USS Make Shit Up."

Holodeck... specifically anything with Janeway and a Holodeck... or Ryker and his...um... self love on the Holodeck... and not a wet nap in site... that can't be sanitary...