This is missing the episodes where the transporter does an oopsie-poopsie.
The machine that tears your body apart on the subatomic scale, instantly transmits that information across space, and reassembles you piece by Quantum piece, does not make an oopsie-poopsie.
It makes a fucky-wucky
Where does “Troi’s mother comes to visit” fall?
Somebody gets a plague.
“One or more bridge crew members gets some tail”
Yeah, Riker probably gets a rebellion roll everytime Troi’s mother is around.
I wonder if there’s a category for “The Captain COULD get some tail if he had better taste in women.”
there can be if you wish hard enough :)
Unfortunately, not in the “nonexistent” category.
There are two kinds of Star Trek fans: those who love Lwaxana Troi and those who are wrong.
She was married to Gene Robbenberry after all… as far as I know she is in more shows than anyone else! From the very first episode (nurse Chapel) to TNG/DS9 (Lwaxana) as well as being the voice of the computer for many shows!
Even before that, she was the female Number One in the Star Trek Pilot episode.
What? Where does one find this mythical episode?
Practically speaking, you can just watch “The Menagerie”, which clip-shows most of the important stuff, but I believe Paramount+ also has the full pilot “The Cage”.
I watched it on Netflix just the other day. I’m not in the US though, so YMMV.
lol Let it be known I have nothing against Majel Barrett. I immensely appreciate the endless work she put into keeping Trek going over the years, I love that her computer voice is omnipresent, I dig her as Nurse Chapel, and I think she would’ve been great as #1 on TOS, had she continued the role. Personally, I just think the writers pushed the earlier Lwaxana character too far into purposefully annoying territory, and without enough redeeming qualities to balance it out. She embodied some highly dislikable characteristics – a narcissistic sense of entitlement, being rudely dismissive, ignoring boundaries and being seemingly oblivious to others’ feelings – which never made sense to me, her being a telepath. Either she’s a Betazoid lacking in telepathy, or she’s well aware her impositions and advances are unwanted and make people uncomfortable, but doesn’t care and proceeds anyway. But any blame, I put solely on the writers, not Majel. And I definitely softened to her when they started giving her some character development, later in TNG and esp in DS9 with the Odo plotline. The elevator scene completely won me over.
See, now I think early Lwaxana is key to understanding Betazoids. It is a society of telepaths and empaths, and as a result they have an EXTREMELY strong sense of self that can actually lean into the narcissistic, they don’t understand boundaries, and they do not have that filter that lies between thought and speech because everyone can tell what everyone is thinking anyway. They are so aware of people’s feelings that they don’t feel a need to cater to passing comfort, knowing that annoyance is just a thing that happens and will pass and that it’s better to focus on the more important hurts–which is why she goes out of her way to counsel Alexander and Odo but just rolls her eyes at Picard’s discomfort.
This really strong sense of self is so ingrained in the species that even Lon Suder, who doesn’t have these abilities, is still such a strong personality that he TAKES OVER Tuvok during a Vulcan mind meld, and Tuvok is no slouch in telepathy.
I think it was an amazing idea to portray a telepath or an empath like this, let alone both, and it indicates a unique and interesting society in the Federation. Star Trek has a (criminally underused) race of telepaths that is unlike any other race of telepaths and that is all because of Gene Roddenberry’s Auntie Mame joke.
I mean, just stop and think about what Aunties and Moms can be like. Now stop and think about them in a matriarchal culture where men are still traditionally masculine and women are traditionally feminine. Now consider them in a culture where NOBODY CAN LIE.
That’s the key to Betazed. Nobody can lie, so you may as well be yourself even if you’re annoying and overbearing.
Going by Lwaxana, Lon Suder, Tam Elbrum (“Tin Man”) and even Deanna Troi when she lets her Betazoid half out a bit, Betzoids are an extremely impulsive and hedonistic species but also the premier telepaths of the Star Trek Universe and that is just unlike any other portrayal of telepaths but it still makes so much sense when you think about it.
comment approved by Odo
What about “Trial episodes where they should have actual legal counsel and not make it up as they go along”?
I think that’s in a more general category of “Picard yells about morality or something”, includes the “four lights” episodes too.
Seriously, the strongest force in the TNG universe is Picard yelling at someone. That’s why the Borg assimilated him. But… their… cadence… is all wrong.
Agreed. Whether it was one on Enterprise or an alien planet, etc. Ex: When Worf asks Picard to represent him as his Cha’Dlch on Qo’noS, the crewman who had a partial Romulan lineage on trial and later the witch hunt turns to Picard as a traitor, Q puts humanity on trial, when Riker is tasked to prove Data is not sentient, etc. This subject definitely needs a slice in the pie.
Everyone is brainwashed except for one or two crew members who have to get control of the ship back.
Someone gets a (mind) plague
Sadly this is missing the “worf is a terrible father” slice of the pie.
I can’t remember if that was ever plot or just dressing.
I can’t remember any other examples off the top of my head, but I just rewatched the one where Alexander gets dropped off into the enterprise by the grandparents. And I just feel so bad for this kid. In the episode with his mom, they clearly have a really strong bond. She loves him, he loves her. Then she does, worf basically says “look at her body! Look at her death!..btw, I’m your father” And then ships him off to a planet he’s never been to, to live with people he’s never met. Then those people, the only familial connection he has had since his mother’s death, decide they just straight up don’t want him anymore. He dad throws a tantrum in front him because he damn sure doesn’t want the kid. Begrudgingly agrees to keep him, and when the kid makes a mistake and acts out, he’s told he’s going to be sent to live with Klingons. Given his mother’s politics, probably something that scares the shit out of him.
And that’s just in his first 2 appearances. That poor fucking child.
And it doesn’t get any better decades later when Worf is a member of DS9 and Alexander is an adult. Worf continues to be a terrible father.
I feel Worf dealing with cultural trauma could be a slice of its own.
Worf is a weeb, all his Klingon shit is annoying and his parents raised him on earth.
Every character has had their own episodes. Not just Data like this graph suggests.
“Geordi doesn’t get some tail”
Aren’t there ones where the entire episode is a western or something that happens in the holodeck because the writers wanted to try out some other genres?
The one you made me think of falls under “Data takes over the ship” and “The holodeck has a malfunction”
I feel like the pink segment isn’t big enough.
Now I’m imagining the TOS version where 3/4 of the pie chart is “gets some tail”, and 1/4 is “thinly veiled cold war allegories” about a society in decline that’s lost all individuality and forgot how to function, as it’s being run by a computer. (Although most of those involve getting some tail, too.)
It would be those two and also a huge slice of “time travel antics” if it was for Voyager.
Not sure those categories are mutually exclusive, in which case a pie chart is illogical, captain
I’ve thought about the light green slice before. Data is pretty easily hacked, and when it happens he is completely unstoppable by the entire crew of the Enterprise. I don’t think Starfleet would allow him to continue serving aboard a starship after the first event. He is incredibly dangerous.
Have they tried turning him off and on again?
I think Yar tried
Pink should be a much larger slice.
If there were a similar one for Stargate SG-1 it would be a red circle and the red would stand for “the team ruined something or started some beef and spend the rest of the episode trying to fix it”
If you immediately know the candlelight is fire, then the very young do not always do what they are told.
Indeed
One small slice would be dedicated to “someone, somewhere, thinks they will make Naquadria work this time”
Two people were riding in a shuttle, when all of a sudden…
That’s how we like 'em!
