That was one of the first major difference in operations that I noticed when I started TNG; the captain almost never goes on away missions. In TOS, the captain almost always led the away party.
Yep. The main characters on Star Trek TOS are Captain Kirk, Commander Spock and Dr. McCoy. Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, Rand, Chapel, Kyle etc. are supporting characters.
TNG, once they got their shit together, was a true ensemble cast, the various characters took turns starring in individual episodes.
I watched (some of) TOS recently. And it basically erased one of my complaints about Discovery being "The Michael Burnhan Show." Because boy TOS is literally "The James Kirk Show." Like, Spock is there, McCoy is mostly there, but everyone else felt really really like, quintary, not even Secondary, just way way down the line.
I feel like everyone remembers Trek as "ensemble cast" from the movies and TNG on.
When you think about it, it's weird that that asshole dude wanted to disassemble and possibly destroy Data to copy him when they could have just copied him using a transporter.
"Hey now, they didn't send Troi down! She'll be able to do something to help on the ship... probably."
"The away mission is to save Troi."
"Well shit."
Given that the transporter guy is still wearing the first version of the uniform, it's safe to assume that the Enterprise's yet-undiscovered MVP, Miles O'Brien is still on board. He'll be able to fix whatever pops up in the absence of the senior staff.
"I was going to enjoy some shore leave, but these terrorists attacked, and now I'm stuck in the Jeffrey's Tubes doing a Die Hard. I've never even seen the historical drama it is named after!"
Maybe Armus wouldn't have had to kill Tasha if Bing Crosby didn't have so many gambling debts to the Mafia you know what I'm sayin, badda bing badda boom.
XCOM A-Team in theory: They're the best, they can solve any problem.
XCOM A-Team in practice: It's March and we just spotted a Snakeman on this terror mission so our soldiers will spend their remaining time units running back to the Skyranger while screaming like little girls.
Newer XCOM or og? OG xcom I'd always have at least 1/4 of my party be new recruits because the act of exiting the landing ship was nearly guarantees to kill a few people. Half the time my A team was just "whoever made it through last battle" and my b and c teams were all new recruits and a single officer for the morale boost who stayed in the ship in case I had to cut my losses and take off
Yesss, go play the original :3
It is a time honored tradition watching a new player lose an entire squad at the foot of the landing ship. If you do play, grab openxcom it's a fantastic engine replacement and even supports mods.
The new games are more like playing an action movie. The old one is more like balancing a war where soldiers are meat with a dollar value. One of my favorite missions was doing a desperate tech smash and grab to get my research back on track. Over a dozen soldiers dead, more were left behind, many I had hired just for this so they basically showed up and shipped out to die. It was a massacre and a success
According to memory alpha a Galaxy-class starship such as the USS Enterprise-D normally had a complement of approximately 1,000-6,000 crewmembers, including civilian residents and families.
Contributes to my theory that Star Trek is in reality an existentialist dystopia with everyone on the Enterprise competing to get onboard for the chance at a meaningful death.
79 Comments
cattywampas@lemmy.world · 72 pts · 1d
Well back in the day it'd be every important officer plus the captain. So that's progress I suppose.
SatyrSack@quokk.au · 43 pts · 1d
That was one of the first major difference in operations that I noticed when I started TNG; the captain almost never goes on away missions. In TOS, the captain almost always led the away party.
nocturne@slrpnk.net · 35 pts · 1d
There was dialogue about this when Riker first came aboard the D.
Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 1d
And Picard even mentions it to Pressman (I think)
sundray@lemmus.org · 15 pts · 1d
Which PStew really didn’t like.
“I want to kick some ass!”
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 1d
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 11 pts · 1d
Considering there were only three members of the main cast, TOS had to use their stars.
SatyrSack@quokk.au · 26 pts · 1d
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 1d
SatyrSack@quokk.au · 17 pts · 1d
MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net · 12 pts · 1d
Mim@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 1d
Oh, a young Alfred Bester.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 1d
Yep. The main characters on Star Trek TOS are Captain Kirk, Commander Spock and Dr. McCoy. Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, Rand, Chapel, Kyle etc. are supporting characters.
TNG, once they got their shit together, was a true ensemble cast, the various characters took turns starring in individual episodes.
SatyrSack@quokk.au · 5 pts · 1d
I don't agree. TOS was just as much of an ensemble. Most promotional cast photos are group shots like this
Sure, the big three got the most screen time and stories, but the rest had big parts as well.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 1d
Yeah. As supporting characters.
Scotty was the main character of more episodes of TNG than TOS.
AmyAye@nord.pub · 5 pts · 1d
Dude wasn't even there until halfway through.
SatyrSack@quokk.au · 7 pts · 1d
His first episode was the season 2 opener. So, more like thirdway.
usernamefactory@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 19h
Season three don’t count!
AmyAye@nord.pub · 7 pts · 1d
I watched (some of) TOS recently. And it basically erased one of my complaints about Discovery being "The Michael Burnhan Show." Because boy TOS is literally "The James Kirk Show." Like, Spock is there, McCoy is mostly there, but everyone else felt really really like, quintary, not even Secondary, just way way down the line.
I feel like everyone remembers Trek as "ensemble cast" from the movies and TNG on.
DagwoodIII@piefed.social · 7 pts · 1d
You have to compare TOS to other shows of the time.
Most Westerns of that era had the star showing up in a new town every week with no supporting characters. Same with detective shows.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 11h
tng had so much red shirts at thier disposal, the captains dont need to go on away missions.
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 40 pts · 1d
Well, at least we know they will return. Imagine the transporter was full of uncredited redshirts...
ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world · 35 pts · 1d
Tasha Yarr would like a word.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 12 pts · 1d
She'd already had the peak of what a human being can experience getting plowed by Data so it would all have been downhill from there anyway.
CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1d
And the word is "Fully functional?"
AmyAye@nord.pub · 18 pts · 1d
The Transporter has a pattern buffer. Why didn't they just keep copying one Redshirt guy to save lives. Like Mickey 17.
"Time for an away mission Redshirt."
But they don't tell him where, and then put him in the buffer. He will just, always be ready.
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 13 pts · 1d
This is how you get Tom Rikers.
nocturne@slrpnk.net · 9 pts · 22h
One Riker is plenty, what we need are more William Boimlers.
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1d
The universe can't handle that much raw sexual energy
BillyClark@piefed.social · 3 pts · 17h
When you think about it, it's weird that that asshole dude wanted to disassemble and possibly destroy Data to copy him when they could have just copied him using a transporter.
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 2 pts · 15h
I feel like there has to be some laws regarding using a transporter as a replicator.
AmyAye@nord.pub · 1 pts · 5h
Data is a robot though. They make tools all the time. Why not more datas?
Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de · 8 pts · 1d
Maybe Star Trek Captains have a sort of Meta knowledge?
They know when they send important characters, they will most likely all come back.
So by not sending redshirts, the captain is just looking out for the crew!
nomy@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 18h
There's one redshirt, Riker.
Maybe it's a diplomatic mission and someone needs tromboned.
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 17h
Unless one of their contracts is up for renegotiation.
fireweed@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 1d
"Hey now, they didn't send Troi down! She'll be able to do something to help on the ship... probably."
"The away mission is to save Troi."
"Well shit."
Given that the transporter guy is still wearing the first version of the uniform, it's safe to assume that the Enterprise's yet-undiscovered MVP, Miles O'Brien is still on board. He'll be able to fix whatever pops up in the absence of the senior staff.
The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 1d
She might uh... bring the ship to them.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 11h
he had the least dangerous job, until he became a dictator in another universe, and got nuked.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 5h
It may have been before his decommissioning. He started as a Lieutenant.
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social · 22 pts · 1d
Amateur. Kirk would also go himself.
zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 20 pts · 1d
He had to go. Those green alien women weren't going to sleep with themselves.
sundray@lemmus.org · 15 pts · 1d
No doubt with Scotty begging him not to go. “If ye get killed I’m going to have to run the ship from the bridge!”
panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 17 pts · 1d
Picard will be fine manning the ship alone.
Remember the Star Gazer and Wolf 359?
ooterness@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 21h
Don't forget "Starship Mine", aka the Die Hard episode.
EnsignWashout@startrek.website · 3 pts · 19h
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 16h
Picard? Crusher was the only one on that ship.
username_1@discuss.tchncs.de · 14 pts · 1d
How many officers died during those dangerous missions? Maybe this decision isn't that stupid?
nocturne@slrpnk.net · 33 pts · 1d
DarkCloud@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 1d
Maybe Armus wouldn't have had to kill Tasha if Bing Crosby didn't have so many gambling debts to the Mafia you know what I'm sayin, badda bing badda boom.
LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 1d
You know, I expected this to be a joke, but she is really Bing Crosby's granddaughter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Crosby
Klear@piefed.world · 4 pts · 1d
And the solution to that was to send the captain too.
The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 1d
It reminds me of when I send my A-team on a mission in XCOM: it's devastating if they die, but they're also the ones most likely to succeed.
Jesus_666@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 1d
XCOM A-Team in theory: They're the best, they can solve any problem.
XCOM A-Team in practice: It's March and we just spotted a Snakeman on this terror mission so our soldiers will spend their remaining time units running back to the Skyranger while screaming like little girls.
ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 1d
Newer XCOM or og? OG xcom I'd always have at least 1/4 of my party be new recruits because the act of exiting the landing ship was nearly guarantees to kill a few people. Half the time my A team was just "whoever made it through last battle" and my b and c teams were all new recruits and a single officer for the morale boost who stayed in the ship in case I had to cut my losses and take off
The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
The newer ones. Most of my time is in XCOM 2: WOTC. It becomes really tempting to put all your eggs in one basket by leveling an A-team.
Everything like this that I hear about the originals just reinforces that I need to go play them. It sounds brutal.
ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 1d
Yesss, go play the original :3 It is a time honored tradition watching a new player lose an entire squad at the foot of the landing ship. If you do play, grab openxcom it's a fantastic engine replacement and even supports mods.
The new games are more like playing an action movie. The old one is more like balancing a war where soldiers are meat with a dollar value. One of my favorite missions was doing a desperate tech smash and grab to get my research back on track. Over a dozen soldiers dead, more were left behind, many I had hired just for this so they basically showed up and shipped out to die. It was a massacre and a success
The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 22h
It sounds like exactly my type of game. I just need to get around to it. I love the roster management aspect.
aeronmelon@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 1d
There was one where Picard died.
Direct intervention by Q is the only thing that saved him.
EnsignWashout@startrek.website · 2 pts · 19h
If I had a nickel for every time that happened! Well...I guess I would have ten cents. But you have to admit, it's weird that it happened twice.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 4 pts · 1d
That's why you always bring along a designated nameless crew member to sacrifice.
EnsignWashout@startrek.website · 4 pts · 19h
Yes. We skipped it just one time, and now there's a time paradox half-Romulan who won't let us forget it!
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 11h
how many of them wore red or yellow shirts.
ripcord@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 19h
I mean, there were clearly only 20, maybe 30 people on the ship. So it makes sense.
mineralfellow@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 13h
There wasn't anyone besides Beverly Crusher.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 11h
when shes not busy with her Ghosts, apparitions, or poltergeists.
Rusty@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 5h
According to memory alpha a Galaxy-class starship such as the USS Enterprise-D normally had a complement of approximately 1,000-6,000 crewmembers, including civilian residents and families.
UnrepententProcrastinator@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 7h
The rest being "red shirts" so who cares.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 1d
Contributes to my theory that Star Trek is in reality an existentialist dystopia with everyone on the Enterprise competing to get onboard for the chance at a meaningful death.
The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 1d
The Klingons are starting to sound more and more reasonable.
Klear@piefed.world · 7 pts · 1d
That's a chilling quote out of context.
MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net · 6 pts · 23h
SuperNovaStar@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 18h
🤣 that might be the best thing ive read all day 🤣
ChicoSuave@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1d
"Glory? No thanks. I just want to die."
sundray@lemmus.org · 4 pts · 1d
Meanwhile, the people of Earth are just partying their extended, meaningless lives away 😢
atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 1d
Well yeah, have you seen how small their budget for extras is???
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 7 pts · 1d
Yeah, but when a red shirt dies in TNG, it's a more impactful loss since red shirts went from "expendable nobody" to "commanding officers."
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1d
every time a redshirt dies, Alexander misses his father.
ramble81@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 5h
Honestly that’s one of the reasons I like Lower Decks. The bridge crew is all “fuck that, we got peons… I’ll just go manage some of them”
Digit@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 5h
I was sure that title was going to be about contemporary politics.