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Originally posted by airsoft guy:

Yes, and she got way better as a character after that. Looking the part of a bridge officer, and not an 80's craft store hooker, helped move her along, and become useful.

Yeah, I never liked that jumpsuit with the cleavage. I honestly thought she was a LOT more attractive with the 'regular' Starfleet uniform. She also became a much more credible character. For example, she had that story arc where she got qualified for Bridge duty. I would never have 'bought' that if she had all the cleavage. . .

As for Jellico, they wrote him to be abrasive and cause drama with the rest of the cast. That's the 'easy' answer. It is actually more complex, though. I was in the Air Force, and I can testify that a new commander can make a HUGE different in a military unit (in my second unit, we went from a commander EVERYBODY liked and respected to one everybody hated). We all got used to Picard and his diplomatic style of leadership. Jellicoe's style wasn't 'wrong,' per se, but it WAS 'different.' They also wrote Riker to be a whiny little girl, and we were supposed to empathize with Riker over Jellico. It added much-needed drama to the show, but it could have been written better. . .

I agree that Jellico was the man for the job. This called for a heavy hand and the distinct possibility of combat operations. Picard was a great diplomat, but I wouldn't say he would be the best 'warrior.' There, Kirk and (later) Cisco were best suited for that role.


As for Starfleet 'not being military,' I don't buy it. I've been watching Trek since the early 1970s. I argue with people on a Star Trek Facebook group about this topic from time to time. Sure, Roddenberry hyped the 'peaceful exploration/diplomacy' role of Starfleet. But, for all practical purposes, Starfleet IS a military organization. The US Coast Guard is the analogy people often use. Well, while the Coast Guard has always had armed ships (many of them escorted convoys in WWII), they NEVER had battleships and aircraft carriers (they were typically smaller than destroyers). Starfleet ships, such as the Galaxy class, are great at exploration. They had incredible scientific facilities that no other alien race could match. Basically, they sacrificed SOME combat capability in favor of science missions, but they were still first-rate warships. Later designs, such as Defiant, were 'pure' warships designed for fighting, and nothing else.

Galaxy class ships were also huge, and had a LOT of extra interior space (one could argue this would come in handy for transporting troops). Also, Enterprise D (in TNG) had 5000 photon torpedoes and multiple top-of-the-line phaser banks. This was NOT something one should expect on a diplomatic or exploratory ship. Every Star Trek show demonstrated that Starfleet ships could go head-to-head with Klingon, Romulan, and even Jem'Hadar ships, which most definitely WERE designed as pure warships.

I think it's funny when people argue that Trek isn't "military," when so much of the show deals with wars such as the Klingon War mentioned prior to Kirk's era (also shown on-screen in Discovery), the various clashes with Klingons/Ferengi/Romulans in TNG, the full-scall Dominion War in DS9, etc. As others have stated, for a 'peaceful exploration' group, they sure do fight a lot.

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Yeah, I never liked that jumpsuit with the cleavage. I honestly thought she was a LOT more attractive with the 'regular' Starfleet uniform. She also became a much more credible character. For example, she had that story arc where she got qualified for Bridge duty. I would never have 'bought' that if she had all the cleavage. . .

That's one of my favorite episodes, Thine Own Self, it peels away that Happy Space Communism veneer that TNG has, and shows that it's not all smiles and Holodeck fun. Sometimes bad shit happens, and people will die, and you might be the cause of that. The main plot with Data is kinda meh, you feel like you've been there already, got some flavors of Darmok, but it's decent.

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Galaxy class ships were also huge, and had a LOT of extra interior space (one could argue this would come in handy for transporting troops). Also, Enterprise D (in TNG) had 5000 photon torpedoes and multiple top-of-the-line phaser banks. This was NOT something one should expect on a diplomatic or exploratory ship. Every Star Trek show demonstrated that Starfleet ships could go head-to-head with Klingon, Romulan, and even Jem'Hadar ships, which most definitely WERE designed as pure warships.

In Yesterday's Enterprise they mention the amount of troops the ship can carry. Another really good episode.