I second many of your points. And, also…

“the purple D”

Had me immediately thinking, “Well, STO vanity shields are canon now, I guess.”

The mugato was an excellent choice!

The intent behind my original reply was to complain and hope for a change in how dark recent Trek shows have been, except SNW. I know we all have our favorites; I’m just not at all a fan of this trend of the bad guys being cool in Star Trek. Again, in Star Trek. The casts, the acting, the production are all great and I’m glad more Trek exists; I, personally, just wish it was a bit more shiny.

Do I want those shows not to exist in the first place? No. I just don’t rewatch them like I do others, thus I don’t care to make pumpkins about starring characters who are not the characters I’d want in humanity’s future.

That’s great! My original en-edited reply congratulated you, but then I thought, “This is the internet. Burrito Trucks can’t carve pumpkins…” LOL

My favorite is the Mugato.

Fair point and well done (to the artists)!!

How about we carve a Spock or Picard or Mariner or really anyone else who isn’t a genocidal dictator? Hmm? Maybe?

No? Perhaps my dream for Star Trek has too much hope for humanity’s future? Not enough grit, tears, and flashy booms?

Agreed. I would have loved to have that kind of callback to the story.

That was a lot of fun to watch. Thanks for providing the links to the various segments!

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day

Agreed. I’d say that Nemesis theme with Blue Skies is a close second. “A New Ending”

Now I have the ahhh ahhh in my head again. I like the OG opening, but hate the choral part.

Hear, hear!!

I realize I’m not adding much value by saying this, but… I still wanted to support this with a comment and not just an upvote.

So very true. Such a great episode!

This is beautiful! I love data and I’m delighted you were inspired by my post to gather the data.

Thank you for doing this!

I’m not sure. Perhaps “Captain and Crew Test” isn’t the right way to look at it either. ST:LD seems to do a good job of not focusing too much on one story or character per episode, so it avoids failure even if every character is “the captain”.

There would have to be some way of reworking the criteria to evaluate overall balance (as mentioned elsewhere in this thread) rather than just Captain and Crew, I guess.

Regardless, that’s a really good question. Hmmmm

I like that idea. It measures the depth/breadth of the world-building that way too.

I love this! Now you need to do an analysis like this one on Star Trek and the Bechdel-Wallace test!

TOS is already a rough rewatch with some of its acting and portrayals of the future. I can’t imagine how tough it would be to rewatch it through that lens. Haha!

I realize you’re not trying to predict quality, just personal enjoyability, but I do wonder how it relates to quality.

I don’t mean for this to measure quality. To each their own, as they say. After all, it is just entertainment and I’m free to watch anything else or skip this or that episode. This is all just a fun observation for me, much like a discussion on the finer points of warp theory or Federation economics.

Still, I’m glad it’s something that clicked for you too. I figured there would be a number of people whose appreciation of Trek relates to this “test”.

… Even then, I believe [TOS] would have a pretty low “pass” rate compared to all the '90s series.

Agreed. I note elsewhere in this thread that I think TOS would struggle with this little “test” and it was THE Star Trek show when it all started.

(Incidentally, since Burnham wasn’t Captain until season 4, Discovery passes on a technicality for most of its run).

Indeed it would pass and I think the captains/crew of those seasons were well portrayed and balanced Burnham’s presence as a character as well.

I’ve seen this complaint a lot with some of the newer shows, but it doesn’t really resonate with me. A good central character ought to be able to carry a show, and I don’t hold Trek as being inherently different in that regard.

As you say. And to be clear, I’m not taking this too seriously, nor is it meant to be a complaint. Just a measure I noticed in my own mind. I am still watching all the Star Trek made, whether it “passes” this measure or not.

A fair point. However, I just think this sums up my preferences for Trek shows well and had a feeling that many would agree.

Meanwhile, other people might have an internal measure for their preferences which amounts to “is not animated”, eliminating TAS and ST:LD.

To be clear, for everyone reading: I have watched every episode of every Star Trek show; I greatly and sincerely appreciate and value the time, effort, and energy of the production crew, writers, and actors of every show. These media of entertainment are impactful and deeply meaningful. Every show has a message for its current time and future audiences and it is so important that, as a fan, I hear those messages and allow myself to appreciate this art as an audience member.