I’m always bugged more by individual moments than bigger things. So while T’Pol might be wearing an old fun center carpet as a uniform, and the temporal Cold War is both overly complex and excruciatingly boring neither of those things bothers me more than the following.
In season one, there is an episode titled ‘Unexpected’. In this episode Tripp becomes space pregnant from an alien space mama. During his pregnancy he is framed as becoming irrationally overconcerned about the safety of very minor or unlikely hazards.
At one point, he is in engineering and complains that if you hold onto the handrail of the elevator while it moves, your fingers will be sliced off against the scaffolding since there is no gap.
A crew member brushes him off by just saying, essentially, “Lol skill issue, just don’t hold the handguard.”
Again, Tripp is the one being framed as irrational in this discussion. Because he has a problem with a handguard that slices your fingers off.
Space hormones or not, he’s right that it’s a terrible design.
Captain Archer, tries very hard to be laid back but he’s actually a prep school prick at heart. Smiles like he’s running for congress. Beagle owning water polo enthusiast.
Charles “Trip” Tucker The Third. Chief engineer, catfish lover from Sarasota Florida before it’s trenched by the Xindi. Kinda happy-go-lucky at first then turned real f’n broody because of course. He works out, ends up in his boxer briefs occasionally because “See, we’ve got stuff for the girls to look at too.” Beefcake #1
Malcolm Reed, British tightass who basically has Worf’s job. Spends a lot of an episode inventing the red alert because this series fully intends break into your home at night, hold you down, squat over your face and prequel right in your mouth. Also works out, ends up in his boxer briefs occasionally too, but he’s a bit shorter. Beefcake #2
T’Pol. An attempt by Paramount to make the Seven of Nine lightning strike twice. Same stern humorless member of a conformist society who grows as a person from her outside perspective as a member of the ship’s crew, now with even more blatant thirst bait. To their credit, they almost pulled it off. Cheesecake #1-6.
Hoshi Sato, Uhura but Asian and worse. She’s the same brand of useless that Troi was. Mostly there so they could say “No, see, not all of the female cast was hired for how their nipples look in a grey tank top” but she ended up half naked a few times anyway. Cheesecake #7.
Travis Mayweather, helmsman, raised on a space ship by parents who are upset he took a job working on a space ship. Mostly just happy to be here.
Dr. Phlox, happy go lucky alien doctor, mostly used for comic relief though he delivered one of my favorite lines in all of Star Trek: “It is unethical to harm a patient; however I can inflict as much pain as I like.” Overall deserved a better Trek series.