TNG - The Masterpiece Society

[Rocketboy1313]

"Code of Honor" is the worst episode in the history of Star Trek.

It's arguably the most offensive, but at least it has a coherent story structure and makes sense. "Threshold" has neither of those features.

Threshold makes sense, it is just bad.
You could make it an alright episode with just a handful of small changes.

Instead of Warp 10, just make it trans warp, an established technology that could get them home faster.
Instead of evolution, just say that the attempt at trans warp caused some kind of mutation.
Have the mutation act like a werewolf/monstrous transformation story, and have Paris try to get the whole of Voyager to enter trans warp to create more like himself, then have him thwarted by either an action scene or appealing to his inner humanity.

The bones of the story are fine, as are the production values and acting, it is the techno babble bullshit that is not.

[Frustration]

Star Trek has done the "exposure to strange conditions has caused bizarre and powerful changes in a human being that they can't cope with" - it was the plot of the first non-pilot episode, and rehashed multiple times afterward.

The episode you describe would be lame and boring. It would still be better than "Threshold".

[Deledrius]

Instead of evolution, just say that the attempt at trans warp caused some kind of mutation.

In fact, nearly every time Trek uses the word "Evolution" it should be replaced with "Mutation" or "Metamorphosis". Sadly, this even includes the modern shows by which time I would have expected basic science education to have fixed this misnomer in the minds of television writers, but alas.

It's very rare that Trek is actually talking about Evolution when they use the term evolution. In a colloquial sense it might be admissible, but the characters (mis)using it are almost always otherwise-meticulous scientists in some field or another, so it stands out as one of those things that highlights the disconnect between the knowledge of the writer and the knowledge of the character.

[clearspira]

Instead of evolution, just say that the attempt at trans warp caused some kind of mutation.

In fact, nearly every time Trek uses the word "Evolution" it should be replaced with "Mutation" or "Metamorphosis". Sadly, this even includes the modern shows by which time I would have expected basic science education to have fixed this misnomer in the minds of television writers, but alas.

It's very rare that Trek is actually talking about Evolution when they use the term evolution. In a colloquial sense it might be admissible, but the characters (mis)using it are almost always otherwise-meticulous scientists in some field or another, so it stands out as one of those things that highlights the disconnect between the knowledge of the writer and the knowledge of the character.

In-universe though, it is set up that there was an ''original'' humanoid species who seeded the galaxy and left a code in our DNA to find them. This outright implies a level of genetic engineering that could mean that Star Trek ''evolution'' at least for humanoids has been seriously screwed up.
Not to mention to fact that it has also led to the Ocampa - a species who reproduce once, live nine years, have to copulate for a whole month, have to massage their feet during conception and drop their kids from a great height when they give birth.

[clearspira]

It occurs to me given the whole Prime Directive spiel at the end of this ep that Picard would hate the Doctor with a passion. And the Doctor would hate Picard.

Picard - "You may have proven more dangerous to that colony than any core fragment could ever have been."
The Doctor - "I help others because its the right thing to do."

[Jonathan101]

It occurs to me given the whole Prime Directive spiel at the end of this ep that Picard would hate the Doctor with a passion. And the Doctor would hate Picard.

Picard - "You may have proven more dangerous to that colony than any core fragment could ever have been."
The Doctor - "I help others because its the right thing to do."

Since both of them helped and the Doctor would probably offer the same kind of help, I don't think that is true.

The Doctor has his own rules to follow anyway- for instance, he doesn't travel to the 18th century and hand out cures for polio or cholera because that would disrupt the timeline, and from his perspective the 24th century might as well be the past anyway.

[Fianna]

Plus, remember the episode where Picard met a time traveling Matt Frewer, who refused to tell Picard whether his actions were saving or dooming a planet? Picard basically went, "If you've got some sort of Temporal Prime Directive that stops you from helping ... screw it, help anyway! There's a planet at risk, damn you!"