Time Travel to Pre-Warp Earth: To previous episodes, like "Trials and Tribble-ations" or exploring told events like "Yesterday's Enterprise" is fine. But no more pre-warp time travel. We got ONE good episode in TOS with "City on the Edge of Forever" and the rest were mediocre at best. Stick to Pseudo Time Travel, like "A Piece of the Action."

Oh, and while we're on the subject...

Holodeck Malfunctions: AT LEAST HAVE SOMEONE SABOTAGE THE DAMN THING. Like... Okay, it can lead to great episodes like "Ship in a Bottle" or "Our Man Bashir" but how many times are the safeties going to crap out on it before the BBB pulls it from sale!

Oh... Sorry... Not sale.

The Federation Economy: So we have no possessions... But people do have their own houses... And we don't use money because... System of self improvement... So Jake needs to screw over Nog to get a baseball card... And the Ferenghi are the biggest threat the federation ever face-- JUST MOVE TO GOLD PRESSED LATINUM AND STOP EMBARRASSING YOURSELF TRYING TO EXPLAIN THIS HORSESHIT. And no, I don't care if it was Gene Roddenberry's horseshit.

Oh, and speaking of Gene's Horseshit...

The Prime Directive: It does not mean not saving people from extinction because of some imagined cosmic plan. It is there so that you don't conquer other species and make them slaves by convincing them you're gods. "Who Watches the Watchers" did this right, and damn near every other episode that focused on the Prime Directive did not.

Oh, but if they outright REFUSE help...

The Space Amish: GOD I HATE THIS FUCKING TROPE. You've seen this episode! Some lost human colony landed on a planet that seems like a paradise, so they give up all high technology because reasons, and they think their better than us because they're going to contract typhoid, then some disaster happens, or one of them gets sick, or they get invaded, literally any damn thing that Federation tech can solve in two seconds and the whole tie you're thinking "LEAVE!! NATURE HAS SELECTED THESE NIMRODS FOR EXTINCTION!! Get on the shuttle say "Who wants to bathe in water that wasn't pissed out of a Targ this morning," take those smart of enough to come! As for the rest... Jim?

My sentiments exactly.

Anyway, this was just me being stupid. Agree? Disagree? Anything to add? Let me know!

Agree with pretty much all of this, especially the prime directive stuff. Also the holodeck, especially the holodeck. An early episode of TNG even implied that if it turns off improperly, it can ERASE EVERYONE INSIDE. How the heck did that get approved for installation aboard a fleet vessel, let alone one with families aboard?

6445419
Probably approved by the same guy who approved the exploding consoles :)

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Shuttlepods. Nothing good ever happens to anyone in a shuttlepod.

6445419
Well... Early TNG... We make allowances.... Too many allowances.

6445825
No... You need the Shuttlepods... I get you, but you need them.

6445825
6446036
If anything they need to be used more often. There's SO MANY episodes where the plot could have been solved if someone had just gone "Hey, if our transporters/life support/power systems are down, we've got a bay full of shuttles that all should have working transporter systems/life support/power that we can in place of/to support ours until they're fixed."

Also the exploding consoles are supposedly a side effect of the way the power systems are supposed to work (something something charged plasma), but yeah, it probably needed another once over before putting it into general service too.

Oh and hey, maybe including every little detail of your civilization (including defense plans) shouldn't be kept in the easily hackable computers in every little ship in the fleet.

Time Travel to Pre-Warp Earth: Canvass the writing team for their top three goals for the episode. Anyone who mentions social justice, anything that ends in "ism," or the Cold War is off the team. The resulting script should be tolerable.

Holodeck Malfunctions: Leave the safeties on. Play with the limits of the technology. Be willing to play it for laughs. "The holodeck malfunctioned and made a sentient character." "Who?" "That chair over there." "...the chair is sentient?" "Well, by chair standards, yes."

The Federation Economy: Listen to Nog. The Nog is wise.

The Prime Directive: If you're going to avoid playing God, it helps to admit that he exists, first.

The Space Amish: ...that happened maybe twice.

Speaking of playing god. I'm surprised they don't run into more scams like that woman who was posing as god to that planet in TNG.

Also back to holograms if the Doctor from Voyager is any indication, they REALLY need to get a handle on that tech. Leaving an EMH on should cause malfunctions yes but self awareness? I don't think it works that way.

Also off limits? The Borg, I blame Voyager for this one but they've just lost their menace anymore. Though Enterprise Meeting them WELL before first contact was established didn't help.