Why is no one on Star Trek: TNG ever surprised/shocked by anything?

[DudeistBelieve]

So I actually just started watching this... and I have just one question.

Why are they never surprised?

Like I just saw some aliens pull a double cross and kidnap this broad RIGHT in front of Picard, teleport off the ship. Picard just casually reaches over and pushes the button thingy and goes to business. No fright. No "Holy Shit" nothing.

and it's not just picard. All of them. Why are they never shocked by anything? Why are they never surprised?

 

[Aris Khandr]

Legitimately their entire lives are spent in a constant state of surprise. "Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations" and all of that. Eventually you reach a point where you're so used to being surprised that you just roll with everything.

 

[Heronblade]

Pretty much what Aris said, surprise is for people with stable and/or predictable lives.

That stated, some of the less experienced crew members should not be that... jaded, but they are usually not the ones on screen when the s*** hits the fan.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Legitimately their entire lives are spent in a constant state of surprise. "Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations" and all of that. Eventually you reach a point where you're so used to being surprised that you just roll with everything.

But it's almost like... if suddenly Data turned evil and just pulled out a gun and shot Troi in the head then himself, they'd just kind of apathetically shrug and call for the red shirts to clear the deck.

 

[Aris Khandr]

No, they'd probably spend the entire episode trying to figure out what went wrong with Data's robot brain. I've actually experienced a lesser form of this. Go to a completely foreign country (and I don't mean "comfortably foreign" like pretty much anywhere in western Europe) and you will be overloaded with things your brain never considered possible before that moment. Eventually, you kind of numb to the strangeness of everything. I have to imagine that living out in space is like that, too.

 

[Xeorm]

Lots of training and acclimation I'd think. Wasting time acting surprised gets people killed, best to get moving now and think along the way.

 

[skywolfblue]

Given how cliché their opponents are, can you really blame them?

In seriousness: Bad Acting, StarTrek makes a glorious art form out of it.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Picard is on first name basis with a actual god[footnote]Granted, Q is not the god, but same differance[/footnote].
That alone tells you what they put up with daily.

On top of that, All Cadets alone would most likely have know 100s of different aliens.
It'd want to be something big to get their attention, though there was hints of worry when they ran into the Borg for the first time.

 

[Mutie]

I think also because the show has a little dignity, unlike a lot of modern shows which over-inflate people's reactions in order to spoon feed the audience false tension. These are military personnel: it's their job to shut to F up and get it done. After all, you don't watch Start Trek to feel da feels; you watch it to see in which awesome new way Patrick Stuart is going to prove that real men (and women) deal with life through diplomacy, highlighting the weaknesses of bravado, anger and violence.

 

[Vigormortis]

snip

Out of curiosity, what season are you up to?

 

[tce11]

Because they are all highly trained Starfleet officers. Now I know Starfleet is peaceful and exploration based, but they operate like a military organization. Any military that could be surprised by anything wouldn't be very effective.

Like imagine if every time they got shot at or something they turned to camera and had a goofy reaction shot; the show is hammy enough as is, it certainly doesn't need any more. Also this would be a terrible way to act in a combat situation.

A few times when they have civilians aboard you do see some reactions to stuff, so it's not like everybody in the future is unable to be surprised. Just the Starfleet officers.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

So I actually just started watching this... and I have just one question.
Why are they never surprised?

Did you start with season 1?

The first two seasons of TNG are fucking awful. Gene "Children in the Future don't cry when their parents are killed" Roddenberry, massive hack that he was, had a huge influence over the show during those two seasons. The characters all act like massive assholes and stoic douche-bags the entire first two seasons.

During season 3, Roddenberry had the good graces to start dying and the writers started to turn it around. By season 5, the show was actually good.

So, long story short, it is probably because of the utter awfulness of the scripts during the first two seasons. If you can stomach your way through them, the show gets a LOT better during seasons 3 and 4. People actually get to have emotions then.

**pause**

And yeah, seriously, Roddenberry may have had a cool idea for a TV series or two, but the man himself was massively fucked up and had some honorific ideas about how humans should behave to one another. Several other Sci-Fi series have used the same philosophy as the "Prime Directive" as motivation for their villains.

Edit: I'm kinda amused by all the answers of "because they're well trained officers". A lack of emotion isn't good training - it's being a robot. Just ask the Borg.

The OP didn't comment on a "controlled emotional response" - which is what good training gives you. He commented on a complete lack of emotional response. Which, in this case, is most likely due to bad writing during the first two seasons.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

snip

Out of curiosity, what season are you up to?

started with one.

Now I pretty much watch whatever random episode BBC America puts on.

 

[michael87cn]

Because it was filmed when good TV existed.

Now-a-days all you kids care about is the drama, and the drama, and the drama. Also, the drama.

I mean, look at shows like Lost and Battlestar Galactica. What the fuck. They're 99% people being upset about stupid non-relevant shit.

Also, no one gives a fuck if a character is surprised. They wanna see cool stuff like laser guns and space ships. Not Picard shitting his pants and panicking and having to go through 3 episodes of dialogue rehab with Riker about how scary the alien he faced down was.

 

[Corven]

Well using your example the most likely reason why picard was calm in that situation is because he is that captain, even if he was actually surprised he must put on a facade for the rest of the crew as a leader who is resolute in any circumstance to keep panic from spreading.

 

[EternallyBored]

Because it was filmed when good TV existed.

Now-a-days all you kids care about is the drama, and the drama, and the drama. Also, the drama.

I mean, look at shows like Lost and Battlestar Galactica. What the fuck. They're 99% people being upset about stupid non-relevant shit.

Also, no one gives a fuck if a character is surprised. They wanna see cool stuff like laser guns and space ships. Not Picard shitting his pants and panicking and having to go through 3 episodes of dialogue rehab with Riker about how scary the alien he faced down was.

Considering that the stuff that eventually replaced TNG, was the people being upset over "non-relevant" shit, and the ratings those shows got, it seems that people do indeed "give a fuck" about drama and people being surprised. The most critically acclaimed version of Star Trek was Deep Space 9 and it was pretty much chock full of drama, and was pretty much a precursor to BSG, as well as shows like Babylon 5 and Red Dwarf.

Even in TNG, the episodes that tend to be remembered the most fondly are the ones with the characters being upset over their situation, not the laser guns and space ships, not that TNG had a ton of that to begin with, I don't know what show you were watching, but it sounds closer to the original generation. TNG was a lot of philosophy and characters debating politics, or Patrick Stewart giving speeches, outside the movies, laser guns and space ships were few and far between. It sounds like the reboot movies directed by J.J. Abrams may be more up your alley.

 

[MHR]

Cuz of the Soma being pumped through environmental controls

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Ya know what it is? Maybe I've been spoiled by Doctor Who, I'm so use to having a character around to relate to that's all "Holy shit! it's bigger on the inside"

However, I still say when the alien diplomat you thought was friendly suddenly kidnaps your security officer, a little reaction would be nice beyond "Riker, all hands report to the bridge. Theres been a kidnaping"

Because it was filmed when good TV existed.

Now-a-days all you kids care about is the drama, and the drama, and the drama. Also, the drama.

I mean, look at shows like Lost and Battlestar Galactica. What the fuck. They're 99% people being upset about stupid non-relevant shit.

Also, no one gives a fuck if a character is surprised. They wanna see cool stuff like laser guns and space ships. Not Picard shitting his pants and panicking and having to go through 3 episodes of dialogue rehab with Riker about how scary the alien he faced down was.

Bullshit dude. The thing that got me watching was that one episode with where Picard's mind gets hijacked by a satelite and basically experinces a whole 'nother life time in 30 minutes, only to wake up and realize all the friends/family memories had didn't exist, and the look of sadness on Picards face.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

So I actually just started watching this... and I have just one question.
Why are they never surprised?

Did you start with season 1?

The first two seasons of TNG are fucking awful. Gene "Children in the Future don't cry when their parents are killed" Roddenberry, massive hack that he was, had a huge influence over the show during those two seasons. The characters all act like massive assholes and stoic douche-bags the entire first two seasons.

During season 3, Roddenberry had the good graces to start dying and the writers started to turn it around. By season 5, the show was actually good.

So, long story short, it is probably because of the utter awfulness of the scripts during the first two seasons. If you can stomach your way through them, the show gets a LOT better during seasons 3 and 4. People actually get to have emotions then.
w
**pause**

And yeah, seriously, Roddenberry may have had a cool idea for a TV series or two, but the man himself was massively fucked up and had some honorific ideas about how humans should behave to one another. Several other Sci-Fi series have used the same philosophy as the "Prime Directive" as motivation for their villains.

Edit: I'm kinda amused by all the answers of "because they're well trained officers". A lack of emotion isn't good training - it's being a robot. Just ask the Borg.

The OP didn't comment on a "controlled emotional response" - which is what good training gives you. He commented on a complete lack of emotional response. Which, in this case, is most likely due to bad writing during the first two seasons.

that.... would explain the large amount of sexism I'm seeing on display. I got one female security officer who's suppose to be a tough cookie but she gets bested all the time, and Troi... and then theres troi.... aug.

 

[schrodinger]

I dunno....
This guy looks pretty surprised:

Or his brain could be melting. Either one works in my case.
That was my extremely limited knowledge of the series for the day.

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