Stuff that bugs me about the Star Trek universe:
Sexism
No married woman in Star Trek keeps her maiden name
I mean, c'mon, it's the 23d, 24th 25th whatever century. Don't you think at least a few of 'em are going to keep their maiden names?
It seems especially unlikely that a woman who has established her career under one name (ie Beverly Crusher)is going to change it, as was made clear in the two-parter (All Good Things..., Part 1 (TNG), All Good Things..., Part 2(TNG))where Picard does a Billy Pilgrim (aided/shadowed by Q) trying to undo whatever the hell it was he did that created a space-time continuum singularity/split/rift/anomaly/fuck-up that will prevent the development of life on earth as we know it.
Racism
- Only one representative of an ethnic group other than white is allowed on the bridge (or engineering, or the landing party or wherever).
You can have all the whites you want, but only one of each other ethnicity. DS9 broke ground by having two black bridge officers at the same time, Sisko & Worf (although Worf is a Klingon).
- No interracial relationships
Oh you can have all the interspecial relationships you want, that's okay. But you're more likely to see couples of different species than of different races. Even interspecial couples tend to be of the same skin tone. The only exceptions have been relationships between major characters (ie Deanna Troi & Worf - that Worf, he's breaking the rules all over the place).
Pet Overpopulation
Don't these people ever spay or neuter their goddamned pets? First episode of Voyager (The Caretaker (VOY))and there's Captain Janeway talking to hubbie on the phone while staring at a picture of her dog with a litter of pups.
The "ST:TNG Babies" episode, where Guinan, Picard Ensign Ro and I forget who else get turned into kids while Ferengis run amok the ship, they've got puppies in the ship's day care
In another ST:TNG episode Data's cat has kittens (unspayed female cat - bad enough) and they don't know who the father is because there are 3 unneutered tomcats on the ship. Unneutered toms in a closed environment! What are these people thinking? It's a closed environment. The air recirculates. All you need is for one of those damned tom cats to spray into the ventilation system and the whole damn ship is going to reek!
first interracial kiss
It is noted correctly below that Star Trek TOS featured the first interracial kiss on TV, a truly courageous move for its time, and still bold for our own.
However ... this one kiss doesn't constitute a relationship. Furthermore, the kiss was under duress, directed by the will of the Olympians. IMHO this was the only way Gene Roddenberry could get away with it. I understand that originally Leonard Nimoy was slated to do the honours, but William Shatner wanted the action (speaking of unneutered males).
Considering I stopped watching Star Trek when I got bored with DS9, it's not surprising that I missed DS9's and Voyager's color-blind approaches to romantic relationships. I applaud the Star Trek writers for incorporating social as well as technological change in their vision of the future. I also thank fellow noders for making note of this.
Oh I got your
Hyphenated name scheme right here. Solves all problems of multi-generational hyphens.