Then you should turn in your geek card
:P
(actually, I should watch less Star Trek)
I think TNG was a great show. But the points the AC made where valid, as far as I can tell.
This discussion was about how highly competent TNG's characters were at their jobs. If you stop enjoying the story and pick it apart,
you can see that they really aren't. They are as competent as they can be for the plot of the story to progress, and no more.
The episode where Barclay takes over the computer wouldn't have gone very far if the computer had been properly protected, and Geordi had been alerted about the attempt. Or the episode with the Romulan spy, where Data doesn't bother to report how she was "testing his security protocols" ie asking for information she shouldn't have. So, to cite the examples I think the AC was referring to:
Yes, the captain, who once ordered an omnipotent being not to save the life of an 8 year old girl,
The episode where Q makes Riker a Q. Picard decides that Riker shouldn't use the powers, even when said 8 year old is found dead in a cave-in.
Picard had a tendancy to play god, but justify it with pseudoscience, and then get mad when anyone else dares to play god. Or rather, the writers had some strange ideas, like an almighty omniscient deity named Evolution, which coincidentally is also the name of a scientific theory and process. For example, the people Worf's brother was living with were meant to die out, because it was all part of Evolution's holy plan that their world would become uninhabitable.
the first officer, who once tried to convince crewmembers to bully an underachieving officer,
The first episode with Barclay, and maybe more episodes later on. Barclay may not have fit in, but Riker really seemed to hate the guy for not being sociable.
the ops officer, who once wanted to kill because of the pleasure hatred gave him,
Descent. You're half right on this one, it's a "Data goes nuts" episode, but he goes nuts because he craves feelings and is willing to step on anyone to feel them again. (I know that sounds like he's already feeling "cravings", but I didn't write the episode)
the security officer, whose most famous attribute is being beaten up by aliens
Not sure about this one. Worf's Sound Advice tends to get ignored so that the ship can get into trouble, though.
The GP might have been referring to how Worf doesn't really get to fight in fights until DS9. On TNG, if he's in a fight, the plot generally requires security to lose, so something interesting can happen. If Worf won his fights, episodes would be a lot shorter. I think at least there's the one with the shape-shifter, the one with alien bugs controlling starfleet, the one where Picard is assimilated, the one with the xenophobic energy things and their fake wormhole, the one with the conditioned soldier, and the one where Troi, Data, and O'Brien are possessed. Maybe also the one where Dr. Crusher is kidnapped by the terrorists. Etc., etc. He was also beaten up by Romulans and Klingons a few times, but that's to be expected.
, the tech officer, who didn't install any anti-virus software
You don't remember the time the Enterprise computer was infected by the Iconian virus? Or the time the Bynars rewrote the ship's software so that it would do their bidding, and no one even bothered to try to check their work? Or the time that all the networked computers got some magic input and became alive? Or the time that Geordi hooked Data up to the main computer, and parts of the computer's program got replaced with bits of Data? Or the time Barclay was able to just plug himself into the computer, having the computer run his thoughts instead of his brain doing it? Those are all things I would want automated monitoring to tell me about.
The Enterprise computer got p0wned several times during the show, since Geordi didn't seem to think of running new things in staging or quarantine before letting them loose. Even better, the sensors and radios seemed to be tied in directly to the computer, instead of to some dedicated system that doesn't give people access to the computer core over a radio. The best part about this is that that is pretty much how they planned to destroy the Borg with Hugh: show him a picture that they knew would be processed by his visual-processing circuits in such a way as to DoS the entire Collective.
and the councillor, who once advised the ops officer that he shouldn't look for other emotions but anger to express, are all perfectly competent and morally upright.
Also Descent. Again, I didn't write the episode. If I were criticizing her character, I'd argue about her general uselessness. She completely and utterly depends on her half-telepathy, and seems not to remember or to have skipped all the psychology classes for her degree. In the episode where she can't sense emotions anymore, she admits this, and is actually shocked when her made-up-on-the-spot advice works. Actions like telling an android that he should try to become murderously angry seem to support this.