Star Trek The Next Generation appreciation thread (1 Viewer)

[RickER]

Your just all kinds of sick and twisted, arent you Scott?

If they had filmed what was written, Nemesis might have been better. Some of the deleted scenes i ask myself why! This movie needs all the help it can get.
I also dislike Trek actors being given script approval, and the chance to write it better than the writers. B4 is a good example of what an actor does to dumb down the story, just cause said actor, wants to do something new.

And Pickard had red hair when he was young, he wasnt bald...so why would the clone guy be any different?

 

[Sam Favate]

Actually, we just watched Nemesis a few months ago, and that was when my wife was yelling back to the screen. We're planning to watch through the sixth movie right now (we watched 7-10 in the past year, with Nemesis literally only about 4 months ago).

I've now seen Nemesis at least four times. For me, it gets worse each time, I'm sorry to say. Scott, I really did want to like it.

 

[Ockeghem]

Sam,

I understand. I don't like all of the films equally either. It just happens that Nemesis had a lot to offer, from my perspective.

 

[Ocean Phoenix]

People say one of the reasons "Nemesis" was bad was because it was ripping off "Wrath of Khan", but not well. I agree because I think its villain was trying to be a really threatening enemy specifically focused on the captain, but he wasn't as convincing as Khan since, unlike Khan, he and the captain didn't really have much of a history. Does anyone else think it would have worked better if they ripped off "Wrath of Khan" in a different way by bringing back a villain from the series that did have a history with the captain? My pick would be Q. I think they should have brought him back and called it "Star Trek: The Whimsy of Q".

Every episode he was in was great, so isn't it reasonable to imagine a big screen appearance would have been good too? They just needed to find the right story. As for how to explain him to the "uninitiated", I imagine a scene of starfleet staff receiving a briefing about him and his history with the enterprise (as alluded to by Sisko on DS9).

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I Could never understand why Q was'nt in a movie, later I read somewhere that De Lancie has some sort of falling out with the Trek Producers after his appearances on Voyager.

 

[Nelson Au]

Well, First Contact worked well with the general audience because they did use a villain that had a history and were pretty menacing. A buddy of mine didn't like it cause it left him cold. Not sure why.

Not so sure Q is a good idea. He lost his teeth somewhat towards the end and they had him in All Good Things which was a really good send-off.

And why does a Star Trek film need to have a bad guy. I really liked simpler mystery stories too such as TOS Errand of Mercy, where mankind learned humility. Probably won't break any box office numbers I know. But the mentality seems that each of these movies has to be an event film. That is most unfortunate.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

It's true that Q Lost his Menace after the Episode Q Who, they lost me somewhat after having the Next episode after Q Who for Q Be a comedy, I would've thought Picard would be Pissed at Q For Killing many on his Crew and almost destrying his ship. But anyhow Q Could've been used as a fulcrum for propelling them into the movies Villian, not the villian so much

 

[Ockeghem]

Nelson,

I agree with this. Another episode with humility was Devil In the Dark. The arrogance of humanity could well be the makings of a wonderful story.

 

[Ocean Phoenix]

Yeah, when I mention Q I don't mean he has to be a traditional villain who antagonizes/fights with them. I imagined him doing something like testing them, as he would on the show. Yes, he became more comedic over time, but in his first few appearances on the show, he was always posing some moral or philosophical dilemma for the crew. Whether it was with Q or not, what I think the last movie really needed was something more true to the spirit of the show. The story that the movie went with was just too far removed from the show...odd since the writer was supposedly a fan of it.

 

[Sam Favate]

I agree with this, but I very much doubt Rick Berman or Paramount saw it that way. They wanted a traditional, good vs. evil space opera, but what they got, repeatedly, was cliched and just bad. The only decent TNG movie, First Contact, deviated from this formula - and even then, it changed the original concept by introducing a Borg Queen, something that was not part of the original Borg mythology. And they did so to have a central "villian," someone for the audience to hiss at.

I grew very tired of hearing Rick Berman promote every TNG film as "the best since Khan." In every promotion, he would say "we have the best villian since Khan" and "this movie is the most like Khan." He said it so much that it became simply not believable. He couldn't have believed it either; he was just telling audiences what he thought they wanted to hear to get butts in the seats.

The concept behind the show is about so much more than militarism, battles or good and evil. I always thought it was about human understanding, accomplishment and discovery. Maybe the studio doesn't think those things make a blockbuster movie, but they worked well enough to launch a TV show 40+ years ago that still endures.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

As a life-long Trek fan, I would have to say that you pretty much nailed what I think of when I think of Trek.

Those concepts also led to some of the best episodes of the spin off series as well:
TNG:
The Measure of a Man
Time Squared
Who Watches the Watchers (Essentially "Insurrection" without the villain)
Relics
The Inner Light

DS9:
Explorers
The Visitor
Children of Time
In The Cards
Far Beyond the Stars

Voyager:
Lifesigns
Living Witness
Barge of the Dead
One Small Step
Pathfinder

 

[Bryan^H]

I'm standing firm on this one. I think the first 3 seasons are the best.
I guess the reason why is that the episodes are so interesting. Exploration, and discovery are the basis for these seasons. Season 2 especially. The later seasons(note:I haven't started season 7 yet) are more along the lines of inner turmoil, and character development, and less planet and aliens of the week. They are great, but it would be better if there were a common ground between the two.

I know I'm the minority with this opinion, but I can't change the fact that I'd rather watch the early seasons any day over the later ones.

 

[Ocean Phoenix]

Actually, I think a lot of fans (including myself) would agree with you about season 3. I think it is the best season overall in terms of consistency from episode to episode. Some of the universally agreed upon best episodes of the series (i.e. "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1") appear in that season, as well as some of my personal favourites (i.e. "Deja Q" and "The Hunted"), there are very few episodes that aren't at least a little good in that season, and even the poorer ones are not nearly as bad as some of the lows of the other seasons.

I think the worst seasons are the first and last. The first just had a lot of problems getting off the ground with some rather clunky storytelling and corny acting/writing/special effects and the show was kind of running out of steam with ideas that were too high concept in the last season. On the plus side, at least it ends brilliantly with a fantastic series finale, and there are a few gems in there among all the nonsense in season 7.

 

[JediFonger]

i liked the 1st season cause it's basically TOS-style flava' but don't like it because gene wanted a rehash of TOS, but with perfect society. it's the flaws that make us human and some of that came through (i bet due to ron moore .

i don't remember much of s7, but the relationship between worf and troi was kind of hokey >P. riker and troi makes sense... but worf? that was like a wth moment.

 

[Ockeghem]

For some reason, I too watch the earlier seasons of TNG more so than I do the later ones. And Season Two really is a gem, maybe a lot better than what you might read about it on various Boards. Although I liked the addition of Pulaski, I don't believe that that is the primary reason why I appreciate the second season as much as I do. There are some wonderful stories and some excellent character development from that season.

 

[Sam Favate]

I would still say season 3 is the best - the most consistent, and the one which gave the series its own unique look (the new costumes, the lighting, etc.). I'll agree that there are gems to be found in the first two years, but seasons 3-5 are probably the best, with 3 standing out for me. It was probably because Michael Piller was in charge and the likes of Jeri Taylor and Brannon Braga hadn't found their way into the show yet.

 

[Bryan^H]

I used to read reviews all over the place online. People used to condemn the first few seasons. I don't think I will ever understand why. And yes, season 2 is amazing. Fantastic tv.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Not in my view. TNG didn't start getting good until the third season.

 

[Ockeghem]

Bryan,

Agreed. The second season gave us some very interesting story lines, and also (at least in my view) challenged my preconceptions about a few things relative to Trek (which at that time included only TOS, TAS, and a few films).

I think Unnatural Selection, Measure of a Man, A Matter of Honor, Where Silence Has Lease, Contagion, The Royale (I loved the premise of this one), Time Squared, and of course, our first visual introduction to the Borg, Q Who, were among the finest the season had to offer. I have a few more that in my view receive honorable mention, but of course my choices for those as well as for my favorites are subjective.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Really?