My Star Trek: Next Generation project

[BiggusGeekus]

Well I have discovered the joy of Netflix and I am obsessivly watching the entire series of ST:TNG. It is my goal to see all of it. I had watched a lot of the series but this was back in the 90s (dark and dangerous times, where technolgies such as TiVo were unknown to humankind). If I missed the intro to an episode I would have to either wait for it to come on again or ask a favor of a trek junkie who kept a vaguly distirbuing life-size carboard cutout of Troi in his appartment. Neither were viable options to my mind.

This project will likely take me awhile, but it will give a sense of closure to a part of my life.

Season One

The series is cooler in season one than I had remembered. The acting is cheesy and no one is really very comfortable, but there is some definate punk/gritty elments to the series. Geordi's pain from wearing the visor isn't ignored, Riker and Tasha didn't come from idylic homes, and Picard is espcially far more stuck up than in later episodes. Troi ... well ... they were obviously still going back and forth between her "sex kitten" and "serious psychologist" stereotypes. I really think Troi didn't come into her own until she put on a proper Starfleet uniform late in the series. Worf looks dumber than I remember. Wesley Crusher has grown on me. Possibly because the actor and I are of a simiar age and meeting Will Wheaton would be kind of a cool thing. Beverly Crusher carries Doctor McCoy's legacy as does every Star Trek doctor. Deforest Kelly simply nailed his role and tainted the part of ship's doctor for forty years.

I'm almost done season two. Will comment on that when I finish.

 

[Silver Moon]

Well, I started doing that too with DS9, as the Spike Channel is now airing that show. I had only missed four episodes and have already caught two of them. Now that you mention it, I should complete my ST:TNG watching, as I only missed one episode of it which we do have on tape, I just never got around to watching it (the episode about Beverly's Scottish ghost, which is rather ironic given that Scottish history is one of my hobbies).

 

[Orius]

If I missed the intro to an episode I would have to either wait for it to come on again or ask a favor of a trek junkie who kept a vaguly distirbuing life-size carboard cutout of Troi in his appartment.

I'm not sure if I want to know what he was doing with that cutout, or what it was wearing (if anything).

Season One

The series is cooler in season one than I had remembered. The acting is cheesy and no one is really very comfortable, but there is some definate punk/gritty elments to the series. Geordi's pain from wearing the visor isn't ignored, Riker and Tasha didn't come from idylic homes, and Picard is espcially far more stuck up than in later episodes.

Some of that is Season 2. I remember the pain bit with the VISOR was like season premiere of season 2, I think. I know he was discussing it with Pulaski, not Crusher, so that pegs it at 2.

The same with Riker's background. I don't really think we're told anything about his childhood intil "The Icarus Factor", which is deep into Season 2.

And yeah, Picard is way more a pompous stuffed shirt, not the more intellectual Renaissance man of later seasons.

Troi ... well ... they were obviously still going back and forth between her "sex kitten" and "serious psychologist" stereotypes. I really think Troi didn't come into her own until she put on a proper Starfleet uniform late in the series.

With sex kitten usually being heavily favored.

I've read about how Troi was often shot differently than the other characters during the show. Sometimes, when Picard is blathering some diplomatic crap, or Data is spewing some more meaningless technobabble, the camera gets a bit distracted and pans her cleavage. The best (or worst, depending on your POV) example comes from the Season 6 episode "Timescape". There's a scene where Picard, Data, and Troi are crawling through the Jeffries tubes. The camera follows Picard and Data, staying focused on their faces and shoulders. However, it's stationary when Troi's turn comes around, and as she climbs down, we get a nice view of her hips, her breasts, and then her face.

Worf looks dumber than I remember. Wesley Crusher has grown on me. Possibly because the actor and I are of a simiar age and meeting Will Wheaton would be kind of a cool thing.

Worf's makeup was bad in the first season or so. It was improved by Season 3 or so.

Weasly maybe wasn't so annoying in the early episodes. I dunno. Like most Star Trek fans I loathe him.

Beverly Crusher carries Doctor McCoy's legacy as does every Star Trek doctor. Deforest Kelly simply nailed his role and tainted the part of ship's doctor for forty years.

McCoy wasn't the best doctor. At least that wasn't his strength, his relationship with Kirk and Spock was. But I wouldn't want him operating on me. If I had to choose one of the Star Trek doctors, it would probably be Bashir. He seems very competant and knowledgable, where Crusher always seems a tad vapid, and while Phlox is good, I'm not sure I'd want to have him using his critters on me.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

McCoy wasn't the best doctor. At least that wasn't his strength, his relationship with Kirk and Spock was. But I wouldn't want him operating on me.

Pfft! McCoy is the best! At least we know, from his own words, that he's a Doctor, not an elevator!

How can we be so sure about those...others?

 

[WanderingMonster]

Pfft! McCoy is the best! At least we know, from his own words, that he's a Doctor, not an elevator!

He may be an elevator, but he is not an escalator.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Some of that is Season 2.

Yeah. I should have started this accounting as soon as I finished with Season 1.

Weasly maybe wasn't so annoying in the early episodes. I dunno. Like most Star Trek fans I loathe him.

The only thing I really hate about him now is the horrible eye makeup they put on the poor guy. I've really done a 180 on Wesley.

McCoy wasn't the best doctor. At least that wasn't his strength, his relationship with Kirk and Spock was.

Yeah, but the character set the tone for the future doctors and their relationships with the rest of the cast.

Anyway, one other thing: I had forgotten that in first season there was almost a mandate to end every epsiode with some kind of corny laugh. That's dropping in season two, but I'll finish it up before I comment further.