^ In response to your accusation, I don't believe that TNG was "bad" in seasons 6 or 7, nor did I say as such in my original post. But I do believe that, yes, it had a forward momentum going in the first five seasons which was somewhat less prevalant in the final two. That's a perfectly natural state of affairs for any tv series though.
I don't understand this, I never accused anyone of calling the sixth season "bad". All I did was open my post with "I couldn't disagree more with some of the posts here", given that most of the responses seemed to view the sixth season as fairly average.
I don't believe it to be completely 'average' either. It's not perfect, but there are more than enough excellent episodes in there - this is the season which gave us "The Chain of Command" two-parter, easily up there in my top Trek outings ever. All I'm saying is... I'd argue that it's impossible for any tv series not to exhibit some> signs of tiredness by the end. Season 7 arguably even moreso than Season 6.
Substantive? I'd rather watch seasons one and two vs. seasons six and seven everyday of the week and twice on Sunday. Seasons one and two had a fresher universe with more interesting characters, better direction, music and lighting.
I know it's a bit of a cliche to say it, but I absolutely love the freshness of Seasons 1 & 2, and I think the show's peak was certainly 3, 4 and 5. As I say, there were definitely some great episodes in 6 and 7, but like every tv series, the passage of time wrought a certain feeling of tiredness to proceedings. Or at least that's how it felt to me - other viewers' feelings may vary.
So If I think Seasons 3-5 had for example 18 great episodes 4 average and 4 bad episodes on average, and season 6 had 12 great with the rest avereage or worse. How would my statement be false. The point was not that wasn't any great episodes it was just that there where fewer of those great episodes than in S3-5.
Here's one, after all these attacks on Earth in recent months, Starfleet Security along with the Human Memberworld government want the Federal government and Starfleet HQ's moved elsewhere. Picard is sent in to either keep them on earth or find another planet or station in which to house the head of the Federation government and the head of its Starfleet.
I propose a year-long story arc where Picard is looking for a bathroom on the Enterprise that isn't 'occupied'. Of course, in the season finale he finally learns that none of them ever really were occupied in the first place - it was simply Q warping from one to the next to the next, eager to teach Picard a valuable life lesson about self-control. The series ends with Picard finally sitting down on the toilet, and reassuring himself that "The sky's the limit".
*sigh* Talk about missing the point. I was simply addressing the fact that someone sidetracked the discussion with some notion that I accused people of calling season 6 "bad", which I didn't. I was suggesting we return to actually discussing the topic at hand. But I guess you saw the word "substantive" and somehow thought I was talking about the quality of season 6. I wasn't, but whatever. I'm starting to remember why I left this place....
It's totally fine, let's just talk about season 6. What do people think about "The Quality of Life"? Kind of a forgotten episode, but it brought some interesting issues to the fore.
Saw it again approx. 2, 3 months ago. Was less impressed by it than I remembered from seeing it the first time around as a teenager. There's nothing wrong with the ep, but imho, the're not bringing anything new into the mix that we hadn't seen before, either (most philosophical stuff already had been covered by eps like measure of a man, imho). Although I liked the idea of repair tools that just replicated the right machinery to fix stuff on-site So, -- average, imho. Perhaps slightly above average.
The decline definitely began in season 6, but at least it had Tapestry, Chain of Command, Relics, Ship in a Bottle, etc. Season 7? Gambit was the worst two-parter on TNG, hands-down. The season had about as many quality episodes as season 1. All Good Things made up for it though.
I've always thought that the 'pound for pound' best quality season was 4. It always felt to me as though they really hit their stride in season 3, & rode that peek into season 5, & then there was more difficulty in being creative In hindsight I'm pretty lenient though, there's maybe only 2 or 3 episodes in any given season that I truly dislike S1 Code of Honor, When the Bough Breaks & Angel One S2 Manhunt & Shades of Gray S3 The Bonding & Menage a Troi S4 Suddenly Human & The Loss S5 Imaginary Friend & Cost Of Living S6 Aquiel & Fistful Of Datas S7 Eye of The Beholder & Sub Rosa Those are really the only ones & can't sit through
I think S6 and S7 have the same amount of great episodes, but S7 has more mediocre eps and stinkers. Great S6 eps: Chain of Command I & II, Face of the Enemy, Tapestry, Frame of Mind, Timescape Great S7 eps: Gambit I & II, The Pegasus, Lower Decks, All Good Things I & II So, 6 each Mediocre to bad S6 eps: Rascals, Fistful of Datas, Rightful Heir Mediocre to bad S7 eps: Interface, Dark Page, Force of Nature, Inheritance, Homeward, Sub Rosa, Journey's End, Firstborn, Bloodlines, Emergence 10-3 for S7 S7 has it's share of great episodes but far more stinkers than any season since 2. Edit: Removing 'Quality of Life' from the list of bad episodes because I was confusing it with Cost of Living. It's more an average episode. (Remember kids: Never eat your worlds!)
Someone thought Gambit was good? I thought it was one of the most boring episodes - nearly unwatchable stretched out into two episodes.