TNG fans please identify yourselves ...

Discussion in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' started by Gold Grizzly, Oct 31, 2005.

  1. Kane2026

    Kane2026 Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Hello There. I am Kane and I started watching TNG sometime in the early 90s - I think 92 or 93. One of my two older sisters was keen to watch the show on TV. We were at the time easily impressed with the pilot episode - Encounter at Farpoint. My sister especially made a connection with both Troi and Tasha and their skirt uniform. There was some confusion later on about Riker's beard but we watched pretty much every episode we could over the course of three years or so.
    I am not certain what drew me to TNG in those days. I enjoyed the conflict, and resolution inherent in every episode. My favorite character has always been Captain Picard.
     
  2. Herbert

    Herbert Commodore Commodore

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    I remember watching Encounter at Farpoint when it aired and being completely unimpressed. I think I watched a couple more episodes and gave up. However, I did return at some point and TNG has become my second favorite Trek show. Although, I've seen most of the episodes so many times I'm not sure I need to watch them again
     
  3. The Katatonic

    The Katatonic Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Hi all...my brother an I were children of the initial TOS reruns in the '70s...I am not joking when I say that even though he would never admit it, we bonded hardcore watching TOS. In fact, it became an ongoing family joke that my brother was exactly like Spock. However, being that my parents commandeered the television for most of my teen years so we both did not get to see much of TNG until it had started reruns...we saw some, but not all. It wasn't until the late 90's when my then bf/roommate/drummer and I had a daily routine of watching re-runs that I got super familiar....and for me...it's Cappy Picard and Data and Worf...I actually found the Crushers to be rather annoying...when it would come up at Thanksgiving convo my brother used to eye roll at Picard...but oddly enough, as he gets to be mid 40's...he still makes me think of Spock....but, sometimes, when he talks about the cultures he's experienced traveling the world, he sounds a wee bit like Picard. And that makes me a proud sister. So, for me, the Trek experience is also about the people I have experienced it with. And I am a pretty lucky person.
     
  4. Geordi Picard

    Geordi Picard Cadet Newbie

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    May 13, 2017
    Hello! Started watching TNG in elementary school and was a college grad when Nemesis was out. Absolutely my favorite TV series. Also a huge fan of DS9 and Voyager.
     
  5. Qonundrum

    Qonundrum Vice Admiral Admiral

    Howdy!

    I'm new here. Long-time TOS fan, was around in 1987 when TNG premiered and - back then - I wasn't much of a fan of "the beige hotel in space as commanded by Captain Picknose"... I remember the book covers handed out in school, somehow it was weird putting a cover with the photo of the 1701-D onto a history book...

    It took a while but I did grow to love TNG, even more than TOS for a number of episodes (more than 0 and far more than just "The Best of Both Worlds").

    The 1701-D ship design being my third favorite (1701-E and a tie of the 1701 from the first three motion pictures and the Defiant being, in that order, the best IMHO and it didn't stop me from buying the 1701-D's 36x24" blueprints set because the 1701D's overall look, saucer separation, along with all the exterior windows and other deft little features, are very cool. And after seeing the "D", it's almost hard to look at older designs, even if said older designs were groundbreaking, iconic, and ultimately timeless at the time they were created. The Jeffries original is magnificent, so anything that one-ups on the original is no small feat.)

    But those early days were rough at times, as for every episode with some ideas behind it they would rip off a TOS episode and ruin the TOS original in the process. "The Naked Now" was as atrocious as it was brainless, and yet "Home Soil" was pretty decent sci-fi as well as being solid Trek. And both came from the first season!

    My favorite Trek franchise is still DS9, though. DS9 shows a lot more to show the nitty gritty and deeper nuances that TNG, etc, can't begin to touch. Seasons 1-3 are usually good, but 4-6 set the bar far higher and, indeed, outdo every Trek before and even after. "In The Pale Moonlight" being the culmination and epitome of the richness that DS9 brings to the table but also requires knowing enough backstory to fully appreciate said richness.

    But TNG, as early as season 2, found its way. Eps like "The Outrageous Okona" became the exception and not the norm, having "Maury in Space" does not make for good sci-fi and they make for not-so-good Trek. "Time Squared", "Contagion", "Peak Performance", "Where Silence Has Lease", "The Emissary", "Q Who", "Elementary Dear Data", "The Schizoid Man", and - yes - "Unnatural Selection" are all decent or fantastic episodes in my book. Along with others, but those come to mind first. Season 2 is almost like DS9 in terms of being dark and menacing, though season 3 would refine and excel and take TNG along the rest of its run (though I also feel season 7 is an improvement rather than a letdown.)

    Dr Pulaski was desperately needed and the backlash of "McCoy ripoff" was undeserved, since Trek since then has a habit of making the doctor trope have McCoyisms at times. Whatever else went on behind the scenes, Dr Crusher just felt too bland as a character. Though "Attached" is one of the few episodes where she's used better.

    "Unnatural Selection" clearly is influenced by TOS' "The Deadly Years" and tries to improve on the formula. Maybe it helps to be a fan of Pulaski, but I could feel for her regarding the premature aging (and in a situation that is set up better than TOS' original comet radiation stuff, IMHO) far better than for Kirk, McCoy, et al. The transporter trick was a neat solution as well, which added to the tension because she pretty much never used the thing.

    Q is easily my favorite character. For such a villain, he's saved humanity plenty of times despite doing nothing to put them in danger (or obeying the Continuum with the judgment against humanity!). Forget "All Good Things" and his pointing out Picard's self-made whoopsie that would have temporally annihilated all of humanity. With no Borg introduction = no defense or hope prior to their big invasion since the Borg were hiding in the shadows as far back as season 1. Captain Janeway snides at Q for the introduction as if that started that all, but she wasn't there for the events of "Q Who?", so as refreshing as it was (it was!) for another command figure to now get to be eyewitness to such an entity, she still went by inference and without 100% of the facts - Picard may or may not have logged both Q's discussion to him, Guinan's, and Shelby and co's discussion about the previous Borg encounter. Much less her having enough time to find every detail. A very human thing :) but she still wrongly blamed him, believing he introduced them when "The Neutral Zone" described what would later be confirmed in TNG as Borg methodology, and "Dark Frontier" (or was it "The Raven") had as well. So Janeway, who I usually like as Captain, didn't have all the facts.

    Check that, maybe Data and LaForge are since I can relate the most to them. They're, in my humble opinion, one of the sci-fi genre's best double-acts.

    And Guinan. Her double-act with Data is also solid, and she added a lot more to the show. Pity she was unused later in TNG's run and utterly misused in "Generations".

    LOL, context is key :D
     
    Gary Mitchell likes this.
  6. Herrick

    Herrick Ensign Red Shirt

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    Jan 29, 2017
    Hi I'm Herrick. I joined back in January but I didn't want to read or post until I finished TNG. I also watched TOS right before TNG.

    My dad watched TNG back in the day and I would watch a couple of scenes but I never saw an entire episode. Oddly enough, I saw full episodes of TOS before I saw a single full episode of TNG. I watched some TOS on the Sci-Fi channel in the 90s especially if they had a marathon and I saw a few movies. I went to see Star Trek V with my dad back in the day.

    Anyway, I always liked TNG characters like Picard, Riker, Geordi & Data. Maybe it was a nostalgia thing. Sometimes things don't age well when you're an adult but I still love these characters as well as the rest of the main cast as well as John de Lancie & Colm Meaney.

    I just finished the series tonight and I still really like those characters. My dad also watched Deep Space 9 but I'm really unfamiliar with that series. I'm probably going to start watching it soon.
     
  7. Sibyl

    Sibyl Caffeine Pill Popper Rear Admiral

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    Two things hooked me on TNG during the original airing of Encounter at Farpoint: The Enterprise-D and the Cricket Phaser. Those two objects fascinated me from the beginning until I became more familiar with the characters.

    Hate to say, but I've always been more interested in production design than story or plot, and TNG hit my sensibilities, as undeveloped as they were at the time, just right.
     
  8. Herrick

    Herrick Ensign Red Shirt

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    I always liked those little phasers too. I don't like the bigger ones.
     
  9. Sibyl

    Sibyl Caffeine Pill Popper Rear Admiral

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    They got better over the years, but I hate the Dustbuster phasers. Roddenberry said he wanted a tool that didn't look menacing for when the crew is encountering new species. I get that, but then again, what looks menacing to one culture may look completely harmless or unfamiliar to another, and vice-versa.
     
  10. Herrick

    Herrick Ensign Red Shirt

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    That's a good idea but surely they could've come up with a better design than that. The cricket phaser (just learned that name thanks to you) didn't look threatening at all but it didn't look all that practical either. It looked like it could've easily slipped out of the hand.

    And what's up with them using phasers with their left hand? I don't remember if that was happened much in the later series but it happened all the time in the earlier seasons.
     
  11. Sibyl

    Sibyl Caffeine Pill Popper Rear Admiral

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    I don't remember the left-handedness unless the actors are left-handed. I'd once heard a rumor that all of the Stormtroopers in ANH were left-handed. That turned out not to be true.

    As for the Cricket, it's contoured to fit nicely in your hand. I'd think it would stay better than a TOS Phaser I.
     
  12. Herrick

    Herrick Ensign Red Shirt

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    I can't remember specific episodes where the bigger phaser was used left-handed but there are pictures in this link:

    https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/25318/are-all-type-2-phasers-used-in-tng-left-handed
     
  13. Sibyl

    Sibyl Caffeine Pill Popper Rear Admiral

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    Oh, I believe you. Now that I think about it, the Galoob figures had their phasers in their left hands.

    Fascinating.
     
  14. Sibyl

    Sibyl Caffeine Pill Popper Rear Admiral

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    That page shows examples of each, but I find this post to be food for thought:

     
  15. Herrick

    Herrick Ensign Red Shirt

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    I'm not sure how they would be straining to use the comm badge with their left hands while holding the phaser in their right hand. Seems counterintuitive to train Star Fleet who are mostly right-handed to shoot with their left hand so they can use their right hand to use the comm badge.
     
  16. Gojira

    Gojira Commodore Commodore

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    I initially turned my nose up at TNG. I started with TOS in the early 70s so my mind was closed to any new Trek without Kirk & Spock.

    Then in 1991 I lived with some friends for a while and their son watched TNG so I started watching it with him. I don't remember my first episode but very quickly I fell in love with the show to where I love it equally with TOS.
     
  17. Sibyl

    Sibyl Caffeine Pill Popper Rear Admiral

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    A lot of people (including the original cast) had those feelings. I was just at the right age to welcome more Trek with open arms at the time. I was still a huge TOS fan, though.

    I will say, though, that my friend told his dad that I was a Star Trek and his dad said, "You mean The Next Generation, right?" quite accusingly, suggesting that no "cool" person would like TOS. Yes, according to much of the general public, TNG became "cool" to mention in the open. Just think about how many people touch their chest when they see a TOS delta patch.
     
  18. JuvenileBard

    JuvenileBard Cadet Newbie

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    Portland Or
    Hello im JuvinileBard

    im excited to meet fellow TNG fans. I dont really have a whole lotta cool stories, but i gotta wesley crusher sweater..... and an undying love for the Soong type androids. I don't know what it is, but gosh...

    i honestly think Spiner is a awesome musician- if you haven't heard him sing it's amazing- and actor. Hes kinda inspired me to try and tame my singing voice- i play with instruments more than i use vocals so it's not pretty- and pop back into acting. I personally love his sense of humor and ide have to say that my own sense of humor kind of mimics Spiner's unintentionally.

    ill stop raving about Brent Spiner and Data for now.... I guess i'm just a newbie Trekky, my dad kinda roped me into Star Trek, but i've always been a big ol' nerd i guess (''^-^). At the time i'm posting this, I'm 17, and will be starting my senior year of high school in the fall. I'm in my school's Jazz band- playing Trumpet, Concert band- playing flute, and marching band- on trumpet as well. I aspire to play Harp and learn more about the stars.

    I find astrophysics hella interesting but i'm abysmal at math- like im going to be in a algebra 2 concepts class next semester im awful- welp..... ill stop rambling,,, but im new to the forum and want sum friends. :)
     
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  19. LJS1138

    LJS1138 Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    May 29, 2017
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    Hi. I just found this site, even though I've been on the internet since it Ye Olde Usenet Days. I'm old enough to have watched TOS when it was on, and then again in syndication. Then watched TNG and loved it, and Deep Space 9. Voyager is where they lost me, though, although I go and cherry-pick the Doctor episodes on Amazon Prime now.

    Of course, in addition to Star Trek, I'm an all-around science fiction fan, with special likings for Asimov's Foundation and Robots stories.
     
  20. Borg

    Borg Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Jul 24, 2017
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    New York City
    Hey guys/gals, just joined this week.

    I'm 33, but I've only recently been sucked into the ST universe. I've always been a sci-fi fan, but I only started watching ST after looking for stuff to watch on Netflix.

    My dad grew up a Trekker and was a fan of TOS during it's original run. He still has a bunch of these collector plates that he bought during TMP era (or some time around there), but I don't think they're worth much unfortunately.

    Anyway I love ALL of the series, including Enterprise. I especially love TNG and the Borg, so I was psyched to find that this user name was available. Look forward to posting here!