I have to say that I don't think there's a drop in quality in season 6. I think the tone starts to change to more of those psychological-themed, weirder shows, but to me that freshens the perspective. There are only so many social-issue driven shows you can do before that approach starts to really wear out, and in season 5 they pushed it to the limit; there are also only so many predictable speeches about peace, revenge, et. al. to be given, so I kind of like the tone of seasons 6-7. Yes, there are shows that are flat, but there are in other seasons as well.
Season 6: Is it me?
- Thread starter EnriqueH
- Start date
Personally I kind of like the goofy ones, even Genesis, where the most annoying thing is Data stupidly repeating de-evolve, as if the writers were too lazy to crack a dictionary and verify that there already was a word fulfilling that function.
Yeah, Genesis had some good makeup effects as well. You know, I don't mind the TNG social issues episodes at all, but it was nice to see seasons 6-7 sort of break away from it. And I don't think they quite went to the far extremes that they went to in VOY.
And season 7 has Inheritance, maybe my favorite show of the series. Maybe.
Not yet....but it will be, as you can see!
S6, a dropoff in quality? Difficult to say. I finished my TNG-marathon last week, and I liked Seasons 1-5 more than 6 & 7, that's for sure. But when I look at the list of individual episodes I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the stronger focus on Enterprise-"family" stories, and less exploration of Alien societies and situations. I also noticed an increase in overly long technobabble "solutions" in the later seasons.
Yeah, Genesis had some good makeup effects as well. You know, I don't mind the TNG social issues episodes at all, but it was nice to see seasons 6-7 sort of break away from it. And I don't think they quite went to the far extremes that they went to in VOY.
And season 7 has Inheritance, maybe my favorite show of the series. Maybe.
Personally, I prefer Preemptive Strike.
Not yet....but it will be, as you can see!
S6, a dropoff in quality? Difficult to say. I finished my TNG-marathon last week, and I liked Seasons 1-5 more than 6 & 7, that's for sure. But when I look at the list of individual episodes I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the stronger focus on Enterprise-"family" stories, and less exploration of Alien societies and situations. I also noticed an increase in overly long technobabble "solutions" in the later seasons.
I can't remember which episode it was, it may have been "Quality of Life", but there was an episode where I started hearing technobabble words that I had not heard earlier in the series.
We were already conditioned to "warp core breach", "away team", and "positronic brain".
For myself, I think there is a minor overall drop in quality in season 6 (in my opinion no season is the same level of quality compared to the next inane Trek), But I did feel that the first part of Season six was weaker then the same period of season 3, 4 and 5.
Memory Alpha I love Inheritance, though clearly not as much as you do. It's my 5th favorite of season 7, which I did think was weaker overall then seasons 3, 4, 5 and 6. But still considerable stronger then seasons 1 and 2. And it did produce my average hours of Great Trek, it just lacked as many really good episodes that lower its average quality for a season.
I also love the actress, she's done great in every Trek role.
Memory Alpha I love Inheritance, though clearly not as much as you do. It's my 5th favorite of season 7, which I did think was weaker overall then seasons 3, 4, 5 and 6. But still considerable stronger then seasons 1 and 2. And it did produce my average hours of Great Trek, it just lacked as many really good episodes that lower its average quality for a season.
I also love the actress, she's done great in every Trek role.
Not yet....but it will be, as you can see!
S6, a dropoff in quality? Difficult to say. I finished my TNG-marathon last week, and I liked Seasons 1-5 more than 6 & 7, that's for sure. But when I look at the list of individual episodes I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the stronger focus on Enterprise-"family" stories, and less exploration of Alien societies and situations. I also noticed an increase in overly long technobabble "solutions" in the later seasons.
I can't remember which episode it was, it may have been "Quality of Life", but there was an episode where I started hearing technobabble words that I had not heard earlier in the series.
We were already conditioned to "warp core breach", "away team", and "positronic brain".
Yes at some point during TNG run the technobabble just seems to increase dramatically. It carries over to the first few seasons of DS9, absolutely, and it also hampers Voyager through it's run.
I think the modern series that actually has the least is Enterprise (though clearly they have some).
When you hear the writers talk about how the write those scenes I laugh and then when I think about how much that hit some episodes I want to cry.
Genesis which is a terrible episode when it comes to science, I still was able to enjoy as as an episode. For TNG at least it really worked visually. Later shows pushed the visual elements much further, but for TNG it was a very big departure.
I'd describe Seasons 6 and 7 as very hot and cold. There were some great moments, and some of the series' best episodes came during those final two seasons. But those moments of brilliance alternated with episodes that were either randomly bizarre or just plain embarrassing.
Maybe that's what it is.
Episodes always kinda waver in quality throughout the seasons, which I think is perfectly normal in TV, but in Season 6 up to now (I just finished Chain of Command II), it seems like that wavering quality is sharper and extreme.
I don't believe any episode of TNG I've seen is flat out bad. But in Season 6, the strong episodes are REAAAALLY good, but the mediocre episodes border on being pretty bad (for TNG).
The quality zig-zags sharply, and that's what is sticking out to me in this season so far.
Episodes always kinda waver in quality throughout the seasons, which I think is perfectly normal in TV, but in Season 6 up to now (I just finished Chain of Command II), it seems like that wavering quality is sharper and extreme.
I don't believe any episode of TNG I've seen is flat out bad. But in Season 6, the strong episodes are REAAAALLY good, but the mediocre episodes border on being pretty bad (for TNG).
The quality zig-zags sharply, and that's what is sticking out to me in this season so far.
Funny, that's how I actually felt about Season 6 of DS9, which is why I think that season is a bit overrated. Yeah you have your Occupation arcs and some good episodes, but then you also have your Valients and Profit and Laces and Times Orphans and yeah it was a very inconsistent season.
These episodes were like intermissions, to give us time to recover from the arcs.
There were many intermissions in DS9 Season 6 then. I can list some more, like Resurrection, Who Mourns for Morn, One Little Ship, etc.
I was joking.
And I agree that there are many clunkers in that season.Resurrection was pretty bad. They tried to bring in a less boring version of Vedek bore-all, but it didn't work.
Season 7 is definitely a dropoff, but I don't think season 6 is. Maybe a slight dropoff in consistency but some of the strongest episodes come in season 6.
I like the arc.
Just saw "Ship in a Bottle".
A big step down from the drama of Chain of Command.
I'm not a fan of the way TNG sometimes gives us a monumental episode filled with character growth, high drama and action with repercussions for our characters, and then follows that episode with a comedic romp.
Many times, "the comedic romp" ends up being entertaining too for its own reasons, but I don't like that "rough transition" feeling I get when having to adjust.
Still, I enjoyed Ship in a Bottle and though they handled and ended the Moriarty storyline very well. I thought the script was pretty airtight for what it was.
That moment where we realized they were talking to a fake LaForge was kinda creepy in the same way as Kirk's android revelation in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
A big step down from the drama of Chain of Command.
I'm not a fan of the way TNG sometimes gives us a monumental episode filled with character growth, high drama and action with repercussions for our characters, and then follows that episode with a comedic romp.
Many times, "the comedic romp" ends up being entertaining too for its own reasons, but I don't like that "rough transition" feeling I get when having to adjust.
Still, I enjoyed Ship in a Bottle and though they handled and ended the Moriarty storyline very well. I thought the script was pretty airtight for what it was.
That moment where we realized they were talking to a fake LaForge was kinda creepy in the same way as Kirk's android revelation in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
I said no camels! That's five camels! Can't you count?
Best thread derailment arc ever.
Ahem. I find this thread very timely because I was just watching some season 6 episodes the other day and thought, "Wow, I always forget that there are some great episodes here!"
Disclaimer: having watched ST:TNG at a time when I had no way to reach out to a larger Star Trek community, I find that my opinions were formed in a vacuum and often do not reflect those of other ST:TNG fans.
I really liked Schisms, to me it was one of the most creative Trek episodes. I remember that at the time, aliens and alien abductions were a big part of popular culture (this was juuuuuust before X-Files started). I had never thought about how such a thing might play out in a world where your work on a daily basis with aliens--people who, incidentally, might consider the humans to be the aliens. To take the idea of the alien abduction and give it a deep space twist was so much fun to watch. Not gonna lie, the part where they reconstruct the room in the holodeck gave me the creeps.
Starship Mine? It entered the phrase Die Hard Picard into my lexicon, which makes it a winner in my book. Episodes where Picard gets to be a little more roguish are a pleasure to watch, Stewart embraces that sometimes underexplored aspect of Picard's personality. It's placed at an interesting point in the season, too, a few episodes after Tapestry. It's almost like a continuation of the idea that one of the things that got Picard to the captain's chair is that he has learned when not to play it safe.
The Chase: THANK YOU Star Trek for finally addressing the "why does everyone look the same but for pointy ears and weird foreheads?" question. And at the heart of it, it's a story about how important archaeology can be. As someone who wanted to be an archaeologist, this instantly won a place in my heart. As someone who is now an archaeologist, it still holds that place.
Timescape: Oh, come on--if you didn't find the smiley face scene hilarious, I think you might be dead. :P I love episodes like this--a one-off mystery to be solved over the course of 45 minutes. It was also a nice way to bring in the Romulans without it being all about "the Romulans are our enemy."
Speaking of which, Suspicions, which I know a lot of people find meh or worse, is--I'm gonna say it--one of my all-time favorite episodes. Yeah, I went there. It gave Dr. Crusher something interesting to do, and showed that she might actually be a person with interests outside being the ship's doctor. I thought as a mystery plot, it was a fun kind of "whodunit" enterprise with an appropriately suspicious group of possible suspects. Yeah, I'll watch that!
But, there were certainly duds, too. Aquiel--why are Geordi-centric episodes so off-putting? True Q is a yawn for me--a waste of Q that only made his usually buoyant presence feel overused. Lessons could have been renamed Should We Give Picard a Love Life? Nah.
Overall, you had your hits and misses, but in my opinion, more good than bad. Maybe, as others pointed out, it wasn't quite as consistent as past seasons.
Last edited:
Similar threads
