I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th...

[Seven of Five]

I remember loving Unification enough to read the novel that Jeri Taylor wrote. It's been so many years that I can't remember what, if anything, happened that didn't happen in the episode. Never mind.

I really like The Undiscovered Country. Whilst it's not perfect, it's certainly better than The Final Frontier It's also a fitting sendoff for the TOS crew.

 

[Tracy Trek]

Not saying anything else, but there is sort of a little connection to Next Generation in The Undiscovered Country. Let us know if you catch it.

I think season 5 of TNG has most number of really good episodes. You've already seen Darmok and Unification. Be on the lookout for The First Duty, The Inner Light, and I Borg.

Whenever you do get to Voyager, there are 2 episodes of TNG in season 7 which sort of set up the storyline of Voyager. Also a 2 parter of DS9 introduces some elements of the story.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a question for other people who have replied in this thread. Since Shalashaska hasn't seen DS9 yet you can reply in a spoiler tag or in a PM. I've not seen all the episodes of DS9 or if I have I've only seen them once. What is it in Past Tense part 2 that is a crossover to Voyager. It doesn't sound like one that I've seen. The one that I think of that is Past Tense, I recall something completely different.

 

[RAMA]

Unification set up a really good story I just think Piller and CO dropped the ball on Pt 2. There are some good moments just not enough to really make it above avg.

Haven't updated in a while, but I finished season four last night!

Redemption was a cool finale, but I felt that the cliffhanger was kind of tacky as opposed to the cliffhanger in The Best of Both Worlds. It felt like they were trying to outdo the season three finale by bringing back Denise Crosby as a Romulan, when they should have just tried to make a good episode. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it a lot, but the ending kind of put a sour taste in my mouth.

As a whole, I enjoyed season four, it was consistently great and IMO, had less bad episodes than season three, but the highs in season three were so high that it puts it on top for me. I was going to name my favourite episodes from this season, but I'd end up just listing 3/4 of it.
..

I rank season 4 as the overall best Star Trek show season, with TOS's season one a close 2nd.

 

[Seven of Five]

I wish Valeris didn't have such a large role. Just felt like a Saavik ripoff to appeal to younger audiences with her edgy look and personality. Did they really need ANOTHER young female Vulcan? On the contrary, I thought Kim Cattrall did a fine job in the role, especially in the mind meld scene.

Originally I believe that the producers wanted Saavik (specifically Kirstie Alley) to come back, but they couldn't work out money. It's a shame as I think the surprise of Valeris's involvement would have played out better with someone we know.

But like Kirstie Alley in The Wrath of Khan, she didn't convince me as a Vulcan.

Lines were cut from the film that confirmed her as half-Vulcan and half-Romulan, which allows one or two scenes to make a bit more sense in retrospect.

Glad you liked the film anyway, it's one of my favourites too.

 

[Griffeytrek]

I noticed a couple things! One of them being Michael Dorn playing the Klingon advocate, nearly jumped out of my chair when he first appeared, very nice tie-in to TNG, and the engineering deck which was pretty clearly a set from TNG. Guess it was just down to budget issues.



Agreed. Saavik being revealed as the traitor would have been a much bigger deal. I found it kind of predictable with Valeris.

Ah, yes, someone mentioned that earlier in the thread, almost forgot.

If I remember correctly he was in fact playing Worf's Grandfather in that scene.

 

[Griffeytrek]

I noticed a couple things! One of them being Michael Dorn playing the Klingon advocate, nearly jumped out of my chair when he first appeared, very nice tie-in to TNG, and the engineering deck which was pretty clearly a set from TNG. Guess it was just down to budget issues.



Agreed. Saavik being revealed as the traitor would have been a much bigger deal. I found it kind of predictable with Valeris.

Ah, yes, someone mentioned that earlier in the thread, almost forgot.

Grrr. Need an edit function.

By this point Star Trek production had pretty much a permanent block of sound stages at Paramount that were there's and there's alone, for all of the shows and productions. They were designed to be able to quickly redress them. But they were semi sorta role specific. So they had a main bridge set. They had a smaller bridge set (built for the TNG Battle Bridge, but typically used for "other ships") They had an engineering set, etc. The two story engineering set was easily the most identifiable throughout its reuse. The shape of it somewhat limited the geometry of the various ships it was used for, making them all seem a bit the same. Even going so far as that little elevator used by Kirk in WoK can be seen in the D. This doesn't change until Enterprise. Which while they used the same soundstages, shuffled around what they were used for, and thus shook up the geometry of the common sets. (Hence why the NX-01's warp reactor is mounted horizontal. )

 

[JesterFace]

Wasn't there a scene in 'The Undiscovered Country' that took place in TNG's 10 Forward sets? Or was it in a another movie...

Wow, I need to rewatch these, I've forgotten many things.

 

[eyeresist]

Valeris ... Just felt like a Saavik ripoff to appeal to younger audiences with her edgy look and personality.

This makes no sense to me. She's not particularly edgy, and has no special appeal to "younger audiences" apart from not being as old as the middle-aged TOS crew.

 

[Forbin]

The Saavik thing:
Kirstie wanted more money to come back for ST:III. So they said no and hired Robin Curtiss.
In ST:VI, Valeris was supposed to be Saavik, and was in the first drafts. Roddenberry said hell no, Saavik would never turn renegade like that, make up a new character.

My first reaction to Curtiss was negative. She appeared bland and acted bland. Of course, Alley was so outrageously beautiful and personable in the role, it was impossible to match. Later I learned that Nimoy himself had instructed Curtis to act 100% Vulcan and she was following his direction. She said "who am I to argue with THE Vulcan?" So my purely emotional negative reaction was softened a bit. Then I saw Curtiss speak at a small local convention. She is an absolute doll! She's friendly, bright, works the crowd like a pro... everything her Saavik isn't. So I still prefer Kirstie in the role, but I absolutely love Robin Curtiss the person.

 

[RandyS]

Wasn't there a scene in 'The Undiscovered Country' that took place in TNG's 10 Forward sets? Or was it in a another movie...

Wow, I need to rewatch these, I've forgotten many things.

Yep, the Federation President's office scene was in the Ten Forward set. In fact, with the exception of that stupid Bridge set (they really should have kept the Bridge from Star Trek V, the best Bridge any Enterprise ever had) the Enterprise-A was a redress of the Enterprise-D. The Transporter room was the same. The dining room scene was filmed in TNG's Briefing Room, the Sickbay was the same set, and, as noted, so was Engineering.

 

[BillJ]

In fact, with the exception of that stupid Bridge set...

I loved the bridge set from The Undiscovered Country.

 

[Kor]

I wish they had done a better job with the engine room, so it wasn't so recognizable as the TNG set.

Kor

 

[RandyS]

I loved the bridge set from The Undiscovered Country.

Fair enough. I just really loved the Bridge from V and was disapointed they didn't use it again in VI.

 

[The Old Mixer]

They had a smaller bridge set (built for the TNG Battle Bridge, but typically used for "other ships")

Actually a redress of the Enterprise bridge set from the first four films.

 

[Griffeytrek]

Actually a redress of the Enterprise bridge set from the first four films.

I'll take your word for that. I know the second bridge set was one they could break down and reconfigure easily depending on project. It would not surprise me if it was a redress from the movies. For some reason I always assumed it was a redress of the Reliant? It always seemed smaller than the enterprise bridges. I know the Enterprise D's bridge was the main set that was more or less permanent, with not a lot of situational redress until it was converted to Voyager. (What was the comment some of the production people made comparing life on Voyager with life on BSG? On Voyager every week after shooting the set got completely sanitized and repaired. Everything was plastic covered and shrink wrapped and left immaculate. So it was like new every day of their 7 year journey. Whereas for the main bridge set of Battlestar Galactica they hung a sign tagging the bridge set as the 'Designated Smoking Area" and encouraged it to get faded dirtied and battered as the show went along via natural forces. So every week it was progressively in worse shape, more dingy and nicotine stained than the week before.)

 

[The Old Mixer]

That the battle bridge was a redress of the original film bridge is pretty well known...and the Reliant bridge was also a redress of the same set, its scenes shot separately from those of the Enterprise's bridge in TWOK, not a separate set.

 

[Griffeytrek]

That the battle bridge was a redress of the original film bridge is pretty well known...and the Reliant bridge was also a redress of the same set, its scenes shot separately from those of the Enterprise's bridge in TWOK, not a separate set.

As I said I believe you. And yeah I remember reading way back that the Battle Bridge was a redress or recycling of the movie bridge sets. I somehow just got it lodged that they were much smaller than the D's bridge and assumed Reliant without thinking it through. That the D's bridge was the new set and built larger than the others. It's especially clear when they introduce the Stargazer now that I think about it. That pretty much was rearranging the furniture from the movie era ships and dimming the lights so nobody noticed.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Fair enough. I just really loved the Bridge from V and was disapointed they didn't use it again in VI.

I preferred the look of the Bridge from V as well. I liked the color tones and the lighting from the interiors, including the turbo lift.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I wish they had done a better job with the engine room, so it wasn't so recognizable as the TNG set.

Kor

How fun it could've been to build an engine room like TOS but lend it Meyer's dark, submarine colors? I recently saw a construction video of their replica engine room uploaded by the ST Continues folks. I was impressed at what was done.

 

[eyeresist]

I preferred the look of the Bridge from V as well. I liked the color tones and the lighting from the interiors, including the turbo lift.

The TFF bridge looks closest to the D of all the TOS movies, so I guess TNG fans might favour it for that reason.

(Not saying that's a bad thing.)

 

[STEPhon IT]

I wish Meyer repainted the bridge like the TOS color schemes. He managed to convince the sound effects team to recreate TOS sounds which was a lovely touch BTW.

I think it was something I resented from the Defiant, Voyager, 1701 -E, and NX-01 bridges, their colors were so influenced by Meyer's touch. I wish the producers had an ounce of inventiveness, which they surely lacked.