There is absolutely no evidence of Section 31 involvement simply because of the ship's number. That's a coincidence if I ever heard one.
I mean, look at the Saratoga from DS9's pilot episode. That ship was numbered NCC-31911. It had a 31 in it, and nobody's claiming Section 31 was involved there, right? So why now?
That was a real theory?
What about the theory that NCC-1031 was also a reference to 'section 1031'?
I was around back then too and it's really an apples/oranges comparison. The original cast was notably miffed at the thought of Trek going on without them. Who wouldn't be in their shoes. Same goes for TOS diehard convention goers. Given the fact that the deck was stacked against TNG, the smart money was on denouncing it. BUT, the reviews were generally positive. I would go as far as to say forgiving. I remember TV guide Cheers and Jeers loved it (They hated everything back then). They even glossed over the fact that they literally copied some story beats from TOS. The lush production values at the time gave the show credibility in the way no other TV scifi did at the time. In '87, The Star Wars Saga ended 4 years ago. The Trek films were getting long in the tooth as were the actors. The only legitimate film scifi was Cameron's Aliens (and it was great at the time, I loved it). On TV it was different. You had shit like V and War of the Worlds. There was nothing to compare to TNG. Fast Forward your VCR to today. Now genre is where all the production money is going. The stakes are higher. There have been post TNG shows that advanced the medium (BSG, Firefly), and right now there is one of the best and more importantly, smartest scifi shows in years on TV (Expanse). I want Trek to succeed but comparing its chances to a 30-year old market is unrealistic. Oh, and don't forget Star Wars is back in town and will be on tv in a year or two as well. They need to up their game or Trek will go back on the shelf again for an even longer period. I'm hoping they can do it, but they are not going to get a 3 seasons to fine tune the warp engines this time. Long Live Trek!
Yes, they will get 2 or maybe 3 even if it's bad. But if people aren't still talking about it by then, I fear the worst. We fans know the shows usually get better with each season generally speaking. I want to see the show last to that point. Even if it means course correcting (retooling) in the short term.
Actually, I remember that 'Cheers and jeers' section and they were pretty harsh on it - BUT they gave it BOTH a 'Jeer' a 'Cheer' because it was bringing back a classic show to TV and they hoped it would improve.
I believe you are right. Good memory. At the time I took it as a glowing review. I remember being so worried it would be canceled because it was expensive (kind of like how I feel about DSC now). When they did a clip show as the S2 finale I thought it was done. I didn't know anything about the writer's strike at the time. In fact it wasn't until Best of Both Worlds that it finally sank in that the show was well received for a genre show. By S4 it was smooth sailing as far as I knew.
Um. "Yesterday's Entyerprise" was TNG Season 3; but that said, yes; they had less money (and a reduced episode count) for Season 2 - and hadn't budgeted it well - so they were running short and didn't want to overrun - so Season Finale clip show to the rescue.
Yesterday's E is from S3. Maybe Contagion where they had to destroy the Yamato?
