Season 1
- Thread starter ELCHawk
- Start date
DS9's first season is much worse I think.
There's a lot to like in season 1 TNG. Season 1 was admittedly unsettled, and relied on TOS too much, but DS9 compounds this by making season 1 a retread of TNG's season 1 retread. The result is ever-diminishing returns.
Disagree. Kind of campy but charming. Some really good episodes there. Skin of Evil, Conspiracy etc. And I actually like Justice.
I love Season 1. I’ve been a fan for so long even its shortcomings are a pleasure. But even if you’re a newer fan, I think (if you can get past the 80’s production conventions) even the stuff that doesn’t work is creative and curious and more rewatchable than some of the more serialized stuff that all blends in together now. Even the epic fails like Angel One, Justice, and Code of Honor are dazzling in their swings.
I think the episodes I rewatch the least are the pilot, Lonely Among Us, The Battle, Too Short a Season, Symbiosis, and Home Soil.
Where No One Has Gone Before , 11001001, The Arsenal of Freedom, and Conspiracy are great.
Skin of Evil has the best funeral scene in all of Trek for me, with the possible exception of Spock’s.
The Big Goodbye is the holodeck episode daddy of them all, and it won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Series and is the only Star Trek episode to ever win a Peabody.
Ditto Heart of Glory redefining the Klingons to who we know them as today, in the first of many great TNG Klingon episodes.
Plus bits of futurism in episodes like Hide and Q, Coming of Age, We’ll Always Have Paris, and The Neutral Zone that I still keep close to my heart.
And the season ends with a great warbird and “We are back” reveal that to this day stirs discussion and begs for a follow up.
It’s a great season in its own way. And we have it to thank for everything that came after. Looking at what they were working on for Star Trek: Phase II…that could have been the end of it, like so many other sci-fi franchises, right there.
I think the episodes I rewatch the least are the pilot, Lonely Among Us, The Battle, Too Short a Season, Symbiosis, and Home Soil.
Where No One Has Gone Before , 11001001, The Arsenal of Freedom, and Conspiracy are great.
Skin of Evil has the best funeral scene in all of Trek for me, with the possible exception of Spock’s.
The Big Goodbye is the holodeck episode daddy of them all, and it won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Series and is the only Star Trek episode to ever win a Peabody.
Ditto Heart of Glory redefining the Klingons to who we know them as today, in the first of many great TNG Klingon episodes.
Plus bits of futurism in episodes like Hide and Q, Coming of Age, We’ll Always Have Paris, and The Neutral Zone that I still keep close to my heart.
And the season ends with a great warbird and “We are back” reveal that to this day stirs discussion and begs for a follow up.
It’s a great season in its own way. And we have it to thank for everything that came after. Looking at what they were working on for Star Trek: Phase II…that could have been the end of it, like so many other sci-fi franchises, right there.
I finally finished reading the "Blood and Fire" script today. It's not perfect and gets a bit soppy at the end but it's also a bit darker and a bit more introspective than a lot of Season 1 stuff I feel. If there had been a TV series like TWOK maybe it would have fit in there. The background of the Ferengi as this huge threat feels strange and so at odds with everything we'd actually see of them though. I would kinda love to read more Season 1 unused scripts, and maybe I'll reread the novel "Ghost Ship" to get more of a weird alternate TNG vibe.
I disagree. TNG is my favorite show, and while I think S1 is the low point of the show, and there also some clunkers, there is also some good stuff in there.
I will even go further & say that some of the clunkers don't really bother me. "Angel One" was on the other day and it was fine. "Code of Honor" & "Justice" don't bother me, either.
Still, even I will admit there are some clunkers. Things are awkward all over. And there is not really a classic episode in that season. But there are some good ones.
One that stick out as enjoyable to me/fundamental to the show:
Episodes 1 & 2. Encounter At Farpoint Pts 1 & 2. This introduces Q, one of the main antagonists in the series (along with the Borg). The ending does not make asmuch sense without the beginning.
Episode 3. The Naked Now. Sure, TOS callback here, but also Data & Tasha hooking up. Picard/Crusher will they/won't they.
Episode 6. Where No One Has Gone Before. Good episode. Allusion to TOS 2nd pilot.
Episode 7: Lonley Among Us. Good episode.
Episode 10: Hide and Q. Not the best Q episode, but solid enough.
Episode 11: Haven. We introduce Troi's mother as Majel returns in a solid episode.
Episode 12: The Big Goodbye. The first holodeck episode as such, and a good one.
Episode 13: Datalore. Not a great episode, but this is important for the rest of the series.
Episode 15: 11001001. Maybe the best episode of the season. Minuet.
Episode 18: Home Soil. Solid.
Episode 21: Arsenal of Freedom. Good episode.
Episode 22: Symbiosis. Some people hate it, but I liked the solution.
Episode 23. Skin of Evil. Tasha's end. Not a great episode, otherwise, but if you are gonna watch the series, you need to know what happened to Tasha. It also makes Yesterday's Enterprise better if you watch it.
Episode 24: We'll Always have Paris. Solid Picard backstory.
Episode 25: Conspiracy. If 11001001 is not the best S1 episode, this is.
That is 16/26 that are essential, good, or very solid.
Meh: The Battle, Angel One, Too Short A Season, When The Bough Breaks, Coming of Age, Heart of Glory, and The Neutral Zone.
That is 7 more with nothing to really get upset about. The Battle introduces JLP's first command on The Stargazer, which is good to know, going forward. As is Wesley's Starfleet exams in Coming of Age.
The 3 that are iffy are, in my view:
Code of Honor. Yes, some folk have an issue with the black characters acting duplicitously and less "evolved" than a Federation world. But for me, it was reminiscent of T'Pring in "Amok Time" and the fight scene was good. The fact that the antagonists were black bothered me a bit, but not a ton.
Justice. It is just poor.
The Last Outpost. Yes, it introduces the Ferengi. It also may be the worst episode in the TNG catalogue.
The worst 3, IMHO, are all early on. Episodes 4 (Code of Honor), 5 (Lonely Among Us), and 8 (Justice). If you can make it through those 3, there is nothing horrific after. Nothing great, either.
I'll amend & say Hearts of Glory is also fundamental as it redefines the Klingons going forward.
It has been very long since I went through season 1 and 2 apart from few episodes.
So long I don't remember much about the episodes if anything.
However, I recently watched 'Encounter at Farpoint' and it was much better than I remembered.
Like really good.
It made me feel like I need to go through the old material, eventually.
So long I don't remember much about the episodes if anything.
However, I recently watched 'Encounter at Farpoint' and it was much better than I remembered.
Like really good.
It made me feel like I need to go through the old material, eventually.
Weird, isn't it? In 1987, it was a bit lukewarm - but with moments.
In ways, it's still corny with that season 1 feel...
And yet, it still has a sense of wonderment and charm that also gets a lot of its characters right from the start.
The choice of actors helps.
Especially considering Gene had to be cajoled into using Patrick Stewart, and mostly due to the fact that Stewart was bald.
You know they had Picard right when he does that "If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are." Even though Q's real goal was to show Picard a bigger reality -- both actually had some good points, but season 1's format also prevented these ideas from being more fully explored. But as the seasons went by and Q got to return for more antics, enough exposition was given that what could be hinted at now seemed more plausible in a rewatch.
That or I'm thinking into it too much.
Sod that, "Encounter at Farpoint" isn't bad by any measure.
In 1987 I was around 5 years old so I don't have exact recollection about what happened in STNG. =)
When it comes to Star Trek there's no such thing as overthinking it.
If nothing else, there's this thing called wig, I wonder was that ever suggested?Especially considering Gene had to be cajoled into using Patrick Stewart, and mostly due to the fact that Stewart was bald.
In the end STNG is great as it turned out, I wouldn't change much.
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