Worst Season of Trek Ever!

[IrritatingGameOfChess]

TNG Season 1 makes me wonder how that show lasted as long as it did.

I think that it was the "Star Trek" brand name that ensured the show could survive until it "got good." Had the series been a stand-alone sf show with the same quality scripts, viewers probably would have been tuning out in droves. That's why I why stuck with it at the time - it was new "Star Trek!"

It does boggle the mind how the production team could have greenlighted some of those scripts, though... If that's what made it to the screen, then what kinds of scripts were rejected?

 

[RAMA]

Season 3 TOS. I would say Voyager season 2 without a doubt is second. Voyager season 1 3rd. Voyager season 3 4th and STNG season 2 5th.

RAMA

 

[Cyke101]

It does boggle the mind how the production team could have greenlighted some of those scripts, though... If that's what made it to the screen, then what kinds of scripts were rejected?

Dear lord, I've never thought of that.

 

[Eddie Roth]

Second, Season four was creatively bankrupt. There is nothing imaginative or even entertaining about the technique of dumping a whole bunch of TOS references into the idea pool and writing ENT stories around them. Seasons one and two were about Enterprise being Enterprise, which is the main thing I like about hem. Season three was about Enterprise being DS9: the Dominion war years.

Season four was about enterprise being derivative and unpalatable. It's boosters, IMHO, are the crazy ones.

I agree wholeheartedly. I gave ENT chance after chance, even though after Season 2 (dreadful) it didn't really deserve any. I was surprised by how entertaining I found Season 3. But 4 seemed really like "Dammit, we must find some little TOS nugget that we can contrive some half-assed story around" even though most of these nuggets didn't merit treatment in sometimes as many as three episodes. It was a desperate last attempt to salvage a show that was over the hill much earlier already. Fanboyishly painful. I actually found it quite funny that for the series finale, they made it all about TNG characters... It was finally the admission that they had originally not been able to create anything but a derivative retread of the TOS cast of characters, and secondly, a concept that wasn't going anywhere where we hadn't beeen before.

 

[Hambone]

TNG Season One was almost as good as Space: 1999 Season One.

Almost.

That's how bad it was.

The difference is, I would watch S:1999 reruns.

 

[SFRabid]

TNG's season one. UGH! So terrible, it's torture to sit through.

ENT's much-maligned season 2 however, with Minefield, Dead Stop, Cease Fire, Future Tense, The Catwalk, Judgment, Cogenitor, Regeneration, First Fligh and The Expanse is much better than TOS season 3, TNG's season 1 and VOY season 7.

Seconded. Season 2 of Ent gets a lot of thumbs down, yet it had some very good to excellent episodes and its a shame that people forget that

Thirded. I seem to enjoy the second season of Enterprise much more than most people on the internet.

Fourthed. It is much easier for me to get through the worst season of ENT than it is to get through TOS season 3 or TNG season 1. I can even take ENT season 2 over VOY and DS9 when they became "Janeway, Destroyer of Borg" and "Cisco, God of the Universe." All seasons of every series are guilty, but you can only take so much of "The captain saves the galaxy again."

 

[TheGodBen]

TOS season 3 is without a doubt the worst from that show. There was still a few nuggets of gold in there though, and it is hard for me to judge it objectively since it was produced before my time.

TNG Season 1 was just awful. I can't believe people waited almost two decades for a new Trek series, and what they got was a bunch of pompous ciphers in unitards who flew around the galaxy telling lame jokes and being self-righteous. It didn't deserve a second season and we're really lucky it managed to survive long enough for Michael Piller to be roped in to head the writing staff.

DS9's worst season is undoubtedly its first when it was still finding its footing, but it still produced the best Trek pilot and awesome episodes like Duet.

It has been a long time since I've seen most of Voyager, but season 7 left a really bad taste in my mouth. It was a show that had never managed to build up much speed but still ran out of steam by the end.

Enterprise's worst season is easily season 2. I was a regular Trek viewer since DS9 season 3, but ENT season 2 was the first time I considered giving up on watching new Trek. Luckily it managed to turn things around and the final third of the season has some really good episodes.

So the worst for me has to be TNG season 1. It was just consistently awful and has only a small number of redeeming episodes.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Interesting, judging by the polling DS9 was the most consistently good Star Trek series from start to finish.

 

[donners22]

TNG season one. I hadn't seen any of the episodes until recently, since I only became a fan in the mid-90s, and was quite excited to start up the DVD set. It was appalling, embarassing and bordering on offensive. It had the least redeeming features of any Trek season.

 

[Michael]

Interesting, judging by the polling DS9 was the most consistently good Star Trek series from start to finish.

Exactly.

 

[RAMA]

TNG season one. I hadn't seen any of the episodes until recently, since I only became a fan in the mid-90s, and was quite excited to start up the DVD set. It was appalling, embarassing and bordering on offensive. It had the least redeeming features of any Trek season.

Sorry but season 3 TOS is WAY more embarrasing. I would should show STNG's mediocre episodes to non-fans but not TOS's.

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

TNG Season 1 was just awful. I can't believe people waited almost two decades for a new Trek series, and what they got was a bunch of pompous ciphers in unitards who flew around the galaxy telling lame jokes and being self-righteous. It didn't deserve a second season and we're really lucky it managed to survive long enough for Michael Piller to be roped in to head the writing staff.

The 7 Emmy nominations (3 wins), a Hugo nom, a Peabody award and over 10 rating in syndication (In some markets a 1100% jump in ratings) in it's first season didn't make the series lucky...if BSG gets a 1.8 today people think its awesome.

RAMA

 

[MyCylon]

^
TNG was lucky that viewers and (I'm assuming your numbers for nominations and wins are correct) critics alike were able to see the potential rather than what was actually on screen. Plus I think people were starved out for more Trek, and there was little to no competition at the time.

And I don't see what nuBSG's ratings or viewer numbers have to do with any of this.

 

[Cakes488]

TNG season one. I hadn't seen any of the episodes until recently, since I only became a fan in the mid-90s, and was quite excited to start up the DVD set. It was appalling, embarassing and bordering on offensive. It had the least redeeming features of any Trek season.

Sorry but season 3 TOS is WAY more embarrasing. I would should show STNG's mediocre episodes to non-fans but not TOS's.

RAMA

I emphatically disagree with you on this. TOS season 3 is NOT EMBARRASSING! You guys have said this (or typed lol) this so many times that you're acutally beliving it now. I'll grant you that perhaps A FEW episodes in season 3 are an embarrassment -- I don't personally believe that but that's all I shall concede.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Someone actually voted for DS9 season 7?


And, am I the only one who likes Season 1 of TNG? Sure, there were a hand of really, really bad episodes, but the likes of:

The Battle
Hide and Q
The Big Goodbye
Datalore
11001001
Heart of Glory
The Arsenal of Freedom
Skin of Evil
Conspiracy
The Neutral Zone

Are all solid and fun episodes and offer more than a lot of TOS season 3 and some of the seasons of Enterprise and Voyager did.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

You're not alone.

Plus "Lonely Among Us" was hilarious too.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Hands down...

Enterprise, Season One!

Bleech!!!!

I agree.

 

[Garth Rockett]

The second half of TNG's first season is pretty good. The problem for me is the first half so awful it's almost completely unwatchable. Even other weak seasons (ENT S2, TOS S3, VOY S7) hold some entertainment value for me in the lesser episodes. Also, none of the very best episodes from TNG's first season would make my top 25 list for the entire series, unlike the other weak seasons. Therefore, TNG S1 gets my vote.