The Teasers in TNG...

[Aike]

...aren´t a lot of them quite boring?

I loved TNG during the 90s, but haven´t seen an episode since 2001. So awhile ago I watched some of the teasers on Youtube. I thought that many of the teasers were slow, talky, motionless and not that interesting, especially compared to many of the teasers in season one of TOS, which I recently revisited for the first time in a long time.

I watched Birthright part one, the episode where Riker has a son and the one where everyone disappears except Beverly. (Sorry, my trivia knowledge isn´t what it used to be)

Did I watch the wrong shows or are they generally like that? Or were they quicker and more energetic when Roddenberry ran the show?

 

[Michael]

I just watched the ones from Remember Me and Future Imperfect on TrekCore.com and thought they were okay. They might not be as overly fast-paced as more recent teasers, but at least they actually reflect the plot of their respective episodes, which is something I can't say for all Voyager and Enterprise teasers I have seen.

Oh, and I love how the announcer says 'Next time on Staaaaar Trek: The Next Generation!'

 

[Canadave]

The worst I can remember is from "Loud as a Whisper" (a solid episode otherwise). Essentially, it's like this:

The Enterprise has come to pick up an ambassador. Picard is beaming down to meet him, and Riker protests, but Picard goes anyway. They beam down to the ambassadors residence where they are supposed to meet him. The ambassador isn't there yet. Credits.

That's it. Almost absolutely nothing happens! They don't even bother to set-up the deaf\mute ambassador story that's the crux of the plot! Argh!

 

[DonIago]

I just watched the ones from Remember Me and Future Imperfect on TrekCore.com and thought they were okay. They might not be as overly fast-paced as more recent teasers, but at least they actually reflect the plot of their respective episodes, which is something I can't say for all Voyager and Enterprise teasers I have seen.

Oh, and I love how the announcer says 'Next time on Staaaaar Trek: The Next Generation!'

I think you just confused teasers with trailers there.

 

[Ziz]

I think you both confused them. "Teasers" and "trailers" are different levels of commercial advertising. The start of the episode before the credits is called the "opener" or the "bumper".

 

[DonIago]

I'm pretty sure the pre-credits part of the episode can also be called a teaser, though I admit I may be mistaken.

 

[Michael]

I think you both confused them. "Teasers" and "trailers" are different levels of commercial advertising.

So why did I confuse them? That's exactly how I understood 'teasers' in this context.

 

[Kegg]

I liked them. They could be slow and talky, but hell, we're talking about TNG here. You can't really accuse that of being a bait'n'switch.

I think you both confused them. "Teasers" and "trailers" are different levels of commercial advertising.

So why did I confuse them? That's exactly how I understood 'teasers' in this context.

They appear to be talking about the pre-credits footage in an episode, and those didn't have the infamous Staaaaar Trek: The Next Generation guy.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Watch the one for Cause and Effect. That one is anything but boring!

 

[Forbin]

Yes, the opening pre-credit scene is often called the teaser.

The thing is, they're supposed to set up the plot and raise interest in the viewer. You're supposed to come back from the titles wanting to know "Wow! What's gonna happen with that situtaion?!?" A great many of TNG's were just a silly little boring scene having nothing at all to do with the plot of the episode. Wasn't one just a few moments of a poker game?

 

[Christopher]

The opening portion of the story preceding the main titles used to be called the teaser, and still is to much of the general public, but these days it's known in the industry as a "cold open." Increasingly, these openers are long enough to qualify as full acts, and are sometimes the longest act in the entire episode (the pattern these days is for the acts to get progressively shorter), so they aren't really "teasing" anymore.

By the way, I believe the announcer who did the "Next time on Star Trek: The Next Generation" promos was named Ernie Anderson.

 

[flemm]

Yes, the opening pre-credit scene is often called the teaser.

The thing is, they're supposed to set up the plot and raise interest in the viewer. You're supposed to come back from the titles wanting to know "Wow! What's gonna happen with that situtaion?!?" A great many of TNG's were just a silly little boring scene having nothing at all to do with the plot of the episode. Wasn't one just a few moments of a poker game?

Yeah, but I see TNG as something of an enigma in many respects. Sometimes I find myself wondering how on earth that show ever managed to be popular in our culture.

It makes sense in a way that its "teasers" often didn't even bother to do much teasing. Just like it didn't bother to have sympathetic characters, involving story arcs, convincing special effects, irreverant humor, edgy content, action, objectified women or really anything else that would normally allow for a show to succeed.

I liked it, but I'm eternally surprised so many other people did

 

[Michael]

Hm, actually I do know that both the opening sequence of an episode and the commercial advertising the next episode can be called "teaser". And initially I was a bit puzzled as to what exactly the OP was referring to. It was his suggestion that he "watched some of the teasers on YouTube" which led me to believe he meant the commercials. I guess I found it a bit odd that someone would only watch the opening sequences of individual episodes.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Oh, and I love how the announcer says 'Next time on Staaaaar Trek: The Next Generation!'

Close. It's "Next time... on STAAAAAAR Trek... the NEXT generation."

 

[Forbin]

The opening portion of the story preceding the main titles used to be called the teaser, and still is to much of the general public, but these days it's known in the industry as a "cold open." Increasingly, these openers are long enough to qualify as full acts, and are sometimes the longest act in the entire episode (the pattern these days is for the acts to get progressively shorter), so they aren't really "teasing" anymore.

S'truth! I've been noticing lately that the actors' names are popping up on screen after the first commercial, 15 minutes into the show! I find that extraordinarily silly.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Which teaser, or episode opener if you will, holds the record of being the shortest? I think there was one that's basically just a single shot or two only a few seconds long.

 

[WillsBabe]

^ Is it Unification part one?

 

[Trek Survivor]

It's got to be "Chain Of Command Pt 1". That one clocks in at about 35 seconds long.

 

[tomalak301]

Which teaser, or episode opener if you will, holds the record of being the shortest? I think there was one that's basically just a single shot or two only a few seconds long.

How short was Cause and Effect? That teaser was one of the best ones.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Wasn't one just a few moments of a poker game?

The poker game usually sets up what the episode is about if you're paying attention. Also, we usually go from the poker game to the problem of the episode and THEN the credits.

So I don't understand the issue at hand? Too much subtlety, perhaps?