Best and worst parts of season 7

[Seven of Five]

Just finished my first TNG rewatch in a few years, and I'd sort of forgotten how average the final season was. Season 6 had started to show some signs of a show past its peak, but the final season just reeks of a struggle for fresh ideas.

The most frustrating episode I stumbled upon was Sub Rosa, which I mercifully stopped watching about 20 minutes in. Beverly falling in love with the ghost of Shakaar and quitting Starfleet to be with him is just so over-the-top goofy and unrealistic.

Some gems were hidden amongst the mediocrity - of course All Good Things... makes it into my list of Top 10 TNG episodes. Parallels is a good, fun look at alternate timelines - I wonder if the episode had been longer if Worf might have ended up on the Ent-D in the new changed Abrams universe.
I also enjoyed Ro Laren's swansong in Preemptive Strike, in what was a very natural direction for the troubled character.

So what did you like and dislike about this topsy-turvy season? Do you think that TNG should have finished a season earlier before some of this stuff made it to air?

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Agreed on Sub Rosa. But I woulnd't have wanted to miss out on season 7 regardless. I consider Lower Decks to be one of the very best episodes in all Treks.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Parallels is a good, fun look at alternate timelines - I wonder if the episode had been longer if Worf might have ended up on the Ent-D in the new changed Abrams universe.

Are you sure he didn't?

It is an uneven season, with some decidedly weak episodes (e.g. Masks) but Parallels, Lower Decks, Preemptive Strike (the best Maquis story on any Trek series) and All Good Things... are four of my very favourite TNG episodes.

 

[vess]

I absolutely love Genesis. It's probably in my Top Ten of TNG.

 

[Too Much Fun]

Parallels, Lower Decks

I agree that those were excellent, and I also loved the series finale and "The Pegasus". "Phantasms" is silly, but fun, and "Genesis" is stupid, but entertains me...a total guilty pleasure. I'd skip the rest of the season. I think it mostly stinks, but definitely has a few gems.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I think they pushed the "previously unknown/lost family member" button too many times. I liked "Interface", but could have done without "Inheritance", "Homeward", and "Bloodlines". It's like the surprise family member of the week. Enough already. And of course it starts out with a Lore episode, who is the cliche of cliches.

*edit* although "Inheritance" does have some very strong scenes. It just gets tiring with the lost family member theme.

 

[startrekwatcher]

To this day I still feel TNG S3-5 were its most creative period. Then DS9 came along and the creative energy started being shared between the two hence the dip in S6 but a full on slide in the final season. Piller was off doing DS9 and VOY leaving Jeri Taylor in charge, Brannon and Ron were off doing Generations.

I also thought by the final season the writing staff were burnt out by being so good for such a lengthy run in those middle years.

S7 had some good episodes but overall it was pretty mediocre with a lot of ideas in episodes that with some further polishing could have made great episodes(the ENT-D gaining sentience, a murder mystery intertwined with the construction of the ENT-D, a ghost story etc) rather than boring or just plain bizarre outings such as "Masks", "Eye of the Beholder", "Emergence", "Force of Nature", "Liaisons", "Sub Rosa", "Homeward", "Firstborn" etc. "Descent II" had potential to be so much more but the writers were content with just clamping it down and making it into a very routine episode.

The episodes I enjoyed the most were "Gambit", "Parallels", "Genesis", "Thine Own Self", "Preemptive Strike", "All Good Things".

 

[indolover]

season seven to me was as good as seasons 3 through 6, perhaps the best seasons of the show. Season 3 had stinkers also. Transfigurations, The Ensigns of Command and A Matter of Perspective were all crappy episodes.

 

[Trek Survivor]

Season 7 was, frankly, the most average/worst since season 1.

Highlights for me:

Gambit (at least it tried to do something DIFFERENT!)
Parallels
Lower Decks (one of my all time faves)
Genesis (same reason as Gambit above)
Firstborn

I didn't even think that much of AGT.

Low moments:

Force of Nature
Sub Rosa
Liaisons
Descent Part II
Attached
Masks (awful)
Bloodlines
Emergency

...with the rest just "okay". Like the OP, it only dawned on me just how mediocre this season was with a recent re-viewing.

And people dare to knock season 2 as worse than season 7!?! Season 2 blows season 7 out of the water in terms of interesting stories, concepts etc.

For me, the most creative period of the series was seasons 2-4. Really firing on all cylinders. Season 5 got into very bland, "familiar" storytelling A-B-C soap opera stuff, and while they tried to correct this trend with season 6, it just wasn't enough to recover.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

And people dare to knock season 2 as worse than season 7!?! Season 2 blows season 7 out of the water in terms of interesting stories, concepts etc.

I dunno. Both seasons have a mix of good and bad, but I thought even in its bad episodes Season 7 had a certain level of competence, like they were so used to doing the show that they could coast. I rewatched Season 2 recently and, although there are some really great episodes (The Measure of a Man? Holy crap!), at times it felt kind of shoddy - not as slick as later years.

 

[datagal]

I didn't care too much for Gambit Pt 1 & 2.

Having NBA's James Worthy as the tallest Klingon didn't help.

 

[Destructor]

I liked S7, but yes they sure did play the 'family card' once too often.

I really liked Homeward, however, that was the one family ep I didn't mind. I also like Force of Nature.

Probably highlights are AGT (best Trek finale yet produced IMO), Parallels and Lower Decks.

Lowlights definitely Masks! Ugh.

 

[Cyke101]

The best part was when it ended.

Yeah, I know that sounds snarky, but I'm serious: AGT was not only one of the best episodes in all of Trek, but one of the best ways series finales of any TV show, period. Talk about finishing on a high note!

Preemptive Strike was a very painful episode, in that you could almost taste Picard's extreme anger in the end. Some really good scenes, palpable dilemmas, and something fairly rare in Trek: a character-driven story.

Okay, I'll stop it with the fake-outs

 

[Danny99]

I'm in the minority; I liked Masks.

 

[datagal]

I'm in the minority; I liked Masks.

I liked Masks too.

Even though Spiner thought it was a pain in the ass.

 

[Seven of Five]

Masks was very strange. I thought I was following it okay but by the end of it all I was totally baffled! At least I managed to finish it, and it tried to be something different.

Genesis is not a sound episode with its science. If you switch your brain off it's entertaining enough with Data and Picard roaming the ship and coming up against yet another altered crewmember.

The family theme is ridiculous this season, as many of you have brought up. I did enjoy Inheritance and Interface, though they have the problem of being made during the 'random family member' season. I didn't particularly enjoy Homeward or Bloodlines though, that was overkill.

I forgot about The Pegasus and Lower Decks, they're top three of the season along with All Good Things... for me.

 

[Solarbaby]

I thought season 6 was the best. The actors seemed 100% comfy in their roles. The stories and effects were good.

Season 7 in comparison seemed to me that actors were too complacent in their roles and over acted in parts.

Descent 2- Bore- I mean Lore-Again!!! Groan! And the altered Borg. It was just so badly directed that I didn't care if Lore won.

Liasons, First Born, Bloodlines, Homeward ,Interface, Attached sent me to sleep. WTF was Force of Nature about? They screwed up being able to travel at high warp. Then they had a reset button. Just make the engines move position and its ok to travel at warp again! That was scraping the barrel bargain basement writing.

I don't hate sub rosa. It was interesting idea. Although there were too many dreamy ghost episodes this season. It wans't the best though.

Masks has got to be the biggest pile of shit any sci fi series has ever produced. Enough said on that one. Journeys end wasn't as good as must have looked on paper.

I loved Gambit. It was different. Great opening cliff hanger with Picard being murdered and Troi saying it's true. It was too camp though- in a good way. It's pure entertainment! The ending was a bit naff. I liked phantasm mmm cellular peptide cake. Dark page might have worked if it wasn't on the week after a nightmare reality type episode. Plus Lwaxana is for comedy and not tragedy.

Parrallels was brilliant. The pegasus was interesting for lots of things. Fed cloaking devices. Illegal actions of high ranking officers. A black Romulan. Enterprise phasing. really cool stuff.

Thine own self was absolutely brilliant. It was great to see Data interact with those people and make friends

I didn't mind emergence upon subsequent views. The first time I saw it I thought it was mediocre. Pre-emeptive strike was a nice set up for voyager with the Maquis.

All Good Things did nothing for me the first time I saw it. However after watching it a few times since I do think it was a good story and ending for the crew. Even the Worf ?troi romance- AS IF!

 

[carlmarx]

Alot of love for Thine Own Self I see. I personally thought it was completely mediocre and pointless.

On the other hand, I did quite enjoy "Homeward". I liked that they kept the blatant sibling rivalry thing to a minimum, and I thought the scene where the crew solemnly lets the colony die (so they think) was very well done and showed an aspect of the PD we dont usually get to see.

"Attached" I also really liked- rarely do we get to see Picard quite that vulnerable over a woman, and the scene where he tells Beverly he doesnt love her anymore and then lays awake by the fire next to her broke my heart. Plus Riker owns in that ep.

Of course, All Good Things, Lower Decks, and Parallels are all top 15 for me, and The Pegasus isnt far behind.



"Sub Rosa" is the worst thing TNG ever did, IMO, barring "Shades Of Grey". Good lord.

And another vote for the pointlessness of "Emergence", the insulting disregard for any scientific coherence in "Genesis", and the lack of...well, anything happening, period, in "Force Of Nature". The writers were pretty clever there- you can't actually prove how pointless an episode is if you can't stay awake during it.

 

[Danny99]

I'll admit to laughing uncontrollably at 3:30 of this video:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MYX61tag4U[/yt]

McFadden overacts and Spiner/Burton must've been happy to get out of the scene when they got zapped.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I think they pushed the "previously unknown/lost family member" button too many times. I liked "Interface", but could have done without "Inheritance", "Homeward", and "Bloodlines". It's like the surprise family member of the week. Enough already. And of course it starts out with a Lore episode, who is the cliche of cliches.

Good point. And you didn't even mention "Firstborn", which sort of played that card.

The bad:

Liasons was crap.

Interface was forgettable.

Dark Page was an oddity. Lwaxana started out as comic relief, so to use her in a tragedy story...why?

Force of Nature opened a can of worms for the sake of an environmentalism story.

Homeward makes the crew look like jerks. Picard who violated the prime directive to save Wesley and in "Pen Pals"...has been replaced by a by-the-books bureaucrat. On some level, it's worse than Sub Rosa. At least Beverly has had shitty romances before.

Emergence was a throwaway episode. So dull it's hard to rewatch.


The mediocre:

Descent Part 2, the second part of TNG2-parters always underwhelmed. Plus, Lore and the Borg = comic book plot.

Gambit never felt like TNG. It was like they got writers from another series (or a comic book) and used TNG characters in it. I can't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Just odd.

Attached was alright.

I never got the love for "The Lower Decks". If they'd all been actual background players before, then maybe. One was (Ogawa) and one of them was seen on an earlier season (the Bajoran girl). The rest...who gives a shit? Maybe if this had been a intro for minor character who'd later reappear...but no, this was season 7. Helmsman tries-to-hard ain't gonna be seen again.

Thine Own Self, notice how many Data heavy episodes center around him not being himself.

See above. Masks, after that Ressican mind rape, you'd think Picard would keep his damned distance from ancient alien probe things.

Firstborn had potential, but then there's this time travel reveal that makes the whole thing wrong. "ADMIRAL JANEWAY SHOWED ME HOW TO TIME TRAVEL, FATHER. Oops, said too much."

Bloodlines didn't work for me without the original Damon Bok actor.

Journey's End and Preemptive Strike were both okay. Not sure either path was good for the characters.

The best were Parallels, Eye of the Beholder, The Pegasus (should've come a few seasons earlier maybe), and All Good Things. I enjoy Genesis in "so stupid it's fun" way.

It really was not that good a season.