Is Season 2 supposed to be better than 1?

[EnriqueH]

Now that I've seen Seasons 1 through 2, (in production order), I was wondering about this.

I think I've heard/read/seen people talking about 2 being better, but I've always been partial to the first season and feel like it has a stronger, more consistent series of episodes.

Is there an accepted public consensus here? For example, I like the original Star Wars more than Empire Strikes Back (and I *do* love Empire), but the consensus out there is that Empire is the best.

 

[Terran_Empire]

I have two episodes left to go on season two but I can tell you plainly that season 1 is better, consistently overall.

The Corbomite Maneuver, Balance of Terror, The Naked Time, Court Martial, The Menagerie, Arena, Shore Leave, The Squire of Gothos, A Taste of Armageddon, Space Seed, This Side of Paradise, Errand of Mercy and The City on the Edge of Forever? Are you kidding me?

I love Doomsday Machine, Trouble with Tribbles and Patterns of Force as much as the next guy and Mirror, Mirror is the basis for my username, I love it so much...but season 2 is definitely a step below season 1.

 

[EnriqueH]

Yeah, I feel like Season 2 goes from solid, to good, to awesome, to bad, to good, to solid, to good, to good, to solid.

Amok Time and Doomsday Machine was one hell of a knock out 2-punch combination.

I liked Wolf in the Fold (but not as much as I remembered liking it), but I still love the way it begins and love the emphasis on Scotty. Oh, and that belly dancer is one of my favorite Trek babes.

The Changeling was solid, The Apple was ok, but then Mirror, Mirror was awesome and that started a good streak that lasted through Journey to Babel.

 

[Hober Mallow]

It's seemed to me that the consensus is that that the first season is the strongest. Of course, YMMV.

 

[EnriqueH]

What's YMMV stand for?

 

[Harvey]

YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary

Season one is more consistent -- the only complete dud is "The Alternative Factor" -- but season two probably has more episodes that I would rank among the best of the series, including:

"Amok Time"
"Who Mourns for Adonais?"
"Mirror, Mirror"
"The Doomsday Machine"
"Metamorphosis"
"Journey to Babel"
"The Trouble with Tribbles"

The thing about season two is that it really falls apart in its second half, which includes four parallel earth stories, none of which are very good, and "Assignment: Earth," which is neither a good episode of Star Trek nor a good backdoor pilot.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, I think the general consensus is that Season 1 is better. Some consider it the best-ever season of the various Trek shows.

 

[EnriqueH]

I remember liking Friday's Child when I first saw it, but ooof, it was disappointing to watch again. That was the worst Klingon in the series. Overall the episode was ok, but I thought I remembered it being better.

Anyways, yes, I noticed that there were WAY too many earth parallel stories virtually back to back.

I did enjoy Piece of the Action MORE than I remembered, and same goes for Bread and Circuses, which I thought was very good.

In fact, I've surprised by how many episodes that I used to dislike that I now like and how many episodes that I used to like that I now don't like as much.

Overall, Season 2 starts inconsistently and ends that way.

But watching this in production order has definitely opened my eyes.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

The thing about season two is that it really falls apart in its second half, which includes four parallel earth stories, none of which are very good, and "Assignment: Earth," which is neither a good episode of Star Trek nor a good backdoor pilot.

That's a pretty fair assessment, Harvey.

I didn't realize until relatively recently just how many parallel Earth stories were jammed together in the 2nd season. Funny thing is, though the 'parallel civilizations' thing was conceived early on as a budget saver, there were none whatsoever in season three, where tight budgets were a bigger issue than ever!

 

[The Old Mixer]

^I think "The Paradise Syndrome" would count...there was an in-story explanation for it, but it still boiled down to Kirk living with Native Americans.

 

[Terran_Empire]

The thing about season two is that it really falls apart in its second half, which includes four parallel earth stories, none of which are very good, and "Assignment: Earth," which is neither a good episode of Star Trek nor a good backdoor pilot.

Patterns of Force was entertaining for me as it had the same charm and charisma of a 1960-70s espionage movie set in Nazi occupied France and yet it told a decent parable of how even the best intentions and guidance cannot make tyranny significantly less deplorable.

But yes, Bread and Circuses was totally silly and unnecessary.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

^I think "The Paradise Syndrome" would count...there was an in-story explanation for it, but it still boiled down to Kirk living with Native Americans.

You're right. I hadn't thought of that one as a 'parallel' story. I guess the explanation for it must've worked for me.

 

[Push The Button]

Patterns of Force was entertaining for me as it had the same charm and charisma of a 1960-70s espionage movie set in Nazi occupied France and yet it told a decent parable of how even the best intentions and guidance cannot make tyranny significantly less deplorable.

I still wonder how many of the props and uniforms that we see in Patterns were borrowed directly from the Hogan's Heroes inventory. Even as a kid I wondered about this, as I knew that Desilu produced both series around the same time, and I was a big fan of both.

 

[EnriqueH]

The thing about season two is that it really falls apart in its second half, which includes four parallel earth stories, none of which are very good, and "Assignment: Earth," which is neither a good episode of Star Trek nor a good backdoor pilot.

Patterns of Force was entertaining for me as it had the same charm and charisma of a 1960-70s espionage movie set in Nazi occupied France and yet it told a decent parable of how even the best intentions and guidance cannot make tyranny significantly less deplorable.

But yes, Bread and Circuses was totally silly and unnecessary.

Shit, I liked Bread and Circuses!

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Patterns of Force was entertaining for me as it had the same charm and charisma of a 1960-70s espionage movie set in Nazi occupied France and yet it told a decent parable of how even the best intentions and guidance cannot make tyranny significantly less deplorable.

I still wonder how many of the props and uniforms that we see in Patterns were borrowed directly from the Hogan's Heroes inventory. Even as a kid I wondered about this, as I knew that Desilu produced both series around the same time, and I was a big fan of both.

I'm still convinced (though haven't actually checked) that one of the Stalag 13 barracks showed up in The Waltons: A Christmas Story movie, in the scene where the woman was reciting the Bible prayers to the kids (the broken doll scene).

There's actually a lot of nice camera work in that movie, should you ever get the impulse to watch it!

 

[Nebusj]

I have two episodes left to go on season two but I can tell you plainly that season 1 is better, consistently overall.

I think the season 1 episodes are, generally, the better space-western shows.

However, it's not really until season 2 that you have a Star Trek Universe, something where there's a really organized setting. It's not just things like bringing back Klingons (``Friday's Child''); it's doing something like mentioning that the Enterprise can't divert to Vulcan because it might embolden the Klingons near Altair: the audience is expected to know and understand who the Klingons are and they they're important even though they never appear on camera and don't actually figure in to things.

Season 1 is much more nearly an anthology (see how they didn't even figure out ``Federation'' or ``Star Fleet'' for so long); Season 2 is, finally, Star Trek as we'd see it for fifty years more.

 

[MacLeod]

My initial feeling is that S1 is better than S2 overall that isn't to say each season doesn't have it's sahre of excellent and bad episodes.

 

[Marsden]

This is very subjective, as I don't even like the season 3 mockery that's prevelent, I like all 3 live action and the 1 and a half animated seasons too.


Having said that, season 2 is just like Nebusj said, this is Star Trek with the fully developed backstory they didn't bother to before the first season. The Federation is there, and it's always been the Federation and all those times they said Earth in the first year were mispronounciations of Federation. And Like Harvey said, some of the very best episodes were in the second season, but then there were others. My personal pick for one of the worst, of all episodes is in that season. I usually judge the episodes individually. The second season has a bit more fancyness, can't think of a better word, to it, the sets are a little better, the title fonts match the begining titles, little things that they've improved, but the stories also seem like they were needed to fill in that season more than the first season, as if they had x many good stories and needed more filler. Then the third season, I'll admit, they have even for filler stories.

By filler stories, because they can be really good when well done, I mean instead of starting with an idea for a story that you want to tell they start with a deadline that needs to be met. That's very subjective, too. How many great stories were created because they had to be done by a certain date? We won't ever know. It just seems like there's more of the hurry up and get them made type in later seasons than the first.

One last thing I like about the first season more is there are a lot more background people working on the ship and doing things in the corridors. They all seem to be gone from the second season on. Plus, there are less different bridge officers on rotation.

 

[Mytran]

One last thing I like about the first season more is there are a lot more background people working on the ship and doing things in the corridors. They all seem to be gone from the second season on. Plus, there are less different bridge officers on rotation.

This for me especially - S1 Enterprise really felt like a working ship environment. I'm definitely a fan of the first, first

 

[BillJ]

I love both "The Omega Glory" and "Bread and Circuses".