Brand New Trek

[RainKing]

I hope I'm placing this thread in the right place; it all feels fairly general in my head. I have just a couple of comments and questions for the Star Trek fans.

In browsing the threads, new and old, I have discovered that there seem to be quite a few fans who have revealed that they have actually watched either no episodes from particular series or very few. It seems pretty normal for many here to have skipped either DS9, VOY or ENT. I'm honestly just curious about what went in to making that decision and how you pull it off because, personally, the idea of Trek existing out there that would be brand new to me, would be far too tantalizing to avoid.

That being said, I must admit that I have never sat through a purposeful viewing of TOS because I hated it when I was a child. I love pretty much all of the TOS movies, but I just found the series from the 60's too cheesy and dated - even the very colors and sounds annoyed me. I found it to be a lot like the Batman series with Adam West with which I had similar feelings.

However, I also gave up on ENT during its original run after just a small handful of episodes because I found boring both the lack of tech and lack of diversity in the crew. However, I had also just begun the relationship with my wife during these years, so I had less time available to me, as well.

At any rate, I gave ENT another try years later and ended up thoroughly enjoying it. It took me awhile to realize just why I liked Shran so much... (Jeffrey Combs / Weyoun) By now, I've seen every episode at least twice.

In the past year, I have actually watched Firefly, Farscape and Babylon 5 for the first time ever and found them all to be top notch. I had fun finding G'Kar beneath Commander Tomalak in a recent TNG episode rewatch. I was surprised to see Majel Barrett in an episode of Babylon 5 - and I have to say that it was odd to go back to a viewing of WOK and watch Bester playing Chekov.

I would like to think I could actually go back to TOS and enjoy it because most all of it would be new to me but it seems as though what I did not like about that series would only now be amplified with the passage of even more time.

So anyway, that's my reason for avoiding one of the five live-action Trek series. For those who have, I am eager to read your reasons for avoiding any of the others.

Thanks for reading.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

To avoid TOS is to avoid the origin story of everything you enjoy.

It's just not right.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I haven't really 'actively avoided' them. I just haven't always sought them out. I was basically raised on Star Trek (half on TOS, half on TNG, which was on air at the time) - because of that (and the movies) I've always loved both those sets of characters, but I haven't always loved the episodes of their respective series. And, due to the highly episodic nature of the broadcasts at the time (and at every other time that I had the opportunity to watch them on television), I honestly don't know if I've actually seen every episode of either series or not. I have occasionally considered getting the dvds, but they're too expensive and I've other things I like more that I don't have yet.

DS9 came out when I was in elementary school - it was the first ST series I saw from the very beginning and I loved it for that, even though it took my a while to warm up to the story. Within a few years, though, it was my favorite series. Right in the middle of season 6, though, my tv broke and I didn't get another one until a year later. It took me several years trying to find it in syndication before I finally was able to see the year I missed, and that satisfied me for quite some time until the last few years when i decided it was time to see it again.

Ultimately, probably a large part of the reason why it took me so long to get the dvds was because of the other developments in the franchise. I watched Voyager for the first three or four years (I'm really not sure how long) and while there were parts I liked (Love the Hirogem, even!) I never really got into it. It fizzled out for me, and I just stopped watching. I caught an occasional episode here and there and I tuned back in for the finale, but none of them caught my eye enough to make me want to watch what I'd missed.

Enterprise fizzled out for me within the first few episodes. I skipped most of season 1 and all of season 2. I tuned back in for the end of season 3 because everyone was talking about how it was getting better. It was alright. The nazi finale was really old hat, though. But I did still watch (most) of season 4 and did enjoy it, and I generally agree season 4 was what ENT should have been from the start. And then it ended (badly) and I still had no incentive to try to rewatch the earlier parts of it.

Add to all that the complete horror that was Nemesis (watched once in the theater, never again) and I guess I was a bit burned out on Star Trek. I kept the memory of the good parts in my head and basically forgot about it all for a while. Then, eventually, I started collecting the DS9 dvds, working backwards from season 7 (due to the aforementioned question of what to buy first, I don't have every season yet) as well as picking up my favorite films in the bargain. I've considered trying TAS out of curiosity since I've never seen it and it's relatively cheap, and if I ever get to the point where I have all of DS9 and all the movies I like and still want more ST dvds, I'll almost certainly buy either TOS or TNG because I remember actually liking the characters. But that probably won't happen unless the prices go down, because there's too many other shows I liked more that cost less.

 

[RainKing]

I need to remember that not everyone has Netflix, which currently puts every episode at your fingertips.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

When I was a bairn I loved TOS, fairy certain I've seen every episode at least once. However, I've not watched it for years as I don't want my grown-up brain to pick things apart about something I loved. I've seen all the TOS Movies, only one of which I avoid whenever it crops up, all the others are good for a watch every now and then.

Watched all of TNG, didn't like it to start off as I was still dedicated to TOS, but soon came around and loved it. Again, seen all the films and again there's one I try to avoid, and one I'm quiet 'meh' about, whilst the other two I like to varying degrees.

Then got into DS9 and that just blew me away. Best Trek ever as far as I'm concerned, no others can compete with just how great it is. Watch the entire series at least once every two years, so have to block off a couple of weeks to immerse myself in it and enjoy.

VOY I liked at the beginning, but by the time of season 6 I had fallen out of interest with it, probably still a few episodes I've never seen. To me it's probably the series that had loads of potential but just never hit its mark.

ENT was awful to begin with, but I stuck with it. As many say, S3 and 4 get better (though S4 is more fanwank than anything else, trying to repair the damage of the first two years) then they smack you around the face with TATV, which leaves a vile taste in your mouth that clouds all the good they had started to do.

As for the NuTrek films, let's just say I'm not a fan and leave it at that--there's just too much wrong with them to even know where to begin.

 

[SPCTRE]

I need to remember that not everyone has Netflix, which currently puts every episode at your fingertips.

Also, Netflix (and comparable streaming services) have very disparate show catalogues, especially on an international level.

 

[RainKing]

Oddly enough, I don't think I watched any of the Trek series as they were airing new.

My father, as reported to me, was a huge fan of TOS. He passed away just before TMP came out.

I think, because of this, I went to see Generations in the theater. I was intrigued by the coming together of two time periods.

After that, I went back and watched TNG in reruns, followed by DS9 in reruns, Voyager from a huge Chinese box set and Enterprise on Netflix. I personally rate them as follows:

1. DS9
2. TNG
3. VOY
4. ENT

Even though I have yet to watch TOS, if I were rating the crews themselves, I would put TOS above VOY and ENT because I really enjoyed most of those movies.

I also understand what you mean about having watched TOS when you were young and not wanting to go back and spoil it for yourself. Perhaps the floating Abraham Lincoln in space (if I'm remembering that correctly) wouldn't hold up to a second viewing. Nostalgia though, is a powerful thing.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

You should watch TOS. It is only slightly more cardboard than Bab 5.

 

[T'Girl]

The only series I watched "live" would have been the last couple of seasons of Voyager and then Enterprise. I did lose interest in Enterprise's' last season, the whole plot line made me drift away.

For years I never viewed DS9's later heavy war episodes, some of which I still haven't seen.

I've seen all of TOS, TAS, TNG, VOY and the movies (TNG premiered 27 days after I was born).

The majority of the novels up to the "relaunch," which resulted in my disinterest in the novels.

 

[Push The Button]

TOS didn't seem "cheesy" and "dated" when I first started watching it in the mid 1970's. Of course real-world tech and CG effects have gone so far beyond what was available then that it looks dated now, but the characters and stories are timeless.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I've seen all of them except for maybe 20-some episodes of TOS, mostly third season. I'm sure I'll see them eventually but I'm in no rush. TOS has some great episodes but the bad ones are harder for me to sit through than later bad ones.

I really wish I could get access to some kind of alternate universe Netflix where they kept writing Star Trek as good as TNG and DS9 continuously for years after. But the odds of that happening seem pretty low. For other scifi I actually think the closest thing to TNG/DS9 era Star Trek is Stargate. Similar storylines and similar morality with a good enough ensemble to make the camp factor okay.

Babylon 5 is awesome, I've never made it through the 5th season though and I think some of the characters are cartoonish and story resolutions are a bit too pat. Farscape I keep trying to get into and just can't. I really wish I could get into it because everything it's about is totally up my alley. But the characters never feel emotionally sincere and there keeps being stuff that's supposed to be funny like the puppet peeing explosives that is just SO FUCKING STUPID.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The dated campiness of TOS part of it's charm, IMO. Who doesn't crack a smile at Kirk's completely ridiculous and entirely unnecessary roly polys in "Arena"?

 

[Ralphis]

I went many years without having seen DS9. I just didn't want to watch it. I saw a few episodes when it first aired as a kid, but I just had no interest for reason. Finally, years later when I was in college, Spike aired like 7 episodes of DS9 a day and I fell an love with it then for some reason.

 

[Vandervecken]

Then got into DS9 and that just blew me away. Best Trek ever as far as I'm concerned, no others can compete with just how great it is. Watch the entire series at least once every two years, so have to block off a couple of weeks to immerse myself in it and enjoy.

You are so right. This is the best of the Trek series. The most adult, most intelligently written, best acted. But I have always felt Avery Brooks was it's weakest link. He's a Johnny one-note actor to me; not much real emotional breadth.

Fortunately this was a series that made the decision to depend strongly on an ensemble cast, and also a cast of semi-regulars, so Brooks' Kevin Costner-like deficiencies weren't that important. In fact we even might opine that a non-overshadowing presence in the position of CO allowed that great cast to shine.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I gave Enterprise two seasons of chances before I gave up on it, then finally gave up on it right before it actually got good.

 

[Mudd]

In browsing the threads, new and old, I have discovered that there seem to be quite a few fans who have revealed that they have actually watched either no episodes from particular series or very few. It seems pretty normal for many here to have skipped either DS9, VOY or ENT. I'm honestly just curious about what went in to making that decision and how you pull it off because, personally, the idea of Trek existing out there that would be brand new to me, would be far too tantalizing to avoid.

I watch shows long enough to either get to like them or be bored by them; if it's the latter I move on. Nothing to be "tantalized" about.

 

[Delta Vega]

I recently watched all of the revamped and remastered TOS and will probably never watch them again, it was like a farewell odyssey.
Some of the episodes were as thought provoking and interesting as always, some were just plain shit, but at least they all looked much better now.
Its taken me 45 years to realise that Star Trek can, and ultimately has, aged rather alarmingly.
I have always hated TNG, wasnt too fussed about DS9, Voyager was so so, and against the grain, I loved Enterprise.
I cant however see me holding any of the Trek incarnations in the esteem I held Star Trek (TOS) for so many years.