Did Star Trek Jump the Shark?

[OverJoyJackson]

Toward the end of Enterprise, Star Trek TV as a franchise was pretty much in the dumps. The movies were sucking too. When do you think TREK was at it's peak and what if anything caused it to run aground?

I think most would blame Nemesis. But I blame Insurrection. FC was so good and then came Insurrection and wow...the air went out.

OverJoy

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Trek was up and down more than once - that shark jumped and then jumped back over and over. It's still doing it.

The first time Trek jumped the shark was during the second year of TOS. I'd pick "A Private Little War" today, but there are a couple of other candidates depending on my mood.

 

[plynch]

No. Compare early Happy Days to later SuperFonz eps.

No Trek series became a travesty. In my opinion.

 

[Paradon]

It fails to relate to the issue that is going on right now and so no one can relate to it. That's my opinion. The story telling wasn't that great.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Compare early Happy Days to later SuperFonz eps.

Compare "Where No Man Has Gone Before" to "Spock's Brain."

 

[Mr Silver]

Some could argue that "Starship Mine" was TNG's "jumping the shark" moment. Despite it being a really good episode, there is something a bit off about a middle aged man single handedly taking on a group of terrorists.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Well, it was originally written for William Shatner.

 

[-Brett-]

The worst instance of shark jumping has been the phrase "jump the shark".

BSG fans really drove that one into the ground. I swear, the show "jumped the shark", according to them, every freakin' episode. I thought it was trash from day one.

 

[plynch]

Compare early Happy Days to later SuperFonz eps.

Compare "Where No Man Has Gone Before" to "Spock's Brain."

That's an abberation, though. Much of S3 was good, imo. A step back towards S1, even, what with the elimination of the comedy vibe. Jump the shark is a point where you can clearly say a series is now way dif from what it was, or way worse.

Maybe ENT as a jump, for the franchise as a whole.

 

[ngc7293]

Some would say that Enterprise 'matured' late in it's seasons and it was too bad it was canceled.
I would say that STNG got better after Best of Both Worlds and after Diana had to wear a uniform.
I think DS9 got better because of the Dominion War.
Voyager was a constant flux of bad and good; the warp 10 salamander thing for example.
I don't remember enough of TOS I guess because they were reruns. But as was said before, there was shark jumping back and forth. Some episodes were bad and some were good. Had TOS lasted longer there might have been some idea of over all shark jumping.

As for the movies, in reality, none of the movies were good. The fans made them great. Some people LOVED TMP some people hated it. Most people loved TROK and TVH. It's also a mixed bag with Trek2009 lots of people loved it and I hated it. You can't count a movie for jumping the shark because that phrase is only for a series; weather it be a handbag or a tv show.

 

[{ Emilia }]

Maybe ENT as a jump, for the franchise as a whole.

Voyager was a jump, Ent paid for it.

 

[BDJ]

"Jumped the Shark" is reserved for tv series. Movie series get to use the phrase "Nuked The Fridge". (Thank you George Lucas!)

I not sure about Trek "jumping the shark" per se. I hated the first season of DS9 when it aired. I almost quit watching out of dissapointment. But I recently watched it again and it wasn't near as bad as I remember it. The same goes for lots of Voyager eps. (I personally think Voyager gets a really undeserving rap from some people) Enterprise almost choked me off though. The insistance of not using established Trek races and tossing continuity out the window really bothered me. IMHO Ent didn't really take off until the final season. So I think the quality was coming up.
Nemesis and TFF were the low lights of the film series but were both followed with high quality efforts. So maybe it can be said that Trek can survive it's own Shark and Fridge moments. Jus' sayin'

 

[Paradon]

I think ST has a lot of potential of good story telling. The people has to be able to relate to all characters, even what you would call the bad guys.

I think ST is more like "Avatar" and SW is more like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"... Makes for great story telling...IMO.

They should have different writers writing for different characters...because each character looks at life from a different perspective, depending on the culture and environment, and then see how they collide and how the relationship would develop between each character.

 

[Gaith]

Jumped the Shark, as in a Midichlorian Moment? No, I don't think so. It fizzled out, sure, and made some bad to very bad calls in the B&B era (the Borg Queen, the lack of continuity on Voyager, the Temporal Cold War), but nothing so bad it couldn't be fixed with a change of focus - as XI, and, maybe to a lesser degree, ENT's S4, proved.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Well, it was originally written for William Shatner.

No kidding?

 

[Paradon]

I wished they made ST more like DS9, but even DS9, I have to admit, have room for a little improvement...especially the costumes.

Too bad Ronald D. Moore couldn't do more for Trek. The last time I heard he was doing something for HBO. HBO has a sore eye for talent if you asked me. "True Blood" is a big hit around the world. [chuckle]

 

[ALF]

I think The Shark jumped the shark.

 

[Misfit Toy]

This thread is reopened, but people should be aware that the OP will no longer be available to respond.

 

[Trek Survivor]

People round here have led a very sheltered life with regards to poor television if they thought "Trek" ever jumped the shark.

 

[Admiral Shran]

I don't think Trek ever jumped the shark. Each series, and the movies, had their ups and downs, but none of them ever came close to being irredeemable, objectively speaking.

Now, on a personal level, the point where the franchise became unenjoyable for me was Trek XI. Does that mean it was a "jump the shark" moment? No. It's just where the franchise lost me personally.


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