Do They Try To Hard To Make Each Star Trek Series Different?

[Greg Cox]

In general usage, similar is not the same as identical. It likes saying that someone resembles someone else; you're not saying that they're a perfect double. Similar, as its commonly employed, implies some resemblance between two objects, not that they're indistinguishable from each other.

 

[Xhiandra]

Yes, but not in the way you mean it.

Setting things in a space station or in the delta quadrant or in a prequel aren't what I'd consider changes to the nature of the shows, and it's the latter type of changes that I find gratuitous and nonsensical:

- DS9 decided to veer away from TNG's unbridled humanism by featuring the whole "prophets vs pah-wraith/Sisko's a messianic figure and eventually accepts it/hackneyed firecaves duel/praying the Dominion reinforcements away..." manichean themes was extremely stupid.
DS9 had great episodes, but those things just reminded me of primary school catholic propaganda classes. TNG had more refined ethics discussions (as did TOS, but with significant executive meddling hampering it), whereas DS9 often reduced it to "ME GOOD, YOU BAD!" - a completely unnecessary and childish tone change.

- VOY went back to TOS/TNG ethos, so I don't know if it counts as change. It's a revert.
Shame the execution was too often lacking, because the show could really shine (and occasionally did).

- DSC turned Trek into a pure action fest. "Star Wars: the live action series" would be a more appropriate name for it, tbh.

Those changes, with DSC's being sold as "modernisations" (are modern audiences brainless? Do they need to be patronised so?), are the unneccessary changes, in my opinion.
Changing the nature of the shows. Changes in setting are irrelevant, as far as I'm concerned; I don't care how the allegory is framed, only about what it's about.

 

[Samuel]

To me though setting is a staggeringly big deal. I doubt you could put "Game of Thrones" in a 21st century shopping mall and it be remotely the same show no matter how good the writing was.

 

[DonIago]

Ironic; I would say that TNG was more prone to framing things in terms of Good vs. Evil than DS9.

 

[F. King Daniel]

To me though setting is a staggeringly big deal. I doubt you could put "Game of Thrones" in a 21st century shopping mall and it be remotely the same show no matter how good the writing was.

I don't know, I'd watch the hell out of THIS.

 

[Nerys Myk]

To me though setting is a staggeringly big deal. I doubt you could put "Game of Thrones" in a 21st century shopping mall and it be remotely the same show no matter how good the writing was.

Wasn't that called Fast Times At Ridgemont High?

 

[The Wormhole]

To me though setting is a staggeringly big deal. I doubt you could put "Game of Thrones" in a 21st century shopping mall and it be remotely the same show no matter how good the writing was.

South Park did exactly that.

 

[C57D]

Bingo.

And mystery/horror lite/ Twilight Zone-y

 

[C57D]

Screw the Brits.

Cheers Tenacity!!!

From a Brit!!

 

[Bad Thoughts]

ST:TNG actually was not made to be different from TOS. It was basically "TOS if Gene Roddenberry had bigger budget, better effects, and no network interference".

And TNG was the most successful of the modern Star Treks.

Deep Space Nine made a radical move by not setting the show aboard a starship. I believe this was a huge mistake as evidenced that the series basically had to be reinvented more than once. Not to say it didn't have a bunch of great episodes due to fine writing. Overall I believe change for the sake of change hurt the show at many points.

Sorry, but TNG did reinvent itself. Michael Piller, with Berman's approval, started wresting the story direction from Roddenberry in season 3. The stories became more character oriented than action driven, and the moral discussion was more of a feature than in the first two seasons. There was more attention to psychological elemeents.

 

[Samuel]

Sorry, but TNG did reinvent itself. Michael Piller, with Berman's approval, started wresting the story direction from Roddenberry in season 3. The stories became more character oriented than action driven, and the moral discussion was more of a feature than in the first two seasons. There was more attention to psychological elemeents.

the major irony here is that from the 3rd season onward of TNG, the action content actually ramped up considerably. In the 3rd season alone you had "The Defector", "Yesterday's Enterprise", "Survivors" and of course "The Best of Both Worlds I" to name just four.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

the major irony here is that from the 3rd season onward of TNG, the action content actually ramped up considerably. In the 3rd season alone you had "The Defector", "Yesterday's Enterprise", "Survivors" and of course "The Best of Both Worlds I" to name just four.

It's not ironic at all. The cost of makeup and special effects went down season by season. Models and masks that were expensive early on could be reused with a lower cost. Moreover, the cost of new effects went down as other science fiction series, in the wake of TNG's success, were developed. Those things would have happened regardless of the change of direction.

The more important point is that the personal, internal episodes like Family and Inner Light would never have happened in Seasons 1 and 2.

 

[ralfy]

They do via major story arcs, but the "monster of the week" format is also maintained for some. Beyond all of those is the timeline of which is show is part.

 

[The Wormhole]

the major irony here is that from the 3rd season onward of TNG, the action content actually ramped up considerably. In the 3rd season alone you had "The Defector", "Yesterday's Enterprise", "Survivors" and of course "The Best of Both Worlds I" to name just four.

The Defectors is mostly character based drama with the only real action scene being Jarok's scout being chased by the Warbird at the start of the episode. The Survivors, I don't know how you could even classify that one as action, as the only thing close to action is the Enterprise being chased away from the planet by the fake Husnock ship a few times.