Favorite Series?
- Thread starter dougiezerts
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1. DS9 - It is simply the best series. Great acting, a varied and interesting ensemble cast with fantastic recurring characters. A pleasant mix of action and humour with lashings of 'reality'. DS9 is as philosophical as the others, while being darker, yet still retaining Roddenberry's vision of optimism.
2. TNG - What TOS wishes it was. Brilliantly acted, a lead who could boost any episode. I loved the exploration of the human condition, the morals and philosophical discussion [as I believe every Trek should have]. Its fun without being silly, its exciting without being exhausting and its mature without being dull. Brilliant.
3. VOY - Fantastic show and the most underrated of the lot. I adore it. While I rank it third, on its day it is actually my favourite. It has wonderful humour, Mulgrew is just a few notches below Stewart and the show in general may be the best acted. Jeri Ryan is stellar, Dawson never fails to deliver, Picardo is superb. The whole show is pure entertainment, it manages the Trek humour very well, it manages the philosophy well and it is just exciting to watch. Plus, the Intrepid is gorgeous.
4. ENT - Two dismal first seasons killed what became a great show and what could have been a classic. Two seasons of sex, brainless violence and even no 'Star Trek in the title gave way to a final two seasons that has such a unique 'feel' [the ship, uniforms etc] and really delivered on entertainment and the deeper messages I demand from Star Trek. Im still upset that the show was cancelled.
5. TOS - I love all the series and TOS is no exception. It is brilliant and fun and...by far the worst of the five. Once nostalgia goggles are removed and once we give it due credit for starting the greatest sci-fi saga ever....we must acknowledge that most episodes were sub-par to mediocre. Plots are often non-sensical, ideas are rehashed ad-nauseum [super powered being/stranded on a planet] and most of the cast are glorified extras. TOS set the stage and managed to be thoroughly entertaining and began to show Roddenberry's vision and Star Treks moralising and philosophising would blossom as the franchise continued. Sadly, TOS just isn't actually that good.
2. TNG - What TOS wishes it was. Brilliantly acted, a lead who could boost any episode. I loved the exploration of the human condition, the morals and philosophical discussion [as I believe every Trek should have]. Its fun without being silly, its exciting without being exhausting and its mature without being dull. Brilliant.
3. VOY - Fantastic show and the most underrated of the lot. I adore it. While I rank it third, on its day it is actually my favourite. It has wonderful humour, Mulgrew is just a few notches below Stewart and the show in general may be the best acted. Jeri Ryan is stellar, Dawson never fails to deliver, Picardo is superb. The whole show is pure entertainment, it manages the Trek humour very well, it manages the philosophy well and it is just exciting to watch. Plus, the Intrepid is gorgeous.
4. ENT - Two dismal first seasons killed what became a great show and what could have been a classic. Two seasons of sex, brainless violence and even no 'Star Trek in the title gave way to a final two seasons that has such a unique 'feel' [the ship, uniforms etc] and really delivered on entertainment and the deeper messages I demand from Star Trek. Im still upset that the show was cancelled.
5. TOS - I love all the series and TOS is no exception. It is brilliant and fun and...by far the worst of the five. Once nostalgia goggles are removed and once we give it due credit for starting the greatest sci-fi saga ever....we must acknowledge that most episodes were sub-par to mediocre. Plots are often non-sensical, ideas are rehashed ad-nauseum [super powered being/stranded on a planet] and most of the cast are glorified extras. TOS set the stage and managed to be thoroughly entertaining and began to show Roddenberry's vision and Star Treks moralising and philosophising would blossom as the franchise continued. Sadly, TOS just isn't actually that good.
Well, TAS has to be at the bottom, even though I've never seen it. It's a cartoon - made... quite awhile ago. I could look it up, but why pretend?
I would put TOS just above it, but only because nobody was allowed to make anything close to honest television in the 60's. Although TOS is legendary because it actually tried - and that's why we got all the much better stuff that followed.
If I was 15 or 20 years older, I might put TOS at the top because nostalgia is a powerful thing and I can quite easily imagine being enraptured by it if I had watched them as they were released. As a 39 year-old man, however, comparing the best TOS episode to the best ENT or DS9 episode is like comparing Dragnet to The Wire.
Just my opinion, of course - as is anything I type.
I would put TOS just above it, but only because nobody was allowed to make anything close to honest television in the 60's. Although TOS is legendary because it actually tried - and that's why we got all the much better stuff that followed.
If I was 15 or 20 years older, I might put TOS at the top because nostalgia is a powerful thing and I can quite easily imagine being enraptured by it if I had watched them as they were released. As a 39 year-old man, however, comparing the best TOS episode to the best ENT or DS9 episode is like comparing Dragnet to The Wire.
Just my opinion, of course - as is anything I type.
I have seen other people here and other forums say the same thing. I adore TOS...but its obviously the worst one. I understand the power of nostalgia and personal preference, but, aside from those things, it IS the worst one. Loads of episodes are awful, plots are rehashed ad nauseum etc.
Its classic and influential and fun...but not really that good in comparison to the others.
Slam it all you want. TOS was the best. These newer iterations exist only because of it. While TNG had a bigger budget and each subsequent had better special effects, not one had the character chemistry, none had a commander who had the presence of Kirk and noe with a character that even remotely approached Spock.
I can sum up each series briefly:
TNG: they run into a problem with some entity. Troi senses the the entity is hiding something, Picard lets the entity attack the Enterpise repeatedly while trying to explain that he is really a good guy wanting to be friends. Then Geordi (spelling?) comes up with some technobabble way to invert the warp matrix and get them out of the situation. The first attempt always fails.... There you go that's 75% of TNG episodes. And it was the most successful of the successors.
DS9 I couldn't force myself to watch after the first season. I heard they improved in later installments but I tried recently on Netflix and it's just too painful.
Voyager and Enterprise I thought were passable. About on the same mediocre scale as TNG. None of the newer series would have sparked a sequel, let alone four and six movies not counting JJ's two. Anybody that thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. Know how a know? It hasn't happened yet.
I can sum up each series briefly:
TNG: they run into a problem with some entity. Troi senses the the entity is hiding something, Picard lets the entity attack the Enterpise repeatedly while trying to explain that he is really a good guy wanting to be friends. Then Geordi (spelling?) comes up with some technobabble way to invert the warp matrix and get them out of the situation. The first attempt always fails.... There you go that's 75% of TNG episodes. And it was the most successful of the successors.
DS9 I couldn't force myself to watch after the first season. I heard they improved in later installments but I tried recently on Netflix and it's just too painful.
Voyager and Enterprise I thought were passable. About on the same mediocre scale as TNG. None of the newer series would have sparked a sequel, let alone four and six movies not counting JJ's two. Anybody that thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. Know how a know? It hasn't happened yet.
While I cant be bothered with some forced TOS argument I will say:
1. Nobody is slamming anything. I love TOS, I own all the DVD's and Blu-Rays and multiple items in my colelction...but it is the worst one in my opinion.
2. I resent the 'it was first so it is best argument'...its just not true.
3. Patrick Stewart/Picard could be argued by many to be better than Shatner/Kirk. You cant pass off what you are saying as fact. You love Spock...someone else will say Brent Spiner's Data was a better character.
As I will reiterate, I feel TOS is the worst of the franchise. In its three seasons it has far too many woeful episodes and I get legit bored of the repetitive plots [super powered aliens etc]. I cant fathom how one can honestly think it is GENUINLEY better than seven seasons of TNG, DS9 or VOY.
I completely respect personal preference and nostalgia. I love TOS...but its not better than the other series in reality, in my opinion.
The box office disagrees with you. They gave up making TNG movies d/t consistently poor turnout and the other three will never even have motion pics made. All of these story lines have had stinkers but you are completely overlooking the history of TOS to try to compare it to the others. They are not even in the same league.
If you asked anyone on the street who Spock is most will immediately know. You ask about Data and most will look at you funny. You don't become a part of pop culture by being the worst. The others will be forgotten and for the most part already are. That's why JJ Abrams movies are about the originals.
Damn, this has gone to 5 pages! Perhaps I should of included a poll with it after all!
Look my opinion has clearly upset you and that's cute but Im not going to start discussing movies and box office buys with you. In my opinion the 3 seasons of TOS are worse than any of the other series.
Hell, if anyone uses Ex Astris Scientia [Bernd Schneiders Trek site which I enjoy] he has TOS ranked last too. Objectively it is the worst.
There is zero objectivity in these discussions. It is all personal preference.
It used to be an easy win for DS9. I still love it, but I've come to appreciate TOS so much that I now go back and forth over which I like most (TOS used to be firmly in second place). They're very different shows, though, so comparing them directly doesn't help pick a favorite, it's more of what I'm in the mood for at the time. I like the arcs and character drama of DS9, but it lacks the offbeat imagination and sense of adventure that TOS so effortlessly brought to the table. And vice versa, really. So they each have their strengths and I watch them about equally.
TNG used to be in third place, but these days I find it largely very dull. It doesn't have the adventure of TOS or the drama of DS9. It does have its stand-out episodes where everything falls into place, but most of the time it plods along and has way too much technobabble. I find I prefer Enterprise now. It's not a perfect show but it's underrated, I like the cast, the later seasons have some interesting story arcs and even the first two are a noticeable improvement over the final years of Voyager (or, any years of Voyager).
Outside of a handful of worthwhile episodes and Robert Picardo (always love him, no matter what he's in) Voyager is pretty much a total misfire.
TNG used to be in third place, but these days I find it largely very dull. It doesn't have the adventure of TOS or the drama of DS9. It does have its stand-out episodes where everything falls into place, but most of the time it plods along and has way too much technobabble. I find I prefer Enterprise now. It's not a perfect show but it's underrated, I like the cast, the later seasons have some interesting story arcs and even the first two are a noticeable improvement over the final years of Voyager (or, any years of Voyager).
Outside of a handful of worthwhile episodes and Robert Picardo (always love him, no matter what he's in) Voyager is pretty much a total misfire.
Stop trying to bait me with your immature condescension. And before you go around using big words you don't understand; objectivity, grab a dictionary a Billj points out this is an opinion, not a objective fact. Most viewers of these movies disagree with you and Ex Astris Scientia. TOS was without question the most successful both because it was first and it's remake was last. Them's the facts Jack.
It's nothing personal.
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This is a state-your-opinion thread. No one's opinions get trumped. IDIC.
Is someone suggesting it is possible to quantifiably prove TOS is the worst of the five series?
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
It certainly seems to getting you riled up and the petulant remarks are flying though eh?
TOS has three seasons in comparison to twenty five. One would have to be lying to oneself to deny TOS has a multitude of mediocre episodes in that run [season three is often quoted as being poor], thus bringing down the total number of good episodes to a far smaller number than that of the other series. TNG and DS9, for example, trounce it thoroughly in their combined 14 seasons. Objectively, TOS just doesn't have the strength in depth to touch DS9/TNG/VOY. At best it can compete with ENT as its first two seasons are dismal.
As I will reiterate, in my opinion TOS is the worst. I have frequently reiterated that fact [and that I love it]. It is you, not I, who is attempting to start an argument over an opinion while also taking cheap shots. Seriously, we can all love TOS and anyone is totally within their right to claim it as a favourite but, objectively speaking, it simply isn't the best one. Regardless of legacy, preference or all the reboots in the world.
Numbers don't really mean anything if the shows with more episodes simply aren't fun to watch. I'll take a bad episode of TOS over a good episode of Modern Trek (I own it all) any day of the week. Because they are actually fun to watch. For me.
The modern series lived far longer than they should have on the power of two words: Star Trek. Without those two words, TNG would've been cancelled early or never made at all and the rest would've been someone's fan fiction.
Thats great. One of TOS greatest strengths is how light hearted and fun it is. The other user seems upset that I rate it last. I can see why some people adore TOS [I personally prefer the more serious 90's Trek] and I own it myself [Blu-Ray and DVD].
I seem to be having to defend my opinion on why it is the worst. It simply is'nt as good in my opinion as the others. Its two wobbly seasons and a poor third. It is certainly classic and what it did when it did is superb.
However, to me, it really isn't able to compete with TNG/DS9/VOY. There really isn't enough of it and certainly not enough that is actually good.
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