I love TNG. I grew up watching it. TNG and DS9 are my all time favorite shows. But like others, I find the first season unwatchable. Why was it so terrible? How did it get renewed? There must have been enough fans.
"Terrible" is of course a subjective opinion. But I'll play devil's advocate and go along with your assumption that it was bad. Well, in my opinion, it was bad because Roddenberry was the executive producer and rewrote everyone's scripts to suit his own personal idea of what the new show should be like, causing most of those scriptwriters to quit in disgust. The early acting was also sub-par, even from Patrick Stewart. How did it get renewed? Because it was the first time Star Trek had returned to television since TAS, and it was a huge deal to all the fans. TNG could have been a heaping pile of dog shit and the fans would still have watched it. It also helped greatly that it was syndicated rather than being on a network.
I think that a few of the episodes were good enough to give us an inkling of what the show could be. "11001001", for example.
It's been a while since I read about it, but my memory's telling me that two of the biggest problems were Gene Roddenberry's declining faculties and his sneaky lawyer meddling with scripts and driving his friends away (the people he brought on from the Original Series). Things started to get more on track when Maurice Hurley took more control partway through the season, but he was never really comfortable playing by Roddenberry's rules, and the series didn't really click into place until Michael Piller took over the writer's room in season 3.
It had ten million people watching it at lowest and was sold straight to syndication and made money. I think it sucks because it's smug, it's full of reheated TOS concepts like "The Naked Now" and "Home Soil", it's studio sets for planets like "Home Soil" or "Hide and Q" or "Skin of Evil" are weak and boring, the original concepts for episodes like "Conspiracy" or "Justice" were pretty strong and then because Roddenberry likes sex we got sexified "Justice" and because Starfleet is pure and can do no wrong we got weak ass bugs as villains for "Conspiracy, it couldn't even stay true to it's original premise of the Enterprise being far out amongst the stars with no backup and so that's why there's families onboard except now we're doing milk runs to Federation colonies and other crap, it sabotaged the Ferengi from word go by making them dumbass monkey men jumping around that the characters didn't take seriously so why would the audience, it's characters took themselves too seriously, the Picard maneuver was unstoppable but Riker stopped it in two seconds, the adults act like idiots so that the plot of "Datalore" can work and it's only Wesley who knows what's up, it has it's head up it's ass about drugs in "Symbiosis", it's responsible for introducing the holodeck breaking down bullshit in "The Big Goodbye", it has boring romance crap in "Haven" and "11001001". But other than that it was ok.
TNG was going where none had gone before - being a successful sequel to build on top of not only an old show but a highly popular one. Something the 80s had started to do as a pastime, noting "The New Monkees", "Bonanza The Next Generation", "The Munsters Today", and so on, except most of those weren't successful. ("Munsters" arguably was, yet the original hasn't dated as badly, but that's a separate issue.) There's debate over TNG being a sequel versus it retconning the original's failures. That's a series of posts in of itself. Whether that was an intent, I don't think it ended up being that way. Early TNG was hit or miss, and was riding on the success of the 80s Kirk movies - which was how the show got commissioned in the first place. TNG arguably survived because of that... combined with a cast that still made some otherwise dire episodes even superficially tolerable. Justman was right in having Patrick Stewart...) For every "11001001" (great premise with solid execution (acting, application of incidental music, etc)) there was a "Justice" (great premise with bad execution, thanks in part due to some bizarre decisions and/or rewrites, and the sexed-up nature of "Justice" is a story in of itself.) Or "Datalore" (mixed bag premise/scripting elevated by its execution!) The show simply lacked a solid direction. Not that a template existed, and no template would be 100% compatible anyway. If nothing else, I'd recommend these episodes: (ranking of 1-to-5 star scale) Encounter at Farpoint *** Tepid, but not unworthy. It's one of the few times that Troi's abilities aren't forced, contrived, speaking the obvious, et cetera. Q is also a great character - given immortality thanks to John DeLancie taking this role and making it is own. Where No One Has Gone Before ****^ (4.75 stars, it's TNG's first robust episode with some great moments) Lonely Among Us. ***^ (3.75 stars). Rough around the edges, but it's a solidly done story. Not entirely remarkable, maybe too much with TOS homage, but still passable. The Battle **** The better Ferengi-centric tale from season 1. Hide & Q ****. Hokey in spots, but isn't without a few scenes of merit. Riker's at the end is awesome and Geordi's moment is done better than a TNG movie that would retread the same concept a decade later. Now imagine if Riker accepted Q's terms and where the show might have gone. Haven ***% (3.5 stars. There is some soap opera romance, but there is a tragedy with the Tarellians' background that is begging for more screen time due to its sheer strength. Definitely worth sitting through, warts and big hair and all.) Datalore ****# (4.25 stars. Generic plot, one that makes Wesley look good by making the adults look like sheepdip, and even has Spiner doing a contraction at the end and nobody thinks it's Lore still in his place, but that aside, Spiner knocks it out of the park with his acting as Lore, Rob Bowman's direction is magnificent, Ron Jones' music is first rate... and there are enough set pieces that almost every nitpick forgivable. Absolutely is worth seeing, actually.) 11001001 ***** (one if not two tiny nitpicks won't pull any points from me. It's a very original and engaging piece of sci-fi.) When the Bough Breaks *** very good premise using families, though they couldn't sell the notion fully and just limited it just to a handful of kids. It's a bit underrated and there was a making-of showing how they did the effects that's also worth finding Home Soil ****% (TNG's only approach to hard sci-fi is largely effective despite some acting, which is harder to sell with harder sci-fi to begin with. A shame as I love this one.) Coming of Age ****%. A decent Wesley story and plotting for a later episode, the entrance exam is a tad underwhelming despite the attempt to make it seem like a big deal. Or they don't need too many new cadets. Heart of Glory ****^ (the juxtaposition of exploring Geordi's VISOR with the urgency of the mission is a little awkward, but not excessively so. Definitely a must-see. Pardon the pun.) The Arsenal of Freedom ****^ (a solid action story, using characters decently... though figuring out a tree being nontoxic based on looking at one twig is an impressive guess and that Picard didn't drop dead after rubbing its juice all over his skin or tasting it! The scene is still meant to sell Dr Crusher and to give some backstory and I can't slag it beyond that.) Symbiosis ****#. 4.25 stars. I like this one, and given Yar's horror story origins, seeing her impassioned only makes sense. Skin of Evil **** A little convenient at the end, but the episode somehow holds together and works as a unique horror piece. It's refreshing that its big plot point ( mild spoiler alert ) happens out of the blue and not after a maudlin hour of foreshadowing (which isn't to say foreshadowing isn't effective, it often is, but a surprise moment can have the right effect as well. Especially when you think that the person will be revived just in time... except this time it doesn't happen.) Conspiracy ****. As usual, a couple nitpicks can't take off too much and it's largely an excellent outing. It builds on "Coming of Age" too. The Neutral Zone ***^. Cheese yet FUN to watch. Two-thirds of the season is surprisingly watchable-or-better. (The other two categories of "okay" and "yuck" aren't reflected here.) That's another reason why the show didn't get axed. There is some creativity in the fledgling show. It did still have TOS in the background early until season 3 when the show came into its own (not to mention its finale with TBOBW), but TNG did have enough charm to survive so much and to get polished into something great. The early episodes were largely not crap. Just unfocused and enduring growing pains, straddling feeling like TOS while trying to be its own. That's not easy to do. I remember friends and family saying they preferred older TNG when their re-rans came. This was also during the heyday of season 5, so such admissions from folks are of intrigue. The older seasons were uneven and clunky, they but were more action/adventure and more exploratory. And while some of the early ones are cheese, they still entertain more than the later ones - IMHO anyway, YMMV. The latter era seasons have a decent amount of solid episodes and classics too, just with a different style.
Don't forget, there was *very* little science fiction on TV (I can't remember any, but I could be wrong), so I was happy to have anything, especially Star Trek.
This episode was also an early look at how LeVar Burton can command a scene (while he commanded the Enterprise). Also, for better and for worse, it takes you straight to the heart of the Prime Directive.
I really do think the hatred for season 1 is over the top. Unwatchable? Not at all. It has some poor episodes, but often far more ambition than later seasons (and indeed, series). You are never going to get things like Bynars, Armus, Minor Attack Droids and the Conspiracy parasites in later Trek! No, instead you'd get some guy with a slight wiggle on his forehead :-) I'll take "ambitious but flawed" over "safe but bland" anyday. Having had a recent rewatch, I still found much to like. Even in generally mediocre episodes there was at least a couple of performances or scenes I enjoyed. Having said that, here are some (of what I consider) genuinely enjoyable episodes from good old season 1: Where No One Has Gone Before The Big Goodbye (the holodeck may have been over-used a little later, but this episode still shines) 11001001 Heart of Glory The Arsenal of Freedom Skin of Evil We'll Always Have Paris Conspiracy Honourable mention to Too Short A Season, Datalore and The Neutral Zone)
I agree that the original concept for Justice was a lot stronger than the barely coherent crap full of fetish Barbies we got. And it would have been a Tasha episode to boot. But considering how many scenes the original treatments contained that called for scenes in city streets (with cars even!) there's a good chance that it would have taken place on Planet "Studio Backlot" which would have looked suspiciously like America in the mid-80s. That would have been all kinds of awful too and might have led to more TNG episodes using contemporary, or historical sets like they did on TOS.
When I think about it, Season 1 was not as bad as many people say it was. It simply was trying to figure out its own identity, relative to that of its parent series.
It's all subjective I guess. For some people season 1's their favourite season, for others it's unbearable, and most would rate it somewhere in the middle of those extremes (but below the other seasons). The more people you ask, the closer you get to a 'true' answer, but no one's going to argue that IMDb or metacritic scores are definitive.
I think the show was trying to recapture the magic of the original. Star Trek on TV hadn't been on for close to 20 years and they needed something to try to convince fans to come back. Of course it more or less didn't work, but there are some great TNG episodes in Season 1, like 11001001 and Conspiracy.
I think the S1 episode I remember most is "When the Bough Breaks". It was meh at best, but could have been improved just by rewriting the ending: make the Aldeans infertility permanent. 1. It would have had more gravitas. No smarmy convenient win-win solution, this is conflict on a desperate, primal level. The Enterprise retrieves its lost kids, but a civilization is sentenced to oblivion as a result. 2. Picard would not have risked two officer's lives unnecessarily by trying to beam them through the shield. Think about it, with the bargaining chip Beverly offered him, all he really needed to do was comm Radue and tell him: "you give us back our seven kids, we can give you hundreds of your own". Take away that bargaining chip and the risk becomes necessary. 3. Radue's character wouldn't have undergone that stupid flip flop from "arrogant head of state" to "I'm so humble help me pleeeeez". Instead, once the Enterprise forcibly retakes the kids, he demands that they leave, refuses any overtures of friendship or assistance, and vanishes his planet once they're gone. 4. Because the Aldeans' relationship with the Federation is adversarial to the end, it's easy to explain why the Federation never gains access to their vast knowledge or incredible technology. 5. With this darker ending, Picard is unlikely to wind up with a stuffed tribble stuck to his back.
I still don't understand the appeal of 11001001. Yeah the Binars were cool, but that Minuet nonsense was straight out of a bad TOS episode. Similarly I'd never call the Big Goodbye a good episode. I don't care for film noir crap and I don't see any reason why we should have an episode in our science fiction space show where Picard larps some noir story. Put Noir elements into a proper space story if you must (Stardust City Rag did that pretty well), but not this. but I agree that Arsenal of Freedom is a good Season 1 episode. Everybody involved got some time to shine and the idea of stumbling into some leftover debris from a past civilization is always cool. Too bad we never saw the minor characters again, Lian T'su could have easily replaced Yar after Crosby's departure, considering the actress was in the running for the role.
I like those two episodes, I think they are solid Star Trek. My biggest misalignment is when people think "Datalore" is a good episode. In my opinion, it is one of the worst, most childish episodes of the entire franchise. Absolute drivel...and it ends up on a number of people's short list of favorites from S1. I'd take "Angel One" over "Datalore" any day, and that's saying a lot because "Angel One" is llama shite.
That's essentially my list, although I'd add Encounter at Farpoint (not sure why this is viewed so negatively....I liked it from the opening shot and still do) The Naked Now (yes, it's silly and shamelessly derivative, but it's also shamelessly derivative of a good TOS episode, so it's all good) The Battle (yes the Ferengi are lame, but this was a fun episode)
I just always found it laughable that the Captain and the First Office don't notice that their ship gets stolen because they're too busy flirting with some bar floozy. Let alone that Minuet's make-up looks like she used Homer's Simpson's make-up rifle to apply it. And it's that I'm against hetero-romances, I'd also find these scenes awkward if it had been gay characters falling head-over heals to a male hologram. I wanted to agree with you and say that the biggest problem of the episode is probably that the two actresses who play the alien leaders (I think their names were Alpha and Beta or something silly like that?) can't act. ...but then I remembered that awkward perfume scene. And the idiocy of having Troi hail the planet. And Riker in that sparkly outfit. And the freighter captain's "you've seen the babes on this planet!" speech. And the general clumsy attempt at reverse-sexism in the episode. And now the best I can say about the episode is that the ending was decent and could have been a satisfying ending to a better episode. Like if they had used the original drafts of Justice (with the rebel group and all) and applied Angel One's ending to it, that would have made a very good episode.