I think TNG has some of the greatest episodes in all of Star Trek, but it didn't have enough good stories to fill a whole season each year.
Greatest Season of the Star Trek Franchise?
- Thread starter Maj. Dick
- Start date
DS9 Season 5 is my favorite season in all of trek. There were even redeeming qualities to some of the bad episodes like Let He Who Is Without Sin.
I added up people's choices so far, and TOS S1 is way ahead of the pack, with S2 as the runner up. Then it's DS9 S4, DS9 S5 and Prodigy S2 sharing third place.
No one has voted for TOS S3, TNG S1 or Picard season 2. Yet.
No one has voted for TOS S3, TNG S1 or Picard season 2. Yet.
Minor nose-makeup alterations are lazy, so not looking at you, TOS.....
SNW season 1 is as close to a perfect season of Star Trek as I've ever seen. So that's my vote.
My top 3 and it's a really close call:
DS9: 4
TOS: 1
TNG: 3
TOS was unconventional in 1966 with cast and mature themes. Not just Kirk wanting to shag everything in space, but plot content and ideas being mature (e.g. something a 8 year-old won't connect with.) Twilight Zone and Outer Limits may be as much strong influences as Bonanza and Forbidden Planet, but the show went in its own original direction, and brought much interesting philosophizing on the human condition.
TNG season 3 for me right now. I'm still floored by all the production problems, yet the new tone and feel and storytelling put TNG into its own class of show. (A fan of season 2, which was already on the right road, season 3 only refined the best of 2 and ditched the remaining comedy stuff as well as revising the captain's log format since, by 1988, enough people had VCRs that they didn't need commercial break recaps incessantly, but kept the log idea in use in more refined ways.)
DS9 was solid, but needed a revitalization and new purpose and does it ever deliver... It's the only show that could dare do something big as ending the Klingon peace treaty. Never mind the Dominion and Maquis. DS9, in many ways, is the spiritual successor of TOS that TNG could never be, what with a return to unknown space exploration, the edge of another wild frontier, an enemy risking war, the occasional nutty command figure... and DS9 did dare to face off some big philosophical stuff without the kid gloves that TNG and TOS had. Sisko did things for the greater good, especially in later seasons (and a few things early on, like taking punishment for the crew that even Kirk wouldn't do and he'd be the only other one to do it (e.g. "The Gamesters of Triskeleon", another underrated gem!)). He accommodated everyone while demanding a middle ground. He even fought fire with fire when no absolutely other option was viable*. He was doing the dirty work to save the Federation all while Picard and others just talked pretty and with the added benefit of how scripts could tidily by the end of the episode, also known as "The Brady Bunch Rule". Yeah, I did start digressing around season 4, but DS9 is the most mature Trek of them all... it's always going to be high on my list.
* and those episodes are an inversion of older Trek, where the Captain would otherwise order something controversial but the crew all pounce because Captain is under alien influence or whatever. DS9 inverted this scenario with mesmerizing depth.
This order could change again by tomorrow, then the next day, the day after, etc... TNG 3 is incredibly good - the last season before repetitiveness and rut step in (e.g. more family shlock, character drama steering too much into soap opera, many returning characters for sequels, etc. That said, a bunch of season 4 does hold up and it is TNG's final great season.)
TOS had already been moved to Friday nights for season 2 - this is not a good sign for a tv show back in the day. The budget was cut as well, hence reuse of props -- it's nowhere near as egregious as "Lost in Space" and with sci-fi and all, one just had to roll with it more at the time. Set/prop reuse/redressing still happens today, but not as often, but I digress: Resorting on increasing conveniences on "hey, this planet we're approaching seems to have developed like Earth again" was a way to keep the show going when x number of episodes are demanded and there's no other way -- TV in the 1960s was a different beast, with fewer opportunities to lease or rent custom sets and props because sci-fi was also niche. It IS a gimmick and IS hard to swallow at times, that is true, but roll with it and there can be some good adventure that overcomes the limitation. The fact the actors acted the stories with utter sincerity really helped.
Gene knew that TOS was in trouble and wanted to do a spinoff, taking a TOS episode slot for a "backdoor pilot" in case Desilu/Paramount would reject doing the pilot of its own accord. Now don't analyze "Assignment Earth"'s plot too much (or at all, it's a surprisingly weak story that even contradicts itself and relies more on slick and pointless conveniences that continually fall flat), but to be fair: Lansing and Garr are engaging and a show could have been made to work with them, which is arguably more important as even a good show can start out misguided or poorly but still have the cast to make sullen scripts shine...
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TOS season 1 is tops on my list. It set the tone, it created the world, and it managed to tell 27-28 top-tier stories, with even a subpar entry like "The Alternative Factor" at least having elements that make it interesting to watch.
If I were to pick seasons from there, limiting it to one per series (I count TAS as part of TOS):
TNG season 5
DS9 season 5
VGR season 6
ENT season 4
DSC season 5
PIC season 1
SNW season 1
LD season 3
PRO season 2
If I were to pick seasons from there, limiting it to one per series (I count TAS as part of TOS):
TNG season 5
DS9 season 5
VGR season 6
ENT season 4
DSC season 5
PIC season 1
SNW season 1
LD season 3
PRO season 2
Lots of people showing for love for TNG Season 5, which is understandable because it has some very high peaks.
But it's also got some real lows for me: New Ground, Masterpiece Society, Cost of Living and Imaginary Friend are a whole bunch of meh and weaker than anything in S3, 4 or 6 IMO.
But it's also got some real lows for me: New Ground, Masterpiece Society, Cost of Living and Imaginary Friend are a whole bunch of meh and weaker than anything in S3, 4 or 6 IMO.
TNG Season 3
In regards to Catspaw, I'm a huge fan of old horror movies even hammer and Roger Coreman's Poe films and gothic horror like Mario Bava. The look and feel of the episode is perfect, but the episode feels like it has absolutely no story going on beyond being imprisoned lol.
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