Has Netflix changed your impressions?

[Lord Garth]

Since July, I've been watching the various Star Trek series on-and-off when I taking a break from other series -- I've discovered more series in 2011 than I did in all of the '00s. That's a topic for another forum, though, so back to Star Trek.

Mostly, I've been watching whatever episodes I feel like, particularly ones I haven't seen in a while. The longer, the better.

I always thought the best season of TNG was either the third or the sixth; but after watching the series on Netflix, I'd have to say my favorite season is now the fourth.

That's probably the most note-worthy item. Everything else, across all series, seems about as I remembered it.

 

[RoJoHen]

Netflix has given me the chance to re-watch DS9 for the first time since it originally aired. DS9 used to air on Sunday afternoons and would regularly be pre-empted by sports and other programming, so my memory of it is very choppy. I honestly didn't remember anything that happened prior to Season 6, aside from a random episode here and there.

And what I've learned is that I absolutely love it. The characters are so rich, and the story is so much more complex than we ever got with the other series. I just finished it up last week, and tonight I started watching VOY with "Caretaker," and the whole thing just seems so much sillier by comparison.

 

[comicbookwriter]

And what I've learned is that I absolutely love it. The characters are so rich, and the story is so much more complex than we ever got with the other series. I just finished it up last week, and tonight I started watching VOY with "Caretaker," and the whole thing just seems so much sillier by comparison.

VOY in a lot of ways makes absolutely no sense.

Other than the gimmick of having the first show centered around a female captain, I can't think of a single thing that VOY brought to the Trek Universe other than lots of T&A once Seven of Nine showed up.

It was insulting to women, insulting to the actors and it insulted my intelligence repeatedly.

The very premise of mixing Trek with "Lost in Space" angered me, but then when the reason they were lost in space was because Janeway made - quite literally - the dumbest decision in the history of Star Trek, to strand her crew on the other side of the galaxy because of a situation that had nothing to do with them nor their mission, I couldn't stand it.

Archer, Kirk, Picard nor Sisko would have made a decision that stupid.

I liked all the actors on the show. I have nothing against them at all. It was horribly written and boring 90% of the time.

And don't get me started on the final episode.

CBW

 

[Skywalker]

VOY would have been better if it had just been a two-hour TV movie that ended with Janeway rigging a bomb on the Caretaker's array, then staying behind to make sure it went off while Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant.

I've had pretty much the same exact experience with DS9 as RoJoHen had. I wasn't big into Trek when DS9 was first airing, so I only caught an episode here and there; it wasn't something I went out of my way to see. Now I'm almost done with Season Five and I don't want it to end.

While I was waiting for DS9, I went through and rewatched all of ENT. I'd seen most of Season One when it first aired and found it mostly mediocre, then I missed most of the next two seasons, and then I came back during Season Four and absolutely loved (most of) it. After watching through the entire show on Netflix, I came away with a better opinion of it, mostly because of Seasons Three and Four (although the first two seasons had a few solid episodes, too), and now I really wish it had gotten three more seasons.

 

[Kirkman1987]

With Netflix's massive library at my disposal, I've generally been watching less Star Trek than I used to. I do really like watching a TOS episode with distant friends on xbox live now and again though. We used to watch it together a lot in High School, so it brings back good memories.

I tried to give Voyager another chance, but yeah, it still strikes me as Trek on autopilot most of the time. I gave up mid second season when I realised I'd rather spend that time rewatching other Trek or something new.

 

[Paradon]

AFter watching DS9 I think like the first episode, "Emissary", the best.

Voyager is pretty good, too. I'm not saying agree with everything, but it was pretty entertaining. i wished they develop the characters a little. But DS9 is still my favorite.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I've been watching DS9 for the first time since it was originally broadcast. My intention was to watch every episode, since I'd seen only about half before.

I really enjoyed the first three seasons, which I hadn't seen all that much of first time 'round. It was fun seeing the beginnings of story lines and relationships that I had started in the middle of before.

But once it got into the more serious and familiar stuff, I started losing interest. Some parts I had to skip, because they are too violent for me now (the original broadcasts were long before I had PTSD). And war logistics are boring. So in the last three seasons, I'm just picking and choosing episodes.

My impressions of some of the characters have changed. Odo and Kira are definitely my favorites (before, I would have said Sisko and Worf). And I'm fascinated by the relationship between Quark and Rom. Much more nuanced and complicated than I remembered.

Overall, I'd say that I don't like DS9 as much as I used to. I used to say that Next Gen was my favorite, with DS9 a very close second. Now Next Gen is my favorite, with DS9 a distant second. Loosely in a three-way tie with TOS and Enterprise. Voyager is always last. I never made it through more than three or four episodes, I was so bored.

 

[Lord Garth]

One thing that's hard to believe is how long ago these episodes were made. TNG's seventh season was 18 years ago.

FC was released 15 years ago. In three years, Voyager will be 20 years old. When I became a fan, TOS was an old show to begin with (as in its age numbered in decades). It's strange to see TNG, DS9, and VOY joining it.

That said, these episodes have held up well, for the most part. The '90s don't immediately jump to mind when I watch unlike several other series from that time. Or, when they do, it's not in a negative way.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

I think DS9 and VOY have aged really well.

 

[Amaris]

Yes. I "forced" myself to watch the Enterprise pilot "Broken Bow". If you recall (though not likely), during the show's run, I watched a couple of episodes in the first season, a handful in the second, and only in the last season did I watch about 6 episodes. My general POV was that the show was pretty much junk. That has changed. Having watched 16 episodes of the series so far (starting with episode 1 all the way up to 16, in order), I have to say this show is better than I initially thought. I like the characters, I like the stories, and I'm finding that I am enjoying it very much.

 

[tighr]

I started with all 7 seasons of TNG before moving on to Voyager when it was announced they were coming to Netflix. After I finished Voyager, DS9 had been added to the list so I am now halfway through season 4. I've also peppered a few episodes of Enterprise and TOS here and there, but for the most part I am going straight through.

I had seen every episode of Voyager when it originally aired, so I remembered most of those episodes. It has aged well, especially compared to TNG which is barely younger than Voyager. That doesn't mean the episodes are good, just that they still stand as decent visuals.

 

[Amaris]

VOY is next on my list. I'm in Season 2 of ENT. I just finished "Dead Stop", which I enjoyed. In fact, I'm finding myself loving these characters.

 

[RoJoHen]

Have you not seen them before?

 

[Amaris]

Have you not seen them before?

As I mentioned in the post before that one, I had watched bits and pieces during the show's run. I watched some of the first season, very little of the second, skipped the third, and watched the first handful of episodes in the fourth. At that point, I felt the show was, overall "junk" (what parts of S4 I saw, I considered good), though I also felt it had a lot of potential, and even mentioned here several times that I could understand why ENT had fans. Still, the show is usually dead last in my list of Trek rankings.

Now that I've been able to go back and watch the series in chronological order, I am finding that I was too quick to dismiss the show. I'm up to Season 2, Episode 8, and I really like it so far. As before, my favorite character is still Phlox, but the others have grown on me, particularly T'Pol.

What was surprising was how relatable I find the characters. As I was watching an episode last night, it hit me why, for at least one reason, I like the show. It reminds me of SeaQuest DSV, especially the look and feel. Now, I don't know if you know this, but I am a major SeaQuest fan (Season 1 anyway), and ENT has that distinctive flavor, and I like it.

So after watching half the series up to this point, I can honestly say that has moved from "it has potential" to becoming a certified favorite series. It's still not my top favorite; that honor goes to DS9, but it does beat VOY, TAS, and is now tied with TNG.

The list now looks something like this:

DS9
TOS/TNG/ENT
TAS
VOY

So Netflix has managed to drastically alter my opinion of the series. I actually care about these characters now.

 

[RoJoHen]

Have you not seen them before?

As I mentioned in the post before that one,

You expect me to read a post that far back? What am I, a wizard?