I Just Don't Get It

[WoTe]

I watch a lot of these shows on Netflix right in bed, maybe catch an episode before sleeping. The shows I find are much more realized, I watch the least. Voyager is my most watched show and the one I love to rag on the most (lovingly).

Of the Treks I think the following are most realised potential in this order:
DS9
TNG
TOS (without Movies, because of cancelled run and limited effects of the time, not the writing)
Voyager/Enterprise

But my viewing preference is:
Voyager
TNG
Enterprise
DS9
TOS (I think this is simply generational. I liked it but I think Mash is as far back as my mind will bother me thinking I'm watching historical TV instead of enjoying the story.)

The two more realized Sci-Fi shows on Netflix I know of are Farscape and nuBSG (at least seasons 1-2, after that it became "meh" as far as I'm concerned), yet I can't stand rewatching them. I thought they were very good first time through, but I just can't stand a second viewing.

[NuTrek isn't in the conversation. First movie had major, major, major flaws but could be seen several times as an action flick. Second movie.... just, no.]

Voyager doesn't have any of my character favorites (Data, Garak) and while I dislike Neelix, I hate a certain character on DS9 far worse. (This character isn't onscreen on DS9 enough to bother me). Voyager really is just TNG2 as far as I'm concerned. Not sure why I watch it so much ???

 

[hux]

You don't get what?

Is there a question?

You realise that Voyager is a rancid, deformed anus of a show but like it the most and don't understand why? Is that it?

Yeah, this is called "Voyager goggles." It basically means you see nothing but beauty in the show no matter how blatant the rampant imperfections are. You're drunk on Voyager love.

Embrace it.

Feel sorry for those who lack it.

 

[stardream]

I do much the same. I think DS9 stayed true to its theme and I like the characters but I don't re-watch it that much. I think that might be because I am more partial to the Dominion arc but not the stand alone episodes. I do re-watch the whole series once every couple of years but its not something I do for casual viewing.

Same thing with TNG. I tend to watch in a large block over several months. I rarely if ever re-watch any individual episode. No reason why not...most of them are fine but for whatever reason I just don't.

Voyager is different. There are so many episodes that I can just plunk down and turn on and enjoy on their own anytime even though the series itself has its problems. I think perhaps this is where the 'episodic' part of this particular series works in its favor. Watching it this way you don't have to worry about how many photon torpedoes are left or how many shuttle crafts are left. You can just watch an episode and roll with it.

 

[Lynx]

Voyager is the series I have rewatched most often.

I bought the three first seasons on DVD in 2006 and I haved watched all episodes in those seasons occasionally since then.

I have watched all of TNG at least two times since I bought all seasons in 2010 and I have watched some episodes here and there more than that.

I have watched all of TOS at least once since I bought the series in 2011 and some episodes more than that.

Unfortunately I lost the interest for watching DS9 at all due to the crap DVD:s Paramount have shipped to Europe. Some episodes have never been possible to watch and some episodes have become unwatchable after one viewing.

 

[MacLeod]

It's sounds as if you are saying the shows which reward you for your viewing are more realised but the ones you watch the most are the ones which are less realised or failed to live up to potential.

Now don't get me wrong I don't mind episodic TV but my opinion is that VOY should have had a more serialised approach. It had some great episodes but for me was largely average at best.

Perhaps you watch VOY so much because it's easy to get into, doesn't require you to think too often and acts as comfort TV for lack of a better term. Nothing wrong with that if you can only invest an hour or two.

 

[K'Toska]

It is truly a syndrome of some sort. Voyager is the first Star Trek I ever rewatched even though it's not even close to being my favorite. There's just something about it... you might not even enjoy it much at the time but you keep coming back for more. It's like the visual/aural version of MSG - must. have. more.

 

[Triskelion]

Voy was episodic because it was produced for syndication. If it had been serialized it could have lost its audience since there would be no way to a)preserve order, or b)hold its audience's attention with lots of things told out of sequence.

I agree with the OP and have a similar experience. I chalk it up to Voyager's mood, tone and atmosphere. The ship has the best interior design of all the series. The costuming and makeup holds up well and doesn't suffer as much from 80's style exagerration of line and color.

Voyager's bottle episodes are cozy and neat, its visual effects clean, its writing period-free (as in "not dated", not "only uses commas" - though that might have been...unique) .

The conflicts provide good characterization and I am willing to allow my lizard spawn to watch it, as I feel it provides good moral ambiguity and context, good moral conviction, as well as positive role models.

That said, Voyager tackles more serious or emotionally-invested topics at times with episodes I tend to skip: Tuvix, Year of Hell, Endgame, the Viet Nam flashback, Elogium (I like but for all TV childbirth pains, the real labor is in watching fake labor), Warlord, Unimatrix, Equinox....

Voyager is where I wanna be. Not Babylon 9, not The Next Three's Company, not Plumbers in Space, and not Phaser Gunsmoke. Though all, I do love, from bonking children to alien mullets to hamburgers at the drive thru.

 

[Iamnotspock]

Voy was episodic because it was produced for syndication.

No, because it wasn't produced for syndication, unlike its two immediate predecessors. It was produced as the flagship show of UPN, and so was the first Trek show since TOS to be on a major network.

If it had been serialized it could have lost its audience since there would be no way to a)preserve order, or b)hold its audience's attention with lots of things told out of sequence.

God forbid a series should need to be shown in order! This is such a bizarre piece of nonsense that's been cited so many times that people have started to believe it without question.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

A friend of mine once used this word to describe the difference between NuBSG and SG1.

He said that NuBSG was a better show, but SG1 was more 'Comfy'.

That's really it. Voyager is very, very comfy.

@Triskelion

Farscape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Office, Parks and Recreation. These are all shows that thrived on their serial threads, yet all individual episodes are perfectly watchable in isolation with only basic knowledge about the characters and situation. They could have done the same with Voyager and chose not to.

 

[Tosk]

Sounds like y'all might be a bunch of junkies. Hooked on a drug that's all kinds of bad for you but you don't wanna quit.

 

[Triskelion]

Voy was episodic because it was produced for syndication.

No, because it wasn't produced for syndication, unlike its two immediate predecessors. It was produced as the flagship show of UPN, and so was the first Trek show since TOS to be on a major network.

If it had been serialized it could have lost its audience since there would be no way to a)preserve order, or b)hold its audience's attention with lots of things told out of sequence.

God forbid a series should need to be shown in order! This is such a bizarre piece of nonsense that's been cited so many times that people have started to believe it without question.

How silly of me to take the production DVD interviews at their word, random guy on the internet. Syndication was an impossibility to consider, I suppose.

Jirinpanthosa, great examples. In Voyager's defense, while many shows prior to Voy had been serialized, it hadn't really become an art form, IMHO, until nuBSG. Now we have the benefit of hindsight and lots of awesome series to model (ie, TWD, BB). Then, TV was smaller and wasn't the cinematic landscape it is today, as I'm sure some here know very well.




It was what it was. Coulda woulda shoulda.

 

[Sybok Was Wrong]

Voyager was a well produced, quality show with good stories, actors & set design. It has aged the best as an overall package, over all the modern-day Treks.

It's a very watchable show. Serialized shows are a commitment, and a lot of us don't have time to commit to a show like that- we just want an hour of escapism and that's good enough. I'm glad Voyager wasn't serialized, contrary to what others say, the producers made a good decision. I've got more important concerns to think about than goofy DS9 Bajoran religion / Cardassian Occupation/The Sisko nonsense. But that's me- I respect others might really dig that stuff. Different strokes for different folks.

It's fine to admit you enjoy Voyager the most, and not feel you have to tow the fan attitude of Voyager being crap. Because it's not. I think you need to admit to yourself your love of Voyaget! it's a continuation of TNG- had TNG continued, a lot of its episodes would have been like Voyagers. And that's a good thing.

 

[stardream]

Voyager was a well produced, quality show with good stories, actors & set design. It has aged the best as an overall package, over all the modern-day Treks.

It's a very watchable show. Serialized shows are a commitment, and a lot of us don't have time to commit to a show like that- we just want an hour of escapism and that's good enough. I'm glad Voyager wasn't serialized, contrary to what others say, the producers made a good decision. I've got more important concerns to think about than goofy DS9 Bajoran religion / Cardassian Occupation/The Sisko nonsense. But that's me- I respect others might really dig that stuff. Different strokes for different folks.

It's fine to admit you enjoy Voyager the most, and not feel you have to tow the fan attitude of Voyager being crap. Because it's not. I think you need to admit to yourself your love of Voyaget! it's a continuation of TNG- had TNG continued, a lot of its episodes would have been like Voyagers. And that's a good thing.

I agree.

I would say the serialization probably began with the X-Files and Lost. I watched both those shows and BSG and enjoyed them to begin with as I did DS9 but I do not rewatch them now ( with the exception of DS9 every couple of years).

Maybe I'm a wimp but I found those shows a bit of a trial to get through at times...especially when I thought the writers had run out of ideas and the quality of the shows declined imo. It reached a place where I was watching them out of habit. It wasn't fun anymore.

For whatever reason I never reached that point with Voyager. I was frustrated with the show from time to time but I never got tired of it.

 

[MacLeod]

Lost didn't begin until 2 years after The X-Files finished, but B5 was another show that had serialisation go back further and DW had serialisation.

Sure VOY was well produced, but in terms of story telling the premise itself leaned more towards a serialised approach yet what we got leaned more towards the episodic hence the dichtomy of the show. What we got was oposite of what the premise leaned towards. Yes they was a minimal amount of continuity.

 

[stardream]

I actually watched B5 during its first run and once again for the most part I liked it at the time (could have done with the last season) but that's another one that I never cared to watch again.

Maybe once a mystery is solved or an arc concluded people like me are just ok with moving on? That's not necessarily a positive character trait, just the way we are wired to enjoy things.

 

[hux]

Voyager toyed with an ongoing story arc in season two when Tom played the malcontent to flush out the spy. This took place over quite a few episodes (usually the B story) then eventually lead to a somewhat anti-climactic resolution (they pretty much could have found out it was Jonas without such a ridiculous plan).

They never bothered to explore doing something similar again so maybe they considered that experiment a failure?

Twas a shame though.

 

[MacLeod]

Wasn't YoH was planned for to last a season until TBTB nixed it.

 

[stardream]

Voyager toyed with an ongoing story arc in season two when Tom played the malcontent to flush out the spy. This took place over quite a few episodes (usually the B story) then eventually lead to a somewhat anti-climactic resolution (they pretty much could have found out it was Jonas without such a ridiculous plan).

They never bothered to explore doing something similar again so maybe they considered that experiment a failure?

Twas a shame though.

To me that was probably the most interesting thing that happened in Season 2. I tend to skip over most of it but I agree. No need to go to such lengths although I did enjoy watching Paris push Chakotay's buttons.

Wasn't YoH was planned for to last a season until TBTB nixed it.

That's what I've heard. I don't know if I could have taken a full season of it but it could have gone over a few more episodes. Since it was set up that they were dealing with time travel I didn't mind the reset button so much but I wish the crew could have remembered it.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Technically serialization was going on TV for a long time, just it was soap operas and not anything that was attempting to have good writing. Twin Peaks was the first big show to really bring it to prime time television. It wasn't until Sopranos that it became considered an artistic standard.

Seinfeld kind of experimented with it in season 4 with the Jerry arc. Can't really say it negatively impacted their syndication bucks.

 

[hux]

Wasn't YoH was planned for to last a season until TBTB nixed it.

What's the source for that rumour? Did B & B comment on it at some point? One of the writers? It keeps coming up.

I seem to be one of the few people who doesn't think a season long "Year of a Hell" would have been that good anyway. I think people claim it would because we finally got to see Voyager having a hard time in the Delta quadrant (rather than the usual love boat cruise) in that two parter.

That kind of struggle is what should have been seen throughout the show anyway though.