I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th...

[Notlad]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Wise spoke at my college not long after TMP came out. He lamented that there had been no time to have any test screenings before the movie was rushed to the theaters--and that a good chunk of the movie's budget had already been spent before he even signed on as director.

Apparently, it was much like jumping aboard a moving train . . . .

Wise was a great director but this was not a good fit from the start. He did not know or understand Star Trek and as you mentioned the film was almost in production when he was hired. He should have known better than to take on a film that didn't even have a finished script.

I loved TMP for bringing me back the Enterprise in all of its glory on the big screen and for letting me see the Star Trek characters once again but there is where the love ended.

The plot was terrible. I mean just how long can you have shots of going deeper, and deeper, into psychodelic lights? Apparently a lot longer than the vast majority of people wanted including myself. Then at the end the payoff was zilch. No adversary, no villain, just a misunderstood space probe. Yawn.

When I think of TMP what immediately comes to mind is "thank heavens for Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan!" Made for 1/4 the TMP budget and many times better in every way.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Riker is your creepy uncle.

FTFY

Wise was a great director but this was not a good fit from the start. He did not know or understand Star Trek and as you mentioned the film was almost in production when he was hired. He should have known better than to take on a film that didn't even have a finished script.

I loved TMP for bringing me back the Enterprise in all of its glory on the big screen and for letting me see the Star Trek characters once again but there is where the love ended.

The plot was terrible. I mean just how long can you have shots of going deeper, and deeper, into psychodelic lights? Apparently a lot longer than the vast majority of people wanted including myself. Then at the end the payoff was zilch. No adversary, no villain, just a misunderstood space probe. Yawn.

When I think of TMP what immediately comes to mind is "thank heavens for Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan!" Made for 1/4 the TMP budget and many times better in every way.

The "plot" for WOK is significantly worse than TMP's. While the latter may be plodding, stuffy, and way too high-concept for its own good, it's at least tight. WOK's plot, OTOH, is a fucking mess. It's just that it does everything else so much better.

 

[JesterFace]

I also finished season two of TNG yesterday. Why was that finale so terrible?

"Shit, we spent too much money on Worf's makeup! What are we gonna do for the finale!?"
"Ughhh, let's just get a load of clips from past episodes and pass them off as something new."
"You're promoted!"

Wasn't the clipshow made because of the writers strike going on at the time..?

 

[CorporalClegg]

Clipshows are evil.

 

[ItIsGreen]

Not so much Worf's head, but the Borg and the Sherlock Holmes episode ate up most of the budget, so by the end of the season they basically had to knock out an episode for about 3 pence.

Season 2 had a few stand-out episodes but on the whole is my least favourite TNG season, though to be fair they did have a writer's strike to contend with.

You're past the worst of it, it only gets better from hereon in. Well, until season 7 anyway.

 

[MacLeod]

Clipshows are evil.

Well I wouldn't go so far as that, SG-1 did a fair few clip shows and most of them were decent but perhaps that is because many of them advanced either the mythlogy/characters/story arcs.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Clip shows don't have to be awful. One of my favorite Incredible Hulk episodes as a kid was the one where David tells his story to a reporter not realizing that he's from the National Register. It was the closest we got to "What if Jack McGee learned the truth?"

 

[dahj]

Wasn't the clipshow made because of the writers strike going on at the time..?

Writer's strike was at the end of S1, before the start of S2(which was delayed, hence fewer episodes).
That's why last few episodes of S1 seem like they could have used a rewrite or two.
Clip show was because they ran out of money.

 

[JesterFace]

Writer's strike was at the end of S1, before the start of S2(which was delayed, hence fewer episodes).
That's why last few episodes of S1 seem like they could have used a rewrite or two.
Clip show was because they ran out of money.

That's news to me, I though the strike happened during season 2, thanks for clearing that up.

 

[MacLeod]

Instead of making another thread, I thought I'd ask it here.

Why do the main cast only get new costumes? It's strange the rest of the crew has to wear the old spandex.

Is this just a season three issue, or is it like this for the rest of the show?

Pretty dumb question, I know, it's bothering me though.

Again, I think it was down to money. But I think as the years went by the old spandex uniforms became less and less used as the stock of the post S3 uniform built up.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Yeah. By the end of season four or so, most of the extras were in the "new" uniforms.

 

[dahj]

most of the extras were in the "new" uniforms.

Red shirt and Riker's hand-me-down uniform... must be a Weasley.

 

[JoeCabby]

Clip shows are like Plays of Year, but for Sitcoms. What's not to like?

 

[Kor]

The third season finale, "Best of Both Worlds Part I," is generally highly recommended.

Kor

 

[The Old Mixer]

"The Defector" is a particular favorite of mine from earlier in Season 3, FWIW.

 

[Vger23]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th



You're already on the last episode ever of TNG? I thought you just started the first season. I didn't mean the season 1 finale.

Once you get to season 5, I really recommend an episode called The Inner Light and the one after that called Times Arrow.

I agree that The Inner Light is one of the most beautiful episodes in the franchise. Unfortunately, I go 180 degrees opposite on Time's Arrow, which is sloppy garbage that should have never made it off the whiteboard in the writers room.

 

[ItIsGreen]

The look, costumes, production values etc may have all improved from s3 onwards, but unfortunately it also saw the introduction of the 4-foot Ent-D model, which was easier for them to handle and shoot than the old 6-foot model, but was also considerably uglier due to the 3d relief of things like escape pod hatches on the surface of the hull, and the chunkier lines at the leading edges of the saucer and secondary hull. It may have made filming easier, but it was incredibly noticeable that they were using a different model, especially in episodes that mixed existing 6-foot footage with new footage of the 4-foot model.

Ostensibly the reason for adding all the lumpy bits was to give the model more texture and therefore make it believable as a 1000-foot long starship, but to me it did the opposite and showed up its true origin of a small model. It seriously looked like a toy on-screen. The 6-footer was by far the better looking Enterprise, and apart from reused stock footage was only used twice more in the run of the series - in Best of Both Worlds, and in repainted form in Generations, where it looked amazing.

 

[eyeresist]

Watched ST V: The Final Frontier on Sunday. Good god, some of that was very strange... and awful. Those SFX looked like they came out of a bad sci-fi film from the 60s. Also, not as if I wasn't expecting it or anything, Shatner really did not put any effort into his performance. Just makes me love him even more, he does not give a fuck, man

What about "I need my pain"? That was a great scene, the whole thing.

 

[Sans]

Before you get to far into TNG, take a look at this site:

http://thestartrekchronologyproject.blogspot.com/

This is the recommended viewing order. The sometimes the air dates get messed around and some episodes air out of order.

I am in the middle of using this as I am introducing my 10 year old step son to Star Trek. It does take a little work but we have been very happy with it. But YMMV

 

[Sans]

Oh, I might have missed it, but are you watching this via Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu? Or physical media?