In hindsight do you wish TNG had ended with "All Good Things"?

[enterprisecvn65]

So we know the general consensus about "All Good Things". Well written, clever story, involved all characters in a meaningful way, brought it full circle from "Farpoint" with Q, had a nice ending with Picard finally playing cards with the gang and saying "Sky's the limit" when calling the game as the Enterprise sails away gracefully. All in all a great ending to the show.

Of course at the time we all knew it wasn't the end and the films were coming.

Even though they gave us some memorable moments and opinions differ, I think it's fair to say most fans would consider the TNG films as a whole to be flawed and uneven at best and mostly crap at worst.

So in hindsight do you wish TNG had called it a day after the show ended or are you glad the films were made.

Was it worth another 10 or so hours of TNG when it included things like the wacky adventures of Picard and Data with Picard becoming space Rambo and Data often being slapstick comic relief?

Was it worth seeing the Ent-D get destroyed in a totally pointless way? Or seeing Picard beg Kirk for help while Kirk is more concerned with breakfast? Or hearing Picard and Worf sing "A British Tarn"? Or Nemesis weak attempt to recreate the loss ST fans felt after Spock died in TWOK by offing Data? All of this while the other 5 characters were relegated to lesser roles for 4 films?

Honestly I'm not sure but I think I'm leaning more and more to the side of wishing it had just ended with AGT. Sure there are some things in the films I like but I'm not sure these things were worth it compared to the way the films changed a lot of things, IMHO, in a negative way.

 

[BillJ]

Even though they gave us some memorable moments and opinions differ, I think it's fair to say most fans would consider the TNG films as a whole to be flawed and uneven at best and mostly crap at worst.

So in hindsight do you wish TNG had called it a day after the show ended or are you glad the films were made.

Underwhelmed by the films, still glad they were made. They are a piece of Trek's history, for good or ill.

 

[wulfio]

As flawed as Generations was, I don't mind it. And I enjoyed First Contact. I could have done without the other 2 though. I don't feel like they furthered the franchise in any way.

 

[Destructor]

First Contact ultimately had a huge impact on both Voyager and Enterprise... but interesting question!

 

[Starborn Dragon]

TNG didn't end with All Good things.

TNG ended because the fans were being childish over Nemesis and Stewart got mad at them back.

 

[2takesfrakes]

GENERATIONS should not have included William Shatner and Rick Berman's insistance that he pass the baton was one of his very rare mistakes in TNG. TOS gave its approval through DeForest Kelley almost a decade before. He just wanted the one guest star that the series could never quite afford, without regard for what that might mean for the movie, itself. Shatner came in with a list of demands that had to be met, or he wouldn't be brought onboard. Berman and his staff were unfamiliar with making motion pictures. The Nexus was never worked out what it was supposed to be other than being magical, somehow ... there were no end to the problems. But had Rick Berman not insisted on getting Shatner as a guest star, the TNG movie series would've had a much stronger start. If I would change anything about the transition from "All Good Things" To "Generations" it would've been that.

 

[BillJ]

TNG ended because the fans were being childish over Nemesis and Stewart got mad at them back.

It ended because people quit buying tickets to the movies.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

In hindsight I wish it had ended with First Contact. Insurrection is weak and Nemesis is dire, neither of which add anything to TNG or its characters.

 

[enterprisecvn65]

Even though they gave us some memorable moments and opinions differ, I think it's fair to say most fans would consider the TNG films as a whole to be flawed and uneven at best and mostly crap at worst.

So in hindsight do you wish TNG had called it a day after the show ended or are you glad the films were made.

Underwhelmed by the films, still glad they were made. They are a piece of Trek's history, for good or ill.

That's a fair point and one I've considered. The big issue for me at least is the job the films did to the characters.

Whether or not you liked all 7 of the main characters I think most people would admit that TNG did a great job at giving each character a unique personality and making them all important to the series in different ways.

Then the films come and all that is throw out. Picard and Data dominate the plot for pretty much all the films. Picard is transformed into a quasi action hero and Data his comedic sidekick. Meanwhile, for the most part, the roles given to the other 5 are so small and meaningless that they almost could have been played by cardboard cutouts of the actors.

If it had been one film I could let it slide that it was a Picard/Data vehicle....but 4 films? That's ridiculous.

Look at the first Lord of the Rings film. Offhand I can count 9 characters who had significant roles as protagonists. And that film had the additional challenge of having to introduce the characters. The TNG characters had already been established over hundreds of hours of TV.

I kind of see it as a great athlete who stays way past his/her prime. Does it ruin everything they accomplished? No. But at the same time it's painful to watch them as a shadow of their greatness and people think it would have been nice to see them go out on or near the top.

 

[enterprisecvn65]

TNG ended because the fans were being childish over Nemesis and Stewart got mad at them back.

It ended because people quit buying tickets to the movies.

Bingo. Nemesis clearly left the door open for another film with B4. If it had made a big profit. TNG 5 would have hit the screen in a few years.

But the public voted with their wallets and the result was a landslide. We've had enough TNG films.

 

[BillJ]

Whether or not you liked all 7 of the main characters I think most people would admit that TNG did a great job at giving each character a unique personality and making them all important to the series in different ways.

Then the films come and all that is throw out. Picard and Data dominate the plot for pretty much all the films. Picard is transformed into a quasi action hero and Data his comedic sidekick. Meanwhile, for the most part, the roles given to the other 5 are so small and meaningless that they almost could have been played by cardboard cutouts of the actors.

Stewart and Spiner were the breakout actors from TNG, it made sense the movies would focus on them. The death of TNG may have been accelerated if they had given us movies based on one of the minor characters. Most didn't have the acting chops to carry a movie (much like the minor TOS actors) nor the popularity among general audiences that are needed to make a film financially successful.

 

[ALF]

Hadn't thought about it much but there is an interview with Sirtis floating about (haven't listened to it yet) which apparently contains some insight as to the cast and crew wanting to go to season nine... but the lukewarm reception of the DS9 premiere ended that. Can anyone validate that she said this? I have only been exposed to some reactions to it.

It's pretty interesting because there must be some people out there who had some ideas as to where TNG S8 and TNG S9 might have gone. People complain about season 7 but there were some beauts in there.

 

[BillJ]

Hadn't thought about it much but there is an interview with Sirtis floating about (haven't listened to it yet) which apparently contains some insight as to the cast and crew wanting to go to season nine... but the lukewarm reception of the DS9 premiere ended that. Can anyone validate this?

I'm not sure that makes much sense. They were definitely in the diminishing returns phase of TNG. That and they didn't seem to have any issues launching Voyager even though DS9 had soft ratings.

 

[stardream]

I wish it had ended with First Contact. I haven't watched any of the other movies again since I saw them in the theaters. Have no desire to.

 

[BillJ]

I wish it had ended with First Contact. I haven't watched any of the other movies again since I saw them in the theaters. Have no desire to.

While I didn't care for it when I first saw it, I tend to think Nemesis has aged the best out of the four films.

 

[DonIago]

I like AGT as an episode, but it bothers me that for the majority of the characters it's also a "Reset Button" episode. Sure they all get their moments, but most of that doesn't survive beyond the events shown.

Still, it's a much, much better valentine than TATV, of which we will speak no more.

I like FC and don't particularly mind GEN (except for the weakly-handled events leading to the D's destruction (and particularly the reuse of the BoP explosion)). I probably wouldn't notice if INS and NEM had never happened, though I might have felt it was a shame that FC didn't go out on a better "continuing to boldly go" note at that point.

In short...no, I don't wish TNG had ended with AGT.

I do wish the TNG movies had taken a page from the TOS movies and had some level of ongoing story arc, even if it could be argued that the arcing in the latter films wasn't entirely by design.

 

[Dukhat]

In hindsight do you wish TNG had ended with "All Good Things"?

Oh, absolutely, and for all of the reasons you mention.

TNG is ending at the top of its form, and Trek fans everywhere are now waiting in anticipation for the cast's transition to the big screen, and with an added bonus of seeing both Kirk and Picard together!

At the time I thought it was cool. 20-odd years later, I realize just how shitty a film Generations was, and how things just went downhill from there.

TNG didn't end with All Good things.

TNG ended because the fans were being childish over Nemesis and Stewart got mad at them back.

Not only does that make no sense, it's not in the least bit true.

 

[Mudd]

I think that TNG should have continued on television instead, for as long as enough people watched it for it to be profitable.

 

[Dukhat]

I think that TNG should have continued on television instead, for as long as enough people watched it for it to be profitable.

Actually, I think they should have ended TNG after the fifth season, and focused entirely on DS9 instead of doing the two-year overlap.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Regardless of the quality of the storytelling in the TNG films, I think TNG benefited greatly from having a cinematic run. It greatly updated and enhanced the look of the franchise from what was becoming the dated style of the series. The sets--even the D--look sharper and more interesting. The uniforms and makeup looked more natural. I think they dispenses with the wigs for the women. Indeed, it's hard to look back at the series at time (in its pre-update form) because it simply isn't crisp or meticulous.