Is SNW S3 really that bad?

[TheAdmiralty]

Weird comparison, TNG season 3 is one of the best ST seasons of all time, that's the obvious choice here.

SNW S3 is definitely the weakest and was a disappointment but is hardly the nadir of the ST franchise with some of the terrible stuff that's out there. TOS S3 does have a couple gems that are classic TOS but most of it is very, very bad.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

It's not the worst season of Trek ever but it is up there. It just got too self aware and silly for season three. I liked the first season enough but they continually mine Tos for story ideas and characters. They are rewriting stuff so it all happened in SNW FIRST....which for me is off putting.

Agreed. That's one of the worst traps you can fall into when doing a prequel, and it's one of the things that turned me off of ENT back in the day. Oooh look, Archer got off Rura Penthe 100 years before Kirk, he had a Vulcan first officer 100 years before Kirk, he met the Organians 100 years before Kirk, he fought some Augments from the 20th Century 100 years before Kirk, AND he met the Borg and the Ferengi 200 years before TNG! Don't you think he's cool NOW? Huh? Huh?!?

So yeah, SNW S3 with its experimental holodeck episode, Trelane, the Gorn, the Metrons, stealing the Enterprise all happening years before TOS was a big turnoff.

 

[Tosk]

I don't really think 3/10 is lots of them

If you bought a box of ten donuts and three of them had dog shit smeared on them you'd probably think it was a lot.

 

[Cicero]

SNW Episode 21-30 is really up against

TNG The Arsenal of Freedom through The Outrageous Okona

TOS Tomorrow is Yesterday through Catspaw

That's a mostly great set of episodes for TOS. More than half of them are classics (I've never actually seen "Catspaw"):

"Tomorrow is Yesterday"
"The Return of the Archons"
"A Taste of Armageddon"
"Space Seed"
"This Side of Paradise"
"The Devil in the Dark"
"Errand of Mercy"
"The City on the Edge of Forever"
"Operation -- Annihilate!"
"Catspaw"

 

[Jedman67]

I loved 3.5 Vulcans, you can't take it seriously. And Wedding wasn't too bad. The gorn episode would have been a good B story, not a great A story.
Overall it was enjoyable.

 

[Dar70]

Agreed. That's one of the worst traps you can fall into when doing a prequel, and it's one of the things that turned me off of ENT back in the day. Oooh look, Archer got off Rura Penthe 100 years before Kirk, he had a Vulcan first officer 100 years before Kirk, he met the Organians 100 years before Kirk, he fought some Augments from the 20th Century 100 years before Kirk, AND he met the Borg and the Ferengi 200 years before TNG! Don't you think he's cool NOW? Huh? Huh?!?

So yeah, SNW S3 with its experimental holodeck episode, Trelane, the Gorn, the Metrons, stealing the Enterprise all happening years before TOS was a big turnoff.

This is true..I didn't really like when Enterprise attempted it either. But I could forgive it a bit more since it was 125 years before. The organians were never discovered btw. Rura pen the?? Meh that one did not bother me.
I liked the Augment storyline and from SNW I did like the Metron episode. I think it was one of the better ones from Season 3 except it had a very similar setup as Arena.

 

[Nyotarules]

Agreed. That's one of the worst traps you can fall into when doing a prequel, and it's one of the things that turned me off of ENT back in the day. Oooh look, Archer got off Rura Penthe 100 years before Kirk, he had a Vulcan first officer 100 years before Kirk, he met the Organians 100 years before Kirk, he fought some Augments from the 20th Century 100 years before Kirk, AND he met the Borg and the Ferengi 200 years before TNG! Don't you think he's cool NOW? Huh? Huh?!?

So yeah, SNW S3 with its experimental holodeck episode, Trelane, the Gorn, the Metrons, stealing the Enterprise all happening years before TOS was a big turnoff.

Considering ENT is 100 years before Kirk and over 200 years before TNG, having someone else experience a few similar things to Kirk or Picard should be no surprise. E.g Spock would not be the first Vulcan XO in Starfleet (with a human captain) since its inception, that would be ridiculous.
However I agree they did go overboard with the Trek nostalgiaberries.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Agreed. That's one of the worst traps you can fall into when doing a prequel, and it's one of the things that turned me off of ENT back in the day. Oooh look, Archer got off Rura Penthe 100 years before Kirk, he had a Vulcan first officer 100 years before Kirk, he met the Organians 100 years before Kirk, he fought some Augments from the 20th Century 100 years before Kirk, AND he met the Borg and the Ferengi 200 years before TNG! Don't you think he's cool NOW? Huh? Huh?!?

So yeah, SNW S3 with its experimental holodeck episode, Trelane, the Gorn, the Metrons, stealing the Enterprise all happening years before TOS was a big turnoff.

⁹
Totally agree.

This is true..I didn't really like when Enterprise attempted it either. But I could forgive it a bit more since it was 125 years before. The organians were never discovered btw. Rura pen the?? Meh that one did not bother me.
I liked the Augment storyline and from SNW I did like the Metron episode. I think it was one of the better ones from Season 3 except it had a very similar setup as Arena.

I didnt like the metron episode. To similar
Arena. Pikes crew seemed to do n everything before kirk.

 

[fireproof78]

Agreed. That's one of the worst traps you can fall into when doing a prequel, and it's one of the things that turned me off of ENT back in the day. Oooh look, Archer got off Rura Penthe 100 years before Kirk, he had a Vulcan first officer 100 years before Kirk, he met the Organians 100 years before Kirk, he fought some Augments from the 20th Century 100 years before Kirk, AND he met the Borg and the Ferengi 200 years before TNG! Don't you think he's cool NOW? Huh? Huh?!?

So yeah, SNW S3 with its experimental holodeck episode, Trelane, the Gorn, the Metrons, stealing the Enterprise all happening years before TOS was a big turnoff.

TOS already had a holodeck in TAS.

BUT, if ENTERPRISE is a prequel to SNW the development of these things makes sense.

 

[ichab]

I think SNW S3 was a step down in quality, but far from bad. S3 of TOS OTOH? BAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!! Most of the best minds behind S1 and S2 were gone. And it showed.

TNG had, IMO, the best S3 of all the Trek series.

 

[CetiAlphanEel]

Wasn't a fan of season 3, and season 2 was also kinda weak. Hoping to get back to the level of season 1 in season 4

 

[Dar70]

I think SNW S3 was a step down in quality, but far from bad. S3 of TOS OTOH? BAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!! Most of the best minds behind S1 and S2 were gone. And it showed.

TNG had, IMO, the best S3 of all the Trek series.

I think Season 3 of TOS is far better than SNW S3....,There were only like 3 good episodes in S3 the rest were a bunch of silly nonsense....TOS s3 had at least 12 really good episodes. So it beats out SNW.

 

[Paul Weaver]

I think Season 3 of TOS is far better than SNW S3....,There were only like 3 good episodes in S3 the rest were a bunch of silly nonsense....TOS s3 had at least 12 really good episodes. So it beats out SNW.

So snw had 7 which were not good and tos 12?

 

[Dar70]

So snw had 7 which were not good and tos 12?

Actually I said at least 12 for TOS....Spocks Brain , the Way to Eden and The children Shall lead are probably the worst for that season.

 

[FederationHistorian]

“Hegemony Part II” riffs off TNG for its resolution.

“Wedding Bells Blues” was miswritten. And forgets/ignores a lot of lore in both TOS and SNW that could have made it a better episode.

“Shuttle to Kenfori” on its own, its okay. As a sequel to UtCoW from S2, IDK.

“A Space Adventure Hour” I personally liked it, though many fans did not.

“Through The Lens of Time” was okay, though I had switched it off midway through the first time I watched it as I got bored.

“The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” - I like the twist at the end, but the episode as a whole is not a personal favourite of mine.

“What is Starfleet?” ended prematurely and does not live up to the hype.

“Four and a Half Vulcans” promotes bioessentialism and, regardless of the positives that can be found in the episode, feels like a shitty version of “Tuvix”.

“Terrarium” is good. I’m not bothered by the Metron appearing (a big appeal of SNW is seeing how Pike would have handled events that Kirk faces in TOS). What did bother me was the lack of confrontation between Ortegas and La’an due to the resolution. Even if La’an fell back on her trauma or following orders, at least the episode would not be ignoring what happened.

“New Life and New Civilizations” just did not have the time to tell its story. Its so rushed.

The season is more of a miss than a hit for me. Both TOS and TNG did better with their S3s.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Hmm, TOS3's ten includes the Terrible Trio: Spock's Brain. And the Children Shall Lead and Plato's Stepchildren.

 

[Ovation]

Hmm, TOS3's ten includes the Terrible Trio: Spock's Brain. And the Children Shall Lead and Plato's Stepchildren.

None of which I avoid watching nearly as much as The Lights of Zetar.

 

[Nerys Myk]

None of which I avoid watching nearly as much as The Lights of Zetar.

I get a kick out of the croaking voices

 

[Ovation]

I get a kick out of the croaking voices

They’re like fingernails on a chalkboard to me (and I don’t even get bothered by the real thing).

 

[ichab]

That's a mostly great set of episodes for TOS. More than half of them are classics (I've never actually seen "Catspaw"):

"Tomorrow is Yesterday"
"The Return of the Archons"
"A Taste of Armageddon"
"Space Seed"
"This Side of Paradise"
"The Devil in the Dark"
"Errand of Mercy"
"The City on the Edge of Forever"
"Operation -- Annihilate!"
"Catspaw"

It still amazes me that Operation Annihilate was the last episode of the first season instead of City on the Edge of Forever. In fact, TOS had probably the worst string of season finales of any of the other series.

Operation Anihilate
Assignment Earth
Turnabout Intrudor

Very bad tastes to leave in an audiences mouth for the summer.