Jumping from the first series

[Anji]

Everybody has a first Star Trek series that they enjoyed. I started with the original series back in the 1960s.

Was it difficult for any of you to make the jump to another series, like TNG or VOY? What did it take to make you believe that another series, other than the one you first watched was "real Star Trek"?

 

[RyuRoots]

I started watching TNG and went into DS9, and I loved both of them. For me, it's the other way around. It was hard to go back to TOS, being as dated and cheesy, sometimes to ridiculous levels. A lot of aesthetic things I can't stand, too. Like the female uniforms or all the blinking lights, among other things. But I've been pointed to more of TOS at its best, so I do like it more now, but it was definitely hardest to watch TOS at first.

What did it take to make you believe that another series, other than the one you first watched was "real Star Trek"?

Nothing whatsoever, and I don't get why people make this distinction. I like some more than others. This applies to eps, movies, and series as a whole. That's it.

 

[Kirkman1987]

It was very difficult for me.

I watched TOS for several years before seeing any of the other series. It was hard to have faith in a show without the original crew. A lot of the concepts and races in the newer shows were foreign to me, and I was still seeing TOS and the movies for the first or second time, so I was satisfied with confining myself to that universe.

It also didn't help that my first exposure to another series was the film Insurrection, which I purchased (on VHS!) because it was only a few bucks at a local store. The real revelation came a year or so later, when I was staying at my grandmother's house for a few weeks. There wasn't much to do, so I watched a TNG marathon on television, and fell in love with it. I realised that there was much worth exploring outside of the confines of TOS, and I'm much happier for it. I've grown to love TNG and DS9, and found the other two series fun, if not masterpieces.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I started watching TNG and went into DS9, and I loved both of them. For me, it's the other way around. It was hard to go back to TOS, being as dated and cheesy, sometimes to ridiculous levels. A lot of aesthetic things I can't stand, too. Like the female uniforms or all the blinking lights, among other things. But I've been pointed to more of TOS at its best, so I do like it more now, but it was definitely hardest to watch TOS at first.

What did it take to make you believe that another series, other than the one you first watched was "real Star Trek"?

Nothing whatsoever, and I don't get why people make this distinction. I like some more than others. This applies to eps, movies, and series as a whole. That's it.

I think it's harder to go from TOS to the newer shows, and vice versa, than from TNG to VOY, or VOY to ENT. The difference in production and acting style is hard to manage. Unlike me, My girlfriend started off with modern trek, and it took her about 10-12 episodes of TOS before she was sure she even wanted to finish it. Now she likes it a lot.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I boycotted at least the first season of TNG, which in hindsight was probably a good thing. I guess I felt they were just trying to remake an already good thing and usually that leads to disaster. Eventually I think I stated to hear good things about it and gave in and watched it, and never looked back.

I watched DS9 and Voyager, but didn't care for Voyager and was kind of burned out on Trek after that. I thought they had really run out of new ideas. So I watched just a few episodes of Enterprise and stopped. Only now am I staring to watch Enterprise.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I grew up on TOS so the jump to TNG was rough. Mostly because it wasn't all that good in the first few seasons. But I stuck with it because it was new Star Trek every week. Going from TNG to DS9 was easier. By the time VOY came around, new Star Trek every week wasn't enough to keep me watching. But ENT was like going home. To me it was closer to TOS than any other spin off.

 

[BriGuy]

No trouble at all "jumping."

Started with original in syndication, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise, with the movies sprinkled inbetween.

Enjoyed them all.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I grew up coming home from school every day to watch TOS reruns, and I was in my early teens when TMP came out and remember being so excited about a movie.

Still, when TNG came along, I was cautious about watching a new crew. I was excited about new Trek...but I was skeptical that a new crew could fill the shoes of the original.

And I wouldn't say they really did fill those shoes. We just got used to them, and after a while the TNG crew was okay.

The next jumps were all easy for me. Loved DS9 from the beginning to the end, loved most of VOY (which some rather major exceptions)...and really TRIED to love ENT before finally giving up and turning it off mid-season 2. Turned it back on during season 4 when it came under new management. Not sure if I'll ever watch the rest of seson 2 and season 3....

Now, the new movie? LOVE Trek XI. It's about tied with TWOK for my favorite Trek movie ever.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

I saw James Doohan at an event several months before TNG premiered. During the Q&A session someone asked what he thought about the new series, and I was quite surprised by the boos that came up from some people in the crowd (I was actually looking forward to seeing Star Trek adventures return to TV, even if we would be watching the experiences of another crew on another ship in the Fleet...). Mr. Doohan responded with something along the lines of "The people involved are trying to carry on in the spirit of our original cast and crew and build on what we have done- and I would ask you to give them a fair chance for their efforts", which I always thought was pretty cool. If SCOTTY is asking us to give 'em a chance, how can we not? Ironically- in retrospect- Mr. Doohan's comments seemed very similar to how Kirk responded to Scotty's dismissive comments when seeing the Excelsior in "Search for Spock"!.....

 

[Voyagerian]

I remember watching TOS in early syndication, and, though I was not the fan-fan I am today, I would still classify I was one. I got the James Blish from-script books, the TAS Foster publications, and recall having the issue of 'Star Trek Poster Monthly' featuring the ol girl 1701 amidst the Tholian Web(Bow to that ep) through junior high book-buy program..I played Spock in the yard with my buds as Kirk and McCoy at my side, etc...years passed, and some of the films I saw on the silver screen, some later...TNG hit, and I was there for it all, and DS, most of it, and into it as it ran... But Voyager captured me unlike anything since the first, became family...Jon came along, and I followed him gladly in the first steps to the stars. And, finally, I embraced the new concept that even now, remains controversial to some, but which I accept, and enjoy...so that's my ' long road, gettin' from there to here...'

 

[WillsBabe]

I was a TOS fan. I watched it on re-runs in the early 70s when I was a kid. It was hard when TNG came out and I really hated it. Fortunately I hung around with a group of friends who watched it, and by the time of the middle of season three I was a big a fan as any of them.

 

[Pegaritaville]

I was very leery about TNG. Growing up on TOS, I was expecting the worst when they announced they were doing another series. Turned out better than I expected, but it wasn't until DS9 that I really felt entralled with Trek again.

In some ways ENT was an even bigger jump for me: I hated the whole pre-TOS concept from the start. But I kept watching. At times it was a struggle to stick with it, but the show improved towards the end and I'm glad I didn't give up on it. I prefer the 23 or 24th century, though.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

I grew up on TOS starting in 1966, so years later when TNG came on i refused to watch it. I boycotted it until one day, sick with the flu and unable to get up to get the channel changer TNG came on. I watched it and fell in love with it!

 

[bbailey861]

I started with TOS and had no difficulty jumping from Kirk to Picard. I remember quite clearly that I was excited that ST, even in the guise of TNG, was coming back on television. I have found something to both like and dislike in all the series of Trek.

 

[SFRabid]

When TNG came out I was so happy for more Trek that I cold look past the flaws of the first two seasons. So while I had a little trouble with quality I never had any trouble with jumping to the new series or accepting the new crew. The only series I had trouble jumping to was Ent. Like many I had a hard time finding the show on air and my first impressions of the cast was not very good. Years later I gave it another try, liked it enough to buy it on DVD and it became one of my favorites. So, all is good.

I'm happy with and accepting of all Trek, except for a couple movies.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I became a fan of TOS watching it in syndication in the early to mid-80s, and seeing all of the movies. When TNG came out, I was leary, but I learned to love it immediately - mainly because the amount of effort I put into watching wouldn't have allowed me to admit otherwise to myself or anyone else. There was no channel on the cable in Dwight, IL, where I was living at the time that carried it, and so the only way I found to see it was to take my Sony Watchman to one corner of the apartment we lived in - which meant I was actually sitting in a corner behind my dad's La-Z-Boy - and use the antenna on it to tune in to a fuzzy station in Minnesota that carried it. The first couple of episodes, I had to change batteries during the mid-episode commercial break. Later I joury-rigged a way to plug it into a wall outlet, and then sometime in the second season we moved to Missouri and there was finally a local channel that had it!

I'm with SFRabid - the series I had trouble accepting was Enterprise. A flashback or an episode to fill in history is one thing, but I don't really like the mystery of how things will turn out being diminished by already mostly knowing from another series. For that matter, TNG - Voyager kinda ruined any new TOS story where the Universe/Earth/etc was threatened - because we already knew it would be fine. But in that case, it was worth it because it moved forward. Not so much with Enterprise.

(That restoration of the mystery of "what comes next" is one thing I really like about ST XI, btw.)

 

[-Brett-]

What did it take to make you believe that another series, other than the one you first watched was "real Star Trek"?

The words "Star Trek" in the title.

Keeping in mind that "real" isn't synonymous with "good".

 

[Count Zero]

I, too, started with TOS in reruns in the mid-80s. I never had a problem 'jumping' to TNG or any of the shows after that, though I didn't like all of them (Voyager, I'm looking at you). I gave up on Voyager sometime in its 5th or 6th season but I was quite excited when Enterprise was announced.
Since they're all set in the Trekverse, they're all Star Trek. I nevre had a problem accepting that.

 

[xortex]

I had a hard time switching to TNG from TOS. The bridge bothered me because it was tilted and too big. Couldn't they have kept it flat just for comfort reasons. It was as off balence as picard was. They should have gotten a younger American Captain. Even Bacula was too old. Stewart is just too awkwardly English. He's not central casting.

 

[GreenBlood]

I enjoyed all series until DS9 came along. I was too use to series with spaceships that flew around in space. It took me awhile to transition to a stationary starbase. Once I watched many episodes of DS9 I got more accustomed to the virtually immoble starbase idea.