Most successful/least successful show

[Chronos]

TAS - Critical flop, often ridiculed by fans, deemed non-canon by official sources, and forgotten by nearly everyone in this thread

I guess it's hip to hate on TAS now.

Actually, it was critically acclaimed and won an Emmy. It did well enough that it was the only Filmation cartoon to last two seasons instead of one.

Try naming another Saturday morning cartoon of that time period that was at the level of ST:TAS.

While TAS may be officially "not canon" (why does that even matter, anyway?) there have been references in later Trek, including ENT and ST09. And Kirk's middle name Tiberius came from TAS.

Whether "canon" or not, I would certainly take episodes written by D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold, and Larry Niven over a good chunk of later Trek any day of the week!

Kor

I agree with you. I like TAS, but it seems to be largely forgotten or ignored by most Trek fans. That's a shame because TAS is essentially TOS, but with episodes that would have been prohibitively complicated or expensive if made using live action and we even got a few alien bridge officers which makes sense in a community as diverse as the Federation.

The non-canon status doesn't matter to me. I consider all TAS episodes to be canon -- and therefore I believe that there's a giant Spock clone somewhere in the galaxy, a Slaver Empire, and creatures which eat tribbles. But canon is important to some, and it's a bit of a slap in the face to TAS to claim that all but one episode of it didn't happen.

The evidence of its low popularity is in how seldom it's referenced among fans. How often does someone bring up a TAS episode to prove a point? Not often enough, I'd argue. I wasn't aware that it had won an Emmy, though I stand by my statement that it is completely underrated by fans.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Some would argue that ST started to become risk adverse with VOY. Having the fewest expectations should actually have helped ENT as the lower/fewer expectations people have the less likely they will be dissapointed. I think rather than having fewer expectations some people had expectations of what a prequel show would be like, a premise which many would argue wasn't delivered until S4.

Voyager was incredibly risk averse, just people were more tired of the formula after Voyager than before. Also the Voyager cast was better at elevating mediocre scripts than the Enterprise cast.

When it comes down to the actors' ability to elevate mediocre scripts, TOS obviously wins, but Voyager might come second. The TNG cast were great with good scripts and they got more of them, but when they got a mediocre script they had trouble salvaging it.

I agree Enterprise didn't feel like a prequel until S4, but it also didn't have good writing until mid S3.

 

[Isolinear]

TNG was definitely the most successful commercially.

ENT should have been a different show. Either a show long after Voyager chronologically, or a different kind of prequel.

It just didn't feel like the 'first' starship. It should have been cramped submarine corridors, like the Nostromo in Alien, but smaller, more primitive.
The NX01, the first Warp 5 vessel! Sure, wow, great! But then they meet colonies and cargo freighters that have been out there for decades. Why didn't they make a series about those people!?!?

 

[The Wormhole]

TNG was definitely the most successful commercially.

ENT should have been a different show. Either a show long after Voyager chronologically, or a different kind of prequel.

It just didn't feel like the 'first' starship. It should have been cramped submarine corridors, like the Nostromo in Alien, but smaller, more primitive.
The NX01, the first Warp 5 vessel! Sure, wow, great! But then they meet colonies and cargo freighters that have been out there for decades. Why didn't they make a series about those people!?!?

The Enterprise Blu-rays do make it clear Berman and Braga had a different plan for Enterprise, indeed the first season would have been largely Earth bound and dealt with Vulcan influences on Earth politics and the launch of the NX-01 would have been done at the end of the season. And the NX-01 was intended to be a much more primitive ship, with no transporters for starters.

Basically UPN overruled everything, demanding the ship have transporters since "it's not Star Trek without transporters." They wanted the ship launched right away, and for the show to be another "TNG lite" show like Voyager essentially was. And they even insisted on the Temporal Cold War, fearing a prequel was a flawed concept and there should be some link to Trek's future.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It wouldn't have been a good idea to stay on Earth for the first year but it definitely should have been a much more primitive ship. Also they should have focused on the learning pains of becoming interplanetary instead of just 'Adventure of the week'.

The temporal cold war was their biggest mistake by far.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

TNG was a big success, but the show took over two years to get good! Anything that bad for two years without Star Trek in the title would have been abandoned by its audience and canceled. That said, it did become a great show when it finally found its way.

 

[Chronos]

TNG was definitely the most successful commercially.

ENT should have been a different show. Either a show long after Voyager chronologically, or a different kind of prequel.

It just didn't feel like the 'first' starship. It should have been cramped submarine corridors, like the Nostromo in Alien, but smaller, more primitive.
The NX01, the first Warp 5 vessel! Sure, wow, great! But then they meet colonies and cargo freighters that have been out there for decades. Why didn't they make a series about those people!?!?

The Enterprise Blu-rays do make it clear Berman and Braga had a different plan for Enterprise, indeed the first season would have been largely Earth bound and dealt with Vulcan influences on Earth politics and the launch of the NX-01 would have been done at the end of the season. And the NX-01 was intended to be a much more primitive ship, with no transporters for starters.

Basically UPN overruled everything, demanding the ship have transporters since "it's not Star Trek without transporters." They wanted the ship launched right away, and for the show to be another "TNG lite" show like Voyager essentially was. And they even insisted on the Temporal Cold War, fearing a prequel was a flawed concept and there should be some link to Trek's future.

I would have liked that Enterprise much more.

The transporters always bothered me in ENT. In one of the first episodes, they say something like "These are the transporters. They're not cleared for living tissue." and I wondered how long it would be before they would need to use this incredibly unsafe transporter for living tissue. Then they did. Then they kept doing it. Then they had the episode where the man who invented the thing tried to save his son who he accidentally turned into a space ghost using the thing. And they kept using them. Then they had the episode where the transporter turned Hoshi into a space ghost. Then they still used them. I would have liked if they had not included them at all because:

a) They're incredibly unsafe, and they ignore all of the previous accidents. Even in the TNG era, there are dozens of accidents in a system which O'Brien insists has been without incident for decades. The ENT version shouldn't really work at all.

b) They don't seem feasible with the level of technology in the ENT era. Heck, the transporters seemed like the most advanced piece of technology in the TOS era, and that was many years later.

And the whole "Temporal Cold War" thing seemed a bit nebulous to me. I felt like the writers didn't really know where they were going with it. I liked the Xindi arc, but the rest seemed a bit forced.

 

[MacLeod]

^Your mis-remembering in the pilot of ENT they specifically state that the transporter has been approved for bio-transport (i.e. living things). And whislt I don't think having ENT Earth based for all of S1 would work, having it for the first half of the season might have worked.

 

[K'Toska]

Then they had the episode where the transporter turned Hoshi into a space ghost.

I believe in that episode, Hoshi was merely trapped in the transport buffer for a few more seconds than usual. In that time, she imagined that whole story line. If I recall correctly, she was never actually a ghost.

 

[Melakon]

Successful-TOS It launched a franchise

Least Successful-TOS. Canceled after three seasons due to low ratings.

This is the correct answer.

 

[The Wormhole]

Then they had the episode where the transporter turned Hoshi into a space ghost.

I believe in that episode, Hoshi was merely trapped in the transport buffer for a few more seconds than usual. In that time, she imagined that whole story line. If I recall correctly, she was never actually a ghost.

Indeed, that whole episode was just a dream.

And the whole "Temporal Cold War" thing seemed a bit nebulous to me. I felt like the writers didn't really know where they were going with it.

They didn't. Braga admitted that at no point did they have an identity in mind for the mysterious Future Guy or what his goals were. Looking at the series, it looked like he spent two years just to tell Archer about the Xindi and that was all he cared about. Messing with the Klingons I guess was just a diversion for amusement.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Having 29th and 27th century people messing with the 22nd century was just inherently a mistake. The capabilities of the villains are inherently nebulous. They could do whatever they want, only by rules that were arbitrary and invisible to the audience. And they were established as the main threat in the first episode.

If they had brought in future interference later in the series, it might have been exciting. Right off the bat, it was just confusing.

 

[I am not Spock]

Most successful- TOS. It launched the franchise. People are still talking about it nearly 50 years later. Along with The Twilight Zone, it must be among the most influential sci fi television series of all time.

But it nearly didn't happen. It could have faded into obscurity after its cancellation in 1969.

Least successful- Enterprise. I liked the show, especially in its 3rd and 4th seasons. But it was too little , too late. By the time the show started getting good, it was way too late to save it.

Honourable mention to TNG for most successful. It was pretty big back in its day. People thought they were crazy for trying to capture lightning in a bottle again, with an all new crew. And it got off to a rocky start. But by season 3, it was clear TNG was here to stay, and it kickstarted the franchise for a good 18 years before it disappeared from TV once more, in 2005. Are Captain Picard and Data well known? Arguably , yes. Perhaps not so much as Kirk and Spock. But ask someone on the street, and they might remember 'the one with Patrick Stewart and the gold guy'

 

[K'Toska]

Also want to mention in regard to transporting in Enterprise, I did not get the vibe that it was overused at all. In fact, there were so many times when situations could be resolved by them simply transporting someone out of a situation. It seemed like it was only toward the end of the series when people would mention this and then explain why it couldn't be done!

In terms of success though, I'd list it as:
1) TNG
2) DS9
3) TOS
4) VOY
5) ENT

This is just based on what I've seen from fans. I didn't take into consideration the fact that TOS spawned many more series because I've noticed a lot of fans have never even watched TOS.

 

[plynch]

When I go into WalMart I see greeting cards featuring the original cast of TOS. No other shows or casts.

TOS spawned a sequel which spawned sequels. So it is like the GrandmotherShip.

6 or 8 movies depending how you want to count.

A mid-70s multi-year phenomenon.

Culture references like "Beam me up" and "redshirts."

 

[BillJ]

Also want to mention in regard to transporting in Enterprise, I did not get the vibe that it was overused at all. In fact, there were so many times when situations could be resolved by them simply transporting someone out of a situation. It seemed like it was only toward the end of the series when people would mention this and then explain why it couldn't be done!

In terms of success though, I'd list it as:
1) TNG
2) DS9
3) TOS
4) VOY
5) ENT

This is just based on what I've seen from fans. I didn't take into consideration the fact that TOS spawned many more series because I've noticed a lot of fans have never even watched TOS.

Is this why we have Deep Space Nine movies instead of a TOS reboot?

 

[K'Toska]

A TOS reboot isn't the same as TOS. I'm just talking about in terms of popularity of the show, especially while on air.

 

[Kilana2]

A TOS reboot isn't the same as TOS. I'm just talking about in terms of popularity of the show, especially while on air.

I would have gone to the cinema/theater if there were a DS9 movie. I switched off my TV while trying to watch the reboot movies. Sorry, Simon Pegg and Co.

A station is not attractive for popcorn movies, sadly.

 

[K'Toska]

I would have gone to the cinema/theater if there were a DS9 movie. I switched off my TV while trying to watch the reboot movies. Sorry, Simon Pegg and Co.

A station is not attractive for popcorn movies, sadly.

Yeah, I'd love some DS9 movies!

 

[Kilana2]

I would have gone to the cinema/theater if there were a DS9 movie. I switched off my TV while trying to watch the reboot movies. Sorry, Simon Pegg and Co.

A station is not attractive for popcorn movies, sadly.

Yeah, I'd love some DS9 movies!

Worf is the man for action