Season 1 by Stardate: How would it change things?

[DigificWriter]

I'm reverting to my original plan of watching Season 1 - trimmed down to 22 episodes in order to avoid the personally annoying issue of going from a 26-episode season to a 22-episode season and then back to 26-episode seasons - largely in Production Order as follows:
Encounter at Farpoint
The Naked Now
Code of Honor
Haven
The Last Outpost
Where No One Has Gone Before
Lonely Among Us
The Battle
Hide and Q
Too Short a Season
The Big Goodbye
Datalore
1001001
When the Bough Breaks
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
The Arsenal of Freedom
Skin of Evil
We'll Always Have Paris
Conspiracy
The Neutral Zone

 

[Daddy Todd]

Back in ancient times, when I used to run to my little access database and log such information as stardate, writers, director, etc. as episodes were first run (starting with TNG) and later rewatching in Stardate order just for the experience, I used the clever expedient of "correcting" Stardates that were clearly wrong, if one assumed that Stardates actually moved in a linear progression.

I know, I know. But as OCD behaviors go, it's far, far out on the "harmless" end of the spectrum.

Anyway, as I recall, I "corrected" the Stardate of "Skin of Evil" from 416xx.x to 419xx.x. And everything else fell perfectly into place.

You might want to give something like this a try.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I would just recommend airing order, skipping the really bad episodes.

The Stardate order is interesting, putting Datalore earlier and Hide and Q later. I think that might work better, as it puts more distance between EaF and Hide and Q and it sets up Data's character earlier. But it's a pretty minor improvement.

When I review TNG my season 1 is:
Encounter At Farpoint
Where No One Has Gone Before
The Battle
Hide and Q
Datalore
11001001
Home Soil
Coming Of Age
Heart of Glory
The Arsenal Of Freedom
Skin of Evil
Conspiracy

 

[Melakon]

When the series first aired, we didn't have a choice whether to watch in order by stardate or not. They weren't really keeping track of stardates at that time anyway, so I don't understand why you're putting yourself through these hoops. Why not just watch all the episodes by airdate as they were originally presented?

 

[Timo]

Neither airdate order or production order is exactly what the artists themselves would have wanted, due to all sorts of practical problems - but production order tends to be the better approximation, as studios at least can plan ahead a bit while broadcasters have to mind all sorts of happenstances. Plus, different people get different airdates.

(But when one is planning on a season-long episode marathon, airdates become pretty much irrelevant anyway... It's purely a playback media thing at that point.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Melakon]

I prefer production order myself, at least with TOS, but dvds did it by air date.

With TNG though, some episodes (like "Unification II") are shot out of order to fit a guest's availability schedule.

 

[Trek Survivor]

DS9 also occasionally produced episodes in a different order than they were intended to air e.g. "Improbable Cause" (part 1 of a 2 part episode) was produced, then "Through the Looking Glass" and then "Die Is Cast (part 2 of the two-parter).

 

[DigificWriter]

With most of the 24th Century shows, the most accurate way to watch things is a combination of Stardate, Airing, AND Production Order, at least in my experience, anyways.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If you do strict production order Symbiosis comes after Skin of Evil.

 

[tomswift2002]

I watched Season 1 in Stardate order not to long ago. As it turned out "The Big Goodbye" is the season finale in Stardate order. Tasha is in it but with a very slim part. But I've got to wonder if, because TBG was one of the original thirteen, it was given its Stardate due to it being the last of the thirteen in case it was the series finale.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I watched Season 1 in Stardate order not to long ago. As it turned out "The Big Goodbye" is the season finale in Stardate order. Tasha is in it but with a very slim part. But I've got to wonder if, because TBG was one of the original thirteen, it was given its Stardate due to it being the last of the thirteen in case it was the series finale.

Nah, it really wasn't that organised.

 

[Squiggy]

It's not about enjoying the season; it's about committing to a viewing order and sticking with it.

So there's some kind of "anti-enjoyment" going on here?

In this thread? Yes.