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Season 1 is underrated, and better than season 7

I'll second the heresy.

Me too. Season one is far from great, but as a 'shakedown cruise' it's pretty good (particularly if you blot the 'Wesley saves the day' moments from your memory. Which does obviously involve a liberal use of SHADO amnesia drugs). There's half a dozen genuinely strong episodes in there (and, while people are right about it being a failed attempt to do the original series, at the time it seemed like a surprisingly successful attempt to continue the original series. But maybe I'd just watched a bit too much of season three in the BBC's last rerun, having finally forced myself to stick with them so I'd have seen every episode).
Whereas season seven is the start of the Voyager ratio: half a dozen truly great, startling episodes, but they were the only reason you stayed tuned for the 20-odd bits of production line soap with added technobabble.

I think you misunderstood. I was seconding this post (reference to heresy bolded by me):

Seasons One and Seven were similar only in their unevenness. Quality wise, Season Seven's best episodes ("The Pegasus," "Lower Decks," "Preemptive Strike," "All Good Things") are miles above the best episodes of Season One ("The Big Goodbye," "Conspiracy" and "11001001").

Conversely, while Season Seven had a number of forgettable episodes, none approached the banality of Season One dogs like "Code Of Honor," "Justice" and "Symbiosis."

Why?

Now for some heresy!

Let's be honest... a major reason for this is the comparative involvement of Gene Roddenberry, who was simultaneously Star Trek's greatest asset and greatest liability, as he had been since he first pitched TOS in the early 60's. Unfortunately by the 80s, the balance had swung well towards the liability side.

Season One was the product of GR's utopian dreams run amok... a bevy of heavy "message" stories that did little to entertain the audience in the process. This "GR Utopia Syndrome" would dog TNG until he began to step back from day-to-day production, allowing the fruits of labors from Michael Piller, Ira Behr (albeit briefly), Ron Moore, et al. to carry the show to greater heights than could be imagined based on what we saw during Season One.
 
Season One was the product of GR's utopian dreams run amok... a bevy of heavy "message" stories that did little to entertain the audience in the process. This "GR Utopia Syndrome" would dog TNG until he began to step back from day-to-day production, allowing the fruits of labors from Michael Piller, Ira Behr (albeit briefly), Ron Moore, et al. to carry the show to greater heights than could be imagined based on what we saw during Season One.
I totally agree with all that, and yet... even the worst episodes of the first couple seasons possess a youthful exuberance. That energy is all but gone by season seven.
 
I totally agree with all that, and yet... even the worst episodes of the first couple seasons possess a youthful exuberance. That energy is all but gone by season seven.

Much of that I would point towards the music. Seasons 1-2 contained melodies, punchy synthesizer music, and more dramatic scoring. McCarthy and Jones seemed to have no limits until Berman had his say. By season 5 and beyond, the music became filler, as did some episodes themselves, especially in the final season. From seasons 5-7, there was only one episode with notable music. Seasons 1-4? Plenty.
 
seasons 1 and 7 are the worst of TNG

I'm not sure I'd want to have to choose between the two as far as which is worse
 
I'd take season 7 over season 2.

All Good Things, Lower Decks, Pegasus, Gambit, Parellels. Season 2 has Measure of a Man, Elementary Dear Data and Q Who. Both have an equal number of skip episodes.
 
I'd take season 7 over season 2.

Me too. Season 1 and 7 both, actually, but that's mostly due to the fact that I really can't stand Pulaski.
The only episode of season 2 I really liked very much was The Measure Of A Man.
Season 1 had a few very bad episodes (remember Angel One?), but also some very good ones (e.g. The Arsenal Of Freedom, The Big Goodbye, Where No One Has Gone Before) and I liked Tasha, so I don't think season 1 is that bad. Season 7 had some good episodes, too (e.g. All Good Things, Preemptive Strike, Attached), but most were rather weak, though no complete failures like a few season 1 episodes. I think that these three season are considerably weaker than the other four. They probably just didn't know how to properly bring the show to a conclusion.
 
I always thought "Gambit" was the most boring TNG two-parter produced. The producers realized by this time that mid-season two-parters were good ways to save money, and so episodes like "Gambit" and "Birthright" were written as two-parters, when they probably would have been better and tighter as single episodes.

I can't say I understand the love for "Pegasus" either.
 
I always thought "Gambit" was the most boring TNG two-parter produced. The producers realized by this time that mid-season two-parters were good ways to save money, and so episodes like "Gambit" and "Birthright" were written as two-parters, when they probably would have been better and tighter as single episodes.

I can't say I understand the love for "Pegasus" either.

+1
 
I'll take Season 7 over Season 1 any day, and I even like Tasha. None are as good as Lower Decks, Preemptive Strike, or All Good Things. That list of Season 6 episodes are all better too.
 
Season 1 was not that good but there were some good episodes like Conspiracy.Also season 7 was very weak.
 
I always thought "Gambit" was the most boring TNG two-parter produced. The producers realized by this time that mid-season two-parters were good ways to save money, and so episodes like "Gambit" and "Birthright" were written as two-parters, when they probably would have been better and tighter as single episodes.

I can't say I understand the love for "Pegasus" either.


I like "Gambit."

"unification," "birthright," and "time's arrow" are all more boring to me.
 
Right out of the box, one thing was clear to me: STAR TREK: The Next Generation was superior to The Original Series, in almost every way. And I'm so glad that Gene Roddenberry decided to forego the "camp," this time, around! William Shatner even wore his rug to bed, from what I've been able to gather and here's Sir Patrick Stewart, who's proud bald and keeps himself in terrific shape! The Shat, of course, wore a girdle, for every STAR TREK movie, except TMP. He seemed to lose interest in his Leading Man Image, for whatever reason.

And in that First Season, not only was Jean Luc Picard played by a superior performer, but he was allowed to express himself in a way that, perhaps, made him seem more Human, than in later seasons. It seemed like Picard started taking on Vulcan traits of aloofness and standoffishness and Riker was made to be the more excitable commanding officer. But when the show first started out, to see Picard's fascination with the Holodeck, for example, it was great! He was passionate about being an explorer, that much has always been certain, but it really shone through, in Season One - which I proudly own, by the way! It laid a solid foundation for the Jean Luc Picard character and that is not something that is often mentioned.
 
I didn't like early Picard at all. Though I would have loved to see Season 1 Picard stuck in the turbolift with three kids in Disaster. :lol:
 
I love Gambit, but I'm partial to stories where there are a lot of different parties with their own agendas lying and betraying each other.
 
Season 1 is quite possibly the worst season of a TV series that I have ever watched. There isn't a single episode from that season that I consider watchable. Even Torchwood Series 1 had "Out of Time".

With Season 7 the show was running out of gas, but it still had a few good episodes here and there. And, even with the absolute worst episode of the season (we all know which one I mean), the actors had a very good grasp of their characters.
 
Season 1 is quite possibly the worst season of a TV series that I have ever watched. There isn't a single episode from that season that I consider watchable. Even Torchwood Series 1 had "Out of Time".

Not even TOS Season 3? I'd watch Angel One and Code of Honor 10 times before I'd watch half of those episodes again.
 
Season 1 is quite possibly the worst season of a TV series that I have ever watched. There isn't a single episode from that season that I consider watchable. Even Torchwood Series 1 had "Out of Time".

Not even TOS Season 3? I'd watch Angel One and Code of Honor 10 times before I'd watch half of those episodes again.

TOS Season 3 was very poor, but there's a few good episodes and even some of the bad episodes have a campy quality to them that I find entertaining. TNG Season 1 doesn't have a single episode out of the 26 episodes that I enjoyed or would want to rewatch. "The Big Goodbye" and "Heart of Glory" are my favourite episodes in the season, but that's not saying much. It's amazing how much the show improved during its run.
 
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