Season 1

[Qonundrum]

It had "Shut up, Wesley" as well as Lore wanting to kill him painfully. Think both things somehow redeemed the episode for a lot of fans

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I won't deny the plot is often crap*, but so much more does indeed redeem it:

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(One can already fathom how Lore, noting young Wesley's cheesy dialogue, wants to shove Wes through a giant cheese grater. I also love how the lighting director give Lore the same lighting that was given to Kirk in the 60s!!)

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And, of course, the bonus:

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The camerawork, lighting, and incidental music can help uplift a questionable script... but especially the acting - there's enough good dialogue in with a hokey plot. Not to mention subtle details, right down to the creepy gloaty smirk in the turbolift. Brent Spiner effortlessly steals the show at every turn, reaffirming how he made Data his own, as well as embracing the sheer potential of Lore. Forget Night Court (which he rocked in as well), he'd been so strong an iconic horror genre character, had one ever been made to suit his obvious talents, that he'd have made Freddy and Jason pissing their pants. Like, "eww" and everything. Not sure how or why, but watching this episode and Spiner's carrying of it never gets old. That's not bad for ishy icky season one...


The overdue, size 10.5EEE footnote(tm):
* There's no question; the story dumbs down everyone else - royally at times - just to make Wonderboy look like the only one who can resolve anything. It's insulting to all characters involved and a pretty strong reason to hate this one. Those scenes are grating, yes. But overlook those scenes and focus on Lore and Data specifically, Worf too**, and this story has a lot more going for it.


** Worf too because, as the ship's strongest person on board, anyone using him as a walking punching bag will help sell the audience that everyone else in the script hasn't got anything approaching a fighting chance. This begs a question - are the tropey scenes where Worf is quickly pummeled adds to the suspense and drama the most, when Data is taken over by some other being adds to the suspense and drama the most, or when there's yet another risk of a warp core breach adds to the suspense and drama the most?

 

[somebuddyX]

I feel bad for people trying to get in the show but start with season 1. They may not get that far. I have told a friend who was willing to give TNG a chance to start at season 3. IMO that is when the real TNG starts. Seasons 3, 4, 5, and 6 are tv gold. Season 7 is ok but a lot better than season 1.

I completely agree with this. I was just checking the episode list of Season 3 and is there even a dud at all in that season?
I wonder if there is some list for Season 1 where you watch one good episode and one crap episode and who cares if they're out of order. Like maybe do "Encounter at Farpoint" and "The Naked Now" and then skip to "Where No One Has Gone Before" or something. The first half of the season feels more stacked with crap but the second half looks weighted more good.

 

[JesterFace]

I have a confession....
I haven't watched any episode from season 1 in years.
I'm planning to revisit some episodes eventually starting with 'Encounter at Farpoint', it will start the next STNG marathon.
Having said that I got curious.
I feel like I need to watch season 1 episodes, I barely remember anything about many of them.

 

[STEPhon IT]

First, I love TNG. I grew up with it. It is the reason I became a Trekkie. I believe TNG and DS9 are the gold standard of Trek shows. However, I cannot watch season 1. I think it is terrible.

In my opinion, it is the worst season 1 of any Trek show (never watched TAS). DS9, ENT, and VOY were not the best either, but they are watchable. I believe each NuTrek show had very good first seasons, especially Prodigy and SNW.

Agree or disagree?

Disagree. I was hooked immediately with "Encounter at Farpoint" where Patrick Stewart just commands the screen, I thought supporting actors fall flat when he's not on screen but that's because the actors didn't figure out their characters yet. Stewart and John De Lancie were very entertaining throughout, also I enjoyed seeing the Enterprise saucer separate and watching the sheer size and beauty of the ship herself.

I loved their uniforms very unisex and futuristic and how it was done it never drew much attention to itself the episode just flowed. The season was fine and there are episodes I still find interesting which are not looked as favored by some but "We'll Always Have Paris" is a nice personal episode for Picard. I appreciated the series was sure of itself to explore his past to give us a glimpse of what he used to be. I detect there's some regret he didn't meet her and this is preview of more to come with complexity of my dear Captain.

I can honestly go on and on because of how much I loved that first season, maybe DS9 had a better season 1 than this but as a fan of TNG I appreciated what I saw from the characters and what measures the actors made to making them to who I know them to be. Remember Troi having that strange "I Dream of Jeanie" accent??? NO??? Then please go back and rewatch them; its as strange as her character was, irrelevant and seem to be added to the plot late because she had a way of stating the obvious. I admired them trying things in the first season just to see if it would stick and what did they added layers to them. Oh well...

 

[Farscape One]

Season 1 of TNG...

While it was not the best first season of a series in the franchise (that honor goes directly to TOS, with SNW being a close second place), it most certainly wasn't the worst. (That title will go to DISCO.)

While my opinion does have a certain nostalgic element to it (partly because it's why I fully became a scifi fan), I still feel that objectively it's not the worst, for many of the reasons already stated such as sense of wonder, exploration, being on the frontier, taking more chances with the stories, music, cinematography, etc.

Worst season of TNG... definitely season 7. There were just as many bad episodes in season 1 as there were in season 7, but season 1 at least has the excuse of trying new things to see what works. The writers were clearly burned out in season 7, because it had "Liaisons", "Force of Nature", "Sub Rosa", "Firstborn", and "Bloodlines". Truly, the only good ones were "Phantasms", "Parallels", "The Pegasus", "Lower Decks", "Masks", and "All Good Things...". The rest were mediocre.

And while season 1 did have bad ones like "Code of Honor", "Lonely Among Us", "Justice", and "Too Short A Season", they did have really good ones like "Where No One Has Gone Before", "The Big Goodbye", "Home Soil", "Heart of Glory", "The Arsenal of Freedom", and "Conspiracy".

 

[somebuddyX]

Lance did this thread back in 2015 where they summarise the descriptions of the reference book "Creating The Next Generation" by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, and it's really interesting to see how watered down some of the concepts truly were. Like "Code of Honor" guys were meant to be reptilian (I keep thinking the Selay should have been these guys!) and hot damn how different "Justice" originally was. https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/tng...-creating-tng-by-mark-altman-ed-gross.263539/
And Darren from The Movie Blog does really nice article sized reviews of all the episodes and bonus content too https://them0vieblog.com/2012/12/25/star-trek-the-next-generation-season-1-review/
I've never read any versions of the unused Season 1 "Blood and Fire" script by David Gerrold, and maybe it was good, maybe it was garbage, but I like to think that if they had used it or some variation, it might have opened the door to further depictions of homosexuality in Star Trek and we might have had a homosexual main character in the 90s.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Disagree. I was hooked immediately with "Encounter at Farpoint" where Patrick Stewart just commands the screen, I thought supporting actors fall flat when he's not on screen but that's because the actors didn't figure out their characters yet. Stewart and John De Lancie were very entertaining throughout, also I enjoyed seeing the Enterprise saucer separate and watching the sheer size and beauty of the ship herself.

I loved their uniforms very unisex and futuristic and how it was done it never drew much attention to itself the episode just flowed. The season was fine and there are episodes I still find interesting which are not looked as favored by some but "We'll Always Have Paris" is a nice personal episode for Picard. I appreciated the series was sure of itself to explore his past to give us a glimpse of what he used to be. I detect there's some regret he didn't meet her and this is preview of more to come with complexity of my dear Captain.

I can honestly go on and on because of how much I loved that first season, maybe DS9 had a better season 1 than this but as a fan of TNG I appreciated what I saw from the characters and what measures the actors made to making them to who I know them to be. Remember Troi having that strange "I Dream of Jeanie" accent??? NO??? Then please go back and rewatch them; its as strange as her character was, irrelevant and seem to be added to the plot late because she had a way of stating the obvious. I admired them trying things in the first season just to see if it would stick and what did they added layers to them. Oh well...

It's the same for me. TNG Season 1 was my very first encounter with Star Trek and what made me a Trekkie. I will always love Season 1 and 2 unconditionally. They will always stay the benchmark for me.

 

[STEPhon IT]

First seasons are meant to have training wheels because the creators are trying to expand on what we know and have architypes where the characters can grow. What I appreciated about those seasons was they were really trying to get away from the clichés and the boring tropes which cripples ALLACCESSTREK; Klingons, Vulcans, and Romulans were done sparingly and showing how far they've come in advance exploration until season 3 where everything returned and never left. Something I admired about DS9 first 3 seasons as well but then sold out in season 4's "The Way of the Warrior", but oh well. It's a benchmark for me too.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

First seasons are meant to have training wheels because the creators are trying to expand on what we know and have architypes where the characters can grow. What I appreciated about those seasons was they were really trying to get away from the clichés and the boring tropes which cripples ALLACCESSTREK; Klingons, Vulcans, and Romulans were done sparingly and showing how far they've come in advance exploration until season 3 where everything returned and never left. Something I admired about DS9 first 3 seasons as well but then sold out in season 4's "The Way of the Warrior", but oh well. It's a benchmark for me too.

Yeah, by the way i always prefered how the Klingons were like in "Heart of Glory". They were really kinda mysterious and a lot more alien than the space vikings they became later.

When i finally read The Final Reflection, one of my all time favorites, i was reminded on them big time

And yes making the Enterprise-D Spacecab 1701 was a big mistake imho

 

[Gary Seven of Nine]

Horseshit:
...
...
The Neutral Zone

Interesting that you view The Neutral Zone as one of the worst episodes of season 1. It's one of my guilty pleasures. Watching how those recently unfrozen people were adjusting to being in a new century was a blast to me. I especially loved the musician, can't remember his name. Plus it was a sort of prequel to the Borg arc.

 

[Oddish]

One thing I remember about "Heart of Glory" is that it shows why prisoners should be outfitted with Starfleet-issue orange jumpsuits.

Given that Yar probably knew all about concealing weapons on her person (the better to stab a would-be rapist in the naughty parts), it's kind of surprising that she didn't know that.

 

[Farscape One]

Interesting that you view The Neutral Zone as one of the worst episodes of season 1. It's one of my guilty pleasures. Watching how those recently unfrozen people were adjusting to being in a new century was a blast to me. I especially loved the musician, can't remember his name. Plus it was a sort of prequel to the Borg arc.

L.Q. 'Sonny' Clemonds.

 

[Gary Seven of Nine]

L.Q. 'Sonny' Clemonds.

To quote Mr. Clemonds, "there you go, now you've got it!"

 

[johnnybear]

In the days when the writers and producers were still considering calling the Klingon planet Kling!!!
I was never happy with races calling their planet of origin Home World or Our Planet. Then we got the next cop-out in Cardassia-Prime or in B5 Centauri-Prime!!! Why not just call them Cardassia or Cardassa or maybe even Centaura for B5? It sounds much better and more like that's why they're called Cardassians anyway!
JB

 

[Qonundrum]

Yeah, by the way i always prefered how the Klingons were like in "Heart of Glory". They were really kinda mysterious and a lot more alien than the space vikings they became later.

When i finally read The Final Reflection, one of my all time favorites, i was reminded on them big time

And yes making the Enterprise-D Spacecab 1701 was a big mistake imho

The early episodes demystify a little, but keep so much more to the side so they're kept fresh. The Klingons do get some terrific building in later seasons but then are grossly overused in TNG when they haven't any other plotting ideas to think about, with some mystery restored in DS9... but the early years with the shroud of mystery in "Heart of Glory" and the student exchange program in "A Matter of Honor" are (for me) more rewatchable as a result. A mystique is like a fire that exposition is the proverbial fire extinguisher for... or Worf, every time he spouts a ton of "Klingons do not ____" that's often later to be shown in a completely different context or not at all. At least most of those were fun on initial viewing. Except Kahless, even if the goal was to show from the other way that he was not the "Klingon Devil" that TOS painted him as (which is shrewd and could have been properly big, but his TNG story - despite the attempt - falls flat... good ol' season 6 strikes again...)

Interesting that you view The Neutral Zone as one of the worst episodes of season 1. It's one of my guilty pleasures. Watching how those recently unfrozen people were adjusting to being in a new century was a blast to me. I especially loved the musician, can't remember his name. Plus it was a sort of prequel to the Borg arc.

It's a mixed bag. The contrivances are indeed a pile of dodo doodoo, but when looking past those there is some to be had. There is some proper sci-fi in exploring the idea, even if it felt half-cheesy onscreen. STVI, made a couple years earlier, probably inspired the idea with Catherine Hicks going into the future but this episode offers a chance to really dive in.

Never knew the 1980s had this big fad of freezing people like popsicles until "cures for the diseases that killed them" came about, never mind that if they had to be frozen at the time of death and all the factors to get them in before rigormortis and decomposing kicks in, whee... and, of course, if power to the freezing chambers went out -- never mind where the facility was and who decided to chuck 'em all into space, in a ship using old MFM-style platter-based hard drives with a real-world lifespan of 3 to 5 years, never mind 400 and in either case the disk motor would malfunction before then anyhow...

...well, I'm assuming "hard drive". Data refers to the system as "disk drive". Now, if you're lucky, a single-sided/standard-density 5.25 disk, each containing a whopping 90~110KB of data, but some drive units did have heads on both sides and allowing data to be read and stored on both sides without flipping - by then 360KB DS/DD was a standard. Okay, latter-era 5.25" floppies could house 1.2MB of data, which will probably last longer than the 720KB and 1.44MB 3.5" floppies of the sort that data integrity issues now plague such disks due to the density of the magnetic materials has a relative lifespan of four decades or so before dissipation of the media gets so faint (e.g. why older video tape material looks soft and loaded with red, green, and blue static artifacting until the content is digitized, cleaned up, and stored on... an array of hard disks, but I digress)... or longer if you're lucky or live in a salt mine...

...mmm, salt lick...

One thing I remember about "Heart of Glory" is that it shows why prisoners should be outfitted with Starfleet-issue orange jumpsuits.

Given that Yar probably knew all about concealing weapons on her person (the better to stab a would-be rapist in the naughty parts), it's kind of surprising that she didn't know that.

LOL. As with TUC, TNG never bothered to have anyone of any faction force an outfit change*, much less confiscation of anything potentially questionable - noting that Starfleet people don't have belt buckles but Klingons do - on prisoners.

Orange is also too boring, especially in the 1980s when they did everything imaginable to eschew all of those horridly tacky browns and oranges used in the 1970s. For such formal wear, it'd make more sense if they used neon yellow, magenta, and green would work, and as those are very 80s colors as well... throw in some argon and mercury and you'll get blue neon too (if you're into fluorescent lighting technology...) then again, some clowns actually donned those hues in the 80s (but that industry thankfully reverted back to the more subdued ketchup and mustard and sapphire lake-blue and pickle relish gack-green hues by the 90s... that now reminds me of the season 3 episode where Scott Grimes from The Orville was in a very neon color outfit with his two friends (who were also donning excessively tacky neon outfits) when going to the holodeck and nobody thought they should have been locked up for that dress sense alone... also, squirrel.)


* well, Picard had to change outfits... into some peach-hued thing. I think they called it "birthday suit" in the script...

 

[Qonundrum]

In the days when the writers and producers were still considering calling the Klingon planet Kling!!!
I was never happy with races calling their planet of origin Home World or Our Planet. Then we got the next cop-out in Cardassia-Prime or in B5 Centauri-Prime!!! Why not just call them Cardassia or Cardassa or maybe even Centaura for B5? It sounds much better and more like that's why they're called Cardassians anyway!
JB

If the name became popular, you might say it had a cling-on effect with the audience.

 

[johnnybear]

In the UK many non fans love taking the Michael out of the name Klingon referring it to being troublesome when using the toilet! When you've heard it once you've heard it a thousand times!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

In The Neutral Zone episode why were the people frozen in cryogenic tubes blasted out into space instead of remaining in some scientific underground vaults waiting for the day that the improved science could possibly heal them from their illnesses or conditions? Why shoot them into outer space if the cure becomes available or was it a way to cheat the millionaires out of their paid investments?
JB

 

[Unimatrix Q]

In The Neutral Zone episode why were the people frozen in cryogenic tubes blasted out into space instead of remaining in some scientific underground vaults waiting for the day that the improved science could possibly heal them from their illnesses or conditions? Why shoot them into outer space if the cure becomes available or was it a way to cheat the millionaires out of their paid investments?
JB

Maybe the founders or ceos of the company were UFO fanatics

 

[Oddish]

In The Neutral Zone episode why were the people frozen in cryogenic tubes blasted out into space instead of remaining in some scientific underground vaults waiting for the day that the improved science could possibly heal them from their illnesses or conditions? Why shoot them into outer space if the cure becomes available or was it a way to cheat the millionaires out of their paid investments?

They probably did with 99.9% of them. Said vaults then lost power when WW3 happened and the EMP's fried everything. With no power, the cryogenic system shut down, and biological death occured.