Season One...underrated?
- Thread starter Gojira
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TNG certainly matured in Season 2 and beyond, but I enjoyed Season 1 when I watched it again after getting the Blu-Rays.
I loved it in its original run.
Looking back, it kinda seemed like TNG Season 1 was essentially TOS Season 4, which may have been why I enjoyed it so much at the time even when people were putting it down.
I loved it in its original run.
Looking back, it kinda seemed like TNG Season 1 was essentially TOS Season 4, which may have been why I enjoyed it so much at the time even when people were putting it down.
Season one really does have a TOS feel to it. It took a couple of seasons for them to find their own voice so to speak.
The season is kind of bad but still fun to watch because it is bad. I agree with those who said it feels kind of like "TOS" and for some reason the characters seemed to have more flaws when Roddenberry was in charge even if it went against his rules then it did in the later seasons when he wasn't in charge. It is kind of strange. Also I want to point out as bad as it is, the season is still better than season 7 if you take away the handfull of good episodes from that year.
Jason
Jason
I give the first season credit for trying some new thing, even if some of those new things didn't work, or didn't stick. They (or just Roddenberry) tried to depict the future possessing a different philosophy.
One example. The Last Outpost, when the Ferengi fire on the Enterprise, instead of going to weapons himself, Picard simply says "they're just reacting to the chase." Picard is willing to take a few on the shields.
Riker seemed much more of a ambitious officer (to me), as if the Enterprise was just another stepping stone. Riker and Picard didn't (in the first season) seem to be good friends, it was more professional only, and I thought it gave the show an interesting feel.
The rotating Chief Engineers, like Picard couldn't decide on one, I found funny.
One example. The Last Outpost, when the Ferengi fire on the Enterprise, instead of going to weapons himself, Picard simply says "they're just reacting to the chase." Picard is willing to take a few on the shields.
Riker seemed much more of a ambitious officer (to me), as if the Enterprise was just another stepping stone. Riker and Picard didn't (in the first season) seem to be good friends, it was more professional only, and I thought it gave the show an interesting feel.
The rotating Chief Engineers, like Picard couldn't decide on one, I found funny.
“Conspiracy” a bad episode? I think it's one of the season's best.
But all in all I agree, season one is somewhat underrated. For me it has superior cinematography and atmosphere, music and sense of wonder. The actors are obviously still growing into their roles, but everything that makes TNG great is already present.
I don't think its underrated at all. Every time I try to watch an episode it makes me cringe. There are too many differences with the characters. The Picard character is slightly different because Stewart hadn't settled into the role yet, Data is totally different probably because Spiner just hadn't gotten the hang of being an emotionless machine, which is understandable. I don't really care for the Tasha Yar character as chief of security particularly when there a gigantic Klingon standing right behind her. Worf's role is completely undefined in the first season and I also hate the fact that Geordi is the helmsman. How he goes from being the helmsman directly to chief engineer is beyond me but I just pretend the first season didn't happen LOL.
Some of the episodes are OK in terms of writing but the characters are the biggest reason that I love this show and they just aren't the same in the first season in terms of their portrayal or their roles aboard the ship.
Some of the episodes are OK in terms of writing but the characters are the biggest reason that I love this show and they just aren't the same in the first season in terms of their portrayal or their roles aboard the ship.
It would have made more sense if it was Yar as the lieutenant and Worf as her NCO. Together they ran security.
There was supposed to be a gag about a blind man driving the ship.
I've long dreamed of a version where Worf is chief of security & Tasha is the tactical officer, as 2 separate posts. It never really made any sense to me that they'd be combined anyhow
I agree, they should be separate posts. Security personnel should also have separate rank like they are Starfleet's military arm. It would be akin to the Marines today, rank structure should be Lieutenant to Colonel and then obviously various Generals beyond that.
Data was a replacement for a Vulcan in the intentional absence of Vulcans, and Worf was there for shock value (OMG, a KLINGON in the Federation???).
I'm happy with some of the moves they made later in the season and indeed later in the series. There were a lot of birth and growing pains in the first season, but at the same time it was revolutionary (Where no one has gone before.--I know a lot of people that were unreasonably unhappy with that).
There were good episodes, there were bad, but I've seen a LOT of shows needing to find their feet during or after their first season.
I liked Tasha, even if she was misused.
I'm happy with some of the moves they made later in the season and indeed later in the series. There were a lot of birth and growing pains in the first season, but at the same time it was revolutionary (Where no one has gone before.--I know a lot of people that were unreasonably unhappy with that).
There were good episodes, there were bad, but I've seen a LOT of shows needing to find their feet during or after their first season.
I liked Tasha, even if she was misused.
I pretty much agree with what you've said, but I still like many of the episodes. I think there are some interesting stories there that are being told even though in comparison to later seasons the actors were still fleshing out their characters. I generally can forgive those flaws. Yeah, I didn't care for Tasha's character either.
Yeah, it would've been pretty cool to have had Worf be Sergeant Worf or Major Worf, as if he were from a totally different branch
I am one of the few that prefers the first couple seasons of TNG, to anything that came afterward.
Well, Best of Both Worlds, was pretty good, but not ballsy enough....
Well, Best of Both Worlds, was pretty good, but not ballsy enough....
I think some the ideas in this thread to “improve” the first season would actually make it less interesting.
I always thought it was a bad idea to put Worf into a position that is traditionally and stereotypically Klingon. Him being a junior officer of many trades who looks into all kinds of fields of duty is much more interesting. That he settles on tactical/security later on is cool, because it gives the series a feeling of progression, but I still would have preferred a less expectable role. Why not Worf the helmsman or Work the engineer? I also dislike the idea of a separate brach of security with its own ranking system. It would make Starfleet much too militaristic when the idea was to make it less so.
As for Geordi, his progression to Chief engineer was made more believable because they showed him to be interested/talented in the field early on. And again, as with Worf I like the idea to have him progress through the ranks/positions to give the show a feeling of moving forward.
I really liked Tasha and I think it was a bad idea to let her go at the end of the first season and not feature her in any significant way during the whole year. I appreciated that they gave her a role that was traditionally male and think she had one of the most interesting backstories of all the characters. I'm sure that had she stayed on, like with the rest of the characters, they would have employed her more significantly and maturely later in the series. I do think we missed out on a lot of good Tasha episodes they could have written.
I love Crusher and Troi and think they are strong characters in their own right, but the show failed big time when they ended up with only two women that filled traditionally female “care” positions. So much for the progressiveness of Roddenberry's utopia.
I always thought it was a bad idea to put Worf into a position that is traditionally and stereotypically Klingon. Him being a junior officer of many trades who looks into all kinds of fields of duty is much more interesting. That he settles on tactical/security later on is cool, because it gives the series a feeling of progression, but I still would have preferred a less expectable role. Why not Worf the helmsman or Work the engineer? I also dislike the idea of a separate brach of security with its own ranking system. It would make Starfleet much too militaristic when the idea was to make it less so.
As for Geordi, his progression to Chief engineer was made more believable because they showed him to be interested/talented in the field early on. And again, as with Worf I like the idea to have him progress through the ranks/positions to give the show a feeling of moving forward.
I really liked Tasha and I think it was a bad idea to let her go at the end of the first season and not feature her in any significant way during the whole year. I appreciated that they gave her a role that was traditionally male and think she had one of the most interesting backstories of all the characters. I'm sure that had she stayed on, like with the rest of the characters, they would have employed her more significantly and maturely later in the series. I do think we missed out on a lot of good Tasha episodes they could have written.
I love Crusher and Troi and think they are strong characters in their own right, but the show failed big time when they ended up with only two women that filled traditionally female “care” positions. So much for the progressiveness of Roddenberry's utopia.
I think some the ideas in this thread to “improve” the first season would actually make it less interesting.
I always thought it was a bad idea to put Worf into a position that is traditionally and stereotypically Klingon. Him being a junior officer of many trades who looks into all kinds of fields of duty is much more interesting. That he settles on tactical/security later on is cool, because it gives the series a feeling of progression, but I still would have preferred a less expectable role. Why not Worf the helmsman or Work the engineer? I also dislike the idea of a separate brach of security with its own ranking system. It would make Starfleet much too militaristic when the idea was to make it less so.
As for Geordi, his progression to Chief engineer was made more believable because they showed him to be interested/talented in the field early on. And again, as with Worf I like the idea to have him progress through the ranks/positions to give the show a feeling of moving forward.
I really liked Tasha and I think it was a bad idea to let her go at the end of the first season and not feature her in any significant way during the whole year. I appreciated that they gave her a role that was traditionally male and think she had one of the most interesting backstories of all the characters. I'm sure that had she stayed on, like with the rest of the characters, they would have employed her more significantly and maturely later in the series. I do think we missed out on a lot of good Tasha episodes they could have written.
I love Crusher and Troi and think they are strong characters in their own right, but the show failed big time when they ended up with only two women that filled traditionally female “care” positions. So much for the progressiveness of Roddenberry's utopia.
How is Worf's position "traditionally and stereotypically" Klingon when he is the only Klingon to have ever served in Starfleet? LOL
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