Still the best?

[KirkPicard]

Even after 50+ years (30+ for me personally) TOS remains the pinnacle of Trek for me. All the other series have highlights and their merits for sure, but there is just a visceral love of the series through and through no matter the episode. I attribute this to obviously the performances, ideas, characters, and writing. Though I also believe the color pallette and especially the music appeal to the eyes and to the ears more so than the modern iterations. Exposure since a young age from beta TV recordings to Blu Ray quality have reinforced this feeling over the years. At 34 years of age, I wonder how many others my age feel the same, what with all the alternative forms of entertainment options out there.

 

[Ghost]

Sorry I can not agree with you on that one.
While I like the Original Series and still enjoy related spin off media today such as the New Visions series by John Byrne for me the TNG/DSN/VGR era was always my "Star Trek" despite how that era in Star Trek eventually ended. It simply has more content than the Original Series had.

But one thing I do have to mention which I think is a key difference the Original Series and the later series is for a lack of better word "Professionalism" of the crew.
Like someone else has pointed out once, the TNG era Starfleet feels sometimes more like a clubhouse that than a professional semi militaristic trained and organized space exploration organization.

And I guess there is a bigger appeal to characters like Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest of the original Enterprise crew than the TNG crew because of their "correctness" and "holier than thou" attitude sometimes.

 

[Orac]

It is indeed the best, but only in it's original format, the remastered HD versions are rubbish.

 

[BillJ]

Still the best in my opinion. Nothing beats Shatner and Nimoy. Outside of the Abrams movies, there isn't much of any of the spinoffs I watch anymore. I quit on Discovery after seven episodes.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I agree TOS is the best and there's nothing like it. It had a nice blend of action, adventure, and drama which I find interesting and very Star Trek, while the other versions did a lot more talking than action or adventure. The characters in TOS felt like a militaristic organization and this could be because the producers had a military background. What can I say more about The Enterprise? It's by far, for me, the most elegant ship created, also the stories didn't dealt heavily on the Treknobabble, if there were issues with the engines or the propulsion units, Scotty would say a sentence of what's wrong and the narrative continues.
The wardrobe was sexy and simplified to express the practicality of being in space for 5 years, it visualized a comfortable future where I would love to experience. I can't honestly say that for any of the other incarnations of Trek where it gears more into the War and ultra violence stuff. It's not in TOS' DNA to have such a lack of vision.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Yes, TOS is what hooked me on Trek. The other incarnations of the series interest me in different ways, but TOS is my first love.

 

[C57D]

TNG - too talky, too technobabbly and too hypercritical.
DS9 - too dark and political and "fighty".
VOY - the worst of TNG with none of its good points.
ENT - wasted opportunity to show early trek. And dont even get me started on the Temporal War and "9/11 in space" nonsense.
New films and DSC - just "No!!".

TOS is ST for me. Intelligent action adventure. Hope and optimision. Great trilogy of central characters with depth but without boring navel searching and "I had a hard childhood" whiny apologetics.
Design and costume and setting all amazing.
And as some have mentioned it just felt like a professional group of explorers (and soldiers) on the Final Frontier!!

 

[johnnybear]

TOS is the best Trek! It enthralled us all as kids back in the sixties and seventies and later generations in the eighties. The technology may look dated but the acting, the style the writing is what made it so damn good! Later shows tried to imitate it and when they failed to be better, the producers tried to knock it and push their series above it with very limited success!
JB

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'll always have TNG and DS9 as the best.

TOS rocks of course but I think it isn't just the effects that aged poorly. The character dynamics feel very tied to TV of its era and they take a bunch of questionable story shortcuts. Maybe it's that I always watch a series chronologically and TOS episodes that aren't in the top tier drop off quick to just seeming dumb. If I skipped around more I might have a better time rewatching it.

 

[Commishsleer]

I'll always have TNG and DS9 as the best.

TOS rocks of course but I think it isn't just the effects that aged poorly. The character dynamics feel very tied to TV of its era and they take a bunch of questionable story shortcuts. Maybe it's that I always watch a series chronologically and TOS episodes that aren't in the top tier drop off quick to just seeming dumb. If I skipped around more I might have a better time rewatching it.

I'm older than the OP but TOS is always the best for me. I have strayed away and then came back years later.

TNG particularly with its 80s sensibilities and soap-opera drama and lighting and characters should appeal to me a person of the 80s. However I think with its perms, male-female dynamic, Riker etc it has aged worst of all the series. Lots of dumb episodes in all the series.

 

[Vger23]

I grew up in the 80's and 90's, but TOS is far-and-away the best. It's not even really a discussion. Star Trek is a literal classic, and arguably one of the best, most influential television programs ever made. It has made an impact on our culture and even on some of our technological developments. It spawned one of the greatest characters ever conceived and executed (Spock) in literature.

The other shows, each of which I love to various degrees, were all ultimately derivative of that formula. DS9 came close to being great and despite being my next-favorite, I also kind of dislike for the wanky prescedent it set with all the "politics of the 24th Century" stuff. DS9 also had very little (almost no) broad cultural impact. It is beloved by its niche fans...but not broadly impactful.

None of the other shows even come close. Maybe TNG for a couple of years...but even that was derivative of the original's impact and accomplishments.

 

[Spock's Barber]

TOS is ST for me. Intelligent action adventure. Hope and optimision.

Kirk's final words to Yarnak in Savage Curtain sums up why I think TOS is significant, even after 50+ years....

"We came in peace."

 

[C57D]

I am 56 and grew up on TOS and for me it will always be my favourite scifi "franchise" ever.

Yes it is very much a product of its time (but then, name me any popular creative work that isn't ), which some see as a criticism, but for me is a bonus.
I, for one, cannot stand the dark, whiny, entitled antiheroes of todays television. Where it's okay to break every rule and be a total ar$ehole because you "had a difficult childhood". And then get "rewarded" by the system for behaving like a temper tantrumed three year old.
I had an abusive childhood but I dont let that frame the person that I am. And so I see this dramatic apologetic as a cheap cop out.
TOS had real heroes who made mistakes and had faults, but they "fought" on through and overcame. Real people, not overwrought, selfish, arrogant needy idiots.

 

[Amaris]

I still love TOS. It no longer sits at the very top for me, but it was the show I started out on, and it still holds a very special place in my heart. So even if it's not "the best" for me anymore, I still think it set the standard for high quality television, let alone what it represents for all of Star Trek.

 

[Pauln6]

I enjoyed TOS as a child but it was shown a bit randomly on the BBC in the seventies. It was all the merchandising for TMP that really stoked my imagination for Trek stories.

When TNG came out, I remember saying, it seems quite good but it will never be as good as the original. In fact, I came to love TNG as it got better and every Trek since has had something to enjoy.

However, with the passage of time, it's TOS to which I return. It can be sexist and silly but it retains a magical quality and there is some top notch science fiction in there amongst its best episodes.

I started collecting the QMX action figures as my 50th anniversary indulgence and they have such attention to detail, including Kirk's belly and judo chop hand, Spock's mind meld hands, McCoy's medical kit, and Khan's mashed phaser, that's re-stoked my love for TOS all over again!

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'm older than the OP but TOS is always the best for me. I have strayed away and then came back years later.

TNG particularly with its 80s sensibilities and soap-opera drama and lighting and characters should appeal to me a person of the 80s. However I think with its perms, male-female dynamic, Riker etc it has aged worst of all the series. Lots of dumb episodes in all the series.

Well, if you're going to criticize the male/female dynamic of TNG, TOS gets it just as bad. Unless you want to make the 'Grandpa from a different era is allowed to be that way' argument. "If only she could be happy being just a woman."

TNG has dumb episodes but IMO, 2/3 of them are at least good, same with DS9. Whereas TOS hits a couple strong strides in mid to late season 1 and season 2 but has a lot more weak periods and is ultimately a lot more formulaic.

And TOS leans more on the (Admittedly excellent) dynamic between the lead three characters and mostly ignores the rest, and suffers more from Ensign Expendability. Like in the episode with the intelligent bomb, Kirk sends it off with two nameless ensigns, it vaporizes them, comes back, and he again sends it off with two nameless ensigns who it again vaporizes. He should have realized then that anyone but him he sends it off with will be vaporized, but he treated the second group like their lives didn't matter.

Another thing which TOS in my opinion suffers from, everyone they meet on a planet comes off as way too stupid and prone to manipulation. They need to be so Kirk can give them a speech and change their entire way of living.

 

[Vger23]

Well, if you're going to criticize the male/female dynamic of TNG, TOS gets it just as bad. Unless you want to make the 'Grandpa from a different era is allowed to be that way' argument. "If only she could be happy being just a woman."

TNG has dumb episodes but IMO, 2/3 of them are at least good, same with DS9. Whereas TOS hits a couple strong strides in mid to late season 1 and season 2 but has a lot more weak periods and is ultimately a lot more formulaic.

And TOS leans more on the (Admittedly excellent) dynamic between the lead three characters and mostly ignores the rest, and suffers more from Ensign Expendability. Like in the episode with the intelligent bomb, Kirk sends it off with two nameless ensigns, it vaporizes them, comes back, and he again sends it off with two nameless ensigns who it again vaporizes. He should have realized then that anyone but him he sends it off with will be vaporized, but he treated the second group like their lives didn't matter.

Another thing which TOS in my opinion suffers from, everyone they meet on a planet comes off as way too stupid and prone to manipulation. They need to be so Kirk can give them a speech and change their entire way of living.

I respect your criticisms of TOS, but 2/3 of TNG is not "at least good."

I own all seven seasons on BR and have for several years. I'm STILL trying desperately to slog through a re-watch. I just can't sustain it. It's generally so boring, static and unengaging for the most part, mixed in with some very, very good gems. And, the characters are total cardboard at times. I'd say it's 70% dull and completely uninteresting (not "bad" ...just dull), 20% very good, 10% classic, top-notch sci-if.

We all have our opinions though. That's about all they worth, admittedly!

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I'm 45, and TOS is still far and away the best Trek series as far as I'm concerned. It was the best written, the best performed, and the most creatively produced.

 

[Spock's Barber]

I'm 45, and TOS is still far and away the best Trek series as far as I'm concerned. It was the best written, the best performed, and the most creatively produced.

Yes. I am constantly amazed at the stories, costumes, props, sets, make up, etc. that the crew produced on such a limited budget of time and money.

 

[Vger23]

I'm 45, and TOS is still far and away the best Trek series as far as I'm concerned. It was the best written, the best performed, and the most creatively produced.

Yes. I am constantly amazed at the stories, costumes, props, sets, make up, etc. that the crew produced on such a limited budget of time and money.

It blows my mind constantly that these stories, props, sets, concepts etc were all creatively imagined over 50 years ago. It's pretty amazing.