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TNG First Season Woes:

Near the end of the series, actor Jonathan Frakes described the first season as a time when "we took greater chances than we do now. The shows may be better, the level of it, but "Skin of Evil" was absurd." He added, "that was a time first season they took chances. Some of it misses, but some were great. Like "The Naked Now", the episode which we've never done anything quite like where everyone got drunk and horny. That was risky. All the early stuff with Brent as Sherlock Holmes. Bowman's work, the first Klingon show ["Heart of Glory"] – those were all great." (Trek: The Next Generation Crew Book)
 
I've just started rewatching some of S1. I always enjoy revisiting this season. There are a few absolutely appalling episodes but some really interesting ones too, and it's nice seeing the crew/cast before they've settled into their familiar roles. It makes for some unusual (by later seasons' standards) interactions and story developments. I'd agree with the comment above that some of the stories were braver than some of the later ones.
 
I took the opposite approach with my girlfriend. I got her interested in TOS first, and am now slowly coaxing her through season one of TNG. It's tough now, yeah, but it'll be worth it when she comes to see just how awesome TNG—and eventually DS9—come to be.
 
My wife and I finished season 1 recently. There are some very awkward and WTF moments. But I think it is kind of like Star Trek V. It's not the best, but it contains a few of the funniest and best charactor moments.

"Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing."
 
Thanks all for the replies.

Both the wife and I have been off on vacation for the past 8 days in Toronto/Niagara Falls and haven't been watching any ST until yesterday after we got back.

I did skip two episodes so far in Season 1:

• "Home Soil" (Just couldn't be bothered to watch that one again and couldn't remember anything of great importance being in that episode that relates to the rest of the series)

• "Coming of Age" (Accidentally missed this episode, but then again, perhaps I skipped it on purpose)

• "Symbiosis" (Blah blah blah.... )

Though my wife said she found "When the Bough Breaks" interesting as it finally showed the human side of Picard & crew for once.

"Heart of Glory" was finally the point where Worf got to play a decent role in the show and showed he's a pretty good character to keep an eye on. The reason why my wife decided to jump into TNG next, rather then back into Voyager (Even though she did start into Voyager previously and got through season 1) was because she was already now accustomed to Worf, O'Brien and his family and I mentioned a few things she was interested in watching, like more of Worf's past history, more of the Klingon background, O'Brien's wedding and Worf helping to deliver the O'Brien's first born.

"The Arsenal of Freedom" to me seemed like the first time TNG showed some worthwhile action as well showed more of the other character's background and abilities (LaForge, Crusher, Picard, Data, etc.)

and we finished off last night by watching "Skin of Evil" ~ Which for the longest time I never really cared much for, but this time around watching it, I appreciated what they did and how. While Yar did die pretty soon after the episode starts, they spent a good period of time of the episode trying to bring her back to life and they did show how it impacted the crew, in fact a good portion of the episode revolved around her death, more then I originally remembered...... it also was the moment Worf took over as Chief of Security of the Enterprise and his smarts of staying on the Enterprise, rather then going down to the planet, since he knew there wasn't much of a chance his abilities being put to use.

The episode also showed how Data grew attached to Tasha, not just in the ending in the Holodeck, but while on the planet when he suggested Armus should be destroyed.

And of course the ending in the Holodeck where she addressed each crew member, it showed her personal, more human side for once, along with every other character's human side.... it to me was the very first moment in Season 1 where all the crew began to look like a "Family" if you will (Well in the sense everyone else here is referring to them as Family that is.)

I feel right around "When the Bough Breaks" is when the show starts to take off and get more deeper in the story lines that relate more to what DS9 and Voyager took off from. There's still a couple of crummy episodes in between then and the end of the season, but you can see a difference.
 
I'm going to stick up for Code of Honor a bit. It's trying to be serious about how you relate to a culture with different norms from your own. Though some of the exposition is shockingly ham-handed -- in fact, the writers lampshade that when Picard catches himself making a speech to his own crew.
 
Thanks all for the replies.

Both the wife and I have been off on vacation for the past 8 days in Toronto/Niagara Falls and haven't been watching any ST until yesterday after we got back.

I did skip two episodes so far in Season 1:

• "Home Soil" (Just couldn't be bothered to watch that one again and couldn't remember anything of great importance being in that episode that relates to the rest of the series)

• "Coming of Age" (Accidentally missed this episode, but then again, perhaps I skipped it on purpose)

• "Symbiosis" (Blah blah blah.... )

Though my wife said she found "When the Bough Breaks" interesting as it finally showed the human side of Picard & crew for once.

"Heart of Glory" was finally the point where Worf got to play a decent role in the show and showed he's a pretty good character to keep an eye on. The reason why my wife decided to jump into TNG next, rather then back into Voyager (Even though she did start into Voyager previously and got through season 1) was because she was already now accustomed to Worf, O'Brien and his family and I mentioned a few things she was interested in watching, like more of Worf's past history, more of the Klingon background, O'Brien's wedding and Worf helping to deliver the O'Brien's first born.

"The Arsenal of Freedom" to me seemed like the first time TNG showed some worthwhile action as well showed more of the other character's background and abilities (LaForge, Crusher, Picard, Data, etc.)

and we finished off last night by watching "Skin of Evil" ~ Which for the longest time I never really cared much for, but this time around watching it, I appreciated what they did and how. While Yar did die pretty soon after the episode starts, they spent a good period of time of the episode trying to bring her back to life and they did show how it impacted the crew, in fact a good portion of the episode revolved around her death, more then I originally remembered...... it also was the moment Worf took over as Chief of Security of the Enterprise and his smarts of staying on the Enterprise, rather then going down to the planet, since he knew there wasn't much of a chance his abilities being put to use.

The episode also showed how Data grew attached to Tasha, not just in the ending in the Holodeck, but while on the planet when he suggested Armus should be destroyed.

And of course the ending in the Holodeck where she addressed each crew member, it showed her personal, more human side for once, along with every other character's human side.... it to me was the very first moment in Season 1 where all the crew began to look like a "Family" if you will (Well in the sense everyone else here is referring to them as Family that is.)

I feel right around "When the Bough Breaks" is when the show starts to take off and get more deeper in the story lines that relate more to what DS9 and Voyager took off from. There's still a couple of crummy episodes in between then and the end of the season, but you can see a difference.


I think Coming of Age and Home Soil are both better episodes than Skin of Evil. Home Soil some really bad line readings in the teaser, but after that I loved the look at a terraforming expedition in ST...enjoyed the portrayal of the scientists there...and although the climax was too much like "Devil in the Dark"...I thought it was a good updating of the story, and independent of the original, it would have been thought of as a landmark episode.

Coming of Age is important because it introduced the first serialized element to STNG..and it was continued in "Conspiracy".

RAMA
 
I'm going to stick up for Code of Honor a bit. It's trying to be serious about how you relate to a culture with different norms from your own. Though some of the exposition is shockingly ham-handed -- in fact, the writers lampshade that when Picard catches himself making a speech to his own crew.


I think they were poking fun at Shatner there...:lol:
 
I did skip two episodes so far in Season 1:

• "Home Soil" (Just couldn't be bothered to watch that one again and couldn't remember anything of great importance being in that episode that relates to the rest of the series)

• "Coming of Age" (Accidentally missed this episode, but then again, perhaps I skipped it on purpose)

I liked both of these episodes. Home Soil has an interesting setting and the first third of episode is quite intriguing. The middle third sags slightly, but how can you skip an episode featuring the great "ugly bags of mostly water" line?

As for Coming of Age, it's just a pretty good yarn. A bit daft in places, but a good story.
 
"Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing."

For an awful episode, that dinner scene has some really wonderful lines. :lol:

I haven't deleted the episode from my DVR because of that scene.

When I watch Haven, I usually FF through the Terellian plague ship stuff and just watch the Lwaxana bits, usually watching Mr. Homn's stuff twice. That actor had great comic timing, and it's amazing how much he says without saying a word.

There are a couple other good parts--like when Wyatt meets Riker and says something, "Oh yeah, you're the one who wants to be a starship captain," and Riker seems kind of flummoxed.

As a serious SF show, it doesn't do it for me. But it does a great job of putting people into comically awkward positions--imagine if your mother showed up at your job and treated your boss, your ex, and your current SO's parents the way Lwaxana does.

The more I think about it, the more it reminds me of The Office.

If they ever make another series, I'd pay to see an episode with Michael Scott as captain of a ship...maybe even a Pakled ship.
 
"Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing."

For an awful episode, that dinner scene has some really wonderful lines. :lol:

There are a couple other good parts--like when Wyatt meets Riker and says something, "Oh yeah, you're the one who wants to be a starship captain," and Riker seems kind of flummoxed.

Or Picard trying to carry Lwaxana's luggage.

Another one I like from the last episode of the season (although it's not from the main cast):

Come back later, you and me can find us a couple of low-mileage pit woffies and help them build a memory.

My wife is also getting really good at spotting the bad stunt doubles. Go back and watch Conspiracy and tell me if you really think that's Riker falling on the glass table.
 
I originally thought "Conspiracy" was one of the better episdoes but it has fallen a bit over time. The Romulan episode at the end wasn't bad.

Does anyone remember "The Big Goodbye" won some sort of award (not an Emmy) I can't remember now. I was going to say Newbery but that is for books. In retrospect I think it was probably the best episode that season or nearly so.

jom
 
“Big Goodbye” won an Emmy for costuming and a Peabody for “excellence in television broadcasting” (according to Memory Alpha). It probably seems worse now because of all the holodeck adventures we’ve had to endure since then.

I thought “Conspiracy” was really cool when I was younger, but now it just bothers me. Silly horror plot, Starfleet Command is just a dining room and has nary an officer in sight (couldn’t pay the extras?), a bunch of admirals are shot up and the Enterprise just flies off…it really needed to be a two-parter a la DS9’s Homefront/Paradise Lost, or even better Torme’ s original idea of having a Starfleet Iran-Contra, but of course that didn’t fly in the Season 1 utopia.

“The Neutral Zone” is a really weak “Space Seed,” though it’s fun to see Alaimo as a Romulan.

My favorite Season 1 action episode “The Arsenal of Freedom,” mainly because of its take on Geordi as a junior officer taking command. It’s probably my favorite La Forge episode—I definitely prefer this take on the character to the awkward-technobabbler he became. I know they needed a steady chief engineer, but I think sending Burton below decks was a waste of talent.
 
“Big Goodbye” won an Emmy for costuming and a Peabody for “excellence in television broadcasting” (according to Memory Alpha). It probably seems worse now because of all the holodeck adventures we’ve had to endure since then.

I thought “Conspiracy” was really cool when I was younger, but now it just bothers me. Silly horror plot, Starfleet Command is just a dining room and has nary an officer in sight (couldn’t pay the extras?), a bunch of admirals are shot up and the Enterprise just flies off…it really needed to be a two-parter a la DS9’s Homefront/Paradise Lost, or even better Torme’ s original idea of having a Starfleet Iran-Contra, but of course that didn’t fly in the Season 1 utopia.

“The Neutral Zone” is a really weak “Space Seed,” though it’s fun to see Alaimo as a Romulan.

My favorite Season 1 action episode “The Arsenal of Freedom,” mainly because of its take on Geordi as a junior officer taking command. It’s probably my favorite La Forge episode—I definitely prefer this take on the character to the awkward-technobabbler he became. I know they needed a steady chief engineer, but I think sending Burton below decks was a waste of talent.
 
I'm quite certain I'm in the Minority here, but i actuslly liked "Too Short A Season". I thought it was one of the better eps
 
Given you've already shared numerous episodes, I won't say skip the season all together, but I do want to remind everybody that if she loses interest because of the early stinkers she'll miss both the later greatness and the early gems. And I say that as one who loves the first couple seasons.

I did a little episode ranking for myself some time back and thought I'd share, if you don't mind a list.

If you're gonna continue the first season, I say see:
103. The Naked Now
106. Where No One Has Gone Before
110. Hide And Q
115. 11001001
120. Heart of Glory*
121. The Arsenal of Freedom*

125. Conspiracy

(*You saw these already, right?)

If she still wants to see more of season one, consider:
105. The Last Outpost - Unless she has a low Ferengi threshhold, and who could blame her if she does?
112. The Big Goodbye
113. Datalore
114. Angel One

117. When The Bough Breaks*
123. Skin of Evil*
124. We'll Always Have Paris

Skip...
101./102. Encounter at Farpoint
104. Code of Honor
107. Lonely Among Us
108. Justice
109. The Battle
111. Haven
116. Too Short A Season
118. Home Soil
122. Symbiosis
126. The Neutral Zone
...until she's jonesing for any new Trek.

Similarly, for season two, I say see:
202. Where Silence Has Lease

203. Elementary, Dear Data
208. A Matter Of Honor

209. The Measure Of A Man

211. Contagion
213. Time Squared
216. Q Who
220. The Emissary
221. Peak Performance

Consider:
206. The Schizoid Man

207. Unnatural Selection
210. The Dauphin
214. The Icarus Factor
215. Pen Pals


Skip:
201. The Child
204. The Outrageous Okona

205. Loud As A Whisper
212. The Royale
217. Samaritan Snare
218. Up The Long Ladder
219. Manhunt
222. Shades Of Gray
 
I'll admit it, The Royale was actually one of my favorite episodes of the second season.
 
Well we're through Season one and onto Season two now.... though only into two-three episodes so far, she still says she's bored.... we'll see.
 
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