I like the episode, myself....
TNG First Season Woes:
- Thread starter Praxius
- Start date
I like the episode, myself....
The music is probably the only redeeming part of season 1! I love it! I can't stand the aural wallpaper of the Berman era.
My picks for season 1:
Watch:
Encounter at Farpoint
The Naked Now - I dunno why, it's just fun, and despite it being a 'Wesley saves the ship' ep, his solution is pretty badass (pushing a ship into a star rock thing and then BOOM).
Where No One Has Gone Before - classic Trek story done right, one of the few TNG eps to spark my wonder of the cosmos.
The Big Goodbye - "Shtep on it!"
Datalore - because it introduces Lore, and this is important.
11001001 - Great, although the holodeck stuff with Riker drags. Made up for the intense drama of the D being hijacked. I particularly love the crew watching in dumbfounded awe as the Ent reverses out of spacedock and warps majestically away.
The Arsenal of Freedom - ACTION EP
Skin of Evil - Regardless of how impromptu it's production was, its a great episode, with excellent drama and finally has Picard acting with authority and bravery for once.
The Neutral Zone - Worth it for the impressive encounter with the Romulans and for raising some interesting questions.
Rest of season 1: skippable train wreck.
Not too bad... I've skipped a couple of episodes in season 1 and 2, showed the more important, more interesting episodes, and now we're into season 3, where things start to finally "feel" like what DS9 and Voyager feel like..... (music, uniforms, picture quality, budget, graphics, etc.)
I think the misses is starting to find it interesting..... just last night we watched "The Ensigns of Command" and "Who Watches the Watchers"
Will be jumping back to "The Survivors" and then continuing on from there.... I think Who Watches the Watchers is the point where everything turns around in the story telling on TNG.... as well as the characters.
I like the first season music much better than the dull droning of the later seasons and series.
I agree. Especially in later series when you'd think they'd invest a little in new music as they did with effects and make-up and sets and everything. Except stories.
They sometimes let the music overpower the moment - stand in for writing or directing or acting - but it too is a component of a TV show...a valid and enjoyable one, and I miss its unique input in later episodes.
I see what you guys are saying, but I found that by Season 3, they did tone down the music a bit. There's of course nothing wrong with music as it does add to a scene and how someone should feel during that scene, but the music in Seasons 1 and 2 to me just overpowered the scene.
Kinda like how the Red Alert sound was very very over powering in the first 2 seasons.
I'd watch a season 1 episode and suddenly Picard would say "RED ALERT!" and then the alarm would blare like an air raid siren...... and wouldn't friggin stop the whole time..... very distracting to the scene and what people are saying. I remember thinking to myself "I don't remember it being that bad."
Then by Season 3, I noticed not only did they change the Red Alert to be more in the background, but also they'd eventually and finally shut the damn thing off (The sound) a few seconds in.... rather then let it go on forever like before.
Kinda like how the Red Alert sound was very very over powering in the first 2 seasons.
I'd watch a season 1 episode and suddenly Picard would say "RED ALERT!" and then the alarm would blare like an air raid siren...... and wouldn't friggin stop the whole time..... very distracting to the scene and what people are saying. I remember thinking to myself "I don't remember it being that bad."
Then by Season 3, I noticed not only did they change the Red Alert to be more in the background, but also they'd eventually and finally shut the damn thing off (The sound) a few seconds in.... rather then let it go on forever like before.
TNG in it's first season had it's good moments and bad.
So do I. I was disappointed when it wasn't continued. What came later had it's good points too (Faith of the Heart being a notable and infamous exception), but there was something magical about the TNG first season systhisized music that was sadly lost later.
Funny you say that since the first two years were more action oriented than the Michael Piller produced shows. It may or may not have been well done, but there were fights, and running aruond, and all sorts of physical BS. This was part of the "make it like TOS" feel the show began with. Later on, the stories did improve, but action is expensive and, for some reason, it always looked like they had LESS money as they went along. The majority of the space battles (when there were any) were see as graphics on someone's monitor. TNG was really hit in that regard. SFX were expensive and time consuming with the models and what not (plus the constant reuse of one or two smaller ships as freighters, Tarrellian cruisers, and so on). The CGI revolution was still a long way off. Granted, this made for better character stories, but when TNG was bad, it was deadly dull. Imaginary Friend, Force of Nature, Night Terrors - yikes.
Still, the show had the best cast post TOS and really felt like a legitimate sequel to that original.
Looking back, it was so much easier to accept the lesser quality when it was first aired. The excitement of having new Trek every week was overpowering. Things I cringe at now, I really enjoyed back then. And I get a kick out of Picard's shouting ("turn off that damned noise!" - like he never heard the red alert before) and never shutting up in Farpoint. He just keeps TALKING.....
Well SSOSMCIN, I personally can not agree on the "Fight Scenes" in Season one.... I can count on one hand how many fight/action scenes there were in Season on and most of those were only for a few seconds.
• DataLore - which to me was the first good fight scene (between Data and Lore at the end)
• Too Short a Season - the first phaser firefight that I remember
• Code of Honor - Though I never liked the episode nor the fight scene
• Heart of Glory - Very little fighting but I'll count it anyways
• The Arsenal of Freedom - Decent scenes
Most of the above to me are kinda mediocre.... but then later on, you have the Borg, you have Worf's stories of fighting in the Holodeck, Worf fighting for his family's honor, killing Duras for killing his mate, the conflict in the Klingon Empire where the Romulans try and run the Federation blockade, Yesterdays Enterprise...... some are better then others, but I found the later season's action scenes to be a lot more in-depth, more involving and the effects a lot better as well.
To each their own I suppose.
• DataLore - which to me was the first good fight scene (between Data and Lore at the end)
• Too Short a Season - the first phaser firefight that I remember
• Code of Honor - Though I never liked the episode nor the fight scene
• Heart of Glory - Very little fighting but I'll count it anyways
• The Arsenal of Freedom - Decent scenes
Most of the above to me are kinda mediocre.... but then later on, you have the Borg, you have Worf's stories of fighting in the Holodeck, Worf fighting for his family's honor, killing Duras for killing his mate, the conflict in the Klingon Empire where the Romulans try and run the Federation blockade, Yesterdays Enterprise...... some are better then others, but I found the later season's action scenes to be a lot more in-depth, more involving and the effects a lot better as well.
To each their own I suppose.
Me too! All I've ever read in books is what a terrible episode is is, but I really liked it. I especially like that it's supposed to be cheesy and make no sense.
-jwb-
jwbraun.com
Sorry Praxius, you're going to have to use the other hand as well after all. You left out a couple of fight/action scenes.
The Last Outpost (action) Who can forget the Ferengi 'whip' attack on the crew and Portal's wicked cool
"attack" on Riker?
Hide and Q (fight) Had the attack of the 'vicious animal things'. And let's face it, have young Wes impaled through the back has to be right up there with "Shut Up Wesley!".
Home Soil (action) Showed Data playing a game of "dodge laser".
Conspiracy (fight/action) Quinn gives Riker an ass kicking, so Riker and Picard (action) go down and shoot up Starfleet Command.
However, with that said, I agree with your main point. The action and fight scenes got much better as the show went on.
The Last Outpost (action) Who can forget the Ferengi 'whip' attack on the crew and Portal's wicked cool
"attack" on Riker? Hide and Q (fight) Had the attack of the 'vicious animal things'. And let's face it, have young Wes impaled through the back has to be right up there with "Shut Up Wesley!".
Home Soil (action) Showed Data playing a game of "dodge laser".
Conspiracy (fight/action) Quinn gives Riker an ass kicking, so Riker and Picard (action) go down and shoot up Starfleet Command.
However, with that said, I agree with your main point. The action and fight scenes got much better as the show went on.
Sorry Praxius, you're going to have to use the other hand as well after all. You left out a couple of fight/action scenes.
The Last Outpost (action) Who can forget the Ferengi 'whip' attack on the crew and Portal's wicked cool
While I was aware of the conflict, it really wasn't very "Action based" since the Ferengi zapped the crap out of everybody before they had a chance to respond.... and the fight afterwards with the monkeys on their backs seemed more like a joke then a real fight..... so I personally didn't count that one.
Hide and Q (fight) Had the attack of the 'vicious animal things'. And let's face it, have young Wes impaled through the back has to be right up there with "Shut Up Wesley!".
That again to me wasn't really much of a battle or fight.... and I never really hated W. Crusher as much as everybody else seems to. He can be annoying at times, but the level of hatred I continually see from people (like enjoying that he was impaled, or told to shut up, or something unfortunate happens to him, or even when he leaves the show for the most part) I never quite got.
I actually skipped that episode, so my memory is hazy on that one.
I thought of that one as well but forgot about the fight on the ship.... all I remembered was the fire fight at the dinner table and then blowing Remmick's head apart. The fire fight didn't seem like much and was pretty quick, and since Remmick just sat there and took being shot to death, I didn't equate that as a fight scene.
It was cool and probably one of the more gruesome scenes of any of the TNG episodes (or any of the other ST shows for that matter) But a give and take fight that pulls the viewer in seemed to be lacking in that episode..... but once again, I forgot about a few of the elements, so I stand corrected.
Agreed... we just finished watching The Best of Both Worlds I & II just last night and is a prime example of where TNG was by the end of Season 3 from where they came from in Season 1.
Everything just seemed to be improved 10 fold.... the characters, uniforms, film/video quality, sound, music, special effects, stories, etc.
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