TNG on Netflix

[Bry_Sinclair]

With Star Trek now on Netflix (at least here in the UK), I decided to watch "Encounter At Farpoint" for the first time in years.

There are a few points of bad acting and that, but there are also a few points that are better than I remembered. Perhaps the biggest one, that I wished had been carried forward, was Troi's role. Her empathic abilities were horrendous (though that could explained away simply as the intensity of the alien emotions overpowering her), but she is far more involved in away missions and advising Picard, both of which seemed to be toned down again until she got back into uniform.

 

[Seven of Five]

I used a router redirect and watched USA Netflix, and watched TOS, TNG and all the films earlier this year. And then this happened, which is typical.

I've started watching DS9 now, to the annoyance of my husband. He thought I was done with this indulgence.

It's pretty awesome having Trek to hand on streaming anyway. I gave up Sky last year to save money and haven't missed it since. I love Netflix.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

It hopefully bodes well for the new series!

 

[Finn]

I think some scenes or portions of one were edited out in many of the Trek episodes on Netflix. I understand why they did it when it was on Spike then SyFy, but why Netflix as they don't stream commercials and advertisements?

 

[angry apple panda]

With Star Trek now on Netflix (at least here in the UK), I decided to watch "Encounter At Farpoint" for the first time in years.

There are a few points of bad acting and that, but there are also a few points that are better than I remembered. Perhaps the biggest one, that I wished had been carried forward, was Troi's role. Her empathic abilities were horrendous (though that could explained away simply as the intensity of the alien emotions overpowering her), but she is far more involved in away missions and advising Picard, both of which seemed to be toned down again until she got back into uniform.

Hey, at least they had Marina Sirtis in the role, who is actually a fairly competent actor. Could you have imagined a wooden performance by Persis Khambatta in what would have essentially been the same role in the aborted Phase II series? The answer is probably not, because we barely saw Khambatta act at all in TMP, but I always assume that it would have been horrendous, bless her heart.

"Encounter at Farpoint" is surprisingly well put together. I am always pleasantly surprised by the episode even today. The only real cringe-worthy part that makes me giggle is when they go to warp to try and escape Q, and Data says that they can go at whatever maximum warp velocity they were talking about, and then turns dramatically and says, "...at extreme risk." Oh no!

 

[BillJ]

Hey, at least they had Marina Sirtis in the role, who is actually a fairly competent actor.

Would you say the same thing if you had only seen "Encounter at Farpoint"? She was pretty cringeworthy there. Like Sirtis, I think Persis Khambatta would've grown into the role.

 

[Seven of Five]

Yeah who knows what could have happened? Though I actually liked Khambatta's performance in TMP. I always used to think it added to her alien mystique.

 

[angry apple panda]

Would you say the same thing if you had only seen "Encounter at Farpoint"? She was pretty cringeworthy there. Like Sirtis, I think Persis Khambatta would've grown into the role.

That's a very good point. They were both figuring things out still.

I also liked Persis in TMP, don't get me wrong, and her performance served the role. But I just have a feeling that if Robert Wise walked over to Persis and was all, "Alright, for this scene, you need to scream that you are sensing horrible, horrible pain coming from V'Ger!" that she might have not been able to manage it. But, I guess, who could really? You get really silly direction from a director, and sometimes you get a silly performance.

 

[Terok Nor]

Even though it's extremely dated it's still a good story and I don't think the TNG era could have asked for a better starting point.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Saving the giant space jellyfish never goes out of style.

 

[BillJ]

Even though it's extremely dated it's still a good story and I don't think the TNG era could have asked for a better starting point.

I've always enjoyed "Farpoint". I probably watched it a half-dozen times the week it premiered in 1987. But, we tend to rate the actors on their overall performance over the course of the series instead of an episode-by-episode basis. I tend to think we'd all be pretty critical of Marina Sirtis' performance if all we had was that single episode to judge her on.

 

[Terok Nor]

I've always enjoyed "Farpoint". I probably watched it a half-dozen times the week it premiered in 1987. But, we tend to rate the actors on their overall performance over the course of the series instead of an episode-by-episode basis. I tend to think we'd all be pretty critical of Marina Sirtis' performance if all we had was that single episode to judge her on.

You're right of course. Marina didn't exactly put in her greatest performance but thankfully it didn't take long to see she could act. I used to watch Farpoint and All Good Things together a lot when I was younger. All of the actors improved over time including Patrick Stewart although I think his acting was always fine and it was possibly Picard who improved over time.

 

[Finn]

I've always enjoyed "Farpoint". I probably watched it a half-dozen times the week it premiered in 1987.

How?

When does an new episode air six times in a week, before streaming was possible

I remember the agony of missing an episode and thinking I'd never get a chance to see it when the season was over. Then came along syndication, reruns on USA/Spike then Sci-fi. Then BOOM! Netflix

 

[Tosk]

How?

When does an new episode air six times in a week, before streaming was possible

Well, there used to be this thing called a VCR...

 

[BillJ]

Well, there used to be this thing called a VCR...

Winner!

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

That makes me feel old, lol!

 

[RAMA]

How?

When does an new episode air six times in a week, before streaming was possible

I remember the agony of missing an episode and thinking I'd never get a chance to see it when the season was over. Then came along syndication, reruns on USA/Spike then Sci-fi. Then BOOM! Netflix

I used to watch the episodes on VHS. Didnt get a VCR till the 1st season was almost half over.

In some areas, like here, they used to show the episodes twice a week on two stations. That's 4 airings. There was a time when they'd rerun TOS 10 times a week and STNG 4. Then DS9 came along..talk about over saturantion.

 

[Finn]

Yes. VHS.

 

[TheSeeker]

I tend to think we'd all be pretty critical of Marina Sirtis' performance if all we had was that single episode to judge her on.

Even Sirtis is critical of her performance in the pilot. She calls it cringe-worthy.

 

[Terok Nor]

Well, there used to be this thing called a VCR...