TNG Season One: Slooooooooooow

[C_Miller]

You know, thinking about it, even the gems are on the slow side. I enjoy most Trek and I have a relatively good attention span. However, I have trouble getting through Conspiracy, an episode I adore, simply because it's poorly paced.

 

[CoveTom]

^ That's sorta what I was trying to express too. I don't dislike season one. I think there are some great stories in there. But everything just feels a bit "off" in terms of pacing, almost like they didn't really have enough material to fill their hour and had to pace it all real slow.

 

[Amaris]

Season One can be quite slow at times, almost deliberate and plodding in it's pacing. That said, I still enjoy many of the episodes and now that I'm feeling nostalgic, I'm going to break out my Season One discs now.

J.

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

Okay, so actually, I am not a season one hater. I think there is alot of good in season one. I think some of the stories are quite intriguing, I think they took some risks they wouldn't have taken later (i.e. "Conspiracy"), I think the music was better, and so forth.

Unfortunately, I do not own TNG on DVD. However, one of my local stations has picked up the syndication run and so in the last week or two, I've been re-watching the season one episodes for the first time in a long time. And I've come to realize what it is that bothers me about those episodes.

Even though I think the stories are good, they feel so freaking slow. I'm not even sure it's the pacing of the episodes in terms of how it's edited and so forth. It really is the dialogue to me. It seems like the characters are speaking really slow and ponderously, that there are unnatural pauses, that people are stopping to think a whole hell of alot, and that it takes a long time for anyone to get to the point.

Has anyone else noticed this about season one? What do you think?

THis was a great episode and it is such a shame that they never continued this story line.

As far as Season 1 goes it is much better than season 2 which I rank as one of the worst ever.

Problems with season one are

1. Making it see that only the super smart and elite get int Star Fleet Academy.
2. Crusher and Troi really didn't work in this season, they were very underdeveloped.
3. Yarr didn't work fixed this however mid season.
4. Just a lack of overall chemistry.

 

[euphorik]

Okay, so actually, I am not a season one hater. I think there is alot of good in season one. I think some of the stories are quite intriguing, I think they took some risks they wouldn't have taken later (i.e. "Conspiracy")

does anyone else find "conspiracy" to be a really overrated episode? i'm not saying it's bad or anything, but i just never found all that great...

 

[Amaris]

Okay, so actually, I am not a season one hater. I think there is alot of good in season one. I think some of the stories are quite intriguing, I think they took some risks they wouldn't have taken later (i.e. "Conspiracy")

does anyone else find "conspiracy" to be a really overrated episode? i'm not saying it's bad or anything, but i just never found all that great...

I despise the episode, personally.


J.

 

[DevilEyes]

Season one is usually the weakest point in most series.

Prison Break and Lost had great first seasons and then kinda fell off, but for the most part I agree.

Lost did not fall off. It just slowed a little in season 2 and first part of season 3 because the network was expecting the showrunners to stretch the show to something like 9-10 seasons. Since they determined when the show would end (halfway through season 3), the show came with all guns blazing.

Anyway, lots of shows had great season 1 - Star Trek TOS, Lost, Battlestar Galactica (RDM), The Sopranos (seasons 1 and 3 were the best, the last 3 seasons were far weaker), Oz, Six Feet Under, Prison Break, Heroes (though it's painful to mention the last two in the same sentence as the previous ones).

 

[Balrog]

For some reason, I decided I was going to rewatch my TNG DVDs starting from Season 1. I hadn't cracked that season pack open... ever! It'd just been a part of my collection because, well, I admit I'm a completist!

I really hadn't watched season 1 for years, and I found myself rather nostalgic. I was a senior in high school when TNG first aired, and I would come home and watch the episodes on tape after being out partying with friends (I even still have those old VCR tapes!).

Season 1 was actually better than I remembered. At the time, I think I was annoyed Picard was no Kirk. But rewatching those early episodes, I really could appreciate how Stewart was playing him. The story plots weren't that bad either - yeah, a bit silly - but not BAD.

I'd say the worst part about season 1 was the dialogue. It was AWFUL. And other than Stewart, nobody could really deliver it well. And for the most part, if you excuse the dialogue, it's a good show.

Now, on to Season 2!

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Season 1 was actually better than I remembered. At the time, I think I was annoyed Picard was no Kirk. But rewatching those early episodes, I really could appreciate how Stewart was playing him. The story plots weren't that bad either - yeah, a bit silly - but not BAD.

I'd say the worst part about season 1 was the dialogue. It was AWFUL. And other than Stewart, nobody could really deliver it well.

Speak for yourself....

Denise Crosby and Levar Burton didn't do too bad....

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Re: The quality of 1st seasons: A TV writer/Producer described to me the current climate of getting a TV show greenlit as "Getting laid on the 1st date." Essentially, unlike TV before the 90s, current TV has to make a HUGE splash right out of the box, or it just won't survive. TNG's 1st season, if it aired today, would be a death knell for the series. That's why so many current shows either sink or swim based on how well their 1st seasons do (just look at how Firefly was cut off with a decidedly uneven-yet-promising 1st season). Think of it, Lost, BSG, and many other "success stories" of current TV had VERY strong 1st seasons (or pilots).

So yeah, TNG's 1st season is slow, uneven, awkward (with a few gems tossed in). But the series survived because of the franchise name and because, at the time, TV was a very different environment.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm sure there are other shows that have strong or pretty good first seasons, which then go downhill...

In my viewing exerpience, shows that usually start off too strong can't sustain the momentum because all the best material was put right up front. The better the first season, the sooner it crashes and burns.

 

[Balrog]

So yeah, TNG's 1st season is slow, uneven, awkward (with a few gems tossed in). But the series survived because of the franchise name and because, at the time, TV was a very different environment.

It also helped that TNG was one of the first to go with first-run syndication. They got a lot of latitude because they were pretty much the only game in town.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

^ Quite true. But that's part of the difference in TV show climate from over twenty years ago. There's no way that TNG survives today with a first season like that. Though, if it were developed today, there's no question that the first season would be much, MUCH stronger out-of-the gate.

In a way, it's a shame. Shows aren't allowed as much leeway to develop and find their true rhythm. They have to start so strongly that there isn't much room to develop or mature. Heck, TNG took until Season 3 before it really hit its stride. How many inconsistent shows nowadays are given that kind of latitude?

 

[buckeyenation]

Season One is perhaps the worst first season of any Trek franchise. There are way too may clunkers, way too much Wesley Crusher (although any Wesley Crusher is too much) too much bad acting, too may bad stupid story lines. I'm amazed the show even got a second season. Thank the Good Lord it did, though. Whatever problems there were got ironed out to the point that TNG became the best Trek franchise ever. Still, it took until season 3 for the show to really hit its stride.