TNG two parters were better than TNG movies!

[Dream]

I've been rewatching TNG recently and I've noticed how much I've enjoyed the two parters on the show. I thought some of the two parters were so much better than the movies.

The Best of Both Worlds was better than First Contact. Nothing in FC was as chilling as seeing Locutus for the first time. No lame Borg Queen yet.

Unification made better use of Spock compared to how Generations used Kirk. The show actually gave a better ending to Spock and we of course got the mind meld between Spock and Picard. GEN had a bridge falling on Kirk.

Redemption was the better movie about civil war compared to the rebellion in Insurrection. Redemption was a huge story about the Klingon Empire with possible huge consequences for the galaxy if the Duras family had won. Insurrection had the crew defending a bunch of unlikable space hippies.

All Good Things was a better finale for the crew than Nemesis! No explanation needed.

Why do you guys think? Do you agree? Why did they drop the ball so much on the movies when they were doing so much better on the show?

 

[JRoss]

I agree. This could have been because the stakes are lower with an individual television story than with a feature film, so there were fewer interested parties pulling the project apart.

You did forget quite a few two-parters, though. Was it because you only wanted compare somewhat-analogous stories? I'd like to know what you thought of Time's Arrow, Gambit, Chain of Command and Descent? I can't remember any other two-parters.

 

[Dream]

I agree. This could have been because the stakes are lower with an individual television story than with a feature film, so there were fewer interested parties pulling the project apart.

You did forget quite a few two-parters, though. Was it because you only wanted compare somewhat-analogous stories? I'd like to know what you thought of Time's Arrow, Gambit, Chain of Command and Descent? I can't remember any other two-parters.

Yeah, I was going for the somewhat similar stories or themes.

Only Chain of Command is up there with the two parters I mention in my first post.

Also Encounter at Farpoint was a better intro to the new crew of the Enterprise D than Generations!

 

[Mott the barber]

I've been rewatching TNG recently and I've noticed how much I've enjoyed the two parters on the show. I thought some of the two parters were so much better than the movies.

The Best of Both Worlds was better than First Contact. Nothing in FC was as chilling as seeing Locutus for the first time. No lame Borg Queen yet.

Unification made better use of Spock compared to how Generations used Kirk. The show actually gave a better ending to Spock and we of course got the mind meld between Spock and Picard. GEN had a bridge falling on Kirk.

Redemption was the better movie about civil war compared to the rebellion in Insurrection. Redemption was a huge story about the Klingon Empire with possible huge consequences for the galaxy if the Duras family had won. Insurrection had the crew defending a bunch of unlikable space hippies.

All Good Things was a better finale for the crew than Nemesis! No explanation needed.

Why do you guys think? Do you agree? Why did they drop the ball so much on the movies when they were doing so much better on the show?

Nice analysis and I agree.

 

[SchwEnt]

TNG movies insisted upon replaying the same ideas of space action movie with villainous bad guy and compulsory space battle ending. And those aren't even TNG's strengths.

The two-parters offered up different stories and different ideas that the movies weren't willing to explore.

 

[Nacluv]

Before I bought the whole collection, I only had all the two-parters on DVD, edited into feature-length format.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_-_The_Complete_TV_Movies

 

[Mott the barber]

Before I bought the whole collection, I only had all the two-parters on DVD, edited into feature-length format.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_-_The_Complete_TV_Movies

That's pretty cool. Never knew about that release.

 

[Locutus of Board]

FC is the best one and is still pretty bad.

 

[Rarewolf]

Before I bought the whole collection, I only had all the two-parters on DVD, edited into feature-length format.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_-_The_Complete_TV_Movies

That's pretty cool. Never knew about that release.

Region 2 only. I picked it up cheap later to go with my Season sets, it has the Journey's End Documentary on it.

 

[Mr_Homn]

I try to pretend the TNG movies don't exist.

Luckily the series itself had a superb finale with a great sense of closure. Even if the anomaly thing makes no sense. (if it was growing backwards in time, then how were they able to see it in the future on the second trip to check it out??)

 

[davejames]

Yeah I think that's probably true. The TNG movies definitely have their moments, and I still find them fun to watch for the characters... but when it comes to the actual storytelling, the two-parters have them beat by a mile.

The movies were just focused way too much on action and giving the crew a generic villain to fight.

 

[Anwar]

The thing with TNG is that it wrapped itself up so well with All Good Things that it set the bar too high. And the show had 7 years to tell awesome stories.

Heck, imagine how awesome Yesterday's Enterprise would've been as the TOS/TNG crossover film with the Ent-A instead of the Ent-C.

 

[dg1379]

Before I bought the whole collection, I only had all the two-parters on DVD, edited into feature-length format.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_-_The_Complete_TV_Movies

Nice, something I would definitely had picked up if available here. I wonder if they will include ds9's pilot episode in the tng blurays since it has both series? Seeing Wolf359 would rock!

 

[Alex1939]

The movies did not do the series justice. A real shame for TNG as it was one of the best sci fi series ever.

 

[Mojochi]

I can't remember any other two-parters.

Time's Arrow, which is probably the weakest of the bunch, & yet still infinitely more enjoyable than a TNG movie

& Birthright, which really is stretching the two-part angle, since it's really two different stories about Data's dream program & then Worf's dad, & subsequent tale about the Klingon/Romulan commune/penal colony.

Probably should have just done two individual episodes for each story, but I can see the dilemma, Data's story didn't really have enough plot to be a whole episode, & Worf's was too much for one, but not enough for a two-parter. So they mashed it all up, which is forgivable since it was really a one time thing, & not a habitual practice

 

[JRoss]

Thanks, forgot about Birthright. I actually did mention Time's Arrow.

 

[davejames]

I've always been a big fan of Time's Arrow, what with the mystery behind Data's unearthed head, his interactions with Mark Twain, the fun of watching Picard and the rest in the 19th century, and the fairly creepy, life-force draining aliens.

Plus it was a nice change of pace from the usual Borg/Klingon/space battle-heavy finales we usually got.

I've just never understood the problem fans had with it.

 

[Mojochi]

I've just never understood the problem fans had with it.

It's kind of campy, but hey, it's not like it was the 1st or last time Star Trek was ever campy. I find it entertaining

Although, I have to imagine that Guinan would've had to flash some serious wealth around for her, a "woman of color", to be treated like a socialite in that era, even being as highly educated as she is

 

[NrobbieC]

I disagree, well I half disagree sort of. First Contact is the best of anything TNG, and also the best Trek film - my opinion there will never change. Generations gives them a run for their money but I would more than likely say it's better than the two-parters but it really depends what I'm in the mood for. Insurrection and Nemesis were about on par with TNG standard.

So to answer your bias question why did they drop the ball...they didn't. They could've done better but they didn't really do worse.

 

[Mr_Homn]

First Contact certainly was the best directed out of all the TNG films. Frakes did a hell of a job.

But the script was really, really dumb.

Someone else on this forum (Silversmok3) said it well:

"First Contact is like that girl at the bar who looks hot from across the room, but you get close and realize its actually Jabba the Hutt.At first the movie seems to make sense, then you think about its plot for a minute and the entire movie collapses on itself."

If you still think First Contact is the "best of anything TNG" after watching this, I don't know what to say:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Lr8cdZwHQ[/yt]