What if Star Trek on TV ended with Next Generation?

[Luther Sloan]

If I was given the power to de-canonize anything it would be:

1. VOY's Threshold

Just doesn't make any sense.

2. All of Enterprise except In A Mirror Darkly l and ll

As much as I enjoyed a lot of the series. I would rather it be some unofficial parallel universe series that wasn't really tied to the Trek-verse.

3. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Just embarrassing on so many levels.

4. Star Trek: Insurrection

I used to like this movie. Now, it is on the same level of hate as Nemesis.

5. Star Trek: Nemesis

Pure stupidity in it's highest form

6. The Animated Series

Uh, yeah. It's a 1970's cartoon.

7. Star Trek: Generations

Besides the destruction of the Enterprise, it's just a boring movie. Plus, Kirk's story line and death was really lame.


However, seeing I don't have any say as to what is official or not official, I accept all the good and the bad that Star Trek has to offer.

 

[RandyS]

7. Star Trek: Generations

Besides the destruction of the Enterprise, it's just a boring movie. Plus, Kirk's story line and death was really lame.

As was the destruction of the Enterprise.

 

[Anji]

Personally, I would've stopped at the TNG TV series.

But so many people like DS9, VOY and ENT, I could not see denying them series that they enjoy.

Just because I don't like it, doesn't mean it isn't good.

 

[Luther Sloan]

As was the destruction of the Enterprise.

I just never was a fan of the ship to begin with. So it's destruction was cool.

Now, if they were to destroy the Defiant... i would have been ticked.

 

[Anwar]

...But they did.

I think the difference is that TOS showed the ENT hardly taking a scratch in battle and other Fed Starships were destroyed off-screen and the Defiant was never seriously damaged (and was one of the only Defiants) while we saw Galaxy-Classes getting blown up several times in TNG. So when the TOS Ent and the Defiant were destroyed it was more touching because neither had taken much damage, nor had we seen similar vessels taking much damage. The Galaxy-Class was a whipping boy.

 

[THE_FETT]

And went into movies full time.

I think it would have went out on top.

I'm not sure any of what followed TNG really matters to whether or not ST was successful or not at any given point past TNG. For all intents and purposes, the world only knows TOS and TNG; DS9, VOY and ENT really don't exist in the big picture. You ask the average person who Sisko, Janeway or Archer are and they'll not have a clue.

I don't think anything 'doomed' Star Trek at all. It was just that after TNG the franchise had pretty much run its course with TOS and TNG being counterparts. The movie runs of both series were about the same with the general public keeping up for a few, then moving on as they sputtered out the last few parts of each movie series.

The new movie will probably take its place as 'part 3' of The Great Star Trek run along with TOS and TNG. As much as I enjoy the others, I really don't think they matter at all in the 'grand design' and I don't think they did anything at all to affect whether or not ST went out 'on top' or on bottom or on the side for that matter.

 

[Lord Garth]

Lose DS9, VOY, and ENT but keep the TNG movies? No. There's no indication those "films" would be any different. I don't care about ENT so I could take it or leave it, but I'd sooner lose the TNG movies than DS9 and VOY.

BUT if Star Trek had ended on TV with TNG, we'd probably be getting a new series soon if not already. CBS would remember that TOS was one of the few shows to become more popular after it was canceled and they'd remember TNG's successful run in first-run syndication while the TOS movies were still running. CBS would see Star Trek as the exception to the rule of sci-fi being niche and would strike while the iron is hot.

If their new Star Trek was a success then they'd create several spin-offs like they've done with CSI and Law & Order. Basically, the over-saturation of Star Trek that happened in the '90s would happen in the '10s instead.

 

[Warped9]

I'm not sure any of what followed TNG really matters to whether or not ST was successful or not at any given point past TNG. For all intents and purposes, the world only knows TOS and TNG; DS9, VOY and ENT really don't exist in the big picture.

This is very true even if the fans of DS9, VOY and ENT don't like to hear it. Nothing Trek beyond TOS and TNG registers with the general public.

 

[DevilEyes]

I'm not sure any of what followed TNG really matters to whether or not ST was successful or not at any given point past TNG. For all intents and purposes, the world only knows TOS and TNG; DS9, VOY and ENT really don't exist in the big picture.

This is very true even if the fans of DS9, VOY and ENT don't like to hear it. Nothing Trek beyond TOS and TNG registers with the general public.

I am aware that it true, I just don't see why I should care what does or does not register with the general public. What effect does that have on me? Am I going to stop watching a show just because people at the grocery store haven't all heard of it? If that was an issue, I'd be watching Big Brother, not Star Trek.

 

[SFRabid]

It would have ended on a high note and with a lot more respect. And we wouldn't miss something we'd never seen. We certainly wouldn't have missed VOY and ENT.

Mayby you wouldn't have missed VOY and ENT but don't speak for we. Doing so turns your opinion or preference into a lie.

 

[SFRabid]

What if Trek ended with TOS and the desth of Spock in the movies. No awful first two seasons of TNG. No bad TNG movies. Not as many bad TOS movies. If you are going to end on a high note, end on a real high note. While we are at it, let's get rid of TOS season 3.

 

[Too Much Fun]

and what was Johnathan Frakes doing on DS9 or Voyager that took his attention away from directing schlock in First Contact?

Please don't take cheap shots like this. It's completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the argument you're making. It's just obnoxious.

I think the only positive that would have come out of Star Trek on TV ending after TNG is that we would have got better TNG films, since you could easily find at least half a dozen DS9 episodes that were better than "Generations", "Insurrection", and "Nemesis" in any given season of DS9 between 2 to 7.

I'm sure some of the people who came up with the ideas/scripts for DS9's best episodes would have been heavily involved in the TNG movie franchise if that show didn't exist. With their creativity put to use there, we may have got some of the best DS9 plots fleshed out on screen with the TNG crew or equally quality new ones. It wouldn't have been worth it, though.

I wouldn't want to sacrifice DS9's entire run, which was one of the best things ever to happen to the Star Trek franchise (and featured my favourite Star Trek character), just so we could have 4-7 TNG movies that the fan base almost unanimously agrees are pretty damn good overall, with each film having a significant number of supporters who favour it over others (as seems to be the case with the original series movies).

Instead we've got 4 films where 2 of them are almost universally despised and the other 2 are far from loved by everyone. It would be nice to talk about the TNG movies the way we talk about the original series movies - analyzing them to talk mostly about what we like/find most memorable about them, instead of only analyzing them to tear them down or talk about how or why they could have been better all the time.

It would be lovely to live in a world where I don't have to constantly defend "Star Trek: First Contact" against people are against it and those who like one of the others most are in even more of a minority than I am. Why "Star Trek: First Contact" is not held in the same regard as "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" is still beyond me (and no, I don't need to hear the arguments against it again. I've heard them too many times already, they don't compute to me, and I don't think they ever will. ), but perhaps some of the issues people have with it may have been resolved if there weren't two other Star Trek shows going on at the same time, spreading Star Trek's creative staff too thin to invest all of their time and energy into the movie franchise.

 

[Warped9]

I'm not sure any of what followed TNG really matters to whether or not ST was successful or not at any given point past TNG. For all intents and purposes, the world only knows TOS and TNG; DS9, VOY and ENT really don't exist in the big picture.

This is very true even if the fans of DS9, VOY and ENT don't like to hear it. Nothing Trek beyond TOS and TNG registers with the general public.

I am aware that it true, I just don't see why I should care what does or does not register with the general public. What effect does that have on me? Am I going to stop watching a show just because people at the grocery store haven't all heard of it? If that was an issue, I'd be watching Big Brother, not Star Trek.

My essential point is that I know there are a lot of fans who would like a film or another series that focuses on DS9 or VOY or even ENT, and that just isn't going to happen.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

We would've missed out on a lot of quality stories and some of the most memorable characters of the franchise. Yes, TNG was special but I don't think ending with it would've done anything for the franchise.

I totally agree. The only thing it would have done would have turned John Luc Picard into even more of an action hero in between Patrick Stewart's Shakespeare performances. Think Stallone or Schwarzenegger, or any other action stars of the 1990s that any Trek feature film would be competing with at the box office as all of the 90s Trek movies were scifi action movies.

With VOY there were many more things from the 24th century that we continued to learn about in the Trek original canon timeline including future technologies and ship design.

With ENT we were able to see many things that happened in the from the 22nd century that we continued to learn about in the Trek original canon timeline including early Warp ship design, the political organizations like Coalition of Planets before the formation of The United Federation of Planets, the interstellar federal republic.

 

[Myasishchev]

...But they did.

I think the difference is that TOS showed the ENT hardly taking a scratch in battle and other Fed Starships were destroyed off-screen and the Defiant was never seriously damaged (and was one of the only Defiants) while we saw Galaxy-Classes getting blown up several times in TNG. So when the TOS Ent and the Defiant were destroyed it was more touching because neither had taken much damage, nor had we seen similar vessels taking much damage. The Galaxy-Class was a whipping boy.

Yeah, I think the Galaxy was the most-destroyed class in Trek history. Especially if you count Cause and Effect.

(Jemmie bugs may beat it out. Hard to say.)

Please don't take cheap shots like this. It's completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the argument you're making. It's just obnoxious.

Don't take it personally. Instead, just trash Search for Spock to get back at me.

 

[C.E. Evans]

The Galaxy-Class was a whipping boy.

Yeah, I think the Galaxy was the most-destroyed class in Trek history.

That honor probably goes to the Oberth-class. Four of them were lost during TNG alone...yikes!

 

[Anwar]

And Search for Spock, where it's destroyed in its first appearance, and in DS9's premiere where it's on-screen for half a second before being blown up.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Yeah. If I was in Starfleet and learned that I was going to be assigned to an Oberth-class ship, I'd probably resign or make sure my will was up to date before coming aboard...

 

[Too Much Fun]

Don't take it personally. Instead, just trash Search for Spock to get back at me.

I'm glad we've come to an understanding. I wasn't very impressed by that movie (I only like parts of it and hate a huge stretch of it, which is why I bought the movies that happened right before it, but left it out of my collection), but I'm too nice to 'trash' stuff people like. I try to be tactful and polite when voicing my disapproval of a film. Sometimes passion does get the better of me and I get a little snide, though.

 

[Myasishchev]

Bah, fine, I'll do it!

What kind of idiot Starfleet quarantines a solar system based on the Honor System?