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When did Star Trek jump the shark?

It jumped the shark after The Cage, but has been hanging in the air since due to a time dialation field. It has yet to complete the jump.
 
If you're thinking of Star Trek as a complete franchise, whose first pilot began production in 1964 and is in production today, then I have to agree with CorporalCaptain and BlobVanDam and say Trek never jumped. At any moment in time, it's conceivable that a quality script with good acting could yet emerge from this franchise.
It didn't always feel that way.

After VOY, INT, and NEM, I pretty much despaired of the franchise returning to quality. So down was I on Trek that I didn't even watch ENT in first run. So yeah, I'd say it jumped at some point. A successful reboot doesn't mean it never jumped.

I don't know exactly when it jumped, but Quark gave a fitting epitaph: "The more things change, the more they stay the same." The end of DS9 was the end of originality and inspiration in Trek.
 
I know a substantial group of ST fans who felt that, while ST didn't actually "jump the shark", it certainly jumped a few humpback whales.

For some of our club members, who walked away from Trek fandom in disgust, "ST IV: The Voyage Home" marked the "dumbing down" of the franchise, and it certainly did bring many more casual fans and members of the general public into cinemas, fan clubs, and into buying the licensed tie-ins. While many see ST IV as a high point, and a critical and financial success, others saw it as the beginning of the end.

Our club even ran a cool debate at a mini convention called "ST IV and Against".

As for DS9, didn't it almost jump the shark when Quark underwent his sex change? ;)
 
Star Trek jumped the shark with TNG, un-jumped with DS9, and then jumped again with all the rest.
 
Star Trek XI

Star Trek (XI/2009)


Not this again...:lol:

Resistance is futile. ;)

But seriously, this is when it jumped the shark for me. Everything up to that point I could enjoy and appreciate - even the lowest of VOY and the first two seasons of ENT.

Surely you can only tell if something's jumped the shark retrospectively? The show becomes crap and you look back and say "aha, that was the moment they lost it". If a new instalment comes out that you don't like, you can't say the shark has been jumped right away, because the next instalment could be great.
 
Star Trek 09 was the best movie the franchise has produced in years (since 1996's FC), if anything it should be class as 'doing a Brodie to the Shark'.

Some of the Continunity Porn in ENT Season 4 could be classed as jumping the shark. Despite the fact the Augment and Klingon arcs were really good, they were a tad over the top, it seemed as if Manny Coto was just trying to create a Season that hardcore fans would appreciate, because of the Cancellation. It was kinda like they had given up on ENT ever being saved from Cancellation and just thought "You know what? Lets just fix some minor loose ends from earlier shows in the most in depth way possible".
 
Some would argue that the type of storiues ENT was doing in S4 was what they should have been doing from the start. Actually telling the story of how the Federation came into being.

Yes perhaps S4 of ENT focused a bit too much on that aspect of story telling, so perhaps it was finding a balance of the more exploration stories of S1-2 and Federation building of S4.
 
Re: When did Star Trek jump the shark?

When they decided to do a prequel to 'Star trek' and didn't bother watching the show they were supposed to be prequelising.

No wait...

Star Trek jumped the shark when they decided to remake 'Lost in Space'
 
Surely you can only tell if something's jumped the shark retrospectively? The show becomes crap and you look back and say "aha, that was the moment they lost it".
We've had two years to "retrospect." The next movie will be by the same people , employing the same philosophy. Since these people won't admit they did anything wrong, there should be no expectation that anything will be fixed.

So ST11 is a "Jump the Shark" moment.

:)
 
Two words: Scott Bakula.

Imagine: a parallel universe where we got Richard Dean Anderson as Archer instead. :)

I still can't get over them trying to pass off an unmodified Giraffe skull as belonging to the extinct Avian Xindi. :wtf:
 
And I think it really jumped back over the shark again with Wrath of Khan, since they started ruining the old Star Trek by destroying the morals of the original series, as well as destroying where they had already boldly gone before, much better.


Absolutely. I mean... I don't even necessarily agree about the "jumping the shark" thing, but definitely about Wrath of Khan.

I cannot believe that is the most popular film among Trek fans. It's....meh. The villain is a dumb hick. Even more so than Nero.

None of it really made much sense, and they should've left it alone. :p

Also, on a more serious note, Khan is retarded..... I just wanted to put it out there, ya know, since I haven't done it about a million times already. ;)
 
I got to agree, having too many shows and movies out near the same time was jumping shark in itself.

I remember, the shows and movies were losing its appeal. There was no science fiction awe, no sense of being surprised by anything anymore.


If by Jumping the Shark we mean when a scene or episode goes so over the top it's considered ridiculous -

Or when the writers run out of ideas and will try anything...

Then yes, for DS9, when Quark pretended to be a woman. Under that definition it's getting harder to defend DS9.
 
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