When did Star Trek on television hit its high water mark?

[Jedi_Master]

When did Star Trek on television hit its high water mark?

When was it at its peak quality, at its best? During the TOS era, during the Berman TNG/DS9/VOY era?

What caused it to decline, and when did it hit rock bottom?

 

[hux]

No poll?

People will be swayed by their own personal preferences but I think objectively, it has to be DS9. That show (after season 3) was brilliantly written with a huge cast of complex and interesting characters. There was so much going on and a rich thread of continuity. It successfully covered so many areas and so many issues

I prefer Voyager (purely for my own reasons) but DS9 is as close as Trek ever got to genuinely brilliant, intelligent television.

The decline wasn't due to any particular show (despite what others think). It was simply that there was too much of it and it became television wallpaper

 

[Jedi_Master]

I thought about having a poll, but I don't think I could make it accurate enough and provide enough options to satisfy my discerning customers.

 

[Ethros]

I'd say any time between the mid to late 90s for me, but to really narrow it down I'd say maybe 1997, after the success of First Contact DS9 & VOY really had some great runs. Notably the ends and beginnings of seasons in that year.
DS9 with the s5 finale Call To Arms and s6 opening with that great 6-parter, and Voyager with the awesome Scorpion 2-parter over s3 & 4, and the whole general reinvigoration the show had with Season 4 with the addition of Seven of Nine.
And I know special effects doesn't always equal good necessarily, but there were things in episodes around that time you started seeing that you'd never seen in TV Trek before. Whether it be all the DS9 battle scenes, Species 8472, great shots of Voyager landing on the planet in Demon, the crash in Timeless, etc etc



Of course I only started watching Trek in 1994, so I can't really comment on the years prior watching episodes "live." So I couldn't say on general popularity before that, but it felt to me around between and around Generations & First Contact in the mid 90s there were a lot of things going on- the big movie of Kirk meeting Picard, DS9 really picking up with the introduction of the Dominion and the Defiant, the launch of Voyager, Worf joining DS9 and the whole "the Klingons are bad again" got a lot of press attention, the 30th anniversary, First Contact getting great reviews and even non-Trek fans loving it, etc etc

That really was a great time to be a Trek fan

 

[martok2112]

I agree that Trek's best came when DS9's third season onward hit the air. DS9 had great character arcs, great story arcs, and also had the most epic visual feel of any of the other series.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I agree that Trek's best came when DS9's third season onward hit the air. DS9 had great character arcs, great story arcs, and also had the most epic visual feel of any of the other series.

I'd place it all the way from TNG season 3 to DS9 season 6.

If I had to pick on moment I guess I'd say All Good Things.

Low water mark has to be at the very end of Enterprise season 2.

 

[Maurice]

April 6, 1967.

 

[BillJ]

TOS seasons one and two.

 

[Kilana2]

For me it was shortly after I finished watching the ENT pilot.
I even switched of my TV when I tried to watch the new movies.

ENT never was able to fascinate me like the other shows. So I would say: high water mark was at its zenith towards the end of the nineties.

 

[Makarov]

Definitely the TNG/VOY era, ending pretty much with enterprise

 

[Shawnster]

Where is that line chart graphing the ratings for TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT?

 

[MacLeod]

I don't think you can say that ST had only one high water mark, rather it had several throught it's run.

 

[TheSubCommander]

2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th, 1997.

 

[Horizons96]

Even though 1996 for me is the best year of all Trek, the time I think Trek was best on television specifically was when TNG and DS9 were both occurring simultaneously.

TNG definitely became a milestone for both Trek and television overall.

 

[bbailey861]

April 6, 1967.

I see what you did there.

 

[martok2112]

2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th, 1997.

Judgment Day!

 

[HIjol]

I have watched Star Trek since September 8, 1966, and for me, it has been an ebb and flow of high and low water marks in each of the iterations. IMO, other than Enterprise, each had some excellent episodes.

 

[martok2112]

I have watched Star Trek since September 8, 1966, and for me, it has been an ebb and flow of high and low water marks in each of the iterations. IMO, other than Enterprise, each had some excellent episodes.

I have to say, two of my fave stories from Enterprise are the Augments three parter, and the Mirror Ep two parter (with T'pol in a TOS miniskirt uniform )

 

[HIjol]

Truth to tell, I watched the first few and then no more...maybe it is time now.

 

[BillJ]

Truth to tell, I watched the first few and then no more...maybe it is time now.

Enterprise isn't as good as it could have been, neither is it as bad as some folks make it out to be.