*Why* are TNG Seasons 1 & 2 Bad?

[Emperor Norton]

That was awesome.. Bloody awesome

It gives a window that even at the time, people were annoyed by everyone being perfect people without conflict. As well as the opinion that such a show disappointed the fans, made it seemed like only the original Star Trek worked, and that the show was going to die.

 

[suarezguy]

I think as a whole season 2 is a lot better than season 7 as a whole.

I think season 1 and 2 are on par with 6 and much better than 7.

 

[BlueshirtGuard]

I think season 1 and 2 are on par with 6 and much better than 7.

I agree that season 2 is on par with 7, not sure about 6.
Heres my run down

27. 11/19/88 127 42073.1 The Child - okay kinda boring
28. 11/26/88 128 42193.6 Where Silence Has Lease - good. Really liked the mystery and conflict
29. 12/03/88 129 42286.3 Elementary, Dear Data - good,
30. 12/10/88 130 42402.7 The Outrageous Okona -shit terrible
31. 01/07/89 132 42477.2 Loud As A Whisper - I actually really liked this one. Riva was very good
32. 01/21/89 131 42437.5 The Schizoid Man - bad
33. 01/28/89 133 42494.8 Unnatural Selection - bad Pulaski episode eww
34. 02/04/89 134 42506.5 A Matter Of Honor - good
35. 02/11/89 135 42523.7 The Measure Of A Man - Great
36. 02/18/89 136 42568.8 The Dauphin - surprisingly Okay for a wesley show
37. 03/18/89 137 42609.1 Contagion - Great I loved the computer glitches
38. 03/25/89 138 42625.4 The Royale - I found it charming solid episode. A much better take on some TOS ideas
39. 04/01/89 139 42679.2 Time Squared - Great
40. 04/22/89 140 42686.4 The Icarus Factor - good character episode
41. 04/29/89 141 42695.3 Pen Pals -okay prime directive episode
42. 05/06/89 142 42761.3 Q Who - Great Q and the borg
43. 05/13/89 143 42779.1 Samaritan Snare - bad
44. 05/20/89 144 42823.2 Up The Long Ladder -bad
45. 06/17/89 145 42859.2 Manhunt - okay kinda fun
46. 06/24/89 146 42901.3 The Emissary - good
47. 07/08/89 147 42923.4 Peak Performance - good
48. 07/15/89 148 42976.1 Shades Of Gray -horrible shit clip show

Overall it really was on par with the rest of the series. Pulaski, the clip show and okana brought it down a bit but there was plenty awesomeness in there.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Samaritan_Snare_(episode)

 

[Emperor Norton]

Season 7 had the problem of losing Piller and having to find its footing again. The early part of the season feels bad, but I liked the latter half. It felt like it got back on track, unfortunately only to end thereafter. But the latter half was good such that I could have seen the show going into an 8th season. I remember watching the first half during my netflix marathon of the entire series recently, and not remembering it as being as bad as it was on that viewing. It felt like something was off, which it was.

 

[suarezguy]

I thought most of season 7 felt too heavy on technobabble and reset button-pressing, those occurred occasionally in pretty small amounts but only massively a handful of times before the last season.

 

[bigdaddy]

All I remember of season 7, besides the awesome final, was there seemed to be a lot of family members no one seemed to know about for 6 years. Then Masks. Awful.

 

[Emperor Norton]

All I remember of season 7, besides the awesome final, was there seemed to be a lot of family members no one seemed to know about for 6 years. Then Masks. Awful.

I...I liked Masks.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

In Conspiracy I noticed that a similar design was used for aliens in Babylon 5 in a story that was similar to conspiracy. Just it threw me a bit when I watched Babylon 5 to see the same kind of aliens and a similar story.

 

[RAMA]

I like a lot of season 1. Season 2 to me is the worst of the series. Even so there are problems. It's difficult to explain, however.

First: Gene's influence is most felt here. It's a pro and a con. It's important that a new trek have both an evolved real-world philosophy and in-universe sensibility. The starting point of topicality it is argued from positivity, which is rare if not unique to this show. Unfortunately as some have pointed out, Gene was not at the height of his mental powers or influence. The stories had some decent philosophy but were executed oddly.. With dialogue or story points that were awkward and writers who could not write in the unique format.

The show itself was unsettled, both in creative and technical personnel, but also with actors. It's to be expected after 18 years and recreating a classic.

On the pro side. Creative music. Cool, contrasty photography shot more like a movie than later seasons. Some of the stories couldn't have been shot on any other show discussing such topics. Most of all the series got the "feel" right.

Eventually consistency caught up with the format. I really wouldn't have the 7 seasons any other way.

 

[Emperor Norton]

Pulaski also really does not work. There's been revisionism that "oh, she had an interesting relationship with Troi that could have developed". But she does feel like a third wheel. She is a McCoy derivative who doesn't fit in to the series. Her adversarial relationship with Data does not work, because Data is not Spock. He is not an acerbic wit that goads her. He's an innocent who is trying to be more human. She's a bully, and her hostility comes across as petty and mean.

 

[Sakonna]

Pulaski also really does not work. There's been revisionism that "oh, she had an interesting relationship with Troi that could have developed". But she does feel like a third wheel. She is a McCoy derivative who doesn't fit in to the series. Her adversarial relationship with Data does not work, because Data is not Spock. He is not an acerbic wit that goads her. He's an innocent who is trying to be more human. She's a bully, and her hostility comes across as petty and mean.

I don't know if this counts as revisionism, but I really enjoy Pulaski... as a one-season interlude from Crusher. I completely agree switching Pulaski out was the right move for the series long term, but I also like having the year with her. The core 7 TNG characters have such strong chemistry with each other, it's interesting to have a season with a less harmonious member in the ensemble.

(I think this perspective is informed by the fact that I discovered TNG in the 5th season, and there was something intriguing about piecing together season 2 in non-sequential reruns and trying to figure out what the story was with this doctor and where Beverly had gone too)

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I actually have grown to like Pulaski, and while Crusher is my favourite I have grown to like her after watching season 2 again. I never found her as a "McCoy wannabe"

 

[Paradise City]

Pulaski is cool. I'd normally moan about a McCoy redux. She actually does a good job all-in-all. She's more of a resistive character, a little more conflict (which slightly goes against the no-conflict ethos ascribed to the Roddenberry era) whereas Crusher meshes with the larger ensemble and almost always gets on with everybody.

 

[Armus]

Let me say that I am not disagreeing with the assessment that the early seasons of TNG are not the best. Their episodes range from lackluster to outright bad. And season 1 is likely the worst culprit. However, my question is exactly why are they bad? I have trouble putting the problems into words. There are problems with the stories, but there is also something fundamentally different and deeper compared to later seasons. It is a certain undefined quality I cannot put into words. It's something in the way characters act and interact and what they say, and how this fictional world feels.

The first dozen episodes are bad and I don't rewatch them but the second half of season one contain my favorite Star Treks of all time. "Heart Of Glory" represents what was so awesome about early TNG. The opening act where the Away team explores the ship and discovers the Klingons is produced in such away as to mine as much visceral suspense and excitement possible. None of the later episodes bring me as much pleasure. Others posters can provide a better analysis of the style and content of these episodes than I can.

 

[LJones41]

Wasn't Gene Roddenberry still alive during the first two seasons? I heard that his reputation as a writer was a bit exaggerated.

 

[Armus]

Wasn't Gene Roddenberry still alive during the first two seasons? I heard that his reputation as a writer was a bit exaggerated.

Gene died in 1991 in the middle of season 5. He, or his lawyer, rewrote some early first season episodes.

 

[Mojochi]

What? Beverly had no personality.

Correct...

Oh... C'mon... She had a personality. She was an overbearing mother & general nuisance to anyone who wasn't a PC bleeding heart like her. If she'd had any more personality, Picard would've hung himself with an unraveled croissant.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Oh... C'mon... She had a personality. She was an overbearing mother & general nuisance to anyone who wasn't a PC bleeding heart like her. If she'd had any more personality, Picard would've hung himself with an unraveled croissant.

Yeah but then why the hell did he fancy her so much in later TNG?

 

[UnknownSample]

She was mild and breathy and just sort of passive and gentle. I couldn't imagine her getting her hands dirty or really caring about anything.

 

[gamer1]

The first seasons aren't bad at all. The problem is that Star Trek is a show about the Crew, the story is second. The personas weren't established in the first seasons and thus we don't feel for them. The first seasons of DS9 were lackluster too.