Why is TOS the best..?

[Alienesse]

Well, for one thing they haven't yet decided that all of the characters are legendary heroic role models for the world or that everything about Trek is terribly profound and important. They're trying real hard to be entertaining, and - particularly in those days - that includes a lot of action and humor.

Very good point. It's interesting that the main reason why I love TNG and DS9 is that they go for the profound and the important. Yet, when I saw TOS I felt it was a completely different breed of Trek and although it's not easy to admit this after being a TNG fan for a long time, I liked it better than all the others exactly because it's the most entertaining. That's not to say they didn't have profound moments and important ideas, because they did, but maybe they didn't take themselves so seriously and in the end that gave the whole thing a sense of lightheartedness, which can be a very comforting quality in a TV show.

When I watched TNG, I really enjoyed it. Part of that was just being able to watch "new" Star Trek episodes, something that hadn't been seen since 1969. So, a lot was forgiven (except for the first 2 seasons where the actors were still searching for their character's persona). But upon reflection, watching episodes again, I'm actually a bit annoyed at all of the techno-babble.

Yes! I feel the same way. I never understood people's objections to TNG technobabble until I saw TOS. Before TOS, I thought it was cool to have people on a spaceship talking about all kinds of complicated technological stuff, but now I feel that it takes away from character interaction and story development. I keep thinking they could have used all that screen time for some meaningful conversations between the characters the way they did in TOS.

Although the scenes depicting the friendship between Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty were too few, there was enough shown to get a feeling about those relationships. And despite TNG having far more air time (more than double the seasons), you didn't get as much of an "honest" feeling about relationships between the primary characters.

You've again captured my own feelings. One of the greatest things about TOS is the relationship between the characters. And it's the way that relationship is shown, not just what the scripts say about it. There are wonderful moments where the strongest form of communication between Kirk, Spock and McCoy is that without words. The way they look at each other is enough to see that these guys love each other in the most sincere way possible. And that sense of honest friendship and camaraderie is what made me love these characters.

But, it's a show. It's entertainment. And nitpicking on the US Constitution appearing in an alien culture is just fruitless.

Absolutely! Taking it as what it is, a show, can save one a lot of grief and wasted time. You just have to go with it and enjoy yourself.

It's really quite amazing what these people did back then. All of the people who discard TOS in favor of the other series completely miss that. They're locked in a perspective that doesn't allow them to appreciate it. Those who get it, do so in a very strong way.

My first taste of TOS was a documentary called "How William Shatner Changed The World" and I was simply amazed to see how little technology they had back then and how all those extraordinary gadgets they had on the show actually came from the need to cover for a low budget. Not to mention the fact they used jelly beans for the console buttons and they had to pull strings to open the "automatic" doors. For me that was a bit of a shock because, well, we do have real automatic doors and real computers now. It made me realize the original Star Trek wasn't just any show. Those people managed to create a vision of the future out of nothing really. That takes tremendous creativity and intelligence and they deserve the utmost respect.

 

[T'Bonz]

For me, the Big Three was never matched. Kirk, Spock and McCoy were the best thing about Star Trek. Kirk was young, energetic and decisive.

The only other Trek series that came close to having characters that were appealing was DS9, where even some of the non-major characters were awesome, like Garak or Weyoun. TNG only had Picard and Data and too often, Picard was stuffy. The captains of both VOY and ENT were written so erratically as to make them less than appealing to me.

TNG hasn't aged well. Today it seems so preachy.

 

[Gary7]

For me, the Big Three was never matched. Kirk, Spock and McCoy were the best thing about Star Trek. Kirk was young, energetic and decisive.

The only other Trek series that came close to having characters that were appealing was DS9, where even some of the non-major characters were awesome, like Garak or Weyoun. TNG only had Picard and Data and too often, Picard was stuffy. The captains of both VOY and ENT were written so erratically as to make them less than appealing to me.

TNG hasn't aged well. Today it seems so preachy.

I agree with most everything you said. Definite nods to the Garak and Weyoun characters. Jeffrey Combs was terrific as Weyoun and I was glad to see him return as Admiral Shran in Enterprise. Patrick Stewart did a great job as Captain overall, yet there was definitely something lacking in the personable department... I tend to see it as more of fault with the writers and directors, though. Stewart is an amazing full range actor.

TNG definitely hasn't aged well... I didn't think about preachy before, but I can see it now. And I found the whole claim of "money isn't used in the 24th century" to be just ridiculous, especially as they crossed that boundary so many times. DS9 amplified it further, with Quark yearning for gold press latinum in almost every episode.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

You know something else that I like about TOS? It's unafraid to be goofy every once in a while. Or, to put it a little more simply, Picard never ran into any telekinetic aliens in togas.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Although not regarded as the accepted wisdom; the first two seasons of TNG were the most enjoyable for me. It certainly felt the most "TOSlike" in terms of overall feel. I'm sure many will vehemently disagree, but season three signalled the beginning of Berman template Trek; which although I still enjoy greatly, does somewhat seem to lack what we've all been talking about - fun, energy, colour, adventure. I'm not talking about Insurrection type "boobs" humour or slapstick here either; just, well, fun. I felt a measure of colour begin to return with Enterprise S4, and for all the modern gloss of JJ Trek - the 2009 movie recaptured the TOS "feeling" perfectly for me. As much as I expected to hate that film going in, I came out thinking how great it was to get "my Star Trek" back!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Although not regarded as the accepted wisdom; the first two seasons of TNG were the most enjoyable for me. It certainly felt the most "TOSlike" in terms of overall feel.

I didn't care much for a lot of season two - there are a few stand-out episodes and a lot of confused stumbling about - but I generally agree with you.

A new series has a freshness about it as the writers and actors discover the characters and experiment with what kinds of stories work for the show. TNG's problem, sadly enough, was that it didn't get "good" in some respects until its third year but by the time they really had a handle on what kinds of stories worked best for them the period of experimentation and character definition that made the series exciting was well past. So TNG was always a little schizophrenic; it was in a certain sense two pretty good TV series that never came together to be one really great one. It remains my favorite of all the modern Trek shows, though.

 

[Gary7]

Although not regarded as the accepted wisdom; the first two seasons of TNG were the most enjoyable for me. It certainly felt the most "TOSlike" in terms of overall feel. I'm sure many will vehemently disagree, but season three signalled the beginning of Berman template Trek; which although I still enjoy greatly, does somewhat seem to lack what we've all been talking about - fun, energy, colour, adventure. I'm not talking about Insurrection type "boobs" humour or slapstick here either; just, well, fun.

I'd agree that the first two seasons had stories that felt more TOS like. And there was a certain "unpolished" feel that gave it more grit. But the problem for me was that most of the actors hadn't settled into their roles. Stewart didn't feel comfortable. Spiner was a little bit silly. Sirtis was terrible. Dorn was trying to hard to be Klingon. Wheaton was way too "kid" like. On the other hand, I found Frakes more likable. He became much stiffer and less "honest" to me later on. His performance became more professional, but less interesting.

 

[BillJ]

Although not regarded as the accepted wisdom; the first two seasons of TNG were the most enjoyable for me. It certainly felt the most "TOSlike" in terms of overall feel. I'm sure many will vehemently disagree, but season three signalled the beginning of Berman template Trek; which although I still enjoy greatly, does somewhat seem to lack what we've all been talking about - fun, energy, colour, adventure. I'm not talking about Insurrection type "boobs" humour or slapstick here either; just, well, fun.

I'd agree that the first two seasons had stories that felt more TOS like. And there was a certain "unpolished" feel that gave it more grit. But the problem for me was that most of the actors hadn't settled into their roles. Stewart didn't feel comfortable. Spiner was a little bit silly. Sirtis was terrible. Dorn was trying to hard to be Klingon. Wheaton was way too "kid" like. On the other hand, I found Frakes more likable. He became much stiffer and less "honest" to me later on. His performance became more professional, but less interesting.

Count me as someone who found the first two seasons of TNG the most enjoyable of Modern Trek.

 

[Ssosmcin]

A lot of the reasons why I love original Trek have already been stated here: the big 3, the cast, the fun, the music, etc. There was also a sense of The Unknown. Trek was making this up with every episode, with no comfort zone aliens to fall back on. By the time TNG came around, the galaxy seemed pretty crowded, and they had plenty of old series races to prop up episodes. And while they paid lip service to exploration, for the majority of TNG, the Enterprise was responding to distress calls and assisting Federation outposts. Also, later Trek worked within the "Humans Are Perfect and Wonderful" mantra adopted by Roddenberry and jealously guarded by Rick Berman. They had to rely on non-humans for interpersonal conflict. Not so the original, where humanity was growing up, but still savage to a degree, unpredictable, and with faults. There were still examples of prejudice, misjudgment, and greed. Star Trek wasn't created to detail 23rd century man. The purpose was to show "contemporary man in a futuristic setting." Roddenberry lost sight of that with TNG.

I also like adventure television, and Star Trek was true sci-fi/adventure. TNG became sci-fi/drama, which isn't BAD, just not as much fun. Also, being an old fogey, I prefer my casts to be lean, with one or two central main characters, and a bunch of supporting folks. Now everything's an ensemble, with literally everyone getting an entire episode. There's nothing less exciting than seeing the previews for an episode about Geordi, or Troi, or Harry Kim, or Rom, or Travis Mayweather. Not to mention kissing the ass of the bosses wife with Mrs. Troi episodes, or the never ending Q appearances. But give me a story about Scotty being possessed by Redjac, and you still wind up with Kirk and Spock leading the way, with exotic dancers and fist fights.

It was the 60's and 60's TV was full of fun and energy. Everything was larger than life because, for the most part, life sucked. TV took everyone's minds off the racial tensions, the cold war, the fear of sudden nuclear annihilation, and Viet Nam. Look at any TV schedule from 1966 to 1969 and try to find the relevant programming. Nope, TV was geared toward fun, so whatever messages anyone wanted to impart had to be wrapped in razzle dazzle. By 1988, in contrast, Tasha Yar was telling Wesley straight out "don't do drugs, drugs are baaaad." I'd rather deal with the back on the right-side racism, because at least that has some energy.

Finally, one major reason why the original series will always be my favorite: no holodeck adventures. Ever.