Best Star Trek series (other than the real one)

[Bucky]

Poll question: Best Star Trek series (other than the real one)

Personally I've never understood why TNG could run seven seasons of soft pablum button-mashing, but valiant effort like Enterprise got canned after four. But don't let me prejudice this poll. Which of the four was the best? Be prepared for me to make fun of your wrong opinions.

The best one was...

[Mutley]

1. I liked Voyager.

As cheesy as it was, for some reason it just held my interest more than the others.

[Ian David]

4. I liked Six of Nine.

I mean Seven of Nine.

I WANTED her to be Six of Nine.

Apparently, so did her husband, which eventually cost him his (republican) political career.

[Mutley]

7. ...

:spray:

:thumbsup:

[chknltl]

24. T'Pol made 7 0f 9 look like 6 out of 10!

My one sexist remark of the month...I feel guilty but resistance was indeed futile!

[mwooldri]

17. I liked Voyager so much I bought the videos of them.

If I genuinely like a TV series I'd buy the show (at that time I couldn't afford all the Voyager tapes so I just got some). Star Trek Voyager and Doctor Who are the only TV shows I really had to buy.

Mark.

[Bucky]

2. For me the second best was Deep Space Nine

I liked the idea of them settling down somewhere and getting a close look at at the long term effects of all the wars Trekkies were always fighting with the several space races of prosthetic forheads.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. I'd even call it the best...

it had a great backstory, some of the best writing, and the most interesting and complex characters.

Ferenghi and Klingons who weren't comic book villains, Bejoran infighting and that marvelous Kai ripped straight from MacBeth, the mysterious tailor and tragic shapeshifter... the unfolding of the characters alone made it worth watching.

[TOhioLiberal]

3. Voyager...

...although I've found something to like about all the Star Trek series.

[Ian David]

5. Notice that nobody gave a shit when they canceled Andromeda?

They didn't even have an Andromeda fan group at the sci-fi convention because nobody even asked them for it.

There was a Babylon 5 fan group... a Logan's Run fan group... a Serenity fan group... even a Dark Skies and Tekwar fan group. Andromeda? No.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. I noticed, but nobody noticed I noticed, and...

I still have the hots for Lexa Doig.

[Deja Q]

6. Toss-up between TNG and Voyager.

It's easy to see how Janeway could get promoted and not Picard... Voyager also seems the closest to feeling like TOS, even if the mission is the opposite.

Though at the same time, Janeway's voyage is to go home whereas Picard is venturing out, even when Q keeps telling him to go home!

[Bucky]

10. The problem with TNG is that Picard was the only interesting character

And even he was pretty boring in the early episodes. I think part of its popularity was due to the extreme drought of decent sci fi at the time--people were willing to sacrifice little things like character, plausibility, dramatic tension, orginality, and plot.

[Ian David]

11. I blame Star Trek: TNG for General Wesley Clark not getting the Dem nomination

"Shut-up, Wesley!"

It's just so engrained in the American psyche now.

[LeftyMom]

12. It had a few really good episodes

but yeah, in a better climate (most of the TV on the air at that time, sci fi or not, was horrible) it wouldn't have made it long enough to get past the horrible first season.

Some of the episodes are really awesome though. And not only the obvious ones like TBOBW and AGT, the one that always comes to mind for me is Lower Decks. It's a great episode on it's own, it has to develop characters one cares about in a single episode and does to sucessfuly, it's not aping anything from TOS, and not reliant on special effects to tell a good story.

[Deja Q]

15. Everybody knows it's Data who's the most human character on TNG...

:hide:

I prefer early TNG anyway - later years got horribly preachy and lamentable with the technobabble... though season 7 was quite an improvement...

And TNG set the trend for soap opera sci-fi (or sci-fantasy). Which is amusing, some of the soap opera element was uplifted from the original "Battlestar Galactica"...

[bluedigger]

13. Tough call between TNG and DS9

but I have to go with DS9, I think. TNG set the technical standards and had some of my favorite episodes, but DS9 had better developed and more interesting characters, more continuing plot lines, and made you want to tune in each week.
The Dallas of the Star Trek universe.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

14. Enterprise....

Best one next to the original.

edit: except for the sucktacular theme song.

[judaspriestess]

19. I love Enterprise

Scott Bakula :loveya: , I never thought much of him till this show. I have all the Enterprise episodes on DVR and I happen to really like the theme song.

Its been a long time......... getting from there to here..........But my time is finally
near.........:rofl:

I still voted for TNG it is one of my all time favorite shows. Enterprise is a super close second.
I'm still devestated it was cancelled.

[pokerfan]

22. Huge fan of Bakula on Quantum Leap

and was excited to learn that he was tagged for Enterprise. I even liked the idea of a prequel series. I liked the idea of a female Vulcan character. But they just never really did anything with the characters and the plots just seemed kinda blasé.

I watched because it was still above average teevee fare. But as a huge fan of written SF for forty years, tv and film *almost* always seems to disappoint me.

[chknltl]

42. Hey I liked that theme song! It was inspirational.

But then, to each their own. I will agree with you, Enterprise, was better than the others with the sole exception being the original.

[pokerfan]

16. Babylon 5

Five years before the premiere of either B5 or DS9, B5 was pitched to Paramount, who wasn't interested in any non-Trek Sci-Fi. But they loved the Bablyon 5 story line they simply adopted it and melded it into Trekyland.

_________
# Both series are named after a space station name with a single-digit number

# Both series premiered in 1993, and were set aboard space stations that were hubs of interstellar trade and politics.

# Both stations were located beside portals to distant places. (B5 guarded a hyperspace "jumpgate"; DS9 guarded the mouth of a wormhole.)

# Both series originally featured a shapeshifter character; however, Babylon 5 dropped that element before filming, replacing it with occasional characters using various illusory and camouflage mechanisms.

# Both Captains enjoy baseball.

# Both started off with unmarried commanders haunted by a recent conflict.

# Both commanders had a girlfriend who was a freighter captain, Carolyn Sykes for Commander Sinclair and Kasidy Yates for Captain Sisko.

# The commander of each station eventually became a religious figure who fulfilled a prophecy, advised by enigmatic aliens who were regarded as spiritual beings.

# In both series the spiritual beings (the Vorlons, the Prophets) had an enemy (the Shadows, the Pah Wraiths) generally viewed as evil spirits by other races, with whom they had been at war for millennia.

# Both series build up to a war between Humans and a militarily powerful, hard-to-detect enemy (the invisible Shadows, the shapeshifting Founders).

# Both series had a sarcastic, cynical but dedicated head of security who started out as perceptive and extremely competent, but later succumbed to insecurity and compulsion (Garibaldi's drinking, Odo's link with the female Shapeshifter)

# Both series had an idealistic young doctor with a hidden secret (Bashir's genetic enhancement, Franklin's involvement with the Underground). Both doctors also had strained relationships with their fathers.

# Both series involved the use of genetically engineered diseases, designed to work against a specific group (Changelings, Markab, Human and Narn Telepaths, others) as a means of control or genocide.

# The second-in-command of each station was a woman with a hot temper who had lost a family member in a war.

# Central to each series were two alien races, one of which had until recently occupied and oppressed the home planet of the other.

Furthermore:

## The oppressed race was a deeply religious one.

## The oppressors in both series were later manipulated by a powerful alien race to achieve its goals.

## This manipulation occurred via a regular character in the series belonging to the oppressor race, who vacillated between 'good' and 'evil' through the course of the series, ultimately being taken over completely by powerful evil forces, which eventually led to their untimely deaths.

## The plot of each series eventually centered around a war against the oppressors and those who manipulated them.

## These wars resulted in the devastations of the former-oppressors' homeworlds.

# Both series involved an alien race who had once been humanity's main enemies, but were now strong (but often troublesome) allies (Klingons, Minbari)

# Both series involve a character who must deal with the conflict between their alien heritage, and their adopted human qualities (Worf, Delenn)

# Each series added a small, tough starship, each the first of its kind, during the third season: DS9's Defiant and B5's White Star.

# Each series includes a sinister organization working within the humans' government: DS9's Section 31 and B5's Bureau 13, not to mention Psi Corps and Nightwatch as well.

# Each series had a male character named "Dukat" (though B5's is spelled "Dukhat") and each series had a female character named "Lyta" (although DS9's is spelled "Leeta").

# Each Station was administered by an Earth based government (Earth Alliance in B5, the Federation in DS9) but was not in that government's territory.

# In the first season finales of both series, the character frequently regarded as the "everyman" (Miles O'Brien on DS9, Michael Garibaldi on B5) is betrayed by his assistant in an assassination attempt.

# Both series have a character who is the sidekick from an egocentric culture (Vir the Centauri and Rom the Ferengi). They both have values that are more "human" than those of their culture and are therefore seen as poor excuses for members of their race. Despite all this, they both end up as the leaders of their race by the end of the series.

# Both series featured a six-episode story arc at the beginning of their penultimate seasons that chronicled a major turning point in their respective wars (the defeat of the Shadows and Vorlons in B5, and the retaking of the station from the Dominion in DS9).

[ThomCat]

21. Wow.

Now that you post that, it's incredibly obvious

in a way that totally escaped my notice until right now. :)

[Deja Q]

23. Except B5 was planned from start to finish, and had been in development for years.

It shows.

Ds9 came across as 'wannabe'; despite having a decent 4th and 7th season.

[Guava Jelly]

25. Great rundown

Babylon 5 was 1000 times better n ds9 imho.

[Left Is Write]

18. I'd say TNG, but Mr. LIW would pick Enterprise.

So I'm guessing you're on his side? ;)

[LostInAnomie]

20. TNG fo' sho'

The problem with TNG is that even though it was the best series and had the best episodes it also had some of the worse and most fucking ridiculous episodes of any of the ST series.

[zippy890]

26. Oh how I miss Jean Luc! ----> pic

Where are you Captain Picard? We need you.

and I so miss your strong, sexy baldness.
:loveya:

My favorite all time TNG episode:



Name that alien! and for bonus points - the actor

[Guava Jelly]

28. Dathon

Shaka when the walls fell

(I should kiss a girl..someday) sigh

[Call Me Wesley]

29. Actor was Paul Winfield. (nt)

[rosesaylavee]

30. THAT was the best

and one of my other favorites was when he 'lived' an entire lifetime on the planet, raised a family, was an integral part of the community working toward dealing with the increasing lack of water, etc.

TNG was and still is my favorite of all the Star Treks though we have watched them all.

[zippy890]

34. great answers all

I loved TNG & Voyager best.

[Danger Mouse]

37. You mean 'The Inner Light'? Easily one of the most moving episodes.

I have a DVD called 'The Picard Collection' featuring that episode, Darmok, Serek, and others of the vein. Picard rocked.

[rosesaylavee]

41. Didn't know the title of that one before...

thanks! I love the flute motif from that episode a lot.

[JTG of the PRB]

36. Darmok and Jilad at Tenagra!

Darmok, his arms open.

[Robeson]

43. Damn, I'm just a sap....

...you guys are making me cry, thinking of that episode...

[Deja Q]

27. Blake's 7

Compare Trek's "Arena" and B7's "Duel" and the answer is clear. :D

[judaspriestess]

31. The Worlds Largest Star Trek Convention will be in here in Vegas

August 9-12th. I'm so going to be there.

Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner + lots more will be making appearances but no Scott Bakula :(
consolation prize for me, Conner Trinneer (Commander Tucker on Enterprise)

anyone want info go to: www.creationent.com

[Demeter]

32. Another Vote for Voyager

I think what made it better was the quality of the acting. There are only so many Sci-Fi plotlines around, but good actors can take the dullest, tritest plotline and make it shine.

Unlike The Next Generation, which had no plot and stifled the actors something dreadful, and they didn't need help being stifled--they were perfectly capable of doing it on their own (kinda like the DLC)!

I never got to see much of Deep Space Nine, and Enterprise was so bad, I couldn't bear to watch it. Cheesecake on TV is not my idea of entertainment, especially female.

[Downtown Hound]

33. Deep Space Nine all the way

One of the best things about this series is that it lacks the sappy Star Trek pretentiousness that many of the other series have. In this series, the flaws of the Federation and the supposedly utopian paradise of the future are exposed. Star Trek has always been about asking questions about our humanity, but DS9 wasn't afraid to ask the really tough questions. It featured such things as a starfleet coup against the Federation to protect against The Dominion, A Federation captain actually tricking the Romulans into believing that The Dominion was going to attack them in order to bring them into the war on their side, and the Federation abandoning its colonies along the Cardassian border and placing themselves in the role of oppressor for the first time when the colonists decided they didn't want to leave. It even features a lesbian kiss, which was still a radical thing to show on TV at the time. It takes a blunt look at things and doesn't shy away from tough issues.

For once, Star Trek wasn't afraid to take all of that preachy wisdom and point it at itself. Kudos to the writers of DS9 for that. It was Quark that said it best in "The Siege of AR-588." This sums up DS9 in its entirety for me.

"Let me tell you something about humans Nog. They're sweet, wonderful, kind, compassionate people. As long as their bellies are full and their hollow-suites are working. If you take those things away, put their lives in danger, those same wonderful, intelligent, kind people will become as violent and destructive as the most bloodthirsty Klingon."

This was a pretty bold move on Star Trek's part, to finally analyze the flaws of its protagonists instead of just portraying them as invincible, ingenious, swashbuckling, all-knowing heroes. That's why DS9 is the most underrated Star Trek show of them all. Also, The Dominion was hands down the coolest enemy ever on Star Trek, so much so that I was almost sad to see them lose.

[JTG of the PRB]

35. Deep Space Nine, hands down.

TNG was a great series, but it took them two and a half seasons to get great. Deep Space Nine was great from the start. It was a very different kind of Star Trek what what we had ever seen before - darker, filled with mystery and terror, politics and intrigue, betrayal and war. I'm going to collect the season sets for all the series, and I'm going to start with all of Deep Space Nine.

[TZ]

38. I consider myself a big Trek fan (TNG was my favorite)

and at first I was thrilled by the idea of Scott Bakula on a Star Trek show (I loved quantum leap) But I LOATHED Enterprise. Not sure why. I think I watched all of 4 episodes.

[judaspriestess]

39. you should reconsider

and give Enterprise a chance. Its really a good show. Its shows the vulnerabilities of humans and their struggles with space exploration.

I know alot of people hated the theme song too but once again it correlates with the beginning of the adventure.

I miss Enterprise. Reruns are on SciFi every Monday night.

[Alexander]

40. It's the "Next" Generation, not the "New" Generation...

But since the series got progressively worse as they went on, TNG is definitely my favorite.

At least the technobabble made some sense.