How did Star Trek: The Next Generation survive its first season?

[pokerfan]

Been catching up via the WGN and these stories are even worse than I remembered.

I must admit that "Shut up, Wesley!" was a Season 1 high point for me.

[arcadian]

1. I like the one where Wesley is almost executed for stepping on flowers.

[rcrush]

3. That was the Thong Planet.

[pokerfan]

10. Thong Planet?

Oh yeah, forgot about that one.



Most of these eps WGN is running at the moment, I only saw once (and tried to forget!), twenty-five years ago.

[cynatnite]

38. I think that was the only Trek episode my husband ever liked...

go figure.

[pokerfan]

40. Any ep with Orion Slave Girls™ pretty much worked for me

Something about that green skin is very exotic.

[XemaSab]

44. Wasn't that the episode with Brenda Bakke?

:shrug:

[pokerfan]

47. Yep n/t

[Kutjara]

2. It really was awful.

Everything from the horrible onesies everyone ran around in (made the Enterprise look like an oversized creche), to the abysmal acting by everyone except Patrick Stewart (Tasha and Riker were particularly lame), to the utter campness of every line of dialog: if it had been aired for the first time today, it would have been canceled after the first episode.

Thank god it got better.

[pokerfan]

5. wiki

The first season was marked by a "revolving door" of writers, with Gerrold and Fontana quitting after disputes with Roddenberry.<5>

Mark Bourne of The DVD Journal wrote of season one: "A typical episode relied on trite plot points, clumsy allegories, dry and stilted dialogue, or characterization that was taking too long to feel relaxed and natural."<6>

Other targets of criticism include poor special effects and plots being resolved by the deus ex machina of Wesley Crusher saving the ship.<7><8>

Amazing that it was renewed. I suppose the Trekies kept the ratings up despite its obvious shortcomings.

[rcrush]

4. Its because of these uniforms.

[Kutjara]

6. If that was the uniform I had to wear...

...that's pretty much exactly the look I'd have on my face.

[EndersDame]

9. I love a shapely man leg!

[rcrush]

15. I wonder what they told this guy when he enlsited?

Hey buddy we are all out of pants. Here wear this skirt.

"But cant you replicate me some pants!?"

Worf "Shut up and wear the dress I'm busy!"

[Skip Intro]

7. Deanna was dressed like an intergalactic cheerleader, for one. Plus, the crytaline entity.

I really liked both...

Although, when the show first premiered, I thought Capt Picard was a wuss, and Data a pale imitation of Spock.

Of course, I grew to love the show. Sad the last of the feature films with that crew sucked so much. I miss it now. Hell, after Enterprise, I began to miss Voyager. Oh, 7 of 9, where are you now?

Actually, in reruns, Voyager wasn't really all that bad.

Enterprise, on the other hand, had me searching for razor blades...

[UnseenUndergrad]

8. Voyager reruns were good...

But "DeltaBlues" reviews made them great.

http://www.reviewboy.com/seasons.html

And For Next Generaton:

One Letter.

Guess.

[rcrush]

14. Deanna dressed in her pajamas for work for 6 years until Captain Jelicho took command

On his first day he told Deanna to wear a damn uniform to work! Ever since then even when Picard came back she kept wearing the uniform. All it took was someone to tell her to come to work dressed!

Probably had to do with her being a Lt Cmndr ranked therapist. How'd that happen?

[Posteritatis]

23. Enterprise would've been better if Porthos wasn't the best actor on it. (nt)

[ElboRuum]

28. I don't know why they keep on thinking Scott Bakula is some sort of sci-fi icon...

I mean Quantum Leap was OK, but why would that necessarily make him fit for captain of the Enterprise?

Personally, I watched it just to see Jolene Blalock. Beyond that, it was odoriferous carp. No, it wasn't crap, it was literally stinky fish.

[Captain Hilts]

42. I like TNG and Voyager of the newer Treks. But I HATE Wesley and Counsellor Clevage. nt

[jobycom]

11. By dressing Marina Sirtis and Denise Crosby in tight outfits so people ignored their bad acting.

That was one way.

[WolverineDG]

49. I was at a con once & Sirtis said this about her costume for the 1st year

they only made her only one one outfit that they had to launder every day, not even a back-up costume of the one she was wearing on screen, kept promising to make others, but got tied up having to make all the wild costumes for each week's guest villain, etc. So it was looking rather worn by the last day of shooting, & wouldn't you know, it developed a tear on one of the legs. So after they told her she had finished her last scene for the season, she put her fingers in the tear & ripped the leg off, forcing them to make new & different costumes for her in the next season. :evilgrin:

dg

[Orsino]

12. It was indeed pretty stinky, frequently.

The series was always a mixed bag, but thank goodness it did get past Season 1--otherwise, we would remember it as The Trek That Should Not Be, and there might never have been another spin-off.

[kedrys]

13. Because it was Trek (ostensibly) and there wasn't another damn thing to watch

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :P

[NewJeffCT]

16. I think that is a good part of it

It was the first new Star Trek (outside of a couple of movies, one of which sucked) in 20 years or so. So, even if it was crappy, Trekkies & Trekkers would still watch.

[edbermac]

17. The first season was pretty spotty.

Skin Of Evil and Conspiracy were fairly good.

After season one, TNG got better and better.

[Posteritatis]

22. I always loved that they never, ever followed up on Conspiracy

Seriously - I liked the utter ambiguity they ended that episode on.

[Liberal Veteran]

35. That always bothered me. Starfleet is filled with parasite infected peeps.

And they never bothered to have everyone go in for a checkup?

[pokerfan]

39. Yeah it was pretty much left hanging

Although the episode closed on a suspenseful note, no resolution has yet been seen. When the Borg were being created a year later, it was initially suggested that they in fact be the aliens from these episodes, a race of mechanical insectoids. (Trek: The Unauthorized Behind-The-Scenes Story of The Next Generation)

According to Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, the aliens and the homing signal the parasites began were originally supposed to lead in to what would become the Borg, who would be an insectoid race and the parasites be a first wave, but budgetary reasons made them into cyborgs instead.

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Conspiracy_%28episode%29#Story

[rcrush]

46. Yeah Picard and Riker just walk around Starfleet HQ melting faces of Admirals

Then go blow up that Remick guy and just call it a day.

The Parasites came back in one of the Star Trek DS9 Relaunch novels. It was pretty good from what I can remember.

[Orrex]

53. Skin of Evil is only good because it got rid of Yar

Otherwise, the episode is horrible.

[Mutley]

18. Nostalgia for the original Star Trek.

That's the only way.

[pokerfan]

19. You know which series had some pretty good stories?

The Animated Series which ran from 1973-1974 enjoyed contributions from well-known science fiction authors including Larry Niven.

Fun fact: Initially, Filmation was only going to use the voices of Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Doohan and Majel Barrett. Doohan and Barrett would also perform the voices of Sulu and Uhura. Leonard Nimoy refused to sign up to lend his voice to the series unless Nichelle Nichols and George Takei were added to the cast — claiming that Sulu and Uhura were of importance as they were proof of the ethnic diversity of the 23rd century and should not be recast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Animated_Series#Voice_casting

[MilesColtrane]

54. Spock is a mensch.

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. There were a few good episodes, but yeah, it was kind of stinky.

Lots of good ideas; not always the best execution. And some pretty lame dialogue.

I sure was glad when Yar was killed, though - holy fuck, she's an awful actress. Just awful. Ludicrously, miserably, hatefully awful. And an awful character.

But a first season of any show can have some real boners - the writers are still finding their voice, the actors are still finding their characters, the production team is still figuring out how stuff should look; and much of that can't be understood until there's a few episodes actually on film to watch.

[Posteritatis]

21. It almost didn't, if I remember correctly

It was sort of adrift until The Best Of Both Worlds, at which point it had it made.

[kentauros]

24. Because it's Star Trek.

No it wasn't great, but the people in charge were from the original series, so the fans lined up for it and stood with it anyway. The ones paying for it knew that was the case, too, so it was "bankable". Little to no risk involved ;)

[rcrush]

25. Patrick Stewart said he lived out of his suitcase in a hotel room cause he thought

it was going to be canceled early on.

[NJmaverick]

26. The trek fan base carried it the first season

they were truly lost that first season.

[ElboRuum]

27. A combination of things...

CGI graphics on a TV show, practically unheard of at the time... the choice of captain seemed auspicious... Trekkies hungry for a new serial helped keep it afloat.

If they hadn't started writing Deanna Sirtis and Wil Wheaton some less stupid dialogue, made the most excellent choice to kill off Tasha Yar (I can't stand Denise Crosby's acting... of course I thought Pet Sematary was pretty good in spite of her), and just generally relaxed the atmosphere of the ship (for that first season it was like the entire dialogue was written in the form of a Speed Racer episode, everything all clipped and stilted), the thing WOULD have gone into the circular file.

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. Nostalgia, cool graphics, and I thought Riker was hot. (Better with the beardm though) Anyway, many

shows start out wobbly in their first season until the characters really solidify and the ensemble really develops its chemistry.

The years after that were better, and even though I laugh at some of the early ones, I still love the series.

[Bucky]

30. Trekkies in the desert, drinking the sand

[CreekDog]

31. Well right when it seemed like all was lost and they would be cancelled

Ensign Wesley came in and found a quick solution, saving the Enterprise yet again. :eyes:

[Deja Q]

33. A solution most adults should be able to see more quickly...

Writing nerd genius teenagers is not an easy thing to do - competently...

[Deja Q]

32. I have NO clue. Season 1 is terrible...

Even the few good episodes feel poorly constructed. (Datalore, Too Short a Season, 11001001, Conspiracy).

Many episodes that had potential (e.g. "Justice"), opted to to sex it up instead of telling a deep, tightly-written story. The ending of "Justice" alone alludes to what COULD have been, if it were written by a professional and unfettered by how depraved the late-1980s were in general.

A shame; season 2 really has the ship shaping up.

Maybe Roddenberry convinced the suits to give it one more go. (Season 2 is 4 episodes shorter and ends on... a clip show.)

It was also a syndicated show. No network directly paid for it. That could also explain why.

[baldguy]

34. Because tachyon radiation caused a temporal causality anomaly

Originally, it had been canceled. But that timeline was destroyed when they decided not to kill off Westley Crusher.

[Odin2005]

36. Geeks!

:)

[pokerfan]

37. Nerds!

[Deja Q]

51. Dorks!

:yoiks:

[Captain Hilts]

41. We were THAT desperate. It's horrifically bad in EVERY way!

[nemo137]

43. Oh, we had the tapes of the first few episodes.

I watched "encounter at farpoint" so many times as a kid...so many times...

Probably why I like Star Wars better :hide:

[rcrush]

45. GUESS WHO I AM!!! "Captain he's hiding something"

or "I do feel something Captain"

[Deja Q]

52. Either it's a porn star, or

it's Counselor Obvious. Oops, Counselor Troi... She did get decent writing for her character, once in a while, but as with Wesley, she suffered from "dumbed-down writing syndrome". DDWS.

[WildEyedLiberal]

48. It truly is awful - poorly written, bland, preachy, wooden, and ugly

I first watched syndicated reruns when I was 12, and I LOVED it. It's what got me into Trek in the first place. But, like you, I've been catching up on season one this year, and my God it's atrocious. I'm glad I first saw it when I was young and impressionable or I'd have never given Star Trek a chance at all. I never realized how sickeningly preachy and condescending it is - the "moral" lessons are so ham-fisted, over-the-top, and obvious that I feel like I'm being spoonfed an especially egregious after school special. That's enough to turn me off, without even going into the ATROCIOUS costume design, the awful, stilted writing, and the utterly boring plots and lack of any meaningful character development. I hate to say it, but I think Gene Roddenberry almost hamstrung the show out of the starting gate with his ridiculous emphasis on the laughably dull "utopia" of the 24th century (including the maxim that there could be no interpersonal conflict between the main characters because humanity had evolved beyond such pettiness. Please). The revolving door of fourth-rate writers didn't help. The show didn't get good until Ronald D. Moore signed on in season three.

[sarge43]

50. Because Trekkers by definition are optimists. n/t