The Star Trek Thread

[Hexx]

It's sad that a show has to be amazing to be seen as worth bothering with.
I've not seen Lower Decks and I'm not expecting it to be amazing but being just good or ok will be fine with me I think.

It's just a shame I can't watch it on any of the services I pay for.

It has no reason to exist. It’s not got the teeth to attack Star Treks tropes and formula.

But it’s amusing enough to have in in the background (I don’t think it’s ever made me laugh out loud) but likewise it’s not trying to hard and kissing jokes left right and center (like say Disenchanted). It’s very ‘beige’/pastel - basically TNG.

It’s also nice to see something that actually shares some basic DNA with Star Trek after Discovery/Picard.

[Lime]

N1FFF on the ocean, his raft capsized

thank you for this, just awesome !

[Cheeky Devlin]

Another decent Lower Decks episode this week and it was cool to get an appearance from an established character (Along with their actor).

The writers clearly know Trek inside out and their love of the franchise is so evident in everything they do. They take the piss out of it in just the right way, while still trying to stay true to what makes Star Trek, Star Trek.
Again, it's not the funniest show you'll ever see, or the cleverest, but I'm genuinely enjoying it and it's probably the best Star Trek show at the moment.

Oh and I finished my Voyager rewatch.
Great series that could have been something really special if they'd committed to having a more concrete Arc for the story and characters.
I'm moving on to finally watch Babylon 5 and The Orville, after which I might give TOS a shot.

[Corazon de Leon]

I think you'll appreciate what the Orville tries to do mate, really interesting and fun show that will hopefully see a really great third season soon.

Where is everyone watching Lower Decks? Me and the wife want to go through it.

[Hexx]

Yarrrrr Avasst me hearty

[SEP]

Where is everyone watching Lower Decks? Me and the wife want to go through it.

On the high seas.

[Tafdolphin]

So we're working our way backwards through the different series starting from Voyager (don't ask) and we've gotten through that series and DS9. We're now on TNG and...jesus christ this first series. I grew up watching its run on BBC2 but they must have omitted any from S01 as they're all absolutely rotten. Not a single decent 45 minutes in the whole thing, even the series finale where it looks like there might actually be some story happening is offset by a risible comedy B-plot. There's also a weird obsession with sex: every other episode there's a race of sexually liberaied super-models or some phenomenon causing the crew to shag one another.

Awful.

[Cuttooth]

I'll always have a soft spot for Conspiracy and its terrible Red Dwarf looking alien.

[Peter Crisp]

So we're working our way backwards through the different series starting from Voyager (don't ask) and we've gotten through that series and DS9. We're now on TNG and...jesus christ this first series. I grew up watching its run on BBC2 but they must have omitted any from S01 as they're all absolutely rotten. Not a single decent 45 minutes in the whole thing, even the series finale where it looks like there might actually be some story happening is offset by a risible comedy B-plot. There's also a weird obsession with sex: every other episode there's a race of sexually liberaied super-models or some phenomenon causing the crew to shag one another.

Awful.

Having memory problems has its advantages as I've managed to scrub season one from my memory banks .

It didn't happen .

[Cuttooth]

It didn't happen .

[Cheeky Devlin]

I think you'll appreciate what the Orville tries to do mate, really interesting and fun show that will hopefully see a really great third season soon.

Where is everyone watching Lower Decks? Me and the wife want to go through it.

Yeah I'd already seen the first couple of episodes of Orville and it's great so far. I was worried it would be trying "too hard" to be funny, but it's a nice mix of drama and comedy with neither overpowering it.

And yeah I've been going sailing to find Lower Decks....

So we're working our way backwards through the different series starting from Voyager (don't ask) and we've gotten through that series and DS9. We're now on TNG and...jesus christ this first series. I grew up watching its run on BBC2 but they must have omitted any from S01 as they're all absolutely rotten. Not a single decent 45 minutes in the whole thing, even the series finale where it looks like there might actually be some story happening is offset by a risible comedy B-plot. There's also a weird obsession with sex: every other episode there's a race of sexually liberaied super-models or some phenomenon causing the crew to shag one another.

Awful.

Aside from watching all the series back to front (I won't ask ) you're not wrong about TNG Season one. It's still very much a hold over from TOS in so many ways. It's not utterly terrible, but it's similar to DS9 and Voyager in that it's season 3 before it really begins to hit it's stride.

[Jenuall]

TNG season 1 is pretty terrible, I wanted to defend against the "not a single decent 45 minutes" claim but after thinking it through I'm not sure it's possible to!

[Cuttooth]

There was the episode where Wesley was a millisecond from being murdered by the state.

[Jenuall]

Dude broke a greenhouse, he should have suffered the consequences.

[Imrahil]

I recently watched from the start of Season 1 (currently midway through S7) and to be fair there's still a lot of good ideas here and there in that season. I feel I was able to get past the slightly cheesy/wacky/sloppy nature of it at times and receive the goodness that still existed. I've always felt it wasn't as bad as many people made out.

From the start of season 2 there was a notable change in the quality of writing though - they just started putting a lot more serious thought into it. (The Measure of a Man is an early S2 episode and one of the best ST episodes of all time). The budget was increasing as well and the show started to look a whole lot better too.

[That]

I would say that the first and last episodes, Encounter at Farpoint and Conspiracy/The Neutral Zone, are watchable. They're not great (the "Wesley takes an exam" B-plot ) but they aren't offensively bad IMO.

Symbiosis is the next best episode in my opinion, as it starts to tentatively explore ideas about the ethics of interfering in other cultures that would eventually make TNG great, but it's still by itself a mediocre ep.

The rest of the season is pretty crap. Where No One Has Gone Before and Datalore serve a function in establishing characters that show up later, and obviously Skin of Evil establishes a character's death. They aren't the worst episodes in the season but that's a very low bar and they're all very skippable.

[Jenuall]

Yeah season 2 is definitely an improvement and by 3+ they really have their gooseberry fool together.

I'm about halfway through season 5 on my current re-watch and really enjoying the run of episodes I've been through the last few days

[Tafdolphin]

Season 2 is better but by no means good yet. We enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes episode, but skipped the one with the Han Solo rip-off after realizing it was going to be painfully unfunny.

The Neutral Zone might have been good, but the B-plot around the unfrozen banker, country and western singer and ...*checks notes*...emotional woman was so bad as to sink the whole thing. Nice seeing Marc Alaimo make an appearance though.

[Jenuall]

Season 2 has plenty of real gooseberry fool still in there but there are also a few very good episodes in the mix, Contagion in particular was very good on my recent watch. Q Who and Measure of a Man are also great

[Cheeky Devlin]

Decided The Orville is going to be one I watch with my Wife, so with that in mind I'm going ahead with TOS on my own time. Watched the first 5 episodes today. It's so delightfully cheesy and of it's time.

I will say Taf that if you think S1/2 of TNG is bad for the outdated attitudes you're in for a shock if/when you reach TOS. While a lot of it was progressive for the time, it's attitudes to women are very dated. If you can put that aside then TOS is still pretty enjoyable. It's got a definite sunday afternoon feel

One of the ones I watched was "The Naked Time", which was basically remade for TNG as "The Naked Now". It's extremely similar, right down to the structure of the story. One difference though is what Taf mentioned about everyone getting horny and wanting to shag. TNG is a lot more up front about that part, while TOS never directly addresses it, though it is heavily suggested.

I think that's one of the reasons Seasons 1/2 of TNG is all over the place. It basically starts off trying to replicate TOS rather than do it's own thing. I think once they realised that it didn't need to be just TOS 2.0 they found their feet and it really started to take off.