Best Star Trek Series?
09-22-05, 02:36 PM
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Best Star Trek Series?
What is your favourite Trek series? Here is my overview of all the major series of Star Trek:
Star Trek: TOS The original Trek series, created by Gene Rodenberry as a vision of the future, it holds up pretty well for a very old sci-fi series that was first aired about 35 to 40 years ago. Sure the effects, music, costumes and sets may seem pretty campy by todays standards but the plots and characters are still very solid.
Star Trek: The Animated Series Star Trek: The Animated Series is possibly the most obscure Trek spin off, a TV series that has good plots but is presented by laughable, very dated animation. I saw it alot, years ago, at dingy Saturday mornings.
Star Trek: The Next Generation The most ludricously successful and probably most overrated Trek series to date, The Next Generation was a popular sci-fi series that strangely has not aged very well (the early seasons especially look dated). I love Patrick Stewart as the well regarded Captain Picard and Brent Spiner as that lovable android, Commander Data, I do think the rest of the cast was a little on the bland side even though the writing for TNG was very good for the most part. I liked the Cold War tension that existed between the United Federation of Planets and the klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire and later on, the Cardassian Union. Also the spectre of the Borg Collective was introduced (back in the day before they were still scary and not horribly cheapened in Voyager).
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Without doubt the best incarnation of Star Trek in existence, I do believe this series was not given the same recognition as TNG, even though DS9 was a far superior series than TNG ever was (even though TNG was not terrible I deem it as somewhat overrated), Ronald D. Moore was a powerful driving force behind DS9 and his writing talent really blossomed in the later, much more exciting seasons of DS9, with epic war torn story archs invoving Klingons, Cardassians and the mighty Dominion. The best characters in my book were Quark, Garak and of course the dastardly Gul Dukat. The rest of the cast was solid and used well, although Avery Brooks was a tad hammy in my book. Also DS9 remained very good until it last two seasons (I thought Voyager was starting to lag in Seasons Six and Seven). But the saddest thing about DS9 was that it was the first Trek series to be heavily lambasted by the Trek fanbase (does the mocking term "Deep Snore Nine" ring a bell?), also North American ratings for DS9 plunged from 26 million down to 6 million, despite getting much better in later seasons.
Star Trek: Voyager A much lambasted and misunderstood Trek series, that got violently ragged on much more than it deserved, Voyager still had it's moments despite it's flaws. It had very good Trek episodes, plus Season Four and Five were very good, with epsodes that were just as good as anything found on TNG and even DS9. However there was alot of crap episodes mixed into the good episodes, Voyager never took any serious risks and never grew like DS9 ever did, plus the story potential it had in the pilot episode was sqaundered almost immediatly. The Trek fan base started to accuse the universally loathed Trek twosome, Berman and Braga, for the creative bankruptcey of Star Trek. However there are good Trek characters; I loved Robert Picardo as the EMH Doctor, he was a brilliant character throughout the series and although she was introduced as cynical ratings ploy, Jeri Ryan was magnificiant as Seven of Nine. However, in later seasons, I think both the EMH and 7 of 9 were a little overused in episodes, despite the fact the rest of cast still remained an esembled line up. Watching Voyager again on DVD, this Trek series seems somewhat better on hindsight.
Star Trek: Enterprise Like Voyager before it, Enterprise is yet another unfairly maligned Trek spin-off that is nowhere near as bad as it's many detractors claim it is, Seasons Three and Four of Enterprise were consistenly brilliant, even Seasons One and Two were not that bad. However, Enterprise did not know what it was supposed to be in it's first couple of seasons; should it be a true TOS prequel or a 24th century retread set in the 22nd century? I liked the epic story arch involving the Xindi death ray and Season Four was aurgably the best season of Trek since DS9 was taken off the air (but the less said about "These are the Voyagers" the better, OK?). It's a shame Enterprise was cancelled and I hope hindsight is kinder to Enterprise the same way hindsight has been kinder to DS9 and to a lesser extent Voyager.
What is your opinion of the different Trek series?
Star Trek: TOS The original Trek series, created by Gene Rodenberry as a vision of the future, it holds up pretty well for a very old sci-fi series that was first aired about 35 to 40 years ago. Sure the effects, music, costumes and sets may seem pretty campy by todays standards but the plots and characters are still very solid.
Star Trek: The Animated Series Star Trek: The Animated Series is possibly the most obscure Trek spin off, a TV series that has good plots but is presented by laughable, very dated animation. I saw it alot, years ago, at dingy Saturday mornings.
Star Trek: The Next Generation The most ludricously successful and probably most overrated Trek series to date, The Next Generation was a popular sci-fi series that strangely has not aged very well (the early seasons especially look dated). I love Patrick Stewart as the well regarded Captain Picard and Brent Spiner as that lovable android, Commander Data, I do think the rest of the cast was a little on the bland side even though the writing for TNG was very good for the most part. I liked the Cold War tension that existed between the United Federation of Planets and the klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire and later on, the Cardassian Union. Also the spectre of the Borg Collective was introduced (back in the day before they were still scary and not horribly cheapened in Voyager).
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Without doubt the best incarnation of Star Trek in existence, I do believe this series was not given the same recognition as TNG, even though DS9 was a far superior series than TNG ever was (even though TNG was not terrible I deem it as somewhat overrated), Ronald D. Moore was a powerful driving force behind DS9 and his writing talent really blossomed in the later, much more exciting seasons of DS9, with epic war torn story archs invoving Klingons, Cardassians and the mighty Dominion. The best characters in my book were Quark, Garak and of course the dastardly Gul Dukat. The rest of the cast was solid and used well, although Avery Brooks was a tad hammy in my book. Also DS9 remained very good until it last two seasons (I thought Voyager was starting to lag in Seasons Six and Seven). But the saddest thing about DS9 was that it was the first Trek series to be heavily lambasted by the Trek fanbase (does the mocking term "Deep Snore Nine" ring a bell?), also North American ratings for DS9 plunged from 26 million down to 6 million, despite getting much better in later seasons.
Star Trek: Voyager A much lambasted and misunderstood Trek series, that got violently ragged on much more than it deserved, Voyager still had it's moments despite it's flaws. It had very good Trek episodes, plus Season Four and Five were very good, with epsodes that were just as good as anything found on TNG and even DS9. However there was alot of crap episodes mixed into the good episodes, Voyager never took any serious risks and never grew like DS9 ever did, plus the story potential it had in the pilot episode was sqaundered almost immediatly. The Trek fan base started to accuse the universally loathed Trek twosome, Berman and Braga, for the creative bankruptcey of Star Trek. However there are good Trek characters; I loved Robert Picardo as the EMH Doctor, he was a brilliant character throughout the series and although she was introduced as cynical ratings ploy, Jeri Ryan was magnificiant as Seven of Nine. However, in later seasons, I think both the EMH and 7 of 9 were a little overused in episodes, despite the fact the rest of cast still remained an esembled line up. Watching Voyager again on DVD, this Trek series seems somewhat better on hindsight.
Star Trek: Enterprise Like Voyager before it, Enterprise is yet another unfairly maligned Trek spin-off that is nowhere near as bad as it's many detractors claim it is, Seasons Three and Four of Enterprise were consistenly brilliant, even Seasons One and Two were not that bad. However, Enterprise did not know what it was supposed to be in it's first couple of seasons; should it be a true TOS prequel or a 24th century retread set in the 22nd century? I liked the epic story arch involving the Xindi death ray and Season Four was aurgably the best season of Trek since DS9 was taken off the air (but the less said about "These are the Voyagers" the better, OK?). It's a shame Enterprise was cancelled and I hope hindsight is kinder to Enterprise the same way hindsight has been kinder to DS9 and to a lesser extent Voyager.
What is your opinion of the different Trek series?
Last edited by Cancer Man; 09-23-05 at 09:37 AM.
09-22-05, 02:45 PM
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I prefer TNG, but I didn't get DSN in syndication where I lived at the time. I have always been impressed by that series when I get to watch it on Spike. I have seen enough of the others to know I don't like them as much as TNG.
09-22-05, 02:53 PM
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TNG - I agree the first 2 seasons didn't age well at all. But it's still very watchable, and I think a lot of the values still hold true. DS9 is probably a close second, I haven't really watched enough of it to make a call though.
09-22-05, 03:05 PM
#12
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TNG was the most successful commercially and critically. Syndicated TVs most successful show pre-Buffy. TV guide's all-time television top 50. No contest!
09-22-05, 03:08 PM
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Originally Posted by cleaver
Syndicated TVs most successful show pre-Buffy.
I believe David Hasselhoff would take issue with you.
Also, what's with the Buffy reference? Buffy wasn't syndicated.
09-22-05, 03:18 PM
#16
I'd have to pick TOS as my favorite -- maybe speaking logically (as Spock!) I wouldn't say it was "the best". But, like many I suspect, I grew up with TOS watching afternoon re-runs, and the characters and show are special to me in the way the later series can't match.
Good overview of the series, Cancer Man. I agree with you on most counts. TNG took some time to get off the ground (some of those early episodes were really bad) -- we tend to remember it with rose-colored glasses, and the best episodes like "Best of Both Worlds".
Oddly enough, I haven't seen much of DSN. I didn't get into it when it was new in the first season, it dropped off my radar, and only after its done I notice how many people loved the show. I keep meaning to catch the series -- either on TV if I manage to get in before giant story arcs, or on DVD. If Paramount lowered the DVD price to $40-$50 I'd blind buy, but not with the current prices.
I watched all of Voyager -- it's a haphazard mix of some great eps, a lot of mediocrity (or missed attempts at greatness), and some truly craptacular episodes. Great idea for the set-up quickly wasted. Like all the Maquis merging into the crew and the ship magically repairing itself every week. Early in the show, Janeway brought up points about how Voyager was now a generational ship, which they could spend the rest of their lives on. And you'd expect Federation rules and policies to go by the wayside if needed, in the struggle to survive. The show set up these ideas, only to ignore them. Tune in for an average episode and there's little to suggest that this ship is any different than Picard's or Kirk's. And Kes was also a great character idea wasted. A creature with only a 7-year life-span. So over the course of the series, she would literally age from adolescent to dying of old age. There was a huge long-term pay-off here at the end, with the rest of the crew reaching Earth just as she dies. But no, the character was mostly ignored, or put in ludricrous situations (and teaming her with the annoying Neelix didn't help). And Voyager didn't even have the patience for the pay-off, dumping her when 7 of 9 came on board.
I pretty much agree with the OP on Enterprise. It tried, though it wasn't clear what it meant to be doing. It's at least consistently better than Voyager (which maybe isn't saying much). It's cancellation seemed unfair, but maybe its for the best to give the Trek world a break and let the public demand build up, and let some creative people really come up with some good ideas to work with.
Good overview of the series, Cancer Man. I agree with you on most counts. TNG took some time to get off the ground (some of those early episodes were really bad) -- we tend to remember it with rose-colored glasses, and the best episodes like "Best of Both Worlds".
Oddly enough, I haven't seen much of DSN. I didn't get into it when it was new in the first season, it dropped off my radar, and only after its done I notice how many people loved the show. I keep meaning to catch the series -- either on TV if I manage to get in before giant story arcs, or on DVD. If Paramount lowered the DVD price to $40-$50 I'd blind buy, but not with the current prices.
I watched all of Voyager -- it's a haphazard mix of some great eps, a lot of mediocrity (or missed attempts at greatness), and some truly craptacular episodes. Great idea for the set-up quickly wasted. Like all the Maquis merging into the crew and the ship magically repairing itself every week. Early in the show, Janeway brought up points about how Voyager was now a generational ship, which they could spend the rest of their lives on. And you'd expect Federation rules and policies to go by the wayside if needed, in the struggle to survive. The show set up these ideas, only to ignore them. Tune in for an average episode and there's little to suggest that this ship is any different than Picard's or Kirk's. And Kes was also a great character idea wasted. A creature with only a 7-year life-span. So over the course of the series, she would literally age from adolescent to dying of old age. There was a huge long-term pay-off here at the end, with the rest of the crew reaching Earth just as she dies. But no, the character was mostly ignored, or put in ludricrous situations (and teaming her with the annoying Neelix didn't help). And Voyager didn't even have the patience for the pay-off, dumping her when 7 of 9 came on board.
I pretty much agree with the OP on Enterprise. It tried, though it wasn't clear what it meant to be doing. It's at least consistently better than Voyager (which maybe isn't saying much). It's cancellation seemed unfair, but maybe its for the best to give the Trek world a break and let the public demand build up, and let some creative people really come up with some good ideas to work with.
09-22-05, 03:24 PM
#17
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Since I have never seen an episode of DS9 or TOS, I'll go with TNG, then Voyager, then Enterprise.
09-22-05, 03:27 PM
#18
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Originally Posted by brainee
And Kes was also a great character idea wasted. A creature with only a 7-year life-span. So over the course of the series, she would literally age from adolescent to dying of old age. There was a huge long-term pay-off here at the end, with the rest of the crew reaching Earth just as she dies. But no, the character was mostly ignored, or put in ludricrous situations (and teaming her with the annoying Neelix didn't help). And Voyager didn't even have the patience for the pay-off, dumping her when 7 of 9 came on board.
09-22-05, 03:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Cancer Man
also North American ratings plunged from 26 million down to 6 million, despite getting much better in later seasons.
09-22-05, 03:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Red Dog
I believe David Hasselhoff would take issue with you.
Also, what's with the Buffy reference? Buffy wasn't syndicated.
Also, what's with the Buffy reference? Buffy wasn't syndicated.
I've always thought Buffy was syndicated, it's clearly wildly popular, but I've only watched a few eps on DVD. Is it WB?
09-22-05, 03:35 PM
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I'm not sure what the best is...but I know Enterprise was the worst.
I have a tough time picking between TOS, TNG and DS9 because they all had some GREAT episodes and some very interesting characters. Movie-wise, it's a no-brainer: TOS crew made the best films.
I have a tough time picking between TOS, TNG and DS9 because they all had some GREAT episodes and some very interesting characters. Movie-wise, it's a no-brainer: TOS crew made the best films.