Captain Log 23567.9: The Impossible has happened!

[Lefisc]

Captain Log 23567.9: The Impossible has happened!

Actually the impossible hasn’t happened, but who would read a log starting with “The Impossible hasn’t happened!”

My friend David V and I discussed how much we like Star trek the Next Generation, especially starting with season four. After see a few episodes from that season, I decided to go back and watch season 1. And I saw some interesting patterns.

1. The show is actually too much Gene Roddenberry from the beginning. You can see him copy ideas and even full episodes (The Naked Time) from the first series.
2. Every show is a morality play. What is good, what is evil, what is human, what is not. (First with Vulcans, then with Data. So many plots are thinly disguised. It didn’t take a genius to see a show about dependency was about drugs.
3. Many episodes are designed to show characteristics that he will later mine in his characters. So rather than be very interesting, the show is setting up future episodes and situations. The Captain doesn’t like children, Data mimics human qualities, the Ferengi are silly and outrageous, but are a force to be reckoned with. Film at 11.
4. There are too many people on the Bridge, most doing nothing (especially Worf.) They obviously didn’t figure out the roles each actor will have yet.
5. There are some original and thoughtful ideas, but while they take time to lay them out, they often finish the episodes quickly making em go huh?
6. The premise of the Borg is introduced. On a planet, a machine, once guided by humans who are now extinct, creates weapons that can kill. After every attack by the crew, the machine adapts and creates more powerful weapon.
7. There are a few too many silly moments.

These shows are now 25 years old and the later seasons really hold up. It premiered in an era before cable when there were only three or four networks on the air. So I did enjoy it after the first ten episodes, it was better than most of what was on TV at the time. But it started to really get good in the third season.Captain Log 23567.9: The Impossible has happened!

Actually the impossible hasn’t happened, but who would read a log starting with “The Impossible hasn’t happened!”

My friend David V and I discussed how much we like Star trek the Next Generation, especially starting with season four. After see a few episodes from that season, I decided to go back and watch season 1. And I saw some interesting patterns.

1. The show is actually too much Gene Roddenberry from the beginning. You can see him copy ideas and even full episodes (The Naked Time) from the first series.
2. Every show is a morality play. What is good, what is evil, what is human, what is not. (First with Vulcans, then with Data. So many plots are thinly disguised. It didn’t take a genius to see a show about dependency was about drugs.
3. Many episodes are designed to show characteristics that he will later mine in his characters. So rather than be very interesting, the show is setting up future episodes and situations. The Captain doesn’t like children, Data mimics human qualities, the Ferengi are silly and outrageous, but are a force to be reckoned with. Film at 11.
4. There are too many people on the Bridge, most doing nothing (especially Worf.) They obviously didn’t figure out the roles each actor will have yet.
5. There are some original and thoughtful ideas, but while they take time to lay them out, they often finish the episodes quickly making em go huh?
6. The premise of the Borg is introduced. On a planet, a machine, once guided by humans who are now extinct, creates weapons that can kill. After every attack by the crew, the machine adapts and creates more powerful weapon.
7. There are a few too many silly moments.

These shows are now 25 years old and the later seasons really hold up. It premiered in an era before cable when there were only three or four networks on the air. So I did enjoy it after the first ten episodes, it was better than most of what was on TV at the time. But it started to really get good in the third season.

 

[Lefisc]

If we can continue this discussion just a bit more, I see two big flaws in the second season of the Next Generation. First, though, the total lack of chemistry between teh actors, seen in teh first season is improving as they get more defined roles.

But, there is NO reason why a “starship” built for dangerous exploration and defense should carry about 1,000 people, including children, who claim to be colonists. What the hell are they going to colonize? That was rarely shown on the show. Who would want to be on a starship raising a family, for several years, and putting them into weekly dangerous positions? One week it is attacking Romulans, the next week is carrying a deadly plague. This was silly and unnecessary and often those passengers were forgotten.

Gates McFadden said in the bonus features that she was let go after the first season because she complained to much. (By the way, Denise Crosby first said the same thing, but later said she quit.) Diana Mulduer was just too old for the role. As chemistry began to settle in between the characters, Mulduer, who was once on the original series was not only 20 years older than any other actor playing a crew member, she was older than Patrick Stewart. And it shows. 30 year olds can bounce around the Universe, 50 years can’t. It also made Westley out of place; no matter how smart he was he was on 16 years old and without a parent. That made no sense either.