There were two reasons for which I kept watching: first it was the only Star Trek on TV
Second, Jolene Blalock made the show much easier to watch to a young(er) and stupid male
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Star Trek: Alpha to Delta Quadrants & Everything In Between
- Thread starter Scepticalscribe
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Second, Jolene Blalock made the show much easier to watch to a young(er) and stupid male
There were two reasons for which I kept watching: first it was the only Star Trek on TV
Second, Jolene Blalock made the show much easier to watch to a young(er) and stupid male
Ah. I see.
Of course, I assume that your admiration was grounded in a profound respect for her cool, Vulcan intellect, her mastery of rational thought and her inability to contemplate considering a course of action without the application of pure logic.
Last edited:
It would have been better if they had kept it a mystery. Chief O'Brien (DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations) guess was right on the mark, but how it was explain... ugh... worthy of a Picard Double Palmface.
DS9 did it right with Worf saying, "We do not discuss it with outsiders."
Anyhow, the only reason I managed to sit through 4 season of Enterprise was because of my pride as an obsessed Trekkie.
I don't know if anyone else has watch Star Trek: The Animated Series, but I have. Awful, choppy animation and juvenile storyline, but the voice acting was good. They had the actual actors voicing their respective animated counterparts.
I disliked both of these ST entries, much of what follows I've said previously, maybe in this thread. As I recall the first or an early Voyager episodes was a repeat of a STNG episode about a time paradox, did we cause this? That annoyed me, along with the Captain.
I too wanted to like Enterprise, but the writing for this series was underwhelming, not much is the way of science fiction intrigue or mind bending concepts, just let's go down to the planet and help these people do some task. Oh, and we got to watch people rub disinfectant on each other in their undies, but for T'Pol that was almost worth it. I thought for it to be effective though, they'd have to remove all of their clothing and frequently imaged this mentally.
You didn't like Janeway? IMO, the whole premise of the series worked only because the Captain is straight-laced and by the book. Anyone else would have carved out a Terran Empire in the Delta Quadrant, enslaving the natives and collecting tribute. Or they would have used any means necessary to return to the Alpha Quadrant, like Captain Ransom of the Equinox (VOY: Equinox).
I found Harry Kim's "yesman" character annoying as well as that fuzzy fellow, Neelix. I didn't care much for Tom Paris' cocky attitude, but cockiness is to be expected from the ship's best pilot.
Neelix annoyed me too.
As far as the Captain, Janeway, was just a little too masculine for me or maybe it was her voice or the personality of the character. I had no issue with her being straight laced. I remember in the All Good Things series final, Beverly Crusher had her own command, and I had no issues with her leadership style. Of course I had a crush on her... 
I thought the explanation for the ridges was muddled and unnecessary. I would have much rather they left it at, "we don't discuss it with outsiders."It would have been better if they had kept it a mystery. Chief O'Brien (DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations) guess was right on the mark, but how it was explain... ugh... worthy of a Picard Double Palmface.
DS9 did it right with Worf saying, "We do not discuss it with outsiders."
Anyhow, the only reason I managed to sit through 4 season of Enterprise was because of my pride as an obsessed Trekkie.
[doublepost=1492141611][/doublepost]
I don't know about masculine, but I thought she made a great captain, even if the character wasn't my favorite.Neelix annoyed me too.
[doublepost=1492141886][/doublepost]
I disliked both of these ST entries, much of what follows I've said previously, maybe in this thread. As I recall the first or an early Voyager episodes was a repeat of a STNG episode about a time paradox, did we cause this? That annoyed me, along with the Captain.
I too wanted to like Enterprise, but the writing for this series was underwhelming, not much is the way of science fiction intrigue or mind bending concepts, just let's go down to the planet and help these people do some task. Oh, and we got to watch people rub disinfectant on each other in their undies, but for T'Pol that was almost worth it. I thought for it to be effective though, they'd have to remove all of their clothing and frequently imaged this mentally.
I think the only story line I found interesting was the one exposing the present Vulcan culture as opressive and authoritarian. Prior to that they just seemed like total pricks (ditto for the humans). It might have been potentially interesting to explore the Vulcan stuff earlier...
But that wouldn't have saved the series, bad writing and lackluster characters doomed it.
Last edited:
Having never seen it, I just looked up the cast. It stars John Billingsley, who I'm guessing plays an irreverent, educated, vaguely cynical yet enthusiastic character.
At least, that's how he was cast in the only work I've seen him in, "The Man From Earth," which was written by the same person responsible for the episode of TNG I've seen a few people mention, "Mirror Mirror."
I too disliked Neelix. It was like somebody watched The Phantom Menace, saw Jar Jar Binks, and said, "We need someone like that in our show." Oh, and then they traveled back in time about four years I guess…
I felt similarly about Picard. The balding head, the sharp jawline, and the resonant baritone of his voice… what did he think he was doing piloting a ship?!Neelix annoyed me too.
Hmm, I mostly remember wanting to be tied up and spanked by her ... "Aye Aye Captain! More please!"
Ha...
[doublepost=1492180041][/doublepost]
Well, we all have different tastes.
Are you sure you've never seen ENT? Because you've described his character almost perfectly haha
Now that I have the STNG series on BluRays, I've started my journey down memory lane. These people look so young!
The disks are remastered HD, great detail, updated graphics on ships, the way it should have been on DVD but they are not wide screen. I can live with that.
STNG S1E1: Encounter at Farpoint Station. In this 2 hour series premier, Picard and the crew are put on trial for being a greviously savage species by Q with a test on how they handle a situation at Farpoint. Riker and Troy are revealed to have a former relationship. Picard admits to his new First Officer that he is awkward around children. Crusher and the Captain know each other from the time he brought her husband's body home. Data annoys Picard when he verbally explores all the synonyms for the word snoop.
The disks are remastered HD, great detail, updated graphics on ships, the way it should have been on DVD but they are not wide screen. I can live with that.
STNG S1E1: Encounter at Farpoint Station. In this 2 hour series premier, Picard and the crew are put on trial for being a greviously savage species by Q with a test on how they handle a situation at Farpoint. Riker and Troy are revealed to have a former relationship. Picard admits to his new First Officer that he is awkward around children. Crusher and the Captain know each other from the time he brought her husband's body home. Data annoys Picard when he verbally explores all the synonyms for the word snoop.
Last edited:
STNG S1:E5- Where No One Has Gone Before
With the help of a purported engine modification, the Enterprise finds itself billion light years from home, where thought can become reality.
Episode introduces The Traveler (actor Eric Menyuk) a humanoid and visitor from another plane of existence who travels among humans observing those with potential to understand and utilize the ability of manipulating space and time with thought. Wesley Crusher is one such person who has the potential. As he appears to be a child genius and has helped them get out of several jams since the start of the series, Picard makes him an acting Ensign.
With the help of a purported engine modification, the Enterprise finds itself billion light years from home, where thought can become reality.
Episode introduces The Traveler (actor Eric Menyuk) a humanoid and visitor from another plane of existence who travels among humans observing those with potential to understand and utilize the ability of manipulating space and time with thought. Wesley Crusher is one such person who has the potential. As he appears to be a child genius and has helped them get out of several jams since the start of the series, Picard makes him an acting Ensign.
Last edited:
S1:E5- Where No One Has Gone Before
With the help of a purported engine modification, the Enterprise finds itself billion light years from home, where thought can become reality.
Episode introduces The Traveler (actor Eric Menyuk) a humanoid and visitor from another plane of existence who travels among humans observing those with potential to understand and utilize the ability of manipulating space and time with thought. Wesley Crusher is one such person who has the potential. As he appears to be a child genius and has helped them them get out of several jams since the start of the series, Picard makes him an acting Ensign.
The Traveller reappeared in a few other episodes, including a rather powerful one in the final series (Journey's End) - which book-ended the episode you have just referenced @Huntn.
I liked that one, but I felt the Wesley/Traveller arc was rather let down by his later appearance in Nemesis. So the whole star-child, next-stage of human evolution thing didn't work out for you then Wes?
Never saw Nemesis; to my mind, none of the movies ever came close to matching the best of the episodes of the TV series for sheer narrative power and depth (with the possible exception of the Wrath of Khan); special effects and a large budget are no substitute for a good story.
And - while STNG was a superb series - the (very) few movies I saw were a huge - nay, massive - disappointment.
Last edited:
STNG S1:E7- Justice
Imo, one of the best early episodes, both intellectually and visually, the crew visits an Eden full of nubile and attractive, skimpily dressed humanoids whose preferred activity is love making. Riker is ecstatic at the prospect.
Little do they know that law and order is maintained by the ultimate penalty, death, for minor offenses and no one bothers to warn them before Wesley ends up in hot water. Complicating the situation is an advanced ship orbiting the planet, known as God to the Eido who protects his children on the planet and demands no interference.
This episode was filmed on location at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California and Japanese Garden, Donald C. Tillman Water reclamation Plant, Van Nuys, California.
My questions
Imo, one of the best early episodes, both intellectually and visually, the crew visits an Eden full of nubile and attractive, skimpily dressed humanoids whose preferred activity is love making. Riker is ecstatic at the prospect.
Little do they know that law and order is maintained by the ultimate penalty, death, for minor offenses and no one bothers to warn them before Wesley ends up in hot water. Complicating the situation is an advanced ship orbiting the planet, known as God to the Eido who protects his children on the planet and demands no interference.
This episode was filmed on location at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California and Japanese Garden, Donald C. Tillman Water reclamation Plant, Van Nuys, California.
My questions
- God demanded no interference, so why were the crew members allowed to make contact?
- Where were the old Eido? Hopefully not a Logan's Run scenario...
- Also based on the Enterprise Star Trek show, I thought the Prime Directive prevented contact with a civilization prior to it achieving warp space flight?
I've always been impressed at how much story telling they could produce in a 45 min STNG Episode.
I've always been impressed at how much story telling they could produce in a 45 min STNG Episode.
Agreed. STNG had some stunning single episodes: For example, "The Inner Light" comes to mind, as does "Yesterday's Enterprise".
These were two outstanding episodes.
They boasted first rate and supremely intelligent scripts, outstanding acting and - this is key - absolutely gripping stories with a compelling narrative arc - and yet, each story had very different - and arresting - forms of danger conveyed and expressed superbly - and all without bloated budgets to spend on special effects.
Moreover, some of the two part episodes were brilliant - better by far for intelligent story telling than any of the movies.
STNG S1:E7- Justice
My questions
- God demanded no interference, so why were the crew members allowed to make contact?
- Where were the old Eido? Hopefully not a Logan's Run scenario...
- Also based on the Enterprise Star Trek show, I thought the Prime Directive prevented contact with a civilization prior to it achieving warp space flight?
Isn't the whole point of having rules in stories to see what are the ramifications of them being broken? All StarTrek series have examples peppered throughout them about how a prime directive or other rule is violated... usually for doing what's right (mostly form the eyes of a captain.. i.e. a judgement call on the field).
TNG was very loose with the Prime Directive (and the transporter ... and warp speed ... and ...).
I generally liked it, for me there was some episodes that were fantastic (usually with a focus on JLP), some laughably bad and a good number of mediocre-to-moderately-decent (mostly where the A story was good, but the B story was craptacular).
Although there were some very good individual episodes in the first two seasons (more in season two - such as "Measure Of A Man"), my sense is that STNG found its own narrative voice - and became consistently good, sometimes very good, and, at times excellent to outstanding - from season three onwards.
It was definitely a little bit of a rough start, though it had been, what? About 18 years since the original show ended, TV sci-fi hadn't fared very well in the interim, so they had a significant number of hurdles. I'm glad they were able to sustain long enough to get a good foundation of character, tone, etc. Hiring Patrick Stewart was a brilliant casting decision.
I should probably add, I was a huge fan of the original, but the same critique applies, though the original show didn't have as much of an A/B narrative model, it had some strong EPs (usually written by a who's who of classic sci-fi) and some serious stinkers
This story line although interesting and intriguing, the concept of judgement, it puzzles me as there was no pressing reason to violate the Prime Directive other than the prospect of getting laid, lol. Remember that episode where they had the shielded blind setup so the natives would not be aware of them?
[doublepost=1492904963][/doublepost]
I'll be looking for them as I progress down the list.
The casting of Patrick Stewart (initially, over the head of Gene Roddenberry, who wanted someone more like William Shatner - someone such as Jonathan Frakes (Riker) - for that role) was what made STNG, in my view.
Just think of the power of two classically trained British actors - David Warner and Patrick Stewart in the stunning two part episode "Chain of Command" - this far surpasses any of the movies - any of them! - for sheer narrative power (Patrick Stewart - who is a member of Amnesty International, insisted on being shot naked for the scenes where he was tortured, a decision Jonathan Frakes described, rightly, as "extremely brave" - remember this was the early 90s)- , nail-biting tension, superb acting, stunning scripts, gripping stories.....
From series three onwards, Patrick Stewart - especially when he insisted (to the directors) on participating in more 'away missions' - made that series his own; terrific two-parters such as "Chain of Command", "Gambit" "Unification", - were gripping, and the stunning story arc of the intrigues and murder in the Klingon political power struggle - told over a number of brilliant episodes - such as "Reunion", and the two part episode "Redemption" were utterly compelling.
I should probably add, I was a huge fan of the original, but the same critique applies, though the original show didn't have as much of an A/B narrative model, it had some strong EPs (usually written by a who's who of classic sci-fi) and some serious stinkers
Remember, the original series featured the first black woman ever to appear as a commissioned officer (Lt Uhuru), the first Asian (Lt Sulu), and - in the second season - after the Soviet Government had grumbled (politely) that their advances in space, (Tsiolkovsky, Korolev, Gagarin, et all) had been dismissed, ignored, and entirely over-looked, which they muttered was an American attempt to write them out of the history of space exploration, wondering why Soviet/Russian contributions to space exploration hadn't been acknowledged or recognised by the 23rd-24th centuries - Gene Roddenberry - to his credit - accepted that they might have had a point, and wrote Pavel Chekhov (played by Walter Koenig) into the series as a result.
Later, in an episode of STNG, there was a casual reference to a ship called the USS-Tsiolkovsky - and I smiled quietly to myself at this subtle salute.
[doublepost=1492906600][/doublepost]
This story line although interesting and intriguing, the concept of judgement, it puzzles me as there was no pressing reason to violate the Prime Directive other than the prospect of getting laid, lol. Remember that episode where they had the shielded blind setup so the natives would not be aware of them?
[doublepost=1492904963][/doublepost]
I'll be looking for them as I progress down the list.
Hm, yes.
Male writers, ......this is one of the reasons you might need writers (including perhaps some women) who can supply other perspectives.
Yes, @Huntn, there must have been reasons other than the presumed pleasures of getting laid to violate the Prime Directive.
I would argue that curiosity - seeking answers to the age-old philosophical questions such as those posed by the Promethean Fire, Garden of Eden queries - in other words, intellectual curiosity - can be compelling.
I do remember the episode in question, and the point was that one of the locals stumbled over the observers and couldn't deal with it.
Then, there was the episode where Data made friends with a young girl whose planet was going supernova.
Last edited: