The Official Star Trek Thread

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Yeah, it's clear they're at least playing into speculation that the villain is Mitchell or an alt-universe version of Mitchell.  It's entirely possible that in order to avoid paying royalties to Samuel Peeples' estate, Peeples wrote the second pilot episode of the original series, they'll rename or revise the characters enough for copyright purposes.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Is it bad that the only reason I'm going to go see this is to gauge how good the next Star Wars movie is going to be?

[ShadowRocket]

I highly doubt this woman is anyone other than Elizabeth Dehner:




If I'm wrong, I won't admit it.  I'll just rant about how much I don't like the movie.

Alice Eve is actually playing Carol Marcus.

Personally, I think Benedict Cumberbatch's character John Harrison will be new though.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

It's Khan. I will bet a $100 Cumberbatch is Khan.

[Eraserhead]

Is it bad that the only reason I'm going to go see this is to gauge how good the next Star Wars movie is going to be?

Yes. Yes, it is.

It's Khan. I will bet a $100 Cumberbatch is Khan.

The character seems absolutely nothing like Khan though. It'd have to be a radically different interpretation of the character. I can't really see it.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

Spoilers from the Sydney premiere last night are out and about.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Spoilers from the Sydney premiere last night are out and about.

If the spoilers I've read are accurate, especially as to the ending, I won't be wasting my money on this film.  Even some of the other stuff, such as the involvement of Section 31, while not so bad, isn't Trek to me.  I never did care for Section 31, as it was never believable.  I liked that they tried to make the Federation grittier and more realistic in Deep Space 9, but Section 31 was just as absurdly unrealistic, just in a dystopian way as opposed to Roddenberry's unrealistic utopianism.  Anyway the stuff I put in white text are minor spoilers. I didn't bother anything to say about the major spoiler. As for another minor spoiler, I do wish Abram had left the Tribbles alone.  They don't really fit into an Abram's film.  They should have waited to have the Tribbles appear in a more comedic Star Trek movie along with such classic elements as Harry Mudd.  That would be Stella!

[politicallefty]

I've gone all of my 26 (and very soon to be 27) years without giving Star Trek much thought. For some reason, a couple weeks ago, I decided to start watching Star Trek: TNG from the beginning on Netflix. Right now, I'm very close to the end of season 2. I've so fallen in love with it that it's all I'm currently really watching, not that there's much to watch this time of year. I've seen episodes here and there in passing, but this is the first time I've really given the show a real chance. I've always wanted to sit down and watch the show and I finally have. I'll probably end up venturing into the other series, most likely DS9 next.

From what I've seen so far, these are what I think have been the best episodes (limiting myself to five or so, with asterisks for my favourites from each):

Season1
The Last Outpost
Where No One Has Gone Before
Home Soil
Skin of Evil (mainly for the very shocking death)
Conspiracy*
The Neutral Zone

Season 2
Where Silence Has Lease
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
Q Who*

Q Who was among the creepiest episodes with the introduction of the Borg (and probably the best episode I've seen as of yet).


Season 3
The Defector
Yesterday's Enterprise
Sins of the Father
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds* (I&II)

Season 4
Remember Me*
Reunion
Future Imperfect
Clues
Night Terrors
The Drumhead
The Mind's Eye
Redemption (I&II)

Season 5
Darmok
Disaster
Conundrum
Cause and Effect*
I, Borg*
The Next Phase
The Inner Light

Season 6
Schisms*
Chain of Command (I&II)
Face of the Enemy
Tapestry
Frame of Mind
Timescape
Descent, Part I

Season 7
Phantasms
Attached
Parallels
(Genesis (guilty pleasure))
All Good Things...*

[Tender Branson]

If you like TNG, you will love DS9 - because Sisko vs. Dukat is virtually Star Trek's version to the Obama vs. Romney election.

[Tender Branson]

Q Who was among the creepiest episodes with the introduction of the Borg (and probably the best episode I've seen as of yet).

Yep, I assume you have never seen the movie "First Contact" yet then ?

[dead0man]

TNG is the only Star Trek thing I ever really got into.  Some of the early season sets and special effects make Dr Who look like Star Wars, but the stories are good, the acting is (for the most part) top notch, the characters are (again, for the most part) good to great.  Some of the dialogue is rough, as in no real person would say those words in that situation, but that happens every where all the time so I can't give TNG too much sh**t for that...though it does seem to happen a lot on the show.  But overall a great SciFi TV show.  Probably my second favorite behind SG1....ok, maybe third, I think I liked Farscape better.

[DemPGH]

Ahh, I'm envious - you're discovering this great show for the first time. I wasn't able to get into anything Trek related post Next Generation. It was so well written and acted. There have been rumors about a reboot centered around either Riker or Worf, but they've all been shot down.

By all objective measures the show improved a lot and settled down in Season 3 and steadily got better, IMO. Characters start to develop relationships of various kinds (Data's cat, lol) and carve out their own niches doing this or that.

Worf sitting in the mud bath in "Cost of Living" from Season 5 was hilarious. "So you're just supposed to sit here??" he barks. LOL.

I think you'll enjoy Season 3 and beyond a lot. Wait till "The Best of Both Worlds."

Season 7 takes a creepy turn, so you might like some shows there.

[dead0man]

Yep, it gets better as it goes on.  Even Wesley becomes enjoyable a couple of times.

[DemPGH]

Yep, it gets better as it goes on.  Even Wesley becomes enjoyable a couple of times.

Yes. The one where he gets in trouble for a stunt he pulled with his buddies at the Academy was very good!

[dead0man]

Indeed.  Wesley takes more crap than he deserves really, even when he was a whinging little bitch he was SUPPOSED to be a whinging little bitch.  Though his new show on ScyFy (another The Soup knockoff) kind of sucks and he's part of the reason why, but I still watch it because I like the format and I like him, he's just not as good at it as...well, pretty much everybody else that's done it.  Certainly worse than Hardwick, McHale and Tosh or any of the Talk Soup guys.  Then again, ALL those guys are stand ups first (save McHale, but he's just got charm oozing out of his ears) so it comes easier to them.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've never really got myself into Star Trek, but I think I'd really enjoy it. I've seen some of the movies (First Contact was fantastic) and a couple episodes from TNG and Voyager. I'll try to watch more of TNG over the next few months.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Seasons 3 and 4 of TNG were the high point of the entire Star Trek franchise IMHO.

Everything that immediately followed was far from being crap, but this is certainly were Trek peaked in terms of having a consistent streak of high-quality writing and storytelling.

[Хahar 🤔]

What's the point of Star Trek if you're not going to watch TOS?

[Marokai Backbeat]

Seasons 3 and 4 of TNG were the high point of the entire Star Trek franchise IMHO.

Everything that immediately followed was far from being crap, but this is certainly were Trek peaked in terms of having a consistent streak of high-quality writing and storytelling.

I really cannot understand how a person would think this when DS9 exists. Hell, Enterprise told better long-running stories than TNG did. By virtue of telling them at all.

Anyway, good on you for getting into Star Trek, Lefty. You'll never enjoy TNG more than when you've watched nothing but TNG.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Speaking of this, does anyone know where I could find TNG to stream? The ideal for me would be English with English subtitles, but English with French or Italian subtitles would work as well.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Seasons 3 and 4 of TNG were the high point of the entire Star Trek franchise IMHO.

Everything that immediately followed was far from being crap, but this is certainly were Trek peaked in terms of having a consistent streak of high-quality writing and storytelling.

I really cannot understand how a person would think this when DS9 exists. Hell, Enterprise told better long-running stories than TNG did. By virtue of telling them at all.

I wasn't even talking about story arcs.

I was talking about the quality of writing of the individual episodes, which in case of TNG's 3rd and 4th season has been consistently high and has been in fact higher than during any other season of Star Trek IMO.

This has nothing to do whether they belong to story arcs or are standalone stories, unless you'd argue that the fact that an episode is part of a story arc alone makes it a better episode. A view I would contest since a lot of crappy episodes can also be found in story arcs.

For instance, I consider the 5th and 6th season of DS9 the high point of that particular show. Still, these seasons include examples of truly horrendous episodes like "Let He Who Is Without Sin...", "Ferengi Love Songs", "Resurrection", "Profit and Lace", or "Time's Orphan"...

Seasons 3 and 4 of TNG never manged to drop to the level of true stinkfests like "Let He Who Is Without Sin..." or "Profit and Lace". The worst contributions to the Trek lore from those seasons are probably "The Price" and "The Loss". But these could be considered boring rather than an insult to the intelligence of the viewers. Granted, "The Price" comes awfully close to crossing the event horizon here.

Anyway, I think during seasons 3 and 4 of TNG, Star Trek actually came closest to a non-SciFi drama series in terms of quality. Season 3 deserved an Emmy IMO. (TNG was - somewhat late - nominated for an Emmy as Best Drama Series after Season 7 had aired, but lost to Picket Fences that year.)

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

TNG and DS9 are the counterparts that serve as the hallmarks of the series. If anything could run as yin and yang in terms of storytelling of all the Trek franchises, its those two. With TNG, you get the explorer spirit, Picard's unflinching idealism, good, standalone stories that really showcase what episodic storytelling can do. On the other hand, you have DS9, grounded and dark, consistently grappling with giving up that idealism when your existence is on the line. Behr put together some good season-long storytelling. Granted, its still the standalones that come through the best, but the character evolution is top notch. (Damar for example)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Worf sitting in the mud bath in "Cost of Living" from Season 5 was hilarious. "So you're just supposed to sit here??" he barks. LOL.

From "Qpid" in season 4:

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

Worf sitting in the mud bath in "Cost of Living" from Season 5 was hilarious. "So you're just supposed to sit here??" he barks. LOL.

From "Qpid" in season 4:

Him taking the lute Geordi had and breaking it, and then apologizing was the only thing that saved that episode.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     TNG is pretty good, though I thought it was too "optimistic" for my tastes. DS9 is much darker, and for that matter so is TOS. As much as it gets lampooned for its campiness, the characters in TOS had their share of flaws.