The Official Star Trek Thread

[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.

Anyone?

[politicallefty]

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

Nope. I've never seen any of the movies. I'll get there, but I like to watch things in the proper order.

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

Yeah, I'm almost there, and looking forward to it. I've heard very good things. I just finished S3E19 (Captain's Holiday, which I think is definitely one of the weakest episodes of the season).

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

I'm sure I'll get there eventually. It's just not a priority. My biggest concern with TOS is that it might feel dated and I'm not sure how I'll like it, though I'll absolutely give it a chance.

In any event, I'm still just sticking with TNG right now (and from I've read, DS9 seems to be the best to go to after that). Voyager seems to have mixed reviews, and Enterprise sounds like something to avoided altogether.

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.

Anyone?

Netflix has all the Star Trek series with subtitles, but I don't know if you can get it where you are. I really don't know what your streaming options are. Maybe there's some way you can get the DVDs?

[7,052,770]

If you liked seasons 1-2 of TNG, you'll love seasons 3-6. And you'll love DS9 too.

[DemPGH]

I don't dislike Deep Space Nine, but I couldn't get into it. It's too static for me and the Dominion arc and the intrigue is a little too much of one thing.

With Next Gen, it also dawned on me that in addition to what dead0man said about Wesley, Lwaxana's material also got much, much better in the later seasons. She was only in a handful of shows, but her material during the early seasons is silly out of control libido or matchmaker antics. Her later material is very serious and at times heavy - "Dark Page" from Season 7 is a good example. It's a fine example as to what that character could have been.

What about the Next Gen Movies?

VII. Generations
VIII. First Contact
IX. Insurrection
X. Nemesis

I actually like Insurrection - it's probably the most Next Generation-y of the movies, it's got a great villain (although I tend to lean toward less make-up and prosthetics), Data is more normal, and I love the closing shot. Nemesis is the stinker, IMO - it's a bad B movie with a mega budget. God awful premise, bad villain, and someone watched a certain 1920s vampire movie in coming up with the stupid underlings. That movie was so bad it killed the freaking series.

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.

Anyone?

I have no idea. The region 1 DVDs do not have Italian, I know that.

[Badger]

I just rewatched episode 25 of season 6, The Inner Light. The best episode ever imho. Unbelievably touching.

[Mr. Morden]

I just rewatched episode 25 of season 6, The Inner Light. The best episode ever imho. Unbelievably touching.

That was Season 5, not Season 6.

And I've always thought that DS9's "The Visitor" makes for an interesting companion piece to "The Inner Light".

[DemPGH]

This is just beautiful, Stewart at the top of his game, which happened rather often! But this is perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6NPq_kPSUM

And here's an extended version where Picard convinces one of the characters that he is not a god.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2tQ7V2oCTs

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

I just rewatched episode 25 of season 6, The Inner Light. The best episode ever imho. Unbelievably touching.

That was Season 5, not Season 6.

And I've always thought that DS9's "The Visitor" makes for an interesting companion piece to "The Inner Light".

People constantly put "Hard Time" up as the perfect counterpoint to "The Inner Light."

I think if you're going to watch DS9, you can still skip the majority of the arcs and see some great episodes. "Duet," "Far Beyond the Stars," "Past Tense," "The Visitor," and "In the Pale Moonlight" work completely fine without background on the Dominion War.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I think if you're going to watch DS9, you can still skip the majority of the arcs and see some great episodes. "Duet," "Far Beyond the Stars," "Past Tense," "The Visitor," and "In the Pale Moonlight" work completely fine without background on the Dominion War.

With the possible exception of "In the Pale Moonlight", of course.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

I think if you're going to watch DS9, you can still skip the majority of the arcs and see some great episodes. "Duet," "Far Beyond the Stars," "Past Tense," "The Visitor," and "In the Pale Moonlight" work completely fine without background on the Dominion War.

With the possible exception of "In the Pale Moonlight", of course.

Okay, well, granted it is a big driving force in the episode but the narrative doesn't suffer much as long as you know that there's a war and lots of people are dying.

[Mr. Morden]

I liked Behr as a showrunner, but usually wasn't all that into the big arc episodes that he wrote.  The arc episodes that he *didn't* write, like "Improbable Cause"/"The Die is Cast", "In the Pale Moonlight", etc., usually turned out better.

IMHO, Peter Allan Fields was the best writer DS9 had in the early years, while Ron Moore was the best they had in the later years.  While the credits don't actually reflect this, my understanding is that Moore did an uncredited rewrite of "In the Pale Moonlight" that changed the story substantially.  The earlier draft had a completely different framing device, set up around Jake investigating Garak for a news story.

[Badger]

I just rewatched episode 25 of season 6, The Inner Light. The best episode ever imho. Unbelievably touching.

That was Season 5, not Season 6.

And I've always thought that DS9's "The Visitor" makes for an interesting companion piece to "The Inner Light".

Did you slide your glasses up your nose as you typed that?

[politicallefty]

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

I'm working on Season 4 now, so yes, I did see that two-parter. That's as good as it gets, particularly the last couple minutes of Part I. It definitely lived up to expectations.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I think if you're going to watch DS9, you can still skip the majority of the arcs and see some great episodes. "Duet," "Far Beyond the Stars," "Past Tense," "The Visitor," and "In the Pale Moonlight" work completely fine without background on the Dominion War.

With the possible exception of "In the Pale Moonlight", of course.

Okay, well, granted it is a big driving force in the episode but the narrative doesn't suffer much as long as you know that there's a war and lots of people are dying.

     Indeed, it's an amazing episode standing on its own merits. The context of the Dominion War is just icing on the cake.

[DemPGH]

One of my favorite 4th season shows is "Remember Me." It proved that McFadden could indeed act, because if anyone had been unfairly criticized, she had been (Maurice Hurley drummed her out at the close of the 1st season, and when Hurley left or was pushed out himself the first thing they did was bring her back). She did nearly 40% of the script alone and did all her own stunts in "Remember Me."

I also really liked "Brothers," "Clues," and "The Drumhead," but in general the 4th season was superb. "Devil's Due" could have been more. I hope I'm not spoiling it, but she (Ardra) ended up just out to make a buck and have some fun. It was a cute show, but she could have been darker and more malevolent.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

Have you hit the end of Season 4? If not, you're in for an interesting surprise.

[politicallefty]

One of my favorite 4th season shows is "Remember Me." It proved that McFadden could indeed act, because if anyone had been unfairly criticized, she had been (Maurice Hurley drummed her out at the close of the 1st season, and when Hurley left or was pushed out himself the first thing they did was bring her back). She did nearly 40% of the script alone and did all her own stunts in "Remember Me."

Yeah, that's definitely been one of the best episodes of the season, where she definitely shined. It seems she's really been developing as a character on her own in Season 4, which was lacking in S1 and sub-par in S3. It's very obvious now that that was a result of the writing. (I did think that was odd because Pulaski in S2 seemed to have developed much faster in just her one season. And don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of both CMOs.)

As for where I'm at in the series right now, the last episode I watched was Night Terrors (Episode 17), which I thought was a pretty good episode. As noted above, Remember Me was an excellent episode. Reunion was another really good one as well. You'd have a really hard time not sympathizing with Worf in that one.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

On a personal note, I just noticed on the Facebook Star Trek page that they posted a photo of Jonathan Frakes now next to a photo from him during the show's run for his birthday. My God he's gotten along in years. Even in 2004, he still reasonably passed as being the same age as he was in TNG, now he looks like Dr. Seuss.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Picture of Jonathan Frakes directing a recent episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:



It's probably the beard, but he actually reminds a bit of George Lucas.

[DemPGH]

That's Frakes? Wow. Showing his age, he is! Might be the glasses too.

With regard to the 5th Season, "Darmok" is widely considered to be objectively one of the best shows of the series. It's beloved by pretty much everybody. The episode contains a very egregious effects blooper, though - see if you catch it! Sadly, that's the only appearance of the Children of Tama. I also like "Cost of Living" very much, "The Perfect Mate," "Cause and Affect," and a few others.

[Tender Branson]

My God he's gotten along in years.

[Middle-aged Europe]

When 62 years old you reach, look as good, you will not.

[Badger]

When 62 years old you reach, look as good, you will not.

Wrong franchise, Yoda.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've finished season 1, and I quite liked it. It's obviously pretty goofy (embarrassingly so in the first episodes) but still viewable and a few gimmicks are even genuinely enjoyable. The plots are still a bit basic, but some are truly excellent at the conceptual level (Justice, Hide And Q, Datalore, Heart of Glory, The Arsenal of Freedom, Symbiosis). Some are godawful obviously ("Code of Honor", oh pleeeeeeeeeeeease) and some are underexploited (I was really interested in seeing more of that matriarchal society in Angel One), but they can easily be skipped to only keep in mind the most worthwhile ones.

The characters are fine too. Picard is pure awesomeness obviously (I Patrick Stewart). He can be extremely irritating (like his ridiculous Prime Directive integralism... I thought the P.D. was only there for Enterprise captains to violate it ) but that's part of what makes him a well built character. Data is also EXCELLENT, by far the most interesting member of the crew. Crusher, Troy and Worf are both well-built characters who find their own role in the plots. I'll always regret they didn't develop Yar more before killing her off, because her character definitely had the potential to be a great addition - despite their professed egalitarian premise the writers seemed to remain caught in 80s gender roles to some level. Geordi also needs some development, but he has time for it. Finally, I have to say I don't get the hate on Wesley I've seen both here and on TV Tropes. I was expecting much worse from a teen in a somewhat goofy 80s show - in fact, he often contributes a good deal to the plot and is rarely acting immaturely or being clueless about everything. He's not really necessary to the show, but I fail to see how he would be a nuisance either.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Just realized I didn't even mention Riker. Anyway, he's all right, maybe a bit generic so far, but I'm sure he has time to develop.