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[iamaustrian]

First of all: I really do think that the producers should not have put so much 90s Zeitgeist into it. It feels strange and in some cases absolutly inappropriate.
it's one of the huge downers for me.

yes, I am talking about the crazy choice of costumes and ridiculous hairstyles.
I (maybe) can accept the fact that the human race might have some dropback to a 90s fashion style in the future but why does basicly every other "human-like" alien in the universe dresses like a combination of MC Hammer and Mick Jagger?

really?

REALLY?

I DO love the normal uniforms as they look timeless and classy (same goes to some of the staff like Guinan) but wtf is up with some special events uniforms?

This seems so weird to me because the rest of the scenery, designs and decoration is so good and timeless.
The USS Enterprise D itself is IMO still the most beautiful and sleekest in all Star Trek.

The same goes to it's main bridge with the awe-inspiring and gorgeous wooden(such a great idea) commando panel.

The other unsettling (to me at least) stuff:
.) Troy being raped by an alien, giving birth to a superfast aging child and everyone acting like it's the most normal thing ever.

.) The horror/splatter and supernatural elements in some episodes which doesn't 'fit' the series at all. like that "manifested evil" black blob which

Spoiler

kills Tasha

,exploding heads, alien parasites ripping throught people's chests,werewolves and "The Fly" like insect mutations. what the hell?

.) That crazy ass "Caligula" planet Rubicun III with all the half naked men and women, Oily "nuru" massages and basicly sex everywhere. which brings me to my next point:

.) The gigolo that is Will Ryker throughout the entire series. I understand that he is suppose to be the womanizer in the series but, jesus christ, he has sexual intercourse with pretty much half of the universe. which brings me to my next point and the biggest problem I have with Star Trek Next Gen:

.) The series is 95% of the time a soap opera/telenovela based in space with extremely rare occurances of actual space interaction scenes. I understand that a sci fi series has a limited budget compared to hollywood blockbusters but I wished they would have used that one million $ per episode for more space action instead of stupid hairstyles, crazy costumes and endless dialoge scenes in front of reused/recycled movie backgrounds (holodeck etc) and in enterprise's corridors.

yes, the USS Enterprise is a spaceship for exploration first and foremost but, boy, I wish Picard was more of a wildcat personality and phaser/photon-bomb the shit out other enemy spaceships instead of yadda yadda diplomacy yadda yadda.
I miss the "badassery",if you know what I mean.
Sometimes I dream about a Star Trek series actually based entirely on the federation being at war with tons of space battles and a mercyless (let me even say ruthless) captain.
like the in first Borg encounter episode
(but, of course, they had to fuck everything up with that stupid ass teeny feeling Borg "Hugh" in a later episode)

thoughts?

 

[elrechazado]

Thoughts?

Season one sucks. That about covers your concerns.

 

[SPCTRE]

yes, the USS Enterprise is a spaceship for exploration first and foremost but, boy, I wish Picard was more of a wildcat personality and phaser/photon-bomb the shit out other enemy spaceships instead of yadda yadda diplomacy yadda yadda.
I miss the "badassery",if you know what I mean.

I have an inkling you're going to like Picard in the movies

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Star trek is (well, was) about the human condition in space. It just isn't that kind of show and I wouldn't want it to be.

They did really mess up the borg though. They were never again as good as they were in Q who.

 

[McBradders]

You've never seen the original series, I take it?

TNG is perfectly in-line with it in regards to aesthetic of the era in which it was created.

As for your problem with Picard wanting to talk... man, that's the single greatest thing about Star Trek for me. The new movies fucking kill me with their whizz-bang-blow-everything-the-fuck-up... that's not fucking Star Trek, man.

I really hope the new series is more about drama and intrigue instead of shooting the shit out of everything. There's literally two dozen other sci-fi doodads that scratch that itch... go back to being Star Trek.

 

[firehawk12]

Even Kirk didn't actually go around shooting everything on site. Star Trek isn't Star Wars.

But the costumes and set design are decidedly an 80s version of the future. But I bet in 30 years, people will think JJ Trek looks terrible too. lol

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I agreed with you up until

This is a dope look. It's called fashion, honey. Look it up.

 

[DBT85]

No mention of planet of the black people?

 

[iamaustrian]

I agreed with you up until


This is a dope look. It's called fashion, honey. Look it up.

it looks like a female version of an 80s David Bowie.

No mention of planet of the black people?

woah, really? must have been one that I've missed

You've never seen the original series, I take it?

I have seen actually all episode of the original.

 

[blackjaw]

This just reminds me how much I love TNG

 

[liquidtmd]

The other unsettling (to me at least) stuff:
.) Troy being raped by an alien, giving birth to a superfast aging child and everyone acting like it's the most normal thing ever.

.) The horror/splatter and supernatural elements in some episodes which doesn't 'fit' the series at all. like that "manifested evil" black blob which

Spoiler

kills Tasha

,exploding heads, alien parasites ripping throught people's chests,werewolves and "The Fly" like insect mutations. what the hell?

.) That crazy ass "Caligula" planet Rubicun III with all the half naked men and women, Oily "nuru" massages and basicly sex everywhere. which brings me to my next point:

.) The gigolo that is Will Ryker throughout the entire series. I understand that he is suppose to be the womanizer in the series but, jesus christ, he has sexual intercourse with pretty much half of the universe.
thoughts?

yes, the USS Enterprise is a spaceship for exploration first and foremost but, boy, I wish Picard was more of a wildcat personality and phaser/photon-bomb the shit out other enemy spaceships instead of yadda yadda diplomacy yadda yadda.
I miss the "badassery",if you know what I mean.

What, nooo OP. Picard's stern diplomacy is the most badass thing about the show. It's incredible.

When Picard is pissed, you KNOW shit is going to go down.

You're Captain of a federation starship. Bombing the shit out of everyone isn't what you should be doing. Sad!

 

[gofreak]

The questionable treatment of some of the female characters through parts of the series aside, this is why we should treasure TNG. A series like it would never be made today, sadly.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

woah, really? must have been one that I've missed

S1 code of honor

It was because of the director. The script did not call for any specific casting of the alien species, so when Gene found out what he did he fired his ass.

Episode should still never have aired though.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

I always thought it was an incredibly ugly show and that prevented me from actually giving it a chance for the longest time. Regular uniforms aside, the costumes and alien designs were pretty horrible. TNG has some good parts certainly, but the only 90s Star Trek I need is DS9.

 

[gforguava]

I find TNG to be one of the ugliest shows I've ever seen(from an art design standpoint). Almost everything to do with Starfleet is horrendous looking(exception made for the exteriors of their ships which are excellent), between the uniforms/civilian fashions and the Enterprise's interior being a carpeted beige nightmare, it is truly next level ugly.

A lot of the non-Starfleet stuff fairs much better though, with everything Klingon coming out looking pretty great.

 

[Frankfurter]

Aren't most of the issues that the OP listed mostly present in the first (and maybe the second?) season of TNG? I mean you won't find the space battle thing in TNG, or most of Star Trek for that matter. So if you like that, then maybe Star Trek just isn't for you.

 

[liquidtmd]

Aren't most of the issues that the OP listed mostly present in the first (and maybe the second?) season of TNG? I mean you won't find the space battle thing in TNG, or most of Star Trek for that matter. So if you like that, then maybe Star Trek just isn't for you.

Janeway talked a lot about diplomacy but then 5 seconds later ended up opening fire on everyone so maybe he could check out Voyager for schizophrenic warlords I guess.

 

[Nonoriri]

it looks like a female version of an 80s David Bowie

Sounds good to me.

 

[GreenMonkey]

Star Trek isn't about the snazzy Space Battles.

At its core it is really an old school what-if type of sci Fi. I.E. What if you all laws were punishable with death, or What If a society had a shield that protected it but it made them sterile?

Etc.

The space action stuff is supposed to be secondary to the what-if.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

The horror/splatter and supernatural elements in some episodes which doesn't 'fit' the series at all. like that "manifested evil" black blob which

Spoiler

kills Tasha

,exploding heads, alien parasites ripping throught people's chests,werewolves and "The Fly" like insect mutations. what the hell?

thoughts?

I always liked Armus (which is the blob from Skin of Evil) and the (implied) horror elements of TNG. It's fucking space, you expect everyone to be chill? The best part is that cosmic prank deity Q introduces them to full-on assimilation by the Borg too, and he can't even undo that. All to satisfy his curiosity.
And the introduction of the Borg as a concept is "someone's been ripping colonies wholesale from planets in the Neutral Zone, wait is that Romulans, oh fuck it's Romulans", which I thought was neat, particularly because at the time (it was the 80s, man) the USSR was still a thing.
Fuck the haters, I like season one.

The other unsettling (to me at least) stuff:
.) Troy being raped by an alien, giving birth to a superfast aging child and everyone acting like it's the most normal thing ever.

Except for this one. The Empty Child is the single worst episode of TNG, has Marina Sirtis looking as if she just wants to die for the entire thing until it's time for the end, and is a blatant rip-off of an episode of Space 1999 called Alpha Child (s1, ep7). But Space 1999 had the good decency of invoking the breach in physics by that event and having it being a threat rather than 'just because' like TNG's episode had.

I thought the invasion plotline (exploding alien) was neat too btw, and it's not unlikely that Dead Space Nine and other serial continuous shows took more from that than from the rest of TNG. Sure, there's that whole 'Best of both worlds' thing, but that was mostly the conclusion of S1 and S2 setting it up.


But then I grew up on this shit, so... yeah.

 

[iamaustrian]

Aren't most of the issues that the OP listed mostly present in the first (and maybe the second?) season of TNG? I mean you won't find the space battle thing in TNG, or most of Star Trek for that matter. So if you like that, then maybe Star Trek just isn't for you.

I love Star Trek but sometimes I wish first contact picard would be the series picard.
also my issues with the series are present in all seasons of the next gen but mostly in first and second. u are kinda right.
the series dramatically improved over time

bearded Will/Geordi > shaved Will/Geordi

 

[Frankfurter]

Janeway talked a lot about diplomacy but then 5 seconds later ended up opening fire on everyone so maybe he could check out Voyager for schizophrenic warlords I guess.

Didn't she usually only open fire, when shields were already down and the ship was about to explode?

I love Star Trek but sometimes I wish first contact picard would be the series picard.
also my issues with the series are present in all seasons of the next gen but mostly in first and second. u are kinda right.
the series dramatically improved over time

bearded Will/Geordi > shaved Will/Geordi

Did you watch DS9 already? If not, that might be the show you'd like most. Atleast the last 2 seasons + a couple of episodes before.

 

[PayOffWizard]

I've always though these looked pretty smart myself. The other however are totally garbage.

 

[gcubed]

I've always though these looked pretty smart myself. The other however are totally garbage.

Yea, I don't have a problem with those. The dude with no pants though... You need pants

 

[Maligna]

Those last two photos of the dudes in red are what is known among fans as the "man-i skirt".

It was meant to show that clothing in the future was no longer bound by gender norms. However after a few episodes into season one they are never seen again.

 

[Blackpuppy]

OP you're just complaining about seasons 1-2. The rest are much better.

On a side note, I much prefer TNG to the original series. I know you can't really compare the two, but I'm having trouble finishing the second season. There was a real downturn in quality after season 1 and I'm getting tired of the Enterprise meeting an all powerful being/artificial intelligence with an attractive female accomplice who is only shown in diffusion filters. Kirk and company have to outsmart the aliens and get back to their ship. Wash, repeat.

TNG had some really great, diverse storylines. One episode is completely dedicated to the crew feeling remorse after the death of a redshirt and dealing with her orphaned child. No aliens, no explosions, just the crew talking about their feelings and trying to explain to Data what this all means.

 

[gofreak]

Those last two photos of the dudes in red are what is known among fans as the "man-i skirt".

It was meant to show that clothing in the future was no longer bound by gender norms. However after a few episodes into season one they are never seen again.

Well, that's definitely a later season photo Probably Lwaxana Troi's wedding or something. They pop up from time to time in that kind of context later.

 

[iamaustrian]

I've always though these looked pretty smart myself. The other however are totally garbage.

smart? I dunno...they look like the normal uniforms but someone forgot to shorten them to the right size.

I absolutly love Picard's jacket in later episodes:

easy rider of the stars

 

[Red UFO]

First season was wack.

That's about it.

 

[aadiboy]

I'm watching TOS right now...this show has some hot ass 60's ladies. They're probably all a million years old now or dead, but they're young and cute on the show. They all wear skirts that seem too short even by today's standards, though I'm not complaining. Meanwhile, all the guys are ugly, fat, and old.

 

[djkimothy]

Gene Roddenberry's vision of star trek is not of relentless space battles but of brokering peace and forming an alliance of races. It's analogous to the mission of the United Nations. Yah, diplomacy and the quest for peace is boring but that was the underlying message of star trek. Which humanity at this point seems to be diverging from.

Season 1 and 2 may be a bit awkward by today's standards but it was par for the course back in the 90s.

 

[gcubed]

OP you're just complaining about seasons 1-2. The rest are much better.

On a side note, I much prefer TNG to the original series. I know you can't really compare the two, but I'm having trouble finishing the second season. There was a real downturn in quality after season 1 and I'm getting tired of the Enterprise meeting an all powerful being/artificial intelligence with an attractive female accomplice who is only shown in diffusion filters. Kirk and company have to outsmart the aliens and get back to their ship. Wash, repeat.

TNG had some really great, diverse storylines. One episode is completely dedicated to the crew feeling remorse after the death of a redshirt and dealing with her orphaned child. No aliens, no explosions, just the crew talking about their feelings and trying to explain to Data what this all means.

There are a handful of episodes that broach some subjects like TNG in TOS, but a lot are as you described as well. There is some utter tripe in the TNG seasons also. Not every episode can be a masterpiece!

 

[Herr Schwarz]

Here's to the finest crew in Star Fleet!

 

[sechsterangriff]

Nobody is going to mention the de-evolution episode? Apparently a cat's ancestor is a regular iguana lol

 

[iamaustrian]

Did you watch DS9 already? If not, that might be the show you'd like most. Atleast the last 2 seasons + a couple of episodes before.

I have seen a couple of episodes but I'm not too keen about the fact that it is an actual space station and not a space ship.
I love the "exploration of the unknown" thingy of the enterprise and I think it might not be that present in DS9.
I'm also not too sure if a stationary space station is good for some good space laser action. correct me if I'm wrong though

 

[DBT85]

I have seen a couple of episodes but I'm not too keen about the fact that it is an actual space station and not a space ship.
I love the "exploration of the unknown" thingy of the enterprise and I think it might not be that present in DS9.
I'm also not too sure if a stationary space station is good for some good space laser action. correct me if I'm wrong though

DS9 is excellent for some space laser action.

 

[Frankfurter]

I have seen a couple of episodes but I'm not too keen about the fact that it is an actual space station and not a space ship.
I love the "exploration of the unknown" thingy of the enterprise and I think it might not be that present in DS9.
I'm also not too sure if a stationary space station is good for some good space laser action. correct me if I'm wrong though

You are wrong!

I was skeptical too, back in the 90s. But DS9 is amazing actually. And it's a little less stationary overall than one would except.

 

[Herr Schwarz]

Nobody is going to mention the de-evolution episode? Apparently a cat's ancestor is a regular iguana lol

Well we all evolved from cold blooded creatures coming out of.the sea right?

 

[WaterAstro]

I DO love the normal uniforms as they look timeless and classy (same goes to some of the staff like Guinan) but wtf is up with some special events uniforms?

Worf has something to say about your dress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Zf-OxMkrE

 

[Pusherman]

I just started TNG and I'm still in season 1 and there's been some fucked up stuff already. I'm liking it but the episodes about the "African" planet and the matriarchal planet were fucking stupid and offensive. Also, hearing Tasha Yar say she had to avoid fucking rape gangs growing up took me so off guard I laughed out loud.

 

[iamaustrian]

You are wrong!

I was skeptical too, back in the 90s. But DS9 is amazing actually. And it's a little less stationary overall than one would except.

DS9 is excellent for some space laser action.

oh wow
I have to give it another try. I think it's also available on netflix

 

[DBT85]

oh wow
I have to give it another try. I think it's also available on netflix

All Trek is on Netflix as I recall.

 

[gun_haver]

I think TNG is easily the best Star Trek although it's hard to say exactly why. I've been watching a decent amount of it lately, so here are some opinions that I have about Star Trek that I don't usually see:

- S1 and S2 of TNG are just as good as the later seasons, they're just weirder, and once you've seen the whole show, going back to those episodes feels pretty fresh because the characters act differently and the show fucks up more often in interesting ways.

- The music design of the seasons after 3 is absolutely fucking awful. I don't have the name right now, but I read that the creators (Piller? Berman? those guys i think) said they wanted the score for TNG to be like a constant background ambience, like a matte painted over the entire show. So basically their idea was 'let's make every episode sound generic'. Isn't the point to portray stories, emotion and atmosphere? This is a big plus in the early seasons for me - at least the music DOES something.

- I think TNG is the best because it's probably the truest to what Star Trek is. TOS is old as hell and all fucked, DS9 tries to cram grit into the existing Star Trek world and it just kind of doesn't work. Then VOY and ENT are pretty lame. The characters and look of TNG are very well defined and the whole thing exudes a lot of confidence and comfort with what it is in the later seasons (which is both good and bad).

- There aren't enough horror episodes. Those are the best ones, they aren't scary, but I like what they do with the music and some of the concepts are cool. Where Silence has Lease is a cool one from season 2 where the Enterprise gets stuck in a looping void in space. Remember Me has everyone from the ship disappearing one by one except Crusher, and nobody else can understand there is a problem, they just forget those people existed.

- Troi is so, so bad. Marina Sirtis is a terrible actress and she gets some awful dialogue to work with on top of that. I dunno if it's the accent she was trying to pull or what but she fucks up every second line and she is ALWAYS the one I notice as being overdubbed. Like all the time, she's had to come back into the studio and do something over. I still like her though. I like them all. I mean I also think Brent Spiner is a terrible actor and only works as Data because he can't emote (and even then, he overacts frequently).

- Picard, Worf, Crusher, Riker and Geordi are all cool good people who I like. Data is okay. Troi is endearingly terrible.

All right that's it!

 

[Interface_2037]

There are cringe inducing episodes in every season.

It has dated, very badly.

Just making the Enterprise interior resemble a 1980's Caribbean cruise liner didn't help.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I have seen a couple of episodes but I'm not too keen about the fact that it is an actual space station and not a space ship.
I love the "exploration of the unknown" thingy of the enterprise and I think it might not be that present in DS9.
I'm also not too sure if a stationary space station is good for some good space laser action. correct me if I'm wrong though

DS9 dials back the "exploring the unknown" angle to an extent (though the premise means they still get plenty of space weiedness), but it more than makes up for it in terms of action and political intrigue. Best Trek show, imo. If nothing else, it has Duet, which is simply one of the greatest episodes of television I've ever seen.

 

[iamaustrian]

There are cringe inducing episodes in every season.

It has dated, very badly.

Just making the Enterprise interior resemble a 1980's Caribbean cruise liner didn't help.

that's unfair and not true IMO
apart from the carpet floors and some beige colored furniture it still looks pretty futuristic and amazing tbh
the touch screens and their "art" (especially in later episodes) would even be looking state of the art in nowadays sci fi movies.

 

[gun_haver]

I have seen a couple of episodes but I'm not too keen about the fact that it is an actual space station and not a space ship.
I love the "exploration of the unknown" thingy of the enterprise and I think it might not be that present in DS9.
I'm also not too sure if a stationary space station is good for some good space laser action. correct me if I'm wrong though

The space station concept doesn't really make much of a difference. People are constantly flitting in and out of it so there are plenty of characters who are one-offs and strange alien encounters. DS9 has a much wider array of recurring support characters, who recur more frequently, but that isn't anything to do with the station setting - the Enterprise had 1000 people on it and you never saw most of them more than once, if that, so they could have done that easily and had more characters like Barclay.

Also, they leave the station more and more frequently as the show goes on and the scope increases to become an ongoing galactic war story. They go on ships all the time.

DS9 is legitimately boring for most of season 1 and 2 though, with a few good episodes sprinkled in. I wouldn't recommend watching them all, just find the best ones and once you're settled in, start following along from season 3.

 

[Interface_2037]

that's unfair and not true IMO
apart from the carpet floors and some beige colored furniture it still looks pretty futuristic and amazing tbh

Pastel colours everywhere, it looks, and gives the impression of smelling like a home furnishing store.

 

[Maligna]

Well, that's definitely a later season photo Probably Lwaxana Troi's wedding or something. They pop up from time to time in that kind of context later.

I'm not talking about Picard and Riker's dress uniforms. Talking about the two red shirt guys wearing miniskirts with bare legs.

 

[soundscream]

I discoverd something a few years ago when doing a whole series re-watch. There has to be a producer who was involved with the whole series from TNG on who has a foot fetish. There is exactly 1 episode for each series where there is a longing shot around a womens foot. It is possie that there could be 4 separate directors with a foot fetish, but I want to belive in a grand foot fetish conspiracy.