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[WyndhamPrice]

Avery Brooks' eccentricities make more sense when you know he comes from a heavy theater background. Everything he does is so showy and BIG! Unlike Stewart or a lot of Star Trek's casts with heavy theater backgrounds he could never really dial it back.

I personally liked him more as the show went on, but I'm not surprised he didn't really do any more TV after DS9.

 

[Boogalogist]

How can anyone not like O'Brien?

Oh...I meant that I didn't really like anyone on the show, except Dax, Bashir and O'Brien.


And again, Sisko is like a block of wood.


p/s Oh yes..I meant Garak, not Garruk (yes, I'm an MtG player)

 

[kennah]

I've made a terrible mistake.

Have been going through all the shows on a rotation. Did TNG and DS9 when my kid was under 2. But we just finished Voyager and he is almost three.

But every starship is Voyager to him now! We are starting again with the original series to try to right the atrocity.

 

[DeadTrees]

Then in 1988 (the same year as the TNG episode) he appeared in Dead Heat, apparently a zombie/cop movie, with second billing under Treat Williams, a man who I've never heard of, but apparently he once had an uncredited role as a Stormtrooper in Empire Strikes Back. And guess who was also in this movie? Robert Picardo! Oh and, Vincent Price too. I have a strange desire to see this movie now.

It's definitely unforgettable, in a "duck-billed platypuses being run over by a steamroller" way. If you're wondering how insanely gory it is, you should note that somebody on the production team is solely credited with "chicken animatronics".

 

[Boogalogist]

Dead Heat was awesome!! I really enjoyed the movie back then. I had lotsa laughs from that movie.

You guys need to check it out NAO!

 

[GameplayWhore]

Dead Heat was awesome!! I really enjoyed the movie back then. I had lotsa laughs from that movie.

You guys need to check it out NAO!

Was that the one with the chickens?

 

[Gary Whitta]

TIME SQUARED is such a freaky episode! Although I think they did the same plot better later on.

 

[GameplayWhore]

TIME SQUARED is such a freaky episode! Although I think they did the same plot better later on.

I thought Time Squared was total garbage. Curiously, Cause and Effect is possibly my favourite episode of the series.

 

[Gary Whitta]

I thought Time Squared was total garbage. Curiously, Cause and Effect is possibly my favourite episode of the series.

Yeah that's the one I'm thinking of,
much better.

 

[maharg]

I was always really fond of the combined rank-pip comm badge they introduced as a future possibility in Time Squared (I think).

 

[jb1234]

I was always really fond of the combined rank-pip comm badge they introduced as a future possibility in Time Squared (I think).

That's Cause and Effect. Time Squared is the one with two Picards.

 

[maharg]

Ah yeah, so it was.

 

[lastplayed]

That's Cause and Effect. Time Squared is the one with two Picards.

Cause and Effect was the time loop with Kelsey Grammer. The combined comm badge pip thing was in Parallels.

 

[maharg]

Cause and Effect was the time loop with Kelsey Grammer. The combined comm badge pip thing was in Parallels.

It was actually introduced in Future Imperfect.

 

[jb1234]

Cause and Effect was the time loop with Kelsey Grammer. The combined comm badge pip thing was in Parallels.

I might be confusing references. In Cause and Effect, Data uses Riker's pips to figure things out. But yeah, Worf going through different realities is Parallels.

 

[Gary Whitta]

So as I re-watch TNG Season 2 on Blu-ray I realize that it's not nearly as bad as I remembered. Some really good episodes in here, and the show evolved so much from the first season. In fact the latter half of Season 1 had some great stuff too, it's really only the first half that was consistently cheesy and bad.

 

[lastplayed]

It was actually introduced in Future Imperfect.

That too. We sorted now?

 

[maharg]

Seem to be. Was a nice, if windy, trip through memory lane, though.

 

[Gary Whitta]

"Pen Pals" is the first episode where they actually use a real exterior location instead of the shaky set / sky backdrop combo that made everything look so cheesy.

 

[lastplayed]

Where would Star Trek be without alternate past present and futures.

 

[DrForester]

"Pen Pals" is the first episode where they actually use a real exterior location instead of the shaky set / sky backdrop combo that made everything look so cheesy.

What about "Justice" that horrible episode where Wesley is almost killed to stepping on some plants. Wasn't that outdoors?

 

[Gary Whitta]

What about "Justice" that horrible episode where Wesley is almost killed to stepping on some plants. Wasn't that outdoors?

You know what, you're right. I think it's that the landscaped gardens in that episode looked so fake that I forgot all about it.

 

[maharg]

What about "Justice" that horrible episode where Wesley is almost killed to stepping on some plants. Wasn't that outdoors?

That episode is hilarious.

 

[jambo]

I've made a terrible mistake.

Have been going through all the shows on a rotation. Did TNG and DS9 when my kid was under 2. But we just finished Voyager and he is almost three.

But every starship is Voyager to him now! We are starting again with the original series to try to right the atrocity.

That's tantamount to child abuse!

 

[user_nat]

Watching TOS for the first time ATM, does it get better at some point? Like how every Star Trek sucks in the first season, or does this just stay.. bad.

Only 4 eps in.

 

[DrForester]

That episode is hilarious.

It was kind of funny. And I say horrible, but the episode was not nearly as bad as some other s1 stuff.

 

[Gary Whitta]

I forget the episode, it's late in Season 1, but the whole After School Special bit with Tasha Yar lecturing Wesley about the dangers of drug abuse is just priceless.

 

[Tesseract]

i finished tng and ds9. what's next?

 

[Gary Whitta]

i finished tng and ds9. what's next?

Start over.

 

[maharg]

Watching TOS for the first time ATM, does it get better at some point? Like how every Star Trek sucks in the first season, or does this just stay.. bad.

Only 4 eps in.

Relax, enjoy the cheese. Have some wine with it.

 

[Htown]

i finished tng and ds9. what's next?

uh.

Selected Voyager and Enterprise episodes, I guess.

There's worthwhile stuff in both, though they are the least popular shows in the franchise.

 

[Gary Whitta]

There's a dozen or so Voyager eps worth watching. Enterprise is a total write-off.

 

[Zzoram]

i finished tng and ds9. what's next?

Do Voyager and then Enterprise. They're still worth watching once you're invested in Star Trek and still have good episodes mixed in there.

All the two-part Voyager episodes are pretty good, and of course all the season premieres/finales. Enterprise S4 is the best one by far buy the finale of S2 and all of S3 are a continuous action arc that can be good depending on your tastes.

 

[Htown]

There's a dozen or so Voyager eps worth watching. Enterprise is a total write-off.

Bullshit, Enterprise is a better show than Voyager.

There I said it.

 

[GameplayWhore]

Watching TOS for the first time ATM, does it get better at some point? Like how every Star Trek sucks in the first season, or does this just stay.. bad.

Only 4 eps in.

It is very much a product of its times. If you can't get past the basic style and the failings of the fundamental way they directed television (and 1960s TV's penchant for horribly shitty scene music), then you will have a problem with even the genuinely good episodes.

Go grab a copy of either "The Doomsday Machine" or "Balance of Terror" and watch them right now. If the quirks of Trek affect you negatively enough to be unable to enjoy these episodes tremendously, then you may as well stop now.


(that's also why I make folks new to Doctor Who watch "Blink" first. Either they love it, and it softens the blow for when they have to watch the rest of the show, or they don't like it, in which case it's plainly obvious that there is no point in continuing)


Also, hmmm, Plinkett strongly hinted at reviewing Star Trek V. I look forward to this, and I curse his name for making me stay up 2 hours past my intended bedtime after getting three hours and change of sleep the prior night.

 

[maharg]

Bullshit, Enterprise is a better show than Voyager.

There I said it.

I don't even think that's something you'll get a lot of argument for. Enterprise was mediocre for most of its run, but Voyager was just plain stupid for almost all of it.

 

[Gary Whitta]

You can tell that they didn't put as much effort into the Season 2 Blu-ray as Season 1. In Season 1 all the planetary surfaces were totally redone and looked fantastic. In Season 2 it doesn't look like they did anything, very smudgy.

 

[GameplayWhore]

I don't even think that's something you'll get a lot of argument for. Enterprise was mediocre for most of its run, but Voyager was just plain stupid for almost all of it.

For some people, boring is worse than bad. For the span of time that most people watched Enterprise, it was quite uninteresting. Everyone gave up because they show gave up, so nobody noticed when it started actually trying. I didn't even watch Season Awesome until like half a decade after it was canceled.

Spoiler

edit: I even really liked the apparently shitty last episode, though I'll have to give that a look-see with a more critical eye.

 

[Zzoram]

Enterprise Season 4 was what people wanted from the show all along. They just waited 3 years to get there and lost most of their audience by then so they got cancelled.

Enterprise Season 4 is a pretty good compilation of "Birth of the Federation" mini-arcs.

 

[Gary Whitta]

Enterprise Season 4 is a pretty good compilation of "Birth of the Federation" mini-arcs.

...until you get to DAT FINALE.

 

[Pixel Pete]

I have nothing but good memories of voyager, but I was pretty young when I saw it, so my memories are pretty much useless.
I'm just now initiating my partner starting with TNG which is awesome, and easy to watch.

 

[SpoonyBard]

I've said this before, but Voyager was entertaining even when it was bad, while Enterprise was just mediocre and quite uninteresting for the first two years. There weren't many really shitty episodes, but not really good ones either. Season four of Enterprise is a different story, there the quality stayed up almost for the whole time. Fan service or not, it's better than anything after TNG season 7, and even that has its weaker moments...

The only really boring episodes in Voyager were the Irish village eps. The series has a bunch of really good episodes distributed randomly amongst the seven seasons, a part of the fun of watching Star Trek is finding them amongst all that mediocrity.

 

[Htown]

...until you get to DAT FINALE.

What do you mean? I really liked that they ended the show with that two-parter with that dude from Robocop. It was a pretty fitting finale for the show, since it was about humanity throwing off prejudice and xenophobia so it could take its place among the stars.

 

[Tesseract]

mugh, maybe i'lll try some video games or books. i need more picard in my life.

 

[Gary Whitta]

What do you mean? I really liked that they ended the show with that two-parter with that dude from Robocop. It was a pretty fitting finale for the show, since it was about humanity throwing off prejudice and xenophobia so it could take its place among the stars.

That wasn't the series finale. It was followed by "These are the Voyages...", an episode so bad that Brannon Braga eventually apologized to the fans for it.

Or maybe you already knew that and you're just denying its existence, which seems like the healthiest attitude.

 

[Htown]

Confession time: I've never read any Star Trek books, except for one about the TOS crew stuck in a shuttlepod remembering the time they each took the Kobayashi Maru test.

I heard good things about the DS9 relaunch when it was coming out, did that whole thing turn out good?

 

[Tesseract]

gary why can't you use your powers to make telltale star trek games? seems like a perfect fit.

that or the west wing. a man can dream.

 

[Slayven]

Confession time: I've never read any Star Trek books, except for one about the TOS crew stuck in a shuttlepod remembering the time they each took the Kobayashi Maru test.

I heard good things about the DS9 relaunch when it was coming out, did that whole thing turn out good?

The EU can be pretty fun and interesting. I like that they actually have aliens in the book. The Titan for instance, their doctor is from a race that looks like raptors, and their head computer tech is a 800 pound spider type thing. Also they flush out shit that happened in the series or movies. Gives a damn good reason why there was a god head in the middle of the galaxy.

 

[jb1234]

I've said this before, but Voyager was entertaining even when it was bad, while Enterprise was just mediocre and quite uninteresting for the first two years. There weren't many really shitty episodes, but not really good ones either. Season four of Enterprise is a different story, there the quality stayed up almost for the whole time. Fan service or not, it's better than anything after TNG season 7, and even that has its weaker moments...

I'll agree with this. Voyager remains a guilty pleasure of mine whereas I found Enterprise to be incredibly boring, even the much-lauded final season. I'd rather watch the third season of that show, which at least has some dramatic gristle on it.

 

[firehawk12]

Confession time: I've never read any Star Trek books, except for one about the TOS crew stuck in a shuttlepod remembering the time they each took the Kobayashi Maru test.

I heard good things about the DS9 relaunch when it was coming out, did that whole thing turn out good?

Hah, that's the only TOS book I've ever read.

I actually like the "original" books - the McKenzie Calhoun series and the SCE series since, outside of some minor characters (Shelby is a major character in the former, Scotty is in charge of the SCE in the latter), there are no real rules. That means characters are actually allowed to evolve and change, if not just die.

I did like the DS9 relaunch but I stopped reading Trek books somewhere in the middle. I know that they resolve the whole

Spoiler

Sisko ending

of the series, but I don't know if it turned out good or not.

There's also post VOY and post ENT novels, but I don't know anything about them. lol

Oh yeah, there's also the weirder books, like the Mirror Universe books where every female cast member somehow ends up making out with each other (lol).

I do like "The Best and the Brightest". It's classified as a TNG novel, but I don't think it's actually part of that series. It was a "Lower Decks" take the Trek universe, so you have a bunch of characters that no one knows about and you can see the universe from the perspective of cadets rather than the main crews. I actually think Simon Tarses makes a cameo in that one, IIRC.