OFFICIAL N-G.com Star Trek Thread

[SouthtownKid]

Really. You're the dude who picks a fight with anyone over anything and argues endlessly for pages and pages, often over the tiniest and most insignificant of minutia, and I'm the one who takes it personally? Okay dude.

Yes. I mess around with people I disagree with, but I don't take it personally the way you seem to.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

Yes. I mess around with people I disagree with, but I don't take it personally the way you seem to.

If that's what you think, you're even more foolish than I thought.

 

[Zero Satori]

Star Trek is like, about, peace and happiness bros.

I really want to agree with you on this, and I guess I can do-so by saying that, yes, Star Trek is about the adventure required for peace and happiness. Whether or not that means the meta-story is about peacefulness, is up to others to decide.

Face it, though: Gene Roddenberry was a visionary for his time (in the 1960s) but the guy couldn't write the story, direct the footage, or guide the direction of Star Trek himself. It's only natural that, over time, his back-room beliefs would become irrelevant to the continuing of the franchise. Hell, one could argue based on that point that, as soon as it went to television and different writers were being called-in every week, Star Trek was not entirely Gene Roddenberry's series anymore.

That's what I tend to believe: In design, it was Roddenberry's work. But instead of going a route where he had to do most of the work himself (a novel, perhaps), he went for a form of media where his influence meant little compared to others' ideas. Star Trek owes its existence to him, but doesn't owe its actual form.

 

[Lagduf]

Excellent post, though my comment was less a serious look at Star Trek and more veiled attempt to get HN and STK to stop spamming the thread with the inane DS9 argument and personal attacks.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

I really want to agree with you on this, and I guess I can do-so by saying that, yes, Star Trek is about the adventure required for peace and happiness. Whether or not that means the meta-story is about peacefulness, is up to others to decide.

Face it, though: Gene Roddenberry was a visionary for his time (in the 1960s) but the guy couldn't write the story, direct the footage, or guide the direction of Star Trek himself. It's only natural that, over time, his back-room beliefs would become irrelevant to the continuing of the franchise. Hell, one could argue based on that point that, as soon as it went to television and different writers were being called-in every week, Star Trek was not entirely Gene Roddenberry's series anymore.

That's what I tend to believe: In design, it was Roddenberry's work. But instead of going a route where he had to do most of the work himself (a novel, perhaps), he went for a form of media where his influence meant little compared to others' ideas. Star Trek owes its existence to him, but doesn't owe its actual form.

Well said. I was trying to say the same thing -- just because DS9 doesn't fit Roddenberry's 'vision' doesn't mean a damn thing to me. To me, it's Star Trek. It's a different form of it, but I really liked it for what it was. I don't need the approval of some dead guy to do so. I don't understand why someone would base their own tastes on those of some guy they've never met, either.

Excellent post, though my comment was less a serious look at Star Trek and more veiled attempt to get HN and STK to stop spamming the thread with the inane DS9 argument and personal attacks.

Yeah, well. I was done, anyway. I still think he takes it a lot more personally than I do, too. I just like the show. I don't live and die by what his (or anyone else's) opinion is. I just speak... vociferously.

 

[Arcademan]

I myself enjoyed DS9 the most of the Star Trek series but I like Next Generation and TOS quite a bit too and watch them both as much as I can on BBC America and MeTV. Voyager and Enterprise are the least favorites.

 

[Renmauzo]

I agree on DS9; everything after season 3 was crazy, and Sisko is my fave captain! I found that I liked Voyager quite a bit in the last couple of seasons and Janeway was a great captain too.

 

[NeoSneth]

It's sad but Voyager is better than DS9. The prophet stuff took DS9 from pretty neat to f'n tarded.

 

[SNKorSWM]

The original and TNG were good, but the rest were hard to swallow for me and I didn't follow them.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

It's sad but Voyager is better than DS9. The prophet stuff took DS9 from pretty neat to f'n tarded.

Saying Voyager is better than anything other than a root canal is kooky talk. It's by far the worst Trek show if you ask me. I can't think of a single redeeming quality about it.

They had an episode where they go to a planet that's populated by dinosaurs that used to live on Earth and now have evolved into sentience. I mean, come on.

Anyway, I'll say something that I suspect everyone here will agree with: Lwaxana Troi was fucking terrible, and any episodes she was involved with were garbage at best and impossibly awful at worst. Discuss. (Counsellor Troi wasn't much better BTW.)

 

[Zero Satori]

Voyager is...by far the worst Trek show if you ask me.

I really don't know what they were going-for with that series. Really. When I first started watching it, I thought that they were going-down the route of "a woman captain will be interesting because of her different view on things." But then, just a few episodes into the show, Chakotay and his crew of interstellar Native Americans appear, and suddenly, there's a male captain to back-up the female one.

Great idea, writers. That's sticking to your ideals!

Voyager suffered from not really having a clear direction (that I can recall), and ultimately presented a Star Trek show where the writers were alternatingly emulating 1) the original series, with unknown alien races and planetary landings; and 2) the Next Generation/the Motion Pictures' most-legendary plots, with developing rivalries and heated emotions between friends and enemies alike.

Then, of course, there's characters who don't deserve the spotlight but get it, anyway. 1) The Doctor: Huh? Now he can go on away teams with a mobile emitter?!; 2) B'Elana Torres: Who is this bitch but a female Chakotay?; 3) Seven-Of-Nine: Oh! The series is failing, so let's introduce a Borg to attract the stupid nerds who think they're God's gift to Star Trek!; 4) Harry Kim AND Tom Paris: Who are these guys, anyway?

Let's just end it there and say that, in spite of the potential to have super-rough adventures and awesome heroism on their journey, none of Voyager's crew was ever endearing. Period.

Lwaxana Troi was fucking terrible...

Who? Nurse Chapel can run a tricorder over my body as many times as she wants!

 

[HeartlessNinny]

I really don't know what they were going-for with that series. Really. When I first started watching it, I thought that they were going-down the route of "a woman captain will be interesting because of her different view on things." But then, just a few episodes into the show, Chakotay and his crew of interstellar Native Americans appear, and suddenly, there's a male captain to back-up the female one.

Great idea, writers. That's sticking to your ideals!

Voyager suffered from not really having a clear direction (that I can recall), and ultimately presented a Star Trek show where the writers were alternatingly emulating 1) the original series, with unknown alien races and planetary landings; and 2) the Next Generation/the Motion Pictures' most-legendary plots, with developing rivalries and heated emotions between friends and enemies alike.

Then, of course, there's characters who don't deserve the spotlight but get it, anyway. 1) The Doctor: Huh? Now he can go on away teams with a mobile emitter?!; 2) B'Elana Torres: Who is this bitch but a female Chakotay?; 3) Seven-Of-Nine: Oh! The series is failing, so let's introduce a Borg to attract the stupid nerds who think they're God's gift to Star Trek!; 4) Harry Kim AND Tom Paris: Who are these guys, anyway?

Let's just end it there and say that, in spite of the potential to have super-rough adventures and awesome heroism on their journey, none of Voyager's crew was ever endearing. Period.


Who? Nurse Chapel can run a tricorder over my body as many times as she wants!

Yeah, no kidding. Enterprise wasn't the best show either, but at least I knew where they were going with it. And it did have some good characters in Trip, the Captain, and Doctor Flox. I kinda liked the vulcan chick too (that awesome rack definitely helped).

Man. I yearn for the days of another Trek show. It seems inevitable, even if I don't think it'd happen soon, necessarily. But goddamnit the movies aren't enough. I want more Trek, and even though there's a lot of it, I can only watch the reruns so many times.

At the end of the day, Voyager is the only one I won't watch. I've actually seen most of the episodes anyway (because apparently I hate myself), but I don't want to watch any of them again. There were very, very few of them that I didn't think were totally worthless, and precisely none of those come to mind now. Every other show has a ton of episodes I remember fondly, and could recap for anyone on demand -- in a lot of detail, at that.

 

[Zero Satori]

Yeah, no kidding. Enterprise wasn't the best show either, but at least I knew where they were going with it.

Truth be told, Enterprise is an awesome show once it gets to the true meta-plot of the Xindi and The Expanse (starting in Season Three). I'll be truthful and say that I didn't like Enterprise at-all when it first started and gave-up on it about halfway through the first season, primarily because it felt like such a step backwards in-time and in-technology.

I mean, after years of watching Sisko and Janeway and yearning for a return of bad-ass captains like Kirk and Picard, who the hell wants to watch a show where starships don't have decent phasers and Klingons are no longer part of the United Federation of Planets (but they will be in the future)?

But I'll be honest: The "In A Mirror, Darkly" episodes are my favourite Star Trek episodes of all time. No question about it. If only all Star Trek could be so awesome!

 

[HeartlessNinny]

Truth be told, Enterprise is an awesome show once it gets to the true meta-plot of the Xindi and The Expanse (starting in Season Three). I'll be truthful and say that I didn't like Enterprise at-all when it first started and gave-up on it about halfway through the first season, primarily because it felt like such a step backwards in-time and in-technology.

I mean, after years of watching Sisko and Janeway and yearning for a return of bad-ass captains like Kirk and Picard, who the hell wants to watch a show where starships don't have decent phasers and Klingons are no longer part of the United Federation of Planets (but they will be in the future)?

But I'll be honest: The "In A Mirror, Darkly" episodes are my favourite Star Trek episodes of all time. No question about it. If only all Star Trek could be so awesome!

That's pretty uncanny, because I feel the same way about Enterprise, in a way. I don't know if I'd call it awesome, but it was pretty solid in season 3. I started to watch it again when 4 was about to come on (I abandoned it halfway through season 1 as well), caught up, then watched 4 only to see the show get shitcanned just as it was starting to get really good. That still sucks.

As for In a Mirror, Darkly... Shit, I'd forgotten that one. I have it on my computer -- I might watch that bad boy right now. I loved it too.

(The mirror universe episodes of DS9 were amongst my favourites, by the way. Some of those were really badass. I liked how some characters really got messed with in a fun way... Like a nice Brunt. Just thinking that makes me smile, by the way... Brunt. FCA. The Ferengi episodes of DS9 were worth it by themselves if you ask me. And the Grand Nagus rules!)

 

[GohanX]

Star Trek is like, about, peace and happiness bros.

No way, it's about killing those Klingon bastards that killed my son.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

No way, it's about killing those Klingon bastards that killed my son.

Star Trek VI is mostly about Kirk having to let go of his hatred (and oddly enough it's one of the best movies, if not the best).

 

[Lagduf]

It's about the end of the Cold War.

 

[Comrade Porn King Mikhail]

Anyone play/collect Star Trek CCG back in the day (around 1995-96)?

I remember Magic being all the rage in high school but seeing Star Trek come out was just cool. The initial set lacked balance and the gameplay was overly complex for a randomized CCG deck. Still, the concept of a galaxy and missions that you could manipulate with every draw was entertaining and filled the void TnG left behind.

 

[Lagduf]

Played it. Didn't care for it for the reasons you stated. The game was just dull, though admittedly CCG's were in their infancy.

I think the Star Trek: Fleet Captains board game I posted on the previous page should give you the same feeling of being able to explore the galaxy, go on missions, and even fight the enemy.

 

[Zenimus]

(Counsellor Troi wasn't much better BTW.)

I absolutely love TNG, but I'm frequently confused at why they cast Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi... at times she seems like the most wooden actor I've ever seen. I guess I've come to like her though.

Also, my Netflix streaming service (or should I say, my friend's Netflix service) just went out, and I was right in the middle of the episode where Picard becomes a borg. I never saw that episode growing up, so now I'm bummed out!

 

[Lagduf]

I absolutely love TNG, but I'm frequently confused at why they cast Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi... at times she seems like the most wooden actor I've ever seen. I guess I've come to like her though.

Also, my Netflix streaming service (or should I say, my friend's Netflix service) just went out, and I was right in the middle of the episode where Picard becomes a borg. I never saw that episode growing up, so now I'm bummed out!

Dude, what the hell...?

You need to watch the rest of that episode (2 parter?).

Then go watch the one called "I, Borg"

 

[Zenimus]

Dude, what the hell...?

You need to watch the rest of that episode (2 parter?).

Then go watch the one called "I, Borg"

For some reason a lot of famous episodes came on very rarely when I watched them in the mid-90s in syndication. Probably because DS9 and Voyager were primarily running at the time. Tasha Yar's last episode, as well as the one where the Enterprise-C appears, were all episodes I've never seen until recently.

 

[Lagduf]

I just had a good friend who only recently watched TNG almost all of the way through (he bogged down in Season 7 - I keep pestering him to just skip to the final episode) and it was cool to hear what he thought about the series and various episodes, particularly since his perspective was new and not based on nostalgic remembrances like my thoughts of the series are.

Seeing him experience TNG kind of reinvigorated my interest in the Star Trek Universe. There has been a lot of terrible Trek (endless techno-babble, "monster of the week," anyone?), but the Trek that is good, tends to be really, really, really good.

 

[Zenimus]

It's true! I had a similar feeling a few years back before my grandpa died. Towards his final years he started getting really into TNG. Whenever I'd visit him he'd have a stack of VHS episodes that he recorded from the TV. It was unusual to see my nearly 80-year old grandpa, who had no previous interest in sci-fi, suddenly start excitedly name-dropping things like Picard and the Klingons. It was pretty great!

 

[Normdog]

I absolutely love TNG, but I'm frequently confused at why they cast Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi... at times she seems like the most wooden actor I've ever seen. I guess I've come to like her though.

Also, my Netflix streaming service (or should I say, my friend's Netflix service) just went out, and I was right in the middle of the episode where Picard becomes a borg. I never saw that episode growing up, so now I'm bummed out!

"The Best of Both Worlds" is one of my all-time favorite Star Trek episodes. The second part is pretty awesome. I currently have both parts saved on my DVR and try to watch them at least once a month.