Star Trek

[ShyViolet]

Wow, what a ridiculous article. Not only does it horribly insult and disrespect Gene Roddenberry, but labels the first few seasons of TNG as basically dreck (with a few exceptions). Supposedly, the show never really “got good” until season 4. Also that season 1 was mostly “a shambles” that 2 wasn’t much better, and that 3 was mostly mediocre. Until Best of Both Worlds part 1 (last ep of season 3) the show was mainly sci-fi cheese, just like TOS, and that the real reason it gradually reached the high standards of this writer was because Roddenberry eventually got very sick and died.

I realize the show had a bumpy start, but this article is such an oversimplification. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the writer never really backs up his assertions and actually keeps contradicting themselves by pointing out the positives of the early seasons, even season 1. (The acting being very good despite less-than-perfect stories, for one.)

*SOME SPOILERS FOR NEW PICARD SHOW*


https://screenrant.com/star-trek-next-g ... en-season/

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And that’s really sad about Walker, Jr. . Charlie X was an awesome episode and he gave a great performance.

[James]

...Supposedly, the show never really “got good” until season 4. Also that season 1 was mostly “a shambles” that 2 wasn’t much better, and that 3 was mostly mediocre. Until Best of Both Worlds part 1 (last ep of season 3) the show was mainly sci-fi cheese...

Well......

I usually say the show didn't get good until Riker grew a beard!

[Ben]

He..."made it so"...

[ShyViolet]

Yeah, that’s actually a very common opinion (about Riker’s beard); in fact it’s become so prevalent that the term “Riker’s beard”, is now in the Urban Dictionary! . Put simply, it’s the opposite of that OTHER term “jump the shark”.

So basically when a show has some growing pains (no pun intended!) during its first season, but improves by a lot as it progresses, that show “grew the beard.”


I guess one example is Saved by the Bell, which I realize was never a GREAT show, but, as a “sequel” of sorts to “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” (the junior high days) it was at least WATCHABLE.


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This is such a beautiful scene, and from a Season 1 ep too. Stewart is basically sublime.


https://youtu.be/J-yoHEp5HvU

[EricJ]

I guess one example is Saved by the Bell, which I realize was never a GREAT show, but, as a “sequel” of sorts to “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” (the junior high days) it was at least WATCHABLE. (In my opinion.)

Well, (ahem) better example would be when Happy Days went from a filmed to a live-audience sitcom, or when Mary Tyler Moore left Rhoda and moved out to her own apartment. (And Space:1999...Maya. 'Nuff said.)
Still, "Riker's Beard" does sum it up.

[James]

Yeah, that’s actually a very common opinion (about Riker’s beard); in fact it’s become so prevalent that the term “Riker’s beard”, is now in the Urban Dictionary! . Put simply, it’s the opposite of that OTHER term “jump the shark”.

So basically when a show has some growing pains (no pun intended!) during its first season, but improves by a lot as it progresses, that show “grew the beard.”

Hey I'm hip and I didn't even know it!

My friends and I had that opinion about Riker while the show was still on the air originally. So it's not only a common opinion apparently, it's an old one!

[ShyViolet]

This TV interview of Stewart and Frakes from 1987 is interesting not just because of its rarity (I think it was shown not too long after the pilot; there was lots of TNG fanfare on TV around this time) but because many years later Stewart mentioned in another interview that he’d been enraged when the journalist basically asked him what it was like to do something as “camp” as Trek after having been a part of the Royal Shakespeare Company for so long. I love his answer!


https://youtu.be/G8arqlL7fD8

[Randall]

Yep. Unexpected, but perfect.

[ShyViolet]

Yeah, definitely. Especially since only two minutes earlier the interviewer called TOS: “One of the most innovative shows of the sixties” and then proceeded to dump on TNG. Ugh.


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Also, MUST WATCH short interviews with Stuart Baird, Spiner and Sirtis from when Nemesis came out.


https://youtu.be/mltm_-bGcIo

[ShyViolet]

Stupid/random/useless/trivia...


The fascinating and very three-dimensional character of Dr. Leslie Tompkins in Batman: The Animated Series was actually voiced by none other than Diana Muldaur, who played Dr. Katherine Pulaski in Season 2 of Next Gen.

It’s just so weird for me since I found her character/voice to be unbelievably grating in the latter. Strange how much more likable her character was in B: TAS; I guess the subtle nuances of her performance in Batman was a contributing factor.


Apparently her working/personal relationship with the rest of the TNG cast was a disaster. Partly because she replaced Gates McFadden, who was very much a part of the close-knit cast, but also because at the time she’d just been on LA: Law and was not only much more well known than her colleagues, but was also paid considerably more.


In interviews Mulduar doesn’t discuss her TNG experiences very much, but she has said that it was overall a very unpleasant experience: “Everyone in that cast was out for themselves.” I guess she just didn’t gel very well with them. (Actually you can even sense a lot of the tension on set just by watching her episodes, particularly Time Squared and Unnatural Selection)

[ShyViolet]

A little more trivia:

Insurrection (released December 1998) was actually the first film EVER to have its own website. Kinda “weird”, huh?

[Ben]

Not sure I buy that, Vi. I know Mission: Impossible and Space Jam both had their own sites, and they were 1996...?

[ShyViolet]

Yeah, it did sound a bit strange to me...I think it got it from the Insurrection commentary with Frakes and Sirtis.

[ShyViolet]

All films, good or bad, start with a script. Sometimes they can be fixed, and sometimes they can’t, but release dates, merchandising and marketing deals mean they have to shoot, ready or not, to make the deadline...

Also, just thought I’d add one more possible factor that led to Insurrection being somewhat “uneven”: Frakes very, very much wanted to direct a Q film instead (and John DeLancie was completely on board); unfortunately Paramount ultimately vetoed that idea since they wanted a more “lighthearted” feature a la The Voyage Home to follow the much more serious First Contact.

(Because when IV followed the Kahn/Search for Spock two-fer, it ended up as the highest grossing Trek film up until that point, and naturally Paramount wanted to replicate that success.).

I can’t help but wonder if that’s why some (ok, most) of the humor in Insurrection felt incredibly forced; particularly the “Worf going through puberty again” subplot. In my opinion it would have made a lot more sense to just have him turn into a child like Picard did in “Rascals”. Sure, it might have been a bit silly but could also have provided some interesting storytelling possibilities. Well, it would certainly have been an improvement on him just getting a big pimple! (!)

[Randall]

I don't know--- I would have assumed a Q film would be somewhat comedic anyhow.