Star Trekkin': From TOS To ENT

[Deleted]

Get your Star Trek on!

I recently acquired the "Alternate Realities" DVD set from the library; it features mirror-universe episodes, alternate realities and the like. I just watched "Shattered," a season seven episode of Voyager, and it was really good. Voyager runs into some kind of storm and it ends up that different parts of the ship are existing in different eras (past and future), and it was really exciting and funny (especially the holodeck movie serial part) at the same time. I forgot how sassy Captain Janeway was, and how Chakotay was a little on the sexy side (I think it was the tattoo).

So, any favorite (or not so favorite) episodes throughout the franchise?

[Mutagen]

I like almost all the Trek series, though I never watched Enterprise, but ultimately I am an unabashed Deep Space Nine fan. It produced some of the most all-time badass Trek characters: Garak, Dukat, Martok, Kai Winn. I liked Sisko as captain. I thought for the most part, they struck a good balance with Major Kira being legitimately tough and legitimately feminine. I generally hate Ferengi episodes, but I actually liked the Quark character a lot (I'm not a big fan of Klingons either, so I was surprised at how much I liked the episode where he ended up engaged to a Klingon woman).

I like how it really played with shades of gray. "In the Pale Moonlight", when Sisko and Garak strike a deal to trick the Romulans into joining their side of the war, and "Duet," where Kira interrogates a Cardassian who ran death camps, are still legitimately spine-chilling episodes.

Also, Avery Brooks's voice is like butter, and Alexander Siddig (Dr. Bashir) was a hottie. I love seeing him pop up in random movies nowadays!

As for Voyager, I think it's probably the most underrated of all the Trek series. They did have some truly awful episodes in the first few seasons (salamanders anyone??), and unfortunately, I think that reputation kind of stuck. But there are some really brilliant episodes. The one where the crew begins flashing back to war crimes they didn't commit was a powerful episode. And I loved "Timeless," the 10-years-in-the-future episode where Harry Kim and Chatokay are the only survivors of an accident that destroyed Voyager.

Speaking of underrated, I think that episode showed Garrett Wang had some good acting chops. I was also pleasantly surprised by Jeri Ryan - when Seven first came on the show I rolled my eyes and groaned because it seemed like gratuitous hot T&A. But she was a legitimately interesting and well-acted character.

[Atreides]

Deep Space Nine is my favourite show of all time. Those were seven pretty amazing seasons. I loved the character and plot arcs. The recurring cast was so good too, with Garak, Dukat, Weyoun, Damar, and Kai Winn, among many others. You had minor characters like Nog who developed so much over the series, even getting his own episode. Compare that to someone like Harry Kim on Voyager, a main character who didn't change or develop one bit from the premiere to the finale.

I also loved how DS9 really got into intergalactic politics and explored other issues like war and faith that no other series ever did. Battlestar Galactica is a direct thematic descendant of DS9, as far as I'm concerned.

There's a two part episode in Season 4 ("Homefront" & "Paradise Lost") that aired back around '96 or '97, years 9/11 and re-watching it is eerie considering how prescient it was. Then you'll have a simple standalone episode like "The Visitor" that is just so moving and touching. Finally, for pure eye candy, no series could top DS9 for its incredible battle scenes with hundreds of ships duking it out.

The worst one for me was Enterprise. I thought Scott Bakula was completely miscast and so damn wooden as Archer. It was like he was doing a Kirk impression with his bizarre line readings. That is the only one of the modern series that I checked out early on, somewhere around season 2. I watched Voyager to the bitter (and I mean bitter) end. The finale episode for that show was appalling.

The Next Generation is the gold standard for most of the fans but I think that many episodes of that show have become terribly dated since they originally aired, especially the early seasons. Although Sisko is my favourite captain (because he's a badass!), Patrick Stewart is my favourite actor from any of the series. Brent Spiner (Data) and Nana Visitor (Kira) are tied for second.

[Deleted]

TNG is my favourite Trek for sure. But yes, the first few seasons, before the writers and actors seemingly got a good handle on their characters and what the series should be, were not good. A lot of that played as though they wanted Picard to be Kirk reborn. Once the show found it's stride it was gold imo. Eps like when they encounter the Borg the first time, when Picard gets taken by them, Yesterday's Enterprise, Worf as a gunslinger, Picard and Crusher mindreading each other... and on and on and on. I just LOVE this show to death. My all time fave may be the ep when Worf and a number of other crew members end up abducted while sleeping by aliens in an alternate dimension. That show was creepy and really original imo.

And the ep when they are in the time-loop and keep getting destroyed? *sigh* I think I miss this show.

I really enjoyed Deep Space Nine as well, though I watched it less consistently. Voyager I found uneven and not as good. And Enterprise? I gave up after 1 1/2 seasons.

[ijustworkhere]

I've been a hardcore TNG fan my whole life, and only recently got into DS9, when my brother and I realized that it was basically training camp for the showrunners of one of our other obsessions, Battlestar Galactica, and that we should probably watch it. We finished DS9 Season 2 over Christmas and I'm two eps into Season 3. So far? Excellent, although Dax irritates. I love Kira, Garak, Bashir, O'Brien... "Duet" was stunning, and I also especially liked "Playing God" from the second season, where they discover an entire universe growing in a containment field and have to decide whether to destroy it or allow it swallow their own universe.

One thing I can't figure out is why they felt the need to dub every. single. line. that Vedek Bareil says. If the actor was that bad/mumbly on set, why didn't they just replace him? It's so distracting! I'm kind of hoping Bareil dies soon or something, because I hate his muffled, studio-pitch voice compared to everyone else's normal speaking.

Oh! I also really liked the episode where Tony from West Side Story played that Bajoran war hero and Kira and O'Brien pretended she was a hooker to rescue the guy from a Cardassian prison camp.

I remember DS9's premiere very clearly, even though I was pretty young, and I never could remember why we didn't take to it the way we did TNG. Then I re-watched the pilot and I realized that half of it is spent inside one of those Orb acid trips, and the other half is spent making Picard look like a weenie. No wonder my seven-year-old self hated it. Picard is the man!

[Atreides]

I'm jealous of you ijustworkhere as you get to experience the show for the first time. You're right at the part when the show kicks it into high gear too with the introduction of The Dominion. Remember Eris' line, "You have no idea what's begun here..." from the last episode of the second season. That chick wasn't kidding when she said that. The events that unfold for the remainder of the show are epic.

[Deleted]

I'm finding I'm clearly in the minority with Enterprise. I loved it. Maybe that has to do with the fact that I watched it all in order on DVD. I'm also a huge fan of backstory stuff, so I saw a lot of it as laying the groundwork for what we saw in previous series, and it was nice to see some other species (especially the Andorians) involved in the stories. I think Scott Bakula is great as Archer, a nice blend of Kirk's bravado and Picard's diplomacy and intellect.

When it comes to DS9, I have to say it's my least favorite. There are a lot of good episodes (the aforementioned Duet and season five's Rocks And Shoals being the standouts for me), but I always felt they were kind of "stuck on the station." Yes a lot of episodes took place elsewhere, but they always ended up on good old Terek Nor. I do have to give a mention to Trials And Tribble-ations, one of my all-time favorites.

On a related note, did anyone else ever get to check out the "Star Trek Experience" attraction in Las Vegas? I thought it was a lot of fun, especially the sensation of being "beamed up." I was bummed to hear it closed, but I learned it may be re-opening this year at a mall in the area.

[Deleted]

Another vote for TNG, although I agree, some episodes are so dated it is beyond cringe-worthy. My basic rule is, if Riker has a beard, it's probably watchable. No beard, change the channel.

And speaking of Riker...he was totally my first crush. Him and Tommy from Power Rangers (give me a break, I was young and stupid and didn't know any better). The beard, the blue eyes, the height, the voice ("Red alert!"); yeah he was a total manwhore, but damn it, the guy was charm itself.

I have a bit of an unpopular opinion regarding the movies, too; I really didn't think Nemesis was all that bad. The whole evil twin thing is definitely a tired sci-fi storyline, but I thought the movie was done well, and I especially though the guy who played Shinzon did a great job. It's still far inferior to First Contact, but it wasn't Insurrection. That movie was BAD.

[FiggyPudding]

Jan 8, 2009 10:28:48 GMT -4 @ximena said:

Another vote for TNG, although I agree, some episodes are so dated it is beyond cringe-worthy. My basic rule is, if Riker has a beard, it's probably watchable. No beard, change the channel.

I have a bit of an unpopular opinion regarding the movies, too; I really didn't think Nemesis was all that bad. The whole evil twin thing is definitely a tired sci-fi storyline, but I thought the movie was done well, and I especially though the guy who played Shinzon did a great job. It's still far inferior to First Contact, but it wasn't Insurrection. That movie was BAD.

The beard-no beard rule is a good one! I'm a little rusty on the shows, but I have watched Nemesis on cable a couple times recently. Not that bad, I thought Data's scene with Picard near the reactor thingie was understated, but poignant.

ETA I also liked Data and Giordi's scene right before Data leaves to get onto the other ship. They conveyed a lot using only facial expressions.

[Atreides]

No beard Riker is a definite sign to change the channel! Although Jonathan Frakes seems like a really nice guy, Riker bugged the crap out of me for the run of the series. He always seemed to be mean to subordinates like the ensigns and lieutenants and was an arrogant to manwhore to boot. He's better in the movies, possibly since his screentime was reduced in favour of Data.