Star Trek: TNG

[mkaroly]

I can see what he means about TNG being dated. A few (or more) years ago I remember watching it on TNN after not having seen it in years when the syndicated channel ran it in the wee hours of the morning--I just didn't like it as much.

Strange as it may seem, I've never been a huge fan of TNG...nor any of the other Treks save for the Original Series. To me, Berman's shows are colder, packed with more techno-babble, and lack the basic humanity of Roddenberry's series -- even though the Original show was produced on a lower budget and had some comical moments of both unintentional AND the intentional kind.

I think that became quite clear in GENERATIONS, where Patrick Stewart is obviously a superb, classically trained actor, and yet in their shared scenes, he was blown off the screen by Shatner's charisma and warmth. I like Picard just fine, but I don't have the attachment to him that I had for Kirk, which is the same way I feel about TNG compared to the original show (and their corresponding film series as well; there's no arc like Star Trek II-IV in any of the TNG films that's nearly as dramatic or moving as Spock's death).

With this upcoming movie, Abrams needs to return Star Trek to its roots, which is a fundamental balancing of science with humanity, characters who you can still identify with even though the situation is futuristic and fantastic.

Berman, to me, lost his way over the years, appealing to the hard-core Trekkies while losing sight of what made the original "franchise" -- the interplay with Kirk and Spock -- so appealing to viewers far beyond the strictest "sci-fi" set.

Good points Andy. I do tend to prefer TNG over TOS (blasphemy to many, I know) since I just got more emotionally involved with the majority of characters. The show that moved me the most from TOS was The City on the Edge of Forever; most of TNG shows are more easy for me to be emotionally involved in.

I agree with your opinion that Abrams needs to return to the roots of Star trek- hopefully, that means TOS and (for me) TNG (a hybrid of the two), and not the "roots" of DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise.

[Paul MacLean]

I do tend to prefer TNG over TOS (blasphemy to many, I know) since I just got more emotionally involved with the majority of characters.

Well I guess that makes me a blasphemer too!

I grew-up on the original series, but for me Next Generation far surpassed it. Shatner is fun, but perpetually over-the-top, and TOS was always rather melodramatic -- tho it is interesting to see how the rapid social and esthetic changes in our culture were eflected in the old show -- not just the writing (tho a comparison of "The Concience of the King" and "The Way To Eden" makes them look a decade apart in age!) but also the scores (compare the 50s-ish scores for "The Concience of the King" or "Mudd's Women" to the psychadelic mind-meld cue in "The Paradise Syndrome"!).

Anyway I digress. I felt the characters in TNG were far-more interesting than those of TOS. Yes Picard is reserved and perhaps even stiff, but that is what made the character interesting. He was such a private character, and uncomfortable around kids, which made for some interesting character tensions. Kirk was a egotistical lothario (probably because Shatner was one as well), whereas Picard was selective in his romantic liasons (and was thus a better, more likeable -- and more masculine -- leading man).

Data's "Pinoccio-like" desire to be a "real boy" was also an fascinating character touch (the antithesis of Spock, who struggled to suppress his human emotions). Worf was an interesting "fish-out-of-water" character, a Klingon raised on Earth and caught between two cultures.

Thea art direction and effects were obviously better as well. Control panels actually looked functional, and viewscreens displayed relevent, plausible data and moving images (instead of the same frozen pictures of planets and nebulas which which made the original bridge look more like an art gallery).

I very much enjoyed what I saw of Voyager (but was nt a regular watcher since it was one of those syndicated show and I could never remember when it was on!). Never got into Deep Space Nine -- I just thought a show which takes-place on a space station which never goes anyplace was really boring (as it is, I fell asleep watching the pilot).

[Bill Williams]

Agreed. While I grew up catching TOS in reruns through the 70's and 80's, it was TNG that holds a special place in my heart, along with DS9, the Original Series-crew feature films, and the first two TNG films.

Anything after that just seems like cookie-cutter Trek. Voyager was nothing more than "TNG Lite", which I started to get bored with pretty quickly, and Enterprise had the potential to be really something but degenerated into a T&A fest over time with more of the same cookie-cutter plots from Berman and Braga (the best stuff of which came in the latter third of Season 3 and all of Season 4 from Manny Coto). Even "Insurrection" was all cookie-cutter boring, and "Nemesis" was a totally missed attempt from start to finish with a lot going against it.

Squeezing blood out a turnip one too many times, combined with tired retreads and poor management from Berman, killed Trek. Thank goodness he's moved out!