Ranking the Star Trek television series

  • Thread starter Thread starter tomarin
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

tomarin

Guest
To me the original series with Kirk, Spock and McCoy was the very best, head and shoulders above the ones following it, and of course it was the very first as well so it has that honor and distinction going for it. I think what made it best was Spock, McCoy and Kirk (in that order) and the way their personalities clashed and complemented each other. Also the ‘morality play’ quality, while it could be heavy-handed at times especially when the story that went with it was weak, meant that the show was at least trying to impart an important message, whereas later iterations of Trek (even the motion pictures made with the original cast) seemed to have lost this somewhat and became more about the familiar characters.

Second is a toss-up between Deep Space 9 and The Next Generation. I used to think the Next Generation was the bee’s knees but now am having second thoughts. Even at the time it first aired I felt that too many of the episodes were about Data, a Pinnochio-like character who at best is a Spock ripoff. Also too many of the episodes were riffs or rip-offs of the original series. It hasn’t aged all that well. Deep Space 9 had a very unusual cast and setting, reminiscent of one of my favorite movies, Casablanca, although I’m increasingly of the opinion that Avery Brooks’s Captain Sisko is a fairly one-note performance and the story arcs toward the end where he entered the Bajoran pantheon as a godlike being both confused me and strained my credulity.

Next up would be Voyager which for some reason was derivative and not fun to watch. The writers didn’t seem up to the task of creating a whole new galaxy full of interesting empires and villains and the result was not too compelling.

Finally, Enterprise. I lost all interest in this one about midway through the series. I think the problem was that by dutifully filling in all the details about how the Federation was formed, some of the fun and romance of the Trek universe went out of it. (Also I found it annoying that so much of our advanced technology was borrowed from the Vulcans; it made me wonder what they were getting out of this relationship.)

If you’re a fan of any of these shows, how would you rank them? Are your rankings similar to mine?
 
I don’t know about the second season, but the first season is God-awful - I know because I tried to watch it recently.

I used to think Patrick Stewart was an excellent actor but now I’m not so sure.
 
Maybe Troi was there to pull in female fans? On the ship her duties seemed on the light side (unless there was something she was doing off screen). I warmed up to her once she lost that periwinkle onesie uniform. Incidentally the actress who played her has the most marvelous East End accent, it’s a shame they forced her to talk in that bland style when in character.
 
A while back I caught a rerun of TNG on BBC America (odd channel for it to be on – unless it’s because of Patrick Stewart). I believe it was the 7th season premiere. It had been a while since I’d seen this particular episode, and I was gobsmacked by the ridiculous amount of technobabble in a couple of scenes. I seem to remember thinking, “oh my gosh – THIS is why people make fun of Trekkies”. :eek:

“The Best of Both Worlds” is still a classic two-parter, though. I was fortunate to catch a special-event screening a couple of years ago, that was presented in a limited number of theaters nationwide, for one night only. The “to be continued” at the end of part 1 was dropped; it was presented as a full-length movie.

I’m currently working my way through Deep Space Nine’s third season, and I’m sometimes having trouble getting past the way Avery Brooks delivers his lines …

I’ve also been working my way through the Original Series … currently in the middle of season 2. And I have to say, the more I watch TOS, the more I appreciate it.
 
MrZoom said:
A while back I caught a rerun of TNG on BBC America (odd channel for it to be on – unless it’s because of Patrick Stewart). I believe it was the 7th season premiere. It had been a while since I’d seen this particular episode, and I was gobsmacked by the ridiculous amount of technobabble in a couple of scenes. I seem to remember thinking, “oh my gosh – THIS is why people make fun of Trekkies”. :eek:

I’m currently working my way through Deep Space Nine’s third season, and I’m sometimes having trouble getting past the way Avery Brooks delivers his lines …

I’ve also been working my way through the Original Series … currently in the middle of season 2. And I have to say, the more I watch TOS, the more I appreciate it.
Click to expand...
You’re right - I remember the technobabble (a lot of it from Geordie LaForge, unsurprisingly I guess since he’s the head engineer) being almost unendurable when I first watched it in syndication. Did you know when the scripts were written large chunks of text were missing and replaced with the words ‘tech’ for someone to fill in later?

Despite its name, I don’t think BBC America is actually affiliated with the BBC. It’s owned by an American cable channel like Universal.
 
But you know who else is guilty of ridiculous amounts of technobabble with the sin compounded by the fact it is almost always paired with a plot point that the entire storyline hinges on - classic Dr. Who. But I do think we’re supposed to take Star Trek with a grain more seriousness than Dr. Who.
 
I missed most of the first three seasons of Enterprise, because (1) the UPN station for Pittsburgh was not on my cable system until the fourth season (and I couldn’t pick it up over the air), and (2) my coworker Susan, who had made tapes of Voyager for me for this very reason, wasn’t interested in Enterprise.

I thought a lot of Enterprise’s 4th season was actually pretty good. If nothing else, it gives a clever reason for the smooth-forehead Klingons in TOS. 😃
 
I should watch Deep Space 9 again to confirm this, but my take on Avery Brooks is that everything he says he says in the same halting, slow way, as if he’s slightly puzzled by the way everything is turning out. I will say that if I were serving on a space station I would appreciate him being in charge.

I only recently learned he played the sidekick to Robert Urich in Vegas.
 
But don’t you have to pay a tax for every television set or something?
 
I thought that was explained already by the DS9 episode where they reused footage from the TOS tribbles episode? Some kind of virus or something - I’m not sure I’ve ever been able to follow it.
 
MrZoom said:
I missed most of the first three seasons of Enterprise, because (1) the UPN station for Pittsburgh was not on my cable system until the fourth season (and I couldn’t pick it up over the air), and (2) my coworker Susan, who had made tapes of Voyager for me for this very reason, wasn’t interested in Enterprise.

I thought a lot of Enterprise’s 4th season was actually pretty good. If nothing else, it gives a clever reason for the smooth-forehead Klingons in TOS. 😃
Click to expand...
I really wanted to like Enterprise when it first aired (despite that unbelievably inappropriate theme song) but then 9/11 happened and the writers decided to make it more ‘relevant’ by having a 9/11-like war on terror story arc and I just wasn’t ready to deal with that emotionally.
 
Same thing in Japan - until recently Japanese people were familiar with an unpleasant old guy they called the ‘NHK man’ whose job it was to shake down non-tax payers and he would go to great lengths to do so.
 
According to my sources, the Japanese counterpart was notorious for *actually pushing his *way into your house - something that is perhaps not considered as insane a thing to do as it would be in my country, perhaps because it’s much safer there (and also people are not armed, nor is there as likely to be a dog in the house).
 
MrZoom said:
I’ve also been working my way through the Original Series … currently in the middle of season 2. And I have to say, the more I watch TOS, the more I appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Re-watching the series as an adult is an interesting exercise but it does make me more aware of enormous plot holes in just about every episode. Old favorites from childhood now seem fairly ridiculous or even offensive (like ‘Spock’s Brain’ or the one where Kirk gets amnesia and is worshiped by native Americans). I’ve also noticed that sometimes things happen for a dramatic reason that sets the logic of the premise off kilter. I’ve had to condition myself to overlook some of these things in order to continue to enjoy it. (However, I must have done a little of that even as a kid - because I was aware from an early age that the idea of Spock having one human parent and one Vulcan one with an alien physiognomy was biologically impossible.)

But I continue to love the series and I enjoy introducing it to my kids. If anything it’s iconicity (to coin a phrase) only seems to increase over time.
 
I haven’t seen that since I was a small kid and I’m not sure the animation was even considered good by the standards of the early 1970’s - however I’m aware that hardcore fans seem to take it seriously.

I’ve thought about giving one of the novelizations a go.
 
Perhaps, even though they had a good reason for having a racially diverse crew since they were supposed to be from an egalitarian future with a crew of Earth people from all countries (though we never see any [Asian] Indian people as far as I’m aware).

I only recently learned that Nichelle Nichols and Rodenberry were romantically linked.

What I didn’t know as a kid was that the voice of the ship’s computer was also Nurse Chapel. James Doohan who played Scotty also provided a number of miscellaneous voices, I believe.
 
I watched ‘Spock’s Brain’ again recently and while it is certainly cheesy, I think ‘the Omega Glory’ is worse for the sheer pain it put in my head trying to figure out how the Yangs and Coms could have evolved independently on a planet that wasn’t Earth.

One fond memory I have from ‘Spock’s Brain’ is of McCoy’s feeling as the genius-level knowledge imparted by the helmet fades away. I’ve had that experience a number of times and I always mentally reference that episode when it happens.

I have a theory that there’s something to appreciate in even the bad or dull episodes of Star Trek.
 
It was always a jarring experience for me on the few occasions I saw James Doohan interviewed to hear him speak with his natural broad North American accent!
 
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that as of today I’d actually rank them as follows:

Deep Space Nine - It’s tone was a little ahead of it’s time but with how the world turned shortly after DS9 ended, the show still feels fresh and relevant. The ensamble cast was a real strength of this show as there were a dozen different characters you cared about and unlike many shows of the time they were willing to kill off characters and have other real world moral ambiguity arguments that TNG and TOS weren’t willing to do so. The Pale Moonlight in Particular still stands out in that respect. The seasons 3 and beyond in particular were very strong.

Second is where I’m going to catch flak, I’d rank Voyager second. I’ve been re-watching it over the last year, and it’s actually aged very well. The first two seasons, which I remember being very underwhelmed by at the time they aired, were actually pretty good. The third season dragged for the first half, but picked up mid season and the show while not always consistent, was at least passable. Kate Mulgrew’s acting alone is very strong and part of why I’ve always liked Janeway and Jeri Ryan, Robert Piccardo, and Tim Russ are also far more gifted than I gave them credit for at the time.

Third I’d go TOS. The original hasn’t aged well in terms of style, and it was a hit or miss series, but many episodes are still very relevant today. Which is a testament to the writing a half century later. The recent updates to the graphics have also breathed new life into the show making it that much more enjoyable.

Fourth I’d go TNG. TNG was the bee’s knees when it was on the air. It’s the Star Trek that got me into Star Trek. And it still has some amazing episodes (Best of Both Worlds is still to my mind the single best two hours of Star Trek TV ever produced) that have been polished nicely by the recent CGI updates by BBC. Patrick Stewart in particular is a wonder. That said, re-watching it lately, there are a ton of episodes that haven’t aged very well at all and are now downright stinkers. The acting from most of the rest of the cast other than Brent Spiner isn’t particularly good.

Fifth is Enterprise. I’m also re-watching this right now as part of a group TV night. It’s not a terrible series, particularly the last season and to a lesser extent season 3. But it just doesn’t feel… right. It doesn’t feel like a prequel to TOS as it should. Rather it feels like a prequel to TNG. And the acting is far too often just campy. There are a few episodes I like, but on the whole, it’s easy to see why this series killed Star Trek for more than a decade on TV.

Last TAS. The Animated Series is often overlooked and for good reason. It was like someone mated a Hannah Barbera cartoon with Star Trek and thought it would be a good idea. I can only recall one or two episodes that were even watchable.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top