Is this common to all Star Treks? Ryan Davis (while recording Set Phasers to Fun!) said TNG picks up in season 3 when Riker grows his beard.
I’m halfway through season one of TNG, it’s the perfect show to watch while using an elliptical machine.
TNG never gets anywhere near as good as DS9 does. To begin with, they had WAY WAY too many holodeck episodes spaced along the way. They also had way too many annoying characters they felt they had to satisfy with episodes along the way.
TNG had some excellent single episodes, and those certainly become more frequent after the beginning of Season 3, but then the next week they’d stick in some stupid “Picard wants to be a private detective” episode or something featuring Troy and her mother as the focus, and wham, slam into rock bottom again.
For some reason, I missed most of the last two seasons of DS9, although I think I did manage to catch the series finale. I should really grab the DVDs at some point. And I totally agree with you - even 16 (!) years later, I still remember the first time the Defiant showed up. That ship was ridiculous
Have you seen the episode Duet yet?
While there are certainly some skippable episodes of DS9 I would strongly caution against jumping ahead. ‘In The Pale Moonlight’ for instance only really works when you realize how much is at stake for the characters.
I love that episode so much. It’s the only reason why I don’t consider my Season 1 Box set wasted money. Well, that, and the season finale that followed Duet was pretty good too. But even though I’m a big fan of the show, I can’t make myself watch most of the first season more than the first time I rewatched everything when the DVD box sets came out. If I ever hear someone say “Move along Home” again, I’m liable to cut myself.
A lot of Season 1 of DS9 feels like warmed over TNG scripts, probably because that’s what a lot of them are, but there are some good episodes beyond Duet. I like Dax and Progress quite a bit, for instance. The latter has a couple of really good performances, and Kira is a total badass in it. Both episodes key in on unique things about the show to one extent or another, so they’re worth watching IMO (and I agree that the season finale is pretty good too).
Also, I think Melora from S2 is worse than Move Along Home.
You can buy all seven seasons of DS9 for only $314, not too much more than a lifetime sub to ST:O. :)
DS9, like B5, has some terrible single episodes along the way in every season. I agree though that it came from a better time for sci-fi, though I would argue that Farscape and Firefly were the great sci-fis which followed.
BSG was too foot-loose with its internal consistency and characterisation for my liking, but for one and a half seasons it was still great.
no love for trials and tribbulations?
Definite agree with Farscape and Firefly. BSG offered a tremendous payoff, and ended up not being able to even remotely cash the check.
And Farscape and Firefly were a decade ago. Where’s today’s best SF? Stargate: Universe? Too soon to tell. I can’t site single network example–the closest I guess would be Lost, and I never could stand Lost because it was more soap opera than story. Fringe is worth watching, but they appear to have told their entire story in the first season, so now they are just winging it. Am I overlooking a gem out there?
Not to hijack the thread but is Stargate: Universe worthwhile? I’ve never cared too much from the little I’ve seen of SG-1 and Atlantis but I’m about to finish watching Farscape for the first time (amazing show) and I’m really looking for something good to follow it.
Doctor Who. Start with the rebooted Series One and go from there. Oh, and don’t forget to pick up the spinoff series Torchwood along the way. I had never watched the series before that, and I was really impressed.
Oh, and all four series (and both of Torchwood, I believe) are available in the Netflix Instant Queue. Really, there is no excuse not to check them out.
Yep, just watched it last night. I have to say I definitely did not see that plot twist coming!
Now that really puts it into perspective!
I’m sure I paid much less than that, getting each single-season box set piecemeal over the years. Never spent more than $20.00 on a season.
SGU is a completely different animal from either previous Stargate series. And yes, it’s definitely worthwhile, although a bit slow at times. There’s some really great stuff in there though (particularly of note, the time loop episode).
They canceled Sarah Connor…
um… howabout Doctor Who or Torchw… oh nevermind, it’s dead Jim.
Watched Sarah Connor, mourned the end.
Dr. Who in my opinion doesn’t really qualify as science fiction, its more science fantasy, but we watch it. Its just that it doesn’t really exist. Three episodes in a year and a half?
As for Torchwood, come on, it was god-awful most of the time. We watched it anyway, but mostly for the train-wreck factor. Plus the main actor is fun.
And yeah, SG: Universe is nothing like the earlier iterations. I couldn’t stand SG1 or SG Atlantis. Way too cheesy even for cheese. Universe is going much more for a BSG vibe. Hard to say after what, 6 episodes is all? But I just really hope they nail it down a lot better than BSG was, and don’t let it drift off into “what if we did THIS…” territory.
Remove the words ‘don’t’ and ‘to pick up’ and ‘along the way’. Then I can agree with you.
I haven’t seen Stargate Universe yet, but I have my fingers crossed. I have never enjoyed Stargate anything, but I don’t see what else is coming that meets that space opera need.
Doctor Who is too episodic for people who got into sci-fi for the arcs. Some great episodes in there, but no whole as such.