Species 8472!
Obviously they’re all humanoid, but since Next Generation they’ve done a really good job with the makeup on the alien races. The Klingons, Vulcans, Jamha’dar, Romulans, Ferengi, Bajorans, Cardassians, etc all have a unique look and are instantly recognizable as members of that species. As long as I don’t recognize the actor underneath the make up, I think of them as people of that species. And Michael Westmore usually does a great job in each episode of dressing up even guest stars behind enough make up of a particular species that I don’t recognize the actor when I’m watching the episode. Of course, Westmore was in charge of makeup during Next Gen, DS9, Voyager. He’s probably retired by now.
IIRC it was delayed a while back.
How is that a new perspective? Changing the rank from captain to lieutenant doesn’t do anything, not to mention that all ST series gave different perspectives from a huge range of characters (especially DS9 with its many non-human/non-Starfleet characters).
Yeah, 5 minutes into any NG episode and you were like, ‘so this is a Data episode’. Or Riker, or Wesley, or Worf, etc, etc. Voyager was the same, DS9 was the same.
The rock boring thing from the TOS and the space crystal, the evil tar pit, and the Trill from the newer series are the most alien things I can remember.
I think it’s definitely has the potential to be a new perspective: the main protagonist isn’t in charge—there are a lot of potential ramifications to that. If they spend a significant amount of time focused on one character, and that character isn’t the top of the pecking order, that’s different. Admittedly, I wouldn’t call the captain the main protagonist in most of the treks (with the possible exception of TOS). First among equals for screen time is more accurate.
Does this mean that when the captain and other bridge officers beam down to an alien planet to have adventures, the show will focus on the lieutenant commander’s exciting day of reviewing TPS reports and signing off on the lunch menu?
Maybe they’ll just pick a different redshirt each week, and we’ll see the show from their perspective until they get killed each week.
Maybe the show will be more realistic and not have teams that go down to unknown planets consisting of the top command staff.
Yea that’s what Star Trek needs, a healthy dose of realism.
I watched the entire star trek new generations serie two times. Is one of my favorites. Recently I had curiosity and started watching the original serie. Is awful in many ways, good in few ones.
I got somewhat bored, and started watching “star trek enterprise”. And honestly, is a very good serie. Is humble and practical and rooted in realism for the most part. Is probably the only prequel that I remember watching that make sense has a prequel.
A problem of the original serie is that the enterprise is too powerful. Can teleport people around (and thats a universal deus ex machina). The ship have enough power to flat a whole planet, maybe even force a come the size a moon change trayectory. So in the original serie many of the enemies are really either god like entities, or similar ships from other races.
I like Star Trek Enterprise because it feels like they are exploring and finding things and they are not all powerfull or even well informed. They are childrens in space doing baby steps.
The original is the best by miles, struggled with all the other series to one degree or another.
I think Elim Garak would like to stop by, say “hello” and have a word with you about how wrong you are. ;)
Sure, if you can get past the rocky first couple seasons, DS9 is pretty great. But given that it’s only 3 seasons, I still think the original series had the most bang for your viewing buck. Bonus: there aren’t any ferengi.
C’mon, there was a ton of crap in the original series, just like all of the series.
I don’t deny it! Hey, I hated those episodes where they beamed down to gangster/nazi/roman worlds. That racism episode with people who were white on one side and black on the other was about as heavy handed as it gets. But it kept moving and had all its pieces in place from the start ( if you disregard the retooling after the original Pike pilot). I think with DS9 there’s a definite feeling that you have to eat your veggies before you get to the good stuff, as cool as that stuff was. Same with Babylon 5, on another topic completely.
The original series was, let’s face it, not that great as serious TV even for its time. It was low-budget, badly acted, and nonsensical. It’s only when viewed through the lens of a few decades that it grows into something special. All that goofball rent-a-set earnestness becomes high camp, and the hamminess and cheese becomes charming. The heavy-handed moralizing and episodic nature become assets when viewed by young people on reruns like many of my generation did in the 70’s and 80’s. Add a couple of decades of time and some historical trivia, and it’s a classic.
DS9 is undoubtedly better in terms of presenting a coherent universe and serialized story, but I always found it to be a slog. Like @divedivedive, I think DS9 makes new viewers grind through a lot of setup to get to the interesting friction.
Love Garak though. No argument there.
The grinding is the inherent flaw of the show being stuck with the full network episode order. There were years when ST series pumped out 25-26 episodes. If they could have done DS9 serialized with the standard 10-13 most cable does it would have been so,much better. Why I still want to see Discovery. See what a modern, serialized ST show with limited episodes can deliver.
Season 1 had a lot of mediocrity for sure. Season 2 less so.
I’ve often wondered at the best way to have someone new to DS9 watch the show. The best that I can come up with is to have them watch the first episode (Emissary), and then skip to the 2nd season finale (The Jem’Hadar), and go from there. That way you hit the pedal to the medal. And all those setup episodes that are great in Season 1 and 2 for getting to know the characters? Those are even better later, when you’re more familiar with the characters from later seasons. Going back later and seeing those relationships develop is pretty cool.
So that would be my best attempt at a watch order. Skip most of Season 1 and 2, including the good episodes. And then once you love the show from watching Season 3,4,5,6,7, go back and watch Seasons 1 and 2, when you’re more tolerant of the mediocre episodes, and even more appreciative of gems like “Duet”, “In the Hands of the Prophet”, “Homecoming”, “Cardassians”, “Necessary Evil”, “Whispers”, “Blood Oath”, “The Macquis Parts 1 and 2”, classic Garak episode “The Wire”, and the first “Crossover” episode.
Oh wait. Maybe that doesn’t work. If you’ve never seen the first Crossover, will you understand what’s going on in subsequent Crossover episodes in later seasons? Hmmm, maybe the grind is necessary. Damn it.