The much maligned season 1 STNG

Bobtheman · 30-05-2020 2:31pm #1

Just been watching this as it's showing on skyfy and it's been a few years since I saw this season.
It is quite stilted in places. Rodenberry still had great influence and he was too hell bent on a friendly bridge.Some of the acting is terrible. Particularly Troi.
But there are good episodes in it like ep 23 symbiosis.

Spon Farmer · 31-05-2020 3:38am

Bobtheman wrote: »

Just been watching this as it's showing on skyfy and it's been a few years since I saw this season.
It is quite stilted in places. Rodenberry still had great influence and he was too hell bent on a friendly bridge.Some of the acting is terrible. Particularly Troi.
But there are good episodes in it like ep 23 symbiosis.

When did this maligning start?

I don't remember there being any particular dislike of any season.

Bobtheman · 31-05-2020 10:47am

It was seen as uneven by critics. Generally you looked for Rikers beard as a sign it was safe to watch

Spon Farmer · 31-05-2020 11:07am

Bobtheman wrote: »

It was seen as uneven by critics. Generally you looked for Rikers beard as a sign it was safe to watch

You said maligned though. I thought this meant that the season is generally hated amount the fandom or something.

“Safe to watch” is being a bit too dramatic. Lots of TV series take a while to find their feet. Plenty of naff episodes in other seasons too.

Season 1 had Yar which makes it a great season

I was going to say it also introduced the Borg but they would mean Beet of Both Worlds would be the season 2 cliffhanger and I’m not sure it is.

nyarlothothep · 31-05-2020 1:11pm

I love season 1, it's a cheese fest! Who can forget the planet of the porn people where they use the same loop of a woman groaning and Hercules smugly laughing and it's really obvious? Or Riker being given the powers of the Q. Or Picard turning into electricity and the canine aliens? It's really odd too as the actors weren't sure about their characters yet. Patrick Stewart was convincing but season 1 Riker is almost an entirely different character to season 2 onwards. It's like he's Picard's mythological son or something the way he speaks. Data frequently smirks/shows Loreish characteristics too. The dialogue is weird like it was indeed written by aliens. It's like Tommy Wiseau was at the helm of season 1.

Bobtheman · 31-05-2020 4:45pm

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I love season 1, it's a cheese fest! Who can forget the planet of the porn people where they use the same loop of a woman groaning and Hercules smugly laughing and it's really obvious? Or Riker being given the powers of the Q. Or Picard turning into electricity and the canine aliens? It's really odd too as the actors weren't sure about their characters yet. Patrick Stewart was convincing but season 1 Riker is almost an entirely different character to season 2 onwards. It's like he's Picard's mythological son or something the way he speaks. Data frequently smirks/shows Loreish characteristics too. The dialogue is weird like it was indeed written by aliens. It's like Tommy Wiseau was at the helm of season 1.

Planet of the porn people? Hercules? Which episode was that. I think it was a rough ride. Luckily it had a solid fan base. Stewart just wanted to make a bit of money and was told it would not last beyond a season. To be fair to him his acting carried the show in season 1 and beyond.
It wasn't a total diaster of a season. It has in places a so bad it's good element to some of the episodes.

Optimus Prime · 31-05-2020 8:17pm

I’d guess he is talking about the episode Justice with the Edo and their skimpy clothes ?

I don’t get the hate for season 1 myself , it was finding it’s feet alright but I still love it.

Spon Farmer · 31-05-2020 9:18pm

Optimus Prime wrote: »

I’d guess he is talking about the episode Justice with the Edo and their skimpy clothes ?

I don’t get the hate for season 1 myself , it was finding it’s feet alright but I still love it.

So there is actual hatred out there for the season?

When did this come about?

Lyan · 31-05-2020 9:33pm

Season one has too much of Roddenberry influenced moralising. The Federation are enlightened and Earth is a utopia, and the whole job of the Enterprise is to correct aliens on all their flaws. It becomes less preachy as the show goes on. Deep Space Nine was a breath of fresh air after TNG as it actively attempted to be antihises of all the sanctimonious stuff. You can be good friends with Ferengis and every other alien will call out Starfleet officers for being pious assholes.

pinkypinky · 31-05-2020 11:00pm

Bobtheman wrote: »

It was seen as uneven by critics. Generally you looked for Rikers beard as a sign it was safe to watch

The beard arrival is generally positive. See also Sisco in DS9.

TheValeyard · 01-06-2020 10:38am

pinkypinky wrote: »

The beard arrival is generally positive. See also Sisco in DS9.

And Siskos shaved head. Looked a lot better without hair.

odyssey06 · 01-06-2020 11:04am

TheValeyard wrote: »

And Siskos shaved head. Looked a lot better without hair.

Think that was how he looked as Hawk in Spenser for Hire, pre DS9

TheValeyard · 01-06-2020 12:46pm

odyssey06 wrote: »

Think that was how he looked as Hawk in Spenser for Hire, pre DS9

That reason he wasn't allowed a shaved head early on?

odyssey06 · 01-06-2020 2:06pm

TheValeyard wrote: »

That reason he wasn't allowed a shaved head early on?

Yep... they didnt want him coming across as Hawk in space. I saw some Spenser tv movies a while back and he steals every scene he is in, larger than life character.

https://www.neatorama.com/2012/09/06/Facts-You-Might-Not-Know-about-iStar-Trek-Deep-Space-Ninei/

Stark · 01-06-2020 9:48pm

It had some very good episodes * but overall the quality was very poor compared to what came after. If it was released today, I'm not sure it would have been renewed for a second season.

* Inspired by this thread, I'm currently watching "where no-one has gone before" again.

nyarlothothep · 02-06-2020 12:23am

Does anyone notice how the lighting is really harsh in a good way in season 1? There is such a strong contrast, it makes the show look very 80s in some way but somehow a bit mythological, guess that's just me.

odyssey06 · 02-06-2020 9:15am

Stark wrote: »

It had some very good episodes * but overall the quality was very poor compared to what came after. If it was released today, I'm not sure it would have been renewed for a second season.
* Inspired by this thread, I'm currently watching "where no-one has gone before" again.

You could say that about a lot of 1980s \ early 1990s series, they were released as a work in progress to be tweaked and adjusted over long running seasons before they really found heir feet e.g. Cheers, Seinfeld.

Now you have shorter seasons, a lot more TV out there, you need to come out of the starting trap in 5th gear so to speak. Flipside of that is that a lot of shows burn through their concept in one season like Heroes, Lost and then hit that 'difficult second season'.

Johnny Storm · 02-06-2020 12:12pm

Lets also keep in mind that the TOS TV show ended in 1969 so there had been no new trek on TV for almost 20 years.
They were a bit tentative in the first seasons of TNG because they were not certain what the audience would like 20 years on.

Also, and just IMHO, Riker's main function in season 1 was to be the Kirk-style character as a back-up in case the older, bald guy turned out to be unpopular....

TheValeyard · 02-06-2020 5:51pm

Johnny Storm wrote: »

Lets also keep in mind that the TOS TV show ended in 1969 so there had been no new trek on TV for almost 20 years.
They were a bit tentative in the first seasons of TNG because they were not certain what the audience would like 20 years on.

Also, and just IMHO, Riker's main function in season 1 was to be the Kirk-style character as as back-up in case the older, bald guy turned out to be unpopular....

Or quit after s3, which was a real possibility

Rawr · 03-06-2020 12:27pm

Spon Farmer wrote: »

I was going to say it also introduced the Borg but they would mean Beet of Both Worlds would be the season 2 cliffhanger and I’m not sure it is.

You're not *that* far off though. The final episode The Neutral Zone sets up a situation where this mysterious new "Big Bad" has gone around scooping bases away from the Zone. The new "Big Bad" ended up becoming the Borg, but their genesis starts in Season 1.

I think I read that they were going for a new baddie in Trek due to the Klingons essentially becoming Federation members at this stage. They hadn't really decided the state of the Klingons yet beyond Worf being a crew member. They even suggest on screen that the Klingons may have actually been Federation members during Season 1. But that's as far as it appeared to go.

Season 1 did have some episodes I enjoyed. 11011011, Datalore, The Battle, Where No One Has Gone Before...to name a couple. There was a load of crap there too, but I think they managed to show the kind of excellent work they could do in a few episodes that carried them over to Season 2.

is_that_so · 03-06-2020 12:34pm

Bobtheman wrote: »

It was seen as uneven by critics. Generally you looked for Rikers beard as a sign it was safe to watch

Peopled by stick puppets more like, even the Stewart gravitas doesn't always help. Quite a lot about it was just a little bit off. There's not a lot lost by viewers going straight into Season 2. Tend to skip Season 1 myself.

seamus · 03-06-2020 12:46pm

S1 TNG was effectively a restart of TOS with modern special effects. It retained the campness, cheesiness and bad dialogue of 1960s-era sci-fi. Everything from the script, the score, the editing, could all have been lifted straight out of TOS.

In fact one of the episodes was a TOS episode rehashed for TNG (The Naked Now).

I think it managed to ride along for season one on the goodwill of fans excited to see Star Trek on TV again, but it needed to be taken and modernised for audiences if it was to survive.

I don't think anyone hates season 1, but if you see any discussion online about what episodes to recommend to non-fans, almost universally everyone says to skip season 1 except for two or three key epiodes.

Bobtheman · 19-07-2020 6:13pm

Part of the issue was the interference of gene rodenberry. This declined as the series wore on.
1986 was very different tv wise from today. STNG didn't do too badly when you consider the tv of its era.
It was carried by Stewart though. Though he had some good support from Data/ worf/Riker actors. The rest were pretty crap.

The much maligned season 1 STNG

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