Star Trek - General Discussion

It's funny I'm in the middle of my rewatch of the series' right now. I'm in the middle of DS9

I'd suggest watching the movies as soon as possible since they don't relate to anything after TNG though TNG movies do have slight references to DS9 and Nemesis has fairly big relation to VOY) Agreed on TNG and DS9. I was genuinely surprised by how much I loved DS9 and I loved that they moved more toward serial storytelling. Both shows have such great characters with Data, Picard, and O'Brien coming to mind as my favorites but I didn't hate any of the main characters (though Wesley can really get to me), and Dr. Pulaski never fit in my opinion. Voyager I think suffered from the blandest character and I think that's why I liked it the least (second least now with Discovery).

Just to list some of the characters and why:

Data: Probably my favorite character in all of Star trek simply because we see his growth throughout the show and movies, seeing him evolve and become more and more human makes it easy to (ironically) emotionally attach to him.

Picard: Everything about him is just amazing but he doesn't need to be the action star like Kirk was, he is content with staying on the bridge. He is also way more sophisticated then Kirk and of course played by the brilliant Patrick Stewart.

O'Brien: I loved him when he was just the recurring transporter chief on TNG so I was ecstatic when he was made one of the main characters on DS9 where he truly got to shine. His relationship with Bashir is one of the best bromances in all of Sci-Fi. O'Brien was an average joe and for some reason that and him more interesting then many of his co-stars.

EMH: Despite what is said before about VOY, The EMH Doctor is the standalone great character of VOY. Robert Ricardo is just phenomenal and carries the show on his back.

One of my favorite episodes of TNG is Season 2's The Measure of Man when Data's sentience is being addressed with Picard defending Data as a living being. I also love Season 6's (I think) Relics, seeing Scotty in TNG is just amazing and he was far better utilized then Spock on his episode and Bones in the pilot of TNG.

My favorite of TOS os probably Season 1 Space Seed simply because Ricardo Montablan is the perfect villain, Khan is such a suave yet despicable SOB. I also really love the Trouble with Tribbles (Scotty gets his chance to shine) as it was a more comical episode but all the jokes worked nothing fell flat.

The only movie I hated was the first one. I found the Motion Picture to be not just one of the worst Trek movies but one of my least favorite movies of all time but after that I didn't hate any even the universally hated Star trek V: The Final Frontier ins't as bad as people made it out to be.

Wrath of Khan, Voyage Home, Undiscovered Country and First Contact are easily the best of the movies.

I love Star Trek and I hope you continue to enjoy it. Though be prepared for a disappointing ENT end, it got cancelled and they made the worse possible finale for it. I also really dislike Discovery.

I know I left out so much but I guess this is just a start, perhaps I'll post here again with a more detailed overview of my thoughts on the shows and characters.

 

For me it's more about the first 10 movies (particularly II, IV, VI and VIII) than any of the TV shows but my favorite is TOS. Sometimes amazing, sometimes hilariously silly but always fun. I've only seen the first three live-action incarnations in their entirety though and love all three. I gave up on Voyager after 2 seasons (after what I thought was a great pilot it went downhill fast for me) and never watched Enterprise or Discovery. I've seen a handful of TAS episodes but it's been a long time and can't remember if they were any good.

I love Picard/Data/Riker, Sisko was awesome as well, but whether it's an episode or a movie I prefer the holy trinity of Kirk/Spock/McCoy...

 

So many Characters I love. Picard, Sisko, O'Brian, Garak, Guinan, Broccoli, NHM of course and way more.
Most annoying character is probably Q but in a really great way.
But I'm one of these guys That even like 2/3 of the new movies (Don't know where to put Beyond yet, I need to rewatch it first) and even Enterprise (what I've seen of it. They moved it on another spot later on and I wasn't able to follow. Maybe one day I will find a bit time to finish it.
I was pretty satisfied with discovery though.

 

VOY gets better at season 4 with the introduction of Seven of Nine. Admittedly it's still the weakest show (of the original shows, Discovery is far worse). A lot of people don't like Enterprise but I thought it was fantastic and was severely disappointed that it had gotten cancelled (just as it was getting better too). Discovery is just bad, and not bad like a lot of TOS episodes like you said, just really bad. Bad characters, bad storytelling, bad Klingon redesigns, bad everything except for the special effects. I'm hopeful for season 2 because a lot of the shows had off first seasons that were very hit or miss (and Anson Mount is Captain Pike) but I'm not too optimistic.

 

The introduction of 7 of 9 gives VOY something that all the other shows had that VOY didn't, the "other" factor. TOS had Spock who wasn't human and was constantly critiquing them and was "better" he was outside looking in. TNG had Data who wasn't human but desperately wanted to be and we joined him on his journey to become one. DS9 had Odo who wasn't human but didn't want to be but was forced to pretend to be. VOY didn't have that, it had the EMH but he so quickly was accepted and settled in his role that it never fit that role. 7 of 9 offers something new, someone who was once human and now has to relearn what that means. Neelix does continue to be annoying so that really won't get better, sorry.

 

I've seen a few of the later episodes on TV over the years and didn't care for Seven of Nine. I've heard she sort of becomes the center of attention for the show and that doesn't really appeal to me. Not even her gratuitous wardrobe is entertaining as Jeri Ryan just doesn't do much for me. I liked the cast in the beginning and didn't really think it needed any additions (Tuvok could have been the "other" if they hadn't written him as a lapdog), it was just the stories I didn't care for. And while I liked the premise it did have some drawbacks. Every time there was an episode where they had some plan for getting back to the Alpha Quadrant it was doomed to failure and the audience knows it. There is no "Will they make it?" only "How will manage to fail?".

As for Discovery, it doesn't look that great to me but I try and reserve judgement until I've actually seen something. However since they make it so difficult to see and want me to pay for a streaming service just to watch one show... I'll just agree with you and say it sucks.

I like all 3 of them.... in their own way. Not so much as Star Trek movies but as fun popcorn movies that happen to have the Enterprise in them. When I first saw Beyond I thought it was the best of the 3 but it wound up not having a lot of re-watch value for me. I still really like the beginning and end (though I still don't care for Sabotage), but after the first viewing the middle really drags for me.

 

I just finished my VOY rewatch last week and while there are certainly good episodes I just still feel like it's the weakest of all the pre-Discovery shows. In fact my rewatch has only reinforced that belief. But if you are liking in then cool, I hope you continue to. Hope you like ENT as well.

 

I use to have a big problem with Star Trek because I've always thought it was more an "evangelisation" of the universe by terrans but I really liked Discovery especially T'Kuvma first speech which resume a lot what I was thinking about the federation.

I can't wait for season 2.

 

The Next Generation is like a comfy pair of slippers, it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen the episodes I can still happily sit down and watch them again. The only ones I don’t like are when deanna’s mother turns up... i roll my eyes the same way Picard does when she comes onboard. voyager is my second favourite after they bring seven of nine into it.
Ive never really watched the original Star Trek series but the movies are good. The first two reboot movies with Chris Pine are even better — I know it will never happen but it it would be cool if they did a new TV series with the reboot actors

Edit: I’ve just remembered I saw something on reddit a while back that said they’re doing a brand new Star Trek series with captain picard... with Patrick Stewart playing him as he is now. I didn’t believe it when I saw it but apparently it’s true

 

Star Wars is more of my cup of tea than Star Trek

 

Going to watch https://ds9documentary.com at cinema tomorrow, I will