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March 28, 2024, 04:54:38 PM

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Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch (oh god no)

Started by Lemming, May 11, 2021, 02:05:41 PM

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Lemming

Anyone up to spend well over 100 hours of their life rewatching TNG?

I know we've got a CaB Voyager rewatch sort of underway already, but I've been wanting to do TNG for a while, and the time is right because I've been struck by crippling insomnia, and rewatch threads have been some of my favourite things on CaB.

As always, no idea what the best way to do this is. One episode every other night probably. Will start in a couple of days if people are interested.

bgmnts

I got onto the fourth season I think - Picard had been borged, came back, went on holiday and shagged that woman half his age - and got bored. Might pick it up where I left off someday though.

Famous Mortimer

I rewatched it all a few years ago, so I might dip back in for a few of my favourite episodes.

Chairman Yang

I just started this horrible idea a few weeks ago off the back of the DS9 thread and would be well up for this. I'm only up to Home Soil, so I'll wait for you poor, doomed fools to catch up.

So far the TNG S1 drinking game seems to be:

  • Drink whenever someone mentions Geordi's amazing eyes
  • Drink whenever Tasha panics and embarrasses herself
  • Finish your drink whenever they introduce a new Chief Engineer

JamesTC

#4
I do a TNG rewatch podcast (with one of us having never seen it). We've been doing it for about seven years now and are near the end of Season 4.

I would say though that watching the show slowly has given a new light to it. Lots of episodes get lost in the mix when watching loads in a row but taking them one or two at a time really makes you appreciate certain episodes. Our recent podcast on Half A Life was the perfect example of this. It has gone from just being that Lwaxana episode about
Spoiler alert
ritual suicide
[close]
to being one of my favourite episodes.

(Spam removed)

Malcy

I've skipped TNG and DS9 on my big rewatch but I would really appreciate if people could keep an eye out for a scene that I'm beginning to think I have imagined. I've mentioned it before with no luck and can't remember what series it appears in.

An away team beam somewhere and one of the extras has the maddest reaction to beaming to wherever they go. He basically acts like it's the first time he's ever been through the transporter and really stands out. All wide eyed and what the fuck just happened sort of thing.

To the best of my memory I'm sure it's a TNG style uniform so that excludes everything but the later series of DS9 as there was a uniform change.

daf

Quote from: Malcy on May 11, 2021, 06:35:48 PM
I've skipped TNG and DS9 on my big rewatch

That's one heck of a skip!

Did you do the rest in this order : Enterprise - Original 1960's series - Voyager - Picard?

Malcy

Quote from: daf on May 11, 2021, 07:04:36 PM
That's one heck of a skip!

Did you do the rest in this order : Enterprise - Original 1960's series - Voyager - Picard?

I did ENT, TOS, TAS and films 1-6. With whatever new shows were airing in between. It's been a while since I've seen a lot of VOY whereas I've watched loads of TNG & DS9 several times over the years and didn't feel the need.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: Malcy on May 11, 2021, 06:35:48 PM
I've skipped TNG and DS9 on my big rewatch but I would really appreciate if people could keep an eye out for a scene that I'm beginning to think I have imagined. I've mentioned it before with no luck and can't remember what series it appears in.

An away team beam somewhere and one of the extras has the maddest reaction to beaming to wherever they go. He basically acts like it's the first time he's ever been through the transporter and really stands out. All wide eyed and what the fuck just happened sort of thing.

I take it you're not talking about S06E02, "Realm of Fear", the one where Reg Barclay, who has transporter phobia, is convinced he can see a creature in the beam attacking him?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realm_of_Fear
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Realm_of_Fear_(episode)

If not, then no idea, I'm afraid, but I'm currently on my own weekly rewatch with some friends -- we're up to S03E18 so far -- so if I see it I'll let you know.

Started watching this as well a few weeks ago. The first two seasons are a drudgery but S3 finally has some interesting stories. Wesley is still an annoying little shit though.

Endicott

Like Sheepy, Reg Barclay was who popped straight into my head, re your transporter thing Malcy

petril

yeah that's who I was thinking. I barely remember anything other than an episode about HM Barclay being shit scared of transporters and the creature thing

Malcy

No it's not Barclay. It's just an unnamed extra who I don't even think speaks. I wish I could remember what episode it was. I'm hoping it will appear in Voyager. I remember him stealing the scene and thinking why hadn't I noticed his reaction before!

petril

it seems like such a TNG thing as well, some little reaction and dialogue about the philosophical and medical side of transporters thrown in

Johnny Textface

I doubt I'll be watching as currently watching Voyager, but I'll be reading this thread as loved your Red Dwarf thread Lemming!

timebug

I did a complete rewatch during lockdown. used to love it, found it very patchy and variable this time around. Some of the 'good bits' I remembered were still good, others,less so.

Lungpuddle

I'm up for this. Always up for Geordie and Data's
Spoiler alert
platonic relationship
[close]
, Picard being
Spoiler alert
written properly
[close]
and Riker's
Spoiler alert
horny as fuck
[close]
ability to sit in chairs.
And of course, naked Q.

Lemming

Seems like there's interest (and a lot of people already underway on their own rewatches), so let's get it started!


S01E01 - Encounter at Farpoint

First and most important thing - I love the miniskirt-dress and thigh boots combo that some crewmembers (of both sexes!) wear in this. Shame it got scrapped.

Probably not controversial to say that this isn't a great episode. 90 minutes long and at least 50 of those minutes are a complete waste of the viewer's time.

There's basically two plots going on - the Farpoint Station/Q adventure, and everyone very slowly walking around and introducing themselves to each other. The latter plot fills most of the middle of the two-parter, and drags so fucking badly. Riker enters the holodeck and looks astounded. Wesley walks onto the bridge and looks astounded. Riker and Troi gaze at each other sadly. All these scenes are laborious and padded to help fill the full 90 minutes.

The main plot isn't up to much either - a jellyfish is trapped underground, and that's about it. The addition of Q is probably the best part, but it's still such a straightforward and uninteresting story.

The episode also takes every available opportunity to start up with early-TNG's "humanity is advanced now, we're not savage anymore" stuff, which I do quite like in small doses. Picard's visible revulsion at the US military uniform is good.

Some other notes: I really hate the fact this episode makes WW3 canon. How the fuck was there a nuclear war, come on. Never sat well with me as a piece of Star Trek lore and I always just ignore it.

The saucer separation scene is shocking. It goes on for an absolute age, and despite technically impressive effects, it looks like shit because the disembodied drive section looks so stupid. The whole boring sequence is almost worth it though for the way Patrick Stewart internally cringes while being forced to deliver the phrase "saucer-sep".

Troi is used pretty well here, especially in the first twenty minutes or so, taking a station on the bridge and giving genuinely useful advice. There'll obviously be a lot to say later about how her character is underused/used badly, but the character gets some good use here, and is crucial to uncovering the truth of the stupid jellyfish plot. Although she does get the laughable "HE'S FROZEN!" line, and Sirtis' performance is ridiculously overdone at times (to be fair to her, though, you try delivering the line "pain! pain! suffering!" without sounding stupid).

Riker is established as having learned telepathy from Troi. What the fuck?

All the performances are more than a bit shaky. Special mention to Brent Spiner, who hasn't got the Data character down at all yet, and the performance is really unnerving and weird. Gurning at people after ever other line. Wonder what kind of briefing he was given before playing the character.

The jellyfish seems like an arsehole. Mass murder? Bombing civilian settlements? Operating a torture chamber? Really? Why was the mass bombing of civilians (who don't appear to have anything to do with holding the other jellyfish captive) necessary if it had the ability to kidnap and torture the leader anyway? God only knows how the jellyfish race would fare if Q decided to put them on trial.

Q's trial of humanity doesn't make a great deal of sense, considering:
a) half the people he puts on trial aren't even humans
b) humanity has been out in space for two centuries already
c) the "puzzle" he sets to test them is literally one of the most straightforward things of all time, and the "incredible challenge" he promised essentially amounts to not firing at the jellyfish unprovoked

2/5, to use an arbitrary 5-star rating system.

Lungpuddle

Is Riker literally reading Troi's mind in that bit? It doesn't seem anything like a metaphor. That skill could've come in handy. How bizarre. I find this episode pretty boring, but the weird parts that they drop later on (such as Riker being able to read Troi's thoughts) are really memorable. The Trial is shot people well, quite disorientating.

Still, though, for a show that's clearly finding it's feet and bristling under certain people's stifling creative control, it's quite good that it sets up the final episode anyway. Not sure if I should spoiler that? I mean, we've all seen this series before, haven't we?

1/5, but that one star is really interesting and memorable.

Malcy

I think it was re-written in a couple of days to add in enough material to make it a 2 parter. You're a distance from the end but Shatner's Chaps On The Bridge documentary is worth a watch and I suppose you could watch it after the first few series as it only covers the early years.

Also the first episode to have a handover to the new cast. The Bones scene is lovely and probably the best bit of the episode. That and the very obvious(at least on my rewatch of the ep last year) stunt double for Data jumping down in the holodeck!

Lemming

Quote from: Lungpuddle on May 12, 2021, 12:54:34 PMI find this episode pretty boring, but the weird parts that they drop later on (such as Riker being able to read Troi's thoughts) are really memorable.

I like the weirdness too, I remember there being quite a lot of very strange borderline-supernatural elements to the first two seasons of TNG. The ones that stick in my mind are the planet so beautiful that it can cure any illness (Haven) and the race of people who managed to physically extract their "negative" personality traits, which then took the form of a sea of black sludge (Skin of Evil). I also really like the unnerving quasi-horror atmosphere, like when the Stargazer's dead crew appear as ghosts. It's a shame the show lost those aspects, even if the scripts got much much better afterwards.

Quote from: Malcy on May 12, 2021, 12:55:31 PM
I think it was re-written in a couple of days to add in enough material to make it a 2 parter.

Definitely has that feel, the middle section is so slow and unsure of itself. You can virtually see the point at which the new material was inserted - the Q/Farpoint plot just suddenly stops so that a lot of people can come aboard and look at the holodeck, and then in the final third of the two-parter, the Q/Farpoint plot resumes just as abruptly as it paused.

Chairman Yang

God, it somehow gets longer every time I watch it.

Despite being re-introduced with better context later on, the story has to make sure to beat you over the head with the Holodeck, the saucer section... Geordi's incredible eyes. That bit in the middle where Riker watches the events of the opening half hour on a little TV should be a war crime.

I wish they'd kept Riker's wide-eyed wanderlust. He seems like the only person who actually wants to be out in space. "... keep me from making an ass of myself with children.", I am glad they wrote out Picard's restraining order, though.

I'm adding 'making a log entry when the story provides no opportunity for it' to the drinking game. It's also going to be interesting to see how often the hundreds of civilians aboard the ship get a mention in the years to come.

Quote from: Lemming on May 12, 2021, 12:48:20 PM
All the performances are more than a bit shaky. Special mention to Brent Spiner, who hasn't got the Data character down at all yet, and the performance is really unnerving and weird. Gurning at people after ever other line. Wonder what kind of briefing he was given before playing the character.

There's a week where he suddenly puts on 20 pounds and starts acting like Data so maybe the answer is malnutrition.

(Groppler Zorn)

JamesTC

Quote from: Lemming on May 12, 2021, 01:43:32 PM
Definitely has that feel, the middle section is so slow and unsure of itself. You can virtually see the point at which the new material was inserted - the Q/Farpoint plot just suddenly stops so that a lot of people can come aboard and look at the holodeck, and then in the final third of the two-parter, the Q/Farpoint plot resumes just as abruptly as it paused.

It was my understanding that the original script was just the Farpoint element and then it was the Q plot which was the thing added to make it a two-parter.

There feels a bit of a similarity between The Cage, TMP and the idea of a Q-Less version of Encounter at Farpoint. Basically that is Gene Roddenberry doing his version of what he thinks Trek should be. Thankfully we have the network/studio to come in and tell him it needs to be more exciting.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: Chairman Yang on May 12, 2021, 02:18:35 PMIt's also going to be interesting to see how often the hundreds of civilians aboard the ship get a mention in the years to come.

A favourite thing from childhood:



(From MAD's 1976 parody "Keep On Trekin': The mad Star Trek Musical" which can be seen in its glorious entirety here.)

Malcy

Gates McFadden has a new podcast out today called InvestiGates(see what she did there) where she speaks to her Trek friends. Frakes up first.

daf

Quote from: Lemming on May 11, 2021, 02:05:41 PM
Anyone up to spend well over 100 hours of their life rewatching TNG?

I still had four episodes of the animated series to go plus the 70's-80's films (watching one a week on Wednesdays), but this has given me the boot up the arse to get on and start my TNG watch. I can squeeze the cartoons and movies in here and there when I have time.

I think I must have seen every episode broadcast on TV at least twice *, but this time it will be on blu-ray, so as well as an improved picture, the sound will be running at the right speed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* BBC2 and the Horror channel - though I have a vague idea there was some controversial 'the IRA are mint and skill' episode they never showed - so that one, at least, should be new to me!

greenman

Quote from: Lemming on May 12, 2021, 01:43:32 PM
I like the weirdness too, I remember there being quite a lot of very strange borderline-supernatural elements to the first two seasons of TNG. The ones that stick in my mind are the planet so beautiful that it can cure any illness (Haven) and the race of people who managed to physically extract their "negative" personality traits, which then took the form of a sea of black sludge (Skin of Evil). I also really like the unnerving quasi-horror atmosphere, like when the Stargazer's dead crew appear as ghosts. It's a shame the show lost those aspects, even if the scripts got much much better afterwards.

Yeah going though TNG last summer again that was definitely the main thing the earlier seasons have going for them, season 3 might well be my favourite of the lot as it keeps more of that aspect whilst improving almost everything else.

Johnny Textface

Re: the rating system. Please can we have a rare 6 if the episode raises its head above the best 5 bangers?

daf

I probably won't keep this up, but let's see how far I get . . .

"Encounter at Farpoint" - Season 1 | Episode 1 & 2



The only bits I remembered were the trial scene  . . . oddly, I was expecting a scene where Picard does a sort of inspection of the crew - which must be on another episode.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Highlights :
• Fuck My Hat - its Grandpa Bones!!!
• Bones mad bell bottoms
• Data's sexy red lippy on the Holo-deck!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• Hillarous OTT voiceover on the 1987 promos : "Data - an androouuuuooooid"
• Shaggin' Space Jellyfish!
• Space trousers anti-crumple frontal leg-split - how hasn't this caught on - come on Jeff Banks!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Malcy

Quote from: daf on May 12, 2021, 10:41:44 PM


The only bits I remembered were the trial scene  . . . oddly, I was expecting a scene where Picard does a sort of inspection of the crew - which must be on another episode.

Spoiler alert
The scene is set during this episode but it's not shown till All Good Things...
[close]