Post by B5Erik on Aug 21, 2015 17:24:50 GMT
The original Star Trek was a groundbreaking series, and it featured dozens of great episodes. It also featured a dozen or so clunkers, but it was new territory for the writers, so that was almost inevitable. The greatness of The Original Series cannot be denied.
The Next Generation took a couple years to really hit it's stride. Roddenberry started the show attempting to make the series he originally wanted to make in the 60's, but couldn't due to network interference. But it was twenty years later, and some of those ideas weren't as fresh as they would have been in 1966 or 1967. As the new writers and producers got more input, the show improved and found it's own identity. Roddenberry was still there to guide the show, and he still took an active hand in overseeing the series (even if not on a day to day basis). In the third season The Next Generation became what both Roddenberry and the new writers & producers wanted it to be all along. It was a truly great series with a fantastic cast. And the stories? The writing on TNG was excellent for most of the 3rd through 6th seasons. The final season, however, featured almost as many clunkers as it did good episodes. It almost seemed to alternate between very good or great episodes and weak episodes (with Masks being particularly bad). But TNG went out on a high note with All Good Things, and that's fitting.
Voyager started with the best pilot episode in modern Star Trek history. The promise was there. The potential was unlimited. And then the producers and writers put a limit on that potential by keeping the Voyager in Kazon space for years and years and years - even at high warp speeds. That defied logic (they would have been out of Kazon space in no more than a month even if Kazon space was bigger than the Federation, Kilingon Empire, and Romulan Empire combined). It also defied logic as the Kazon were a lame enemy. They almost made the Ferengi look good (almost, not quite). And it's a shame that the producers and writers were stuck on such a lame enemy (afraid to constantly have to come up with new races to meet?) because they had, yet again, a great cast and great characters. Voyager could have been the best Star Trek series had the producers and writers had the courage to keep changing up the alien races that the Voyager would run into, but instead they stuck with the Kazon forever, and then went to the (tired old) Borg card. Ugh. WASTED potential.
Later on we got the prequel series, Enterprise, and it's final two seasons were quite good, but the first two were pretty weak.
But Deep Space Nine didn't suffer from any of the flaws of The Next Generation (weak first two seasons, horribly uneven final season) or Voyager (detailed above). They hit the ground running in the first season, going with traditional Next Gen style storytelling. The episodes were all solid, some of them very, very good (bordering on greatness), and none were less than good. And the show picked up steam. It kept getting better. The producers and writers weren't afraid to mix things up, to take a darker tone, to come up with new enemies and to, by the 4th season, go with a serialized story arc format. SHOCKER! That was a major change for Trek, and a good one. Deep Space Nine already borrowed a few key concept points from Babylon 5, and they would borrow some more with the serialized format and the seemingly unbeatable enemy that threatened the entire galaxy. Only DS9 was done in Trek style. Darker? Yes. Serialized story arcs? Absolutely. But done in Trek style. It was the perfect updating of a 30 year old concept.
And the cast? Avery Brooks as Captain Benjamin Sisko was outstanding. Even before they started filming fans were happy with the casting (based on his performance as Hawk on Spenser For Hire). Brought over from The Next Gen was Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien. He had usually been underutilzed on The Next Generation, but now he would become a main character, which was inspired. Nana Visitor, Siddig El Fadil (aka in later seasons as Alexander Siddig - I prefer his real name), Terry Farrell, and Armin Shimmerman (aka Principal Snyder) were all brought in, and were all outstanding. Andrew Robinson as the Cardassian, "Tailor," Garak was phenomenal, and the show benefitted whenever he was in an episode. Later, after The Next Generaion went off the air, Michael Dorn was brought in as Worf. Another great move.
Ultimately, it was the consistency of the writing, the miniscule number of weak episodes, the excellent acting, first rate direction, and the great concept that made DS9 the best Trek series to date.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!
The Next Generation took a couple years to really hit it's stride. Roddenberry started the show attempting to make the series he originally wanted to make in the 60's, but couldn't due to network interference. But it was twenty years later, and some of those ideas weren't as fresh as they would have been in 1966 or 1967. As the new writers and producers got more input, the show improved and found it's own identity. Roddenberry was still there to guide the show, and he still took an active hand in overseeing the series (even if not on a day to day basis). In the third season The Next Generation became what both Roddenberry and the new writers & producers wanted it to be all along. It was a truly great series with a fantastic cast. And the stories? The writing on TNG was excellent for most of the 3rd through 6th seasons. The final season, however, featured almost as many clunkers as it did good episodes. It almost seemed to alternate between very good or great episodes and weak episodes (with Masks being particularly bad). But TNG went out on a high note with All Good Things, and that's fitting.
Voyager started with the best pilot episode in modern Star Trek history. The promise was there. The potential was unlimited. And then the producers and writers put a limit on that potential by keeping the Voyager in Kazon space for years and years and years - even at high warp speeds. That defied logic (they would have been out of Kazon space in no more than a month even if Kazon space was bigger than the Federation, Kilingon Empire, and Romulan Empire combined). It also defied logic as the Kazon were a lame enemy. They almost made the Ferengi look good (almost, not quite). And it's a shame that the producers and writers were stuck on such a lame enemy (afraid to constantly have to come up with new races to meet?) because they had, yet again, a great cast and great characters. Voyager could have been the best Star Trek series had the producers and writers had the courage to keep changing up the alien races that the Voyager would run into, but instead they stuck with the Kazon forever, and then went to the (tired old) Borg card. Ugh. WASTED potential.
Later on we got the prequel series, Enterprise, and it's final two seasons were quite good, but the first two were pretty weak.
But Deep Space Nine didn't suffer from any of the flaws of The Next Generation (weak first two seasons, horribly uneven final season) or Voyager (detailed above). They hit the ground running in the first season, going with traditional Next Gen style storytelling. The episodes were all solid, some of them very, very good (bordering on greatness), and none were less than good. And the show picked up steam. It kept getting better. The producers and writers weren't afraid to mix things up, to take a darker tone, to come up with new enemies and to, by the 4th season, go with a serialized story arc format. SHOCKER! That was a major change for Trek, and a good one. Deep Space Nine already borrowed a few key concept points from Babylon 5, and they would borrow some more with the serialized format and the seemingly unbeatable enemy that threatened the entire galaxy. Only DS9 was done in Trek style. Darker? Yes. Serialized story arcs? Absolutely. But done in Trek style. It was the perfect updating of a 30 year old concept.
And the cast? Avery Brooks as Captain Benjamin Sisko was outstanding. Even before they started filming fans were happy with the casting (based on his performance as Hawk on Spenser For Hire). Brought over from The Next Gen was Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien. He had usually been underutilzed on The Next Generation, but now he would become a main character, which was inspired. Nana Visitor, Siddig El Fadil (aka in later seasons as Alexander Siddig - I prefer his real name), Terry Farrell, and Armin Shimmerman (aka Principal Snyder) were all brought in, and were all outstanding. Andrew Robinson as the Cardassian, "Tailor," Garak was phenomenal, and the show benefitted whenever he was in an episode. Later, after The Next Generaion went off the air, Michael Dorn was brought in as Worf. Another great move.
Ultimately, it was the consistency of the writing, the miniscule number of weak episodes, the excellent acting, first rate direction, and the great concept that made DS9 the best Trek series to date.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!
