Year of Hell was planned as a season-long arc. There were also supposed to be ramifications from the storyline. Thanks to Jeri we got a two-parter and a huge reset button push at the end of it.
If there's any one person you could ever point a finger at and say "you completely ruined Voyager", it would be Jeri Taylor.
Enterprise, should always have had the Romulan war and the forming of the Federation as cornerstone storylines. Instead they got token lip service while they concentrated on the fooked up Temporal Cold War arc, and then the Xindi story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the third season, but they should have utilised the rich pickings they already had access to. By the time they did that, in the fourth year, it was far too late to make any difference.
Year of Hell was planned as a season-long arc. There were also supposed to be ramifications from the storyline. Thanks to Jeri we got a two-parter and a huge reset button push at the end of it.
If there's any one person you could ever point a finger at and say "you completely ruined Voyager", it would be Jeri Taylor.
Enterprise, should always have had the Romulan war and the forming of the Federation as cornerstone storylines. Instead they got token lip service while they concentrated on the fooked up Temporal Cold War arc, and then the Xindi story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the third season, but they should have utilised the rich pickings they already had access to. By the time they did that, in the fourth year, it was far too late to make any difference.
Good points.
Year of Hell would have been so much better as a season long arc.
Also agree with Enterprise. It should have been about the formation of the Federation with the Romulans as the baddies, along with the rise of the Klingons as the next enemy.
Before when I said the New Star Trek movies should have been the way Enterprise went, I meant in terms of FX and style. Enterprise just seemed too futuristic compared to Original Star Trek which was after it in terms of timeline.
Before when I said the New Star Trek movies should have been the way Enterprise went, I meant in terms of FX and style. Enterprise just seemed too futuristic compared to Original Star Trek which was after it in terms of timeline.
I don't hold that aspect against them. After all, Star Trek 1-6 (movies) all happened before ST:TNG, yet the style and FX of TNG didn't look as futuristic as the movies, certainly not in the early seasons anyway. As viewers we obviously had to make allowances for budgets & FX technology, tighter time constraints, etc. Similarly, as far as the Original Series and Enterprise, I was happy enough to accept certain stylistic discrepancies were inevitable.
If there's any one person you could ever point a finger at and say "you completely ruined Voyager", it would be Jeri Taylor.
Couldn't agree more.
Ok, it wasn't all her. There were other issues, too. But her decisions were probably the ones that hurt the series the most.
Enterprise, should always have had the Romulan war and the forming of the Federation as cornerstone storylines. Instead they got token lip service while they concentrated on the fooked up Temporal Cold War arc, and then the Xindi story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the third season, but they should have utilised the rich pickings they already had access to. By the time they did that, in the fourth year, it was far too late to make any difference.
I think it was on the season 1 special features where Brannon Braga is actually quite up front about the studio's interference in causing the temporal cold war arc. I remembering him saying how he thought it would have been a cool idea for the premise of a completely different show, but was kinda shoehorned into Enterprise.
Its sad, because they really did start to take advantage of those story possibilities in season 4. You could feel the buildup to both the Romulan war and the founding of the Federation. It was bubbling so close to the surface at that point, that it really made it so worse that it got cancelled at the end of that season.
Have you seen the fan made "Prelude to Axanar?" That really sells what could have been done with a Trek prequel.
I watched conspiracy last night on the scify channel and they have still got the scene cut at the end of the episode where the parasite burst out off remmicks chest. Much better picture quality though than the dvd boxsets I have.
Watching TNG now from the start and this time i am watching every episode as I only previously viewed episodes that i read were more important to watch and less filler. I do that to get an idea of the show and if i like it, i go back and view the product as a whole.
I am afraid to say this but season 1 is a bit of stinker of the season. The two ferenghi episodes are dreadful, and that episode where all the women and men are dressed in really skimpy outfits deserves the title as one of the worst episodes in existence of science fiction television. Oh and that episode where Picard uses the holodock where he is like 20th century sherlock holmes type character was random and just damn right dull and silly. You feel it is an insult to the talent of Patrick Stewart in a handful of many of these episodes. Thank goodness the show improves and it was all just first season blues.
Compared to the first seasons of previous star trek shows, i hail this better than anything from Enterprise but find the first seasons of DS9 and Voyager much better than this.
First two seasons of TNG are by far and away the worst two seasons of the show. There are a few decent episodes in each season but collectively they're pretty poor.
I'm just now re watching season 4 of Enterprise having got the Blu Rays. I'd forgotten just how good it was, with the Romulan subterfuge, the Klingon "illness" and things leading up to the formation of the Federation. It had everything a long term fan could wish for without spoiling it for newcomers. *sigh*
I wonder how much of the improvement was down to Manny Coto directly and how much was the Reeve-Stevens' input? I've long thought their Star Trek books are just about the best of the bunch, along with those of Peter David.
I'm just now re watching season 4 of Enterprise having got the Blu Rays. I'd forgotten just how good it was, with the Romulan subterfuge, the Klingon "illness" and things leading up to the formation of the Federation. It had everything a long term fan could wish for without spoiling it for newcomers. *sigh*
I wonder how much of the improvement was down to Manny Coto directly and how much was the Reeve-Stevens' input? I've long thought their Star Trek books are just about the best of the bunch, along with those of Peter David.
Many say Enterprise got better in the later seasons but that was the issue though, it took far too long to reach that good quality and it's easier to lose viewers but to gain them back is bloody hard and they never ever gained them back, leading them to the cancellation.
and Bester, from what i read on other sites, season 1-2 are not held in high regard with a lot of people.
First two seasons of TNG are by far and away the worst two seasons of the show. There are a few decent episodes in each season but collectively they're pretty poor.
True but in the context of the time they were made and the fall out of them not being Star Trek with Kirk and Spock I think they did pretty good to lay a foundation.
TNG started to pick up when it shook off the notion of trying to be TOS just with different characters. Berman taking more control, coupled with Mike Piller coming in and getting to grips with the writing staff, it was really the third season where TNG found its own identity.
The first couple of years, the stories were largely, but not exclusively, forgettable. Luckily, there was a lot of investment in the characters, so while the stories weren't great, there was something for viewers to latch on to. When the stories improved in year three, it was on the yellow brick road to Emerald City...:D
TNG started to pick up when it shook off the notion of trying to be TOS just with different characters. Berman taking more control, coupled with Mike Piller coming in and getting to grips with the writing staff, it was really the third season where TNG found its own identity.
The first couple of years, the stories were largely, but not exclusively, forgettable. Luckily, there was a lot of investment in the characters, so while the stories weren't great, there was something for viewers to latch on to. When the stories improved in year three, it was on the yellow brick road to Emerald City...:D
Most episodes from the first series and many of the second series, were stories, ideas and scenarios that were never scripted or produced for TOS. They were earmarked for the unproduced "sequel" series to TOS, with the working title of Star Trek: Phase II, during the nineteen seventies. Some of the characters and treatments were incorporated into ST:TMP.
This is probably the reason why it seems as though the early ST:TNG episodes looked a little dated and anachronistic.
Yep, that certainly didn't help. Neither did the writers strike at the start of the second season. The Child was one of the Phase II scripts that was directly adapted for TNG, Troi replacing Ilia.
Most episodes from the first series and many of the second series, were stories, ideas and scenarios that were never scripted or produced for TOS. They were earmarked for the unproduced "sequel" series to TOS, with the working title of Star Trek: Phase II, during the nineteen seventies. Some of the characters and treatments were incorporated into ST:TMP.
This is probably the reason why it seems as though the early ST:TNG episodes looked a little dated and anachronistic.
That was particularly true for season 2, when there was a writers' strike. In order to keep the show on air, they simply re-worked a bunch of phase 2 scripts to fill out the season.
Most episodes from the first series and many of the second series, were stories, ideas and scenarios that were never scripted or produced for TOS. They were earmarked for the unproduced "sequel" series to TOS, with the working title of Star Trek: Phase II, during the nineteen seventies. Some of the characters and treatments were incorporated into ST:TMP.
This is probably the reason why it seems as though the early ST:TNG episodes looked a little dated and anachronistic.
That doesn't surprise me as a lot of the first season episodes to me have always felt like they got the plots from the reject bin for the TOS.
Most episodes from the first series and many of the second series, were stories, ideas and scenarios that were never scripted or produced for TOS. They were earmarked for the unproduced "sequel" series to TOS, with the working title of Star Trek: Phase II, during the nineteen seventies.
I think "most" and "many" is a huge overstatement. I used to have a book with the Phase II scripts. From memory only about half a dozen made it to TNG. (That's excluding Where No One Has Gone a Before and The Naked Now.)
That doesn't surprise me as a lot of the first season episodes to me have always felt like they got the plots from the reject bin for the TOS.
Some of the first season episodes were to all intents and purposes remakes of TOS episodes (Naked Now / Naked Time) or at the very leasy recycled plot elements from screened TOS episodes (Code of Honor (sic) / Amok Time).
That doesn't surprise me as a lot of the first season episodes to me have always felt like they got the plots from the reject bin for the TOS.
Personally (and this is only my opinion), I think it was a necessary evil; both presentationally and politically. They needed to keep the infrastructure on board, in order to produce the show and they needed a good transition between the old and the new for the viewers. Many shows, before and since, went by the wayside after a full retconning, because they ignored (or changed) the original too much (in some opinions, Enterprise was a good case in point). By giving the storylines a TOS feel, they probably believed they were being as sympathetic to the original fans as possible (as well as saving time and money on writing new scripts, of course).
Some of the first season episodes were to all intents and purposes remakes of TOS episodes (Naked Now / Naked Time) or at the very leasy recycled plot elements from screened TOS episodes (Code of Honor (sic) / Amok Time).
Yes, I saw that straightaway when I watched them the first time around.
There were others of course, such as, "Where No One Has Gone Before"/"Where No Man Has Gone Before," "Home Soil"/"The Devil in the Dark," "Spock's Brain"/"Shades of Grey" and there were many "Q" episodes that had elements of "The Squire of Gothos."
Comments
I was, yes
Thanks for the correction
If there's any one person you could ever point a finger at and say "you completely ruined Voyager", it would be Jeri Taylor.
Enterprise, should always have had the Romulan war and the forming of the Federation as cornerstone storylines. Instead they got token lip service while they concentrated on the fooked up Temporal Cold War arc, and then the Xindi story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the third season, but they should have utilised the rich pickings they already had access to. By the time they did that, in the fourth year, it was far too late to make any difference.
Good points.
Year of Hell would have been so much better as a season long arc.
Also agree with Enterprise. It should have been about the formation of the Federation with the Romulans as the baddies, along with the rise of the Klingons as the next enemy.
Before when I said the New Star Trek movies should have been the way Enterprise went, I meant in terms of FX and style. Enterprise just seemed too futuristic compared to Original Star Trek which was after it in terms of timeline.
I don't hold that aspect against them. After all, Star Trek 1-6 (movies) all happened before ST:TNG, yet the style and FX of TNG didn't look as futuristic as the movies, certainly not in the early seasons anyway. As viewers we obviously had to make allowances for budgets & FX technology, tighter time constraints, etc. Similarly, as far as the Original Series and Enterprise, I was happy enough to accept certain stylistic discrepancies were inevitable.
Couldn't agree more.
Ok, it wasn't all her. There were other issues, too. But her decisions were probably the ones that hurt the series the most.
I think it was on the season 1 special features where Brannon Braga is actually quite up front about the studio's interference in causing the temporal cold war arc. I remembering him saying how he thought it would have been a cool idea for the premise of a completely different show, but was kinda shoehorned into Enterprise.
Its sad, because they really did start to take advantage of those story possibilities in season 4. You could feel the buildup to both the Romulan war and the founding of the Federation. It was bubbling so close to the surface at that point, that it really made it so worse that it got cancelled at the end of that season.
Have you seen the fan made "Prelude to Axanar?" That really sells what could have been done with a Trek prequel.
http://www.startrekaxanar.com/
Shut Up Meg !
I am afraid to say this but season 1 is a bit of stinker of the season. The two ferenghi episodes are dreadful, and that episode where all the women and men are dressed in really skimpy outfits deserves the title as one of the worst episodes in existence of science fiction television. Oh and that episode where Picard uses the holodock where he is like 20th century sherlock holmes type character was random and just damn right dull and silly. You feel it is an insult to the talent of Patrick Stewart in a handful of many of these episodes. Thank goodness the show improves and it was all just first season blues.
Compared to the first seasons of previous star trek shows, i hail this better than anything from Enterprise but find the first seasons of DS9 and Voyager much better than this.
I wonder how much of the improvement was down to Manny Coto directly and how much was the Reeve-Stevens' input? I've long thought their Star Trek books are just about the best of the bunch, along with those of Peter David.
Many say Enterprise got better in the later seasons but that was the issue though, it took far too long to reach that good quality and it's easier to lose viewers but to gain them back is bloody hard and they never ever gained them back, leading them to the cancellation.
and Bester, from what i read on other sites, season 1-2 are not held in high regard with a lot of people.
True but in the context of the time they were made and the fall out of them not being Star Trek with Kirk and Spock I think they did pretty good to lay a foundation.
The first couple of years, the stories were largely, but not exclusively, forgettable. Luckily, there was a lot of investment in the characters, so while the stories weren't great, there was something for viewers to latch on to. When the stories improved in year three, it was on the yellow brick road to Emerald City...:D
That's the impression i feel like i am getting.
Most episodes from the first series and many of the second series, were stories, ideas and scenarios that were never scripted or produced for TOS. They were earmarked for the unproduced "sequel" series to TOS, with the working title of Star Trek: Phase II, during the nineteen seventies. Some of the characters and treatments were incorporated into ST:TMP.
This is probably the reason why it seems as though the early ST:TNG episodes looked a little dated and anachronistic.
That was particularly true for season 2, when there was a writers' strike. In order to keep the show on air, they simply re-worked a bunch of phase 2 scripts to fill out the season.
That doesn't surprise me as a lot of the first season episodes to me have always felt like they got the plots from the reject bin for the TOS.
I think "most" and "many" is a huge overstatement. I used to have a book with the Phase II scripts. From memory only about half a dozen made it to TNG. (That's excluding Where No One Has Gone a Before and The Naked Now.)
And the sets.
Watch out for the paper mache rock.
Some of the first season episodes were to all intents and purposes remakes of TOS episodes (Naked Now / Naked Time) or at the very leasy recycled plot elements from screened TOS episodes (Code of Honor (sic) / Amok Time).
Personally (and this is only my opinion), I think it was a necessary evil; both presentationally and politically. They needed to keep the infrastructure on board, in order to produce the show and they needed a good transition between the old and the new for the viewers. Many shows, before and since, went by the wayside after a full retconning, because they ignored (or changed) the original too much (in some opinions, Enterprise was a good case in point). By giving the storylines a TOS feel, they probably believed they were being as sympathetic to the original fans as possible (as well as saving time and money on writing new scripts, of course).
If they do, I hope they don't re-format the picture shape into 16:9, like they did for TOS.
Yes, I saw that straightaway when I watched them the first time around.
There were others of course, such as, "Where No One Has Gone Before"/"Where No Man Has Gone Before," "Home Soil"/"The Devil in the Dark," "Spock's Brain"/"Shades of Grey" and there were many "Q" episodes that had elements of "The Squire of Gothos."