QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!” (add echo on your own!)
I AM SUCH A SUCKER
For whatever reason, I just can’t say no to Star Trek. Ever. Since the time I was about five years old and saw my first Trek rerun (no, I’m not quite old enough to have seen them first run, thank goodness), all the way to the new movie, I just can’t say no.
It’s not that I like all Trek. I think at least about half of any Trek thing ever is terrible. But does that stop me? No. The point of thsi little commentary is that I recently decided to Netflix my way through Star Trek Enterprise Season 4, the only season of Trek TV I just couldn’t bear to watch. But despite that wise decision, it only took about four years for me to change my mind and buckle. So here I am.
For some reason, I am compelled to give my opinion of everything Trek in this blog. I’ll keep it short, but I’m going to hit everything. Let’s go TV first, movies second and generally in order of air dates. I don’t know why anyone would care what I think about Trek, but let’s do it anyway.
STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL SERIES
Without a doubt, my favorite Trek. Small budgets and poor effects of the era forced the writers to actually develop stories. I’m sure they had no idea what they had created and it was one of those rare occasions where the cast just happens to exceed any expectation. Many episodes were metaphoric, themed to deal with social issues or philosophical conflicts. Something more was at stake than simply the survival of the Enterprise crew. Ideas meant something. And generally Kirk and company did the right thing under the circumstances. Kirk was a maverick, willing to take on any challenge. And while he was fiercely loyal to the Federation, he was willing to bend its rules. I think this cowboy character type really connected with me as I grew up. I am a big believer in good is good and bad is bad. Unlike many fans, I like a more pure hero. I don’t need the hero to never waver or never be tempted; I just don’t want them to be dark or silly. Oh, and Kirk is the best captain ever, sorry Picard guys. Plus I can choose Spock and McCoy vs. Riker and Crusher. Yep, that’s easy, too.
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
I loved the show when it was on. This series meant an awful lot to me. It came along at a time where there just wasn’t much sci-fi on TV. I remember when it started you could watch Superboy at 5:30 and Next Gen at 6 every Saturday. No matter how bad Next Gen was Superboy made it look awesome. All in all, this is a landmark series. But in retrospect, it is a series that does not hold up much for me. I have come t believe that there are very few ‘great’ episodes and less ‘good’ episodes than you would ever believe. Early in the series, they are committed to Rodenberry’s futuristic utopia and there is absolutely no character conflict. The deepest conflict that ever develops is the Worf stuff, which is basically strong. But I think this hurt the show. Again, I don’t want to see people at each other’s throats, but there have to be conflicts to make things more compelling. On the flip side, I do like the fact that the show is often about a group of smart, heroic characters working to solve problems. That’s when the show works well. The classic Borg cliffhanger “The Best of Both Worlds” is without a doubt one of my favorite TV sci-fi stories. I am quite sure this episode defines the series for most fans, and rightly so. I also really admire episodes like “The Inner Light” and “Yesterday’s Enterprise”, episodes I could write entire blogs about. So, the point is, it’s a flawed series that is not my favorite of the franchise. Oh, and Kirk still kicks Picard’s ass. Don’t forget.
STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
Now here’s a series I like. Conflict, genuine conflict, story arcs, continuity. Yeah. I was into this show from the start, long before most fans accepted it. I like the fact that the station is part Federation, part Bajoran It gave them so much to work with. Plus, the doorway to the Alpha quadrant always allowed an alien to appear at the station or the crew to go exploring. The show really had the best of all sci-fi elements in it. The Dominion was a great villain, and tying them to Odo created endless conflict for our favorite shape shifter. Sisko evolved from an uncertain Commander to a champion Captain and even had to take on cosmic responsibilities. Sisko’s interaction with the Wormhole aliens was never my favorite element, but I think at times it worked. All in all, a strong series, better than Next Gen but no TOS. Oh, and Kirk is waaaaaay cooler than Sisko and still kicking Picard’s ass.
STAR TREK: VOYAGER
Originally, I hated this series. Most of the reasons are still valid and I wouldn’t really back off on. But for some reason, I have developed a fondness for this show, despite many, many inexcusably bad episodes. Throw out season one and two and seven, and this is a respectable series. I think the thing is that I have developed a fondness for most of the cast. I actually warmed up to Janeway when she becomes more of a mother to Seven of Nine than the Uber-Captain from the beginning of the show. Early on, it was obvious they wanted to shove her in your face to show you how strong a female captain could be. There was just too much of that. Once they settled down, it was better. Plus, I like the fact that she becomes the embodiment of the Federation: the flag bearer for civilization, and the steady, unwavering force that holds everyone together in the face of impossible odds. I love Robert Picardo as the holographic doctor. He’s priceless. He’s Gregory Hose as a hologram. Sweet. Paris sucks, Tuvok sucks more, and Harry Kim is one of my least favorite Trek characters of al time. The guy who played Kim always had this look on his face like he was struggling to remember his lines. He would roll his eye and bite his lip and I can just picture him struggling with all his might to say “Bridge to Janeway” and not “Engineering to Paris”. That, or he looked like he needed to take a big dump. Either way. The early villains in the series were terrible but continuity developed once they introduced the Borg. There’s a great two part story where Seven’s parents are seen in flashback developing technology to deal with the Borg and then in the present, Janeway must use that tech to rescue Seven. The parallel there is fantastic and it reinforces Janeway as mother figure once again. Anyway, a very flawed series, probably not as good as Next Gen. Oh, and Kirk? Wouldn’t bother to bag Janeway, still cooler than Sisko, and still kicking Picard’s ass.
STAR TREK ENTERPRISE
A big pile of crap, for the most part. The only Trek series cancelled after four seasons since TOS got canned in 2.5. Mostly awful cast, especially the guy who played Ensign Mayweather who I am quite sure had never acted before. In fact, I question whether or not he was aware that there was a profession in which people pretended to be other people and that it was called acting. I think it’s obvious that the creators of the show knew that too, as this character was by far the most underdeveloped dude on the series. The thing the show did well was define some interesting roles on a ship that we haven’t seen before. We got a translator because we dumped the technology that translated. Smart. Dynamic. Convention breaking to some degree. We got a weapons dude and an armory. Also pretty smart. The show was at its best when developing famous Trek races that had never been explored much. The Andoreans in particular, but also the Tholians, the Orions, and the Telerites. The show was at its worst when dealing with temporal cold wars and upgrading it’s tech. The whole point of the series was that they were lower tech than anything we had seen before. So I never understood why we quickly introduced phasers and shields, things it would have been interesting to force them to deal without. I never liked the phase pistol weapons, either. Plus, I thought it was silly that the Transporter is established as a new, quasi-dangerous tech in the pilot, but within the episodes it is used just like any other Trek transporter. Oh, and Kirk vs. Archer? I’m laughing. And he still wouldn’t bag Janeway, still cooler than Sisko, and still kicking Picard’s ass.
We’re going too long. Look for part two on the movies some other time. The point is I love Trek so much and it so rarely loves me back.
NEXT, PLEASE
See you all soon. Thanks for your feedback so far. Sorry this one probably bored most of you to death.
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