CardsofSTL wrote:TNG was and is the best show on television. Ever.
It's not even the best star trek series. Deep Space Nine takes that honor.
/rolls up nerdy sleeves
DS9 would have died a quick death without being saved by TNG alum Michael Dorn.
Worf was saved by DS9. TNG beta'd worf so bad.
This year I watched all of DS9 and it confirmed my belief it is head and shoulders the best star trek. It's the only trek series where I've watched every episode.
DS9 had a very strong ongoing narrative, which was usual for its day. It also had by far the most developed cast of characters (including villains) of any of the trek series. On top of that the DS9 supporting cast members are way better developed than the main characters on the other shows. For example, the character arch for Nog is terrific. You don't get something like that with a bit character on any other trek series.
Outside of Data and Picard the TNG cast is a bore. Well, Worf was good, but they kinda screwed him up.
I would agree that character development on DS9 was superior; but I also think that is because they had the TNG universe to build on and they had writers come over from TNG that were already practiced in writing Trek. If you look at TNG, they really did not hit their stride until about season 3; there are some good episodes in the first couple of seasons but until they stopped being so episodic and committed to more of a storyline; they were grasping at straws a bit. TNG sort of started off by following TOS original Planet of the Week or Alien of the Week type model; whereas DS9 had to follow life on the station without a change of scenery. Although you must admit they had some problem with that themselves and had to come up with the Defiant so that they could get around a bit.
The problem I have with DS9 is all the Bajoran religion thank the prophets blah blah blah. That wore thin to me very quickly. I actually enjoyed Voyager more than DS9; and that show has a lot of faults. I wouldn't say Voyager was more well written; but to me and this is subjective of course; it was just a more enjoyable show to watch. Especially after Seven showed up....ahh catsuits.
Michael wrote:
This year I watched all of DS9 and it confirmed my belief it is head and shoulders the best star trek. It's the only trek series where I've watched every episode.
This comment almost disqualifies your judgement regarding Trek.
Michael is correct. DS9 is the best series. I watched it through several times 10 years ago in grad school, and my wife and I actually just started rewatching a couple weeks ago. So good.
I think the show hit its stride late in season 1 when they started abandoning the TNG model and really developed the characters and their world. It was good well before Worf was added, and like Michael said, it was DS9 not TNG that made him a great character.
I still love TNG, and I think it probably is the best "pure" SF series, but the character development and relationships are pretty weak,
Arthur Dent wrote:Michael is correct. DS9 is the best series. I watched it through several times 10 years ago in grad school, and my wife and I actually just started rewatching a couple weeks ago. So good.
I think the show hit its stride late in season 1 when they started abandoning the TNG model and really developed the characters and their world. It was good well before Worf was added, and like Michael said, it was DS9 not TNG that made him a great character.
I still love TNG, and I think it probably is the best "pure" SF series, but the character development and relationships are pretty weak,
Using Worf as the savior was just a friendly little jab at DS9. I don't argue against the fact that some of the best writing and character development was on DS9. Part of that is probably just because of how much TNG was dominated by Patrick Stewart's Picard. I would point to Inner Light; season six TNG; as one of the best written episodes of Trek on any series; but when you look at each series as a whole; I concede that DS9 was better overall. But for me; when you factor in enjoyment; TNG beats them all. That is going to be different for everyone; I have a friend whose favorite series is Voyager. While I tell him repeatedly that he is wrong in every sense of the word; the fact is that is the one he enjoys the most. He is also younger than I and grew up with that one on TV; so that surely has an impact.
My opinions are worthless because I never really watched any of the series all the way through (or very often) but TNG is the best for one reason, Commander Troi. My view probably makes more sense when you consider that I was 16 when the series ended.
I watched Kevin Can Wait last night and it was really weird. Last season he was happily married and all of a sudden his wife is just gone and it's treated like she was never really there and we should all know what happened already. WTH? I only saw a couple of episodes last season but... did he have the other two kids last season? I don't really remember them. Maybe they just weren't really in the couple of episodes I half watched. I just looked it up on IMDB and apparently all three kids were all of the episodes last season. Wow. I really don't even remember them. I guess I didn't pay much attention to the series. I only watched it last night because it was on and there was nothing else that I wanted to watch since I don't have cable anymore.
