It’s so bizarre to read this in the present, knowing how incredible TNG was, but I get it - the original crew WAS Star Trek to them.
The dedicated fans revived this series in syndication, well after it had gone off the air in 1969, and felt attached to the characters that they had obsessed over between then and the 1980s. Like modern fans, they thought that departure from what they knew would ruin it.
I wish I could go back in time and tell them that TNG is going to rock.
TNG > OG series any day, everyday.
It took me a long time to reach this conclusion. I love TOS, and the characters are cultural icons, but when I want to fanboy over the whole “philosophy” of Star Trek, I’m thinking of TNG every single time.
I’ll probably get wrecked in here for saying this,but I never liked TOS. It’s so campy and hokey. Even the movies with the original cast don’t interest me all that much. I respect them for paving the way for TNG, but I’ll never choose TOS over TNG.
TOS is fun to watch in an ironic, cult classic, campy, laughing-at-it-not-with-it way. TNG was the first actually good star trek.
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That’s actually why can rewatch TOS endlessly but TNG only occasionally. TOS is that light popcorn fare that’s entertaining but you don’t take very seriously. TNG is serious sci-fi that challenges the audience often with very difficult subject matter. The latter is objectively the better show but if I’m looking for something to throw on for casual fun, for me it’s TOS all the way.
This is how I am too. TOS feels like a lesser commitment to watching something, so it winds up being easier to throw on casually.
Same, though there’s one i can really watch endlessly: TAS. Giant Spock melting minds with normal Spock always gets me.
I have never watched TOS, but I have watched all the TOS movies and I am fond of them.
I wouldn’t say they are related at all, at least in terms of how the TV comes off vs the movies even though the cast is the same. TOS TV show is not too dissimilar to the old school Batman show in it’s corniness. Not to that level of silliness, but they were contemporaries of each other when they aired on TV in the late 60s.
@Hazdaz @BeigeAgenda the hippie vibe was part of the general campy tone those days - see The Man from U. N. C. L. E., Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In, That Was The Week That Was, or The Wild Wild West for other variations on that theme. Hi-tech, Steampunk, SciFi, variety, news spoofs - all had similar tone
Oh I get that was the tone of shows back then. Get Smart was another one. It’s just not my cup of tea for the most part.
Of course the irony is that I think shows (especially movies) these days are too serious and I almost wish they were a little more fun and playful like they were back in the 60s/70s. Just as long as they don’t go too silly.
I always barely get through TOS’ third season, it leaned too much into the psychedelic feel of the era.
@kamenlady big Yes. “Come now, to Eden, oh, brother” indeed. Just a tad too much Tim Leary.
@BeigeAgenda @Hazdaz
I’m old enough that there was only one Trek when I started. My take on a recent rewatch: https://rdvlivefromtokyo.blogspot.com/2021/09/ranking-star-trek-original-series.html?m=1
This is a fantastic write-up.
This is what my brain is hoping for (and never gets) any time one of those click-bait articles tries to reel me in with a title that sounds similar.
@The_Picard_Maneuver thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
I agree. TOS has some interesting characters and fun moments, but I just can’t get into like I get into TNG. TNG is a series I can watch start to finish and all the movies and then start right over and watch it all again. TOS is one I might re-watch every 5+ years to refresh my memory, but I’ll put it on exclusively while I’m doing something else so I don’t waste my attention. My Dad loves TOS and TNG, and regularly references TOS, expecting me to remember episode names and whole plot lines. Oops.
I tried to go back and watch it as part of a kind of personal nerd pilgrimage. I just couldn’t get through it to save my life. Then I hit the beginning of TNG and was shocked, that was not what I remembered at all from all the reruns I saw growing up. I’m honestly still kind of shocked it lasted long enough to grow the beard.
I really think that can be said for a lot of shows. First few episodes, and sometimes the first few seasons don’t hit like the later ones. Simpsons, Seinfeld, TNG, Arrested Development and a lot of other shows were constantly on the cusp of getting canceled until they got their audience and the writers hit their stride with the story.
It happens so much to shows that we know ended up turning out good, that it always makes me wonder how many shows were canceled a few episodes or maybe a season or two sooner than they should have.
That is very well said. Tng embodies the philosophy of start trek better.
Unfair advantage, TNG has Picard.
Picard is definitely the top card there, but seriously the rest of the cast was damn good too.
Had a rather large crush on Beverly and Troy. Hubba hubba
mos def
I actually don’t think he had a role in TNG.
He may have been credited under his birth name Dante Smith… or his new name Yasiin Bey. In any case he’s most definitely Mos Def.
Star Trek: Picard has Picard too…
Unfortunately, it also has hubris.
Season one of TNG was compared to TOS and TNG didn’t fare too well early on. The Naked Now? A copy of The Naked Time. Data trying to be human was compared to Spock. LaForge wasn’t like Scotty. Picard was stuck up and by the book compared to Kirk rushing into battle and brawling with aliens with his bare hands.
It wasn’t until the show developed into its own thing that it became great.
unpopular opinion: the first 3 seasons of tng were the best
Ooh, that’s a spicy take. I like it.
@eldavi @Hazdaz I’m happy that Star Trek is big enough for a lot of people to find their favorite parts. I love all the engine room scenes in VOY
I love the first two seasons for their episodic adventure structure. But I also greatly appreciate the character driven structure of seasons 3+ and I definitely think the aesthetic changes for s3 were an unadulterated improvement.