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I'd only annoy myself if I didn't go in release order. I've already heard that there's basically a retool in season 3. Plan on watching the whole franchise eventually.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 1: Episode 1: Encounter at Farpoint

I'd already heard of Q. Surprised he shows up so early. Always fun to solve a mystery and I love the idea of space jellyfish.

Picard is already fascinating. He's much stricter than Kirk and has quite a note of anger in many of his lines. At the same time, there's a fatherlyness towards some of his subordinates and he outright says he values other opinions. He's got very little patience for the usual godlike beings that show up and there's a lot of integrity to him. Deciding to be damned as they really are. Owns up to being bad with children and immediately demonstrates it with Wesley. Absolutely convinced of humanity's improvements and gets to demonstrate it in the end.

Stewart truly is a phenomenal actor. The many character traits would simply create a confused mess in the hands of someone less capable, but he sells with an incredible presence that clearly outlines who the main character is.

Riker hasn't grown the beard yet, but I don't mind him too much. Bit of a flirt and has an apparently awkward history with Troi. Seemed a bit eager to please, but Picard's little test of his position was pretty great. Got a little overly snotty with Geordie. I like that it's his willingness to explore the unknown that impresses Q.

Geordie is a pretty great idea. Not too much to his character yet, but I liked his slightly meta mocking of exposition scenes. Being in constant pain from his visor is kind of nasty.

Kind of like Yar, too. Bit of backstory to explain her faith in the federation. Quite aggressive and trigger happy. Crosby plays her as constantly twitching and on edge, which is kind of interesting.

It's great to have a Klingon main character. I think I've seen Worf at least once in the other shows. Not too much yet, but he sets up his honourable nature.

Crusher has a slightly fraught history with Picard which might prove interesting going forward. Their conversation in sickbay was a pretty great scene. Seems like she doesn't like people that much. Rejects Riker and honestly it doesn't seem like she's particularly attentive to her son. McFadden playing her with a constantly distracted vibe.

Troi's species makes her the empath of the group. Assuming her history with Riker was romantic, she seems to still want to be with him, whereas he is awkwardly trying to move on. Her acting of the various sensed emotions is merely alright.

Data is already a delight. It's clear that his character arc is going to be getting more human, though he already has some sarcasm to begin with. Spiner is doing wonders with his physical mannerisms. Simply the way of getting up after the attack on the city says more than a line of dialogue ever could.

Wesley is almost saved by the simple fact he doesn't show up too much. Having worked with children and, therefore, knowing how wonderfully anarchic even well behaved kids are, I cannot abide overly precious brats. He's a bit older than the typical age range, but he's still far too twee for my liking. Picard was right to lose his temper.

Compared to the other godlike beings, Q stands tall as the king already. Instead of a stern stuffyness , he revels in being a trickster. The many costume changes and styling the trial as medieval fare (well, post atomic, fine) betray the sort of mockery of humanity that one can't indulge in without a deep love of whatever is being mocked. Nodding along behind Picard's back as he solves the mystery completely reveals what he's really about and de Lancie is utterly fantastic every second he's onscreen.

There are a lot of characters in this. I'm hoping they avoid TOS's tendency to ignore most of them.

There is quite a structural problem here and it comes down to the teething troubles of doing a pilot. We have three episodes in one here: the standard adventure of figuring out Farpoint, the introduction of Q and the plot arc involving him (I already knew he was a recurring figure), and the establishment of the shows premise, lore and characters. The show seems slightly aware of its pacing issues, which is why Q accuses Picard of dawdling, but as great as the trial scene is (save the noisy peanut gallery, never much liked that in any show) and as functional as the mystery at Farpoint is, they are worlds away from each other. There are other strange things, like how the holodeck scene is cool on its own, but also doesn't fully cohere with everything around it or the splitting of the Enterprise. Ostensibly part of the Q story, it's really of the establishing premise part. Here's what the new Enterprise can do, and here's how good it looks doing it. And people accuse The Motion Picture of being slow. At least the visual effects were the main and arguably only focus there.

That said, the designs of damn near everything are beautiful. The new Enterprise looks head and shoulders above the original one. A part of me will miss the original version, but my inner child is screaming about how cool it looks. (A "headless" Enterprise is weird, though). The city and Farpoint itself are quite nice. The jellyfish and their spaceship form are impressive. Q's little flash teleports are simple, but effective and his Tholian Web style barrier has much the same impact as that episode did. I'm loving the more lounge like bridge, too. McCoy gets a cameo and it's fantastic. Saw O'brien's actor, but I'm not sure it's the same character.

It has problems, to be sure, but I mostly enjoyed it and can't wait to see more.

The Naked Now sounds like a sequel. Liked the original, so, why not?