Current Events > How bad is Star Trek The Next generation season 1?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Seeing a lot of suggestions to just skip it entirely. Is it really that bad?

It's not the best of the series but it's watchable.

I think people have overblown how bad it is. Even the bad episodes still give you something to think about.

It's better than Voyager season 1.

I'm a big advocate for watching it yourself the first time because for all you know you might end up loving most of it but with the "skip it" advice you might either never watch it at all or be retroactively spoiled by later episodes (in the sense of writing, pacing, characterization etc) that not being able to enjoy it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Either way, despite being dryer and sometimes rough in places, I don't think it was bad anyway, certainly not the whole season. Plus there's some continuity there like meeting Q for the first time.

It's not super great and some episodes are downright bad (Code of Honor is just outright offensive), but I wouldn't recommend skipping it.

I think the only episode I would say skip is Shade of Gray because it's a clip show.

Don't skip anything the first time through, for any TV show, ever. Anyone who actually suggests that should be laughed at derisively.

It's just a conspiracy

It varies from episode to episode, its not the worst, but a lot just feels boring. Though ya, there are some bad episodes. but honestly thats true for a lot of trek first seasons,

Season 1 is the perfect watch in the background while you do other stuff around your home kind of show.

TNG gets better in season 2, and then takes another massive leap in quality in season 3.

Peak of the series was 3-6.

Season 1 filtered me when I tried getting into the series back in high school, and didn't give it another shot until like 5 years ago. >_>

But I also didn't have anyone around me assuring it got better.

Go ahead and try to watch season one, but if you find yourself thinking it's lame, just skip ahead whenever you want.

when it was in syndication, if you turned on the tv and the episode had them in those shitty spandex uniforms and beardless riker, you knew that it was time to try to find something else to watch

Cartoon_Quoter posted...

Don't skip anything the first time through, for any TV show, ever. Anyone who actually suggests that should be laughed at derisively.

It always bugs me in anime when people are told to skip filler arcs.

OzNarcissus posted...

It's better than Voyager season 1.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/55d12a63.png

Cartoon_Quoter posted...

Don't skip anything the first time through, for any TV show, ever. Anyone who actually suggests that should be laughed at derisively.

How do you think people got into TV shows before the advent of streaming? >_>

You can skip it, but I wouldn't. For its flaws (and there are plenty) there are some important moments in the first season. First appearance of Q, First appearance of the Ferengi, only season where Denise Crosby is in the main cast. You don't need to watch the first season, but watching it helps contextualize some bigger moments in later seasons.

Code of Honor and Angel One are both offensive (former racist, the latter sexist), with the former often quoted as the second worst Star Trek episode (people put Enterprise's final episode as the worst on principle, although I think it is Dear Doctor to this day).

I still would watch all of Season 1 though. I didn't find it bad persay, just that the show ends up getting a lot better in Season 2 and then especially in Season 3 and beyond.

its fine

It's bad mostly in the context of the rest of the series. Just taken on its own, it's not great but it's watchable. Some S1 episodes I think are pretty good and even the ones that aren't are mostly just kind of dull with the exception of Code of Honor which is offensively bad.

What I like to recommend is if you've decided you're going to watch TNG then it's worth it to start from the beginning. If you're not sure if TNG is for you don't use season 1 to decide. Pick a few episodes from season 3 onward and see if those click with you.

At the barest minimum, watch any episode with Q.

Maybe Skin of Evil for continuity reasons.

Bad. It also hasn't aged well. Even as a TNG fan I have a hard time defending it.

OzNarcissus posted...

It's better than Voyager season 1.

Disagree. Voyager season 1 is actually okay. The problem with Voyager is that it never really gets better than okay until the final season.

They tried to figure out the feeling for the series so S1 episodes are hit or misses.
That said, watch it. The first episode itself builds up so much so it is pure stupidity to skip it.

It's not great and even offensive at times with certain episodes. They come off as bad episodes from the 60s show with one even being a sequel to a TOS episode. I think some of the writers at the time were TOS writers.

I do think there are a couple of episodes that aren't bad even if they may contain some bad parts lik the one where the binary aliens try to steal the Enterprise isn't so bad, but there is also Commander Riker being a pervert in the holodeck.

I dropped Star Trek multiple times trying to get through season 1.

As a person who now loves Star Trek, I strongly concur with Rich Evans of RLM: skip directly into season 3. Once you realize whether you actually enjoy it or not, you can come back for the "greatest hits" such as Measure of a Man and Q Who (important to watch that before the end of season 3)

I'm actually going through Season 1 right now and to be honest the good outweighs the bad. I just finished "We'll always Have Paris" and stopped on the middle of "Conspiracy" last night. Good stuff.

There is some cheesy episodes earlier in the season but they aren't unwatchable. Especially in season 1, Patrick Stewart really carries the entire show with his acting.

I definitely wouldn't skip it because later seasons refer to lore and backstory that season 1 fleshes out.

For the most part pretty bad. The first half or so especially. Quite a few episodes were of the quality that would be considered unwatchable today. Having said that, the last third of the season or so is actually somewhat decent. One episode especially. Still, I consider it overall the worst season in all Star Trek

OzNarcissus posted...

It's better than Voyager season 1.

Voyager Season 1 is dope, what are you talking about

Most of the characters in Season 1 literally don't have a personality

It's not that bad but once you get to season 2 or 3 you'll see why everyone calls it the worst.

Season 1 is rough, but worth watching with a few gems.

I did a recent rewatch of the full series after Season 3 of Picard. The only episode I could not get through was Code of Honor. I just could not bear another viewing, and turned it off half way in. Everything else is well worth a watch. And; seasons 3-6 are some of my favorite TV ever, even to this day.

what's so bad about code of honor?

My first episode of Season 1 was 10011001 and it absolutely is referred back to later in the series even though it doesn't seem like it would be.

And despite it not being on anyone's 'best episode' list I thought it did a pretty good job telling me who all the Enterprise crew was, although it turned out that was one of the few Season 1 episodes that did that.

Bottom line, in any case. People say to 'skip' Season 1, but there are a lot of things that later shows build upon that are started in that season that you should know anyway.

Southernfatman posted...

It's not great and even offensive at times with certain episodes. They come off as bad episodes from the 60s show with one even being a sequel to a TOS episode. I think some of the writers at the time were TOS writers.

That's because the early episodes were retooled scripts from a proposed TOS direct sequel that eventually turned into The Motion Picture.

solosnake posted...

what's so bad about code of honor?

It's pretty bad, but the worst? I don't know. The Naked Now and Justice are up there, too. I think "Shades of Gray" in season 2 is by far the worst TNG episode for obvious reasons that it's a clip show.

People say it has some racist overtones, but to me it just feels like a recycled plot from the original series. It just needed Captain Kirk to bump it up to notch. It's basically a Tash Yar centric episode and the "aliens of the week" happen to be black, which I don't think was a malicious decision from the script writers. It's also kind of a poorly written story where the aliens have this "tribal" culture but they also have transporters and shit. It's just a weird episode.

solosnake posted...

what's so bad about code of honor?

Rather racist and has a ridiculous plot to boot.

solosnake posted...

what's so bad about code of honor?

Some people get upset that an alien race is being played by essentially transplanting tribal Africans into space.

Hospy posted...

It's not the best of the series but it's watchable.

I think people have overblown how bad it is. Even the bad episodes still give you something to think about.

This. I think it has a number of good episodes particularly the first two.

Many of the episodes are a bit silly in premise compared to what the show will evolve into, kind of like leftover tos plots and don't take full advantage of the new cast, but they are still watchable.

I clearly forgot the racist one tho..

Hospy posted...

Some people get upset that an alien race is being played by essentially transplanting tribal Africans into space.

Where they kidnap a white woman (Tasha), no less! I would rather have a cheesy/bad episode than a fake/non episode like "Shades of Gray". At least with Code of Honor you can explain it away that the writers didn't realize the tone or something.

kelemvor posted...

Where they kidnap a white woman (Tasha), no less! I would rather have a cheesy/bad episode than a fake/non episode like "Shades of Gray". At least with Code of Honor you can explain it away that the writers didn't realize the tone or something.

Yeah, I don't think it's a great episode, but it's not close to Shades of Grey.

Shades of Grey is pretty much the only episode that I'd recommend skipping because there's literally no point to the episode aside from taking up an episode slot. It's neither thought provoking, entertaining, builds on a character, or relevant to the overall plot.

Though I guess it's memorable for being the only completely worthless Star Trek episode.

A racist stereotype kidnaps a white woman & a bald white cop fires 6 warning shots. Not a good look.

Where no one has gone before might be my favorite trek up to this point watching everything from release order

It's a toughie because it really is bad and slow paced and stupid and full of cringe.

But I feel like you do need to sit through it to get to "The Good Stuff"

Part of what makes Season 3-7 so good is that the characters are all established and there are baselines and conventions to play with and break.

I feel like if you start with The Best of Both Worlds then you'll have no idea why people loved it

But yeah it really is that bad. IF you have patience and free time, put yourself through it. Just be prepared to sit through some shit.

Are you truly a Star Trek fan if you have never sat through Code of Honor or Shades of Gray?

refmon posted...

Most of the characters in Season 1 literally don't have a personality

Worf is a boarderline animal. With his growling and snarling and stupid reactions

It's not bad it's just ok.

I never had any problems with season one. Never even heard it was apparently bad until later. And this was just five or so years ago.

solosnake posted...

Where no one has gone before might be my favorite trek up to this point watching everything from release order

While Id give it a 7 or so, its really striking how much better it is than the 2-3 episodes before and after

Justin2Krelian posted...

While Id give it a 7 or so, its really striking how much better it is than the 2-3 episodes before and after

Yeah, a few episodes later is "Justice", which I could see some people giving a worse rating than anything else in season 1. Thankfully, it kind of falls in that "so bad it's good" territory. They even bring Wesley down to the orgy planet for some reason, but instead of getting laid he fucks shit up (because of course he does) and gets put on trial. There is a little bit of preachyness going on about the death penalty and the Prime Directive (which they seemed to violate by coming to the planet in the first place). And, of course, the whole planet and the Edo people are being watched over by some sort of "space God" which just adds to the ridiculousness. It's so crazy you have to watch it.

I've been cherry picking some S1 TNG lately and thankfully for every bad episode there is a good or even great one to be found. I watched "Arsenal of Freedom" this morning and it's a pretty good action focused episode with some low-budget effects. You can tell by this time in the season the actors are clearly owning the material but the writers are still trying to figure things out.

I also watched "Conspiracy" and it's so awesome. From what I gathered from online discussion, the rough draft of the episode was vetoed by Gene because the corruption came from within Starfleet so they changed it (Roddenbery famously hated anything that undermined his "utopia" on Earth). Then the writers strike was about to happen so they couldn't have the script smoothed over. The end result had it banned in Canada and the UK because of the crazy ending. Apparently the aliens were a prototype of the Borg before they became the nameless automatons we know of today.

WNHGB , Conspiracy, and Arsenal of Freedom are fine too. The over the top (for Star Trek) gore scene in Conspiracy is always amusing.

Symbiosis and Heart of Glory are relative bright spots too. Symbiosis does have an 80s after school special-like scene where Tasha educates Wesley on drugs, which is funny. Heart of Glory is a nice Klingon episode and gives Worf some more characterization.

Amakusa posted...

That's because the early episodes were retooled scripts from a proposed TOS direct sequel that eventually turned into The Motion Picture.

Oh right, "Phase Two". Makes sense.

The only thing that annoyed me was long Tasha Yar's wake was. She was not on the cast long enough to warrant it.

Also the anti-drug allegory episode - while a good concept - was pretty Nancy Reagan levels of hamfisted.

It's not very good

Hayame_Zero posted...

The only thing that annoyed me was long Tasha Yar's wake was. She was not on the cast long enough to warrant it.

Also the anti-drug allegory episode - while a good concept - was pretty Nancy Reagan levels of hamfisted.

Tasha had a lot of development all things considering. I don't know if it's a spoiler to say she leaves the cast except for a cameo later on. Her leaving opened up a spot for the semi regular Ensign Ro a few seasons later, who would be the next "strong willed" female crew member with a checkered past. I love Ensign Ro and hate what happened to her in Star Trek: Picard.

Just watched the binary episode. That was pretty good. I think I already like this show more than TOS, and it has me excited to keep watching knowing that this season is considered bad compared to what's coming ahead

1st season is worth it for your first time because you're seeing a lot of new characters and places, and learning lore about it all.

And even though the eps overall aren't really great some of them do have an interesting premise or two that makes it enjoyable.