Starrunner said:
I have to politely disagree with you about the first season of TNG. When I was younger, I was right there with you. It felt slow, and sometimes it showed that the characters and the show itself were still finding their groove. I recently rewatched the first season, though, and now, I find it one of the best seasons of the show. I particularly liked the fact that it carried story elements through multiple episodes, and I actually really liked the conspiracy in the upper ranks storyline that they played out over several episodes. I'm sad that they never did anything like that through the rest of the show. Most of the show makes no reference even to events that happened previously, and they obviously knew how to do it since they did it in Season 1.
I felt that the characters made more sense (albeit within the framework of figuring out who they were). Tasha Yar was the better security chief, and I loved the dynamic of a strong female in that role. I mean, Worf is the easy and lazy choice (big burly guy is head of security nurrr), but Yar had so much more dimension. It's a shame Denise Crosby didn't stick with it, since by the time Yar died the character was becoming really quite interesting. I still like the idea of the blind guy driving the ship. I think one of the problems the first season particularly suffered from was that of too many good characters. Yar and Worf are both good characters, but I don't know that there was enough for both of them. Geordi and Wesley Crusher both were good characters, but trying to have both be driving didn't work. After Wesley starts on the bridge, Geordi just kinda hangs around for the rest of the season. Frankly, for as clever as Wesley was, I think it would have been neat had they put him as the wunderkind face of engineering (and then have one of the Chief Engineers of the week in the background as a "tutor").
And honestly, I liked the episode Skin of Evil. It's actually a really lame episode, at least in the resolution of the situation. What I liked, though, is that it shows how rough-and-tumble it still is out there. I mean, Tasha Yar's death is absolutely pointless. She didn't go out in a blaze of glory. She wasn't doing anything cool or special. She just got whacked while doing her job. And that's the whole point-Starfleet occasionally is a dangerous organization to work for, and she got killed by stupid shit that happened.
I will say that Seasons 3 and 4 were absolutely rock solid, though. Season 5 was kinda hit and miss. Season 6 was entertaining, but I feel like they started to lose sight of the characters after Berman completely took charge of the show. I mean, Chain of Command with Picard, Doctor Crusher, and Worf playing commando? That was the worst episode of the entire show IMO. Why is Picard last action hero all the sudden? And the doctor? The entire plot makes no sense, and everyone comes off looking absolutely whiny or incompetent. Riker being a whiny bitch that the new guy started changing things? STFU and do your job! The new guy not even listening to the input of the crew that's been there for six years? Absolutely not management material, let alone good enough to get him a captain's gig. Starfleet sending the captain of the Federation's flagship on an extremely dangerous mission for dubious gain? WHAT?
And then there was that episode they did where Riker fell in love with the genderless girl that actually had a gender (The Outcast). It was nothing more than Rick Berman's attempt to get the LGBT community off his back, and it was a shit episode that blatantly showed conversion therapy was successful. Being gendered is a phase? Go get some therapy and you'll be ok! It was absolutely demeaning to the LGBT community it was attempting to include. The entire episode felt contrived and forced. Actually, I take back what I said about Chain of Command. THIS was the worst episode of TNG. Rick Berman could have gone on TV and called us all a bunch of fags and been less anti-gay than was this episode.
Season 7 was pretty rough (although Thine Own Self was a brilliant episode!). The show itself could have staggered on for probably two more seasons, but it would have been rough. Paramount knew it, too, which is why they canceled it. They didn't want three Star Trek shows competing against each other, and TNG was running out of life by then. All Good Things, though, was a great conclusion!
Oh, and The Inner Light? Best episode of the entire series! Truth be told, I tear up every time I watch it. So moving and powerful!