Star Trek

[Havok]

How awesome is it that in 2014, at age 37 and after being a life long fan, I am watching episodes that I have never seen before.

[Borgholio]

Which series?

[SpottedKitty]

Not all that impossible, really; e.g. there were a couple of TOS episodes that were never shown here in the UK until well into (or maybe even after) the TNG period. If your local channel used to be run by people who thought the same way as the BBC did back then, it could easily happen.

Either that, or the syndication timetable where you are is even more messed up than they usually are...

[Borgholio]

Well for me, it's been such a long time since I've seen many of the TOS episodes, they almost feel new to me when I see them again after many years.

[Lord Revan]

well I've never seen the later seasons of DS9 or later episodes TOS thanks to the wierd broadcasting standards here (they stopped broadcasting DS9 at start of the dominion war storyline and broadcasted a good chunk of TOS in a single block at night almost like they wanted no-one to see them).

[Havok]

TOS.

I didn't say anything about the likeness of it or it being "impossible". (Where do you guys come up with this shit sometimes?)

I have always been a fan, but I only saw TOS in syndication on TV when I was a kid. I never went out of my way to see the series in it's entirety. So throwing it on Netflix and going through two full seasons and only having actually seen a small handful of episodes, it was totally cool to see all the "new" episodes.

Consoles are a lot less explodey than I have been led to believe.

[Borgholio]

Consoles are a lot less explodey than I have been led to believe.

That started with ST-2 TWOK

[TOSDOC]

Nope, it leads off what's been called the best episode, City on the Edge of Forever. Poor Sulu!

I started doing the same on Netflix, and I noted quite a few tidbit restored scenes that were cut out of the original or syndicated broadcasts, probably edited out for time allotted. So we're actually seeing a bit more than was previously shown to the public. With the remastering and new effects to go with it, it makes for some enjoyable watching.

[Havok]

I'm really enjoying it. Despite some of the huge consistencies ("OMG!!! WARP 9?!?!?", "Mr. Sulu, set a course, warp 9." ) it is really good. It's not hard to see why it garnered the following it did. Even with the roll your eyes episodes where you are like, "JUST PHASER THESE FUCKING STUPID KIDS!" the relationships and even the messages in all of them are worth the bad ones.

I'm kinda sad I'm almost done with season 3.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I know exactly what you mean- despite knowing what happens in every episode there's one or two that I'd never actually seen until recently. Most prominent example that comes to mind is Voyager's "The Killing Game", I really enjoyed that one. Having the DVDs of all the series I've been going through the listings and picking out eps that for one reason or another I'd never seen, mainly episodes from early seasons.

[biostem]

I have to be honest here - the trend in most modern shows to have overarching plots that span one or more seasons has kind of turned me off to the whole "return to status quo" behavior many older shows portray.

That being said, there are some 2-parters that I still really enjoy - like Best of Both Worlds, All Good Things and the Mirror Mirror episodes from Enterprise.

[Havok]

Well I am specifically talking about TOS.
I didn't watch Enterprise or Voyager past the first couple seasons because, well, they were Voyager and Enterprise, so there are literally multiple seasons of Star Trek I haven't sceen.

But seeing new episodes of Star Trek has just been such a treat. I really have to say that it has re-energized my interest and like for the series and the franchise as a whole.

And on that note, it makes the Abrahms reboots just that much more awful and, honestly, pathetic. I don't even look at it so much as a reboot anymore, but more like a sad knock off that just happens to get to use all the correct names and had a decent budget.

[SpottedKitty]

Well I am specifically talking about TOS.

Incidentally, have you seen any of the fan-made episodes available here and there? Quality is, as you'd expect, variable (to say the least), but some of them are IMHO surprisingly good. My current favourite is Phase II, which intends to release the full 4th and 5th seasons of TOS (eight full downloadable episodes and three short vignettes so far, two more in post-production).

Also in production, though, is Axanar; the story of one of Kirk's heroes from a couple of decades before TOS. This is a full feature-length project, and the 20-minute "trailer", Prelude to Axanar, looks gorgeous.

[Havok]

I have a hard time watching fan made stuff. There is some weird thing about me that makes me cringe when I see thinks that I deem awkward or sad, so I tend to steer clear.

[SpottedKitty]

If it's any help, Phase II now has a different actor as Kirk, so he doesn't look like an Elvis impersonator sitting in the centre seat any more.

The most recent vignette, Going Boldly, has the new Kirk, a refitted ship, and actually managed to raise the hackles on my neck. This is Star Trek.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJf2ovQtI6w[/youtube]

[Bob the Gunslinger]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJf2ovQtI6w[/youtube]

[Iroscato]

I've watching TNG pretty regularly on CBS Action lately, including plenty of episodes I've never seen before. It really is a legitimately great sci-fi series when it works, despite the obvious creakiness of the effects and the stilted dialogue. And I'm finally getting why Wesley is generally so despised as a character.

[Lord Revan]

I've watching TNG pretty regularly on CBS Action lately, including plenty of episodes I've never seen before. It really is a legitimately great sci-fi series when it works, despite the obvious creakiness of the effects and the stilted dialogue. And I'm finally getting why Wesley is generally so despised as a character.

the problem with Wesley was that he was written intentionally like a self-insert fanfic character (if you get it Gene Roddenberry's second name is Wesley), but once Roddenberry pasted the control of the series to others the writers were able to write Wesley as smart but not perfect the character became alot better as Will Wheaton was allowed to use his skills to actually give character to Wesley and not just be "perfect"

[Iroscato]

Yeah, I'd heard Roddenberry was doing more harm than good to the show at first. The early episodes are pretty appalling. Troi still strikes me as almost entirely useless as well.

[FaxModem1]

Troi's problem as a character is that she is the ship's counselor, the woman, and resident empath. The former becomes a bit useless drama wise when the Enterprise crew seem rather antiseptic, professional, and hard to weather. If they were more human, more flawed, and had a lot more chinks in their armor, she would have been a rather interesting character, trying to fix and rebuild all these people who are going through these things. When she is 'the woman' of the ship, it's usually as a romance interest, damsel in distress, or some other useless thing that is either a prize, an objective. Again, there could be story potential with this, showing her evolve into somebody who has to level up, since she's sick of being put into that position. That never really happened. Since those options are cut off to her, we mostly focus on her as the empath. There are two ways to go about that, she's an ubergod with powers and can solve every problem of the week by telling the Captain, therefore bad for drama, we go with option two. She is Captain Obvious, telling everyone that something feels wrong, or that that person is bad, etc.

Troi is mostly at her best when she is going against her comfort zone. Look at Face of the Enemy, Chain of Command, or the many episodes where she is possessed, as Marina Sirtis really gets to shine with the strength of her acting.

[Lord Revan]

Yeah, I'd heard Roddenberry was doing more harm than good to the show at first. The early episodes are pretty appalling. Troi still strikes me as almost entirely useless as well.

Roddenberry's problem was that by the start of TNG he very strongly an idealist, which was reflected on the early episodes of TNG (making the crew seem insanely arrogant) which is why it's generally considered that TNG really didn't come on it own until season 3 when Roddenberry's influence was reduced enough to make the characters's seem human (for a lack of a better term) rather then mouth peices for Roddenberry's ideals

[SpottedKitty]

She is Captain Obvious, telling everyone that something feels wrong, or that that person is bad, etc.

Cue the old joke about when the alien-of-the-week takes one shot and almost wipes out the ship's shields; "Captain, I am detecting hostility towards us" she says as she picks herself off the back wall of the bridge.