I'm going to (once again) break my own rule about not posting about random stuff to say...
I watched this video, and it gave me tons of nostaliga. Like these guys, I watched a lot of these episodes when they first came out. And most of them I never saw since then. (So a good 30 years ago now.) And I agree with these guys: Season 1 was weird.
I tried to like The Next Generation when it first came out. I really tried to watch season 1 and season 2, but just never liked it as much as the original series. Of course, I was young then, and lacking a critical spine, so I assumed the problem must have been me.
I gave up on ST:TNG after season two. (Ironically, because that's just when it started to get good.) And didn't start watching again until season 5. (I caught up on some of season 3 and 4 through re-runs once I began to realize what I had missed.)
Anyways, point being, I liked this video.
Re:View - Star Trek The Next Generation Season One
I use this blog for two different projects: my reviews and my materials for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
I started watching, and paused at 36 minutes because I had to. I didn't expect to make it that far, but these guys are actually quite amusing to eavesdrop on. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBack in about '05 or so one of the sassier on-line mags conscripted Wil Wheaton to do episode by episode commentary on STNG. He made it through a half-dozen or so, before the PTSD took over. So (bitterly) ironic that the show that launched him into "Brand: Wil Wheaton" was something that truly scarred him for life. Season one production sounds like one of the most toxic showbiz environments a showbiz person could have stumbled into. Even the adults were having trouble. It's no wonder that PStew kept his bag packed for the entire year.
ReplyDeleteI'm struck by their summary of the way women were written in S1 -- episodes written in the 70s by men who'd grown up in the 30s and 40s, seems exactly right to me. And of course Roddenberry's personal fixation on uncovering the seething horniness in every woman extant cannot have been much fun to work around.
Shortly before First Contact was released I was at a shindig where I met a woman who'd worked production in the final three seasons of the show. And, wow, did she have stories about [REDACTED] and the parties he threw. It's something I meditate on whenever I read stories about the "intimacy coaches" employed for HBO sex scenes, or the latest high profile fella gets scorched in the headlines. I don't pine for "the good old days" (I never experienced any of it, for one thing -- thankfully). But kids these days have not the smallest clue just how far public opinion on these matters has shifted in just a few short years. The Puritans who got it all rolling would not do well in the current environment.
>>>>I started watching, and paused at 36 minutes because I had to.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it sucked me in too. I wasn't initially planning on watching the whole thing. I thought I'd just preview the first 5 minutes to get a taste for their feelings on season one, and then I ended up watching the whole thing inspite of myself. Not all in one sitting, but still.
Of course, I generally like watching these guys, so I guess it's not that surprising. I've watched a lot of their Star Trek content over the years.
Have you seen their Generations review? It's a Youtube classic.
https://youtu.be/h06WKYFYdlo
It's dated 2012, but I think it's at least 5 years older than that. It must have been re-uploaded at some point. I definitely remember watching this when I was still living in Japan back in 2007-2008ish.
>>>>Back in about '05 or so one of the sassier on-line mags conscripted Wil Wheaton to do episode by episode commentary on STNG.
I remember reading some of those actually. After you reminded me of them just now, I was just trying to find them online, and couldn't. I didn't realize he had stopped because of the bad memories.
>>>>I'm struck by their summary of the way women were written in S1
ReplyDeleteI hadn't remembered how bad it was until watching this video, but yeah, their summary seemed pretty spot on, huh?
Although I checked Wikipedia just now, and... it looks like only a few of Phase II scripts were actually recycled for ST:TNG.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Phase_II#Scripts
...but it definitely seems like the kind of thing that would be true, based on the feel of Season 1.
I have to say that Generations vid was difficult to watch -- a hard flashback to just how deeply me and my mates critiqued and hated that flick. First Contact was a brief reprieve that suggested this thing could be saved (and don't think we didn't get huffy about continuity issues, etc) -- but nope. This is all just specious speculation on my part (cough) but it looks to me like Generations marks the moment when B&B's mutual success linked to self-destructive recreational impulses that bled over into their professional commitments.
ReplyDeleteOh, well speaking of First Contact, They've got a First Contact review video as well. Actually RedLetterMedia has reviewed just about everything Trek, if you go back through their archives.
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to forgive me for this, but I actually liked Generations when it first came out. I've grown to appreciate its flaws in the years since, however.
I would plead youth as an excuse, except the guys at Red Letter Media are the same age as I am.
It'd be interesting to hear you unpack what you loved about Generations, back in the day. Sometimes that gets to the heart of what appeals, when you can sort out how something clumsy manages to get past all critical barriers (youthful and porous though those barriers might be). What charms me about the RLM guys is their acknowledgement of questionable recall. "Yeah ... I remember thinking that was a really good episode -- back then." It keeps the critique du jour from getting too precious and "authoritative" -- a challenge for those of us skating past the 55-year-old mark.
ReplyDelete>>>>>It'd be interesting to hear you unpack what you loved about Generations, back in the day.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, yeah, how to defend my self on this one, huh?
While, it was 1994. I was 16. I was at the peak of my obsession with Star Trek back in those days. I was sooo hyped up for this movie.
In fact, I was so hyped up for this movie that I couldn't resist reading all about it on the Internet message boards. (Which were in a primitive form, but around back in the 1994.) And so I pretty much knew the whole plot before I went in. And I was really excited about it.
I was at a stage when I was obsessed with continuity and continuing storylines, and I really loved the big event episodes of TNG that made big changes to the universe. These episodes were very few back in those days, because TNG was not really a serialized show, but I wanted a lot more of them.
Generations on paper seemed like the ultimate event episode. Data's emotion chip was coming back, and Data was finally (after 7 years) going to get emotions. The Klingon sisters from the TV show were going to come back.
I was super-hyped for the original series/ next generation cross over. This was something, you may remember, was rumored for years. And now it was finally happening. Sort of.
Nowadays I think all this stuff would be derisively called "Fan Service". (I don't believe that term wasn't in use back then.) But I guess I was young enough, and enough of a nerd, that I was caught up in the fan service.
Plus, the plot just sounded really action packed. It sounded like a thrilling movie.
I remember being super hyped walking into the theater, but feeling slightly figidity and uncomfortable during the middle of the movie. I think this was probably just because I was bored, but at the time I attributed it to being uncomfortable in the theatre seats. It was several more years before I really realized the flaws in this movie.
THE LEAKED SCRIPT!!! OMG, I had forgotten! Yes, that was a HUGE and very exciting digital occurrence back in '94. I had two friends, one in seminary the other finishing his PhD in Philosophy, and that was all they could talk about leading up to the release of the film. I didn't want to know anything going into the film, so they kept mum but assured me I was in for a SUPER time.
ReplyDelete1994 is so long ago I doubt I have an accurate recollection of my emotional response to the first time I watched the movie. I know we went opening night, with a thermos of spiked coffee ('cos we could only get into the super-late show). While we lined up in the cold winter air, a theatre staff member dressed in the Starfleet uniform walked up and down the queue and fielded questions.
I think once it was over I felt much the way I did when I lined up and saw STTMP in the theatre. I'd just seen Star Trek, my beloved show, on the big screen with big special effects. I should be excited, no? So why wasn't I?
Anyhoo, there followed numerous email chains with my geeky friends in which we sorted it all out and came to the conclusion that it was terrible. But it took some time for us to get there also.
Thanks for that little jaunt down Memory Lane, Joel -- such fun!
>>>Thanks for that little jaunt down Memory Lane, Joel -- such fun!
ReplyDeleteLikewise. Good discussion as always