It’s really Netflix’s fault. I mean if Season 6 of TNG was not on a short wait, and they would not have sent me disc 1 of Voyager season 1, and I would not be having this problem. Let me back up.
I am a recent convert to Trekdom. Although I had watched all the movies and occasional episodes of the various series here and there, I really didn’t know much about the series. This summer, I decided that if I really wanted to understand the world of Star Trek, I needed to watch the entire series.
Now I tried watching The Original Series, I really tried, but despite my love for the characters and The Original Series movies, I could not make it past the first couple episodes… and since I knew I wanted to watch them in chronological order, that meant The Next Generation was next.
Overall, I have loved The Next Generation. Sure there have been boneheaded episodes, and the first season felt like it was trying to establish its footing, but isn’t that true of almost any new series? By the end of season 5, I felt like I was visiting family every time I popped in a new episode. The cliffhanger at the end of the season left me anticipating the arrival disc 1 of season 6.
But it never came. Short wait thing and all. What arrived instead was the beginning of the Voyager series. And I discovered something I wasn’t aware of.
The characters of TNG had become stale. When the Janeway crew walked across my screen, it was like someone had open the window in a stuffy room with stale air. Perhaps it was the bickering and disagreements among the crew, or perhaps it was the Farscape premise of being thrown into a galaxy far, far away with the crew trying to get home. Whatever the reason, I found that I could not stop watching Voyager and blew through disc 1 in a day. I was free at last from Picard’s regime.
Now this doesn’t mean I am not going to finish watching TNG, but I am really, REALLY looking forward to Voyager.
How has everyone else found the transition from TNG to Voyager? Am I wacko and off base or is there something to what I am experiencing? Let me know your thoughts!
Scott
Fancy Fembot November 24, 2010
It’s surprising to hear that you like Voyager at all. I think that you liking it more than TNG is because VOY is more modern & therefore accessible. Picard’s Enterprise is stuffy & ridgid. Sometimes their interpretation of the Prime Directive is so rigid that it can appear foreign to a modern viewer.
Heads up, if you ever decide to give DS9 a chance the first season is hard to get through. By the third season, you’ll be hooked. I do recommend going back & viewing TOS & TNG, you get valuable information about Starfleet culture & the different aliens through out the galaxy.
Scott November 24, 2010 — Post Author
Keep in mind I am only through the first disc. It could go downhill from there. 8^) Perhaps the modernism in VOY does have the greater appeal, but it is the stuffy, rigid atmosphere on TNG that perhaps is more my issue and because of it, how stilted the relationships seem to be.
Mind you, I do really like TNG and cannot wait to begin season 6.
That was the way I felt about TNG. It takes a bit for some shows to establish themselves. I hear DS9 has more of a consistent story line and is not as episodic. If so, I am looking to see how Star trek works in that setting.
Well, I am planning of finishing TNG. No plans on watching TOS at the moment, but perhaps I place it back in my line up sometime. Thanks for your input and thoughts!
Scott
Caitlin November 24, 2010
First a tiny bit of background: I am a 22 year old girl – so a year or two younger than TNG itself. But I remember watching with my mom TNG in the later seasons and being four years old. I was really excited to watch it, so excited that I would DANCE to the theme music. But I almost never saw a full episode because my bed time was a half hour in. 🙂
I wasn’t into Star Trek when I got older but I did go see the movies when they came out with my mom. Fast forward to College and I find Voyager on Youtube. I start watching from the beginning and fell in love with the characters. They feel realer to me. I prefer them to TNG because I think more of the main cast was fleshed out sooner than TNG’s. (With the exception of Chakotay compared to Riker)
And the fact that there were 2 strong female characters right off the bat helped. Looking back to TNG I realized that Deanna and Beverly were the weakest characters and whenever one was the main character of an episode the other was almost non-existent. There is a time difference of around 8 years between TNG and Voyager. And I’ll admit that the two TNG females did get stronger in later TNG episodes. But Voyager had Jeri Taylor as a co-creator so I think that’s one of the major reasons why there was a lot of female character development right from the start.
Anyway long story short, Voyager is my favorite series, but I still have a place for TNG, especially the later seasons.
Audrey July 20, 2011
i am currently on the last season of Voyager (i have the series on DVD)… and it’s my favorite series. i grew up watching TNG, but Voyager is my favorite as well as my daughters. i also have enterprise on dvd, so i think i will watch that one again after voyager is over…