RIDDUM_N_STYLE Posted January 16 Posted January 16 Way out my wheelhouse but the past couple of weekends I’ve been watching my way through the documentary series The Center Seat, narrated by TNG’s Gates McFadden, that was done for the 55th anniversary looking at the entire history (to that point) of the franchise. It’s on Prime Video if anyone’s not seen it As a non-Trekkie I’ve been finding it really interesting viewing and some of the anecdotes have surprised me like how Patrick Stewart nearly didn’t get the role of Picard, because he was bald and that a more well know at the time actress was given the role of Janeway in DS9 but found it tough going so they had to call back Kate Mulgrew to fill the role at short notice or the whole production would have gone under Quote
Paid Members johnnyboy Posted January 16 Paid Members Posted January 16 6 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said: a more well know at the time actress was given the role of Janeway in DS9 but found it tough going so they had to call back Kate Mulgrew Yeah, Genevieve Bujold was originally cast as Janeway in Voyager. I cannot imagine this type of performance carrying the series. It feels very low energy. The pictures of Patrick Stewart in Starfleet uniform wearing a syrup are also proof that the right decision was made there. Quote
Paid Members hallicks Posted January 16 Paid Members Posted January 16 Watched a couple of Voyager episodes this week, it’s comfort viewing for me and Mrs H. “Living Witness”, a doctor-heavy one set in the far future where an alien civilisation discovers a backup copy of his program. Nice premise and the guest star is a good hand. And “Before and After”, that starts in the near future and has Kes travelling backwards in time after a medical procedure goes skew-wiff. Lush episode that has no Janeway until 29m 30s and then she gets killed 55 seconds later. Result! Unfortunately due to the great reset at the end of each episode, it’s another one for the great “but why can’t anything interesting happen to the real Voyager crew?” pile. Quote
Paid Members gmoney Posted January 16 Paid Members Posted January 16 (edited) The doctor and Janeway in Voyager are about the only things I enjoyed about it. The rest of the characters/cast are either crushingly dull (Chakotay, Torres, Tuvok) or seemingly designed in every single way to annoy (Neelix). Never got the fuss with 7 of 9 either. Interesting idea played out in a dull way. Edited January 16 by gmoney Quote
Merzbow Posted January 16 Posted January 16 (edited) During my rewatch a few years back I didn't get far into Voyager before getting bored and tapping out, it didn't help that it was *right* after a DS9 rewatch either and that has probably the greatest cast of characters in any sci-fi. Chakotay is especially boring and often feels like it was written in a slightly racist "but not actually an indigenous american" way. Edited January 16 by Merzbow Quote
DavidB6937 Posted January 16 Posted January 16 TNG was my first love, although I enjoyed the occasional dip into TOS. Absolutely adored DS9 and Voyager couldn't compare. Think it just depends what you want from your Star Trek really. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 17 Paid Members Posted January 17 On 1/16/2026 at 11:37 AM, hallicks said: Watched a couple of Voyager episodes this week, it’s comfort viewing for me I'm new to the whole Star Trek thing, but it's already late night comfort viewing for me. In bed, bit of Star Trek on, lovely stuff. I interchance between The Next Generation and Enterprise at the moment. (mid-way through season 2 of TNG, almost at the end of the Season 1 of Enterprise). Quote
Paid Members hallicks Posted January 17 Paid Members Posted January 17 16 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: I'm new to the whole Star Trek thing, but it's already late night comfort viewing for me. In bed, bit of Star Trek on, lovely stuff. I interchance between The Next Generation and Enterprise at the moment. (mid-way through season 2 of TNG, almost at the end of the Season 1 of Enterprise). TNG starts to get much better in S3, enjoy that upward curve. I’ve never got past episode 1 of Enterprise, it’s been on my “need to watch” list for about 20 years. One of these days… Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 17 Paid Members Posted January 17 to be honest, spending an hour every evening with T'Pol and Hoshi is doing it for me. I've read that multiple times about TNG, what changes exactly? I'm enjoying it as is, so it bodes well for me. Quote
Paid Members johnnyboy Posted January 17 Paid Members Posted January 17 4 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: I've read that multiple times about TNG, what changes exactly? The uniforms, a little cast tweak and a run of absolute classic episodes. Quote
Paid Members hallicks Posted January 17 Paid Members Posted January 17 1 hour ago, Egg Shen said: I've read that multiple times about TNG, what changes exactly? I think it’s Michael Piller coming in as show runner and a more settled writers room including yer 90s trek bastions Ronald D Moore, Brannon Braga etc. Quote
CavemanLynn Posted January 17 Posted January 17 Although he was obviously the father of the show, I think Gene Roddenberry stepping back factored into it too. Some of the episodes (and wardrobe!) of the first season wouldn't have been out of place in TOS, whereas I remember even early season two feeling like a much more modern show. Quote
Chico Torres Posted January 17 Posted January 17 I’m sure this has been discussed in the thread so apologies for not going through it all but I have recently been watching and enjoying Strange New Worlds. I used to be into TNG and Deep Space Nine in the 90s and didn’t really watch any Star Trek until a few years ago when I watched Picard season 3 which wasn’t great but the nostalgia alone was enough to spark my interest. So 2 questions; Is Discovery worth getting into? I’ve seen ads for Starfleet academy, any good? It looks a little too much like Dawson’s Creek in space for my liking but what’s the consensus? Quote
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted January 17 Author Paid Members Posted January 17 Season 3 of Enterprise is brilliant. There are a few other interesting episodes as well. I forget the name of it, but there's one where T'Pol and Archer are trapped in the 90s because Archer has suffered a brain injury and is unable to form new memories, so T'Pol is pretty much his carer. One where they find the crashed Borg Sphere from First Contact and works as a prequel to the TNG second season episode Q Who. There are some good episodes in the 4th season as well, including the actual finale with Peter Weller as the villain. That "epilogue" gubbins with Riker pretending he's the chef and Troi's accent slipping like Bambi on ice is a load of toss, though. You can skip that. I loved Strange New Worlds. Pike is brilliant, but so are the rest of the crew around him. Presumably it's going to end with Pike getting assigned to the arcademy and Kirk being given command of the Enterprise. Discovery was fine, but suffered a bit too much from being the Michael Burnham show until they made it to the future when it was a little bit less the case. There are episodes in the first couple of seasons that really suffer due to trying to get us to invest in a character that had been given a name, but not really anything to do up to that point, and was suddenly the main focus of an episode. Almost as if Skin of Evil had been about Chief O'Brien instead of Tasha Yar, or if perennial helmsperson Ensign Gates was suddenly thrust into the limelight. There are episodes where it's Star Trek, and they're interesting. It's not a bad show, but it can be interminable dull. Give Lower Decks a watch. Yes it's crass and full of stupid jokes, but it still feels like a Star Trek show, and the jokes rarely, if ever, detract from the main plot of the episode. Loads of easter eggs as well. Quote
Paid Members johnnyboy Posted January 17 Paid Members Posted January 17 5 hours ago, Chico Torres said: Is Discovery worth getting into? It has its moments. I still haven't finished the last season even though I paid actual money for it and bought it to watch. Maybe it finishes with a real flourish. Quote
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