» Reviews

Season 1

Season 1 Overview
1x01 Encounter at Farpoint (1)
1x02 Encounter at Farpoint (2)
1x03 The Naked Now
1x04 Code of Honor
1x05 The Last Outpost
1x06 Where No One Has Gone Before
1x07 Lonely Among Us
1x08 Justice
1x09 The Battle
1x10 Hide and Q
1x11 Haven
1x12 The Big Goodbye
1x13 Datalore
1x14 Angel One
1x15 11001001
1x16 Too Short a Season
1x17 When The Bough Breaks
1x18 Home Soil
1x19 Coming of Age
1x20 Heart of Glory
1x21 The Arsenal of Freedom
1x22 Symbiosis
1x23 Skin of Evil
1x24 We'll Always Have Paris
1x25 Conspiracy
1x26 The Neutral Zone

Season 2

2x01 The Child
2x02 Where Silence Has Lease
2x03 Elementary, Dear Data
2x04 The Outrageous Okona
2x05 Loud as a Whisper
2x06 The Schizoid Man
2x07 Unnatural Selection
2x08 A Matter of Honor
2x09 The Measure of a Man
2x10 The Dauphin
2x11 Contagion
2x12 The Royale
2x13 Time Squared
2x14 The Icarus Factor
2x15 Pen Pals
2x16 Q Who?
2x17 Samaritan Snare
2x18 Up The Long Ladder
2x19 Manhunt
2x20 The Emissary
2x21 Peak Performance
2x22 Shades of Gray

» Details

» Series : The Next Generation
» Episode Title : Season One: Overview
» Episode Reference : 1x00
» Aired : 1987-1988

» Author : Richard Lyth

» Synopsis

None

» Review

When TNG was first broadcast, 15 years ago, it was one of a kind, the only serious science-fiction drama around. As such, its flaws could be overlooked by simple virtue of the fact that there was nothing else out there. But since that time there have been a huge number of SF programmes made - DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, Babylon 5, Stargate, Farscape, Lexx, Andromeda, the list goes on. So how does the first season of TNG look now, in the wake of everything that came after it?

The feel of the show is a lot more simplistic than it would become - virtually every episode begins with Picard's "Captain's log.." voiceover (very useful for quickly setting up the story) and ends with the crew on the bridge, with Picard usually saying "Engage" before the ship warps off into the distance. Towards the end they do begin to break away from this format a little, though, and there's certainly nothing wrong with having a basic structure to work from, so this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The model shots are all quite basic as well, meaning the Enterprise can do little more than orbit a planet or pass beneath the camera - certainly no room for sophisticated battles like DS9 or Voyager would later have. But then, there is very little combat anyway - the Enterprise is a ship of exploration and peaceful contact, and battles are few and far between. In fact, this is probably the most peaceful year of any Trek show ever - the Klingons are friendly, the Romulans are absent, the Borg and Cardassians are yet to appear, so there's no serious conflict at all. It's probably the purest depiction of a Utopian society we're every likely to get.

In comparison to later Trek series, there is a refreshing lack of technobabble - technology just works, and they don't feel the need to make up any vaguely scientific-sounding words to justify it. The holodeck is a prime example - later seasons would see it operating like a computer, only running the programs which are loaded into it; but in season one you can request any environment from any planet in any time period, and it is miraculously created for you down to the last detail. It seems like magic, as do the replicators and the transporters for that matter, and when future seasons try to explain the scientific principles behind all these things, they do lose some of their appeal.

Many aspects are similar to those in the original series, which at the time was probably necessary to keep the old fans watching but now seem like amusing throwbacks to the Sixties. For example, the studio sets used to simulate alien planets look just as unconvincing as they did in TOS (although to be fair this was well before the days of virtual computer-generated landscapes). And the female crew members wandering around the background in minidresses can be quite distracting at times, though not half as distracting as all the female guest stars in even more revealing TOS-style outfits. I'm guessing this is all down to Gene Roddenberry's influence. And if so, good for him! :-)

Unlike later series, there is no Ten-Forward for the crew to hang out in, so we mainly just see them on duty, which doesn't leave much room for character development. Worf and Geordi are particularly ill-served - Worf is a silent, snarling thug who doesn't even have a proper job till Tasha dies, and Geordi is employed mainly for what his VISOR can see (which would be more or less forgotten about once he became chief engineer). Data is naive and childlike to an extent which can be sometimes irritating, but for the most part he is as engaging and intriguing as ever. Wesley is an annoying precocious brat, and Tasha's only decent episode is the one where she dies. But Picard, Riker and Beverley are much the same as they would always be, providing a strong base for the show to go forward on.

As to the quality of the individual episodes, many are somewhat dull and a few are downright appalling, but a decent amount stand out from the crowd, although many of these would probably be nothing special if compared to future seasons. So I've divided them into three categories, loosely labelled Good, Bad and Average - if I do this for the remaining seasons once they come out on DVD as well, then it will be possible to compare the scores of each season to see which is the most consistent. Or something.

GOOD: The Naked Now, Where No-One Has Gone Before, The Big Goodbye, Datalore, 11001001, Coming of Age, Symbiosis, Heart of Glory, Conspiracy, The Neutral Zone

AVERAGE: Encounter At Farpoint, Lonely Among Us, The Last Outpost, The Battle, Hide And Q, Justice, Home Soil, The Arsenal of Freedom, Skin of Evil

BAD: Code of Honor, Haven, Too Short A Season, When The Bough Breaks, We'll Always Have Paris

So, that's 10 good, 9 average and 5 bad, which is really quite respectable for the first season of any show. How will later seasons fare? Watch this space...