All posts by Jordancyoung

Yep, that definitely tracks.

Maybe I’m a little too old school to see things from the producer’s POV, but to me Starfleet is, and always has been, synonymous with Star Trek. Starfleet IS Trek. Not to say that the greater world of Trek doesn’t have interesting elements beyond the Fleet and the Federation, but to me they still need the anchor of the human experience (through the lense of Starfleet/the Federation) to be interesting. I rapidly lose interest when stories veer too far away from that anchor.

@Baggins you’re right, you can definitely see where this had been intended to be a feature length pilot; I’m not even sure the script was retooled to be a feature, especially with the open ending. To me, it felt and looked like an extended episode of DIS.

Oh, if only “Emissary,” “Caretaker,” or “Broken Bow” could have had this type of budget and effects…

Jadzia, hands down. His one and only Par’Mach’ai.

I’m not an advocate of any series going for seven seasons. Those that did (TNG, DS9, VOY) were not able to maintain consistency all the way through. I would argue that there aren’t more than 100-100 episodes of any of those series (fewest for VOY) that bear rewatching — this doesn’t mean the other 60-70 were bad, just forgettable.

This also doesn’t mean that there weren’t great episodes across all seven seasons of each (less so for TNG; it had the weakest first and seventh seasons of the three); DS9 had a great seventh season, even if the finale was underwhelming. Conversely, VOY had a fantastic finale.

While easier said than done, what I would love to see would be 5 solid, 20-episode seasons of a series that are all killer, no filler. I know this is a tall order, as even the overall very good SNW is only 10 episode seasons (and probably 7-8 “killer,” 2-3 “filler” eps per season).

I like your takes. I did a similar ranking post a few years back, and while I would argue that S5 might be the best overall, honestly 3-5 are so tightly woven together that it really can go either way (I think one could also argue 4, then 3, then 5, or for 5,4,3, etc).

I also agree that S2 is often slept on; it’s definitely better than S7 IMO, not sure that I’d put it above 6, but 6 was overrated and you could see the series beginning with to decline (as you aptly illustrate).

TAS

@Wwclhd you completely nailed it.

Even if those 3 particular episodes aren’t the most representative of their respective series, they are the best episodes of their series. Sure, arguments can be made for “The Inner Light,” “The Visitor,” and even “Timeless” and they would be good arguments. But if someone doesn’t get hooked by “Yesterday’s Enterprise” or “In the Pale Moonlight”? Then I don’t know what to think.

Great selections.

Annorax is a seriously underrated villain in the franchise. Easily the winner of this group. But every role Kurtwood plays is great.

“Best Used by ENT” should’ve been an option.

It’s likely always going to be TMP. Second worst would be TNG S1-2, surprisingly not even one of the choices. DIS 4-5 style does not belong in this category, they actually really nice.

Toss up between TWOK and FC styles, but I had to go TWOK only because they were more unique and formal looking, whereas FC were the evolution of the DS9/VOY, thus not as unique despite being equally awesome.

This movie will never happen.

This film will never happen.

I’m very thankful there was no season 8. Season 7 was already a decline in quality from S6, although it still had a number of good episodes. TNG truly peaked with S3-5, even S6 was a slight decline from those. So ending it after seven years was truly a blessing. It left audiences wanting more and created high demand for just the film series, but DS9 and VOY.

This may be an unpopular take, but I really feel 5 years is the ideal span of series. Not that TNG was written or produced this way, but could you imagine if the writers had collectively mapped out 5 seasons ahead of time and filled them only with the best episodes? There are easily 25-30% of TNG eps that really don’t need to be watched again (the vast majority aren’t “bad,” just forgettable). The same can be said about DS9 and VOY. Think 5 seasons of all killer, no filler; think B5 or Breaking Bad (very different shows, yes, but they ran for 5 years, with a pre-planned story, had very, very few “bad” episodes).

Sometimes less is more.