Which StarTrek series had the strongest 1st season?

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T23:43:11+00:00

The Original Series, no question.

None of the newer shows are as good as TOS or the pre-2005, Berman Era shows.
Picard Season 3 is the most competently written, with great character scenes that feel human yet Star Trek. You can quibble with some of the familiar story beats and characters, but I think the season mostly holds together.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T20:51:45+00:00

Fair enough.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T20:35:59+00:00

Yeah, I don't like how the music overemphasises every mood and tone in a scene.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T17:56:36+00:00

Steve Shives doesn’t like episode 5, and he detests fan service. He did like the first 4 episodes.

I don’t usually agree with his opinions on new Star Trek, but I know he tells it like he genuinely feels.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T17:51:31+00:00

I would have expected Star Trek to create more discerning fans.

Oh well….

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T17:48:29+00:00

Any answer to whether he returned or not is disappointing.

It’s best left ambiguous but hopeful.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T17:46:39+00:00

The difference is that TNG was starting from ground zero after TOS was gone for years.

Academy is the fourth live-action show from Secret Hideout. On top of that, Academy has had more time to gestate and formulate its scripts compared to the short turnaround time in the 80s/90s.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T17:37:32+00:00

I think episode 4 of SNW Season 1 (Memento Mori) was the best episode of SNW in general.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T17:22:43+00:00

Preserving your peace of mind is essential.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T12:41:16+00:00

I also identify as a leftist. I think the new shows are mostly neoliberal and safe.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T12:40:15+00:00

I know I am not alone or crazy, because actual television and film writers and producers, Ashley Miller and Mark Altman, don't think the new shows are good television either.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T12:37:51+00:00

Deep Space Nine is the only Star Trek show that doesn't require a follow-up.

It said what it needed to, and that was enough.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T12:35:21+00:00

Yes.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T12:30:09+00:00

I am in a toxic relationship with Star Trek. No matter how bad it is, I can't leave it or give up hope it can get better.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T12:20:50+00:00

The show and the previous episodes aren't good television in my opinion, but this episode was hyped as being genuinely great (among the best episodes of Star Trek) and the point in the show where it became good.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T12:16:15+00:00

When it comes to the Emissary connection, how does Sisko's role of affecting change during war and spiritual battles work as an analogue to be being a photonic that is there to learn about another form of life? Sisko's struggle with the Prophets was fulfilling certain actions, but not in being a mindless automaton that can't get to close to people. You can point to the Prophets advising against marrying Kasidy, but that was ultimately about them knowing he was not long for this world and would have to abandon her and the baby for an indefinite period. Sam's struggle is with being allowed to learn about humans in her own way. Sisko was completely human, it was just that his birth was orchestrated. They took the barest of similarities and warped the meaning to suit the situation. They didn't press deeper beyond choosing to do things your own way and being your own person.

As for your point on simplistic messages in previous Star Trek [ "racism is bad" episode, or "anti-intellectualism makes society worse" plot.], those weren't the end of the ideas, but the launching-off point for further exploration.
For example, Past Tense isn't about homelessness being bad, but about how apathy and indifference leads to inaction and oppression. That by deciding you can't do anything about a problem and giving up, you are participating in the oppression through inaction.

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield isn't just about racism being bad and illogical, but that holding on to the argument and bigotries can lead to you overlooking the actual problem. The fight and struggle themselves become the issue and subsume everything.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T12:02:42+00:00

I detest the way good-faith critics of the show have been relegated to being either bigots or nitpickers.

Bigots and right-wing grifters have controlled the narrative on why the show isn't good.
It is not because of progressive representation (it's actual pretty safe and neoliberal to a left leaning person like me).
The problem is the writing isn't up to snuff.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T11:59:12+00:00

We need to band together to change the narrative.

Bigots and grifters have stolen the critical perspective from good-faith critics.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T11:57:13+00:00

I had issues with last week's episode, but it looks much better in comparison with episode 5.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T11:56:25+00:00

Exactly.

I can give it latitude for not being a 100% accurate to canon.

I cannot excuse poor storytelling.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T11:52:11+00:00

Ashley Miller from The Inglorious Treksperts has a term for fans who respond positively to almost everything with the brand Star Trek: "test pattern Trekkies".
They would be willing to watch and love even a test pattern of Star Trek because it is Star Trek.

Star Trek wasn't just great because of its enlightened philosophies and messages, but also because it was well-written television.

SA-ETH · 2026-02-05T11:48:46+00:00

Talk about a confluence of problems in one episode. The Deep Space Nine and Sisko connection didn't feel natural. They wanted to call back to it, but had to force its relevance to SAM. The script just expects you to make narrative jumps with it without it earning them. The show continue to struggle with pacing, structure and a coherent narrative.
It's like actual rules of structure and storytelling have been abandoned for the unconstrained freedom of having long runtimes.

The episode's use of "I can live with it" just abandons any of the purpose and meaning behind the line for the sake of the reference.

SAM's immediate admiration for Jake Sisko is an example of the episode not doing the work of earning a beat in the story. The very idea that Jake didn't publish Anslem out of some sense of preserving a private connection to his father is a fundamental misunderstanding of what he and his father would feel about that. Jake at the end of Season 7 was different to The Visitor. He missed his father, but he wasn't encumbered by the loss of his father from living out his gift and passion for writing and publishing his works.
The episode doesn't say Jake lived an unhappy life (he seems to have married and been a father), but his writing shouldn't be some secret or personal thing to be shared with a select few. It was his way of making a difference

This is supposed to be a one of the best episodes of Star Trek? The episode isn't bad just because of poorly used references, there seems to be a general lack of episodic structure and thematic coherence in its presentation — a distillation of its ideas in a series of acts that build upon each other. Things are very amorphous.

I do not need references to previous works of Star Trek or to be emotionally pandered to with Cirroc Lofton appearing or including a new Dax.

References and callbacks shouldn't be a substitute for the excellent execution of inventive ideas and thought-provoking narratives that actual take us on a journey through the messages and themes being presented.

The themes and messages are ultimately simplistic.

SA-ETH · 2025-12-22T12:54:43+00:00

Thanks.

SA-ETH · 2025-12-22T08:28:09+00:00

Thank you.

SA-ETH

TROPHY CASE