Statistics Saturday: How Many Good Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation I Figured There Were Versus Time
There was a lot of time spent the first two seasons saying, “No, really, this is at least as good as the space hippies episode of the Original Series, right? Please, I need this to be a better episode than this actually is.”
Not depicted: that day in 1997 when the Internet noticed the episode where Dr Crusher has sex with her grandmother’s candle-ghost; and that day in 2000 when I noticed the Federation kicked the Cardassians out of alliance with them and into the Dominion’s arms. So, good job, warhawks, in making things worse, as ever.
Next Generation does make up a surprisingly great amount of my short-form commentary around here. I guess it’s just hit that sweet spot of being familiar enough to say anything about but remote enough that people can see where it got goofy without taking it personally.
There are actually some good episodes in it. No, I swear. But there’s also this kind of neat tone where they were trying to make a show that couldn’t be the Original Series. Like, look at the characters’ positions: the only roles that are identical to those from Original Trek were the Captain and the Chief Medical Officer. They undid a lot of that in the second and third seasons and while the show got generally better, it also lost some of its distinctive flavor.
But yeah, the first season is mostly stories that might have been good if they hadn’t been smothered in this layer of “written for an undemanding after-school kids toy-cartoon show”.
Another Blog, Meanwhile 
What is this I have stumbled upon? A Joseph Nebus non-math humor blog? With Next Gen jokes? This is amazing.
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Aw, well, thank you. Hope you enjoy.
Next Generation does make up a surprisingly great amount of my short-form commentary around here. I guess it’s just hit that sweet spot of being familiar enough to say anything about but remote enough that people can see where it got goofy without taking it personally.
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I concur with your analysis, Joseph! I have tried to block out the first season altogether, with some success.
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There are actually some good episodes in it. No, I swear. But there’s also this kind of neat tone where they were trying to make a show that couldn’t be the Original Series. Like, look at the characters’ positions: the only roles that are identical to those from Original Trek were the Captain and the Chief Medical Officer. They undid a lot of that in the second and third seasons and while the show got generally better, it also lost some of its distinctive flavor.
But yeah, the first season is mostly stories that might have been good if they hadn’t been smothered in this layer of “written for an undemanding after-school kids toy-cartoon show”.
LikeLiked by 1 person