TransporterMalfunction

Hi there Xenexian

Alterego has hit the nail on the head on my intended meaning of the word monster. The term "monster of the week" simply means the introduction of more exotic aliens that look a little less like humans with ridges on their head or nose, as I'm sure that it would all be a bit more exciting if aliens in the mold of the M113 creature and the gorn were introduced. I noticed that you mentioned the Horta, which shows that the use of these sort of designs of aliens can really have an impact on the quality of the episode, and this is highlighted in Devil in the Dark as I do not think it would be as effective if the Horta were just a man.

If you mean recurring babe then I had to go for Miss Dax. But for me the best all time babe between is that Russian girl in Way to Eden (the only reason I watch that episode!) and the little blond that Yeoman Rand introduced to Charlie Evans, whom he then proceeded to turn into a lizard (silly boy!).

Ok I know what you will all say: "We love them all". But you must have one that you like or watch the most. Mine has to be TOS because it had great scripts, even if the look of the show was not always realised. TNG comes second place, then Enterprise, Voyager and finally DS9.

So what do you think?

ok can any one answer this for me.......

I have been watching Enterprise and something has cought my eye. 

the klingons. their facial  ridges!!  I dont know why but it bugs me.

If you watch tos they dont have the ridges then in ds9 Worf  says something about the change and how it is imbarassing to talk about. 

ok so here is my question....how come enterprise klingons look like tng + klingons if enterprise is befor kirk on the time line?

can any one help me understand?

Its simply down to the fact that TOS never had the budget to create a recurring alien race that used too much make-up. The way I think about the issue is just to ignore it and focus on the quality of the script, which is the most important thing!

I agree with you point that character development can be important to some degree, but my personal preference is to slip a bit in here and there between, what I call, real sci-fi episodes. I never really minded about the episodes devoted to characterisation and the personal development of them, but I found it was a bit too much in DS9. But then it is all down to personal taste.

Don't worry Bakula Bird, I actually agree with you. I think that TNG was actually at its strongest in the first three years (mind you, it was fairly strong all the way). Other examples of series that have started strong are:

1/ Star Trek TOS

2/ The X-Files

3/ Dark Skies (but then it did only last one season. Great show)

4/ The Twilight Zone (again, it was a good show all the way through it's reign, but it did get weaker towards the end)

5/ The Outer Limits 1990s version

Can you think of any more?

But then I suppose it is all down to personal taste as I for one always found DS9 as dull as ditchwater and thought Voyager was a cure for Insomnia towards the end.

By the way, I think Enterprise is way better than DS9 or Voyager. But Kirk is still the man!

I too would like to see more monster species on ENT, especially if the monsters are somehow symbolic to the dark sides of humanity.

 

Hypothetically, what if TOS had so many creature features as a result of the area of space being explored, (?) you know primitive, what if on ENT they were to encounter another pocket of space which was similarly inhabited. This could lead to a rash of crewpersons deaths and up the danger factor. 

 

Is that like what you had in mind with this post, I hope so cause I have been trying to think of a way to ask this myself.

Perhaps, but then the Gorn (lizard creature) was meant to have a high tech ship. I just think we need more things like that. Perhaps the M 113 creature could make an appearance?

I think the basis of my argument is that I would like Enterprise to be more like TOS, and by that I do not mean in terms of Red sets and bright uniforms (as I think the sets on Enterprise are cool, not so keen on the uniforms) but in terms of script, plot lines, creature features, stand alone episodes (as too many two-parters can really murder a show sometimes), the odd murder and perhaps the female crew members could wear mini skirts, perhaps. :devil:

Well, i did not like Catspaw. Mostly because i thought that Sylvia was such a woff woff. SHe claim that she could be all women to Kirk, and then she turns into three or four of the most hideous looking women there ever were.

Yuck!

Come on, the cat thing was fairly cool!

Way to Eden is the worst for me. Yeah Brother

Did you hear the rumour that Saddam or some of the members of his regime could be held up in the Russian Embassy. I hope it is not true, now the French embassy I could imagine! :)

Seriously though, it would mean quite a bit of trouble if it were true.

I was wondering what people's views were on the introduction of a "alien/monster of the week" format for Enterprise. This format was often used in TOS and in the first few years of TNG, and while I do not think it should be done every week I would like to see more of that sort of thing on the show.

If this were to be adopted then I think we would have to have a little bit more variation in the design of alien make-up, by this I mean that there should be less ridge headed aliens and more people in costumes or different coloured people.

I would also like to see the death count rise because these people are meant to be discovering strange new worlds which I would have though included more danger than currently being experienced!

Scores of Iraqi civilians stood by, cheering and throwing their shoes (Showing the soles of your shoes is considered the greatest insult to an enemy in the Arab world.) at the fallen statue while as many as could fit atop the effigy of the fallen dictator, danced merrily.

Doesn’t that make politicians like Tony Benn and all those socialists who took to protesting in London look a bit silly, mind you these people probably think that Communist Russia was the “Great Experiment”. Today we have proof that the actions of the British and US Governments have the support of the Iraqi people, a people who have suffered at the hands of a ruthless dictator who would have certainly executed many more people than the current civilian causalities from this conflict.

I wonder why the French, Germans and Russians are holding a private conference in Russia.

If the producers of a new Trek film decided that they were to make a new TNG film, but (like with ST2) develop a stroy from the series. What story would you pick?

My choice would be a return of the aliens from Conspiracy or a return from Q.

However, could the fans alone support a movie enough for it to be a huge success?  I doubt it.

Well, let me put it this way, if the producers of Star Trek were to fly against popular opinion of their fan base then that might alienate many of these people who would come and see your film just because it was a Star Trek movie (Not a wise move, I sure you'd agree).

TNG was the last ST series that Gene created and my personal view is that they deserve a better send off than Nemesis, which is a long way from concluding one of the most successful series in recent years as it sets up too many threads for another film.

I also can not see how the solution to an average taking at the box office is to replace well known actors such as Patrick and Brent with the relative unknowns from the later series. With Patrick doing so well with the X-Men it is clear that his inclusion in a leading role of a ST film would pull in the X-Men audience as well.

I believe that TNG has a lot of life left in it and am not ready to give up on them just because one film did not do too well overall (I believe it did quite will in the UK). What we need for the new film is a solid TNG story and a good director. SO, WHOS WITH ME?! :)

If everyone wants another TNG film then why do you suggest a mixed cast film? That is not logical.

I say give the fans what they want, which is TNG. It is also a safer bet for the studio as it contains better known actors and better known with the general public, therefore it would make more money. :)

I agree that TNG's first couple of seasons had many great episodes but it wasn't until season 3 that the exploration of who these people were started in earnest.  I have heard the first season described as "alien of the week" stuff.  Season 2 was hampered by the writers' strike so a lot of TOS episode ideas that had been shelved were re-written for TNG. 

 

I have been watching Enterprise a lot more of late and what I have seen I have really enjoyed.  I'm glad new episodes are on again.

I suppose if you are looking for episodes that are largely devoted to characterisation, then I agree that you have to look at the latter seasons of TNG. However, I always liked that monster of the week feel that was so dominant in TOS, I do like the odd episode that's main focus is a particular character and their relationships with the others, but for me science fiction is more about sci-fi concept and adventure than soap opera style exploration of characters (which is why I am not a big fan of DS9).

I would have to say that I am in favour of a new TRON film. The first was great and there is so much potential for a new one.

...END OF LINE...

Lawrence of Arabia

I think it's just a matter of giving it time. Time to get to know the characters and feel comfortable with them. Even the mighty TNG took 3 seasons to really get into it's stride

I always thought that the first three years of TNG were among the best of the show, with such episodes as:

Datalore

11001001

Too Short a Season (must be in my top ten of TNG)

Arsenal of Freedom

Skin of Evil

Conspiracy

Where Science Has Lease

A Matter of Honor

Measure of a Man

Contagion

The Royal

Q Who?

Peak Performance

Yesterdays Enterprise.

Many people consider these (among many others) to be classics and they were all in the first 3 years of the show. Anyway, who cares TNG always was great, except when they started using that boring musical score that can be heard in Descent.

I think that the next Star Trek film should be a Next Generation film. I have many reasons for my belief that the torch should not be passed on, but my major reason would have to be that I believe that TNG contains the a better set of actors than the alternatives, people such as Patrick and Brent are two actors who add depth to a character that others can not. I also think it would be sad if we were never again to see a film involving characters that Gene had created himself and it could be argued that TNG has been the most successful ST series to date, hence it would pull in a larger audience than the later Treks.

Perhaps this call for a new crew for the next film can be attributed to the fact that they are more recent and that people feel that TNG is a bit old. However, I for one feel that TNG is superior to all the later Treks (coming just behind TOS) and that the ditching of this crew would only facilitate any downfall that Trek may be experiencing as they would not pull in the casual viewer to the cinema.

However, the most important factor for me is that I really love TNG and enjoy their adventures in a way that I have found hard with DS9 or Voyager, and to be honest I just want more!

So, do any of you other Trekies agree with me/disagree with me? What are your thoughts on the matter?

P.S. The Next Generation ROCKS :)

Sorry, I afraid that I don't follow the trend of thinking Enterpise is rubbish. I have actually gone out and spend a lot of money on all the Enterprise tapes so far, the last time I collected so many was with TNG.

To be honest I think that its a good idea to get people who are not all too familar with Trek, although I would make the watch TOS, but only that series. The reason I say this is due to my belief that when you watch a show or write for that show, you become a part of it and it becomes a part of you, hence it can be hard to think of new ideas without thinking back to a previous story.

I think this idea of Bermans is all part of trying to create a new style for Trek which I think is needed, but if I were in his position I would be trying to balance new ideas with the style TOS plotting and general feel of script.

Anyway I am actually quite happy with Enterprise, but if I had to make some suggestings on how to make it better I would say:

1/ More Green Slave Girls doing their cool dancing :devil:

2/ More simplistic alien makeup i.e. not so many aliens with loads of ridges on their heads, lets go back to old Trek and just have normal people in different colours or someone in a monster costume.

3/ Lots more deaths in the lower ranks (feeling a bit bloodthirsty today!)

4/ More transporter accidents, and I say this because the transporter is meant to be a new thing on the show yet we have not had many stories about it going wrong

5/ The basis of the show should be around the four main characters i.e. Archer, T'Pol, Tucker and Reed.

6/ Get rid of Mayweather simply because I think his character is dull as ditchwater.

7/ Some more cloud creatures, robot creatures, brain sucking creatures ... the list goes on and on

8/ Seeing as we have a developed future for the ST universe, why not use it and have a story where a ship from the future is found then goes back to the future

9/ Have some sort of time loop or something like that so that the events of the series never happened, therefore no continuity problems!

See, problems all sorted!

South-west England

Shouting at us won't help.

 

I know because I tried that when TOS movies ended.

 

Everyone all busted up over the possibility of the TNG ending needs to realise they are not the first ones to have Trek they really care for taken away from them.

 

It has happened to me, lets see... 1 TOS, 2 TOS movies, 3TNG series, 4DS9..... thats it, 4 time's! (5 if it is the end for TNG, I really did not shed a tear for VOY) 4 time's Trek I loved has been snatched away from me.

 

Please try to deal with it with a little more grace.

Sorry about that, got a bit carried away with discovering the font, size and colour combo boxes.

I love TOS and I personally think that their films are the best, the closest TNG came was with First Contact. If I thought we could get more TOS then I would give them my vote before you could say "The Wrath of Kahn", but it can never happen without the best fictional Doctor ever.

I have really enjoyed the TNG films (even Insurection!) and want to see more as there is still life left in the old girl. I know its down to personal taste but I never really got into DS9 or Voyager for reasons that I could go into but would take quite a while and its not my intention to slaughter what other Star Trek fans may like. However I could not see myself being as excited for a Voyager or DS9 film in the same way and in my opinion we have some great actors in TNG combined with the fact that it is the last real connection we really have with the creator.

TNG films are too good to finish now and I am not ready to give up on them, even if I was the only person in the cinema.

I would be more in favour in seeing Paul McGann again in a television series with a fair budget. However, like Alterego stated, this should not go before good scripts and story lines. As far as the TV Movie working from the established history of the show, I would say that it strayed enough for it not to matter if they had continued with the original script, I mean, the Doctor is half human, what a load of continuity killing rubbish. On the positive side, I thought that the action element did remarket the show to the modern audience who by now have become accustomed to the random and crass violence seen in Buffy.

If Who is made again it needs to be a prime time show with the ability to compete with shows such as Buffy or Stargate SG1, low budget stuff looks fine when you put it into perspective of the time it was made, but to appeal to the mass audience of today you have to have better special effects and sets that don't move when someone touches it. BUT quality must always be there in the scripts, which is why TOS rules over the world of sci-fi.

Doctor Who is the best example of British television sci-fi and has been totally dumped by the BBC after that terrible television movie. I like Doctor Who because it is different to other sci-fi shows (unlike the many Star Trek or Star Wars rip-offs that can be seen) and I think it would still be able to find a place in the current market if it were to have the right actors, directors, producers and a large enough budget to compete with the popular trash that is spat out today such as the very poor series called Buffy or Angel (what a load of rubbish! But perhaps that has no weight from a person who believes that warp drive will one day be a reality).

Anyway, I just wanted to get your opinions on Doctor Who and if you think it should come back with a new series. Many thanks.