Star Trek Series I Have Loved

I grew up with Star Trek. As I child I watched the original series on NBC and later when it was stripped into syndication. I’ve faithfully–sometimes out of love, sometimes inertia–watched all of the other series as well. They all have had their moments. Sadly, they also have had their stumbles. Here are my thoughts on each (in chronological order).

Star Trek (TOS)

It all begins with the standard-bearer. The original series (as it’s become to be known) set a very high bar. The Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic was a tour de force in science fiction–it is still a major reason why the series endures and why many of its descendants suffer in comparison. What was especially eye-catching was that while we were engaged in a real-life space race with the Soviets using 60s technology, this show featured tech and gadgets that were so far advanced that it was ridiculous that we’d see their equivalents in our lifetime…much less in 40 years. We also thought we’d have Moon and Mars colonies by now. How naive we were.

As revered as TOS is, the fact is that it wasn’t perfect. It took about 10 episodes for the series to start firing on all cylinders (i.e. in 2010 terms: it would have been cancelled by now). And except for an episode here or there, the fan-forced third season simply didn’t have the depth that the earlier TOS exhibited.

Still, during its halcyon period, TOS was something very special. Many episodes were written by SF authors for a SF-loving audience. Gene Roddenberry (and other producers) would massage those visions into something television-friendly. Perhaps just as importantly, they were given just enough budget to bring much of these visions to the screen.

Among my favorite episodes (in no particular order): “Errand of Mercy”; “The Trouble With Tribbles”; “Balance of Terror”; “Amok Time”; “The Enterprise Incident”; “City on the Edge of Forever”; “Mirror, Mirror”; “The Doomsday Machine”.

Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS)

In the early 70s, we fen, desperate for more Star Trek, were gladdened by the announcement that an animated series with voices done by the original actors was soon to come our way. Our point of view was that any Star Trek was better than no Star Trek. It didn’t take long for us to question that philosophy.

The often-reused cels quickly became tiresome. Even by early-70s standards, it was disappointing. Worse, the voice “acting” was even flatter than the animation. (Don’t even get me started on the unimaginative scoring.) The on-going debate in fandom as to what, if anything, from TAS belonged in the official canon says a lot about how well the show has been received.

What mostly kept me tuning in was Lt. M’Ress. That feline Caitian was sexy as heck. I’ve hoped that she’d show up in a future series, but sadly that has yet to happen.

For me, the best part of TAS were the novelizations by Alan Dean Foster. These were considerably better than the broadcast episodes.

I can’t really list a favorite episode as, for the most part, there are just episodes that are less bad. The one that does stick in my mind simply because I’m a Larry Niven fan is “The Slaver Weapon”. Also since we had Caitians with M’Ress, it made a little sense to have the Kzinti as well.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)

This was the reboot so many had been waiting for…although it took a while for it to show its potential.

The first season of TNG presented the fans with a dilemma: it wasn’t as good as TOS, it was much better than TAS, and there was the feeling that if this show didn’t succeed, that would be the death-knell for the larger franchise. So the fans stuck it out. Hope arrived toward the end of the season with the reintroductions of both the Klingons in episode 20 (Worf doesn’t count at this point–he’s Federation) and, finally, the Romulans in the season finale.

But that first season was rough. We got a prig of a captain, an annoying teen in Wesley (I don’t blame Wil Weaton for this–it was beyond his control), absurd little “threats” in the Ferengi (they got better), and just generally sub-par writing and directing. Still, it was enough.

After stumbling out of the blocks, TNG managed to start hitting its stride in season 2. It wasn’t quite there, as they lost their ginger-haired doctor for a year, but that was happily rectified in the following seasons. The series became a bit of a juggernaut, cementing its place in the Star Trek universe without question.

Unfortunately, as with many series, it began to run out of steam toward the end of its run. For the final 1-1/2 seasons (or so), the show was propelled more by habit than warp nacelles. It speaks volumes that people still wanted more; TNG characters often popped up in the following series.

Amazingly, even with this legacy, TNG isn’t something I typically just plop down and watch. Partly it’s due to the ridiculous technobabble that increasingly filled the pages of the scripts. No, mostly it’s because there is a sort of sameness to a lot of the episodes–more in terms of style than of substance. The Enterprise-D was a pretty mellow ship.

Among my favorite episodes (again, in no particular order, though the first one is definitely my favorite): “Yesterday’s Enterprise”; “The Measure of a Man”; “First Contact”; “The Perfect Mate”; “The Inner Light”; “Legacy”; “Chain of Command, Parts 1 & 2”; “The Neutral Zone”; “The Best of Both Worlds, Parts 1 & 2”; “The Emissary”; “Darmok”

Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (DS9)

Deciding to go in a different creative direction than TOS and TNG, the decision was made to explore what life would be like on a far-off outpost around an alien world: a captured space station re-designated Deep Space 9.

DS9 worked hard in the beginning to capture the imagination of Star Trek fans in particular and SF-genre fans in general. It was a tall order. Unlike TNG, DS9 had direct competition: Babylon 5 (a purpose-built space station outpost situated near an alien world). Combined with Star Trek’s typical slow-start in finding the direction for a series, along with TNG also still being in production, DS9 had perhaps the most difficult birth of any Star Trek series.

Until DS9 changed thematic direction and gave Captain Sisko a space ship of his very own–the small yet nimble Defiant–the series struggled. The very name “Star Trek” implies journeys, action, and adventure. The first seasons of DS9 featured diplomacy and political intrigues. While I applaud the attempt, and think it gave DS9 more fundamental depth than other Trek series, the fact is that it isn’t exactly something you want to tune in to week after week.

As I mentioned, this all changed once Sisko got a ship and could venture forth and be meddlesome (as all good Starfleet captains must). This elevated the series to something you’d think of as being Star Trek. Still, it took a while and there was still that pesky Babylon 5 with its galactic intrigue and massive space battles to contend with.

As solid as DS9 was, there were really only two(-ish) reasons I looked forward to tuning in: Dax and Leeta. These characters added a spark to that stylistic sameness I mentioned with TNG. Dax, first Jadzia and later Ezri added a sense of wonder to the cast of characters that was all-too-often consumed by weary cynicism. And then there was Leeta. Played by the underrated Chase Masterson, Leeta was the woman who liked not being like the other sour-pusses around her. That she was more carefree didn’t mean that she was less intelligent–though it was often perceived as such. At times that was used to her advantage.

Not a lot of episodes stand out for me with DS9, even though I thought it was a strong and complex series. “Trials and Tribble-ations”, “Blood Oath”, “Faces in the Sand” and “Prodigal Daughter” are ones that immediately come to mind.

Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)

Returning to the standard starship-centric formula, Voyager added a twist: being cut off from help. Kathryn Janeway and Voyager are on the opposite side of the galaxy and can’t call in the Federation cavalry when things get dire; they are on their own.

As with DS9, Voyager has a dual existence. In VOY’s case it’s razor-sharp: pre-Seven-of-Nine and with-Seven-of-Nine. The first three season of VOY were marked by a lot of tropes that had afflicted TNG. It helped that there was more contention between the characters, and there was a certain creativity with the episodes that had gone missing with DS9. Also missing, unfortunately, was a foe.

The key for Trek captains is to have some nemesis (or nemeses, if necessary) to give them something to push against. For the first three seasons, Janeway didn’t have that. The initial belligerents, the Kazon, were little more than re-dressed Ferengi who were also less entertaining. But then…the Borg.

Talk about a foe. In the Trekverse, the Borg are without peer. The baddest of the bad. And then Voyager not only stumbles across them but also a species that the Borg fear. Talk about raising the stakes. Herein enters Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix 01. This truly is where VOY begins. It’s the Janeway and Seven show, with a frequent stream of Borg assimilation attempts.

What also helped VOY was that there was a definite goal: get home. Unlike any other Trek series before, there was not only an end point…it was reached. Closure.

Several episodes spring to mind with Voyager (no order): “Scorpion, Parts 1 & 2”; “Non Sequitur”; “One”; “Endgame, Parts 1 & 2”; “Survival Instinct”; “Pathfinder”; “Relativity”

Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT)

Originally just Enterprise, ENT was also saddled with an unfortunate theme song. Some traditions shouldn’t be tampered with and it certainly didn’t help launch the series. The show also had a technological minefield it needed to tread: being set in our future and yet not being more advanced than the universe in TOS (where, if you remember, I mentioned how most of their gee-whiz gadgets we already have now…sometimes even better ones).

This was the prequel. The Star Trek that actually tamped down the paths that Chris Pike and Jim Kirk would later expand. This was humanity’s entry into the galaxy as well as the foundation of the United Federation of Planets. Unfortunately, it was so close on the heels of VOY that the audience was feeling a bit Star Trekked out. It had been fourteen years of non-stop Trek (with overlaps) since TNG’s premiere.

I must confess that ENT has a special place for me. For a little more than 1-1/2 seasons, I was the recapper and analyst/reviewer for ENT on the now long-defunct web site, ScoopMe!. Many of the analyses are now on tv.com. I’ve reposted several of the original recaps/reviews here on TIB.

I liked the evolution of ENT quite a lot. It was cramped and not white-glove clean. We knew things the characters didn’t–and wouldn’t for a century or more. The mission of discovery became one of survival when Earth was attacked directly. This led to the signature Expanse/Xindi storyline. Overall it was new and gave Captain Archer an adventure not unlike what Janeway experienced on VOY. On the downside, the Xindi never really made it as villains. Admittedly, it’s tough to top the Borg but they had a tough time even equaling the Ferengi.

The show probably should have been allowed to continue. It had the quality and the creative care necessary to deserve that. Sadly, it was not to be and it was cancelled after just four seasons.

Except for the Xindi, my only real complaint with the series was the sexualization of T’Pol. Clearly they were catering to the drooling-teen-fanboy demo when they outfitted T’Pol in a Seven-of-Nine catsuit. Seriously, what is it about Trek producers that makes them dress the outcast female regulars in Spandex? Troi. Seven, T’Pol…only Dax seems to have escaped this sartorial legacy. Don’t get me wrong, these women are gorgeous and tight stretchy fabrics are very kind to them, but it irks me how blatant it is. Of all the series, ratings-strapped ENT may have been the worst offender.

Several episodes I enjoy returning to: “E²“; “Carbon Creek”; “Home”; “The Forge” / “Awakening” / “Kir’Shara”; “The Expanse”; “Broken Bow”; “Fallen Hero”.

Final Thoughts

When I first considered this blog post, I thought it was going to be about ranking the series. The fact is that this is a very difficult thing to do. None of the series is without its flaws. For each, those flaws make me want to not rank it in the top position. I can say that TAS is definitely the worst of the lot. That it’s often not included in discussions demonstrates its consistently low standing.

I love all the rest for different reasons. In all honestly, I’m more likely to pop in an episode of VOY, ENT, or TOS before I am of TNG or DS9. Keep in mind that on any given night that tendency will be violated. It’s really more of a case-by-case thing.

I like Seven. I like T-Pol. I like Kirk/Spock/McCoy. I like Tasha. I like Dax (both of ’em). …yes, I’m drawn to strong, iconic, female characters (it could be argued that Kirk/Spock/McCoy–no, let’s not go there). I just am. And no, they don’t have to be buxom or dressed in Lycra (not that there’s anything wrong with that…necessarily). I also like time-travel stories. Many of my episode picks are in that realm as well. I also like tribbles.

Mostly, though, I like good stories that entertain me. If you deliver that, and Star Trek in its myriad incarnations has done well in that area, then I’m satisfied.