Target Audience / UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S1E1&2

Obviously i'm watching this full reaction 15 months later. You guys are currently on Season 5. When Alex said he'd love Q in anything, the word Q-Pid comes to mind lol. Also you talked about Picard being more serious and military like than Kirk, according to something Marina Sirtis has said at several conventions, the whole main 7 in the cast used to love joking around. In her words, 'Baldy, sorry Sir Baldy was a bit stuck up his own bum at first, but after a few months became even more giggly than the rest of us'.

jon bolton

2025-01-23 05:14:13 +0000 UTC

I also noticed the remaster has an error in the effects during the saucer separation scene. In the bit where we see the shot from underneath the ship right as the saucer is separating, the starfield they used was flowing in the wrong direction. It's like the background they'd use for the angle looking at the back of the ship over the nacelle. The flow of the stars makes it seem like the ship is drifting "upward".

Timothy Nikiforovs

2024-06-14 08:49:18 +0000 UTC

This is probably the weakest pilot of Trek's "golden era", and it's hardly one of TNG's better episodes, but it is at least a pilot. Man Trap was just a random ep that happened to air first. The Cage was an ok pilot to a show we never got. WNMHGB at least gave you a clue as to the kinds of philosophical stories Trek would tackle, but half the crew was missing. Corbomite Maneuver would probably have worked better as a pilot. Certainly having seen all of TNG the exposition stands out a lot more. First time around it does a good job introducing the audience to the characters and the ship and the tech, but it can be rather quaint after you know all that stuff, and the ways in which people and things change from how EaF presents them. Regarding the Enterprise D, we got a pretty good showcase of the various areas of the ship as well as it's capabilities. The holodeck obviously renders the shore leave planet obsolete, and opens up a ton of story possibilities, and given most people never saw TAS, this was a very novel concept to them. And of course they wasted no time demonstrating the saucer separation ability. Those are the 2 big things, but even little things like the new photons, the energy beam at the end, all the beauty shots of the Enterprise, and the speed of the ship while racing Q. The wall lights guiding the people around the ship were abandoned pretty quick, but tracking crew through their combadges became a staple of trek. Looking back, while they did have a full crew introduced at the start unlike TOS, many of them feel far less fleshed out. Kirk, McCoy and Spock were mostly there from their first appearance, as was Scotty. Uhura and Sulu they spent a little time figuring out their positions on the ship and their hobbies, but personality was about what it would be. Chekov hit the ground running and it seems they had the character figured out from the beginning. Picard was a bit off through much of S1, but Farpoint in particular had him being VERY standoffish toward his crew. We got a little bit of him warming to Wesley, but barely welcoming Riker or Crusher aboard and snapping at basically everyone at some point or another seemed unnecessarily brusque. It's like they were going out of their way to make Picard this tough as nails military commander when ultimately he'd become the the philosopher captain. Riker gets a bit closer to his finalized character, but pre beard Riker always comes off a lot more green. Plus even when he meets Geordi he's got a bit of that stern military discipline as Picard despite his friendly greeting to the Crushers. Like, "is this an official report, stand to attention dammit". I think they also had Riker really overcompensate when it came to Troi. I get he didn't want to make it seem like their previous relationship was affecting his ability to do his job, but at times he felt colder to Troi than anyone, barely even using her name. Didn't feel like they knew what to do with Worf yet, mostly just had him say and do a couple aggressive things because "I am a klingon". Clearly they wanted a klingon to show how things had changed but didn't quite know where to fit him in yet. Yar's personality and background seemed mostly figured out, just overplayed in the pilot. Troi and Data were mostly there, and they gave us a good idea of what the characters were about, but Brent and Marina were still getting a handle on the nuances of their roles. Geordi and Beverly were probably the closest to their finalized characters out of the whole cast. Most of their character traits are fairly spot on, and we get a primer on Geordi's blindness/VISOR and Crusher's background with Picard. Wesley seems the most child like here, but I don't have a problem with that as we do see him grow up over the course of the show, so it's more that this is early in his arc vs they haven't figured out his character yet. As for Q, I'm right there with Alex in that his progression through the various uniforms from Earth history ending in a starfleet uniform represents a change in his attitude to humans over the course of the episode. I would say Hide and Q presents him as even more belligerent than this episode, but both are pretty far from his eventual character. The story with the Bandi and the 2 creatures was alright and a decent mechanism to demonstrate the character of the crew, and therefore serviceable for the pilot, but it's not that interesting overall. Farpoint is a good vehicle to bring people into the world of TNG, but as an episode to people who have already gone through the series, I think most find it fairly average. Still, it can inspire a lot of nostalgia for me given how big a part of my childhood TNG was, and this was where it all started, 6 months before I was born.

Timothy Nikiforovs

2024-06-14 01:42:56 +0000 UTC

46:14. This is a note for me so I don't have to find it again.

JD Nevesytrof

2024-02-28 03:43:18 +0000 UTC

Essay belatedly reposted from YouTube: First, I have a request: For the sake of avoiding spoilers, could everyone please refrain from mentioning whether any non-regular cast members in this episode reappear in later episodes? I think this would go miles towards enhancing the guys’ enjoyment. Thanks! Working title: “Meeting at Farpoint.” D. C. Fontana (who was a woman, by the way) was originally the TNG pilot’s sole writer. There was a major disagreement between Paramount and Gene Roddenberry over the pilot’s running time, with Roddenberry wanting to make a one-hour pilot, and Paramount wanting a two-hour “television event.” As a compromise, Fontana wrote a 90-minute script, with the possibility of including a 30-minute “history of Star Trek” segment under consideration. Roddenberry eventually expanded Fontana’s script to fill a two-hour time slot. Fontana’s version featured the Enterprise crew coming together and the mystery of Farpoint; Roddenberry added all the material with Q and the ship separation. The Q scenes in “Farpoint” are among the best material Roddenberry ever wrote for Star Trek. The episode’s title has an exceptionally multi-layered multiple meaning, referring to humanity’s first contact with Q, the Enterprise crew meeting the Bandi of Deneb IV, the Enterprise’s rendezvous with the Hood in Deneb IV orbit, the Enterprise crew coming together for the first time, the reunion of the two “jellyfish” creatures, and even Data’s encounter with Admiral McCoy and the audience meeting the new crew. When I first started watching TOS and TNG in syndication, the station on which I viewed them frequently aired a commercial for subscribing to TNG episodes on VHS by mail order. (Yes, there were dinosaurs roaming our streets and flying over our cities back then.) Because “Farpoint” was the first episode of the series, it was the one most prominently featured in the ad. The narrator of the commercial said that the Enterprise crew must “Solve the mystery of Farpoint Station or perish.” He pronounced “Farpoint” as though it had three syllables, leading me to believe that he was saying “Farpo extinction.” I thought the TNG pilot was about the crew investigating the demise of a species called the Farpo. (Someone should tell that story…) “Farpoint” is the only TNG episode without a cold open; this is because it was originally a TV movie. When “Farpoint” became a two-part episode for reruns, the opening scenes became a cold open, culminating with Q demanding that Enterprise return to Earth’s solar system. “Farpoint” (in its original TV movie format) is also the only TNG episode in which the regular cast’s names appear in the opening credits unaccompanied by the names of their characters (e.g., “Patrick Stewart” rather than “Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard”). Note that, unlike in TOS, the opening credits list the entire regular cast, and that, except for Stewart and Jonathan Frakes, they appear in alphabetical order by surname. Even before TNG’s first scene, we can tell that this show will be far more of an ensemble piece than TOS was. Something you have surprisingly overlooked in your TNG reactions so far: in the iconic opening voiceover, the phrase “where no man has gone before” has now become “where no one has gone before” (the title of Episode 6). Picard’s first entrance is especially grand and theatrical as he steps forward into the spotlight. (By contrast, Kirk’s first appearance in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” his first TOS episode in production and chronological order, has the camera “discover” him playing 3D chess with Spock.) In the decades since his casting as Jean-Luc Picard, Sir Patrick Stewart has become an icon of both high culture and pop culture on both sides of the Atlantic. Something most people know about him, even if they have only seen him in Star Trek and/or the "X-Men" movies, is that he is one of the world’s leading Shakespearean actors. Stewart himself has said that prior to TNG he was best known in the Shakespearean world for his low comedy roles, and that it was his TNG exposure that granted him the opportunity to play dramatic leading roles in Shakespeare. However, this is something of an oversimplification: Stewart had already played Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, in the "BBC Shakespeare," a prestigious project in which the BBC televised every single one of Shakespeare’s plays. Stewart’s performance received extremely positive reviews, with critics saying that the audience came to sympathize primarily with Claudius, even though he is the villain of the story. Stewart’s research for the role of Picard consisted of repeatedly reading the “Farpoint” script. Despite having appeared in the BBC Shakespeare, the David Lynch version of "Dune" and various other films and TV shows, Stewart felt that he had limited experience with screen as opposed to stage acting. For this reason, he attended the first day of shooting on “Farpoint” (the location scene on the Holodeck), even though he did not appear in the scene, to observe the production process. According to the Memory Alpha wiki, other candidates for the role of Jean-Luc Picard included Stephen Macht ("Cagney & Lacey"; the first runner-up), James Earl Jones (who needs no introduction), Billy Dee Williams (ditto), Don Ameche ("Trading Places," "Cocoon"), Patrick Bauchau ("A View to a Kill"), Theodore Bikel (star of "Fiddler on the Roof" on Broadway; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “Four O’Clock”), Avery Brooks ("Spenser: For Hire"), William Devane ("Knots Landing"), Peter Donat ("The Godfather Part II"), Andrew Duggan ("The Homecoming: A Christmas Story"), Keir Dullea ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), Dana Elcar ("MacGyver"), James Gammon (best known for "Major League," released in 1989), Paul Gleason ("The Breakfast Club"), Scott Glenn ("The Right Stuff"), Peter Michael Goetz ("Jumpin’ Jack Flash"), Louis Gossett Jr. ("Roots," "An Officer and a Gentleman"), George Grizzard ("The Twilight Zone": “The Chaser” and “In His Image”), Moses Gunn ("Little House on the Prairie"), Fred Gwynne ("The Munsters"), George Hearn (primarily a Broadway actor), Thomas Hill ("The NeverEnding Story"), John Hillerman ("Magnum, P.I."), Robert Hogan (many TV guest appearances, including "The Twilight Zone": “Spur of the Moment”), Barrie Ingham ("The Great Mouse Detective"; guest-starred in "Doctor Who": “The Myth Makers,” now a lost story), Yaphet Kotto ("Live and Let Die," "Alien"), John McMartin ("Sweet Charity"), Edward Mulhare ("The Ghost & Mrs. Muir"; guest-starred in "Battlestar Galactica": “Experiment in Terra”), Edward James Olmos ("Miami Vice"), James Olson ("Rachel, Rachel"), Anthony Quayle ("Lawrence of Arabia"), Mitchell Ryan ("Lethal Weapon"), Telly Savalas ("Kojak"; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “Living Doll”), John Saxon ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" and Roddenberry’s unsold pilot "Planet Earth"), Dick Shawn ("The Producers"), Roy Thinnes ("The Invaders"; guest-starred in "Battlestar Galactica": “Gun on Ice Planet Zero”), Rip Torn ("Cross Creek"), Lee Van Cleef ("For a Few Dollars More," "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “The Grave”), and Noble Willingham ("Good Morning, Vietnam"). In 1987, when production of TNG began, these actors ranged in age from 39 (Brooks) to 79 (Ameche). Bauchau, born in Belgium, was the only one from the Francosphere. Patrick Stewart was among the youngest of them; only Brooks, Olmos, Macht, Goetz and (possibly) Glenn were younger (according to Wikipedia, sources differ on Glenn’s year of birth). Stewart was 47 years old in 1987, only three years older than I am now, which makes me feel ancient; Alex and Josh referring to him as “young” during their reaction made me feel better about myself (although, of course, they meant “young” in comparison to when he played Charles Xavier). According to the chronology Star Trek has established over the decades, Jean-Luc Picard is 59 during TNG Season 1; humans age more slowly in the 24th century. Dick Shawn died of a heart attack on stage during a comedy performance on April 17, 1987, the month before “Farpoint” began filming. Duggan, Quayle, Van Cleef, Gwynne, Ameche, and Gunn also died before TNG ended. The two brief scenes in “Farpoint” in Main Engineering contribute nothing to the plot. The real reason for their inclusion is that the production team was aware that, if they did not build the Engineering set for the pilot, Paramount would never pay to build it for a subsequent episode. Of course, as in TOS, Engineering is a major setting in later episodes. Marina Sirtis, like Patrick Stewart, is British. At the time of her TNG casting, she was despairing of finding success in Hollywood and was about to return to the UK to replenish her nest egg. Among her previous performances was a small role as an Italian woman in “The Six Napoleons,” an episode of the superb Sherlock Holmes series produced in the UK by Granada Television and starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes. This role mostly consisted of scenes with a young man who yelled repeatedly that her character was a "putana" (Italian for “whore”). Since my late mother was of Italian descent, she found it endlessly amusing to see Sirtis in that role after watching her on TNG for years as Troi. Deanna Troi was my mother’s least-favorite regular character on TNG because she loathed the concept of working with an empath who is constantly aware of other people’s emotions. She felt that Troi’s mere presence on the ship was an intolerable invasion of everyone else’s privacy. By contrast, Troi has always been one of my favorite characters. That well-known progressive feminist Gene Roddenberry wanted female Betazoids, including Troi, to have three or four breasts. D. C. Fontana (who was a woman, by the way) successfully argued against this, saying human women found two of them awkward enough and querying how Gene intended the breasts to be arranged on Troi’s body. Denise Crosby is the granddaughter of Bing Crosby, the legendary American singer and actor; sadly, due to internal family conflicts, she never met her grandfather before he died. She posed for Playboy magazine years before her TNG casting and auditioned for the role of Dana Barrett, the part Sigourney Weaver ended up playing, in "Ghostbusters." Crosby’s audition opposite Bill Murray appears on the most comprehensive Blu-ray release of "Ghostbusters" and is a mind-blowing crossover of fictional universes for ’80s kids like me. (As one of you mentioned, Crosby would later appear in 1989’s "Pet Sematary," which also features Miko Hughes from "Apollo 13.") During TNG’s casting process, Sirtis and Crosby auditioned for the roles of Tasha (then named “Macha Hernandez”) and Troi, respectively. They were the final choices for those roles; a casting memo even described Denise Crosby as “the only possibility” for Deanna Troi. At a late stage, Gene Roddenberry decided to switch their roles. You will sometimes see images online of Tasha and Troi with their heads Photoshopped onto each other to give an idea of what that alternate TNG would have looked like. To this day, commentators claim the swap was a disastrous decision that hobbled TNG coming out of the gate. Only time will tell whether the Target Audience agrees. Susan Gibney also auditioned for Deanna Troi. Leah Ayres ("The Edge of Night"), Bunty Bailey (the protagonist of the classic music video for a-ha’s “Take On Me”), Rosalind Chao ("MAS*H" and "AfterMASH"), Liane Langland ("The Squeeze") and Julia Nickson ("Rambo: First Blood Part II") were candidates for the role of Tasha Yar. Nickson would appear in a guest role during TNG Season 1. Prior to TNG, Brent Spiner was best known for a recurring role on the sitcom "Night Court." Spiner and John de Lancie both guest-starred in “Dead Run,” a 1986 episode of the superb but now largely forgotten ’80s revival of "The Twilight Zone." Reading the “Farpoint” script convinced Spiner that he was interested in pursuing the part of Data. His makeup tests for the role included bubblegum pink and battleship gray colors before the choice of the opalescent gold skin now familiar to viewers. Watching TNG primarily on a black-and-white TV as a kid, it was a couple of years before I realized that Data’s eyes were yellow. Actor Eric Menyuk, the first runner-up for the role of Data, was cast as the Traveler in “Where No One Has Gone Before” as a consolation prize. Other candidates for Data included Mark Lindsay Chapman (later best known for the "Swamp Thing" TV series), Robert Englund ("A Nightmare on Elm Street"), Kevin Peter Hall ("Predator"), John Lone ("The Last Emperor"), Kim Miyori ("St. Elsewhere"), Patrick Stewart, and Kelvin Han Yee ("A Great Wall"). Hall, who was 7 feet 2 inches tall, died in April 1991, during Season 4 of TNG – not from medical issues due to his height, but from AIDS-related pneumonia, having contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. (Kim Miyori is a woman, in case you were wondering.) Gene Roddenberry was extremely reluctant to feature alien races from TOS, including Klingons, in TNG, wanting the new series to stand on its own with a new mythos. Former TOS producer Robert Justman, now Supervising Producer of TNG, urged Roddenberry to include a “Klingon marine” in the Enterprise crew, but Roddenberry was resistant to the idea. The way in which Lieutenant Worf finally became part of TNG is an unedifying story. When Roddenberry expanded D. C. Fontana’s 90-minute script into a two-hour TV movie, one of his additions, along with the Q storyline, was the separation of the ship’s saucer and stardrive sections. Someone pointed out to Roddenberry that it would be necessary to leave one of the female characters – either Troi or Tasha – in command of the saucer while the stardrive turned to confront Q. In Roddenberry’s very next draft, Worf suddenly existed and took command of the saucer. An important and compelling character thus owed his presence on TNG to Roddenberry’s sexism. Michael Dorn successfully auditioned for the role of Worf while the filming of “Farpoint” was already underway; he was absent from the first TNG cast portrait. The original intention was that Worf would be only a recurring character, but the producers saw the character’s potential, and Dorn signed on as a member of the regular cast (and thus appears in the episode’s opening credits). Michael Dorn is African American, something my mother was surprised and delighted to learn when she saw him on a TV talk show after she had already watched TNG for a couple of years. The casting notes for Worf sent to agents specifically requested Black actors to save time on the makeup process every morning. James Avery (who later played Uncle Phil in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") and James Louis Watkins (later known as Julian Christopher) were the other two finalists for the role of Worf; Watkins would play Hagon in “Code of Honor” shortly thereafter. Which of the following stories about Jonathan Frakes are fact, and which are fiction? In the 1970s, when Frakes was in his twenties, he worked for Marvel Comics, appearing at comics conventions in costume as Captain America. Frakes was a finalist for NASA Astronaut Group 8, selected in 1978, but did not make the final cut. He guest-starred on "Wonder Woman" and "Hill Street Blues" and made a brief appearance in “But Can She Type?,” a segment of the revived "Twilight Zone." Frakes’ scene was absent from the network broadcast but, confusingly, was present in the syndicated version of the episode. He also appeared, along with Kirstie Alley and a who’s who of actors working in American television at that time, in the miniseries "North and South," based on a trilogy of novels by author John Jakes. If you guessed that Frakes never applied to become an astronaut and never appeared on "Wonder Woman," but that the rest of that paragraph was accurate, congratulations! You’re right. Frakes was 35 years old in 1987; we will eventually discover that Riker is 29 years old during TNG Season 1, so Frakes was playing a character six years younger than himself. The first runner-up for the role of Riker was William O. “Billy” Campbell, not to be confused with William Campbell (Trelane in “The Squire of Gothos” and Koloth in “The Trouble with Tribbles”) or Bruce Campbell (from the "Evil Dead" franchise). In 1987, Campbell was best known for roles on the TV series "Dynasty" and "Crime Story"; he later starred in "The Rocketeer," a fondly remembered but financially unsuccessful live-action Disney movie. John Pike, the president of Paramount Network Television, resisted Campbell’s selection. According to Rick Berman, who joined Star Trek for the first time as a supervising producer on “Farpoint,” Pike “didn’t feel [Campbell] had a sense of command. He wouldn’t follow this guy into battle.” Although Campbell was Roddenberry’s preferred choice for Riker, he also gave Frakes personal coaching in the role during the later phases of the audition process. Other candidates for the role of Riker included Erich Anderson ("Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter"), Vaughn Armstrong ("The Philadelphia Experiment" – and he did guest-star on "Wonder Woman," in the episode “Screaming Javelins”), Jeffrey Combs ("Re-Animator"), James Horan (soap operas "Guiding Light," "Another World," "The Edge of Night" and "General Hospital"), Gregg Marx (soap operas "Days of Our Lives" and "As the World Turns"), Christopher McDonald ("Grease 2"; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “Aqua Vita”), Ben Murphy ("Alias Smith and Jones"; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “Love Is Blind”), Michael O’Gorman ("Ironweed"), and Eric Pierpoint ("Fame"). (As with “Dead Run” and “But Can She Type?,” the "Twilight Zone" episodes featuring actors considered for regular TNG characters other than Picard are from the 1985-1989 version of the show.) The original TNG writers’ guide stated that Riker “doesn’t fully appreciate the female need to be needed;” this character trait never became apparent on screen. The script and novelization of “Farpoint” make clear that the word “Groppler,” as in “Groppler Zorn,” is a title (equivalent to “administrator”), not the character’s first name. Riker’s comment about the apple, “This is delicious,” is in fact true – the apple he is eating is a Delicious apple. Gates McFadden’s full name is Cheryl Gates McFadden; she is a choreographer as well as an actress, usually billed as “Cheryl McFadden” for her work as the former and “Gates McFadden” as the latter. She worked for The Jim Henson Company as director of choreography and puppet movement for the films "Labyrinth" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan." When McFadden received the opportunity to audition for one of TNG’s three regular female roles (Crusher, Tasha, or Troi), she asked which of them was “the funniest lady.” The funniest of their audition scenes was Crusher’s – her attempted seduction of Picard in “The Naked Now” – so that was the one McFadden read. Only after getting the role did she realize that it would give her infrequent opportunities to play comedy. The first runner-up for the role of Beverly Crusher was British actress Jenny Agutter, the girl in the iconic Australian film "Walkabout" (which she filmed when she was 16 years old); she also guest-starred in the "Twilight Zone" episodes “The Last Defender of Camelot” and “Voices in the Earth.” Another candidate, American actress Anne Twomey, gave an unforgettable performance in the 1985 "Twilight Zone" episode “Her Pilgrim Soul,” one of the three best episodes I have seen of any television series; I would rank it above any episode from the entire Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises and above every episode of the original "Twilight Zone" (even “Eye of the Beholder”). Early descriptions of the Beverly Crusher character are embarrassing to read, objectifying her in an inappropriate way. According to the final draft script of “Farpoint,” “Like most other humans of this century, she doesn’t look her age. Although forty years old, she looks hardly more than thirty. Her attractiveness is underscored by a naturally provocative walk -- the woman can’t help it. This is counter-balanced by her quick intelligence and her professional knowledge and skill as a physician.” The original casting call makes the intention underlying the script description more explicit: “Leslie’s 35-year-old mother. She serves as the chief medical officer on the Enterprise. If it were not for her intelligence, personality, beauty, and the fact that she has a natural walk of a striptease queen, Capt. Picard might not have agreed to her request that Leslie observe bridge activities; therefore letting her daughter’s intelligence carry events further.” “Leslie”? Who is “Leslie”? Gene Roddenberry originally created Wesley Crusher as a male character and named him, as is well-known, after himself (Eugene Wesley Roddenberry). However, Supervising Producer Robert Justman urged him to make the character female, arguing that television rarely addressed the problems of female adolescents. This concept made it as far as casting documents, with the character renamed “Leslie.” The casting call asked for an 18-year-old who was short enough to play a 15-year-old, presumably so she would not have to receive tutoring on set and could work adult hours. (As it turned out, Wil Wheaton was 14 years old, the same age as his character, when production began and did require on-set schooling.) However, the gender switch was later reversed. As with the swap of Denise Crosby and Marina Sirtis’ characters, some latter-day commentators dispute the wisdom of this decision. According to his own account, Joey Cramer, the star of the Disney film "Flight of the Navigator," was offered the role of Wesley Crusher, but turned it down because he wanted to return to a “normal” life. J. D. Roth (host of the children's TV game show "Fun House") and Jonathan Del Arco were also considered. Interestingly, at the point in pre-production when the teenage character was going to be a girl, Worf was not yet slated to be a regular; in fact, Roddenberry may not have created him yet. In other words, the production team was considering a regular cast for TNG that was half female. Sadly, this kind of casting would remain too radical for Star Trek for a long time to come. LeVar Burton was the best-known member of TNG’s cast to American audiences in 1987 and was emphasized in early news stories about the show’s production. He first achieved prominence in the 1977 TV miniseries "Roots," hosting the PBS children’s series "Reading Rainbow" from 1983 onwards. Years later, when Burton appeared on Stephen Colbert’s talk show, Colbert gave a description of him which I found screamingly funny, even if it was slightly politically incorrect. I wish I could quote it exactly, but it was something to the effect of, “We saw him overcome slavery, achieve literacy, and graduate first in his class from Starfleet Academy.” Actor Tim Russ ("The Twilight Zone": “Kentucky Rye” and “Voices in the Earth”) was the first runner-up for the role of Geordi La Forge. Other candidates included Clarence Gilyard ("Matlock"), Kevin Peter Hall (also considered for Data), Reggie Jackson (yes, the baseball player!), Eriq La Salle (who went on to great success on the medical drama "ER"; he also guest-starred in “Memphis,” a 2003 episode of the third version of "The Twilight Zone"), Victor Love ("Native Son"), Chip McAllister ("The Greatest"), and Wesley Snipes (!!), who was then at the beginning of his career and, of course, went on to become a major star. Riker beaming up to the Enterprise is not inherently a strong enough moment to justify its being an act break; its real significance is that the audience is seeing the TNG transporter effect for the first time, which would have carried great weight in 1987. Riker’s review of the crew’s first encounter with Q is, perhaps, the quintessential “magical security footage” scene in Star Trek. The version of “Farpoint” edited into two parts for syndicated showings omitted the scene, perhaps due to concerns about its believability, and the use of this trope became less frequent thereafter. Something that only occurred to me due to the close juxtaposition of your viewing of "Apollo 13" with that of “Farpoint”: Just as astronaut Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) describes the Apollo spacecraft docking procedure in the film’s opening party scene while flirting with a woman, Riker’s ability to reconnect the Enterprise manually may be intended as a coded indication of his skill in the bedroom. “Her inertia should do the job now.” The finished episode omits a brief scripted sequence after the reconnection in which Riker, Data and Tasha take a turbolift to the main bridge, where Worf meets them and conveys Picard’s request for Riker to come to his quarters immediately. Although this sequence is totally unnecessary, its absence is regrettable for one reason: we miss the opportunity to see Riker’s very first meeting with Worf. “Farpoint” elsewhere depicts the first meetings of Picard and Riker, Riker and Data, Riker and Tasha, Data and Wesley, and Worf and Wesley (given no emphasis). The mall scene between Riker and the Crushers may seem to be their first meeting, but this is not explicit, and the novelization of the episode (by David Gerrold, writer of “The Trouble with Tribbles”) states that they had already met aboard the USS Hood on the journey to Farpoint. Surprisingly, given that Data and Geordi’s friendship was already planned, the episode passes up the opportunity to show them meeting for the first time. Picard expresses his discomfort with children more strongly in the final draft script, referring to them as “little monsters” in his discussion with Riker. Over and above Spock’s death in Wrath of Khan, the scene in “Farpoint” with Admiral McCoy is the moment in the Star Trek franchise your unspoiled reactions to which I have most been looking forward to seeing. (In fact, although it was not your fault, I was sorry you knew in advance that McCoy was in TNG at all.) It is this scene which makes intuitively and emotionally clear to the audience the passage of time since the events of TOS (a little less than 100 years). McCoy’s appearance was a secret until the first broadcast of “Farpoint” in September 1987, and the script only referred to the character as “Admiral” to help avoid spoilers. DeForest Kelley performed the scene for scale (actor’s minimum wage) as a thank-you to Gene Roddenberry for everything he had done for Kelley’s career. Data, as an android, often gives periods of time in later episodes in extremely specific terms, as Spock sometimes did. It occurred to me recently that Data saying that McCoy is “137 years old” may imply that “Farpoint” takes place on McCoy’s 137th birthday. Note that “Farpoint” was the first Star Trek episode or movie ever made in which Leonard Nimoy did not appear as Spock; he was in “The Cage” and “The Slaver Weapon,” from both of which William Shatner was absent. Commenters on your channel have mentioned that TNG, which debuted in 1987, contains spoilers for Star Trek VI, released in 1991. While counterintuitive, this is in fact true: Star Trek VI serves not only as a finale to the TOS movies but as a prequel to TNG, and features plot elements which TNG spoils in the same way as the original Star Wars trilogy spoils the prequel trilogy. Pointing out the spoilers you are now receiving for Star Trek VI would itself be a spoiler. However, one spoiler in “Farpoint” is extremely obvious: you now know that McCoy will survive the events of Star Trek V and VI. In the first scene between Riker and Troi we learn the nature of their backstory. Prior to serving aboard the Enterprise together, the young first officer and the alien woman with empathic abilities had an unresolved romance which ended when the man left the woman’s planet without saying goodbye. This is, of course, an entirely original storyline in the Star Trek franchise; we have never seen anything remotely like it before. The script uses a startlingly strong analogy to convey Wesley’s feelings on entering the Enterprise bridge for the first time: “To him, this is the equivalent of a devout Catholic stepping into the nave of St. Peter’s Basilica.” Corey Allen, the director of “Farpoint,” embarrassed Wil Wheaton during the filming of this scene with the way he attempted to convey to him the awe with which Wesley regards Picard, shouting at Wheaton, “HE CONTROLS THE SKY! HE CONTROLS THE SKY!” My least favorite moment in “Farpoint” is Troi’s line to Riker: “Don’t! If you should be hurt…” This is pathetic, a grotesquely unprofessional thing for Troi to say. I cannot blame Marina Sirtis for her terrible delivery of the line since there was no way to deliver it well. “Farpoint” (barely) passes the Bechdel Test due to Tasha asking Troi about what she senses in the alien tunnels. Whereas only seven episodes in TOS’ run – “The Changeling,” “I, Mudd,” “By Any Other Name,” “And the Children Shall Lead,” “The Lights of Zetar,” “The Cloud Minders” and “Turnabout Intruder” – passed the Bechdel Test (“Court Martial” was a near miss), according to online analysts about 45% of TNG episodes pass; thus it will no longer be a noteworthy enough event to point out every time. This episode’s ending offers viewers an opportunity to become aware of their own preconceptions. I would be willing to bet that most viewers who first saw this episode in the twentieth century instinctively thought of the creature that becomes Farpoint Station as the “female,” and its mate, who comes to its rescue, as the “male,” even though there is no indication of this in the episode whatsoever and no reason to think that cosmic jellyfish would correspond to human conceptions of gender. (Amusingly, the rescuer is pink while the captive lifeform is blue!) Although “The Man Trap” was not the TOS pilot, the conclusion of “Farpoint” also forms an effective counterpoint to that episode’s ending, with the revelation of a shapeshifting alien’s true form as beautiful and wondrous rather than hideous and terrifying. Both the final draft script and David Gerrold’s novelization lack Picard’s iconic final line, “Let’s see what’s out there. Engage!” The ending of the completed episode is strikingly like that of “The Cage,” which also ends with the captain of the Enterprise saying “Engage!” “Encounter at Farpoint” received a Hugo nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation but lost to "The Princess Bride." In summarizing my feelings about “Farpoint,” I cannot do better than quote my comment on YouTuber Steve Shives’ Retro Review of the episode: “I’ve never been able to judge ‘Farpoint’ objectively because TNG was the Star Trek show I grew up watching. The nostalgia factor of all those characters coming together for the first time… is so overwhelming that ‘Farpoint’ can’t help but be my favorite of all the Star Trek pilots, even though ‘The Cage,’ ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before,’ ‘[SPOILER REDACTED],’ ‘[SPOILER REDACTED]’ and ‘[SPOILER REDACTED]’ are all probably objectively better. (Although ‘Farpoint’ is my favorite, ‘[SPOILER REDACTED]’ is the best of all of them, I think.)”

Anthony Bernacchi

2024-02-22 14:04:22 +0000 UTC

He won an Emmy for his costume designs on TNG. The only individual thusly honored from the franchise so far.

Mark Chrisco

2023-11-24 08:27:10 +0000 UTC

The uniform design on TNG is superb. And they got even better when they were subtly redesigned in the second season. WWT did an amazing job, much respect.

Jovet

2023-11-24 07:54:31 +0000 UTC

2:04:20 And staring Denise Crosby as Tarr (Tasha Yarr) (ROTFL!)

Jovet

2023-11-24 07:42:37 +0000 UTC

23:40 It's not an illusion. Troi talked about that just a few minutes earlier.

Jovet

2023-11-24 05:20:16 +0000 UTC

Just joined this channel for STNG. Thank you so much. Looking forward to this.

PIG

2023-11-11 07:18:11 +0000 UTC

The sound gets better later. Sometimes when they are walking to the lift or the back area of the bridge there is a noticeable hollow plywood sound.

David Scudder

2023-10-24 22:22:23 +0000 UTC

Fun facts: He was in the TV movie "SST Death Flight" MST3K "enjoyed" in their first season on local UHF station KTMA pre-Comedy Central, and a "Get Smart" sequel, I believe "The Nude Bomb".

David Scudder

2023-10-24 21:55:14 +0000 UTC

And The Orville.

David Scudder

2023-10-24 21:45:19 +0000 UTC

Wow I didn't know how long he served on the stargazer.

David Scudder

2023-10-24 21:41:46 +0000 UTC

Odd P+ seemed to sync fine for me.

David Scudder

2023-10-24 21:32:11 +0000 UTC

I never agreed with the decision to have kids aboard but since the were able to get some good stories out of it I made peace with the concept.

David Scudder

2023-10-24 21:29:27 +0000 UTC

It always seemed unrealistic to me that it was so hard in the future to have a private phone call. It's usually speakerphone or nothing LOL.

David Scudder

2023-10-24 21:25:28 +0000 UTC

Jerry Goldsmith composed the TNG theme. Which is exactly the same as the TMP theme, just slightly faster.

Sam Langanke

2023-10-19 15:39:25 +0000 UTC

Chechov was security officer in the movies.

Sam Langanke

2023-10-19 15:07:18 +0000 UTC

TNG was completely rescanned and remastered for the Blu-Ray releases. The effects work was done by a couple studios, including CBS Digital. They made a lot of new digital mattes and new CG work to replace certain old effects. However, a ton of what you see is still original. The saucer separation sequence for instance was shot practically at ILM using a 6-foot model of the ship that could actually separate into 2 pieces for filming. There are also later made 2 foot and 4 foot models of the ship that were made, but only the 6-foot model could separate into 2. I don't want to spoil when it comes in though as I want to see if you spot when in the series the change happens to the newer ship filming models. Oh, and also the battle bridge is also the movie bridge from Star Trek III. It's redressed. There's a lot of set redressing from the TOS movies in this first season to save on building sets.

DewThePDX

2023-10-14 07:31:59 +0000 UTC

You guys are correct in that it is episodic. But more so than TOS, actions have consequences that are felt moving forward. I have to say this up front... although this is my personal opinion...Season 1 is a slog overall. They make a LOT of missteps that first year. Many adjustments and improvements in season 2. Some key characters get shuffled into different positions. But starting from season three they are firing on all cylinders and THAT is when it becomes the beloved classic we know it as today. The Q Continuum. Yes, Q comes back a few times. I found it interesting that you made the Trelain connection. Although never OFFICIALLY confirmed, it is pretty much accepted that Trelain was an immature Q. Deanna Troi is a character that CAN be annoying, but also has some meaningful moments. There is ONE episode in particular in Season 1 that truly IS unwatchable. One of the most cringe moments ever shown on prime time TV. It would NEVER have made air today but even considering it was the 80s it is really... yikes! It's coming soon and you'll know it when you see it. One thing is certain, you boys are in for one hell of a ride.

StealthMomo

2023-10-14 06:41:45 +0000 UTC

Season 2 and on, those seats don’t lean back as far.

Joe Concepts

2023-10-11 03:37:04 +0000 UTC

Paramount was right, Gene wanted a 90 minute pilot (including commercials) and that would have made it impossible to split the pilot into two parts for reruns or overseas sales, so they would have had to deal with an overly long pilot forever instead of splitting it up and selling a package of 1 hour episodes which will fit more neatly into whatever the buyer's schedule is.

Phillip Grischa

2023-10-10 08:23:39 +0000 UTC

Not only that, they were cast in the opposite roles, Marina as Security Chief Macha Hernandez. I think in rehearsals, after seeing the actresses in character, the switch was made.

Mark Chrisco

2023-10-09 16:02:07 +0000 UTC

Well, I stand corrected, For me to my eye with no investigation at the time there was a lack of detail until about the episode times squared that looks to me to be poor CGI. Thank you for enlightening me on that end

Thicketdweller

2023-10-09 05:48:31 +0000 UTC

CGI did not rear its ugly head in Star Trek until Deep Space Nine. All the ship shots in TNG are using models. ILM built two Enterprise D models. One was 6 feet long and was used for most of the Enterprise shots as this model had internal lighting. This is also the model that could separate the saucer section. The other was 2 feet long and was used for all the long shots of the ship. ILM shot a large number of stock shots using these two models which would be used throughout the series. In the third season another 4 foot model, with full interior lighting, was commissioned and built by Greg Jein, which was then used almost exclusively from that point on for any new shots that couldn't be covered by the existing stock shots until the end of the series.

Dan Krantz

2023-10-09 05:25:54 +0000 UTC

In case this wasn’t mentioned, DC Fontana wrote the Farpoint story and Gene wrote the Q story because Paramount demanded a 2 hour pilot for the premiere, which Gene did not want.

Jef Etters

2023-10-08 16:26:32 +0000 UTC

There was absolutely no CGI used in this show for ship shots. And most of the ship shots used throughout the series were all shot and reused from season 1

Michael Parnell

2023-10-08 13:27:24 +0000 UTC

Another interesting fact for you might be that Denise Crosby and Marina Sirtis originally auditioned for eachother's roles.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-08 03:20:57 +0000 UTC

I hate auto correct I said the doors were loud.

Thicketdweller

2023-10-07 16:49:52 +0000 UTC

I said sue ing

Thicketdweller

2023-10-07 16:48:18 +0000 UTC

Also, while you liked the uniforms the actors hated the jumpsuits They were painful, and Stewarts doctor recommended seeing the production if they didn't change the uniforms

Thicketdweller

2023-10-07 16:45:50 +0000 UTC

Asubtle thing you might notice is the way everyone stops talking around the opening and closing of the ships doors because they were found and had to be removed in post. initially the ships appearing to be mostly CGI and in season 2 you suddenly notice the practical model in use

Thicketdweller

2023-10-07 16:44:25 +0000 UTC

The best part of far point was this sense that we were going to embark on a grand adventure.

Thicketdweller

2023-10-07 16:42:05 +0000 UTC

When TNG premiered I was a computer science major , and grinned and numbers around data's storage capacities, and number of calculations per second Still, loved the character though

Thicketdweller

2023-10-07 16:40:47 +0000 UTC

I am completely blind now, but I was blind in my right eye and had 20/200 vision in my left at there time. So, I could sort of see, but not correctly and I was an excellent navigator. I really identified with Geordi immediately

Thicketdweller

2023-10-07 16:39:12 +0000 UTC

I wasn't just excited, I was Focused. You have good eyes I did not notice the bridge chairs being wobbly and over reclined but for the first few episode they kept having prop datas chair up with layers of Carleton the back.

Thicketdweller

2023-10-07 16:37:19 +0000 UTC

I was 21 years old when Farpoint aired.

Thicketdweller

2023-10-07 16:34:47 +0000 UTC

The TNG uniforms were designed by William Ware Theiss. A close friend of Gene Roddenberry and the costume designer for the entire run of TOS. He left the same position on TNG due to illness.

Mark Chrisco

2023-10-07 14:40:26 +0000 UTC

TNG is set 78 years after TOS.

Anthony Goodwin

2023-10-07 03:03:36 +0000 UTC

Yes, it lacks some drama as opposed to whipping out a communicator and flipping open the cover, but you'll get used to it (or at least, I did).

Collin Freeman

2023-10-07 00:06:39 +0000 UTC

I am so glad they got rid of those skants. They looked ridiculous on both the men and women.

Dan Krantz

2023-10-06 21:01:14 +0000 UTC

To answer Josh's question about the visual effects, they are remastered only in that all of the original 35mm and VistaVision camera negatives were taken out of storage and re-scanned in High Definition and then re-composited.

Dan Krantz

2023-10-06 18:12:53 +0000 UTC

They’re called skants, not slants. And the guys mentioned how Troi was in one and not Tasha, but we do see her one and only appearance in a skant in the last scene on the bridge.

Jef Etters

2023-10-06 17:36:35 +0000 UTC

Yeah I know it has evacuation capability. But I'm assuming in those cases they'd also transform several cargo bays. I don't think they have that many actual crew-quarters.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-06 16:32:29 +0000 UTC

Oh yeah sure, they weren't the first. And they certainly didn't "invent" that stuff, but they paid attention to what engineers were talking about, what the future might hold, and they used that to show a realistic image of future tech. Not many shows or movies do that kind of proper homework.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-06 16:16:19 +0000 UTC

Ya the updated effects are not radically different like they where in the remasters of TOS. They simply look upscaled to HD. It was shot on high quality film, including most of the ship shots in space, but edited together with special effects done on video, to make video tape final versions for broadcast. They used the raw film footage to re edit a matching but now HD version and re did the effects in HD Its a really unique project that made a HD in 4:3 aspect ratio version that looks stunning even by today’s standards. You can occasionally see things you where not meant to see though, like seems in the carpet or tape marks where actors where supposed to stand or back patches put on panels on the bridge to block reflection glare from studio lights. The Orville does a phenomenal job of recreating the brightly lit starship scenes, that along with TNG remaster and to a degree Strange New Worlds, are proof that the current trend for super crazy darkly lit interior sets, like Picard season 3 is simply a stylistic trendy choice

Derek Orr

2023-10-06 13:09:04 +0000 UTC

Its more interesting that he went like 15 years with no command after Stargazer

Derek Orr

2023-10-06 12:53:02 +0000 UTC

Comparing the BSG reimagining to new versions of star trek is apples and oranges….BSG completely changed the fundamental story and background structure of the universe it takes place in. Sure there are plenty of continuity inconsistencies between versions of star trek, but even the kelvin universe star trek does not change kirk to be a female or turn Klingons or romulans into cybernetic creations made by man rather than an alien race, or turn phasers into cannons and guns. And while I acknowledge the cycle of old fans hating on the current newer star trek of the day…Its pretty clear that Discovery and Strange New Worlds will not be like TNG a decade or 2 from now. No one is going to be inspired to be an engineer by Reno like they where by Scotty and LaForge , heck people can barely remember the characters names , partly because of the writing and partly because of the shows being short seasons and not episodic. The newer shows like SNW and Disco are more like failed spin offs or more like Enterprise …they fail to establish themselves on their own for several seasons…the almost instantly from the get go drown in self referencing previous star treks, fan service attempts etc.

Derek Orr

2023-10-06 12:52:13 +0000 UTC

There is room for far more than 1,000 on a galaxy class. They mention in the tech manual how it can transport new colony settlers and do emergency evacuations for like 5,000 people, and even that is a tiny amount compared to the size of the ship. https://youtu.be/Lwx5uB0pyhQ?si=E07pE9UHxTUgO0VV

Derek Orr

2023-10-06 12:33:28 +0000 UTC

The thing that's best about these reactions is that there are no media spoilers leading up to the episodes. Back in the day we sometimes knew if a character was not going to be with the show anymore or we would see a trailer with a minor spoiler in it. These are coming completely fresh and so you get reactions like when McCoy appears that are genuinely delightful.

David Wayne Fox

2023-10-06 12:13:14 +0000 UTC

If I remember correctly Rikers previous position was on the USS Hood which is an Excelsior-class ship, the one that also brought McCoy and the Crushers to Rendezvous with the Enterprise. That is a much older ship as you know, so it's not surprising all the state of the art stuff on the brand new Enterprise is new to him.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-06 03:17:06 +0000 UTC

Btw guys, you mentioned liking the many windows on the new Enterprise and said "maybe in the future glass is that strong". Remember the "transparent aluminium" that Scotty gave to that guy in Star Trek IV? Those windows are made from exactly that: transparent aluminium, not glass :)

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-06 02:24:42 +0000 UTC

You know it’s tuff TNG got so much better as it went on from say S3 on, but rewatching the 1st season again it’s obvious to me that despite pop belief TOS has held up so much better.

Scarpad’s Domain

2023-10-06 02:14:51 +0000 UTC

Sigh, it gets worse. I just saw that, at least on European Paramount+, the TNG episodes are the shortened, edited, versions of the episodes. So several seconds are missing from several episodes, including the pilot. I can only recommend to watch on DVD, BlueRay or Netflix (netflix does seem to have the full length episodes). What a shitty move by paramount to put the shortened versions on their streaming service. They might use the versions that ran on syndication on BBC, which were all cut to a standardized length for the ads from what I hear. So American Paramount+ is probably fine.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-06 01:51:05 +0000 UTC

For these guys, the Harry Mudd reference was basically the ultimate compliment to Q and John de Lancie!

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-06 00:38:30 +0000 UTC

I disagree. I think it would have been more interesting to continue the concept. It would be pretty dang relevant for cintemoorary audiences. Too ahead of its time I suppose.

Aramis Calcutt

2023-10-05 22:50:32 +0000 UTC

Riker is rather a Kirk as a lieutenant character, though he is distinct. I agree it is good having a different type of captain on this enterprise, but he is still very much a commanding officer. It helps that both shatner and Stewart were stage actors (both Shakespearean) as they have a presence that is necessary. I enjoyed this when it came out. I didn’t have high hopes, but I could believe it was the same universe as TOS, just 100 years later. Like many here I find the first two seasons wobbly (some just rehashing TOS stuff) but at the time I was happy to see something recognizably trek on screen. My mom and I both picked up strong trek and vibes from Q, same as you! But I really like the idea of Q having a dash of Harry mudd. Yup, if Trelane and Harry Mudd had a baby, t would be Q!

Crankygrandma

2023-10-05 22:37:15 +0000 UTC

The actors hated them, though. They were mostly polyester with no breathe to them, so when they would sweat under those bright stage lights, things could get rather smelly and rank by the end of a shooting day. The uniforms from the 3rd season on used more cotton fiber in the material.

Collin Freeman

2023-10-05 22:28:06 +0000 UTC

Another hold-over idea from the Star Trek: Phase 2 series concepts.

Collin Freeman

2023-10-05 22:26:20 +0000 UTC

Picard: "..even when we wore costumes like that." He says to Q wearing the sharp Marine Corps uniform as he's wearing skin tight space pajamas.

David Crabtree

2023-10-05 21:22:34 +0000 UTC

Knowing your guys' dislike for the TOS movie uniforms that debuted in Wrath of Khan (the best Star Trek uniforms btw), I knew you'd like the skin tight space pajamas they wear here in season 1 and 2.

David Crabtree

2023-10-05 21:19:07 +0000 UTC

Thank God that didn't last.

David Crabtree

2023-10-05 21:17:02 +0000 UTC

My son is in his late thirties. When he was about five or so, he told me an interesting fact about bees. I asked him where he learned that and he said “the guy from space with the mask”. I asked if he’s seen a beekeeper on tv, after all that looks like a Spacesuit. He said no. It was the guy from space with the mask. Later that week we were watching TNG and it clicked. I said to him “did you learn about bees on Reading Rainbow?” “Yes,” he said indicating Geordi. “The guy from space with the mask” That guy from space with the mask ended up one of my favorite characters on the show. Edit: dang, I just realized my middle aged son was watching TNG at about the same age I watched TOS.

Crankygrandma

2023-10-05 21:16:50 +0000 UTC

Did you notice that some of the male crew members wore minidresses (“slants”)? Unfortunately, this didn’t last long. I thought it was a very interesting way to depict future society.

Aramis Calcutt

2023-10-05 20:56:48 +0000 UTC

Another note is the character was originally written as a daughter, Leslie Crusher.

Mark Chrisco

2023-10-05 17:35:53 +0000 UTC

I love Discovery, I think it's a great show, and I can't wait for the final season. I only have one minor complaint about it, and that is that they always feel that the stakes have to be super high in every season, like "if we don't do X the entire galaxy/universe will be destroyed completely, so we have to save the universe". I don't mind at all the other things you mentioned.

Michael Ducharme

2023-10-05 16:59:01 +0000 UTC

I saw the “A” in The Voyage Home symbolically as a way to say one can go home. They had revived the Enterprise. Then Kirk says, “my friends, we have come home”. There’s an episode in the third season when Picard tells a guest character, a star fleet captain in sickbay, “you’re aboard the Enterprise NCC-1701…” he pauses… “D”. Due to context in that episode, I got the symbolic context of failure. Just the way he said it.

Geoffrey Linehan

2023-10-05 15:45:55 +0000 UTC

I have the same Blu-ray set they do and when I got it synced up at the beginning it would gradually separate until the next commercial break when it would sync back up again. Weird.

KatWithAttitude

2023-10-05 14:14:57 +0000 UTC

Great job Alex and Josh as usual. As a longtime fan (I watched it live in 1987) I got a fresh, outside take on “Farpoint”. I didn’t think the actual intro of the characters and their literal first mission was important, but looking back, it was a smart move. You liked the pilot more than many fans. Its a divided group. I loved the “space jellyfish” mystery, and it brought a tear to my eye, also with the Picard/Crusher story. Once the season (and season 2) get going, they’ll find their characters. But no spoilers guys! Lets enjoy the journey!

Chris S.

2023-10-05 14:03:34 +0000 UTC

You mean Troy?

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-05 13:01:52 +0000 UTC

I've never seen either version of BSG, but I have to admit I've always sympathized with the old-school fans who were disappointed. Keep in mind, the reboot permanently destroyed the dream they had kept alive for decades of a continuation of the original series. It's true that it was never likely to happen, given that BSG never had a fanbase as big as those of the heavy hitters like Star Trek, Star Wars and Doctor Who, but still, the reboot killed that dream dead, no matter how good it was in its own right.

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:59:28 +0000 UTC

I think those 1000 includes the families though. Do we know how much of that was starfleet personell? Around 700 maybe?

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-05 12:56:11 +0000 UTC

The remaster is also on the Blu-ray. It just wasn't radically altered visually like TOS -- they strove to make it look as much like the original as possible, only including new visual effects elements when absolutely necessary (if the originals could not be found or could not be brought up to HD standards).

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:55:02 +0000 UTC

"2001: A Space Odyssey" had iPad-like devices in 1968. I don't think Star Trek had shown anything like that yet.

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:53:14 +0000 UTC

Umm, that is a spoiler, actually, in a way...

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:52:00 +0000 UTC

The syndicated version of "Farpoint" in two parts had a teaser created in editing, ending with Q's line, "Now, go back or thou shalt most certainly die!" Oddly enough, the final draft script (available on the Star Trek Minutiae website) has a teaser ending at the same point. It must have been a later decision to present "Farpoint" as a TV movie without a teaser and then reverse that decision in editing the syndicated version. The two-part version also omits the scenes with Riker watching the "magical security footage" and Picard apologizing to Dr. Crusher in Sickbay, the latter of which was padding added when the complete episode underran. I think some of the synching confusion may arise from the existence of the two versions.

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:51:04 +0000 UTC

LeVar was one of those quiet boons for TNG. He brings a lot of "soft humanity" to the cast. He's just there, doing his job. My friends and I used to call him "nice guy Geordi" because even when he gets pissed off he still seems like a "nice" angry person.

Steven Johnson

2023-10-05 12:45:44 +0000 UTC

Lt. Dickerson ("[Kirk]'ll have the hide of the first man that so much as smiles" at President Lincoln) was the security chief in "The Savage Curtain," so Giotto must have transferred by then.

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:41:06 +0000 UTC

More than most -- I think there were probably lots of veteran Trekkers in 1987 who hadn't seen TAS, and of course they hadn't seen the (greatly improved) Director's Edition of TMP, which didn't exist yet.

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:37:22 +0000 UTC

The reference in TOS is in "The Apple."

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:35:32 +0000 UTC

De Lancie wasn't quite as unknown in 1987 as he may have thought he was. While watching him on TNG, my late mother would often reminisce about how much she had loved his portrayal of psychic inventor Eugene Bradford on the daytime soap opera "Days of Our Lives" (a role he later reprised concurrently with TNG).

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:33:30 +0000 UTC

Minor clarification: Gene's full name was "Eugene Wesley Roddenberry" ("Gene" was a nickname).

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:29:44 +0000 UTC

When LeVar Burton was on Stephen Colbert's show once, Colbert made a really hilarious comment about him, referring to the miniseries "Roots" (which was Burton's first big break) along with his other two most famous roles. I wish I could quote it exactly, but Colbert said something to the effect of, "We saw him overcome slavery, achieve literacy and graduate first in his class from Starfleet Academy."

Anthony Bernacchi

2023-10-05 12:28:51 +0000 UTC

Its only the pilot that goes straight into the title sequence, all the rest will have the cold opens, this is the same across blu-ray, dvd, and every streaming service, so there should be no sync issues.

Tristan Rose

2023-10-05 09:58:08 +0000 UTC

I watched on Paramount+ and had no sync issues

Tristan Rose

2023-10-05 09:53:33 +0000 UTC

I really love Strange New Worlds, Picard was ok, the 3rd season fan service was the best, and Lower Decks and Prodigy are fine for a comedy/easter eggs and kids show, but Discovery I just thought was terrible, granted it had some good acting by a some of the players and a couple of good episodes (especially in season 2 which is why we ended up getting SNW), but overall I found it to be just bad and at some points cringe, and don't even get me started with the terrible Klingon makeup and how we suddenly have a ship that can jump all over the universe pre TOS but no one ever uses it again and tries really hard in the future to break the warp barrier. Its probably the only Trek show I have ever looked forward to it being over.

Tristan Rose

2023-10-05 09:45:24 +0000 UTC

Its not cannon, but there is a great book called Q Squared that explores that idea.

Tristan Rose

2023-10-05 09:27:55 +0000 UTC

I remember feeling okay about this one. It is satisfactory. De Lance does such a good job at Q although the character of Q is nowhere near my favorite. He does play well against Picard. However, Q vs. Spock is even better. I loved the Spock vs. Q audio book I listened to on Audible. that is awesome. After awhile you might notice some peculiarities about each character and maybe even pick up on some of the issues which make for good inside jokes. I love Picard, Worf (He will be fleshed out more), Riker, and Geordi (some of the times). I do not know why but most of the women are okay but there are little things that are annoying. I like the doctor the best of the women. The first season is bumpy and a little cold. Later seasons seem warmer and more familiar. But the first season or two is okay.

Carl Peterson

2023-10-05 07:06:38 +0000 UTC

Good news for you is no more 90 minute episodes till the DS9 pilot.

Jonathan

2023-10-05 02:49:25 +0000 UTC

You hit the nail on the head with Decker+Ilia = Riker+Troi. Roddenberry recycled several of his Star Trek: Phase 2 ideas into TNG. Data is another example. He is retooled from a 100% Vulcan character (Lt. Xon) they were going to introduce in Phase 2 to replace Spock after Leonard Nimoy said he would not come back to do that series. The whole curious nature and wanting so much to understand (or even emulate) humans is taken from the Xon character concept.

Collin Freeman

2023-10-05 02:36:09 +0000 UTC

The way you associate Jonathan Frakes with Beyond Belief- that’s the way many people my age (late 30s) feel about LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow. I think that may have been played out by the time you two were born, but it was SUPER popular and played alongside Sesame Street. So imagine getting into Star Trek and seeing Geordi and always thinking “that’s the guy who taught me ‘reading is cool’ “.

Stuart Arbury

2023-10-05 01:48:44 +0000 UTC

Yay..Thank You for posting! Your reaction to McCoy was simply the best! It is going to be a wild ride.. Hang on to your Federation boots..

Badger

2023-10-05 01:42:42 +0000 UTC

Regarding the new Enterprise. The filming miniature was built by ILM, who had built all the movie miniatures after The Motion Picture, so they had plenty of experience. They filmed a library of stock footage, so that the show could reuse fly-bys and such in future episodes and save a little money, spending instead on new effects shots. The sets were the same from the movies (corridors, sickbay, even engineering) just heavily revamped, and simiplified (removing equipment glued on the walls, etc). The Battle Bridge is basically the bridge seen at the end of Voyage Home, just with new consoles.

tyranusfan

2023-10-05 01:42:27 +0000 UTC

When I first saw this episode in 1987, I thought "It was okay. I hope they get better." Well, I didn't think much of the whole first season, although there are a few gems in there. In fact, I even skipped some of the episodes in the 1st season because I was so disgusted at how they were rehashing old TOS stories (you'll see what I mean as it goes along). But starting in the 2nd season, it begins to get some legs and truly creates its own identity without relying so much on the old and familiar. I think you will also enjoy seeing how the characters develop and interact as the series moves along. I liked most of the characters (Riker being my favorite), but it took me well into season 2 before I actually liked Picard, Data, and Troi.

Collin Freeman

2023-10-04 22:31:31 +0000 UTC

We owe cellphones and iPads to Star Trek, just for starters.

Collin Freeman

2023-10-04 22:23:26 +0000 UTC

In much the same way the Decker character would have been a contingency plan for William Shatner (Kirk) if he chose to leave or demand too high of a salary.

Collin Freeman

2023-10-04 22:22:14 +0000 UTC

I'm watching on Paramount+ and I was able to sync them by ear during the opening credits and it remained synced to the end.

Miguel A. Moreta

2023-10-04 20:59:30 +0000 UTC

The continuity is incredible, since she also voiced the Computer voice in TOS.👍

Miguel A. Moreta

2023-10-04 20:40:04 +0000 UTC

BTW: back-story trivia regarding WESLEY CRUSHER: he's named after Star Trek's creator, Gene Wesley Roddenberry. I spoke with Wil Wheaton at a Galaxy-Con meet in Virginia a few years ago, and we discussed that aspect of the character; Wil was so enamored with that and respectful, also having been a major fan of TOS and TAS before landing the role. He's still a major fan, and is now the host of Paramount's series THE READY ROOM, where he interviews cast and production staff from the entire 'Trek franchise, including the new shows currently in production: they all agree it is a tremendous thrill to be a part of the "Star Trek Family" which is getting close to being 60 years old, and still counting!

Rhett Coates

2023-10-04 20:32:23 +0000 UTC

Hmm interesting. I live in UK. Intro in every epsiode is after like first 4-5 minutes and it was exactly same on Netflix here before they moved it to Paramount

Jiri Luza

2023-10-04 20:18:12 +0000 UTC

Dorothy C. Fontana was AMAZING! I got a HUGE, lasting smile when you guys reacted to see her name in the opening credits; I had THE SAME reaction the first time I watched this story, on its opening night. I was a stagehand for Ringling Bros,' Circus, and we were on our opening night in Salt Lake City when TNG had its debut. Many on that tour were Trek fans, actually LIVING Mr. Roddenberry's dream of a "United Earth" on the Circus tour, having people from dozens of nations joined in one united effort to roll that massive performance. Our concessions manager, Richard Slayton, took the night off just to watch Encounter At Farpoint; he was the Circus's biggest Star Trek fan, and remained so until his passing. Just a few months earlier, he took WILLIAM SHATNER on a back stage tour in Anaheim, California so Shatner could see our horses (Shatner is heavy into horses - look that up on google) and meet their trainer, famous Gunther Gebel-Williams. Yes, there are Trek fans from hundreds of nations - as most on the Ringling' tour proved. Finally, at our 1989 end-of-year cast party (in Rosemont, IL), two of the Romanian teeterboard troupe's teenage girls came to the party dressed as two of Kirk's crew, complete with red mini-skirts like Uhura's, tall go-go boots, and their hair done up like Janice Rand's! Their red uniforms were so authentic, it appeared they'd raided Paramount's back lot!

Rhett Coates

2023-10-04 20:14:55 +0000 UTC

Yes, guys, your comment about the NCC-1701-D suffix letter were right: the "-A" is the vessel you saw at the end of ST IV (the whale movie). With TNG being just over 70 years beyond the events of TOS, TAS and the first 6 movies, Stafleet had gone down the line with a series of subsequent vessels called Enterprise, with all of them being heroic in their own times.

Rhett Coates

2023-10-04 20:13:15 +0000 UTC

I remember that one of the most fun trivia aspects of TNG was that the set decorators pulled at least one collection of items from TOS when building the Enterprise-D's transporter room. Interviews with those who designed the newer show have always commented that the LIGHTS above the transporter pads on the new show were actually the SAME PANELS on which TOS actors stood while beaming, in the original show!

Rhett Coates

2023-10-04 20:10:03 +0000 UTC

Yeah, all of us were pleasantly surprised that INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC (the "Star Wars" people) made the effects for this episode. They would continue with that on various other Star Trek movies to tremendous results, which our Patreon hosts Josh and Alex have yet to experience..... but in time, will.

Rhett Coates

2023-10-04 20:07:29 +0000 UTC

Right. Pike's crew was 203 people; Kirk's was 430. Picard's is 1,014 on a vessel (Galaxy Class) that has 8 times the volume of Kirk's Enterprise, according to series specs.

Rhett Coates

2023-10-04 20:04:25 +0000 UTC

Data is the best, so happy you guys are gonna get to see the character.

Matthew

2023-10-04 20:03:51 +0000 UTC

I agree with Russell about your reaction to seeing Bones again; I tear up every time I watch that scene - even after seeing dozens of times over the years. Sometimes I play that scene from YouTube postings just to see him interact with someone from TNG cast, in this case, Data.

Rhett Coates

2023-10-04 20:02:22 +0000 UTC

I just checked Paramount+ and the pilot episode starts the same as ours right into the intro. Are you outside US? Maybe there’s a difference?

Josh (Target Audience)

2023-10-04 20:02:22 +0000 UTC

I think it's become a lot worse in the Internet age, where it seems it is in vogue to either love something as the "best thing ever" or hate it completely as the "worst thing ever created", and nothing in between. With shows like "Rings of Power" you see the same thing happening - not a perfect show, I thought it was decent (sometimes good, sometimes not so good), but talk to many Lord of the Rings fans and they would tell you it is the worst thing ever created.

Michael Ducharme

2023-10-04 19:55:25 +0000 UTC

Your reaction to Bones was magnificent. Glad to see you liking the characters already.

AzoriusMage

2023-10-04 19:38:32 +0000 UTC

To be fair, the crew of the TOS Enterprise, including the amount of senior officers, was much smaller.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 19:37:54 +0000 UTC

William Campbel is probably the only one besides John De Lancie that could have pulled of Q. But yes DeLancie made that character work. Take him out of the equation and Q becomes a total desaster.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 19:36:04 +0000 UTC

Note the theme of this show is just a slight remade variation of the theme song from The Motion Picture. Not sure how they decided that, but it's a really great "remix".

Joe Concepts

2023-10-04 19:33:32 +0000 UTC

I wonder if just like very 10 minutes or something the small image of the screen can be uncovered for a moment to let us be sure we're synced up? Just a 2 second glimpse would help. Also, other reactions I've seen a episode clock running. Not sure how complicated something like that is. But a short glimpse of the video would help.

Joe Concepts

2023-10-04 19:31:38 +0000 UTC

When the show was new, I went to a convention that had both John De Lancie and William Campbel (Tralaine). They actually discussed the similarities between their 2 characters and how Traiaine might be Q's dad. LOL. I think this was John De Lancie's first convention. He was shell shocked by it all. This guy had been working as a character actor for at least 5 years with guest rolls nobody remembers. He thought Q would be one of those. But here he was with a whole bunch of fans for it and him. At that point he was about to be in his second episode "Hide And Q". It was just amazing to see how surprised and grateful he was. It was as if I saw the beginnings of him being the genre star he is. But really, it is his performance that made Q so successful.

Mike Rogers

2023-10-04 19:22:22 +0000 UTC

I remember a little bit of that but most of us were open to the new show but afraid it would replace the original(except for the people that had VCR's which was growing but still not commonplace) . Back then, you had to rely on TV stations to actually show the show you like. Some were afraid that as time went on, stations would opt for the newer Star Trek over the old and old Trek would disappear.

Mike Rogers

2023-10-04 19:12:37 +0000 UTC

The energy beam going to the Farpoint creature originally came from the Captain's Yacut. Yes, in the middle of the bottom of the saucer is supposed to be a detachable ship for the Captain's use. For HD, they changed it to come from the phaser rings.

Mike Rogers

2023-10-04 19:08:09 +0000 UTC

Another fun fact: Paramount put out a bid request for the special effects houses to do the effects for the series. George Lucas's ILM was in a bit of a downtime and put in a reasonable bid, not really wanting the job. To their surprise their bid was accepted (maybe for the prestige) and they did the effects, with a bit of reluctance, for the first season.

Mark Chrisco

2023-10-04 18:43:36 +0000 UTC

Over the many years, Jonathan Frakes has just become a key part of Star Trek. Outside of the acting he goes on to direct lots of episodes, even of the other series.

Joe Concepts

2023-10-04 18:33:21 +0000 UTC

Most of the original film elements used in special effects were scanned at HD. So a lot of the special effects are the original, just scanned in HD. For anything done with CGI, and a few missing film elements they couldn't find, those are redone with modern CGI. It's not nearly as drastic as what was done with TOS. They didn't invent new ships or new looks for things or slightly trim scenes, etc like with TOS. They tried to make the HD version as faithful as possible to the original SD version.

Bret Kay

2023-10-04 18:18:26 +0000 UTC

Back in the mid-1970s, David Gerrold, who wrote the original series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles", wrote a book called "The World of Star Trek". In one part of that book, Gerrold discussed possible changes to the show that could be made if Star Trek were ever rebooted. A big one was the creation of a regular landing party led by an officer that was NOT the captain of the ship, with Gerrold arguing that an officer as trained and experienced as a starship captain was far too valuable to be beaming down into unknown and dangerous situations every week. This was openly discussed by Picard and Riker in this episode, as Gerrold was a consultant for the first season of TNG. Going forward, you'll note how often it is Riker, and not Picard, that leads the teams that beam down to alien worlds.

Timothy Hennon

2023-10-04 17:54:17 +0000 UTC

Yeah it de-sync in few places. Biggest difference is right in beggining where on your blu-ray version you start of with INTRO. But in Paramout+ you got classic first 2-3 of basic plot and then is INTRO. And that will be on every episode I am afraid:( But I can download the original version so no problem for me personally.

Jiri Luza

2023-10-04 17:52:44 +0000 UTC

And Troi will be a little less emotional going forward.

Joe Concepts

2023-10-04 17:23:51 +0000 UTC

Also, Lt Cdr Giotto was security chief in one TOS episode, The Devil in the Dark. There wasn’t a regular security chief. The regular Enterprise-D corridor is actually the Enterprise set from the movies repurposed with some new paneling.

Geoffrey Linehan

2023-10-04 16:53:48 +0000 UTC

During the premiere airing, there was a promo for this episode before the opening credits, where the teaser would have been.

Geoffrey Linehan

2023-10-04 16:42:26 +0000 UTC

In-show, Picard is stiff and formal because this is a brand new crew after working with the same people on the Stargazer for 20+ years, but soon enough becomes the approachable Picard we love.

JD Nevesytrof

2023-10-04 16:38:42 +0000 UTC

Picard is definitely the more professional, formal captain then we've seen, though of course over seven seasons everyone becomes closer. And they often play around with Picard's formality.

Joe Concepts

2023-10-04 16:34:57 +0000 UTC

I really don't think this is a spoiler because it becomes very obvious a couple episodes in. One very weird detail about the first season of the series is there is no consistent Chief Engineer as a main character. Given the popularity of Scotty, I can't imagine what Roddenberry was thinking. Maybe it was to make room for characters like Troi, Wesley, and Worf?

Joe Concepts

2023-10-04 16:29:43 +0000 UTC

Don’t worry guys, they stop having Data act dumb with the “snoop?” bits after this first season.

whacky deli

2023-10-04 16:26:58 +0000 UTC

Yep, agreed.

Steven Johnson

2023-10-04 16:21:37 +0000 UTC

They're as much veteran Trekkers now as anyone was in 1987.

JD Nevesytrof

2023-10-04 16:17:40 +0000 UTC

So, I started my day with this breakfast, and this fantastic reaction. What a treat. When this first came out, it was called the "two hour world premiere movie." This was a television event. They had a long countdown of commercials every day leading up to it. Like I said in my previous comment, Gene did not want to make it two hours. As I recall, D.C. wrote the one hour version. Gene came in and rewrote, primarily by extending out the front half with Q and the trial. The original story was just about the Bandi and what they were doing to this thing. You can almost tell on rewatches that the Q stuff is strictly an impediment to getting to the inevitable conclusion. The problem with Gene will begin to show... He was, according to co-producer Rick Berman and some of the writers... "Taking scripts and tearing them to shreds with rewrites." He had this overall vision that he wanted to achieve. He put in place some really awful mandates for the writers... IE: We can't have major conflicts between characters. even though TOS practically thrived on the conflicts that arose between the perspectives of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Things like that. I do think there are more good episodes in Seasons 1 and 2 than people give credit for, but there are undeniably some absolute butt-ass awful episodes, too. It's a good call about Riker/Troi and the Phase 2 connection. A lot of the dynamics of the characters are limited almost verbatim from what Phase 2 was going to be. Picard is Kirk from Phase 2. A more administrative "Seasoned" commander who delegates to the younger Will Decker/Riker. The scene with McCoy is one of the best moments in all of Season One. It's written deftly, performed with just the right amount of humor and poignancy. Now, a lot of reactors have made the mistake of only watching bits and piece. I don't think that McCoy scene hits nearly as hard if not for being a long time Trek fan. Which, in an honorary sense you guys have become. You watched all of the stuff up to that point. That scene is specifically for the fans.

Steven Johnson

2023-10-04 16:01:26 +0000 UTC

I want to thank you guys for this, like many people I came into Trek mid-stream as a kid and never got to experience the joy and excitement of reaching this new phase in the saga in the proper order, something as simple as appreciating Data or the new transporter or the comm badges from the start. I had a blast watching you and anticipate a hell of a lot of fun going forward.

JD Nevesytrof

2023-10-04 15:55:28 +0000 UTC

The saucer separation is something even the TOS Enterprise could do. But it was meant only as an emergency evacuation procedure and I'm pretty sure re-docking would not have been that simple. With the Enterprise D it became a full design feature to be able to do that more easily, because of the families aboard. The Saucer Section is supposed to have all the families aboard during evacuation, while the rest of the ship goes into battle. That was the compromise to adjust to the situation of having crew-families aboard. If there was a high risk situation the families can be evacuated to the saucer, which then separates and the remaining ship will only contain starfleet crew.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 15:53:09 +0000 UTC

You can always ask that. It is a Target Audience tradition.

Steven Johnson

2023-10-04 15:45:59 +0000 UTC

Darn it! I keep forgetting comments to post. The blu-ray release contained animation artwork of the tiny animation in the windows you see during the opening credits as the Enterprise zooms away. There are little figures walking around the observation lounge. There’s also a feature on the blu-ray about this.

Geoffrey Linehan

2023-10-04 15:45:07 +0000 UTC

The saucer separation effects were the ones from the original broadcast. They spent extensive time for the blu-ray release in finding as much filmed footage as possible. Some episodes had clips found literally right before the release. Some deleted footage has been found post release.

Geoffrey Linehan

2023-10-04 15:41:24 +0000 UTC

Yeah it does.

Michael Nemo

2023-10-04 15:37:39 +0000 UTC

Geordi LaForge was named in honor of an avid Star Trek fan from the conventions. I recall learning him being described as in a wheelchair. Today is October 4th, the anniversary of the launch of Sputnik from 1957, ushering in the space age. The stardate on the plaque of the Enterprise-D bridge equates to October 4 within the prior year this takes place. As someone mentioned in the comments, each stardate begins with “4” arbitrarily because this is in the 24th century. They just needed an extra number to separate it from the TOS stardates. The next number indicates the season.

Geoffrey Linehan

2023-10-04 15:34:06 +0000 UTC

You'd probably be fine showing more a lot more sync. There are other reaction shows that show the full video. Not advocating for that, but a little more sync could help. I know with Battlestar Galactica it was tough as the credits are different in the version and trying to keep it sync'd was some work.

Bret Kay

2023-10-04 15:29:28 +0000 UTC

I own them on Amazon Video and watched that way last night. It sync'd perfectly with the reaction. It's possible to subscribe to Paramount+ through Amazon, so maybe that's a solution if someone's using streaming (?)

Bret Kay

2023-10-04 15:25:09 +0000 UTC

Odd because the episode length on our box set version and on Paramount+ are only 2 seconds apart so I’m not sure how it could be that much of a difference. Regardless, we are going to continue with the box set, but we will add more syncing moments after ad breaks in the show to help.

Josh (Target Audience)

2023-10-04 15:18:47 +0000 UTC

I think it always de-syncs during the ad-breaks. I noticed that too. THe ad-break pause seems to be different. The netflix version in Europe has that problem too. But it was reasonably easy to re-sync it based on the audio. The episode itself is perfectly in sync, it's really just the ad-break that desyncs it.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 15:11:07 +0000 UTC

guys this is imposible to sync. Absolutelly different version from Paramount+. Do you have any links for this version pls? Or can you guys pls do reaction to Paramount+ episodes for future? I guess that is what most of us can watch EDIT: I just downloaded this version, but I guess most of us can't do that

Jiri Luza

2023-10-04 15:04:37 +0000 UTC

I predict that within a year or so you'll be wearing the full TNG uniform (or one of them, the uniform evolved, apparently the first version was super uncomfortable for the actors to wear) and a chest communicator with sound effects and all :D

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 15:02:23 +0000 UTC

"Growing the beard" has since become a term for when a show turns "good" (a reverse of "jumping the shark") Due to Frakes growing a beard during the 2nd season of Star Trek: TNG

Stephen Wright

2023-10-04 14:29:40 +0000 UTC

To give you a background on the "children" situation. The Galaxy-class is a completely new class of star ships and very new. It is much bigger than the old Enterprise and has over 1000 people aboard, and a good chunk of that is families. Starfleet decided that, because the Federation has expanded, everything is bigger, and the missions will last longer and cover larger distances, that they want the crew to be able to bring their families aboard. This decision, as you can see from Picard's reaction, was a controversial once, since obviously life on a starship can be very dangerous. But it's also understandable. Being so far and so long away from home, longer missions, not just 5 years, it just would be impossible to have any family life, if you couldn't bring your family along. So there's room for over 1000 people, but the actual crew is more like about half of that, or maybe 700 or so, from what I remember. The rest is civilians, and a good amount of children. The Enterprise D has entire families aboard and the appropriate facilities, like Kindergardens, schools etc. So they even have teachers aboard. This concept is very new and the Galaxy-class more or less started this. The ship is specifically designed to be more of a long-term home to families.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 13:13:31 +0000 UTC

The final zoom in on the captain for "Engage!" is now known as the captain's shot. It will be re-used throughout the future shows and it ended up a great honor for any actor besides the main captains, to get that kind of shot. It's tradition :)

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 13:03:50 +0000 UTC

Not sure if you noticed, but the USS Hood was Excelsior-class :) The same class of ship that they sabotaged in Search for Spock :)

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 13:01:05 +0000 UTC

By the way guys, did you notice that they teased Bones just like in TMP? They said "Why is the Admiral using a shuttle, why doesn't he just beam aboard". Yet again that unnamed person that doesn't want to use the transporter ;)

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 12:57:38 +0000 UTC

As the man said "I'm sure our future missions will be much more interesting" ;)

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 12:50:01 +0000 UTC

Communicator on the chest is going to be weird to get used to for sure

Josh (Target Audience)

2023-10-04 11:45:27 +0000 UTC

Oktoberfest

Josh (Target Audience)

2023-10-04 11:43:01 +0000 UTC

That looks like the pumpkin spice Oktoberfest edition, but I could be wrong.

James H

2023-10-04 11:38:44 +0000 UTC

Don't bother. While the original and remastered TOS effects are massively different the TNG remaster painstakingly recreated the original look, they reused original assets when they could and when they couldn't did not add their own spin to it. For all intents and purposes the effect shots are the same just in HD. They only made changes when there were objectively mistakes in the original, one episode had a phaser beam coming out of a torpedo tube for example, but those are only two or three instances over the course of the entire series.

Phillip Grischa

2023-10-04 10:11:03 +0000 UTC

FUN TRIVIA.. Next time you see the TNG transporter chamber, the upper lenses in the ceiling are the lenses that were used in the TOS floor pads.

JoeyVettes

2023-10-04 09:36:33 +0000 UTC

You can see an example comparison here from Encounter at Farpoint between the SD and HD versions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVK0Y9XBgmA The giant force field created by Q was obviously redone with modern CGI but it looks very much like the original. There is a very comprehensive shot by shot SD vs HD comparison here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JtImMM-DBw You can find those for most episodes if you are curious to see the original effects.

Michael Ducharme

2023-10-04 09:04:13 +0000 UTC

This was ok I guess, but pretty slow and undramatic. It needed that 60s background music segueing into the commercial breaks to really sell it, and instead some of the scenes just peter out at the end. I'm a little surprised you didn't notice the ridiculous man in a skirt uniform in the beginning, it is an oddity to be sure. Of them all it is Wesley who becomes my favorite because all of ST fandom hates him and he's really a nice kid, so I adopted him because every character should have one fan. The costumes were ill-fitting onesies and the show corrects that down the road, surprised you liked those, and the cast disliked them. Losing the communicators was a mistake I feel; I can remember playing ST as a kid and it always came down to phasers and communicators, and they just do away with cool props. It was a shame. I found the energy a little lethargic, dropped the show after a few episodes and did not revisit it til years later. I've seen better, I've seen worse. I will say you can see the downside of progress here as computer graphics now meant the beautiful matte painting backgrounds of season one TOS give way to these forgettable fx graphics. Also it's so interesting you think the sets look sort of modern, because all that beige and those lay-z-boys are a product of their time. As indifferent as I am to this, I will say Picard Season 3 was the best show of the year so you guys can look forward to that in 2029 or whenever you get that far,

Ken R

2023-10-04 08:09:28 +0000 UTC

I’m expecting you to get to get to joke mode 3 times this season for good reason. We will be laughing along with you

Jonathan

2023-10-04 08:02:25 +0000 UTC

All of the Q stuff was added on by Gene. He had a real interest in making God a character. He then also added his name to the writing credits to get half the royalties creating some aggravation with Dorothy Fontana right off the bat. Dorothy is a producer on the show early on with others of the TOS production crew. This series is episodic but they have character focused episodes that can touch on previous episodes focused on that character. Your comparison of Q and Trelane has been explored in the expanded universe of the novels.

Jonathan

2023-10-04 08:00:15 +0000 UTC

Totally non-ST question: Was that a SPECIAL kind of Yuengling you were enjoying, or just regular lager? It's been a while since I enjoyed one.

MertzRocks

2023-10-04 07:24:18 +0000 UTC

Yeah, and to me it has always felt like the Q stuff is jammed into the episode and doesn't fit, and that's basically what Josh and Alex say in the discussion at the end. I believe DC Fontana wrote the Farpoint script and then Roddenberry added all the Q stuff to it to make it longer.

Michael Ducharme

2023-10-04 07:18:51 +0000 UTC

Alex's question about people being against a new crew in ST......absolutely. The standard comment at the time was how could we have ST without Kirk, Spock, Bones, etc.

Numinous2019

2023-10-04 06:37:00 +0000 UTC

Huh, didn’t even notice that Tasha was in a cut-off skirt uniform at the end, until this watch. Really bad choice. Glad they never went back to that.

whacky deli

2023-10-04 06:00:13 +0000 UTC

They were prepared for a 1 hour pilot but Paramount demanded 2 hours, so enter Q .

Mike Rogers

2023-10-04 05:58:07 +0000 UTC

Pay attention to the devices that are used as props in the show and remember that general use laptops, pads and touchscreens didn't exist in the 80s. TNG was very predicting here. Also I think the existence of anti-matter was still just a theory at the time and only proven later.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 05:51:25 +0000 UTC

The nuclear war in the 21st century will be Canon from now on. But from my understanding it wasn't total earth devastation with strategic nukes. It was mostly tactical nukes and a couple big ones. Earth definitely suffered and hundreds of millions died, but it wasn't civilization destroying. However it was bad enough for humanity to finally come together and work for a better future. From there they developed a world government and ended hunger, war etc. The history you already know. But there was a WW3. Future episodes and shows will elaborate a bit more. Also don't underestimate what is possible in 100-200 years. Remember that the time from the first airplane to the moonlanding was just around 60 years. Compare today's world to that of 1824. That's 200 years. Look at Germany after ww2 and what it looked like, and what it looked like just 20 years later. Humanity eventually came together after WW3. That makes a lot possible.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 05:43:46 +0000 UTC

There's going to be multiple computer voices over the course of the first season until they settle on the one we all know and love.

JD Nevesytrof

2023-10-04 05:42:29 +0000 UTC

Fun fact about the Q stuff: apparently it was a relatively last minute addition due to the Farpoint Station part of the story not having enough meat to carry the full 2 hours with commercials. Probably why they also had the holodeck section, the ship separation shown in that level detail, and even the McCoy guest appearance.

CM Waters

2023-10-04 05:42:20 +0000 UTC

Considering his rank and this being his second tour as a captain and a flagship position, that age isn't even that unrealistic

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 05:38:48 +0000 UTC

Loved the reaction and the new discussion segment. Especially your reaction to Bones hehe. The show will gain a few more sets on the Enterprise as the seasons progress and more budget comes in. So thats something to look forward to. In terms of tech I wouldn't worry. Gene made sure the writers understood exactly how every system of the Enterprise worked, so that is very consistent in this show.

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 05:36:40 +0000 UTC

Even more so with Phase II scripts being redone in season two due to writer's strike issues, but that time will come.

CM Waters

2023-10-04 05:34:59 +0000 UTC

I agree with Mike Rogers, the look of the visual effects is mostly the same, just higher quality. With TOS they took more liberties. For the most part in TNG they are so close at emulating the originals that you can't tell they are new visual effects, you can only tell the quality difference, except for a few scenes in certain episodes that were originally done with ancient CGI that looked particularly bad that are now 100x better.

Michael Ducharme

2023-10-04 05:32:49 +0000 UTC

The original effects were very good, this is just for higher resolution. But nothing looks completely different or anything. The enterprise and those jellyfish looked like that originally as well

Andreas Schmitt

2023-10-04 05:30:55 +0000 UTC

They were very careful emulating the original look. The original broadcast masters are on older released DVD. They basically look like high quality VHS.

Mike Rogers

2023-10-04 05:22:50 +0000 UTC

I think one of you guys mentioned they saw Riker as "Kirk as a first officer". It's funny you mention that because Riker was the contingency plan for the Captain if Patrick Stewart didn't catch on with fans. They wanted to have a "Kirk-like Captain" as a backup. Obviously, it's not a spoiler that that never needed to happen because Stewart as Picard is awesome.

Ca$hWednesday

2023-10-04 04:56:55 +0000 UTC

Cool fact, Geordi La Forge was in honor of a prominent disabled Trek fan, George La Forge, who was deceased by the time of TNG's premiere.

JD Nevesytrof

2023-10-04 04:53:24 +0000 UTC

look up who played the computer's voice

Castanea

2023-10-04 04:42:31 +0000 UTC

There was a fairly large vocal contingent of haters when TNG first started who were predisposed to hate it and view it as "not real Star Trek". This phenomenon has happened with both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. It's almost inconceivable now, but when Empire Strikes Back came out, there was a large fanbase of major Star Wars fans who hated the new film, thinking it was terrible, "not real Star Wars". Then later when the prequels came out, the original trilogy was seen as "real Star Wars" and the prequels were seen as "not real Star Wars". Then later with the sequel trilogy, the original trilogy and prequels were all suddenly praised as "real Star Wars" and the sequel trilogy hated as "not real Star Wars". Similarly, TNG had a significant base of haters early on, and this hatred started to dissipate by the time the show started getting really good in seasons 3 and 4. Then DS9 and Voyager started and the haters moved onto those shows, considering them as "not real Star Trek" while TOS and TNG were "real Star Trek". Then later after those were done and Enterprise came out, that was decried as the worst series ever and "not real Star Trek" while the others were real Star Trek. Now we have the same cycle happening again with Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and a lot of Picard seen as "not real Star Trek" while Enterprise and the earlier shows (which were initially hated as being "not real Star Trek") are now being held up as shining examples of "real Star Trek". The hatred of whatever happens to be new is currently being taken to the Nth degree. A lot of newer episodes out just this last year have been unfairly lambasted with such hyperbole as "the worst episode of television ever in the entire history of the universe" and meanwhile the episode is maybe not perfect but pretty good. If Star Trek takes another hiatus from TV at some point and then comes back, the haters are bound to move onto the new thing as the worst thing ever and suddenly hold up Discovery and SNW as shining examples of "real Star Trek". It's the same pattern that's been going on for decades with SW and ST fandom. Same thing happened with Battlestar Galactica, a huge fanbase of the 1978 show was vocal about their hatred of the reboot and slowly these criticisms went away, except one poor and notorious fan who hated the new series with such intensity that he self published on Amazon about 10 different books all of which just talked about his hatred of the series and everything he hated as a giant stream of consciousness and read like ramblings of a madman. He obviously suffered from some mental illness, and I don't see why anyone would buy those. They seem to have disappeared from Amazon, hopefully he came to his senses and withdrew them himself.

Michael Ducharme

2023-10-04 04:40:09 +0000 UTC

A background note, Jean-Luc Picard as of this episode is supposed to be about 60 years old, but looking clearly younger. As with Bones still being alive, it's a low-key way through the series to show human lifespans are much longer by the 23rd century.

JD Nevesytrof

2023-10-04 04:29:06 +0000 UTC

You can also tell the influence of Star Trek The Motion Picture, not only the music, but also the characters of Riker and Troi, who are both loosely based on Decker and Ilia from The Motion Picture.

Michael Ducharme

2023-10-04 03:56:11 +0000 UTC

Yaaaay! And right when my closing shift ended.

Nolan

2023-10-04 03:54:17 +0000 UTC

Ah ok good to know. Looks great but kind of a bummer that the original fx aren’t even an option. I mean I guess if we really wanted to see it that way we could buy it on dvd

Josh (Target Audience)

2023-10-04 03:47:07 +0000 UTC

And here I was just about to ask when the next Star Trek video was.

Jeff Cornell

2023-10-04 03:40:32 +0000 UTC

The showed a picture of the blu-ray so i think they're watching it off that

Retro Tom

2023-10-04 03:39:34 +0000 UTC

To answer your question, TOS was The Cage was in 2253 Where No Man Has Gone Before was in 2265 The rest of TOS was 2266-2269 The Motion Picture was in 2271 Wrath Of Khan to Voyage Home was all in 2286 & TNG starts in 2364

Retro Tom

2023-10-04 03:38:55 +0000 UTC

A lot of fans believe Trelane is a Q. I think it is a very strong possibility.

KatWithAttitude

2023-10-04 03:37:22 +0000 UTC

There is a TNG HD remaster - I believe Paramount+ has the remastered version.

Cameron Thacker

2023-10-04 03:32:06 +0000 UTC

I mostly want to see the reaction to THAT cameo!

Terminaldogma01

2023-10-04 03:26:08 +0000 UTC

This is is a remastered version, they remastered all 7 seasons. Before that they were just standard definition. The HD version has redone visual effects, like in the original series. The main difference with the TOS visual effects is they couldn't use the model shots in TOS and had to redo them with CGI, but the redone TNG visual effects leverage the original model shots. The shots of the Enterprise itself are therefore mostly the original model shots cleaned up, but all added things like the background starfield, phasers, torpedos, planets, the Q force field, etc are all redone in a way that tries to make them look like higher quality versions of the original.

Michael Ducharme

2023-10-04 03:25:33 +0000 UTC

some things are different in TNG for example the warp numbers mean different things

Castanea

2023-10-04 03:20:03 +0000 UTC

Hell yeah, now's the time to ignore everyone managing your expectations and enjoy the ride.

JD Nevesytrof

2023-10-04 03:07:19 +0000 UTC

And so it begins.

Collin Freeman

2023-10-04 03:07:09 +0000 UTC

It doesn't need it. It is what it is, and everything good we appreciate the show still had its roots in Season 1.

JD Nevesytrof

2023-10-04 03:06:44 +0000 UTC

i'm THRILLED you are watching it. there's good in the first season but please give it a chance it get's a lot better

Castanea

2023-10-04 03:05:47 +0000 UTC

Please forgive this season.

Michael Nemo

2023-10-04 03:05:44 +0000 UTC

I can't click on this fast enough

Retro Tom

2023-10-04 03:05:33 +0000 UTC

And. Here. We. Go.

James Bottas

2023-10-04 03:05:15 +0000 UTC

Yes! TNG!!

Bret Kay

2023-10-04 03:04:53 +0000 UTC

UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S1E1&2 - Encounter at Farpoint

Comments

46:14. This is a note for me so I don't have to find it again.

He won an Emmy for his costume designs on TNG. The only individual thusly honored from the franchise so far.

The uniform design on TNG is superb. And they got even better when they were subtly redesigned in the second season. WWT did an amazing job, much respect.

2:04:20 And staring Denise Crosby as Tarr (Tasha Yarr) (ROTFL!)

23:40 It's not an illusion. Troi talked about that just a few minutes earlier.

Just joined this channel for STNG. Thank you so much. Looking forward to this.

The sound gets better later. Sometimes when they are walking to the lift or the back area of the bridge there is a noticeable hollow plywood sound.

Fun facts: He was in the TV movie "SST Death Flight" MST3K "enjoyed" in their first season on local UHF station KTMA pre-Comedy Central, and a "Get Smart" sequel, I believe "The Nude Bomb".

And The Orville.

Wow I didn't know how long he served on the stargazer.

Odd P+ seemed to sync fine for me.

I never agreed with the decision to have kids aboard but since the were able to get some good stories out of it I made peace with the concept.

It always seemed unrealistic to me that it was so hard in the future to have a private phone call. It's usually speakerphone or nothing LOL.

Jerry Goldsmith composed the TNG theme. Which is exactly the same as the TMP theme, just slightly faster.

Chechov was security officer in the movies.

Season 2 and on, those seats don’t lean back as far.

Not only that, they were cast in the opposite roles, Marina as Security Chief Macha Hernandez. I think in rehearsals, after seeing the actresses in character, the switch was made.

Well, I stand corrected, For me to my eye with no investigation at the time there was a lack of detail until about the episode times squared that looks to me to be poor CGI. Thank you for enlightening me on that end

In case this wasn’t mentioned, DC Fontana wrote the Farpoint story and Gene wrote the Q story because Paramount demanded a 2 hour pilot for the premiere, which Gene did not want.

There was absolutely no CGI used in this show for ship shots. And most of the ship shots used throughout the series were all shot and reused from season 1

Another interesting fact for you might be that Denise Crosby and Marina Sirtis originally auditioned for eachother's roles.

I hate auto correct I said the doors were loud.

I said sue ing

Also, while you liked the uniforms the actors hated the jumpsuits They were painful, and Stewarts doctor recommended seeing the production if they didn't change the uniforms

Asubtle thing you might notice is the way everyone stops talking around the opening and closing of the ships doors because they were found and had to be removed in post. initially the ships appearing to be mostly CGI and in season 2 you suddenly notice the practical model in use

The best part of far point was this sense that we were going to embark on a grand adventure.

When TNG premiered I was a computer science major , and grinned and numbers around data's storage capacities, and number of calculations per second Still, loved the character though

I am completely blind now, but I was blind in my right eye and had 20/200 vision in my left at there time. So, I could sort of see, but not correctly and I was an excellent navigator. I really identified with Geordi immediately

I wasn't just excited, I was Focused. You have good eyes I did not notice the bridge chairs being wobbly and over reclined but for the first few episode they kept having prop datas chair up with layers of Carleton the back.

I was 21 years old when Farpoint aired.

The TNG uniforms were designed by William Ware Theiss. A close friend of Gene Roddenberry and the costume designer for the entire run of TOS. He left the same position on TNG due to illness.

TNG is set 78 years after TOS.

Yes, it lacks some drama as opposed to whipping out a communicator and flipping open the cover, but you'll get used to it (or at least, I did).

I am so glad they got rid of those skants. They looked ridiculous on both the men and women.

To answer Josh's question about the visual effects, they are remastered only in that all of the original 35mm and VistaVision camera negatives were taken out of storage and re-scanned in High Definition and then re-composited.

They’re called skants, not slants. And the guys mentioned how Troi was in one and not Tasha, but we do see her one and only appearance in a skant in the last scene on the bridge.

Yeah I know it has evacuation capability. But I'm assuming in those cases they'd also transform several cargo bays. I don't think they have that many actual crew-quarters.

Oh yeah sure, they weren't the first. And they certainly didn't "invent" that stuff, but they paid attention to what engineers were talking about, what the future might hold, and they used that to show a realistic image of future tech. Not many shows or movies do that kind of proper homework.

Its more interesting that he went like 15 years with no command after Stargazer

There is room for far more than 1,000 on a galaxy class. They mention in the tech manual how it can transport new colony settlers and do emergency evacuations for like 5,000 people, and even that is a tiny amount compared to the size of the ship. https://youtu.be/Lwx5uB0pyhQ?si=E07pE9UHxTUgO0VV

Btw guys, you mentioned liking the many windows on the new Enterprise and said "maybe in the future glass is that strong". Remember the "transparent aluminium" that Scotty gave to that guy in Star Trek IV? Those windows are made from exactly that: transparent aluminium, not glass :)

You know it’s tuff TNG got so much better as it went on from say S3 on, but rewatching the 1st season again it’s obvious to me that despite pop belief TOS has held up so much better.

For these guys, the Harry Mudd reference was basically the ultimate compliment to Q and John de Lancie!

I disagree. I think it would have been more interesting to continue the concept. It would be pretty dang relevant for cintemoorary audiences. Too ahead of its time I suppose.

The actors hated them, though. They were mostly polyester with no breathe to them, so when they would sweat under those bright stage lights, things could get rather smelly and rank by the end of a shooting day. The uniforms from the 3rd season on used more cotton fiber in the material.

Another hold-over idea from the Star Trek: Phase 2 series concepts.

Picard: "..even when we wore costumes like that." He says to Q wearing the sharp Marine Corps uniform as he's wearing skin tight space pajamas.

Knowing your guys' dislike for the TOS movie uniforms that debuted in Wrath of Khan (the best Star Trek uniforms btw), I knew you'd like the skin tight space pajamas they wear here in season 1 and 2.

Thank God that didn't last.

Did you notice that some of the male crew members wore minidresses (“slants”)? Unfortunately, this didn’t last long. I thought it was a very interesting way to depict future society.

Another note is the character was originally written as a daughter, Leslie Crusher.

I have the same Blu-ray set they do and when I got it synced up at the beginning it would gradually separate until the next commercial break when it would sync back up again. Weird.

You mean Troy?

I think those 1000 includes the families though. Do we know how much of that was starfleet personell? Around 700 maybe?

"2001: A Space Odyssey" had iPad-like devices in 1968. I don't think Star Trek had shown anything like that yet.

Umm, that is a spoiler, actually, in a way...

LeVar was one of those quiet boons for TNG. He brings a lot of "soft humanity" to the cast. He's just there, doing his job. My friends and I used to call him "nice guy Geordi" because even when he gets pissed off he still seems like a "nice" angry person.

Lt. Dickerson ("[Kirk]'ll have the hide of the first man that so much as smiles" at President Lincoln) was the security chief in "The Savage Curtain," so Giotto must have transferred by then.

More than most -- I think there were probably lots of veteran Trekkers in 1987 who hadn't seen TAS, and of course they hadn't seen the (greatly improved) Director's Edition of TMP, which didn't exist yet.

The reference in TOS is in "The Apple."

Minor clarification: Gene's full name was "Eugene Wesley Roddenberry" ("Gene" was a nickname).

Its only the pilot that goes straight into the title sequence, all the rest will have the cold opens, this is the same across blu-ray, dvd, and every streaming service, so there should be no sync issues.

I watched on Paramount+ and had no sync issues

Its not cannon, but there is a great book called Q Squared that explores that idea.

Good news for you is no more 90 minute episodes till the DS9 pilot.

Yay..Thank You for posting! Your reaction to McCoy was simply the best! It is going to be a wild ride.. Hang on to your Federation boots..

We owe cellphones and iPads to Star Trek, just for starters.

In much the same way the Decker character would have been a contingency plan for William Shatner (Kirk) if he chose to leave or demand too high of a salary.

I'm watching on Paramount+ and I was able to sync them by ear during the opening credits and it remained synced to the end.

The continuity is incredible, since she also voiced the Computer voice in TOS.👍

Hmm interesting. I live in UK. Intro in every epsiode is after like first 4-5 minutes and it was exactly same on Netflix here before they moved it to Paramount

Right. Pike's crew was 203 people; Kirk's was 430. Picard's is 1,014 on a vessel (Galaxy Class) that has 8 times the volume of Kirk's Enterprise, according to series specs.

Data is the best, so happy you guys are gonna get to see the character.

I agree with Russell about your reaction to seeing Bones again; I tear up every time I watch that scene - even after seeing dozens of times over the years. Sometimes I play that scene from YouTube postings just to see him interact with someone from TNG cast, in this case, Data.

I just checked Paramount+ and the pilot episode starts the same as ours right into the intro. Are you outside US? Maybe there’s a difference?

Your reaction to Bones was magnificent. Glad to see you liking the characters already.

To be fair, the crew of the TOS Enterprise, including the amount of senior officers, was much smaller.

William Campbel is probably the only one besides John De Lancie that could have pulled of Q. But yes DeLancie made that character work. Take him out of the equation and Q becomes a total desaster.