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arias_hollow**This is an old review I am cataloging and may not reflect my Current thoughts on the matter**
I did it. I DID IT. I finally finished watching all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. And I loved it. I’ve always liked Star Trek, and would often see episodes of The Original Series, Next Generation, and Voyager here and there, enough to be basically familiar with the characters and structure of the shows, so a while back I actually started watching Next Generation in consecutive order (after watching nearly all of The Original Series). And having now seen all of it, I can officially say it is an amazing awesome wonderful series that everyone should try. Since this is the first series I’ve reviewed that doesn’t have an over arching plot, I’m going to go with a more free-style review in contrast to my previous, well-organized reviews.
First off, I might as well talk a little bit about the overall structure of the show before I start rambling incoherently about how fabulous everything about it is. It is an extremely character driven show, more focused on exploring philosophical questions, human morality/psychology, and the personal development of the main cast rather than telling one big multi-season story. Some people may be put off by the show’s episodic nature, but I personally found it very enjoyable; even though nearly every episode could be watched by itself without any prior knowledge of what had happened before it, the show has enough fluid continuity and subtle character development that watching it in order adds a special meaning and understanding of just how the characters think and react to different situations, and episodes do often reference previous episodes and events, so even if there technically isn’t an over arching story, it manages to feel almost as if is there is one through recurring themes, episode continuity, and character development.
The show does a good job at keeping the one-shots interesting (some more than others, but that’s inevitable in series that long), and brings up interesting and challenging ideas/questions for the cast to face each episode. The episodes range from being absolutely hilarious, to emotionally engaging/heartbreaking/FULL OF FEELS, to downright weird, but regardless of what type of episode it is, you can always count on there being at least a few good scenes or ideas, and more often than not they’re extremely interesting.
Season 1 was, admittedly, a very rocky season; the writers were clearly still trying to figure out the rules of their universe and the subtler workings of all the characters and generally only sort of seemed to know what they were doing. Even so, there are a lot of great scenes in that season and I still found it pretty enjoyable, and it definitely serves as a good foundation season for the show’s character development and introducing various recurring plot points and themes.
But that’s enough about structure. Now to talk about what really makes the show stand out as endlessly fabulous, spectacular, and extremely re-watchable: the characters. The entire main cast is ridiculously endearing and entertaining, each one decidedly unique, interesting, and fun to watch on screen. So many of the characters, when I first saw them in Season 1, I felt uncertain about, yet intrigued; and then each one evolved and become monumentally important and lovable and endured so many varying trials that developed their characters over time AND I JUST REALLY HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT FOR EVERY SINGE ONE OF THEM OKAY. I liked Geordi and Data instantly (they’re still my faves), they both have such wonderful personalities and their friendship IS THE ACTUAL BEST THING to watch on screen and gives me immense joy. Dr. Crusher and Deanna Troi are also superbly fabulous characters who are ridiculously admirable and entertaining. And the three characters I was most uncertain about when I first started watching the show, Captain Picard, Riker, and Worf, all developed into supremely awesome and respectable characters that I love intensely. Not to mention all the side/recurring characters are great too, to the point where you seriously wish at times they had more screen time. Just… they all grow so much over the series and feel so multi-faceted and realistic that it’s practically impossible not to love admire all of them.
Also, the last two episodes manage to tie in SO WELL to the first two episodes, which is something that almost never happens with a series this long. I seriously enjoyed that ending A TON, only now I have to go watch the movies and hunt down as many of the published books as possible because IT STILL WASN’T ENOUGH. GIVE ME ALL THE STAR TREK TNG. ALL OF IT. Actually, I’m about to finally go and start Deep Space Nine, so really just give me all the Star Trek in general.
To summarize, this show was awesome, and I strongly recommend it to everyone. No, it isn’t a perfect show, it has a rocky entire first season, some episodes aren’t as good as others, and there are moments/scenes/turn of events I have some issues with, but the overall greatness of the show and in particular the endearing quality of its characters make the not-good moments/episodes worthwhile in my opinion.
I did it. I DID IT. I finally finished watching all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. And I loved it. I’ve always liked Star Trek, and would often see episodes of The Original Series, Next Generation, and Voyager here and there, enough to be basically familiar with the characters and structure of the shows, so a while back I actually started watching Next Generation in consecutive order (after watching nearly all of The Original Series). And having now seen all of it, I can officially say it is an amazing awesome wonderful series that everyone should try. Since this is the first series I’ve reviewed that doesn’t have an over arching plot, I’m going to go with a more free-style review in contrast to my previous, well-organized reviews.
First off, I might as well talk a little bit about the overall structure of the show before I start rambling incoherently about how fabulous everything about it is. It is an extremely character driven show, more focused on exploring philosophical questions, human morality/psychology, and the personal development of the main cast rather than telling one big multi-season story. Some people may be put off by the show’s episodic nature, but I personally found it very enjoyable; even though nearly every episode could be watched by itself without any prior knowledge of what had happened before it, the show has enough fluid continuity and subtle character development that watching it in order adds a special meaning and understanding of just how the characters think and react to different situations, and episodes do often reference previous episodes and events, so even if there technically isn’t an over arching story, it manages to feel almost as if is there is one through recurring themes, episode continuity, and character development.
The show does a good job at keeping the one-shots interesting (some more than others, but that’s inevitable in series that long), and brings up interesting and challenging ideas/questions for the cast to face each episode. The episodes range from being absolutely hilarious, to emotionally engaging/heartbreaking/FULL OF FEELS, to downright weird, but regardless of what type of episode it is, you can always count on there being at least a few good scenes or ideas, and more often than not they’re extremely interesting.
Season 1 was, admittedly, a very rocky season; the writers were clearly still trying to figure out the rules of their universe and the subtler workings of all the characters and generally only sort of seemed to know what they were doing. Even so, there are a lot of great scenes in that season and I still found it pretty enjoyable, and it definitely serves as a good foundation season for the show’s character development and introducing various recurring plot points and themes.
But that’s enough about structure. Now to talk about what really makes the show stand out as endlessly fabulous, spectacular, and extremely re-watchable: the characters. The entire main cast is ridiculously endearing and entertaining, each one decidedly unique, interesting, and fun to watch on screen. So many of the characters, when I first saw them in Season 1, I felt uncertain about, yet intrigued; and then each one evolved and become monumentally important and lovable and endured so many varying trials that developed their characters over time AND I JUST REALLY HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT FOR EVERY SINGE ONE OF THEM OKAY. I liked Geordi and Data instantly (they’re still my faves), they both have such wonderful personalities and their friendship IS THE ACTUAL BEST THING to watch on screen and gives me immense joy. Dr. Crusher and Deanna Troi are also superbly fabulous characters who are ridiculously admirable and entertaining. And the three characters I was most uncertain about when I first started watching the show, Captain Picard, Riker, and Worf, all developed into supremely awesome and respectable characters that I love intensely. Not to mention all the side/recurring characters are great too, to the point where you seriously wish at times they had more screen time. Just… they all grow so much over the series and feel so multi-faceted and realistic that it’s practically impossible not to love admire all of them.
Also, the last two episodes manage to tie in SO WELL to the first two episodes, which is something that almost never happens with a series this long. I seriously enjoyed that ending A TON, only now I have to go watch the movies and hunt down as many of the published books as possible because IT STILL WASN’T ENOUGH. GIVE ME ALL THE STAR TREK TNG. ALL OF IT. Actually, I’m about to finally go and start Deep Space Nine, so really just give me all the Star Trek in general.
To summarize, this show was awesome, and I strongly recommend it to everyone. No, it isn’t a perfect show, it has a rocky entire first season, some episodes aren’t as good as others, and there are moments/scenes/turn of events I have some issues with, but the overall greatness of the show and in particular the endearing quality of its characters make the not-good moments/episodes worthwhile in my opinion.
