test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Under-rated Trek Films/Episodes
ryan218
Member Posts: 36,106 Arc User
Which Star Trek films/TV episodes do you think simply didn't get the credit they deserved or are treated harshly?
Well for movies, in my opinion, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Now, hear me out! Yes, the FX were god-awful (especially compared to the previous 4 Treks) and the plot was far-fetched, but the dialogue and relationship between Spock, Kirk and McCoy were excellent! It was a slower Trek film than usual, but did what the original series did so well; analysed the human condition - how we'd react if we could make all the pain in our lives go away and why we mustn't. It also contained some good comedy.
I also enjoyed Star Trek Insurrection and Star Trek Generations.
In terms of TV episodes, I'd say TNG: Measure of a Man. In my opinion, Measure of a Man was a masterfully written look into how we as a species look at life. It not only shows how close 'property' comes to slavery and inequality, but also looks at how we define sentient life and the rights of others.
It also had ramifications for the whole of the series (as well as for STO), which would be presented multiple times throughout the show's run, yet, compared with Best of Both Worlds, All Good Things... and Chain of Command (all of which I consider great), you never hear mention of Measure of a Man.
Well for movies, in my opinion, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Now, hear me out! Yes, the FX were god-awful (especially compared to the previous 4 Treks) and the plot was far-fetched, but the dialogue and relationship between Spock, Kirk and McCoy were excellent! It was a slower Trek film than usual, but did what the original series did so well; analysed the human condition - how we'd react if we could make all the pain in our lives go away and why we mustn't. It also contained some good comedy.
I also enjoyed Star Trek Insurrection and Star Trek Generations.
In terms of TV episodes, I'd say TNG: Measure of a Man. In my opinion, Measure of a Man was a masterfully written look into how we as a species look at life. It not only shows how close 'property' comes to slavery and inequality, but also looks at how we define sentient life and the rights of others.
It also had ramifications for the whole of the series (as well as for STO), which would be presented multiple times throughout the show's run, yet, compared with Best of Both Worlds, All Good Things... and Chain of Command (all of which I consider great), you never hear mention of Measure of a Man.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
I can forgive mediocre effects and plotline (I watched The Motionless Picture several times, after all), but assassinating the characters like that sits ill with me. (I didn't like it any better in STVI when Uhura was reduced to covering her comms console with books in order to translate Klingon.)
My character Tsin'xing
In Scotty's defence, it was a new ship.
But, eh, everyone has their own opinion on the matter. I knew I was part of the minority of people who liked ST:V.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
As for the new Star Trek movies, I like them and all, but whoever designed the ship's engineering section was a complete idiot. Why would a starship in the 23rd century use steel I-beams and miles of steel pipes and concrete? It looked like a Damn oil refinery! Besides, how would all that fit inside the ship's drive section? The engineering section on the Enterprise from the 60's looked more high tech than the one Abrams used. The best engineering section I have seen so far is the one in TGN.
Get a new set designer Abrams!
However, this is the only movie until Star Trek Into Darkness, where they actually explore. TMP explores humanity and V'Ger. TMP was a soft reboot of the series which in turn led another soft reboot TWOK in which in turn led another a semi-soft reboot in TNG.
Both Enterprise and Voyager. And Nemesis.
I hope STO get's better ...
DS9 1x19: "Duet"
DS9 4x22: "For the Cause"
DS9 5x13: "For the Uniform"
DS9 5x23: "Blaze of Glory"
TNG, pretty much all of Season Six
TAS
...
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek
Star Trek Into Darkness
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
As a series, Enterprise is underrated IMO. I gave up on Trek during the VOY era because I simply couldn't get into that series; years later, catching Enterprise seasons 3 & 4 on repeats renewed my interest. It's analogous to the 7th Doctor over in Doctor Who - a late rally in quality which failed to save the series.
As for a series episode, I have many. Being trough all Voyager episodes last year (2013
In the end.... we`re all Ferengi!
I actually like Delta Rising.
There was always something about that movie that drew me back to it more than ANY of the other movies. Part of it, I know, was Christopher Plummer as General Chang. I know some got tired of his over-the-top Shakespeare recitations, but I thought it was just malicious and beautiful.
Nobody ever says it's 'bad' (it's one of the good 'even' numbered Trek films), but no one really praises it either. It has a good social message (end of the cold war, etc.), and keeps your interest with conspiracy intrigue and of course getting to watch Sulu very deliberately say, "Target that explosion and fire!"
KDF: Absolution, Vox, Vadim, Sammiches and Unknown Refugee
Member of Network 23 FED and Imperial Legion
Well, as was posted earlier, it was a new ship.
As for Uhura, it seems as if though the Enterprise crew typically only used universal translators. Even if she actually knew how to speak Klingon before, chances are she wouldn't remember it very well and would have to rely on books to avoid making... well, the mess they made while using the books. :P
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
Also ENT in general. After some rewatches with an objective eye I can honestly say its a very good series and does not get the love and respect it probably deserves.
Don't think ive ever heard anyone say that episode was anything but brilliant, so don't think its underrated at all.
Both great movies in my eyes, it is quite a shame that Nemesis was such a flop in the box office because I thought it was one of the best films ever made.
Nemesis had wrong timing and to strong competition but agree, it doesn't make it a bad movie as I described earlier. But Insurrection? Hmm, The scene that wrecked the movie and all of Star Trek was the cheap-TRIBBLE joystick for manual control. I mean come on!
In the end.... we`re all Ferengi!
A little bit of me died when I saw that for the first time.
Unfortunately, it has a lot of problems, and a lot of those problems might stem from RDM and Brannon Braga being new to motion picture writing. It was written around the same time as All Good Things, and the latter was the better collaboration between the two.
I agree with all of that, except your last comment. I don't know dude, this episode is frequently spoken of in high praise and is one of the best episodes TNG ever produced (and Star Trek for that matter), and I've never seen it referred to anywhere as anything less than great. I wouldn't call it underrated.
Of the movies, I think TMP and TSFS were underrated. Something about TMP just captures the wonder and majesty of space and exploring the unknown. TSFS might be guilty of pushing the reset button as far as Spock's death goes, but one of the things I liked about it was that David's death was the price Kirk paid for saving his friend. That to me echoes the whole sacrifice theme TWoK did. Not to mention, the Enterprise dying. Kirk goes through hell, loses not only his son - who he had only just now become acquainted with - but also his one true love, his ship. And why? Because there's a remote, slim, infinitely tiny possibility that Spock might be brought back to life. Looking at it rationally, like Admiral Morrow did, there's no chance something like this would be a reasonable thing to believe. But Kirk does so, out of loyalty.
And the way the film concludes just reinforces that. After the ceremony Sarek comes to Kirk and humbly thanks him, acknowledging just what it was Kirk had lost for his benefit. Kirk loses his son and his career just so that Sarek could have his son returned to him. And when Spock asks why they did what they did for him, Kirk replies that sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many - which is a fantastic way of echoing Spock's logic from the end of TWoK, and both are kind of like Trek's version of the 'all for one and one for all' mantra. Really this film is a lot better than fans give it credit for, and deserves a better reputation as a result.
Of the TV shows, I'd say that Voyager is underrated. At least from season 4 onwards. I recently posted about this but to reiterate, one of the things that surprised me when I rewatched the show recently was how solid season 4, 5 and 6 are, particularly s5. S5 is pretty dark, darker than I was expecting. There were a lot of episodes that dealt with depression, trauma, and the like and it's the kind of storytelling that had been largely missing from the show since it launched. I'm also tempted to give Enterprise another go, one of my friends has recently watched Enterprise's fourth and recommended it.
All of my favorite TNG stuff involved exploring the culture of a civilization other than the Federation. :P Well... Klingon stuff got over done and eventually lost it's interest.... Other than that...
My character Tsin'xing
Helpful Tools: Dictionary.com - Logical fallacies - Random generator - Word generator - Color tool - Extra Credits - List of common English language errors - New T6 Big booty tutorial
Insurrection has plenty to cuss about, but the joystick for manual control?
I really don't get the whining.
As someone who loves flight sims and space sims, it really is a more ergonomically sound and precise control scheme for something that maneuvers in 3D than tapping commands into an LCARS display. Plenty of harder sci-fi than Star Trek uses it (Honor Harrington for one).
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Well, it wasn't necessarily that it was a new ship, that had Scotty not knowing everything about it. It was the fact that it was half-done, and needing so much work done on it, he may not have necessarily remembered what was torn apart, and what was closed and actually ready to go.
On Uhura, if I remember correctly, she never spoke Klin, so having to rely on books, or computer printouts, isn't necessarily unbelievable. After all, even a linguistics expert, isn't going to know EVERY language out there, lol.
butcher suspect, "What'd you hit me with?"
Temperance Brennan, "A building"
Actually, this is the ONLY Star Trek movie that my wife actually enjoys, and will sit through, lol.
butcher suspect, "What'd you hit me with?"
Temperance Brennan, "A building"
I like The Wounded for many reasons including that in true TNG style there's an overriding grey-area moral question, that it introduced the Cardassians and set up DS9 (my favorite series), it was a Chief Obrien episode which were very rare on TNG and helped show what a great actor and character was hidden there, had great guest stars in Marc Alaimo, who they obviously liked having around, and Bob Gunton, who is one of my favorite actors. The end scene between Gunton and Meaney is I think one of the finest scenes I've ever seen on the small screen. And the very end where Picard shows us he's nobody's fool put it over the top.
Blood Oath was one of the first episodes of Star Trek I can remember watching when it was first broadcast. It made me sit up and pay attention. This is one of the few non-Worf and non-Torres episodes where we really get to see what it is like to Klingon. Having the three great warriors back was a coup and the fact that a much younger and much less experienced actress and character can go toe to toe with those guys and really own the episode is what, to me, makes it great.
Very good call on this one. One of my favorite TNG episodes too.
The Enemy
Geordie has to break down the walls of distrust between him and a marooned Romulan on an inhospitable planet, while Picard struggles to convince Lt. Worf to donate his blood to an injured Romulan captive, the implications of which could avert a war. It's a great dichotomy where, on one hand, an enemy is convinced to cooperate with one of our heroes; while one of our heroes refuses to cooperate with one of the enemies. A great moral parable, and an extremely well crafted story.
The Wounded
A rogue Federation captain is attacking Cardassian ships, and risking an all out war. A great episode for all the reasons mentioned above. Did wonders to develop Chief O'Brien, who would go on to become one of the most beloved characters in the franchise, as well as the Cardassians, who became one of the most compelling bad guys in the franchise. Top notch episode with a lot of heart.
The Chase
I'd call this the quintessential Star Trek episode. It's got all your major players involved, it's got a little action, a little negotiation, a little humor, and a great story. It also hand waves the old question of why Star Trek aliens mostly look so 'humanoid'. The last scene in the episode, with the Romulan captain contacting Picard, is one of my favorite moments in TNG.
Ensign Ro
I've noticed that people are pretty divided on Ensign Ro. I think she was one of the best ancillary characters in TNG. I wish Ro would've been more developed, and added to DS9 instead of Kira. (I've heard this was the plan, but Michelle Forbes turned down the role.) Too bad she didn't, because I never cared for Kira. The episode was a great 'false flag' plot, showing a rare level of corruption within a Federation officer. It's great to watch as Ro becomes the fine officer she can be, just when a man like Picard puts a little trust in her. A great story of conspiracy and redemption.
Rightful Heir
Probably my favorite Klingon episode, Worf's struggle with his faith is pushed to the brink with the reappearance of Kahless. I found it especially interesting to see Riker as the skeptic in the face of evidence, with Data playing the more open minded role in one of the meeting scenes. The revelation of a scientific explanation for the events of the episode simultaneously leaves it open to interpretations of faith for Worf. This episode has a beautiful 'eye of the beholder' effect, where a viewer can take away from the episode whatever they wish, while the characters, especially Worf, is left to struggle with his inner turmoil- a lesson that the turmoil is the point to begin with.
pretty much have to say everything already has been mentioned. I even liked enterprise, so I
might not be the right person to ask.
Apparantly, it is not a good episode; I personally beg to differ. An interesting, while not totally original, story with a nice sweet made of action on top.
I hope STO get's better ...
My character Tsin'xing