Kids and spandex tell the truth

[pensnest]

I received the complete box set of Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-Ray for Christmas… and we've just started watching it.

I have been surprised. Firstly, it looks *amazing*. The things have been very well remastered, and there is so much detail on the screen! Unfortunately, it does throw the ropey scenery into sharp relief. But there are finely-textured costumes that I originally saw as featureless blurs. And the computer interface/starship design holds up incredibly well.

What surprises me far more is that the episodes are a lot better than I remember them. There is purpose in them, there are interesting questions posed and interesting answers given. It's just all a bit… amateurish. Several of the plots needed a decent beta and a bit of whatever the television equivalent of copy editing might be. We just watched 'The Big Goodbye', in which Picard and the gang are rescued from a holodeck, but Wesley and the team who are earnestly wrestling with the mechanisms are somehow out of sight and earshot when the holodeck door opens and the villains walk out. I have no particular quibble with the holodeck characters walking off the holodeck—later, it will be properly established that they can't, but for this episode, it's fine. But nobody from the crew comes running to see what is going on—that's bad plotting. Gotta think it through.

Hideous costumes abound. The crew are carrying off their spandex very well, but the guest stars generally seem to get draped in something cheap and glittery (honourable exemption for Lxwaxana Troi's low-backed dress, which is partially elegant). And I feel so sorry for poor Deanna—I think her costumes look even worse in Blu-Ray than they did originally. Yet she started out in a proper Starfleet uniform. Sigh.

Essentially, the writing and production teams had good ideas. They just weren't very good at realising them. Clunky dialogue, rubbish pacing, and very flaky on the plot details. But the heart is there. I'm still glad I originally found the show somewhere in season 3, but if anyone wanted to watch it now, the Blu-Ray version is a pretty thing to see. And I must say, Patrick Stewart looks *fine*.

Comments

[frausorge]

I don't have a deep familiarity with Star Trek, but Deanna Troi's horrible outfit stands out even in my memory.

[pensnest]

It was... memorable, indeed.

[sporky_rat]

Lwaxana Troi always looks good. I envy her that ability.

[pensnest]

I think it's the fabulous self-confidence of the character. She knows she can carry anything off!

[turlough]

I don't think I've seen more than a couple episodes of The Next Generation and I wasn't too impressed by what little I saw. But then I've always been an Original Series girl when it comes to Start Trek. There you sort-of expect the clunkiness and almost enjoy it :-)

[pensnest]

It's interesting what comes up as being 'of its time'. Just today, we watched an episode in which an unauthorised character accessed the computer and obtained lots of useful information - these days it would be unthinkable not to establish, say, an everyday office with security protocols for working on computers, but back in 1987 it just wasn't a Thing.

Early Trek is a bit like early Dr Who - the stories outweigh the crappy sets and clunky props! But with TNG, I think they really did hit their stride in terms of telling good, thoughtful stories. Just, not in season 1!