The original Star Trek was my favorite show of my childhood.
Even today many of the first season episodes stand up as classics. Well written, well acted, and with a sense of professionalism from the characters (you felt these people were adults). But by the third season everything had disintegrated to the point where even I (world's biggest 12 year old fan) thought it was just embarrassing. I was almost pleased when it was cancelled.
TNG started off horribly. "Farpoint's" main plot line was a rehash of the very worst elements of the original series. Seemingly omnipotent entity takes over the Enterprise for it's own idiotic reasons. God I used to hate those episodes in TOS.
But.... Unlike TOS, which started great then ran out of steam. TNG just got better and better. In the first season, the stories seemed to be all too obvious morality plays. This got a bit better in season two. By the third season, it was like a different show. The character interaction, which had always seemed forced in the first two seasons, suddenly had real chemistry. You cared for these people.
Plots became much more complex over time (TOS plots got simpler to the point of idiocy). TNG gave the audience far more credit than TOS ever did. No longer were there any easy answers to problems. Intelligence rather than raw adventure was now the hallmark of this show.
Even "Q", the hated (by me anyway) omnipotent being from the pilot show was developed into one of the most popular semi-regulars of TNG, and one of the funniest too.
TOS followed the classic trajectory of American series. Good going to p**s poor over time.
TNG bucked this trend totally. Any show that gets better with age has to be taken seriously.
Even today many of the first season episodes stand up as classics. Well written, well acted, and with a sense of professionalism from the characters (you felt these people were adults). But by the third season everything had disintegrated to the point where even I (world's biggest 12 year old fan) thought it was just embarrassing. I was almost pleased when it was cancelled.
TNG started off horribly. "Farpoint's" main plot line was a rehash of the very worst elements of the original series. Seemingly omnipotent entity takes over the Enterprise for it's own idiotic reasons. God I used to hate those episodes in TOS.
But.... Unlike TOS, which started great then ran out of steam. TNG just got better and better. In the first season, the stories seemed to be all too obvious morality plays. This got a bit better in season two. By the third season, it was like a different show. The character interaction, which had always seemed forced in the first two seasons, suddenly had real chemistry. You cared for these people.
Plots became much more complex over time (TOS plots got simpler to the point of idiocy). TNG gave the audience far more credit than TOS ever did. No longer were there any easy answers to problems. Intelligence rather than raw adventure was now the hallmark of this show.
Even "Q", the hated (by me anyway) omnipotent being from the pilot show was developed into one of the most popular semi-regulars of TNG, and one of the funniest too.
TOS followed the classic trajectory of American series. Good going to p**s poor over time.
TNG bucked this trend totally. Any show that gets better with age has to be taken seriously.