What's your favourite Star Trek series and why?

[Aemma]

Ok no, I'm not a total trekker. I mean I don't dress up and go to conferences (not that there's anything wrong with that ;)). Nor do I speak Klingon (though I would love to learn this modern language for sure :D). But I think for most of us who are just even moderate fans of whichever given series in the Star Trek franchise, we're fans for a reason.

So question: What's your favourite Star Trek series and why?

Though I grew up watching the original (Gods, Spock freaked me out as a kid! :D), I really caught onto Star Trek: The Next Generation. For me, no other series will surpass the sheer intelligence of themes found in this one. Not that the others are bad; they aren't. But ST:TNG usually had the most incredible storylines that made you think. And this was always something I found refreshing about it. As the series progressed, most of the main characters acquired a certain depth (yes even for TVLand) that I've always appreciated.

So I'll leave the next questions ie., what's your favourite episode, who is your favourite character as other thread topics. (If somebody would like to start them please go ahead :)).

But let's start with this one, shall we?

Engage!...Aemma :D

[Treffie]

I'm not really a fan of Star Trek, but I will watch the films if they're on TV.

The Borg Queen with Alice Krige was fantastic - I'll always remember that one! :eek:

http://www.hulks.org/webmail_files/image002.jpg

[Loki]

I love you for making this thread Aemma! :D I'm an avid Star Trek fan. :thumb001:


... I really caught onto Star Trek: The Next Generation. For me, no other series will surpass the sheer intelligence of themes found in this one.

Agreed. I think TNG outshines all the others, partially because of Patrick Stewart's excellent acting. Brent Spiner is also one of my favourites.

I love all TNG episodes that have some intrigue around Data. It took me a while to get used to the Will Riker character though, he always stood in Picard's shadow. And episodes that centre around Worf and Klingon stuff do bore me. Not a Worf fan.

Other than TNG, the Original Series is obviously a must for Star Trek lovers. I enjoyed William Shatner's enthusiastic acting performances. Really unparalleled.

Deep Space Nine was surprisingly enjoyable, my favourite being the Odo character. I didn't mind Benjamin Sisko, this is probably one of the few cases where a black actor seems to do a good job. I found Kira to be very annoying. The Ferengi were cute.

Voyager was not too bad either, and I did enjoy the acting of Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway. I lost interest in the Voyager series though ...

The Q character is fantastic. I don't like the whole Borg thing ... Star Trek could do without them. Too mechanical for me.

[Æmeric]

I hate Star Trek! A sci-fi series set in a multicultural/racial/species utopian future with total equality! As if this would be the natural & unavoidable course of humanity! :thumb down2 I wonder how much the influence of PC bullsh*t like Star Trek (indoctinating of the dumb & weak minded) helped contribute to the unreal election of a 1/2 Kenyan crypto-Muslim named Barack Hussein Obama to the White House!:sad_shakefist:

[Loki]

I hate Star Trek! A sci-fi series set in a multicultural/racial/species utopian future with total equality! As if this would be the natural & unavoidable course of humanity! :thumb down2 I wonder how much the influence of PC bullsh*t like Star Trek (indoctinating of the dumb & weak minded) helped contribute to the unreal election of a 1/2 Kenyan crypto-Muslim named Barack Hussein Obama to the White House!:sad_shakefist:

What you say is certainly true. A lot of multicultural indoctrination. Today it is not so visible, but in the days when Star Trek was first launched, it was almost sacrilege.

Regardless of the filthy propaganda, the series was well-made and popular for a good reason -- good acting and story lines.

[lei.talk]

there was a particular character (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4GZAZ_enUS281US281&q=flint+%22star+trek%22)... :swl

[Aemma]

I hate Star Trek! A sci-fi series set in a multicultural/racial/species utopian future with total equality! As if this would be the natural & unavoidable course of humanity! :thumb down2 I wonder how much the influence of PC bullsh*t like Star Trek (indoctinating of the dumb & weak minded) helped contribute to the unreal election of a 1/2 Kenyan crypto-Muslim named Barack Hussein Obama to the White House!:sad_shakefist:

Uh oh...one of those Æmeric Explosions again! :eek: :D Oh you lovable curmudgeon. You're giving Archie Bunker a run for his money again, I see! :D :tongue (Oh you know I think you're tops A. :)) But I digress....


Well ya see, I never saw ST that way. Not that you're wrong in seeing it that way of course but it isn't what pops into my mind when I think ST. For me it's the different themes that were often presented and that stayed with me because they made me think.

The episode in particular that I most remember is the one where Picard lives an alternate life. He marries, has a child, lives a simple life, he grows old and he plays a flute. It isn't until the very end that we find out, that Picard has lived this very full life within the span of a brief moment of unconsciousness during his real life. Was this real or was it a dream, we are led to ask ourselves. The answer lies in the fact that upon waking up from his brief state of unconsciousness, incredibly, he finds the flute in his pocket. :)

For me this was a very powerful episode (obviously because it has stayed with me all these years). It spoke to me about the meaning of time, but more so the measure of time and how we value it, how fleeting it can be yet it may seem to last, well, a lifetime. It also spoke to me of other possibilities of being, dimensions within dimensions. And it also reached me in terms of evaluating the fullness of life. This episode was aired shortly after my father had passed on and I remember having watched this episode with my mom. Incredibly, and as odd as this will sound, I think it had both touched us in the same way.

It's incredible how some elements of pop culture can reach something deep inside of people on those few rare occasions. One wouldn't think so given that most TV is junk. But every once in a while, there is stuff out there that can make you think along more metaphysical lines if you're so inclined to thinking that way. And this is what I appreciate about the ST:TNG series. It makes me think. :)

Cheers Æmeric!...Aemma

[Skandi]

I can't believe that I'm actually going to answer this one!

Yes it's the Next generation that wins for me, probably because I grew up with it, The original series is good but I absolutely loath deep space nine it bored me silly, I don't mind some of the Voyager series either although Janeway annoys me also.

I've even been to a conference:eek:

[Lyfing]

I think Star Trek is awesome...

I started watching it as a boy, of course. It gets a lot of credit for activating within me those mythological centers which have led me to being.

My favorite series would be The Next Generation. Because every episode is my favorite..:thumbs up

The last one I watched was when Wesley was made an ensign. This one was all about initiation into manhood. At the very end..( I forget exactly )..he's asked if he want's his Mommy to come to the bridge, and he say's "naw, I'll tell her later".

Voyager was alright. I watched it for about a year because it was Star Trek and it came on on one of the four channels I had.

Deep Space Nine was better than Voyager. Odo was interesting. A shape-shifter melting his self in his Self..;)

Later,
-Lyfing

[Baron Samedi]

Voyager. Loved the characters and their dilemmas.

It was also one of the more action-packed of the ST series.

[Eldritch]

For me it's The Next Generation, easily. Patrick Stewart is fantastic (just as he was in the role of prof. Xavier in the X-Men films). The original series is just a tad too campy for my taste (apologies to all the hardcore Trekkies here), and I haven't really paid much attention to the newer ones.

As for the Borg, I always thought they were supposed to be some kind of intergalactic Communists. Which of the later series did the character Seven of Nine appear in again? ("Set phasers to stunning !!" :D)

[Birka]

The original series. I was a young boy about 12 years old when that came on the air. Wow, there was nothing like this ever!! I think my first crush was the beautiful blond wearing the aluminum foil bikini in the episode called "The Gamesters of Triskelion" (probably misspelled it, but I will never forget that blonde that Kirk conquered.)

Edit: A picture of Shahna....
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/gallery/artoftrek/shana-triskelion-poe.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/gallery/alphabeta2.htm&usg=__ZKRTtyL2f4N7EyKMPHJQuO-vO-U=&h=828&w=639&sz=116&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=I-k1U2eVkYHhrM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgamesters%2Bof%2Btriskelion%26gbv%3D2 %26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

[Loki]

I hate Star Trek! :sad_shakefist:

http://i41.tinypic.com/67juvc.jpg


:p

[Æmeric]

I guess you could say the original series was groundbreaking for it's era:


http://plaza.ufl.edu/joec/images/kirk_uhura.jpg

Nearly had the first interracial kiss on US television.

http://users.erols.com/startracks/521M.jpg

And the interracial, multiethnic cast along with a person who was bispecies.
White, Negro, Japanese & Humanid-Vulcanite. American & Russian. Whooo! Doesn't it just give you a warm fuzzy feeling watching all those people get along despite their racial & species differences?:thumbs up

Seriously, I use to feel disturbed watching this series. It was so unnatural, what was there to look forward to if this was the future? But Star Trek didn't leave me as bothered as Seasma Street. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_street):rolleyes2: What really pisses me off is that both Star Trek & Sesame Street are going strong after 40-years.

[Jägerstaffel]

I've never watched anything Star Trek related.
Does anyone know what to recommend to a Star Trek virgin?
I do like Sci-Fi (HUGE fan of the Dune series) but I never knew where to start.

[Loki]

Does anyone know what to recommend to a Star Trek virgin?


Start by watching The Next Generation TV series. It's widely available on DVD.

[Eldritch]

Start by watching The Next Generation TV series. It's widely available on DVD.

And make sure to watch the episodes in the right order.

EDIT:

Btw, when you mentioned Dune, did you mean the books or the television miniseries, or perhaps both?

[Jägerstaffel]

Alright, I'll check those out!
As for Dune - I prefer the books though the Sci-Fi channel miniseries was not awful. Are you a fan?

[Oresai]

I love Trek! :D If I had to dress up, would be absolutely a Klingon, albeit the shortest one in history :D
Grew up watching the original series, liked TNG and some of Deep Space Nine, didn`t like Voyager, or Enterprise..when they try to set it in roughly the same time period as the original, they rarely succeed except when, as in the Tribble episode in DS9, they use CGI and insert the new series into the old...
but with Enterprise, the whole settings were too gloomy, dark and modern, and look at the original series....bright optimistic colours, very of it`s time, despite being set in the future, just a whole sixties aura that they`ve never really managed to recreate. Even the lighting eludes them. ;)
Our family were the first in our rural area to get a colour tv (yup, that`s how old I am, and how far out in the sticks I was raised) and Trek was the very first programme I ever saw on tv. From then I was hooked. Watched every episode. :)
As a child, I never gave a damn about the `moral message of a unified mankind` that was within the series..I just loved the settings, (the polystyrene rocks, har! Great fun!) and the costumes, the notion of space travel (at the tail end of the Atomic age, this was a longed for dream for my generation) and the banter between a well chosen cast you allowed into your home every week. :)
It was fun. I rarely take tv seriously, though, mainly because I resent anyone using entertainment to get preachy about anything on me, so I tend to ignore it unless I am watching a documentary or informative factual programme.
Trek has entered into our cultures, who around the globe doesn`t know who Spock, Scotty and Kirk are? :D

Wesley Crusher used to drive me crazy..for some reason I always wanted to smack the smugness off his face...yes, I`m a cruel, cruel woman...:p
I always thought there should have been a spin off Klingon series. :)

[Eldritch]

As for Dune - I prefer the books though the Sci-Fi channel miniseries was not awful. Are you a fan?

Basically, I'm always at least interested in all things SF. I liked Frank Herbert's original series (how many were there, three or four?). As for his son's efforts, well, they seem like an unnecessary cash-in to me, at least.

David Lynch originally wanted to make his film into a miniseries, too. While the film isn't a total disaster, it does show: it's basically a sequence of impressive individual scenes that don't seem to have anything to do with each other. As for the Sci-Fi channel miniseries, yes, I liked it, and I thought it captured the feel of the book better than Lynch's film.

But, if you're interested in SF suggestions, may I recommend the so-called Inhibitor series by Alastair Reynolds? (Revelation Space, Chasm City, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap)

It's a space opera quadrilogy, set in the mid-to-late 21th Century, at a time when humanity has expanded outside our own native solar system, and split into different factions: Ultras (deep-space travellers who hardly set foot on planets anymore), Conjoiners (actually like an updated and more realistic version of the Borg), Demarchists, Skyjacks, etc. On the background are constantly the Inhibitors, a race of semi-conscious, self-replicating Von Neumann machines programmed to stifle all intelligent/technological life in our galaxy. Why, doesn't get revealed till the 3rd volume.

Reynolds's style is dark, almost Gothic. He doesn'r write "hard" SF, in the sense that not everything he writes about is 100% scientifically possible, but he never strays too far from the very edges of plausibility.

Btw my username is the name of one of Reynolds's later characters. He doesn't appear in this series though.

[Æmeric]

I've never watched anything Star Trek related.
Does anyone know what to recommend to a Star Trek virgin?
I do like Sci-Fi (HUGE fan of the Dune series) but I never knew where to start.Stay a virgin. Do you want to become like this:


http://www.teamministries.us/trekkie1.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/tekpunk182/trekkie.jpg
http://rachelmarsden.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/trekkies.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Jj--y7nzkjo/R-MR0FMMdXI/AAAAAAAAC3Y/MzTi5Hkg3a8/s400/trekkie_big12.jpg

Mainly because of Star Trek I pretty much don't care for sci-fi. The exception is "The X-Files (http://www.xfiles.com/). The first 5-seasons of the X-Files was probably the best television series ever made. And I found relevance to the real world, especially in the conspiracy to colonize earth & replace the natives.


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/sfbuzz/XFiles1024x768.jpg

[Beorn]

I don't have a particular favourite series, but will always recollect with absolute fear, the episode in the original Star Trek where the baddies were implanting mind altering slugs via the ear to control the crewmen.

I do have to admit that the 'Next Generation' series is more enjoyable, but in the major motion movies of Star Trek, they are all the same in captivating my imagination.

As an aside, actually, I was trying to download the original Star Trek series where the Nazis won the war and the Crew do their best to re-correct history.
Does anyone know where I can watch this on-line?

[Aemma]

Stay a virgin. Do you want to become like this:


http://www.teamministries.us/trekkie1.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/tekpunk182/trekkie.jpg
http://rachelmarsden.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/trekkies.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Jj--y7nzkjo/R-MR0FMMdXI/AAAAAAAAC3Y/MzTi5Hkg3a8/s400/trekkie_big12.jpg

Mainly because of Star Trek I pretty much don't care for sci-fi. The exception is "The X-Files (http://www.xfiles.com/). The first 5-seasons of the X-Files was probably the best television series ever made. And I found relevance to the real world, especially in the conspiracy to colonize earth & replace the natives.


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/sfbuzz/XFiles1024x768.jpg

LMAO! Ahh Æmeric, you slay me! LOL!

But I agree with you on The X-Files bit...an exceptional series for sure. Un fortunately I got majorly creeped out :scared: by this one episode when I was pregnant (some weird-looking specimens were living underneath the floor planks in some house or something or other) and I could never watch that series ever again. :( I kid you not! Johnny Mathis' song "Chances Are" also figured prominently in this episode and to this day this song, which I used to enjoy, still creeps me out. Ohh the power of associations! :eek::runs:

Cheers Æmeric!...Aemma

[Æmeric]

I believe you are referring to the classic episode "Home" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(The_X-Files)). Especially disturbing (but well written) episode that did not include anything paranormal but was about a family that had inbred among themselves for generations, turning into a family of genetic freaks. I could have done without the Negro sheriff named Andy Taylor though.


http://chasness.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/home.jpg

[Aemma]

I believe you are referring to the classic episode "Home" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(The_X-Files)). Especially disturbing (but well written) episode that did not include anything paranormal but was about a family that had inbred among themselves for generations, turning into a family of genetic freaks. I could have done without the Negro sheriff named Andy Taylor though.


http://chasness.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/home.jpg


Yes that's the one!!! Creeped me out big time!!

Andy Taylor??? Wasn't that Andy Griffith's name in the Andy Griffith Show? :eek:

:)...Aemma

[Æmeric]

Yes it was. It was a pun on the fictional Mayberry. The deputy was named Barney Paster instead of Fife. Both were killed by the Peacock brothers.

[Hildolf]

I had to get beyond how bad the first series of TNG was, for me at least. But it was well worth sticking with and I still watch it again and again. But then both myself and my partner are sci-fi fans.

I particularly enjoyed DS9 when you had all the intrigue and conflict in the war with the shapeshifters.

Voyager had it's moments but was never as good as TNG or DS9 and the more recent prequel series charting the birth of the federation just seemed like a safe option and a missed opportunity, with so much of the Trek universe to explore. I personally would of preferred a series based in the future, way after the time of voyager in a time say where the federation had collapsed and new alliances were being formed, old conflict resolved and new areas of the galaxy opened up. Ah well...off to watch BSG soon.

[Beorn]

As an aside, actually, I was trying to download the original Star Trek series where the Nazis won the war and the Crew do their best to re-correct history.
Does anyone know where I can watch this on-line?


Hooray! I found it.

mYYCqZFaiEM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYYCqZFaiEM

[Stegura]

I grew up watching the Star Wars films. However, I've never seen any Star Trek movie before!

[Aemma]

I grew up watching the Star Wars films. However, I've never seen any Star Trek movie before!

Oh my gods, another virgin! ;) You and Jag need to get together, get a couple of six-packs and some munchies and rent the ST:TNG DVDs and the ST movies and have a Star Trek Fest! :thumb001:

Live long and prosper!...Aemma

[Loki]

Live long and prosper!...Aemma

Number One, you have the bridge. I'll be in my ready room. ;)

[Aemma]

Number One, you have the bridge. I'll be in my ready room. ;)

:rotfl:

[woody]

DORKS!:dielaughing:

[Aemma]

DORKS!:dielaughing:

Damn Tribbles!! I thought we got rid of you guys! :dev3

[Oresai]

Number One, you have the bridge. I'll be in my ready room. ;)


Ready for what? I always wondered what really went on in there....:wink

[lei.talk]

http://i39.tinypic.com/201jdd.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Blish#Cities_in_Flight)

...led me to the original star trek books (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_(Blish)).


one of my favorite star trek stories (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4GZAZ_enUS281US281&q=%22Who+Mourns+for+Adonais%22+%22star+trek%22) -
Apollo is stunned when his powers are nullified. Weakened, he turns to the sky, growing gigantic again, and pronouncing sadly that there is no room left in the universe for gods. Before he says this, he tells the Enterprise crew that he would have taken care of them and would have loved them as a father loves his children. He then pleads with his fellow deities to take him away. Rejected by a mortal woman, and bereft of his powers, Apollo fades away.

Kirk remarks with some regret that Apollo and his fellow gods had once been a major inspiration for mankind, driving civilisation to new heights in art and philosophy. With that in mind, he says:
"Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?"

[woody]

Damn Tribbles!! I thought we got rid of you guys! :dev3

What the Hel is a "tribble"?

[Loki]

What the Hel is a "tribble"?

The Trouble With Tribbles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Tribbles)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/STTroubleTrib.jpg

[lei.talk]

http://youtu.be/mgffCdhEQgQ
http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:xzYdThyEkxIJ:www.esurance.com/startrek+esurance+star+trek&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

[Beorn]

11. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek#Feature_films)


Title Synopsis Release date The Motion Picture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Motion_Picture) The crew of the Enterprise confronts a powerful and destructive energy cloud made by a machine called V'ger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%27ger) which turns out to be a fusion of the 20th-century Earth probe Voyager 6 with alien technology. December 7, 1979 The Wrath of Khan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_II:_The_Wrath_of_Khan) Having been frustrated in his plans to build a race of superhumans by Captain Kirk, Khan Noonien Singh hijacks the USS Reliant seeking revenge. June 4, 1982 The Search for Spock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_III:_The_Search_for_Spock) Before dying in the previous film, Spock transferred his thoughts (his ‘katra’) to Dr. McCoy’s body. To properly lay Spock to rest on the planet Vulcan, both Spock’s body and McCoy must be present. Spock’s body was on the planet created by Genesis technology, and has regenerated without his memories. June 1, 1984 The Voyage Home (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_IV:_The_Voyage_Home) The crew of the Enterprise arrives back at Earth to find it under siege by a probe from another galaxy seeking contact with humpback whales, now extinct. They travel back to the 1980s to retrieve a breeding pair to contact the probe and repopulate the oceans. November 26, 1986 The Final Frontier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_V:_The_Final_Frontier) Spock's emotional brother, Sybok, claims to be in communication with a godlike being in the center of the galaxy. Seizing the Enterprise, he takes her and her crew through the Great Barrier at the center of the galaxy to confront the entity. June 9, 1989 The Undiscovered Country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_VI:_The_Undiscovered_Country) After their homeworld is wracked by an environmental disaster, the Klingons make peace with the Federation though many on both sides are opposed. December 6, 1991 Generations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_Generations) Captain Picard confronts Dr. Tolian Soren, a villain willing to destroy populated planets to experience euphoria in a region of space called the Nexus. November 18, 1994 First Contact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_First_Contact) The crew of the Enterprise pursues the Borg back in time as they threaten to prevent first contact between Humans and Vulcans, thus destroying the Federation before its founding. November 22, 1996 Insurrection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Insurrection) The crew of the Enterprise aids a rebellion on the Baku homeworld against Picard’s superior officer, Admiral Dougherty, who wants to relocate the Baku to gain possession of the medicinal cosmic radiation that floods their planet. December 11, 1998 Nemesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_Nemesis) Captain Picard confronts the villainous Shinzon, a younger genetic clone of himself who kidnaps him to replenish his own DNA while plotting to destroy Earth. The story also involves a predecessor of Data named B-4. December 13, 2002 Star Trek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_%28film%29) A newly Captained James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise fights a Romulan menace. May 8, 2009

[lei.talk]

in response to questions regarding an earlier post (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?p=14964#post14964),

the girl-child is not named "Rayna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_for_Methuselah)"/"Galatea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_(mythology))"/"Eliza (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_(play))". :cool:

when her grand-father and i adopted her
(in san francisco, of course :swl),
she - unsurprisingly - already had a name.

his ex-daughter-in-law (the child-abandoner :tsk:) is responsible
for the girl-child's lovely name.

tangentially,
one of the training techniques (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect) used on my employees
works equally well on the girl-child. :)

[Aemma]

I thought this worthy of posting for this thread. Way cool! ;)


http://www.dogpile.com/