I was born in the 1990s. In my youth, I watched a lot of TV. One of the shows that I enjoyed, but never quite attached myself to, was Star Trek. In these Halcyon Days of Yore, I recall catching some glimpses of it on this or that channel. Sometimes I would sit down to watch a whole episode, other times I’d be pulled away by something or other. The series was always fun to watch, though, particularly Star Trek: The Next Generation. Every episode brought up captivating and thought-provoking ideas. And all the space-captaining was fun, too.

I recently decided to re-watch the old episodes of Star Trek: TNG. (For the sake of sanity, I must abbreviate. With any luck, the only acronyms I will inflict on you will be Star Trek: The Original Series as TOS and Star Trek: The Next Generation as TNG).

TNG originally aired from 1987 to 1994, a respectable run. I suppose this means that the show was technically “before my time.” It was aimed at an earlier generation’s demographic (which explains why a few of the episodes…don’t quite age well). So I guess you could say I’m part of the next generation of Star Trek fans…see what I did there? Anyway, now you know the reason for the goofy title of this post. Also, yes, my name is Joe.

I’m not the first to do a Star Trek rewatch, by a long shot (Tor, Jerz, Reddit…) but hopefully I’m enough of a unique and special snowflake to draw some interest. If not… what the heck, it’s fun anyway.

In my quest to re-watch this series, I’m struck by just how brilliantly this show was done, and how many of its themes seem way ahead of their time. It’s a truly fantastic work of art and I’m loving the chance to watch it in proper order instead of various snippets in between commercials. Stars above, why do we ever yearn for days of yore? Days of yore did not have internet streaming.

Of course, TNG has its flaws. Never have I seen a show engage so thoughtfully with deeply important philosophical topics, and get them so badly wrong. One example follows in my next post. If you enjoy snark-riddled nerd rants, you have found your blog. If not…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Perhaps you’d best move on.

But on the whole, TNG really shines. It continues the tradition of the original series of exploring strange new worlds and ideas, and yet framing them in ways that the average viewer can both understand and enjoy. That’s a hard balance to strike, between the strange and the familiar.

On top of that, Star Trek manages to capture the spirit of scientific discovery in a television show, and bottle it for gleeful consumption by the masses. Very few movies or shows even come close to that level of stage magic, and it’s a joy to witness.

In keeping with the spirit of discovery, then, I look forward to this chance to cheerfully dissect its plot, ruin its artful themes with logic, and criticize the decisions of people far better at television than myself. The Straw Vulcans would be proud.

Warning: that’s a TV Tropes link. For the uninitiated, TV Tropes is the event horizon of the Internet. Once you cross it, you are never coming back. Sure, laugh at me now, but see who’s laughing when your browser has 43 tabs open and you’ve just sunk five hours into reading about how 1,000 different stories all use the same cliché. Go ahead, try it. I’ll wait.

How This Ride Works

Back from your foray into TV Tropes? Made it out alive, in defiance of the odds? Is it still the date that it was? Good. Onward!

Here’s how this project will play out. I’m going to watch the show, one episode at a time. I’ll write down my thoughts on each episode, make a half-hearted attempt to organize them in legible fashion, sprinkle in some Educational Material™, and then post the whole mess here, cunningly disguised as blog posts.

Here’s what I’m not going to do. I’m not going to evaluate intricate metaphors or giant arcing themes, except perhaps to note in passing when I notice they exist. I’m bad at this sort of literary analysis, and it’s undoubtedly been done better by others.

I’m also not going to cover very much detail about the writers, actors, actresses, or any of the other myriad people whose hard work and imaginations helped make this show come alive. I have the utmost respect and admiration for them, but that’s just not my focus here. I prefer to focus instead on the world they created.

Also, I am terrible at celebrity trivia. I had to look up the name of the actor who played Captain Picard; when I queried my brain on the topic, it whirred and gagged like a stuck garbage disposal and eventually coughed up the suggestion “Liam Neeson?” In other news, I am retiring my brain.

The sad part is, I actually like Patrick Stewart. Nice guy. Phenomenal actor. Deserves better than a fan who can remember he played Professor X and Captain Picard, but not his friggin’ name. Just like Ian McKlell…Mclel…I’m gonna shut up on this now. May Gandalf forgive me.

Anyway…I’m not going to deeply examine the story, writing, or acting. Instead, what I’m going to do is observe and experience the world that the show is building, the world of the Federation and the Enterprise and all the planets they visit. Star Trek has some incredibly deep lore and the writers clearly gave its world a lot of thought. I want to explore that world.

I’m not going to dredge up too much random trivia from Memory Alpha (that’s the Star Trek wiki. Yes, there’s a Star Trek wiki, there’s a wiki for everything these days, don’tcha know). I will, however, treat the episodes as internally consistent and draw conclusions as though living in the world they describe. I’ll suspend disbelief, and try to treat all the fake physics as real and genuine – because from the characters’ perspective, it is. I’ll engage with the story on its own terms, and see where that takes me.

I’ll evaluate decisions the characters make, both from my own perspective and, hopefully, from theirs. I’ll ask myself, what would I have done in that character’s place? Given the constraints they’re under and the knowledge they have, what’s the best decision in this situation? What might it make sense to do, or say, and do they, in fact, do or say those things? And, most importantly, what can we learn from all this? And then I’ll write out my thoughts here.

Oh, and there will totally be spoilers. I’m reviewing every episode, what do you expect? You have been warned.

Why Bother?

Why do this? Well, it’s fun, I imagine I’m good at it, and maybe we’ll all learn something.

I also do this all the time, almost automatically. When I started re-watching Season 1, I caught myself pausing about ten times every episode, getting up, walking around, and talking to thin air to tell the show exactly what I thought of it. TNG really brings out the fanfic author in me. Or the crazy. In a good way, I hope. So, because this is easy and fun and I’m doing it anyway, I decided to inflict my Star-Trek-fueled philosophical musings on you, dear reader.

Lucky you.