Sept 28, 1987 - Encounter At Farpoint

Cafe Society
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Encounter At Farpoint

Shows as a two parter now, with a part 1 synopsis at the beginning of part 2, but was a two hour pilot when first aired. Now considered eps 1 and 2.

After much hype, we finally got to see the new TV Trek. Not much of an internet presence back then, but we had ways of discussing it.

I remember being both excited and disappointed. Disappointments included Troi (“Great joy! And Gratitude. Joy. And gratitude.”) and some pretty slow pacing.

Excitements included Q (!!!OMG!!!) and a worthy successor to Kirk.

After the next two eps, and the introduction of the silly Ferengi (later fleshed out better), I was pretty worried about a cancellation. But, we survived the first season, even had a few really good eps (Q and the Binars, imho).

Don’t look at this first ep with today’s eyes. Think about what you were thinking and feeling seeing it as it came to your own syndicated TV station each week. What were your impressions, thoughts, worries, excitements?

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Awful start, but allowances were necessary. I don’t think it’s aged nearly as well as TOS, myself.

Though the sneer toward those who fought WW2 was amusing in a way. Such a moment might not be possible nowadays.

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For so many current Trekkies/Trekkers I know, this series was their first television exposure to Trek. Like seeing Star Wars in a theater in the late 70s, I feel you almost had to be there that first night. Watching it later via tapes, DVDs, or reruns are a different level of experience.

The movies we had seen with the TOS cast were so well done technically. How could TV hold up to that? My first views of NCC-1701D, tho were fulfilling. Maybe because I was watching it on a very nice Sony projection TV, so I had a closer to theater experience than my previous 19" RCA. That ship looked cool. I also liked that subtle sound effect of the almost inaudible low rumble while at warp, no added noise when parked in orbit.

I thought Worf looked a bit silly. His head was top heavy. (Later seasons, his looked evolved. Late TNG and DS9 Worf were visually very well done.)

What is with this kid Crusher? I hope they don’t use too much of him. Fine as a bit player. THo I do say I enjoyed the Planet of Blondes he was a featured role in.

So, my captain has a French name and a British accent? Okay, I can live with that. He’s a good captain.

I hope we see more of this Q. Really a neat addition. Fits well with certain TOS ideas, even.

Man, I hope they don’t keep recycling old TOS eps. There are TONNES of writers out there! Use some!
.

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Yes! Absolutely! I agree! Whole heartedly!

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I was on WestPac in 1987 when someone brought in a VHS tape with the ST:TNG pilot on it. It was pretty cool for me to see any new made-for-TV scifi again, let alone the Holy of Holies.

I don’t remember any of us scifi fans deconstructing the plot or cast with nitpicks at the time. We merely asked to be entertained, and entertaining it seemed.

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I was thrilled that a new Star Trek was finally coming to television. I had seen Roddenberry speak in person the previous March, and he had hinted then that something was in the works. Then I saw on ET that they had started filming the pilot sometime in May.

I was between apartments at the time, so I had to watch the show standing up in an aisle at my local Target—all three hours worth (the long pilot and a preshow with Leonard Nimoy).

My first reaction: They obviously took David Gerrold’s advice about the Captain staying put on the bridge. Okay, cool. That’s what they do in the military, so maybe this series will be more realistic. The First Officer looks after things that are too mundane (or dangerous) to warrant the Captain’s involvement. Right again.

An android who wants to be human. Obviously this incarnation’s version of Spock, only in reverse. Sounds like he could be a cool character.

Mmmmmmmm, Ship’s Surgeon is a hot redhead. I can dig it.

The Captain is the same guy who played Sejanus on I, Claudius! An excellent choice, even if he is supposed to be French instead of British.

That’s the new Enterprise?!? Looks kinda … weird to me. Why do those hundred-meter-long lights on the nacelles flare up when the ship goes into warp? Are they really necessary? And why is it all squashed?

Saucer separation? Gonna slow the show down some, I think.

FAMILIES?!? CHILDREN?!? How asinine!!! Not even on the Saturday morning kiddie show did they stoop that low. Get those nonessential personnel off the ship and safely into schools and nurseries, where they belong.

Oh, great. A Security Officer who couldn’t act her way out of a wet paper bag and a touchy-feely pshrink/psocial worker who goes around sticking her nose into other people’s business (and actually has a seat on the bridge, where she sits and does absolutely nothing).

An alien fop who has superpowers and is into role playing threatens the Enterprise? Seriously, this is the worst thing they come up with? It was done before and much better in “Squire of Gothos.”

“Battle bridge”? While the, uhm, impulse-powered saucer section is supposed to take all those nonessential, noncombatant personnel to safety when they’re attacked by a hostile, warp-driven enemy spacecraft hundreds of light-years from the nearest friendly outpost? What tactical genius came up with that scenario?

Jesuchristo, that frickin’ Wesley is an annoying little turd! Please, somebody push him out an airlock before the second station break!

“It’s beautiful! I sense happiness and joy!” Oh … my … God! Hand me a barf bag, puh-leeze!

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(Excerpted from longer post)

My impressions, thoughts, worries, excitements related to the premiere:

This is boring. Not nearly as boring as that movie [The Motion Picture], but still pretty boring.

That bald guy is just going to sit around on the ship? That’s going to get old fast. James Kirk he is not.

That skinny, really intense guy is apparently supposed to be the new Kirk. James Kirk he also is not.

Hey, that’s the guy from Roots! (Probably, it’s been long enough I don’t really remember if Geordi was in the premiere or not, but I did think that when I saw him.)

Robot Spock is way too derivative and cliched. (I can’t remember now if Data already had Pinocchio Syndrome in the premiere, but the signs were there if not.)

There’s a kid on the Enterprise? Kid’s mom is hot.

This Q guy is a lot of fun, hope they bring him back.
I’m sure there were other things, but those stand out for me. To be fair, I may be assigning thoughts and feelings I’ve had since, upon review, but I’m trying to recapture my sentiments then.

I didn’t get to watch it week-to-week initially because of where I lived. No cable and no satellite, over-the-air television only. I don’t remember when our local CBS affiliate started showing TNG on late-night weekends, but that’s when I started watching the show regularly. And I was okay with that because the show’s debut had left me with one distinct impression, “Eh, it’s okay. I’d watch it I could, but I’m not missing much.” I’ve changed my mind since. :slight_smile:

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Oh, yeah, I forgot. Worf. A “Klingon Marine” on board the Enterprise (to use Bob Justman’s description).

Okay, I’ll buy that; relations between the Federation and the Klingons must have come a long way in 78 years. Just so they don’t overdo the “noble warrior” thing—

Damn! They just did! :mad:

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Rewatched it recently, and I had completely forgotten about the mini dress uniform, which they later showed a male crewmember wearing - I imagine that was rather controversial at the time, or was designed to be.

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He was indeed. A visually-challenged young black computer whiz with an irreverent sense of humor.* Can’t get more '80s than that! :stuck_out_tongue:
*And vaguely reminiscent of Sulu in that final respect.

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Not controversial, just “gender-neutral.” :rolleyes:

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Yepper. Here’s the thing. I got the Complete remastered TOS Boxed set(s). Binged watched them. A few dogs, but otherwise great.

Stared the same with TNG, and lost interest. Didnt hate it, but just … lost interest.

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I was in college when TNG premiered. A lot of my friends and I were big nerds even back then, and regularly gathered to watch the Original Series (back in those days, TOS was shown pretty regularly in syndication, often several times a day on various stations). So we were quite excited in the weeks leading up to the “Encounter at Farpoint” premiere.

Our reactions, as I recall, were mixed. The special effects were obviously fantastic for TV at that time. Having read David Gerrold’s book on Star Trek (I don’t recall the title), I could see that they had incorporated some of his ideas. Most obviously the Away Team (what Gerrold had called the “Contact Team”), which was led by the first officer and which the captain, as the most vital and least expendable person on the ship, was not a part of. We kind of liked the notion of a Klingon as part of the crew–it immediately screamed “Things have changed for the better from the old days,” although Worf could have been better characterized in those earliest episodes.

On the other hand, we hated Wesley at first sight. He was just so obviously derivative of Will Robinson from Lost in Space. Likewise, we weren’t entirely sure about Picard. The first important decision we see him make is to surrender, which left a bad taste in a lot of mouths. By God, Jim Kirk never would have done that! :slight_smile:

We were also worried about whether the show could ever do anything apart from re-do TOS plots. I mean, Q was obviously ripped off from “The Squire of Gothos,” and the previews showed that the next episode would be an obvious retread of “The Naked Time.” Come on, guys, give us some original stories.

So most of us kept watching, but with muted expectations. The thing to remember is that in those days, TOS was the established classic, while TNG was an upstart that was trying to recapture the glory of its predecessor. It took awhile for the new show to grow out of TOS’s shadow, at least for me.

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It was called a “skant”

I guess for skirt/pant

Yes, it was supposed to be gender neutral.

One thing I remember from cons around that time, and later fleshed out in books an interviews, was Gene’s Technology Unchained Utopia. This was to be reflected in the writing for eps, that the back ground for the Federation was how tech had set us free from all our Human foibles. Replicators = No Racism! Transporters = No Crime! etc… You get the general picture.

That led to boring shows. Thankfully, others took over the active leadership later and made a pretty good go of things.

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Well said.

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Yeah, in my TV market, apparantly it was thought that Levar Burton (Guster) was so well known that promo articles virtually featured him as the star of the show.

I really liked that hot redhead doctor. Reminded me of my earlier lusting for Yeoman Colt.

The DeForest cameo was a nice touch, I thought.

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Rand always did it for me! :o

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Technology Unchained Utopia did seem to have a side effect of righteous babes.

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I remember I had just seen Excalibur, and was assuming Steward would be a hot-head man of action type again. Not quite :wink:

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We got together a small party to watch it.

Every single one of us groaned in utter dismay when Picard intoned, “I surrender.”

That killed it for us. This wasn’t Star Trek anymore, but just some sack of wimps and cowards.

On the other hand, we kinda liked the idea and the resolution of the people using enslaved cosmic jellyfish as the basis of their economy. Nice allegory there to real-world slavery, even pointing up how slavery is damaging to the masters, not only to the slaves.

The Farpoint plot was good and worthy of Roddenberry at his best.

The Q plot was absurd. (The use of the fork-lift to raise him and lower him was painfully obvious. Bad, and cheap, theatrical effect.) The “Squire of Gothos” at least had an excuse for acting bratty and immature.