Really? Cause that kind of thing would be something everyone would know I would think. It would just be common knowledge disseminated several years ago and brought up in interviews and such.
[/QUOTE]
What? No, I’m the guy pointing out that it’s not Dinklage; it’s some little-person actor who’s best known for playing “Carnival Midget” in a Dukes of Hazzard TV movie.
By contrast, Dinklage’s IMDB page dovetails with his Wiki page: he wasn’t racking up any onscreen credits, including this one, as a teen still in school back in '87.
I didn't think much of it when it was broadcast but I watched every week. Judging by this, it was popular and Paramount did well financially. Going the syndicated route was probably the best move, as it was for "Baywatch" a decade later.
It always struck me as strange that the pre-broadcast history made much of "saucer separation", they do it fairly quickly in "Encounter at Farpoint" and very seldom the next seven years.
The biggest improvement was in developing Picard. They tried making him this by the rules, administrative bureaucrat. Middle aged, balding, very stereotypical. That is accurate for real life high ranking officers too. They don’t usually go on dangerous missions. They plan the missions and send younger men. But on tv we want to see a kick ass captain or it gets boring.
I initially disliked Picard. The episode where he goes back to the Enterprise for a saddle and goes all Die Hard. Didn’t work well. He began to improve in that holodeck episode playing a pulp fiction detective. By season 3 he was fighting hand to hand with Klingons. Very bad ass. Then the Borg episodes. Picard got better and better. He became my favorite on the show.
Yeah, saucer separation was supposed to be a regular thing (every time the ship had a dangerous mission the civilians would get dropped of somewhere safe in the saucer), but the special effects needed proved too expensive to use on a regular basis. The original Enterprise was also cable of saucer separation, but only in a direr emergency as the ship couldn’t be put back together afterward.
I have seen maybe a third of SNG, and mostly not been impressed with what I have seen. The one episode that stands out for me is Captain’s Holiday. The character of Vash (who resurfaced in Qpid) was so well done. I like the way the viewer really wants to trust her, but always has doubts.
It still had season 1 flaws but I thought the story was very compelling. Picard has to relive an old battle where he blew up a Ferangi ship. Patrick Stewart did a nice job questioning his decision to take so many lives. Could I have avoided shooting? It showed what the series potentially could be.
I liked the War Veteran stories. The Wounded is another standout TNG that deals with war trauma.
Couldn’t have been better than watching Time Bandits absolutely bombed out of my mind! :o
Ever wonder how the starship in Khan managed to just kind of wander into that system and never notice that all of its planets had been thrown into disarray? I mean, all sorts of alarm bells should have gone off automatically the second sensors detected nothing corresponded to the earlier system cartography! Duh! :smack:
Yeah, I agree that TNG sucked big-time the first two or three seasons. There were some good episodes but they were few and far between.
The Enterprise was a long range exploration ship. Families were included because they would be away for such extended periods.
The Enterprise shouldn’t have gotten involved in so many battles. That was never its intended mission. But the battles made for great tv entertainment.
It’s an interesting dilemma. Armament and shields are needed to defend the ship on exploration missions. Some aliens will be hostile. They also need to avoid being mistaken for an invading battleship.
As I’ve noted here many times before, this is pure BS. Service personnel can and do spend long periods of time away from their families; it’s their job. If they don’t like it, they should have chosen a different career path. (And there never seems to be any shortage of personnel willing to endure the hardship.)
Husband and wife teams on board, of course. Mandatory birth control for unmarried females, absolutely. Reassignment or retirement for pregnant females, makes perfect sense. If a child is born on board ship during a long mission, drop it and the mother off at a Star Base at the earliest possible opportunity.
Peaceful, shmeasful. The Galaxy is full of dangers we still know nothing about and aliens that would kill or enslave you at the drop of a hat. Exposing children to that sort of thing is downright criminal, and no one incapable of manning a Battle Station has any business being on board.