# Which is better, Star Trek: TOS or Star Trek: TNG? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187 "2015-06-22T21:57:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/21 "2015-06-23T00:02:47Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > “The Naked Time” vs “The Naked Now” One more time! ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/22 "2015-06-23T00:06:23Z")
Don’t forget, the mission was to **explore**. Encounter omnipotent immortals and move on, yes. But what you didn’t see was the report to Starfleet Command to A. Follow-up, B. Avoid, C. Nuke from orbit. My vote goes to TOS. Someone has probably compiled the curve for all ST shows, but I agree that for both TOS and TNG it’s pretty much a three-way tie between good-bad-mediocre. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/23 "2015-06-23T00:42:24Z")
I love TOS. I love the characters and the Stories and the world it created but TNG is better, mostly because Picard and Data. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/24 "2015-06-23T01:05:06Z")
“E plebnista.” TNG wins. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/25 "2015-06-23T01:18:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “E plebnista.” > > TNG wins. That was TOS. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/26 "2015-06-23T01:21:48Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “E plebnista.” > > TNG wins. “Captain, I sense hostility.” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/27 "2015-06-23T01:22:58Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > That was TOS. He’s saying that was a stupid TOS ep, so he chooses TNG. I think. . ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/28 "2015-06-23T01:34:04Z")
Spock and Scotty are the 2 best characters in all of the Star Treks. So that favors TOS. The interactions between the cast in TOS was superior, better chemistry overall especially with the big 3. TOS was an action series, TNG was more angst and drama. I preferred the action. Tribbles was absolutely awesome. Bonus Star Trek II & IV with the original crew from TOS were by far the best movies. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/29 "2015-06-23T01:36:08Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Not to mention Kirk and _his_ conquests which of course would be funny young male college students. 😕 :dubious: :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/30 "2015-06-23T01:52:21Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “E plebnista.” > > TNG wins. TOS’ best shows were better and worst shows were worse. What were the best TNG eps? Candidates for best Eps: Balance of Terror (The entrance of the Romulans & the first great Sub battle in space) The City on the Edge of Forever (Great Time travel Ep) Mirror, Mirror (inspired so many other shows and is still the best version) Trouble with Tribbles (Funniest Episode of Star Trek) Amok Time (Spock’s 7 year sexual cycle) The Doomsday Machine (Automatic Planet Eater) The Enterprise Incident (Steal a Cloaking device from the Romulans) Arena (The Gorn) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/31 "2015-06-23T01:59:39Z")
There’s no better relationship in any of the Treks than the original Kirk/Spock/McCoy triad. Add to that the episodes where Scotty pulled an engineering solution out of his ass or took the helm and proved to be as tough as Kirk, and you’ve got a real character driven series that also had (for its time) a great look and some really interesting stories. TNG is a much better looking show, of course, and most of the supporting actors were pretty good. The character of Picard (and Patrick Stewart’s handling of it) is almost enough to put TNG on top by itself. But overall, I give the edge to the original. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/32 "2015-06-23T02:33:55Z")
It turned out to be a closer call than I would have thought, but I gave my vote to the original. Look at my username, and see if you’re surprised! 🙂 As has been said, they really are quite different shows, for quite different eras. Each had their brilliant episodes, each had their clunkers, and each had their large majority of episodes that were “just fine,” not spectacular but not egregiously bad, either. TOS looks sexist as hell now, and by today’s standards a lot of its “racial equality” comes off as old-fashioned tokenism. TNG could be bland and uninteresting, with a crew more into introspection than action (although TNG could do action sequences like nobody’s business when they wanted to). In its own way, TNG has aged as badly as TOS has. Nothing screams “late '80s” quite so much as having the Captain’s personal shrink as a permanent member of the bridge crew. And by that time, Roddenberry had started to believe his own press about how the Federation was a utopia where all hatred and prejudice had been done away with, which unfortunately often made for some pretty limp storylines with very little real conflict or tension in them, and characters without many realistic flaws. In the end, I vote TOS largely because of the pleasant memories of watching it with my college buddies in the afternoons after classes were over, and having endless bull sessions about the Prime Directive, scoring with alien women, how many characters had died and come back to life, and why poor Sulu never got a girl. Oh, how little we knew! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/33 "2015-06-23T02:35:47Z")
The single best line in any ST was in TOS: “I’ll bet credits to navy beans” The second best line was also TOS: Scotty “It’s green” TOS also had Kirk’s chrome chicks. TNG on the other hand had the ship’s cleavage and the whinny teenager. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/34 "2015-06-23T02:40:21Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Also, TOS is incredibly dated. Hell, my phone could out smart the Enterprise. I am more embarrassed for the 80’s look of TNG than the 60’s look of TOS. That’s probably because there are some people still walking around in the real world looking like they walked out of the 1980’s. So the TOS looks are so far off they work. TNG lives in sort of a fashion uncanny valley for me. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/35 "2015-06-23T02:49:56Z")
I even liked Enterprise. But that TNG ep of the Black People vs Tasha was cringe worthy. “There are FOUR lights!” was a one of the best of any Trek. These threads are always fun. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/36 "2015-06-23T02:55:37Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > In its own way, TNG has aged as badly as TOS has. Nothing screams “late '80s” quite so much as having the Captain’s personal shrink as a permanent member of the bridge crew. And by that time, Roddenberry had started to believe his own press about how the Federation was a utopia where all hatred and prejudice had been done away with, which unfortunately often made for some pretty limp storylines with very little real conflict or tension in them, and characters without many realistic flaws. Roddenberry hated “Family” the TNG followup episode to “The Best of Both Worlds” where Picard visits his brother and we see him suffering from the psychological damage of being a Borg as well as his rocky relationship with his family. “Family” is probably one of the more highly rated TNG episodes but Roddenberry wasn’t a fan of conflict thinking that humanity would outgrow those kinds of family dynamics. I’ll give Roddenberry credit for creating the series but at some point he seems to have gone off the reservation. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/37 "2015-06-23T03:06:19Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > The single best line in any ST was in TOS: > “I’ll bet credits to navy beans” > The second best line was also TOS: > Scotty “It’s green” > TOS also had Kirk’s **chrome chicks**. > TNG on the other hand had the ship’s cleavage and the whinny teenager. To paraphrase Scotty: They’re _green_. Unless you are referring to Kirk’s drill thrall. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/38 "2015-06-23T03:10:46Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > It turned out to be a closer call than I would have thought, but I gave my vote to the original. Look at my username, and see if you’re surprised! 🙂 > > As has been said, they really are quite different shows, for quite different eras. Each had their brilliant episodes, each had their clunkers, and each had their large majority of episodes that were “just fine,” not spectacular but not egregiously bad, either. TOS looks sexist as hell now, and by today’s standards a lot of its “racial equality” comes off as old-fashioned tokenism. TNG could be bland and uninteresting, with a crew more into introspection than action (although TNG could do action sequences like nobody’s business when they wanted to). > > In its own way, TNG has aged as badly as TOS has. Nothing screams “late '80s” quite so much as having the Captain’s personal shrink as a permanent member of the bridge crew. And by that time, Roddenberry had started to believe his own press about how the Federation was a utopia where all hatred and prejudice had been done away with, which unfortunately often made for some pretty limp storylines with very little real conflict or tension in them, and characters without many realistic flaws. > > In the end, I vote TOS largely because of the pleasant memories of watching it with my college buddies in the afternoons after classes were over, and having endless bull sessions about the Prime Directive, scoring with alien women, how many characters had died and come back to life, and why poor Sulu never got a girl. Oh, how little we knew! 🙂 I always thought of TNG crew as team orphan Picard - Single with only his brother as a family member Riker - Single and distant from his father Troi - Single with an overbearing mother Wolf - Wife was killed and has a motherless son Crusher - Husband was killed and only has her son Will Will - No father, only his mother Crusher Geordi - No wife unless you consider his holodeck fantasy girl Not a single crew member with a complete family ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/39 "2015-06-23T03:12:59Z")
Chrome chicks was a comment a coworker used to make every time the Shat would bring his starship in for service at the car dealership where I worked. The entire quote was “I want to ask him what it’s like to screw one of those chrome chicks.” So chrome chicks. And the line of Scotty’s I was referring to was when asked what kind of booze is in. Fresh bottle “It’s green!” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187/40 "2015-06-23T03:19:21Z")
Full quote: Tomar: “What is it?” Scotty: “It’s…it’s…it’s green.” TOS “By Any Other Name” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-trek-tos-or-star-trek-tng/723187.md?page=3)