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Recently I started to watch the first season of Star Trek TNG. I saw a few episodes when I was younger, since my brother was a trekkie, but I never got that much into it. But I recently got my hands on the first season and thought I might try it out. Three things stand out to me:
1. it's great to watch while painting/modeling because they talk so much
2. a few episodes feel like TOS with a bigger budget.
3. Ferengi are fething annoying.
But there was one thing I noticed in the pilot and I was surprised that my brother didn't agree with me on that. But after some thought I always come back to the same conclusion.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is the father of Wesley Crusher.

- Picard and Dr. Crusher obviously had some sort of relationship.
- according to Wesley, it was Captain Picard who came to their home when he was "very young" to tell Beverly about her husband's death.
- but Picard is clearly suprised when he learns the good doctor has a son.

Discuss!

One useful thing to keep in mind is that the first few seasons had a lot of involvement by Gene Roddenberry. Part of his vision was that the people of the Federation were just inherently more moral than we 20th/21st C people are.

It's not a bad idea, I mean we look at 19th C norms like wife-beating or whatever and are repulsed, surely our 23rd C descendents will look at us and sneer.

But it makes for bad TV. TNG writers were told not to have internal conflicts among the crew, no arguements, no fights, just reasonable discussion.

So I'd say Piccard was just acting as a father figure for Wesley since him cheating with Crusher would violate the whole moral purity thing. Plus a theme with the character was that he was lonely in his job so caring for a kid who reminded him of himself was fairly natural.

Thats why B5, Firefly, 1st season BSG, and Star Trek TOS are epically better.

Amen Frazz. Except for the new BSG, never cared for that one, couldn't even sit though an entire episode.

I do seem to remember that it was well established that Wesley was NOT JL Picard's son. But I am remembering back a few years. It was just Picard became a father figure for Wesley. Of course it could have been something purposely implied by the writers or maybe (thinking deeper into the characters and Roddenberry's rationale) Beverly didn't want to hurt Picard's feelings as they had an older relationship in which both apparently believed would logically lead to marriage and children. Not a huge ST:TNG and after fan, however.

One thing I never got (of course I do realize it was for 'dramatic' reasons) was why on any Star Trek show you had some blatantly incompetent and prone to panic supposedly professional naval officers?

Imo TNG was the best overall Star Trek series; TOS is just too old and dated for me to rank it higher (although TNG is definitely dated as well). The other Star Trek series (Enterprise, DS9, and Voyager) didn't appeal to me and I barely watched any of 'em.

Like already mentioned Picard is definitely not Wesley's father - IIRC Picard was even a bit of a d-bag towards Wesley in the beginning. There's a few episodes with Wesley having a relatively major part but its been a while.

Cane wrote:...Picard was even a bit of a d-bag towards Wesley in the beginning. There's a few episodes with Wesley having a relatively major part but its been a while.

Picard was ALWAYS a D-Bag to Wesley and all of the other kids. He just hated kids. He was a curmudgeon.

Wesley (Wil Wheaton) was intended to be a major character with Roddenberry at the helm however the more Berman became involved due to Roddenberry's declining health the less Berman seemed to use Wesley. It is also reported (well, mostly by Wheaton) that he had a great relationship with Roddenberry but had a poor relationship with Berman and co. Could this have led to less and less stories revolving around Wesley?

Also, the more Berman took over the less kids you saw in general on the Enterprise. Maybe Berman was the curmudgeon?

I don't really enjoy TNG anymore. Not enough actually happens in the show and it's all "morality this, morality that" dialogue.

DS9 was much better. Sisko's awesome. His interaction with Q was great because Q kept expecting him to act like Picard and Sisko kept throwing him for a loop. Worf grew a pair once he hit DS9(he was such a wuss in TNG). Plus: Dominion War. We finally get to see what a Galaxy class ship can do in real combat and see things we never see again in any other ST: Fighters.

GoFenris wrote:

Cane wrote:...Picard was even a bit of a d-bag towards Wesley in the beginning. There's a few episodes with Wesley having a relatively major part but its been a while.

Picard was ALWAYS a D-Bag to Wesley and all of the other kids. He just hated kids. He was a curmudgeon.

Wesley (Wil Wheaton) was intended to be a major character with Roddenberry at the helm however the more Berman became involved due to Roddenberry's declining health the less Berman seemed to use Wesley. It is also reported (well, mostly by Wheaton) that he had a great relationship with Roddenberry but had a poor relationship with Berman and co. Could this have led to less and less stories revolving around Wesley?

Also, the more Berman took over the less kids you saw in general on the Enterprise. Maybe Berman was the curmudgeon?

Wow, interesting stuff - didn't know this information. To Berman's credit the Wesley character did seem like too much of a boy scout (to the point of boring, even past it if you will) so maybe that was another reason why he got shrugged off.

Ah yea now its coming back to me a bit - Picard was a bit of a curmudgeon especially towards kids IIRC. That movie with Picard and Kirk also shedded another light on this IIRC; Picard heard the news of the last blood relatives he had were killed off and he just broke down.

In fairness to Wheaton, IIRC he never said anything specifically bad about Berman but from the interview/segment I saw (I actually think it was on the old TechTV on Screen Savers I believe) He talked about him and Roddenberry's relationship and how that had changed as Berman became more involved with the show. Although to me it was quite obvious what he meant.

It also could have been that Wesley was a hated character and so as they used him less because most audience members didn't tune in to watch "WC, Boy Genius". He was annoying and no one cared.

Order of best to worst of Star Trek:

TOS > DS9 > TNG > Voyager/Enterprise

A little dialogue from the last episode I watched.

Wesley believes that Data is actually his evil brother Lore.

Wesley: Captain Picard, can't you see that Data is...

Picard: Shut up, Wesley!

Dr. Crusher: Shut up, Wesley?

Wesley: Sir, if this is the end of my bridge career, I just wanted to say...

Dr. Crusher: Shut up, Wesley!

A really old gaming magazine I can't remember the name of had a classified ad that read: "Wesley Crusher + Airlock = Good Thing".

GoFenris wrote:Amen Frazz. Except for the new BSG, never cared for that one, couldn't even sit though an entire episode.

The new BSG is one of those love/hate things. Either you absolutely love the entire thing, or you despise it. Well okay, some like Season 1 and think it goes downhill from there.
I for one, love the entire thing. Especially that its only 4 seasons. Clear starting point and ending. Not one of those ... lets keep makin em until people stop watching ....

Platuan4th wrote:I don't really enjoy TNG anymore. Not enough actually happens in the show and it's all "morality this, morality that" dialogue.

DS9 was much better. Sisko's awesome. His interaction with Q was great because Q kept expecting him to act like Picard and Sisko kept throwing him for a loop. Worf grew a pair once he hit DS9(he was such a wuss in TNG). Plus: Dominion War. We finally get to see what a Galaxy class ship can do in real combat and see things we never see again in any other ST: Fighters.

shea. I always hated the fact that TS has no damn fighters.

I never liked DS9. For me it violated the entire premise of the franchise. I mean it's called Star Trek, not Star Sit-here-and-let-our-adventures-come-to-us. Also, I seem to be the only person on the planet who likes Voyager and Enterprise as much as TOS and TNG (which are both equally good and leaps and bounds better than DS9).

The OP points out what I believe to be one of Star Trek's major flaws. That being it is often possible to come up with a better plot to the episode you're watching while you're watching it.

Lordhat wrote:I never liked DS9. For me it violated the entire premise of the franchise. I mean it's called Star Trek, not Star Sit-here-and-let-our-adventures-come-to-us. Also, I seem to be the only person on the planet who likes Voyager and Enterprise as much as TOS and TNG (which are both equally good and leaps and bounds better than DS9).

You obviously quit watching before they got the Defiant and the Dominion War happened when they lost the station to the Dominion and had to rely solely on the Defiant and its new Bird of Prey Wingmen.

Also, Voyarger isn't a Star Trek either, it was a Star never-really-happened.

Lordhat wrote:I never liked DS9. For me it violated the entire premise of the franchise. I mean it's called Star Trek, not Star Sit-here-and-let-our-adventures-come-to-us. Also, I seem to be the only person on the planet who likes Voyager and Enterprise as much as TOS and TNG (which are both equally good and leaps and bounds better than DS9).

+1 on Voyager.

First season and into the second it could be painful at times with high brow morals in a new section of the galaxy, but when it got more gritty and darker (although 'just not as bright' is probably a better description) it improved massively.

Also 7 of 9 RAWKED!

Lordhat wrote:I never liked DS9. For me it violated the entire premise of the franchise. I mean it's called Star Trek, not Star Sit-here-and-let-our-adventures-come-to-us. Also, I seem to be the only person on the planet who likes Voyager and Enterprise as much as TOS and TNG (which are both equally good and leaps and bounds better than DS9).

No, there are others of your kind. They're rare, and when revealed in public are regularly beaten with sticks, but they're out there.

For the record, I liked what I've seen of Enterprise but tv stations here played funny buggers with its timeslot, and I was no longer willing to hunt it down or rent DVDs to watch it.

Voyager wasn't very good, though. There were a lot of good single episodes, but it ran for seven years and I never managed to spot characteristics among most of the cast. The Doctor was excellent, Seven (despite the get up) was also an excellent character, but other than that? Paris, Chakotay, Harry Kim - I couldn't think of one noticeable characteristic that any of them had. I suppose Janeway and Neelix could both be described as annoying, but I don't think that counts. It's a shame really, it was a great concept.

TOS has three great characters, a couple of others with funny accents, and a whole pile of episodes that are nowhere near as good as we remember.

TNG is, as a few people have said, somewhat dated. And yes, there were plenty of mediocre, or downright silly episodes. But the cast was excellent, and the good episodes were very good indeed.

I don't think the differences between TNG and DS9 are as lots of people assume. DS9 had an equally strong cast, but also had the advantage of picking up TNG, starting with a bigger budget and a clearer idea of where it would take the franchise. The much claimed darkness of DS9 wasn't that great, it still had plenty of silly episodes. In fact, I really don't think there's much to seperate the two shows, and both can be considered the best of Star Trek, still setting the standard for television sci-fi.

Cane wrote:Imo TNG was the best overall Star Trek series;

A Wesley fan?

Kill it! Kill it with fire!

Aside from TOS, Voy and DS9 are easily better than TNG. TNG is this PC crapfest from hell, with a f'ing teenager as bridge staff of the flagship? And he saves the day? Mary Sue writing at its most shameless is more believable. TNG might be OK for the first few episodes, before Yar goes, but after the first bit, it's just a turd circling the bowl.

Voy has Homeric themes, and is awesome for that, while DS9 is a great take on the Cold War. It's nice when a story arc has some weight to it

+1 to Voyager for still being on T.V.

Cane wrote:Imo TNG was the best overall Star Trek series; TOS is just too old and dated for me to rank it higher (although TNG is definitely dated as well). The other Star Trek series (Enterprise, DS9, and Voyager) didn't appeal to me and I barely watched any of 'em.

Like already mentioned Picard is definitely not Wesley's father - IIRC Picard was even a bit of a d-bag towards Wesley in the beginning. There's a few episodes with Wesley having a relatively major part but its been a while.

Yup and Yup...i'm just gonna quote you rather than type it out again