Why is no one on Star Trek: TNG ever surprised/shocked by anything?

[Vigormortis]

started with one.

Now I pretty much watch whatever random episode BBC America puts on.

Ah. That explains it then.

Truth be told, it wasn't until around season 3 that the show really took off and became one of the sci-fi greats. Up until that point it was kind of a slog to get through.

However, when the studio started taking less and less input from Roddenberry and started accepting script ideas from outside the studio, the writing started getting much much better.

So, if I may, I'd suggest doing a quick run through of season 1 and 2 just to bring yourself up to speed on the whos and whats and then dig in deep with the start of season 3.

If you're an avid fan of sci-fi I can all-but promise you you'll love it.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

started with one.

Now I pretty much watch whatever random episode BBC America puts on.

Ah. That explains it then.

Truth be told, it wasn't until around season 3 that the show really took off and became one of the sci-fi greats. Up until that point it was kind of a slog to get through.

However, when the studio started taking less and less input from Roddenberry and started accepting script ideas from outside the studio, the writing started getting much much better.

So, if I may, I'd suggest doing a quick run through of season 1 and 2 just to bring yourself up to speed on the whos and whats and then dig in deep with the start of season 3.

If you're an avid fan of sci-fi I can all-but promise you you'll love it.

God I'm really thankful I'm not the only one seeing the flaws in this show.

Really I fell into it because Patrick Stuart is just a great actor. I also love the fact that Picard is such an unlikable dick.

It's really less of a sci-fi thing... I mean I like sci-fi because it comes up with batshit crazy things and I don't question it, as opposed to "fantasy" and it's use of "magic" which I abhor.

I'm really more looking for a show like Doctor Who, with a hero facing impossible odds and making grandiose speeches and the like.

 

[FalloutJack]

Two ideas spring right to mind:

{1} After all the flipping anomalies and techno-babble, they've been desensitized.

{2} Q basically ruined it for them by being his smug, omnipotent self. Compared to him, they've seen it all.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Another possibility - Starfleet regulations require all officers to be dosed to the gills with horse tranquilizers.

 

[Zeke63]

anyone looking for tng's potential fully reached and its complexity increased give ds9 a spin (warning: only certain episodes really show its potential since the plot is hidden amongst episodic content, and season 4-7 when the war starts are way more consistent and epic) but seriously the best trek ever, and shares direct continuity with tng, but with gay themes, more on race, more informed by post-structuralism than modernism (i.e. not idealistic and instead post modern in contrast with tng), better characters etc..

 

[Zeke63]

I thought DS9 was utter rubbish, personally. TNG had problems, but had a number of very good eps, and a lot of decent ones.

did you watch the whole thing? or get bored in initial seasons? i really think the show should be condensed to like 36-50 episodes, but its still the best trek for sure.

 

[Zeke63]

I thought DS9 was utter rubbish, personally. TNG had problems, but had a number of very good eps, and a lot of decent ones.

I ask cause to me it seems people always dont like ds9 because it is too "other" i mean contrast picard with sisko to be the most blunt and crude about it. although that is a simple suggestion of how it is "other" since i mean more in how it is written and how one of the major themes is being other

 

[mitchell271]

I think the idea was that they all went through Officers's School so they learned to control their emotions. I've been watching it lately as well, and there's an early episode in season 4 where Worf kills someone and gets reprimanded for an emotional outburst. You have to do that in Officer's School in real life too.

 

[Vigormortis]

God I'm really thankful I'm not the only one seeing the flaws in this show.

Really I fell into it because Patrick Stuart is just a great actor. I also love the fact that Picard is such an unlikable dick.

It's really less of a sci-fi thing... I mean I like sci-fi because it comes up with batshit crazy things and I don't question it, as opposed to "fantasy" and it's use of "magic" which I abhor.

I'm really more looking for a show like Doctor Who, with a hero facing impossible odds and making grandiose speeches and the like.

Oh, TNG definitely had it's flaws, notably early on. Even so it's still one of the quintessential sci-fi greats.

However, if you're looking for something more akin to Who, in terms of the zaniness, you could give Eureka or Warehouse 13 a try. They're far from perfect but they're still good, light-hearted, campy sci-fi fun.

If you're looking for the "impossible odds" and "grandiose speeches", the new Battlestar Galactica is a good choice. It's way more serious than Who is but it was still a good piece of sci-fi drama. (until the latter part of the last season where the story just falls apart)

If it's purely the "hero facing impossible odds" you're looking for, there aren't many choices, sadly. At least, none that I'm aware of that aren't just purely character pieces.

If someone could recommend one to me as well I'd appreciate it.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Considering everything from the original series would be in their computers and their education... Would you be honestly be surprised by crazy bullshit in space?

 

[Thaluikhain]

I thought DS9 was utter rubbish, personally. TNG had problems, but had a number of very good eps, and a lot of decent ones.

did you watch the whole thing? or get bored in initial seasons? i really think the show should be condensed to like 36-50 episodes, but its still the best trek for sure.

I managed to sit through the whole thing. IMHO, the writing and acting were consistently awful, but what really got me was the morality.

That ep where they are dealing with potential shapeshifter threats:

Spoiler

They know shapeshifters are actively trying to infiltrate and destroy the Federation, but decide that taking any security measures against them at all is morally wrong

They also had the Quark calling out Sisko as racist, because he didn't respect Ferengi culture. Ferengi culture being cartoonishly morally wrong, he repeated forces his employees to have sex with him by adding it in the fine print of their contracts etc.

As well as that, you also have constant stupidity on parts of every character in the show, to the extent that many of the plots cannot work if anyone if able to think. The only reason the Federation wasn't overrun in a month is that the other lot were as rubbish as they were.

 

[Silverbane7]

grandiouse speeches?

while i havent seen much of the new battlestar galactica, you cant get much better than some of the ones from B5...
i mean come on....Delen and Ivanova have some of THE best ones i have heard ^^
*chuckles* and it has Kosh....only a timelord trumps a vorlon (in my opinion at least)

 

[Zipa]

So I actually just started watching this... and I have just one question.

Why are they never surprised?

Like I just saw some aliens pull a double cross and kidnap this broad RIGHT in front of Picard, teleport off the ship. Picard just casually reaches over and pushes the button thingy and goes to business. No fright. No "Holy Shit" nothing.

and it's not just picard. All of them. Why are they never shocked by anything? Why are they never surprised?

If you want to know stuff about TNG, or just Trek in general, then I'd strongly recommend SF Debris' Opinionated Guide. They actually go into many of the problems with early TNG, and Voyager... oh, God, the plot holes in Voyager...

http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/e113.asp

+1 for Chuck of SFdebris, the guy has Treks problems down to a tee and he is both informative about it and funny as well.

Also DS9 was by far the best of the TNG era series, mostly down to excellent work by Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe.

 

[Johnny Impact]

This is the crew of the Starfleet flagship. We are talking the creme de la creme de la freakin' creme here. Before they go into training, they are all brilliant, disciplined self-starters who think and react quickly. By the time they come out, "professional ass-kickers" doesn't begin to describe it. The guy who stares open-mouthed instead of punching the comm button and giving the right order never gets to be on the bridge.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Why is no one on Star Trek: TNG ever surprised/shocked by anything?

Because they read the script before the cameras rolled.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

They are surprised a few times, but they rarely show it. TNG has a very ridged way of what a Starfleet officer should be, one of them being calm and calculative in pressuring situations. Picard is damn good at that.

 

[moosemaimer]

thar ya go

 

[Pyramid Head]

The reason they're never surprised is because they realize the existence of their show despite the existence of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier makes Q pretty pedestrian.