That's SUPER Cool!
faz

Very Cool - wow I just noticed - did that cost you $45?

I would love to get mine signed by the cast. I would gladly pay for it.

I can account for 1 of them.

image.jpg

Seeing that picture made me realize how long ago that series started. January, 1988. He must be in his 60's. Great show. It was about the only show I took the time to watch on a semi-regular basis back then during my internship and residency. Now I am watching them on DVD again for the first time in 25 years. I am glad they are still making the rounds.
Makes me feel old. =)

would be interesting who else of the cast still has it...

I heard at one point a few years back, if you presented him with a translite to autograph, Brent Spiner (Data) would offer to sell you his, but according to him it was in pretty rough shape? Just what I heard.

STTNG is on Netflix right now. I went through the series again last month.

I hope to get my translite signed one day.

You binge watched 176 episodes in one month?!!?

Well done!
faz

Hopefully you skipped chunks of season 1 and 2. Some reaaaal stinkers in there. And a handful of bombs in season 7 as well.

I feel like i could make a list that excluded all the crappy episodes, get it down to maybe 120 to 140 episodes, and make the thing a much more awesome experience. I worry about people starting STTNG at season one and just giving up when they hit garbage like Code of Honor or Angel One. It gets better!

And then even though most episodes are pretty good and some are absolutely awesome, there is still a sprinkling of real stinkers mixed in that I could steer people around. (Cost of Living, Rascals, Sub Rosa...)

Hey! When lost my job back on 2003 I binged every episode was well. Watching 16 hours of STTNG a day....what was I thinking. It was fun though and I wouldn't have time for that at this point in my life. My only regret is doing that didn't allow for any individual episode to sink in very well. Still love my STTNG pin!

Yea, but some of my favorites are season 1:
Where No One Has Gone Before
Justice (nice...um...wardrobe)
11001001
The Arsenal of Freedom

Plus...Marina Sirtis in go-go boots

faz

That is effin cool.........

You guys need to see the remastered Blu-Ray episodes. They just look incredible...like they were shot today! I think Netflix is still using the old masters.

Right. I don't think those seasons should be skipped. Measure of a Man and Conspiracy are both great.

but there are some real landmines of pure suck if you go straight through without a guide.

Just recently got the entire cast to autograph mine. You are lucky he let you take a photo, normally he wont allow it. I wish I took Brent Spiner's offer to buy his for $10k, but it has acid damage. Was very tempting.

You should've asked him if it was the edge of reality for 45 bucks.. =P

I remember that as well. I think he wanted $10,000 for it too.

Brent's machine isn't really for sale AFAIK. I *think* I have first dibs if he does sell. The damage isn't bad; he just lost a batter terminal. Nothing a soldering iron and a remote battery pack wouldn't fix. When I last saw it; it needed a shop job bad... new rubbers and the slingshot/cannon plastics replaced.

I need to make another trip to CA.

I agree, the first and second season is tough to get through but they do have some decent episodes. It's amazing to see how well the actors grew into their characters as the seasons went on. The writing got a lot better too. One of my favorite episodes was Inner Light...

The Inner Light is one of the best hours of television ever.

How did you get it signed?

Not to get off topic but is TNG on blu-ray worth the money? The Netflix ones suck as far as clarity goes.

Worth the money is subjective, but they do look outstanding. They had to redo a lot of the special effects, because while the live action was shot in very high quality that looks great in high def, the original effects were done directly onto the standard def video, and wouldn't work in high def. The new effects look really great.

Also interesting is that in high def, if you look close, you can actually see that a lot of the sets are just painted wood and not tritanium alloy or whatever

Oh also the Blu-Rays are packed with interviews and blooper reels and vignettes and stuff. So that's pretty cool.

I agree, pretty much sucks they can't make any money on Blu-rays anymore. If so we could get DS9 & Voyager re-mastered. Would love to own those two.

STTNG on Netflix is SD, but you can watch it in HD on Amazon Prime

Yes. It's remastered from the original negatives so it doesn't have that "80's VHS broadcast look" anymore. While it's still in the 4:3 ratio, it looks as crisp as something that was shot today. It looks truly amazing, IMO.

I've never been to Vegas so next year we are planning on going for a week and I was wanting to plan it when they have the Star Trek convention so that I can get some signatures on mine also. I'm curious how hard it is to get Patrick Stewarts autograph....he doesn't seem to go to these often.

Agreed. I started watching Season 1 on Netflix a few weeks ago, and got about 2 episodes in before switching to Amazon Prime. What a difference!

I just finished Season 1 last night, and I'm glad I read some of these comments before I started, because otherwise I would have never gotten through the season. Code of Honor was indeed horrible. Angel One was also laughable, but not quite as bad. Where No One Has Gone Before was really good, and one of the culminating events in Skin of Evil was sad but inspiring. The main plot of that episode, including the villain, was marginal, but I was fighting back tears at the ending of that particular episode.

So far, I am not dissuaded, and from what you guys have indicated, it gets better as the show develops. Looking forward to Season 2.

Season two is a little better, but the biggest jump up in quality happens between s2 and s3. In season three it becomes a legit great show.

That's good to hear. Thank you. I don't mind plowing through a few stinkers, as long as the series continues to improve.

Earlier you mentioned a guide that ranks the shows. Can you post a link? At least that will give me a heads up on the lesser quality episodes.

The blu-ray of Next Generation is amazing.

I'm going through them right now. I'm currently is season 5.

Screw it, I'm bored. Here you go. I'll give a Skip, Watch, or Must Watch for each episode.

TNG Season 2:

The Child - SKIP
Where Silence Has Lease - SKIP
Elementary, Dear Data - must watch
The Outrageous Okona - SKIP, for the love of God SKIP!
Loud as a Whisper - SKIP
The Schizoid Man - watch
Unnatural Selectin - SKIP
A Matter of Honor - must watch
The Measure of a Man - must watch
The Dauphin - SKIP
Contagion - watch
The Royale - SKIP
Time Squared - watch
The Icarus Factor - borderline. Watch or skip.
Pen Pals - borderline. Watch or skip.
Q Who? - must watch
Samaritan Snare - watch
Up the Long Ladder - SKIPPPPPPP!
Manhunt - SKIP
The Emissary - watch
Peak Performance - watch
Shades of Gray - SKIP UGH SKIP

Haha a lot of skips in there. Saving you a lot of time!

Shades of Gray is barely an episode. They ran out of money at the end of the season and did a clip show believe it or not, by having Riker go into a coma and "relive" his memories, I.E. replay scenes from season 2, and not even good scenes.

Season three you can go ahead and go full bore. There are enough great episodes after that point that the occasional stinkers won't kill you.

Thanks!

Shades of Gray could cause you to give up on all of Star Trek if you are unwittingly subjected to it.

Don't just believe us, The Random Trek Podcast had a similar opinion.
https://www.theincomparable.com/randomtrek/37/index.php

FWIW, the link below is pretty much in agreement with your recommendations...

http://thestake.org/2013/09/19/when-does-star-trek-the-next-generation-get-good/

Although I agree with most of your choices, I actually like this episode. It's really corny, but for some reason, I liked.

I thought this one is pretty funny, but mostly because of the old guy with the Scottish accent. Funny enough to watch at least once, I think. Although, I do skip it when I'm running through the seasons subsequently.

I hate most of the ones with Lwaxana Troi and the early ones with Q. To me, the best episode of season 2 was A Matter of Honor.

How about people listing their top 10 of the entire TNG series....

Season 2's Q Who? is the episode that introduces the Borg, though. That is a must see.

My top 10 are the following, they are in no particular order but my top two are Inner Light and Frame of Mind

Inner Light
Frame of Mind

Sins of the father (S3)
Redemption I and II (S4 and S5)
Schisms (S6)
Chain of Command I and II (S6)
Birthright I and II (S6)
Rightful Heir (S6)
Masks (S7)
Gambit I and II (S7)

The Inner Light and Frame of Mind are definitely two my absolute favorites as well!

This is cool - congrats. And man does Frakes look old.

I think ST actors are coming to Chicago soon for a fan tour. For what thats worth.

Very true, I was meaning the one that had the crew go through a trial. I wasn't wild about that one.

Encounter at Farpoint S1 EP1 was the intro of the borg. Or atleast the borg were hinted at.

Nah, the first hint of the the Borg were in episode 27, "The Neutral Zone", where several remote Federation and Romulan outposts had been mysteriously scooped off of their planets, leading the Romulans to make contact with the Federation for the first time in many decades. At that point, though, the writers were imagining the Borg as bugs, not cyborgs. The source of the scooping remained a mystery until Q Who? the following year.

Q Who? is the first episode where they appear on screen. The zombie-cyborg bodies, the Borg cube, "resistance is futile", their relentlessness, their regenerative and adaptive properties all debut there. Interestingly, assimilation is never mentioned in that episode, though. They apparently are only interested in the technology of the Enterprise itself. That would change eventually to the more viscerally terrifying concept of relentlessly turning everyone they encounter into more of them.

More stories about translite signings would be cool! I like the photo of Riker signing the translite! More photos please!

Hey, when you took that picture of Jonathan Frakes did he stand up and shout, "You Bet I'm Agitated!!!!"