I wrote this review ages ago but wasn’t sure if I wanted to post it. I wanted to play the real thing one more time before passing judgement.
Duhhh da da duhhh da da duhhhh! The music says. The amazing theme from Star Trek the slow motion picture and reused as the theme of Star Trek: TNG. I watched that show for seven years, videotaping and rewatching every episode. By 1993 I had a bit of burn out syndrome from the series.
It was seven years of Picard and his crew sitting in front of a big screen television in their onesie pajamas, standing up occasionally to adjust their jammies and yell at someone on the big tv.
The show was amazing, but in the end, my memories of it filter down to this frequently common scene.
I also enjoy sitting in front of a big tv shouting at the people on the screen, but nobody wanted to give me an hour long tv show.
Maybe it’s my lack of a British accent or a cool catch phrase like “Make it so!”
I’m just glad that I am not Westley.
Then again, aren’t we all?
I should describe my first experience playing the pinball when it first came out.
Addams Family was making me poor by forcing me to play over and over. No matter where I went, it was there… grinning and waiting. It’s a relentless monster.
The arcade I frequently went to also had the Doctor Who pinball (I am a huge classic Doctor Who fan since early childhood) and I knew I had to have it one day. (It only took half a lifetime!)
There were the classics too, the Pinbot games, both the High Speeds and several other recent releases alongside great older games.
And then there was the new Star Trek: The Next Generation that had pretty much just came out.
This could be the love of a lifetime!
Well…
It’s widebody, that’s great. It sounds like the tv show, that’s great. There’s a lot of playfield toys, that’s great. It has presence and demands your attention, that’s great.
I played it a few times and went back to Doctor Who and the Addams Family. They were calling my name.
I never enjoyed ST:TNG the pinball very much. Sorry.
It’s a really pretty game, but there’s not really a lot of game in between all that flash and DMD video.
Oh, are those Klingons and Romulans coming up my driveway carrying a rope, pitchforks and torches?
I wanted to blame my dislike for it on Star Trek The Next Generation burn out, but nobody is ever burned out on something for 30 years.I’ve even watched the good episodes with my kids.
Yes! All six good episodes!!
That was a joke, I know there are more than six good episodes.
(Maybe ten, hee hee!)
Great, now they’re heating up a barrel of tar in my yard and cutting open feather pillows. I have to finish this fast.
It’s Steve Ritchie! That means it should be an instant Holy Grail machine. Good old Steve made great games but this one wasn’t his best work.
I blame the Superpin Widebody. He was utter magic with normal machines.
Maybe it was too many gimmicks and toys? He always tried to pack everything he could into a game and then shove in a little more.
Do you know how bad I feel saying all this? I’m making excuses and blaming myself!
I love pinball, and there is no such thing as a bad game. ST: TNG (dang that is an annoyingly long name! Even when it’s abbreviated!) didn’t really thrill me like it should have.
I expected it to renew my love for the series it was based on, like many other licensed games did and still do, but it didn’t and hasn’t to this day.
Upon recent plays, I do see the appeal of it. There are some fun shots, multiball is exciting and there is a lot to look at. Star Trek fans far superior to me and pinball fans far more skilled than me enjoy it immensely.
Yes, my opinion is wrong. That’s what an opinion is though. I would never say, “avoid this pinball like the plague!” About any machine. Everyone likes different things and that is perfectly fine.
Hi Chicago Coin, I love you!
CDI was sitting over there looking hopeful and sad, so I had to say something.
What I can say about ST: TNG is, if you have never played it, go in with little expectation. Forget the hype of it being one of the bestest games ever in the whole universe, and you will have a good time. My expectations in 1993 were to be blown away because it’s Star Trek, and I love Star Trek in general, and my expectations were set way too high.
Even though it’s not for me I still highly recommend this one for so many reasons. It’s good pinball.