Subj : Re: TNG vs TOS - anybody still think Next Generation sucks?
To   : rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.startrek.current,alt.tv.star-trek.tos
From : Steven L.
Date : Sat Oct 01 2005 21:13:20

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos

Mike wrote:

> I like all the Star Trek series to some extent. But on the top of it all
> is the original series, and to me the favorite offspring of the original
> series is TNG. 
> 
> I still enjoy TNG today. Although on todays DVD and high def technology,
> TNG is more dated because it was mastered to broadcast videotape and
> can't be mastered in high definition like TOS which was mastered to
> film. So, my DVD's of TNG represent the best quality of video production
> in 1986 which is a far cry from high def.
> 
> On a deeper note, I think TOS did a lot better in combining the best of
> conservative and liberal ideals into the shows concept. Kirk was a
> "warrior", that none the less found there was a time to "not kill
> today". Klingons were mean, evil bastards but there was always hints to
> the fact that one day the Klingons will be our friends (the biggest
> hint, of course was from the Organians).
> 
> The first season of TNG (most of all) had no such balance and it's
> saturated political correctness was something I got off on in when it
> first came on (I was much, much, more liberal). Now, looking at most
> shows from the first season, it's hilarious in it's PC ness. I can't
> take it seriously. Unlike many episodes of TOS, where even through the
> plywood sets and rubber alien masks, the situation and thinking was
> grounded in a more reality. 
> 
> In TOS, you got Kirk and a Romulan Commander in a battle to the death
> with a certain amount of regret between the both because deep down
> inside they respect each other and could be friends in another reality
> but are duty bound to their own sides. Both hate war but both know thier
> responsibility. One of these people will die at the hands of the other.
> 
> 
> In TNG, you have the Ferengi ship and Enterprise neutralized by a higher
> outside force on a planet. They both go to the planet and we see the
> Ferengi are simply goofy caricatures of Reagan era conservative
> stereotypes in a sharp toothed, big eared, elfin packages

Given the era (1987), I always assumed the Ferengi symbolized the 
Japanese.  At the time, many Americans feared the Japanese were kicking 
our butts in the global economy.  Both Japanese males and Ferengi males 
are:  somewhat short; fiercely paternalistic, even sexist; and had 
developed the techniques of capitalist economic warfare to a high art.


-- 
Steven D. Litvintchouk
Email:  sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net

Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me.

.