Star Trek

Hi all, I am new to TNG (and this board). Being a fan of TOS, I was expecting a lot from TNG. I have watched a few episodes from season 1 and was sadly underwhelmed. So far I have a hard time getting into any of the characters, although there is a lot of potential for some Data love . I heard that TNG picked up from Season 3 onwards. Is it true that I have to sit through 2 seasons to get into the good stuff? I am reluctant to skip seasons... 

I watched the whole TOS and started with TNG just to be very disappointed. I didn't like the characters, especially Data who I regarded as a bad attempt to put someone like Spock in the new series. I found the episodes to be boring. But somewhere in the middle of the first season, I think with "Datalore", I started to appreciate the show a little bit and when it came to the second season I started really enjoying it. The 8th episode (2nd season), "The Measure of a Man" is one of my favourite and after that I loved most shows. Keep watching, don't skip anything

Seasons 1 and 2 aren't great, but they do have some gems scattered throughout. I would definitely advise against skipping those seasons, both for character development and said gems.

i watched TNG for the first time not long ago. I too was disappointed and uninterested at first. I had seen a few episodes from time to time on tv but never followed the series so I already knew I liked Data. Riker is the most disappointing character in my opinion. Not a lot of character development except chest beating and sexuality. Most of the others shape up pretty good. Data is by far my favorite character of all series but TNG isn't my favorite series. Voyager started it all for me. Then I watched ENT. Then TNG. Then DS9. I tried to watch TOS but its just hard to take it seriously when they are talking about tapes and other out dated forms of media and data storage.

My feelings as well with Year One.  I thought, "Seriously, why not just put a Vulcan back in?"  But Data grew on me because he asked the same kind of questions I always do, relying almost entirely on words, not "getting" the non-verbal cues and figures of speech and stuff.  I bet a lot of autistic kids like me can identify with Data.

I grew to absolutely love STTNG because of the way they developed most of the characters ('cept Wesley Crusher, who only grew bigger but not really more mature).  And because they went to really in depth exploration of the Prime Directive and the moral and social foundations of the Federation and Star Fleet.  

You know, at first, i really didnt like TNG. Especially Picard. But i guess what I really did not like was that all teh characters seemed stale. None of them seemed to have opposing personalities, except Worf. But after the third season, after Picard got assimilated, we get to see a whole different side of him. I didnt get hooked on TNG until the fourth season. Then the characters become a little bit more in depth and the character development became really good. 

Worf and Data seem to be the two big ones to follow, and are the most complex (they were also created to represent the alien and intellect parts of spock) so if you watch them they'll entertain you, but if you're a teen I'd pay close attention to weasly.  I'd say for Data its safe to watch "Measure of a Man" out of order and then go back and watch the series from the beginning.

As for actual time, I don't know, but remember they were desidned to be watched weeekly, with gaps for holidays and such, so you have time to absorb them, if you take a season and make a weekend out of it, you'll not get as much out of the series (or your weekend).

I loved the Weasley's!  They made being ginger-haired cool.  I especially enjoyed their great fireworks rebellion during the OWL exams at Hogwarts.... or were you talking about WESLEY?

   Sorry, I can't resist poking fun at spelling errors... but don't be mad, I'll make some inevitably and you can poke fun at me too. 

On my Journey through Start Trek I find even in boring episodes the writers brilliantly put in some tidbits that will be featured in future episodes and series. Remember that many of the characters your seeing now will really be interesting in upcoming seasons of TNG and DS9. You've got a lot of great TV ahead!! 

The problem I had with the first season was that a lot of the stories seemed to be generic Sci Fi and not really Trek. Apparently they recycled several scripts that were written for the aborted "Star Trek: Phase 2" series. Also, the acting, in most cases was awful. I think season 2 had some really good episodes, ones that I can watch over and over. But it was when Berman took over from Roddenbury as show runner in season 3 that it really took off and stopped being a "space" show and became TNG.

That being said, I watched S1 of TNG when it first aired and I loved it. The problems I have with it now are after the fact.

The Next Generation is, without any doubt of it,
the VERY best of STAR TREK. This series alone,
out of the entire franchise, will deeply satisfy your
every craving and desire for Gene Roddenberry's
BOLD vision of the future  ... and on EVERY level!

... Give it a chance and it'll make you a TRUE believer!

Don't give up on Picard, particularly.  I think his character changes for the better.  And though the significant improvements come in Season 3 and beyond, already in the first two seasons, he starts to shed that stuffy carcicature they originally wrote for the character.  Speaking as someone who loves the original Star Trek and was initially underwhelmed with The Next Generation, I became most interested in Picard's character as I progressed through the show.

Apart from that, I agree with what seems to be the general consensus that Worf and Data are the characters to watch.

Geordi also gets some interesting character development once the writers found a role for him.  None of the other main characters are all that memorable, if you ask me, but the later seasons do introduce some great secondary characters: Ensign Ro, Alexander, Reg Barkeley and Transport Chief O'Brien (who was actually in the show from the very beginning but doesn't get developed until later).