Just watched TOS: Season 1: Episode 5: The Enemy Within. It was quite good. Personally, I find myself enjoying 90s Trek the most, but that’s because I grew on TNG and Voyager. This was an interesting episode and definitely some ideas worth exploring such as the duality of man, good v evil, you could even get some discussion on rape out of this. A good episode with decent acting from Shatner. The one question I had running through my mind during this: did they not have shuttles in TOS?
Yes, they have shuttles. But making a set for them is expensive, that’s why they added the transporter, to save money. But you’ll see shuttles later, including a really good episode revolving around one.
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I get that S1: E5 wouldn’t really have as much of an story if they could’ve just sent a shuttle for the away team, but it was bugging me that such an obvious solution wasn’t suggested.
Yeah, it’s also 5th in the production order, I don’t think they had added shuttles to the show yet. (Another point in favor of production order as the superior watch order, another case where the production actually has an effect on the storytelling.)
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TNG DVD boxset on the way!
My dad is a Star Trek fan so he’ll be watching these with me!
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Nice. I have the first run silver cases DVDs, but I recently upgraded to the Blu-Rays.
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Although I am not an expert on the Star Trek EU, I think one of the main differences between it and Doctor Who is that the rightsholders (Paramount/CBS) are more particular about licensing, and have more rules about what is allowed to be produced. The BBC seems to have a more laissez faire attitude towards its licensors. Also, in Doctor Who, some of the rights of monsters and characters are owned by their creators, which allows for creations such as K9 and the Zygon “film” which would be unthinkable (in a liscensed form) in Star Trek.
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It’s interesting to imagine a world in which Star Trek was more like Doctor Who in this, and you got, say, a Neelix cooking show…
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A quick shout out to Rachael Stott who has done some brilliant Star Trek comic book artwork. She’s also done a lot of Dr Who comics as well.
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Watching Star Trek: First Contact and came across a line that made me chuckle a little:
PICARD: Good they haven’t broken the encryption code yet.
LILY: Who? Those bionic zombies you told me about.
PICARD: The Borg.
LILY: Borg? It sounds Swedish.
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Watching the Voyager episode “Concerning Flight”.
I swear, 7 of 9 trying to deal with Harry Kim is so relatable…
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Finished it, and yes, while they might’ve been incidental to the whole episode, both 7 of 9 scenes are pretty relatable.
First, she has Harry DM’ing her[1] and insisting on socializing when she’s in the middle of something. Then people are being incorrect on the internet[2] and displaying hostility rather than countering her arguments…
(Yes, yes, we’re supposed to be following Leonardo and Janeway. I’m following 7 of 9.)
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Also watched “Mortal Coil”, in which zombie!Neelix has a crisis of faith.
Then I watched “Waking Moments”. 7 of 9 comes on to Harry Kim, which tells us instantly it’s a dream. Later, in a dream, 7 of 9 beats up Kim, rather more satisfyingly. Chakotay saves them with pseudo-Native American traditions of lucid dreaming.
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And I watched “Message In a Bottle”. That was fun. Lots of EMH on EMH on Romulan action, and 7 of 9 got to deliver electric shocks to people!
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Always wanted to try Star Trek, but not got a clue where to start, or where to watch 
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The Next Generation is probably the best entry point into the series, it’s pretty much the equivalent of NuWho series 1. Then from there it’s Deep Space 9 and then Voyager, after that you can really go anywhere. You could watch The Original Series, but it’s quite old, which I know is a wild thing to say to a Doctor Who fan, but your mileage may vary 
.
As for where to watch it, Paramount+ if you have it, otherwise you’d have to track it down yourself.
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I’d like to thank those who recommended Strange New Worlds. I think it may have become my favourite Trek show!
We watched Una’s court case episode last night and I was gripped throughout and clapping as her lawyer used the Starfleet laws against them. I really like each and every character, the plots are fun and exciting and it’s just such a great watch.
It’s made me think about my opinions on story arcs vs ‘monster of the week’ shows which relates to discussions elsewhere on the forum that I’m trying to formulate in my head before posting about. But the format of SNW is definitely a strength of it for me.
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I’d warn against doing Voyager after completing all of DS9. I feel like I’d have not finished Voyager if I hadn’t watched it for the first time alongside DS9, and can’t imagine what the whiplash would be like going from DS9 seasons 5-7 straight into Voyager season 1. I’d say do the TNG era, but do the overlaps. You could go episode by episode chronologically, but even going TNG 1-6 (can watch 7.1 first, if you don’t want to wait a season of DS9 to resolve the cliffhanger), DS9 1, TNG 7, DS9 2, VOY 1, DS9 3, VOY 2, DS9 4, VOY 3, DS9 5, VOY 4, DS9 6, VOY 5, DS9 7, VOY 6-7. That way both shows are getting better at the same time (DS9 doesn’t need it, but Voyager definitely does) and when you’re done DS9, the Voyager you have remaining is at least generally pretty good. Also just keeping it so the stuff that’s all happening at about the same time, you’re watching it at about the same time.
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Interesting. I feel like we often enjoy similar TV shows. However, I’ve always found the second season to be the weakest, despite exploring many themes I enjoy. Maybe it’s worth another rewatch.
I really appreciated the first season (except for the last two episodes) and the third season (except for, I’d say, the last two or three episodes).
As for Picard overall, I’m glad it exists, though it’s not my favorite.
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