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Encounter at Farpoint

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Series :
Season Ep :
1 x 01
Title :
Encounter at Farpoint
Rating :
2
Overall Ep :
1
First Aired :
28 Sep 1987
Stardate :
41153.7
Director :
Year :
Writers :
Your Rating :
1.8000 for 5 reviews
Reviewer : JPM Rating : 2
Review : I like most people didn't particularly like this (then) new series. But it grew on me over time. What I most disliked about "Farpoint"; and all of the early TNG episodes; was the horrendously clumsy dialogue. People do not take time, particularly during urgent situations, to explain things that everyone around them (other characters) are already supposed to be aware of. Seeing De Kelly as the 137 year old 'Admiral McCoy' was pretty cool; but even his dialogue was clumsy. Plus, he played it like a liquored up old red-neck; not an elderly, but highly intelligent physician. In addition to these problems there is the oft mentioned phaser beam from the Captain's yacht. They were attempting to mimic the TOS Enterprise; which fired phasers from the bottom of the saucer; which, on that ship, was supposed to be the lower nav. sensor array not a weapons array. Such gaffs must run in the 'family' All in all,a good idea; somewhat poorly executed.
Reviewer : Indefatigable Rating : 2
Review : Usually when reviewing pilot episodes, I try to give my overall impressions of what the series will be like. However, I first watched this with my parents at age 3, so that's quite hard to do. Trying to look at TNG in a detached perspective, it happened just after the success of TVH, so a good time for the new series. Still, it didn't quite deliver in terms of the story. The whole section with Q was bolted on, essentially as an afterthought, but Q recurrend many times. He was clearly inspired by Trelane, yet with an attempt to provide more menace and a bigger threat. Unfortunately, that only half-worked, and he turned out to be far too silly for this threat to fit together. As for Farpoint, the Bandi and the space jellyfish, a simple story as a basic plot and a good start. There was an odd bit where they mention the Ferengi as the new 'big threat'. Everyone had their own contribution (albeit brief from some) and we got some sense of the various characters' back stories. As for the people themselves, Picard did not seem very sympathetic at first, and we had an eclectic mix of others. Riker seemed OK as the series' 'action man', the typical 'tough guy' role was taken by a woman (Yar), we had a ship's counsellor on the bridge (what the...?), plus a KLINGON (weren't they the baddies once?), a blind navigator, etc., etc. Data would seem to stand out with the most potential, an arifical life form, what would they make of that (please allow for perspective here)? I went through a phase of not liking the Enterprise D, yet now I think of her as a big, stately ship, the 747 of space. Here, we got some sense of what she could do, including the woefully under-used saucer separation. Overall, while it wasn't exactly brilliant, there was certainly potential (as we found out). I can get some sense of how it might have been perceived at first, but eventually it just WORKED!
Reviewer : =/\= Quad Rating : 2
Review : I wish I could give this pilot a 4 or a 5 - especially considering what the rest of the series is like - but I just can't do it. It didn't have the charisma and pinache of DS9's or the excitement of Voyager's. TNG has a fantastic cast though, and that's really what saved this episode for me. Jean-Luc Picard? Really? He is the man with the plan. Q is ground beef for Picard. Incredible captain. Bald head or no, Picard will be one of the best captains in all of starfleet. Incredible to know that this shaky start will eventually turn into one of the most successful spinoff shows ever produced. If you're a newcomer to Trek, hang in there. It gets MUCH better. I do have to admit, the "judging the human race" concept is pretty deep in comparison to what we get today - teenage vampires and people getting stuck on tropical islands! Overall, not a bad episode, just not the best.
Reviewer : =NoPoet= Rating : 0
Review : I can't stand this cheesey nonsense. As in, I literally cannot watch it all the way through in case my family come in and see it. I'd rather get caught watching p0rn. TNG got off to a particularly poor start and this episode is virtually execrable (or whatever the word is). The dialogue is appalling and is delivered with all the convincing passion of a pantomime character delivering a farewell speech. Q looks ridiculous and the reveal of the stations being giant space jellyfish didn't evoke a sense of awe, it created profound embarrassment. I'm not sure why women were still dressing like dollybirds and while I'm not complaining about seeing some leg, I thought Star Trek was about equal opportunities. Roddenberry, God rest him, created something amazing in Star Trek but his level of sexism borders on monstrous - and this was carried on throughout Trek, with virtually every female character who's supposed to wear the blue uniform swanning around in big dresses or catsuits. It is very, very hard to see how such an amazing series could grow from this stunted start, but I am glad it did!
Reviewer : Michael Anthony Estes Rating : 3
Review : I have to say there were some good parts .... and bad parts. My favorite was happening right as the Enterprise-D was saucer separating. I have to admit I LOVED hearing the TNG theme song playing as the all too famous Federation flagship was doing it. AWESOME! Still, the story was kind of cheesy. I think they made Q and shoved him in there because Star Wars had Jedi and Sith, BOTH superpowered people. Still, I think Star Trek claimed it first with the Talosians and Gary Mitchell from TOS. Either way, this episode was pretty good, despite its flaws. 3 out of 5
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