Post
by Joseph » Sat Apr 06, 2019 12:21 pm
Alright, because I woke up stupid early on a Saturday... 4:30am... and I've been quietly bored since my wife is sleeping... just for you, majestic...Sorry, this won't be a scholarly essay, there are no footnotes, no bibliography or encyclopedic citing of season and episode numbers, just off the cuff impressions.
TNG vs VOY
The Captains
Picard vs Janeway
Picard, the quiet, introspective, wanna be archaeologist vs Janeway, the hot blooded, passionate, possibly bi-polar girl that doesn't respond well to threats. Well, if I had to serve under one of them, it'd be Janeway. Picard can't make a decision if his life, or yours, depends on it. Janeway can. And come hell or high water, she just cares more about her crew. I'd rather have a captain that mothers me with a strong maternal instinct than a guy that has to call endless briefings. And as for acting, yes, I'm putting Mulgrew on par with Stewart. She played Janeway beautifully, with the right amount of emotion and she evokes a misty eye or two quite well. It's just a shame that the writers handled her character so inconsistently but, as with most flaws in Berman era Trek... well, you blame Berman and Braga.
The First Officers
Riker vs Chakotay
Riker, the poor man's Kirk, the elitist, condescending jerk manwhore that has tantrums and is too scared to go for his own command vs Chakotay, the peaceful, spiritual man than is approachable to everyone, the guy with the dry, sly wit that can kick serious ass when he needs to. Yep, Chakotay wins this by a mile. Riker is just a creep that I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw him. If the chips were down, I'd want Chakotay in my corner every time. And yes, Beltran is a better actor than Frakes. People call Beltran wooden. I don't see it. He played Chakotay perfectly even when the writers couldn't write worth a damn. Frakes gets points for directing. That's his strength.
The Chief Engineers
Geordi vs B'Elanna
Hmmm... the creepy, cyberstalking perv with the personality of a bag of wet, mouldy socks vs the passionate, inspired and internally tortured little girl in a woman's body. Yep, B'Elanna wins. She's a better engineer, a stronger person, a better character, just, gee, all around better. And yes, Dawson was a better actor than Burton although both went on to be great directors.
The Chief Medical Officers
Beverly vs The Doctor
Oh man, do I even need to explain? A doctor with... well, no personality at all. None. Sensors detect nothing vs the Holo Doc who has more personality, compassion and ethics in a backup subroutine than Crusher had in her entire being on the best day of her life... which was doing it with the ghost that did her grannie. If my life was on the line, the Doctor would do anything to save me. Beverly would let me die so she could try to bed Jean-Luc or, failing that, workout in tights with Troi in front of endless mirrors or play some poker with the boys. And acting... again, do I need to say anything? Picardo can run rings around McFadden in his sleep. For all of McFadden's scenes they could have used a cardboard cutout and had the script girl reading her lines off camera and you'd never know.
Chief of Security
Worf vs Tuvok
This is tougher... I love Worf. But, Worf didn't get really good until DS9 so if we're just going on TNG vs VOY Tuvok gets the win. And of course, we're not counting Yar. Poor Tasha, killed by a talking oil slick in S1. And that character had potential. As for acting chops, I'm going with Russ over Dorn. Dorn didn't get much to work with in TNG other than growling and suggesting, in every briefing, that they kill the enemy. In rewatching VOY with my wife, we've both been surprised at Russ' acting range when he gets the chance to step outside the Vulcan stoicism.
Chief of Operations
Data vs Harry
Data. Obviously the win goes to Pinocchio, the wooden toy that wants to be a real boy. Data was written to want to grow. Harry was written to be the ensign. And yes, Spiner had better chops than Wang although, again, during this rewatch, I found myself wishing Wang had been given more to do.
The Bad Boys
Wesley vs Paris
Shut up, Wesley! Seriously... boy genius who knows more about everything than highly trained, highly experienced senior staff.... ugh... vs the the guy that got busted, served time, hangs out in swanky French taverns, listens to Rock & Roll, restores classic 20th century muscle cars, plays Captain Proton on the holodeck, pilots better than anyone ever, is fiercely loyal, ethical and principled to a fault and is the all around coolest cat and best friend you could ever ask for. Wesley's finest moment was in the horribly offensive "relocating the Indians because we TNG writers love beating the racial stereotype drum" episode. Oh, and Wesley went off with the creepy Traveller which just speaks to nothing more than poor parenting on Beverly's part. I guess Picard's hatred of children made Beverly think pawning Wesley's virgin anal cavity off on an intergalactic pedo was her best chance at bedding Picard. Poor little Wesley. Paris had too many finest moments to list. And acting skills, yep, McNeill wins hands down. And again, another gifted director rising from the ranks of Trek actors
Morale Officer
Spot vs Neelix
A gender-fluid, trans-dimensional, transsexual feline vs a guy with face fur and spots. No comparison. Spot wins. Wait... no, Neelix wins. People still gripe about Neelix being annoying. I don't see it. Initially, yes, Neelix is overly exuberant, and Kes' age, Ocampa or not, when they were a thing is almost kind of icky but hey, that's just projecting current values on alien cultures. And when Neelix's backstory comes out in later seasons, the war, the loss of his entire family, everything makes perfect sense. And I think Phillips did a great job with the material he was given. And Spot, well, Spot just can't act. No Spot could that's why they tried passing off male and female cats on the audience and telling us it was the same cat. Pfft. Nerds are too smart for that.
The (Quasi) Counsellors
Troi vs Kes
Ha! Kes! No contest. All Troi ever did was state the blatantly obvious. The Enterprise D would be getting pounded because Picard had to call a briefing for suggestions before he could decide if raising shields would be a good idea and, with hull breaches, weapons offline, a warp core breach imminent, Troi would state, like it was the most profound revelation ever... "Captain, I sense hostility." Kes grew as a character. She provided insight, an ethical counter balance, and was the person who helped the Doctor grow. Troi was, in a word, well, three actually, less than useless. Neither Sirtis or Lien were gifted thespians but Lien had some good moments. Sirtis can't act. At all. Period. I saw better acting in my grade three Christmas play.
The Outsider
Guinan vs Seven
Seven wins. Guinan was another stagnant character. There was no growth at all. Stagnant, semi-omnipotent characters providing cryptic sage advice are boring. And that was Guinan's role. Bartenders don't get involved. They just pour drinks while spouting a variety of cliches and slightly insightful suggestions. Seven, like many other VOY characters, grew. The character had depth, an arc and that beats stagnant every single time. And Ryan is a better actor than Goldberg. Sure, Whoopi is Jeri can act. There were a few episodes where she got to step out of the Borg persona and she knocked it out of the park. You teared up, you wanted to hold that frightened little six-year old assimilation victim in your arms and comfort her and tell her she was safe while wiping away that "something" in your eyes.
TNG, especially the first few seasons has aged very, very badly. It's elitist, pseudo intellectual holier than thou bullshit. I'm not going to go into all the behind the scenes details about the writing, the production, the this and that. What matters is what's on screen and Voyager is the ultimately better product for characters and actors. And I'm not proofreading this either.
And yes, Jellico was a far better captain than Picard.
