Thirty Days of TV: Day Twenty-Two

[selenak]

Day 22 - Favorite series finale

Even these many years and many other beloved shows and some excellent finales later: All Good Things..., the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It managed to accomplish so many things: clever use of the "three different time lines" macguffin, allowing the audience which had followed the show both a look back to the start (oh, and for departed crew members to come back, not just Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar, but also Colm Meany as O'Brien, who at this point already had clocked two seasons of DS9 as a regular but made the time for an appearance on his old ship, the Enterprise), at the present and at a possible future. It used Q and the Q/Picard relationship well. (Much later I discovered it also managed to upset a certain branch of Republicans, because of the short scene where Q takes Picard back to prehistoric earth, shows him various amino acids in the primordial soup and casually remarks this is the origin of life on earth. Apparantly creationists took expection to that. Here's to an additional bonus!) It allowed the entire ensemble to shine, playing two, sometimes three different versions of themselves. It wrapped up the show yet also reassured us there were many more adventures for our heroes to come. In short, it was TNG and Star Trek optimism at its best, without coming across as preaching or blind.

And here is the very last scene, which still reduces me to fangirl mush no matter how often I watch. The sky is the limit!

Day 01 - A show that should never have been canceled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 – Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship


Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death.

Comments

[watervole]

I've really enjoyed your posts on this meme - brought back some good memories.

[selenak]

I enjoy writing them - these memories are good for me as well!

[laurashapiro]

You spoke rightly. I am indeed a pile of goo now. (:

[selenak]

*can't resist the obvious DS9 tie-in*

Odo?

[laurashapiro]

Hee! If only. (:

[zulu]

This is still my favourite, too! HE PLAYS POKER WITH THEM, hearts in my eyes every single time.

[selenak]

And it's really an emotional pay-off for having watched all those seven years, know about his normal reserve (and yet of course he cares deeply for them). Kirk doing the same thing would not have the same resonance because Kirk is more chummy to begin with.

[lilacsigil]

It really is the best finale. We watched the Leverage series finale a few nights ago, and our high praise was "That's an All Good Things level of finale".

[selenak]

Then it must have been very good indeed!

[jesuswasbatman]

Of course what makes the creationist protests even more ridiculous is that an earlier TNG episode (subsequently recognised as silly and airbrushed from canon) had endorsed Intelligent Design, at least for humans.

[selenak]

I dimly remember something like that - Picard's old archaelogy professor named Galen and some sort of puzzle game cross the galaxy, or something like that?

(Proving that nothing could can come out sci fi series characters named Galen. g*)

I first found out about the creationist protests when someone mentioned that supposedly some American broadcast stations actually cut that scene because they didn't want any trouble.

[jesuswasbatman]

Yes, it turned out that almost all the planets with life in the Trekverse were seeded by an extinct supertech-culture, and that this explains why so many of the sentient species are humanoid and can interbreed without too much trouble. Although the explanation made things worse by pointing out the implausibility of worldbuilding that most fans were happy to overlook.