Encounter At Farpoint, best and worst bits?

I have to admit, when it comes to Star Trek, I'm a Voyager baby - mainly because I was there at its conception and release. In later years, I was converted into a DS9er (although it took several re-watches).  I have recently finished re-watching both those series and after becoming a little Trek starved, I reluctantly decided to head back to the beginning of The Next Generation. I say reluctantly because being made in the late 80s, it doesn't visually stand up as well as some of the other spin offs, and today with the HD/Blu-ray technology, viewing it is full of distractions like Worf's make-up joins and brush marks on the Matte paintings.

However, needs must and I began with Encounter At Farpoint, the pilot, a very good place to start!  I was more than pleasantly surprised and I was fascinated by the early versions of the Next Gen characters. It was clear that back then, the actors were just finding their feet and I found myself comparing the very beginning of the series to the very end (which was 'Nemesis' for this particular crew) and that was rather entertaining. What a journey!

It genuinely is quite astonishing what the production crew managed to create for TV, not so much due to the budget because that was quite healthy (over a million dollars per episode) but for the time restraints on a television schedule.

Best bits of the pilot episode? Well, for me it was the Q court judgement scene and Picards defence of humanity. It really captured the tone of the Original series and set the path from there on for all other Star Trek to follow. The social commentary (which despite being in the 24th century, makes no attempt to hide the fact that they are referencing today's society) is what Star Trek does at its best and continued to do so (well, up until JJ Abrahms got his greedy hands on it).

Worse bit of the Pilot? For me, I was hoping for stronger women. Troi seems overly desperate and bimbo like... a characterisation which she would keep until she got rid of those Camel Toe Of Death outfits. Also, there's a shot of the Enterprise separating its saucer section at warp and in the long shot, the detached saucer section is wobbling around all over the place!  Seeing that has just always been a pet hate of mine and I usually have to look away! I know, I know... budgets, time etc, but I just wish the shot hadn't been included (so there's one for a remastered version?).

Note to self: Pay more attention to Dr Crusher this time around, she really is the female balls on the ship (after Tasha dies).

I know there are some real stinkers coming up in season one so I anticipate watching those through my fingers.

Check out the first time we ever see Capt Picard as he steps out of the shadows to a monologue...

The first time we see Capt Picard