You're right, I probably should go rewatch that episode where the crew triggers a Cardasians trap, and the station captures them, and Dukat comes to gloat.
I've just started a Voyager run through with my kids. Dare I say S1 of Voyager is a much better introduction to "modern" Trek than the fairly uneven S1 TNG? I think Janeway is underrated as a Star Fleet captain.
Janeway didn't get hate as much as it was criticism of the writers for making her inconsistent. One week it was "Prime directive no matter the consequences", the next was "Lets do whatever to make drama."
For all of Roddenberry's faults, his presence for the early years of TNG kept TNG consistent instead of allowing the writer of the week to change characters for their personal story. By the time he was gone, the formula was set such that writers wouldn't mess with characters.
Voyager has no singular authority so consistency of character was rare.
Edit: Except for Ensign Kim. He was born an Ensign and died one. Nobody messed with perfection.
They're not quite as terrible as their reputation. Yeah, they've definitely got some of the worst episodes of Trek ever, but there are good ones in there, too.
I'm rewatching TNG and season 1 was pretty.... Off. Most of the characters seemed to be cheap knockoffs of their established personas. The most distinctive for me was Brent Spiner (Data), where, I can't put my finger on it, but he just seemed off the the data that I know and love.
I chalk it up to him coming off of being a comedic bit actor and he was still finding himself for the more dramatic role of data. He hadn't really nailed down the robotic methodology of his actions and speech that really makes data stand out. His responses were often quick, to the point of speaking over others, and his actions were fairly fluid and organic, which isn't Data at all.
It really didn't take long for him to work his way into the role (and into our hearts), I'm not criticising Brent by any stretch. He was and I'm sure still is, an incredible actor.... Judging by his fairly recent role reprising Data on Picard, he really hasn't lost his touch.
There's plenty of other things about season one that are odd, but I found Data to be the most notable. Still, worf was a lot more brooding, Picard seemed almost more timid, Riker didn't have a beard.... The only person from season one who I can point to with certainty and say that they didn't seem off from season 1 (compared to how I know the character), was Dr. Crusher. She was hitting it out of the park from day 1.
No matter the oddity, almost all of it was simply gone by the end of season one. I'm partway into season two now and I wouldn't be able to differentiate the characters on screen from any other season of the show, or from their movies.
I and my wife have both watched all of Star Trek individually before we met. When new trek appeared we rewatched everything before watching all of new trek, good and less good, together
I'm finally watching star trek with my girlfriend and getting her into it. Been watching along with her on TNG. So far we are about done with season 1, but I am big excited to re-watch DS9 se5, especially with her watching it for the first time by my side.
Gonna have to brave the awful ass se1 Sisko haircut though lol.
I'm impressed that you've managed to get her to watch s1 of TNG! I've been thinking about trying to talk my wife into watching it and was thinking we'd start on season 3.
She has been very persistent about knowing the background for everything. It bothers her to be dropped in the middle of something without the context.
So she wanted to start at the "very beginning", which in my mind is TNG season 1. The original series is great, but I figured she'd enjoy it more after having already gotten into trek.
She is throughly enjoying the cheesy-ness of it though, which is really good.
I’m doing a chronological rewatch of the whole franchise and am at the episodes where DS9 and Voyager overlap. It is mind boggling how much better DS9 is. I find myself wanting to skip almost every Voyager episode so I can just get to the DS9 ones.