Jason Watches Star Trek tackles one of the most baffling miracles in television history: Star Trek: The Next Generation somehow surviving its own premiere, Encounter at Farpoint.
This is the episode that introduces us to a shiny new Enterprise, a crew with the chemistry of a corporate icebreaker exercise, and a captain who seems genuinely annoyed that anyone is speaking to him. It’s stiff. It’s slow. It’s deeply awkward. And it feels less like the birth of a legendary series and more like a two-hour orientation video hosted by space HR.
We’ve got Q putting humanity on trial (the only character with a pulse), a mystery that turns out to be a tortured space jellyfish, some aggressively uncomfortable early-TNG gender politics, and dialogue that sounds like it was written by someone who had heard of humans but never met one. Worst of all, it’s boring—drawn out, padded, and convinced it has 90 minutes of story when it barely has 40.
And yet… somehow… this show went on to become one of the greatest science fiction series of all time. Which raises the real question: how bad does a pilot have to be to still get a second season?
Join me as I watch Encounter at Farpoint, lovingly roast it, and marvel at the fact that lightning struck after this mess instead of being killed by it.
If you enjoy thoughtful criticism, sarcastic commentary, and yelling at Star Trek with affection and disappointment in equal measure, be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and share it with someone who insists “it gets better later” (because, thankfully, it does).
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https://www.patreon.com/jasonroygaston — it keeps the lights on and funds future questionable life choices in the name of Trek. 🖖
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