When did Star Trek jump the shark?

[MontgomeryScott]

I'll go out on a limb and say that it was the end of Season 2; after this, it seemed that the magic and wonder died, and everything that came after was just a long road down.

And I think it really jumped back over the shark again with Wrath of Khan, since they started ruining the old Star Trek by destroying the morals of the original series, as well as destroying where they had already boldly gone before, much better; and the moral was vague and preachy rather than profound and hopeful like Space Seed. Rather, I think it was clearly trying to take after "Star Wars" instead of just being what it was-- i.e. they sold out.

And the rest was a slow nightmare ending with Kirk surrendering to Klingons to save a treaty... a long road down that led to Picard and the Wimp Generation.

Anyway that's my take on it, from the intellectual perspective.

 

[Smellincoffee]

When Seven of Nine wrestled that...er, wrestling guy.

That's one of its lowest moments, anyway. I don't know if the Star Trek shows ever really jumped the shark. The last two TNG movies had some low points ("And have you noticed how your boobs have begun to firm up?"), but they..persevere.

 

[Captrek]

The end of DS9 was the end of quality Trek for a while. VOY, INS, and NEM were all pretty crappy, and ENT was a mixed bag.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I'll go out on a limb and say that it was the end of Season 2; after this, it seemed that the magic and wonder died, and everything that came after was just a long road down.

And I think it really jumped back over the shark again with Wrath of Khan, since they started ruining the old Star Trek by destroying the morals of the original series, as well as destroying where they had already boldly gone before, much better; and the moral was vague and preachy rather than profound and hopeful like Space Seed. Rather, I think it was clearly trying to take after "Star Wars" instead of just being what it was-- i.e. they sold out.

And the rest was a slow nightmare ending with Kirk surrendering to Klingons to save a treaty... a long road down that led to Picard and the Wimp Generation.

Anyway that's my take on it, from the intellectual perspective.

Bit of a luddite, eh.

 

[Agenda]

Trek really jumped the shark when it began overstaying it's welcome. I think that occurred with Voyager and Enterprise more than anything. Sure, they had some decent episodes, but they just weren't fresh or interesting enough.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Star Trek XI

 

[ngc7293]

Voyager goes to warp 10 and Paris and Janeway become Slugs as our ultimate human evolution.

Voyager's never ending shuttles.

Voyager can destroy a borg cube with a wet noodle

Voyager gets Batman Armor

Voyager has massive amounts of shuttle bay room, so much so that they can built a new type of shuttle.

If the Voyager writers thought there was a way to jump the shark to get the crew home they would have written it in.....no wait.

 

[Nerys Myk]

TMP. I mean, a rehash and rerun as Trek's big screen debut?????

 

[C.E. Evans]

When Star Trek drew inspiration from "Lost In Space" and "Gilligan's Island" for a fourth series.

 

[ialfan]

Star Trek (XI/2009)

 

[Shatnertage]

All I know is that if I ever start a band, I will probably call it "Picard and the Wimp Generation."

And of course it jumped the shark when Spock stopped SHOUTING.

 

[Firestone]

For me, Trek jumped the shark when the point of having action and conflict in the show was solely there for the purpose of having it. From VOY onwards, the quality of the stories kept decreasing, with shallow cardboard villains, forced situations due to stupidness of the characters or ludicrous events, shameful sexual innuendos targeted at horny 14 year olds, all-fixing medical care and simplistic yet all-fixing endings. Trek has turned from a good SciFi show to a fantasy space adventure.

 

[BlobVanDam]

I'm going to say never. I don't think a franchise as big as Trek can jump the shark as a whole. Even if an individual series may have, I don't think that was indicative of Trek as a whole. Just imo of course. And I don't think any of the series jumped the shark. They may have arguably stagnated, and had low points (that have already been mentioned), but I think every series has managed to redeem itself.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

With the change in producer to Fred Freiberger, the third season of TOS kicked off with one of the contenders for the worst Star Trek episode ever, Spock's Brain. To no one's real surprise, due to ever declining ratings, TOS was canceled at the end of its third season. Therefore, one might think that Star Trek jumped the shark at Spock's Brain.

From an industry perspective, TAS can be viewed as a cartoon spinoff in the same mold as The Brady Kids, and so TAS was, although quite arguably, of no long term significance to the franchise.

Nevertheless, TOS itself remained popular in syndication throughout the 1970's. It was so popular that, in 1977, Phase II entered preproduction. Although Phase II was abandoned, its efforts were folded into TMP, and the franchise was revived in the motion picture series. In 1987, the franchise resumed in live action television with TNG.

TOS has remained popular in syndication, in VHS, DVD, and now Blu-ray sales, and TOS was directly the basis for the feature film in 2009. Star Trek franchise novels are still being written and published today.

These events are not indicative of a franchise that faded into oblivion. Were the franchise to cease television and movie production at the end of TAS, the OP would have a case that Star Trek jumped the shark, probably at Spock's Brain. But no, Star Trek is still going strong. Whatever you think of the story lines or production decisions, the franchise is today probably the most financially successful it has ever been.

Therefore, Star Trek never really jumped the shark.

 

[Forbin]

It jumped multiple times!

One of particular note, IMHO, was Janeway and Torres hopping up and down and squeeling like school girls when they realized that "Warp particles! WARP particles!!" were the technobabble problem of the week. It was also, if this is actually possible, a low point for technobabble.

 

[Distorted Humor]

Well, each series gets its own chance to "Jump the shark"

TOS was able to save itself, and did well to stop at the six movie, TUC, which was quite good.

I have not watched enough VOY or ENT to make comment on it.

TNG almost lost it in season 7, but the movies saved it till the Joystick in INT. That when I knew the writers had lost ideas.

DS9 never jumped the shark.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

DS9 never jumped the shark.

No, DS9, VOY, and ENT just steadily declined in ratings on a straight line, with no significant ups and downs otherwise.

 

[DFScott]

I think the very idea of "jumping the shark" is that it's only supposed to happen once; it refers to a point in time where something stupid happens, and from then on it's all downhill. Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not the expert here, but I believe the metaphor comes from an episode of Happy Days where Fonzie jumps a shark tank with his motorcycle, or something similarly stupid, and from then on the series notoriously tanked.

If you're thinking of Star Trek as a complete franchise, whose first pilot began production in 1964 and is in production today, then I have to agree with CorporalCaptain and BlobVanDam and say Trek never jumped. At any moment in time, it's conceivable that a quality script with good acting could yet emerge from this franchise. I remember the first and second seasons of DS9 left me in a stupor, thinking how the shark was not only jumped but swallowed whole, and then the fourth and fifth seasons during which I wondered why all television isn't this good.

I think the fact that there's always hope is what has held Trek fans together as a community, unlike people who just happen to like any other show like Castle or The Mentalist or any movie like Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Let's face it, there is a whole lot of stuff that either has been or is being produced, which some people, for whatever reason, like. But it isn't Trek. Because despite the depths to which Trek has subsided in its long lifetime (and for some reason, I'm hearing a chant in the background: "Hail, hail, fire and snow | Call the angel, we will go..." Do you hear that too?) there have been flashes of brilliance that give testament to the fact that something much bigger is going on here. We've put up with the "star dreck" when we wouldn't have given any other sitcom or spinoff the time of day.

I mean, for heaven's sake, Enterprise disappointed me more than any other TV show produced during that decade. And I have an NX-01 ornament on my desk right now. I don't have a Fonzie poster on my wall. I guess you could say I've gotten used to swimming with sharks.

DF "Sometimes You Jump the Shark, and Sometimes the Shark Jumps You" Scott

 

[Distorted Humor]

DS9 never jumped the shark.

No, DS9, VOY, and ENT just steadily declined in ratings on a straight line, with no significant ups and downs otherwise.

CorporalCaptain, "Jumping the Shark" is not referring to viewership, it is referring to quality. You can have a high quality show that never gets views (See Firefly), but "Jumping the shark" is when the writers run out of good ideas, do something absurd, and there is a marked decline in the quality, not viewership. In fact, the "Jumping the shark" episode had 30 million viewers.

TOS the TV series had a marked decline in quality in season 3, but when you include the movies, it looks much better as the last outing of the full TOS crew is the very good STVI-TUC.

TNG show had a bad season or two, had a marked increased in quality, then late season 6 or season 7 the quality went downhill. If you include the movies as TNG as well, it is not till Insurrection that TNG went into a terminal tailspin in quality. Though you could argue that TNG jumped the shark around say, Gambit or some other Season 7 or Season 6 episode, as it was going downhill except for a occasional episode like "All good things..." and "First Contact".

DS9 quality did not decline over its run, and it never got absurd. Some people disliked its core values as a show, but they developed in a normal fashion and you cannot point to a point where the quality of DS9 went downhill and never recovered.

VOY and ENT I have not seen, so I can't make comment on its quality, or lack of....

If your looking at viewership numbers is also misleading as most syndicated and broadcast TV has had declining ratings for years. heck, DS9 had 34 million viewers for its first episode, and while that is unheard of in the syndication market then, it unheard of on ANY TV these days, as now there are 100's of channels and a show with half of DS9 ratings on cable (which has replaced first run syndication) is thought of as a major hit on cable.

 

[MontgomeryScott]

When Seven of Nine wrestled that...er, wrestling guy.

I don't know WHAT the Rock was cookin', but I can still smell it

That's one of its lowest moments, anyway.

I doubt it, there's no question that Seven was a Mary Sue for Jeri Ryan, which she demaned of her beaten-lapdog couch-caster, Braga.

I don't know if the Star Trek shows ever really jumped the shark. The last two TNG movies had some low points ("And have you noticed how your boobs have begun to firm up?"), but they..persevere.

I won't be the first to say "they don't make 'em like the use to."