Hello, How Are You, This is What We do

Welcome to Treknobabble! Very shortly, Kevin and I will begin posting our reviews of all things Star Trek - in both podcast commentary and in text form. We hope you'll bear with us as we get things settled (for instance, podcasts may be on rapidshare to start out - not ideal, but free) and enjoy our efforts, and we welcome any and all comments (well, not comments promoting discount sneakers or Russian prostitutes). We will also be posting more in-depth articles about various Trek topics, top ten lists, and so on, and we should have guest contributors every once in a while.

For this inaugural post, I thought I might post what Kevin and I agreed upon as our rating system for Trek. First, some assumptions:

• Trek, as a rule, is better than anything else on television. Therefore, a Trek episode rated at 3/5 is better than the average "Show X" of the same rating.
• We love Trek, but there should be something approaching a normal distribution of ratings. It wouldn't be terribly useful if we just rated things "Great" and "Really Great." Therefore, you ought to see more 3's than anything else.
• Although individual ratings will be 1-5, we will combine our ratings into a single score that works out to 1-10 (or, really, 2-10, since 0 is not on the scale). So if you want to apply the following criteria to the added ratings, just imagine 1=2, 2=4, etc. etc.

So here we go:

5 – A superior hour of television by any standard. Excels both as science fiction as well as television drama or comedy. Exhibits high quality writing, excellent acting, and production values at the top end of available technology/budget. A definite contender for a “best of” list. Maybe 10% of all filmed episodes.

4 – A very good show with a few flaws. Excels in most but not all of the categories listed above. May lack a particularly strong sci-fi premise or, on the other hand, may have a great premise but slightly flawed execution. Perhaps 20% of all filmed episodes.

3 – An average show. Functions adequately as a character drama, comedy, or science fiction show, but doesn’t do more than one of these at once. Displays competent writing, acting, and production values, but doesn’t really stand out in any of these areas. Perhaps 40% of all filmed episodes.

2 –A below average show. Although this sort of episode may have one or two redeeming facets, significant flaws in one or more areas hamper viewer enjoyment. Even by the standards of regular TV, not particularly enjoyable. Perhaps 20% of all filmed episodes.

1 –A bad show by any stretch of the imagination. Exhibits very low quality execution in one or more areas. Very difficult to watch without copious amounts of alcohol or significant ironic jeering. May even call into question important aspects of Star Trek by violating logic and continuity. Perhaps 10% of all filmed episodes.