Reception
The show was broadcast on both 98 independent stations and 112 network affiliates. In several locations, including Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami, the stations which were broadcasting "Encounter at Farpoint" gained higher ratings than the four major networks during prime time. Overall, it aired to an audience of 27 million. The show was immediately called the "highest-rated syndicated one-hour drama series on television".
Jill L. Lanford watched the episode for the The Herald Journal, prior to the series premiere. She thought it was a resurrection of a "legend". She believed the episode itself was reminiscent of classic Star Trek episodes "Arena" and "The Squire of Gothos", was the "perfect vehicle to introduce the crew", and a "perfect start". Don Merrill, writing for TV Guide said that the show was a "worthy successor to the original". Bob Niedt reviewed "Encounter at Farpoint" for Newhouse News and thought that the show had potential on the back of the episode, but there were problems such as "spots where the dialogue is pedestrian and interactions sputter". Tom Shales of The Washington Post viewed DeForest Kelly's cameo as "touching", but thought that Patrick Stewart was a "grim bald crank who would make a better villain". He felt Jonathan Frakes "verges on namby-pamby". Actress Marina Sirtis later recalled the reviews of the show's debut in 1987 while being interviewed to promote The Next Generation's fourth film, Star Trek: Nemesis; saying "they bloody hated us".
Several reviewers watched reassessed the episode some time after the series aired. Michelle Erica Green reviewed the episode for TrekNation, and found the episode disappointing with reference to the character of Captain Picard and the female crew members and a lack of sense of fun. Actor Wil Wheaton, also reviewing the episode years later for TV Squad, gave the episode a 'C-' grade, suggesting that "at the time, Trekkies who were hoping to see the Star Trek that they were used to from the sixties must have been disappointed". Zack Handlen at The A.V. Club, criticized some of the elements of the episode such as the "long, rather pointless sequence" where the Enterprise undergoes a saucer separation and overall described the episode "more functional than inspiring". He praised the performance of Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard, describing him as a "damn fine actor" and enjoyed John de Lancie as Q. He gave the episode an overall score of B-. James Hunt, from Den of Geek, re-reviewed the show following the re-release of season one on Blu-ray. He stated, "even if it wasn't the first episode, it'd be worth watching" despite it coming from "what could arguably be called the worst season of Star Trek". Keith DeCandido for Tor.com thought that the pace of the episode was slow, but that both Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner stood out from the rest of the cast for good reasons. He enjoyed the references to the original series, especially DeForest Kelley's appearance. He gave it overall a score of four out of ten. The episode was one of a handful of Star Trek programs recommended for viewing to introduce new viewers to the mythos in Jon Wagnar and Jan Lundeen's 1998 book Deep Space and Sacred Time: Star Trek in the American Mythos.
Read more about this topic: Encounter At Farpoint
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)