4. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
What Was So Bad? Let me preface this by saying that I'm a huge Star Trek fan and that Picard is my all-time favourite captain (closely followed by Archer) - but with that said, let's get into why this is a bad pilot episode. Firstly, it's very dated and immediately screams '1980s pilot,' thanks to the shag carpeting in the bridge, the pink lighting, and of course the poor special effects. The thing with 'Encounter At Farpoint' is that it tries too hard to be different. Sure, at this point Star Trek was trying to break away from its wobbly sets and bad puppets roots of The Original Series, but to completely disregard a lot of tradition in the pilot episode was a bit much. The villain they chose to star in this episode Q would obviously become a much-loved recurring villain in the show, but here he is very watered down and subdued, and for some reason appears in a Renaissance costume. It's a very slow and talky episode, which gets bogged down in the technobabble and can never seem to strike the right balance between the threat of Q and introducing its new crew. The over-dramatic music and obviously fake planet exteriors don't really help either, and if it wasn't for Patrick Stewart's taking everything as though it's Shakespeare and the Trek name attached, I doubt it would've survived past its first season. It's adequate, but just that nothing more and nothing less.
How Did They Fix It? Instead of rehashing old plots for a new generation, the TNG writers started writing more action-oriented and sci-fi plots, and introducing new Alien characters. The creation of the Borg was one of the most inspired writing decisions and gave the series its primary threat, much like TOS had with the Klingons, and after Season 1 it 'grew the beard' and stopped living in the shadows of its predecessor. A new writing staff was brought in and the show dealt with a lot more serious themes and had many multi-part episodes, which allowed the writers to explore new ideas in a longer form. With an increased budget after the pilot and improved filming equipment, the series genuinely looked cinematic, and the introduction of the new holodeck allowed episodes to take place off-planet and off-ship, meaning we get a lot of period episodes with Picard in his Dixon Hill guise, which is only a good thing. Also, the stopped the men wearing skirts. No, seriously - in season 1 some of the male background extras wear skirts.