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A Millennial’s Appreciation of Star Trek
William Shatner turned 90 two days ago, which seems unbelievable if you see him. One of the side effects of money and good genes I guess.
What I assume is the case with most people in my generation, I grew up a Star Wars fan. Star Trek was old and for the nerds, Star Wars was newer and cool. I had never watched an episode of Star Trek except for some fuzzy memories of my mom watching Next Generation reruns when I was probably my daughter’s age.
We live in the country with poor internet availability and because we’re a young family with a stay-at-home mom, spending money on lackluster internet doesn’t make a lot of sense. So we make do with an old-fashioned antenna on top of the roof, taking whatever is floating out in the ether. Within the last couple of years, there has been an explosion of “free channels” that play various genres, reruns, and B-movies. Growing up we had about five “free” channels, I think we’re well over 20 now. One of these channels is H&I (Heroes and Icons) which plays Star Trek each night, including the original series from 7-8.
Being culturally curious and wanting to watch the things “everybody else has,” I started forcing myself to watch the original Star Trek anytime I’m in the house at 7. At first, my interest was half-hearted. It was slow, I didn’t know all the characters, and of course the effects are 1960s cheesy.
After a couple of episodes, however, I started to love it. The stories, the messages, the overall liberal (in the classic sense) nature of it (not to mention the women!) are great. Handicap for the cheesiness and I completely understand why Star Trek is as revered as it is. Even better is that though the kids groan when I turn the channel to Star Trek, they become enthralled in it too. Now I just have to convince my wife. So far I’ve been unsuccessful in getting her to enjoy the Twilight Zone.
She is coming around to Seinfeld. Maybe there’s hope for Captain Kirk.
Published in General
There are good episodes in all the shows and watched them all, and still do, with a perverse love-hate reaction. DS9 has too many negatives: Jewish caracature of Quark, Bashir is someone I just want to punch, the pathetic story of the shape shifter, the nauseating marriage of Chief O’Brien, the mysticism of the Bajorans, etc., etc. Nah, overall it’s terrble, but better than Voyager and their lunatic captain.
The “spore drive” was stupid way before Starfleet supposedly forgot about it in the future.
OMG yes. Completely unwatchable. And that series conforms to the rule that the good guys all have to be homosexuals.
It’s an interesting thing about Roddenberry that his shows didn’t seem to succeed until they were in space. From “The Lieutenant” to “Star Trek” is just the first example. Then he did a pilot called “Genesis II” about a scientist named Dylan Hunt who was “frozen” in an experiment in suspended animation and came back 200-something years later to a Post-World-War-II Earth. (And with the Sub-Shuttle basically filling in for the Transporter…) A second pilot starred John Saxon as Hunt. A third sorta-pilot made bypassing Roddenberry but still with Saxon, also didn’t catch. Then he turned it into another space show with Kevin Sorbo as Captain Dylan Hunt of the starship Andromeda Ascendant, and it ran for 5 seasons.
(DO NOT see the Genesis II movie on youtube, it’s a hacked-up edited VHS mess.)
I’m stunned no enterprising photog has managed to get such a shot, and that their respective agents hadn’t cooked up such a meeting. Certainly Shatner, in his several interview shows, would have been open to such.
Have you ever seen his speech at the George Lucas tribute?
You can almost see why they passed. The pilot was much more serious than the series, and seemed like it would be hard sci-fi with a near-contemporary setting. Dr. Smith was utterly villainous, and far from the campy character mincing around and saying “oh the pain, the pain.”
Johnny Williams, as he was known in the early years. Was he the only composer to do two themes for the same show? They’re both fantastic. The first is theremin-flavored, and the second one more kick-arse.
Courage did a handful of cues for Lost in Space, too.
Johnny Carson did the same thing, didn’t he? Not an uncommon move. There are lyrics to the Hawaii 5-0 theme, too.
Of course he would sing! He has an awesome recording catalog.
There must be a photograph from this event with the ST SW participants together.
Yes, and the “Trials And Tribble-ations” episode skillfully cuts DS9 characters and storyline into the original Star Trek footage from “The Trouble with Tribbles.”
That only shows how powerful the original series was and emphasizes that the other series are dependent on its legacy. :)
I always thought it would have been fun to see Charlie Brill’s reaction when he got the phone call to play Arne Darvin AGAIN.
A wonderful behind-the-scenes anecdote (quoted from Memory Alpha):
I was a Kolchak fan during the original run. Saw a few episodes many years later, does not hold up well at all.
Because we have to resolve this in 44 minutes.
and…
It’s not surprising a commander suffers traumatic stress because he accidentally killed his entire crew.
And not all episodes are equal.
The Lieutenant was my favorite show. My dad, CPL USMC 1950-54, tolerated my enthusiasm.
As with many other things including Star Trek, it helps to re-watch using your original heart. :-)
Back then, they had 50-51 minutes.
It was a rookie mistake to beam down his crew to a planet when they were trying to fight a machine that was destroying planets when they arrived. Frankly, a mistake I don’t think a Commodore especially would have made. The “excuse” was likely the cost-saving of not having a bunch of extras for the other ship’s crew.