Happy Star Trek Day 54 years
 

54 years since Star Trek appeared on our TV screens, its voice over telling us all we needed to know to set the scene.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."
A Wagon train to the stars, a term lost on younger viewer perhaps or not as the case maybe.

For this fan none of the following shows have ever really captured the same sprit as the The Original Series

William Shatner as Captain Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy
James Doohan as Scotty
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
George Takei as Sulu
Walter Koenig as Chekov

Re: Happy Star Trek Day 54 years
 

Well, they were never really supposed to. Each series was made to fit with the decade in which it was released. With TOS, you had a fun and cheesy show, very colorful (celebrating the availability of color televisions) and just outright optimistic. It's got lovable characters and knows better than to take itself too seriously. Yet, there's still some really good storytelling. It's really a great example of the popular television from the 1960s. Looking at it with other popular Sci-Fi of the time, such as Batman and Lost in Space, it really fits in nicely. However, a show like that wouldn't work in the 1980s. In fact, I have the book on the cancelled series Phase II, and there was worry over that even in the 1970s. The series bible, scripts and everything else being done on the production really pointed to it being a series that was very much in the spirit of TOS. However, some say that wouldn't have been right for 1970s television and the show may not have lasted, so it's actually good that then went the route they did so that the franchise could endure. However, as fans we like what we like and there are no wrong answers. If TOS is the show that says "Star Trek" to you and you don't like the others, then that's your prerogative. At least you know what you like and you enjoy the Star Trek that you love. :)

For me, it's TNG all the way. I was born in 1979, so TNG was on when I was a kid. I like the other series, with TOS being my second favorite, but TNG is the best for me. I think they struck gold with casting Patrick Stewart, though I also think everyone else did a great job. I really like the characters and the storytelling on that show and I think they have some truly fantastic episodes.

Re: Happy Star Trek Day 54 years
 

I did grow up with TOS so it has the same place in my imagination as TNG does in yours, I was born in 69. I was not been critical of the later shows least it was not my intention. but I think they did try to capture the same sprit as the TOS and not quite reaching it..

TNG is second in my mind, and I like Patrick Stewart and had seen him in other BBC shows growing up before Picard. there is a lot I like about TNG and a few things I dislike. not so much a cast thing, but I would like to have made one or two changes.
Data was the most interesting character to come out of it,
but one of my pet dislikes is the Bridge, its overall shape is interesting but the layout static, I like the Enterprise D a lot, took me a few episodes to get into it.

it did take a long while for them to find their mojo, but I was prepared to accept the new crew and show from the first episode and I can rewatch most of the episodes of those early seasons. I watched each new series like that up until STEnterprise, After that I don't bother.

Re: Happy Star Trek Day 54 years
 

I never thought you were being critical. As I said, you like what you like and that's all there is to it.

I will admit that TNG in the beginning was trying too hard to be like TOS. They tried a lot of the same themes and even some episodes that were almost a direct clone of TOS episodes. Then they even introduced Dr. Pulaski, who was supposed to be a 24th century McCoy, in season 2, which wasn't a good direction to go. Fortunately, she only lasted a season. Maurice Hurley, the show runner in season 1 and at least part of 2, had fired Gates McFadden, but he left during the second season, so she was able to talk the powers that were into returning as Dr. Crusher.

While the series had its good episodes in the first couple seasons, it's really in season 3 that it started getting really good, in my opinion. The series had come into its own by then. Also, Rick Berman was more in control of the show. He'd been a lower level producer in season 1 and had co-EP credits in 2, but he basically became the show runner in 3. That's when they quality went up and they were trying less to be a clone of TOS and more to do their own thing. So, yeah, there was a bit of a rocky start, but the series really came into its own and got into the groove of being a more 80s and 90s show than trying to be a 60s show.

The Enterprise-D is definitely not my favorite Enterprise. I like it, but I like some of the others better. Unfortunately, for the bridge, there just wasn't the budget to make it more grand. They wanted to have more stations and have even more of the rear ones manned all of the time, but there just wasn't enough room in the budget for the extras. You kind of get a sens of what they really wanted to do in Generations, where they had the side stations and more extras on the bridge. Really, the whole ship seemed more crowded in that film, more alive somehow. Though, Andrew Probert also envisioned the ship of having a crew of about 4000, but the aforementioned issue with the cost of extras necessitated having a crew a quarter that size. By comparison the TOS Enterprise was less than half the size and had a crew of 430, making it seem much more "packed."

When it comes to Enterprise designs, my favorite is the TMP Constitution class design. Second is the TOS one. After that it's the Excelsior class and Ambassador class, with the Galaxy, Sovereign and NX trailing behind those.

Re: Happy Star Trek Day 54 years
 

I liked the Generations Bridge a lot more !, I still dislike the 3 seats grouped together, something about the lone command chair, reinforcing the isolation of command. oh I also missed a communications officer.

yeah the crew count for the D was under impressive for its size.

The TOS remains my fav, then the Refit though it is more stately and elegant. Star Trek the motion picture remains my favourite movie, the Excelsior, it took me a while to warm up to it. but now its in my top 10 here is my list I made 3 years ago,

https://vimeo.com/247778197

Re: Happy Star Trek Day 54 years
 

One thing I never understood was the need to have a seat on the bridge for a counselor. Why? Is she that critical? Also, if you count the most of the time there but sometimes not side seats, there are actually 5 seats. :wtf:

I think, as far as that era goes, Voyager's bridge is much more suited for the amount of actors they wanted to have on the bridge at any given time. You only had 2 command seats, CO and XO, the two you need. The conn station was a single station at front, with ops and tactical to the rear sides. And, if you wanted to have them manned, there were science and engineering stations off to the side. But, if you didn't, you didn't have to include them in most shots. So, their emptiness wasn't an eyesore. Then the center of the back was that huge MSD. So, that wasn't something you expected to be manned and it looked less empty than a bunch of mostly unused stations. But, Voyager was a different type of ship with a much smaller crew.

It's funny, because when I was younger, I didn't like TMP the best. Sure, I liked it as I did all of the movies, but it wasn't my favorite. In the past several years, it's become my favorite movie from the franchise. It feels the most like a long episode of the series, which is basically what it was as it was originally the 2 hour pilot for Phase II. The movies they started with Harve Bennett afterwards are good, but they just don't have the same kind of vibe to them. Also, who doesn't love those 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque long effects passes on the new Enterprise and V'Ger? (not to mention the Klingon ships and Epsilon IX) So, yeah, I have a lot of love for TMP. Some people think it's boring with its lack of action, but for me Star Trek doesn't need action to be great. Some of my favorite episodes involve Kirk and Picard using their smarts to talk (or bluff) their way out of situations, rather than resorting to violence. That's a quality that makes them great. The Corbomite Maneuver is a great episode for this. Plus, at one point he used corbomite against the Romulans. If I remember correctly, it was in The Deadly Years.

Re: Happy Star Trek Day 54 years
 

I remember watching STTMP first time on the big screen the cinema experience, I was blown away by the scope. though I did miss the classic warp engines and was not sure if I liked the new. :) soon changed my mind as the film moved on.

I loved all the following films and they went in the right direction but the TMP is in class of its own,
The Corbomite Maneuver is a favourite and I think its the first episode I ever saw.

Re: Happy Star Trek Day 54 years
 

The first TOS episode I saw was Arena. I still love that one.