50th anniversary of the original Star Trek

[jtbell]

On September 8, 1966 the first episode of the original Star Trek series was broadcast. I saw it when I was in junior high school (middle school). Tonight I'll pull out my DVD set and watch it again. It's been several years since I last did it. Maybe I'll make it a regular Thursday thing and do the entire series.

 

[phinds]

You did NOT have to point this out. Now I feel old

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

I watched the first season. I skipped half the second season. Then the lovely young lass down the street heard we had just bought a color TV.

 

[fresh_42]

They repeat five TOS shows on TV tonight, based on a poll. Guess which one won!

 

[jtbell]

Guess which one won!

The Trouble with Tribbles?

 

[Vanadium 50]

City on the Edge of Forever should win. (With a young Joan Collins no less!) No contest.

 

[fresh_42]

City on the Edge of Forever should win. (With a young Joan Collins no less!) No contest.

Sunday. They will broadcast time travel ones then (2nd of 4).
(Didn't know about Joan Collins. You made me curious now.)

 

[AgentCachat]

People will be talking and writing about Star Trek 100 years from now. Eventually it will be considered up there with Shakespeare.

 

[phinds]

People will be talking and writing about Star Trek 100 years from now. Eventually it will be considered up there with Shakespeare.

Uh ... yeah. Probably not. They may be talking about it, but comparing it to Shakespear? Very doubtful

 

[AgentCachat]

Uh ... yeah. Probably not. They may be talking about it, but comparing it to Shakespeare. Very doubtful

Its been 50 years and they are talking about it. Star Trek's influence on society, vis. science, technology, language, humor, has already been enormous. I don't think most people outside college or some authors know much about Shakespeare. They probably heard of Romeo and Juliet, perhaps the word "Hamlet", and not much more. We, well not "we", won't know for a hundred years.

 

[phinds]

Its been 50 years and they are talking about it. Star Trek's influence on society, vis. science, technology, language, humor, has already been enormous. I don't think most people outside college or some authors know much about Shakespeare. They probably heard of Romeo and Juliet, perhaps the word "Hamlet", and not much more. We, well not "we", won't know for a hundred years.

Actually, you do have a point. As our society continues to dumb down in terms of people learning literature and history, what you suggest becomes more and more likely although if they get to that point they likely won't be comparing it to Shakespeare because they will have never heard of Shakespeare. The few people left who DO know Shakespeare well are not likely to think that a cheesy space opera is in the same league.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

The hype doth exceed all expectations of a more grand eloquence of plot, methinks.

 

[fresh_42]

Its been 50 years and they are talking about it. Star Trek's influence on society, vis. science, technology, language, humor, has already been enormous. I don't think most people outside college or some authors know much about Shakespeare. They probably heard of Romeo and Juliet, perhaps the word "Hamlet", and not much more. We, well not "we", won't know for a hundred years.

I think there are basically three attracting properties.

Firstly, the human dream about equality among different races, cultures, religions etc. came to existence. It's been e.g. the reason why Whoopi Goldberg wanted to take part in it. They actually created a role for her. Many countries have this equality as a crucial part of their constitution. However, I don't know a single one in which it is actually achieved.

Secondly, there are no physical needs anymore. No money required. No hunger. Everyone has shelter and can concentrate on his/her individual talents.

And last but not least, the (pure?!) logic which came in with Vulcans. I found it a very attractive way in judging the world as a child and Spock has been my favorite character. And I cannot rule out its influence on me that made me study logical concepts rather than social fields. In the end it is even part of the reason why I just right now type in my comment here.

So although Roddenberry might not be comparable to Shakespeare, his philosophy definitely is comparable to our (constituted) dreams and goals and therefore deserves to remain quoted. Even in a century from now.

 

[davenn]

On September 8, 1966 the first episode of the original Star Trek series was broadcast. I saw it when I was in junior high school (middle school). Tonight I'll pull out my DVD set and watch it again. It's been several years since I last did it. Maybe I'll make it a regular Thursday thing and do the entire series.

They started playing it here on afternoon TV on one of the Free to air channels ... I get home from work, put my feet up and enjoy the 5 - 6pm session

Actually, star trek voyager has been playing in that time slot till late last week when they changed to ST TOS for the anniversary Dave

 

[fresh_42]

I get home from work, put my feet up and enjoy the 5 - 6pm session

Do you belong to these people, too, I once had the following dialog with?
Me: "I admit, when I was young I fell for Uhura a little."
"We all fell for her at the time."

Maybe it had to do with the combination of our age and the length of her uniform ...

 

[jtbell]

They started playing it here on afternoon TV on one of the Free to air channels ... I get home from work, put my feet up and enjoy the 5 - 6pm session

I became reacquainted with TOS when one of the "local" over-the-air stations showed the newly-restored version late at night about ten years ago. A drawback of these showings was that they had to cut a few minutes from each episode in order to make room for the increased number of commercials that TV stations in the US now run, compared to the late 1960s. For the full experience you have to turn to the disc versions (Blu-ray or DVD) or online. Those broadcasts did look a lot better than my faded memories of the originals, and induced me to splurge on the Blu-rays when they came out.

Paramount then followed with similar treatment for Star Trek: The Next Generation which I never watched during its initial run 1987-94, for some reason. This time I recorded all the episodes off the air, then bought the Blu-rays.

 

[OCR]

They started playing it here on afternoon TV on one of the Free to air channels ...

Dave, I'm not a "radio guy" like you are, so I'm basically ignorant about that realm...
What are your Free to air channels, and what is the equipment needed to receive them ?

I looked here, and here ... but, as I said, I'm ignorant ...

 

[davenn]

I have enjoyed all the various Star Trek variations TOS, Next Gen, the movies etc
and yes, whilst there have been a few "dud" in there, overall the quality has been good

These days, yes, we can look back on TOS and say ... wow some of those were real cheesy
back then they were 'Just the Bees knees" Dave

 

[davenn]

What are your Free to air channels, and what is the equipment needed to receive them ?

just a standard TV set and an antenna (an inside or outside one depending on how close to the transmitter you are)

Not too many years ago, "free to air" wasn't totally free as everyone used to have to buy a TV license ( it was a significant source for funding for the various TV channel operators). That was abolished and now ALL their funding comes from advertising and as a result we have the problem that @jtbell commented on ...
much more advertising is crammed into every hour and programs are edited to fit

Pay TV here primarily Foxtel, Telstra and Optus and a few other minors that usually piggyback on one of the major carriers anyway
Pay TV is either via cable or satellite ... I don't subscribe to either ... just too expensiveDave

 

[OCR]

just a standard TV set and an antenna...

Thanks, Dave...

 

[davenn]

Thanks, Dave...

you are welcome
and totally off topic ... just looked at your profile and saw where you are ... a nice part of the USA
The music of that old TV show Bonanza goes through my mind :)D

 

[jtbell]

Yeah, where you (OCR) are, you might not be able to get much TV over the air depending on where the transmitters and the mountains are, relative to you. Try tvfool.com and see what it tells you for your location. Use the MAPS option. Then when you click on a particular station in the list that comes up, you'll get a cool colored overlay on a Google map, that shows the signal-strength pattern for that station.

 

[OCR]

Thanks again to both of you...
We use Dish Network for TV, and have FTTP for internet, which included a free Roku 3... so we're set up pretty good... it all cost money, of course.

The reason I asked about free to air channels was... we have two old BUDs, and I wondered if they could be functional for any thing besides lawn ornaments ... ..

OK, back on Trek ... lol

 

[jtbell]

Those BUDs are optimized for satellite reception in a specific frequency range which is quite different from the VHF and UHF bands used by terrestrial TV transmitters. I was never into them myself, and I have no idea whether there are still any "free" satellite channels available to US viewers.

I agree this is getting far off Trek... our EE forum would probably be a better place for this stuff!

 

[AgentCachat]

The hype doth exceed all expectations of a more grand eloquence of plot, methinks.

Nice photo of Robert A. Heinlein, the Master.

 

[Lothlorien]

Gene Roddenberry my hat is off to you. I could only imagine how difficult it would have been to work on such a show with the budget constraints and limited special effects of the time.

How do we film space battles? How do we destroy enemy ships? How do we depict the ships getting blown up when we only have a few models at various scales and we can't afford to blow them up every few episodes? How do we show the crew landing on a planet? How do we depict weapons being shot in space with our miniatures? How do we allow a storyline to progress between various parts of the galaxy without ageing the crew or the people on earth?

Thankfully you found a way to solve each of those issues for the show. Teleportation for landing on the surface. Overexposing parts of the film to depict energy weapons. Warp technology to allow the story to progress along a normal timeline. The advantage of having the concept of energy shields solved the major issue of how to show miniatures in various states of damage. Thanks to shields, there was no visible damage needed for the miniatures. It was really amazing how you did everything and kept viewer engagement and conserved money.

I have to bring up Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. My all time favourite. Thanks Gene.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

The "automatic" doors were my favorite part. I saw Shatner run into one of those at a convention once. He had to explain that he had a clicker to let them know to open the doors but forgot it.

 

[davenn]

this is funny ...
Which is nerdier ? Star Trek or Star Wars ?


Dave

 

[fresh_42]

this is funny ...
Which is nerdier ? Star Trek or Star Wars ?


Dave

How about this one?

 

[davenn]

brilliant !

 

[russ_watters]

Its been 50 years and they are talking about it. Star Trek's influence on society, vis. science, technology, language, humor, has already been enormous. I don't think most people outside college or some authors know much about Shakespeare. They probably heard of Romeo and Juliet, perhaps the word "Hamlet", and not much more. We, well not "we", won't know for a hundred years.

Actually, you do have a point. As our society continues to dumb down in terms of people learning literature and history, what you suggest becomes more and more likely although if they get to that point they likely won't be comparing it to Shakespeare because they will have never heard of Shakespeare. The few people left who DO know Shakespeare well are not likely to think that a cheesy space opera is in the same league.

Shakespeare was a low-brow comedian...among many other things.

Everyone who speaks English is influenced by him, much more than most people realize (I'd bet most people quote Shakespeare at least once a day).
http://mentalfloss.com/article/60264/21-phrases-you-use-without-realizing-youre-quoting-shakespeare
https://readingnow.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/we-quote-shakespeare-every-day-without-realising/
Shakespeare's influence is such that people don't need to know his name to be influenced by him; What's in a name, anyway?

Shakespeare lived 500 years ago. How many 500 year old or even 100 year old media moguls can you name? 200 years from now, when people will only know of a handful of media creators (even if not by name), I doubt Star Trek will be one of them. If one sci fi creator gets one sentence in a history book, I'd probably put my money on Arthur C Clarke or Phillip K Dick.

That isn't to say Star Trek isn't influential today. It's the prototype for modern space exploration sci fi. I have watched a few episodes this week since it is on marathons, but I have to say that while all of the elements are there, the production value is just too low for me to enjoy it. I much prefer TNG.

 

[Vanadium 50]

If you think Shakespeare is good in English, you should read it in the original Klingon.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Shakespeare lived 500 years ago. How many 500 year old or even 100 year old media moguls can you name?

100+ Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, off the top of my head.

 

[russ_watters]

100+ Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, off the top of my head.

"media mogul" was probably a poor choice of description on my part, but I don't know how to characterize Gene Roddenberry. "Media creator" maybe? Pulitzer will be remembered for the award that bears his name and Hearst as a businessman (and "media mogul" definitely applies), but they weren't really content creators.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

"media mogul" was probably a poor choice of description on my part, but I don't know how to characterize Gene Roddenberry. "Media creator" maybe? Pulitzer will be remembered for the award that bears his name and Hearst as a businessman (and "media mogul" definitely applies), but they weren't really content creators.

I'd call Old Bill of Stratford a literary titan or icon, if I wanted to go pop.

 

[Dr Wu]

Didn't Shakespeare write 'Forbidden Planet' (aka The Tempest)? Yes, I'm also a fan of Star Trek - improbable office-style command decks and imperfect gravity control notwithstanding. On the plus side, Star Trek introduced the romance of space to a global audience, which is a Good Thing. Unfortunately, its technological hand-waving also raised false expectations in some about ourselves becoming a spacefaring species the day after tomorrow, which is Not Such A Good Thing. For me, though, the real comparison between Star Trek and Shakespeare's drama lies in the strength of characterisation. Hamlet, I'm sure, will still be exerting a tangible influence in another five-hundred years. I likewise suspect Spock will be doing it as well. . . in his own inimitable way, of course.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

I remember a scene from "Space: Above and Beyond" where The Loner got a package in the mail, a cassette deck and tapes. He thoughtlessly starts blasting away with a Stones tape. When they calm things down one guy says "Hey, I like the classics too!"

 

[BillTre]

I likewise suspect Spock will be doing it as well. . . in his own inimitable way, of course.

I consider Spock to be another example of the Sherlock Holmes character, lots of logic, not so much emotion or personable interaction. Now that it has been established as a character type, I expect it to be repeated every so often, maybe about every 80 years.

 

[strangerep]

City on the Edge of Forever should win. (With a young Joan Collins no less!) No contest.

My ancient very-ex girlfriend nerdy-trekkie also liked that one. (She was the schizophrenic psychotic -- did I mention her already? )

Part of her reason for liking that episode was the authorship of renowned Sci Fi author Harlan Ellison. But, imho, there seems to be rather too little "Star Trek" in it. The story would be equally at home in various tv series that do time travel.

A local TV station here is re-running the original series. It's astonishing how lame the sets now look, and how small is the Enterprise bridge. Spock's personality in the very first episode was embarrassing -- sometimes he sounds more like the first mate of an 18th century sailing ship than the Spock we know today. The producers obviously had a bit of a rethink on his character between 1st and 2nd episodes.

The (what-would-now-be-called) political incorrectness and sexism of the original series is also quite amusing.

 

[strangerep]

Actually, star trek voyager has been playing in that time slot till late last week when they changed to ST TOS for the anniversary

Yeah, it's really annoying how 10/11/1 seem unable to continue Voyager to the end. Last time 11 played it, they also stopped at the same point. Maybe they don't have, or can't get, rights for the later episodes at a reasonable price?

 

[davenn]

Yeah, it's really annoying how 10/11/1 seem unable to continue Voyager to the end. Last time 11 played it, they also stopped at the same point. Maybe they don't have, or can't get, rights for the later episodes at a reasonable price?

going by that comment, you must be in Oz, greeting from inner west Sydney. I remember seeing it to the end episode on one a channel in recent yrs can't remember which one haha
Maybe they don't /cant get the rights quite possible ? or maybe it was just chance it happened to get to the same episode when the 50th anniv of TOS came around ?

Either way, it's good to see TOS again and I have noted over the last week of viewings that they have done some digital remastering and editing of the original recordings. The image quality is really crisp with good colour and I especially noted that, from orbit, at least, the planets look like real planets with proper looking topography and atmospheres ... that wasn't originally seen till TNG series.

Dave

 

[strangerep]

[...] they have done some digital remastering and editing of the original recordings. The image quality is really crisp with good colour and I especially noted that, from orbit, at least, the planets look like real planets with proper looking topography and atmospheres ... that wasn't originally seen till TNG series.

I just realized why it looks so different now, compared to my childhood memories. Back then, it was in B+W, plus imperfect reception of analog tv signal...

 

[Janus]

Spock's personality in the very first episode was embarrassing -- sometimes he sounds more like the first mate of an 18th century sailing ship than the Spock we know today. The producers obviously had a bit of a rethink on his character between 1st and 2nd episodes.

You might be thinking about the first and second pilots. In the first pilot it was the female first officer that was meant to have the non-emotional qualities. But when the network executives nixed that character ( They also wanted to nix " the guy with the ears" but finally gave in on that), They decided to give them to Spock's character For the second Pilot.

The (what-would-now-be-called) political incorrectness and sexism of the original series is also quite amusing.

The blame for a lot of that can be put on the network. For example, they were the ones that decided that the viewing audience of the time would not except a female first officer.

 

[fresh_42]

The blame for a lot of that can be put on the network. For example, they were the ones that decided that the viewing audience of the time would not except a female first officer.

I've heard that the famous kissing scene between Uhura and Kirk was supposed to be cut, but Shatner ruined all other takes so they had to take it. Don't know, whether this is true, but a nice anecdote.

 

[strangerep]

As I watch the various episodes of the 1st series, I grow disappointed at how derivative many of the plotlines are. (Back in the 60's I was still a kid, and didn't recognize this.)

E.g., a recently-aired episode involved a mass murderer masquerading as an actor and the few remaining people who could recognize him keep being murdered mysteriously. Kirk becomes semi-emotionally involved with the guy's daughter, then it turns out that she is the murderer, trying to protect her father.

Then, yesterday, the first major episode involving confrontation with a Romulan warbird destroying outposts on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone. Kirk and the Romulan captain play a delicate game of cat and mouse, like a couple of WW2 naval commanders trying to out-fox each other. They reach a state of mutual respect, though it ends badly for the Romulan.

Sound familiar?

 

[OCR]

...episode involved a mass murderer masquerading as an actor...

"The Conscience of the King" ... Original air date - December 8, 1966.

Back in the 60's I was still a kid...

Me too... in 1966, I was only 17 years old... ...

Then, yesterday, the first major episode involving confrontation with a Romulan warbird destroying outposts on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone.

"Balance of Terror" ... Original air date - December 15, 1966.
Unless you are talking about thus one...

On September 16, 2006, "Balance of Terror" became the first digitally remastered Star Trek episode, featuring enhanced and new visual effects, to be broadcast.

Mark Lenard played the Romulan Commander... he also played Sarek, Spock's father in other series.

 

[strangerep]

Mark Lenard played the Romulan Commander... he also played Sarek, Spock's father in other series.

I thought he looked familiar!

 

[OCR]

I've heard that the famous kissing scene between Uhura and Kirk was supposed to be cut, but Shatner ruined all other takes so they had to take it.

"Plato's Stepchildren" ... Original air date - November 22, 1968.

Don't know, whether this is true, but a nice anecdote.

It would seem that it's, more or less, true... Production and reception.

Having successfully recorded the former version of the scene, Shatner and Nichelle Nichols deliberately flubbed every take of the latter version, thus forcing the episode to go out with the kiss intact.

Here it is... Star Trek: TV's First Interracial Kiss ....

 

[strangerep]

Booo. Is that all? Such a fuss... over that ??

 

[fresh_42]

Booo. Is that all? Such a fuss... over that ??

You must not forget the time.

"Frustrated with the racist harassment, culminating with her learning that the studio was withholding her fan mail, she submitted her resignation from Star Trek (1966) after consulting with series creator Gene Roddenberry. She stated in several interviews that the harassment made her go back to work in theater until attending an NAACP fundraiser. The fundraiser was where a Star Trek fan was about to meet her for the first time and, to her astonishment, the fan turned out to be Dr. Martin Luther King. King stated that his wife and children had seen Star Trek on TV and it was the only television series that he had approved of. He said that her role as the fourth in command of the USS Enterprise became a positive role model for African-Americans. She withdrew her resignation from the series when King personally convinced her that her role was too important as a breakthrough to leave." (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0629667/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm)