Star Trek

This has to be one of the greatest series in history. I really enjoy watching a lot of the episodes especially those from the second and third seasons when Chekov was on and the supporting cast really became complete. I especially loved the episodes that dealt with what happens when someone upsets the natural course that a planet goes on (eg. "A Piece of the Action"). In the case of those episodes, usually someone wants to help a planet achieve its destiny at a faster rate or leaves a form of literature or technology behind leading to disastrous results as was the case with the Ekosians who followed the Nazi model or the world that used the model of 1920's Chicago to base their societies on. This pretty much is a moral for any world including our own and how we should leave not only people follow their own path but let nature take it's own path.

I am 58 and never was a big fan of science fiction. Had seen episodes from Star Trek decades ago, but never was a huge fan.

Well...recently have been watching reruns on a free TV channel. And I am amazed at how good and unique this show was....and is...especially for a show from the 1960s. Much credit is due to William Shatner. He's a good, versatile actor and was able to "sell" the script with a sense of seriousness and reality that it made up for the low budget sets, costumes and sometimes silly plots. He should have won an emmy for his acting.

Also, loved the vibrant simple colors used on the sets and in wardrobe. The thinly adorned sets were visually enhanced by all these primary colors.

The topics, scientific lingo and gadgets were also far beyond what most people were thinking of before this period. Look at all those cell phones they used in the series. And the flat screen TV monitors. Just way ahead of their time.

Of course, Spock and the doc were great supporting cast members. But without Kirk, William Shatner, the show probably would not have worked.

I have loved Star Trek since I first watched it as a child. However, the series which followed - Star Trek: TNG, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Enterprise - although generally still entertaining, seem to me to have left out the element which made the original series so special. Namely, the interaction between the characters, particularly Spock, Jim, and Bones.

So well written, and generally well acted.

With Bones (Dr Leonard H McCoy) being the opposite to Spock in terms of personality, so that the two of them always found something to argue about. Jim (Captain James T Kirk) in the middle, as a referee, displaying faults and strengths taken from both extremes. Extremes in the sense of McCoy being a very caring, compassionate, yet also highly emotional character. Representative of humanity, perhaps. Spock, the dry, cold, logical, emotionless Vulcan. Jim "a man of deep feelings", as Spock once said, yet also no stranger to thorough analysis of whatever situation the crew found themselves in. Bones seeking always to heal, to return everybody he met (whether friend or foe, human or otherwise) to as close to perfect health as possible. Frustrated by the fact that he (Bones) could not fully understand, for example, Spock's Vulcan anatomy. All three of them the closest friends. All three displaying unwavering loyalty toward each other - even though Spock would have found the suggestion of his displaying such a human quality to be insulting.

The dynamics involved, the interaction, led to brilliant moments of humour. A science fiction programme to be not only enjoyed for the imaginative stories and the themes, but also for the humour, for the humanity.

Which is not to suggest that the other characters were in any way second rate. Scotty's loyalty and his supreme confidence in his engineering abilities, Chekov's almost adolescent playfulness and humour, Sulu's loyalty, honour, and physical prowess, Uhura's dedication to duty and femininity in a masculine world, all added important and welcome elements to what I still consider to be the best science fiction television series ever.

The special effects were often laughable, the sets cheap and often reused, but the humanity, the character interaction, the stories, imagination, the brilliant writing... all added up to something very special indeed.

This show made all of it's principles into cause celebrities & in fact did the same for it's producers & almost everyone involved with it. This was one of the last series produced by Desilu studios it's first season. Then Desilu was sold to Paramont in order for Lucy & Ricky to separate their business interests after the divorce. Oh, but what a way to end their partnership.

This original series & it's films & syndicated sequels have produced more money for Paramont than any other franchise. William Shatner became so famous for his role in this, that he went to to advertise Promise Margerine, do TJ HOOKER (a Cop series) in the 1970's for ABC. Then he kept working on other stuff until now he has managed to become a TV regular again on Boston Legal.

Lenoard Nimoy(Spock) went on to do several other projects including hosting the syndicated series "In Search of". All the others came back for the movies as well. The big thing that made this series so popular was the plot lines which especially in the first seasons were so imaginative. These were from creator Gene Roddenbury who had learned his craft in the unusual Western series hit Have Gun, Will travel.

Roddenbury made morality a major strength in plotting these original episodes. He tapped some talented science fiction writers as well for ideas. This was really his wagon train to the stars. This original series has a couple of fine veteran Western folks behind the camera with Gene L. Coons & Fred Friedberger who worked on action series like The Wild Wild West. The resemblance of Kirks fight scenes in Star Trek to the Wild Wild West are no coincidence.

Towards the end, as NBC kept cutting the budget, the show suffered too, but by then, NBC still had not realized what they had & killed off the series. Thank goodness for re-runs, then video & now DVDs to keep this original going. The guest list for this series was small, but it had some excellent guest stars including William Windom, Roger C. Carmel, Michael Dunn (Dr Lovelass on Wild Wild West), Ricardo Montoban, & others (Most did guest shots on West too). It is one of the rare Science Fiction series to combine serious themes & comedy successfully & really be inventive. After all, to me it seems like these guys invented the cell phone style of communication in the 1960's. European Scientists are still experimenting to see if beaming people up can be done. What a legacy this series has left all of us.

The original Trek series established, within it's brief 3-year span, the panorama of an ever-expanding Federation of planets & civilizations, of which Earth was, in the 23rd century, a founding member (tho the audience never saw Earth during this run, except in time travel stories back to our 20th century). This series also presented mankind as, first & foremost, explorers, embodied by the trio of dynamic captain James T. Kirk (Shatner), his number two, science officer Spock (Nimoy) and irascible but kindly Dr.McCoy (Kelley) - but Spock was, of course, an alien (a Vulcan), an example of the alliances Earth held with many extraterrestrial races. They operated from a magnificent starship, Enterprise (one of several such ships in Starfleet), with a crew of about 400. Creator Roddenberry used the series as a platform to address many social & political concerns of the time. The general consensus of most familiar with the show is that the 1st & 2nd years were superior; the 3rd suffered in the writing & budget dept's.

The best episodes: "City on the Edge of Forever"-Kirk almost sacrifices Earth's history for the love of a woman. Almost, and he might've done so had he known her a little longer; "Mirror,Mirror"-4 members of the crew switch places with their counterparts in a parallel universe, where the Federation is a hostile Empire; "Space Seed"-the crew awaken Khan, an old-time conqueror boosted by eugenics, who returned in the 2nd Trek film("The Wrath of Khan"); "Arena"-Kirk battles a lizardian captain of an unfriendly race on a desolate asteroid; "The Naked Time"-the crew lose their inhibitions, back when this was original; "This Side of Paradise"-another one with everyone affected emotionally and forgetting their mission; "The Trouble With Tribbles"-hugely entertaining romp on a space station; "Shore Leave"-another romp on a weird planet; "Journey to Babel"-Enterprise hosts ambassadors, Spock's parents included, dealing with intrigue & politics; "Where No Man Has Gone Before"-the 2nd pilot which green-lit the series and the 1st with normal humans acquiring godlike powers; "The Enemy Within"-examines duality of human nature; "The Doomsday Machine"-space epic about a huge alien weapon destroying planets; "Amok Time"-detailed look into Vulcan customs; "Balance of Terror"-warships testing each other in space,introducing the aggressive Romulan race; "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"-answering all questions on androids; and "The Devil in the Dark"-which shows you cannot judge monsters by appearance.

As the list above demonstrates, all the concepts we have come to know in later films and series (Next Generation,Deep Space 9,Voyager) were laid out just fine in the late '60s by some inventive writing (the first film to follow this, for example, merely reworked the episode "The Changeling" with a $50 million budget). The 2nd season also ended with a pilot for an unrealized spin-off "Assignment:Earth" which would have focused on human agent of aliens 'Gary-7' in the present day. It was back then, also, that omnipotent beings, such as "The Squire of Gothos" and the Organians ("Errand of Mercy"-which introduced Klingons) popped up to work miracles. The final 3rd season show ended things on a hysterical note as Kirk's body was taken over by an unbalanced woman - quite unPC these days but nonetheless intriguing & entertaining. The series was followed 4 years later by an animated version, which took place during the same mission. Finally, I'm still struck, or starstruck, by how, after all this time, it was this show that convinced me we really were on a huge ship traveling in space - more so than the later sophisticated shows (TNG) or the movies. Yes, the original is still the best, and it's easy to see why.