So, today is the 50th anniversary of the original airing of the first episode of the original series of Star Trek. Only three years late, Trek
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Good points, all. I actually find TOS hard to watch these days, mostly due to Kirk being the sort of hero who really irritates me (I love DS9, but that's the only Trek I've stayed with over the years). I have been a big fan in days past though, and used to have loads of TOS-era books. So much potential for story-telling, even if - as you say - it's not as inventive as its more devout fans like to think it is.
So yes, happy birthday Trek. You're not as good as Babylon 5 or Blake's 7, and you should have been about Sulu, Uhura and Chekov, who frankly are much less irritating than Kirk and McCoy! But something that gives that much pleasure to so many is certainly doing something right. And there's not much that's still going strong after fifty years. (Most of the things I fall in love with struggle to last for one!)
The funny thing about Trek is that it nearly went the same way as most of the other series of that era, cancelled after three seasons after not particularly setting the world on fire ratings-wise once the initial novelty had worn off. Somehow, though, the rest was history. Clearly, it captured a lot of imaginations and its legend only grew in later re-runs. I suppose Doctor Who has something of a similar history, with the fan-dominated media of the 90s, out of which the new series grew, except that TNG and the movies still had Roddenberry providing input, at least at first, and of course Who's original incarnation lasted much longer on TV than Trek's.
Star Trek is an interesting ball of contradictions, but it gains my respect for what it tried/tries to be even if I don't know if it's ever totally succeeded. It is both entertaining and optimistic, which isn't the easiest combination to find.
It's also weird, because its definitely the first SciFi I was exposed to as a child, but it's not a show I've actively watched until the last few years. I'm not a huge TOS fan, or even really a huge TNG fan, but I fell down a rather deep DS9 hole this summer and think I finally found a Trek that I really like. TOS and TNG kind of rub me the wrong way with how perfect the Federation is and the idea that utopia has already been obtained. The idea that utopia is always a work in progress that will always be improved on over time - and that one version of utopia will never suit all comers, and that's OKAY - struck me as much more realistic.
I agree; it's easy to be cynical about the big claims dedicated Trek fans make on its behalf, but its heart was in the right place however many period-specific slip-ups it may have made.
I also agree that one of the things I do find deeply dissatisfying about Trek is the self-satisfied nature of the utopia it depicts the Federation as being. It isn't quite as noticeable in TOS, I think, possibly because all of the failures on various points due to the fact that it was made by a bunch of male TV writers in the 60s kind of unintentionally counteract the goody two-shoes stuff. TNG is more morally upstanding on that score, but also a bit more boring imho. DS9 does try its hardest to inject a bit of realism, with very good results in numerous episodes, but I think I'm a bit biased against it because Babylon 5 was doing something very similar at around the same time, and imho doing it better.
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*HUGS*
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So yes, happy birthday Trek. You're not as good as Babylon 5 or Blake's 7, and you should have been about Sulu, Uhura and Chekov, who frankly are much less irritating than Kirk and McCoy! But something that gives that much pleasure to so many is certainly doing something right. And there's not much that's still going strong after fifty years. (Most of the things I fall in love with struggle to last for one!)
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It's also weird, because its definitely the first SciFi I was exposed to as a child, but it's not a show I've actively watched until the last few years. I'm not a huge TOS fan, or even really a huge TNG fan, but I fell down a rather deep DS9 hole this summer and think I finally found a Trek that I really like. TOS and TNG kind of rub me the wrong way with how perfect the Federation is and the idea that utopia has already been obtained. The idea that utopia is always a work in progress that will always be improved on over time - and that one version of utopia will never suit all comers, and that's OKAY - struck me as much more realistic.
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I also agree that one of the things I do find deeply dissatisfying about Trek is the self-satisfied nature of the utopia it depicts the Federation as being. It isn't quite as noticeable in TOS, I think, possibly because all of the failures on various points due to the fact that it was made by a bunch of male TV writers in the 60s kind of unintentionally counteract the goody two-shoes stuff. TNG is more morally upstanding on that score, but also a bit more boring imho. DS9 does try its hardest to inject a bit of realism, with very good results in numerous episodes, but I think I'm a bit biased against it because Babylon 5 was doing something very similar at around the same time, and imho doing it better.
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