No, actually it started because, even though I am a “casual fan” of Star Trek in its various incarnations, it occurred to me that I haven’t really watched any of the shows beyond The Next Generation. I was going to rectify that via Netflix by starting to watch Deep Space 9 and working my way through Enterprise. Then it occurred to me that while I could do that, why not make it more interesting? I did the math, finding that if I were to watch all episodes of all five series (The Original Series (TOS), The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space 9 (DS9), Voyager (VOY), and Enterprise (ENT)) at the rate of two episodes per day, it would take me 351.2 days to watch them all.
Wow – all of Star Trek in less than a year, with two weeks left for vacation (or the movies…).
It was probably insane, I’ll admit. So I decided I would start smaller - I'm just going to watch all episodes of the original series, then see how it goes from there.
Yeah, that’s all.
It’ll be in a very informal format. I have no intention of reiterating the entirety of the story from each episode, but I will give a thumbnail sketch, maybe “rate” it (no star scales here, most likely). I’m just going to give my thoughts and impressions as the episode plays out, with some cheeky comments or biting commentary when appropriate. It might end up becoming more structured over time. It could end up being a bit like Mystery Science Theater 3000. In fact, I would like to have “Live Events” using a live-blogging site to post comments (from me and from the peanut gallery) as we all watch an episode “together”.
But first thing’s first…
I will be using Netflix, renting two discs at any given time, starting with Disc One, Season One. Note that it does NOT start with “The Cage” – they put that one at the very end of the last season’s last disc for some reason, but "The Menagerie" is smack in the middle of Season One. The viewing order for Season One is as follows:
Disc 1
The Man Trap
Charlie X
Where No Man Has Gone Before
Disc 2
The Naked Time
The Enemy Within
Mudd's Women
Disc 3
What Are Little Girls Made Of?
Miri
Dagger of the Mind
Disc 4
The Corbomite Maneuver
The Menagerie: Part 1
The Menagerie: Part 2
Disc 5
The Conscience of the King
Balance of Terror
Shore Leave
Disc 6
The Galileo Seven
The Squire of Gothos
The Arena
Disc 7
Tomorrow is Yesterday
Court Martial
The Return of the Archons
Disc 8
Space Seed
A Taste of Armageddon
This Side of Paradise
Disc 9
The Devil in the Dark
Errand of Mercy
The Alternative Factor
Disc 10
The City on the Edge of Forever
Operation: Annihilate!
Looking back on this list, it appears that many of my favorite TOS episodes were from Season One. It will be good to revisit them during the next few weeks.
I will try to stick with a two-episodes-per-day schedule, so we should wrap this up in about 40 days. Now that’s a lot of Star Trek, and a lot of writing – all I can promise is that I will try to maintain the pace, and if I can’t keep it up I’ll let you know as we go. That said, if you’re not happy with the results, you can have your admission fee back.
Now that all the intro stuff is over with, let’s get on to some other things.
I will try to stick with a two-episodes-per-day schedule, so we should wrap this up in about 40 days. Now that’s a lot of Star Trek, and a lot of writing – all I can promise is that I will try to maintain the pace, and if I can’t keep it up I’ll let you know as we go. That said, if you’re not happy with the results, you can have your admission fee back.
Now that all the intro stuff is over with, let’s get on to some other things.
Werekoala’s Background and Thoughts on Star Trek: The Original Series
As I said, I’m a casual fan of the show. I’ve seen most of the original and TNG episodes, and a handful of the others. I’ve seen all the movies. I vaguely remember a couple of the old cartoon episodes. I’ve even read a couple of novels, and of course I have the Tech Manuals (TOS and TNG) and the Encyclopedia. I’ve played Starfleet Battles on a tabletop, Starfleet Command on a PC, and am currently involved with Star Trek Online. I have played role-playing games based on Star Trek, and I have worn a uniform a time or two.
Ok, maybe more than just a casual fan.
But really, when you consider how pervasive Star Trek has become in modern society (Have a flip-top cell phone or an iPod? Thank Star Trek), I think that it wouldn’t hurt to review the shows with the benefit of decades of hindsight, to see what things have changed, how the shows might have influenced (or predicted) that change, and maybe see if they make any statements about the future and where we could be headed.
Or it could just be a show. It’s probably just a show.
The world of Star Trek, at least as envisioned by Gene Roddenberry, is an almost perfect communistic society. From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs, thanks to the miracle of replicator technology. Without that, Star Trek is impossible (really – trust me). It frees people from true need, supplying all the basics and many of the luxuries (although this is not always the case in TOS, it clearly becomes that by TNG), and allows people to focus on exploration, artistic pursuits, and philosophical musings. A world where every day is spent doing things that you find exciting and fulfilling sure as hell beats hiding behind a desk in your cubicle trying to get those TPS reports done. This, above all, is what I find appealing about Star Trek – it is a world where you can be what you want to be, from a valiant starship crewman venturing to the borders of known space, to a two-bit hustler trying to unload a cargo of tribbles.
Star Trek is a world where conflict can be solved with talk, reason, and introspection. Where differences can become strengths and acceptance is the goal, even if it is not always achieved. It gives us a screen that we can project our real-world issues onto, allowing them to play out in search of solutions that we can apply in our daily lives.
There’s plenty of action, too. After all, we need some red meat along with out veggies if we are going to live a fulfilling life (sorry vegans). Fist-fights, starship battles, vast interstellar forces, huge and unstoppable beasts. Star Trek gives us the action we crave on a scale never before seen on television. I’m looking forward to revisiting the Neutral Zone, Quo’nos (or however it’s spelled), the edge of the galaxy, and Khan.
It also gives us plenty of turkey to go with that steak. I imagine you could name at least a half-dozen episodes that induce eye-rolling fits just thinking of them. We’ll get to those damn space hippies in time.
So, the journey should be interesting. Bearing in mind that Star Trek: The Original Series is a product of its time, I look forward to seeing the future-past from the perspective of the early 21st century. So far we’ve managed to avoid nuclear war and the Eugenics Wars, but hey, it’s early. Hopefully we can hold them off for another month or so, to give us time to complete another journey with Captain Kirk, Scotty, Bones, Spock, Uhura, Crewman Jones (you know, the guy in the red shirt), Sulu, Chekov, Rand, Chapel… and all the rest. They’re a part of our lives, after all, whether we know it or not.
Now, let’s see what they’ve been up to since they started that five-year mission…
The reason for the order of episodes is that that was the order they aired. Man trap was the first shown, back in 1966.
ReplyDeleteGotta love those studio execs! Can't even read a stardate......
ReplyDeleteAre there any episodes that refer to a previously canned one that is shown out of order?
I don't know how self-referential the Original Series was - it seems to me (from memory of course) that each episode was fairly stand-alone. I guess we'll find out as we go along. :)
ReplyDelete