"Space . . . the final frontier . . . " Those words first were heard on September 8, 1966, with the debut of Star Trek.
The episode, as any trekkie knows, was The Man Trap. The show created a stir among science fiction fans, but it wasn't the stir that would explode after its cancellation three years later.
Science fiction was pretty amateurish stuff on TV and the movies before Star Trek. Lost in Space was a hit, but there wasn't a whole lot of credibility in its storyline. In fact, many fans tuned in for the camp, like they did with Batman. Hollywood really hadn't topped 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still for realism and a good storyline. But when Star Trek came along, concepts were revealed that had a sense of possibility about them.
For example, how did you get around faster than 186,282 miles per second (it's not just a good idea. It's the LAW)? Easy, you used your warp drive, that would somehow change the nature of space and enable you to travel faster than light without going backwards in time. Hmm, that just might work!
Another means of transportation was beaming. Your atoms were transformed into energy and sent as a beam to a nearby location, where they were reassembled. The process was limited by distance, as well as the need for exact coordinates for your destination. Again, this sounds like it might be doable with future technologies!
They even explained why all aliens spoke perfect English: the universal translator! Of course, that didn't explain why their lips would form the words perfectly.
So Star Trek managed to fire the imaginations of its viewers. But what it DIDN'T do was attract large numbers of viewers. It was maddening to Trek fans that the aformentioned Lost in Space, with its "Crush! Kill! Destroy" spouting robot, consistently beat out TOS (as it's now known among aficionados), and in fact was canceled due to the high cost of its episodes, rather than poor ratings.
So, after three seasons, the plug was presumably permanently pulled on the adventures of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Scotty, Chekhov, and Uhuru.
How wrong that assumption was.
Fans immediately began writing letters to NBC demanding their show be returned. The deluge only grew with time, and by 1973, NBC began airing a really bad sequel: Star Trek: The Animated Series. The show featured the voices of most of the original characters, But the animation was horrible, and the writing was suspect. It lasted parts of two seasons.
Star Trek: TOS was aimed at adults, in fact I recall commercials describing it as "an adult science fiction series." But that didn't stop us kids from tuning in in droves, or NBC from selling Star Trek toys.
It also affected subsequent science fiction on TV and the movies. Fans demanded more realism, and explanations of what was going on. This reached its climax with 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's equally magnanimous novel is the only SF film I have ever seen that refrains from making spaceships go by with a whooshing sound, impossible in space's vacuum.
But even though the Enterprise whooshed across the screen, you have to admit that video science fiction overall has become better, thanks to Star Trek's more sophisticated audience.
But we're still not happy about TOS's cancellation back in 1969.
Comments (4)
I think flip phones, and cell phones in general, owe a great deal of thanks to Kirk and company's communicators.
As for the transporter, that would save us a heck of a lot of gasoline if that could be possible. But Gene Roddenberry used that device to avoid the filming of the Enterprise landing on other planets. The voyages of the various Enterprise ships continue to this day in paperback novels. Live long and prosper.
Posted by David S Paleg | June 13, 2007 1:29 AM
Posted on June 13, 2007 01:29
So many 60's shows had characters from other related shows visiting each other: Jetsons and Flintstones, Bev Hillbillies and petticoat junction, etc.
Why couldn't ROBOT from
LIS have visited, and indeed run, the enterprise? Why couldn't
Mr. Smith and Spock downed a few beers together on planet uranus(Mr. Smiths fav planet for obvious reasons).
Another point: Star Trek
spawned the worst vinyl
in history....the eternal question...What was the worst cover of all time, Shats' Lucy in the Sky, or Nimoy's
Legend of Bilbo Baggins?
And how many licks DOES
it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
Posted by Scott | July 13, 2007 2:20 AM
Posted on July 13, 2007 02:20
I got my own ideas on the premature demise of Star Trek. First, while ratings might have indicated one (LIS) being viewed more than the other, it does not tell the whole story. And TV moguls were never that bright, anyway. Kids liked LIS more than TOS. I was 7 and I liked LIS better. LIS was much more childish. And of course, you had Robot V9 and Will, so every kid had someone to related to. Dr. Smith always provided plenty of antagonism when there was not from any other source. How is it that he did not get killed by the rest? How did he ever make it onto the ship/mission in the first place?
TOS was more sophisticated and serious at times. It appealed more to adults than kids. But since kids often “influenced” which station was picked, LIS won in families. But those kids got older in the 70s and we became big TOS fans then in 71 in syndication. So in the end, TOS prevailed and won over everyone. TV land was out of touch with the audience. Cable TV and syndication allow each audience to be more selective and less compromising. In many respects, TOS was a victim of scheduling and Execs did not discern how enthusiastic the Trek audience really was.
Now Sci Fi hit a good peak with TOS, and Sci Fi continued to be good with Star Wars, and the next 2 sequels, but I think Sci Fi took a dive somewhere between 1983 and now. I don’t sense that TV and movie writers are allowed to get very deep any more. Look at those crappy poor excuses for sequels 3,4,5 of Star Bores. They ought to be taken out and buried. South Park ripped them up . . .Twice! Simpsons took at least 2 or 3 shots at them. Remember Randal Curtis on the Simpsons?
Part of the move to dumb us all down and keep from stimulating our minds any more than they can help it. Bright minds are hard to manipulate but dull minds are a despots dream come true. That’s how I see it, gang!
Posted by Scott I | May 14, 2009 5:42 PM
Posted on May 14, 2009 17:42
I must admit that I didn't give Star Trek the night of day, back in the day. I guess it wasn't until my early adulthood I started looking at the show in retrospect. I liked the movies much more then I did the series. But out of all the Star Trek, the original was the only one I liked. I just recently saw the latest Star Trek movie. It was good and loved seeing Nimoy in the cameo. As silly as Lost in Space was, I liked it better! And I was probably watching Batman and the Hornet more in 66 then anything else. Looking back, Star Trek is a classic!
Posted by Rivers End | June 21, 2009 8:31 PM
Posted on June 21, 2009 20:31