Star Trek...A Journey with TOS, TNG, DSN, VOY, ENT

Just some thoughts as I journey through the first five Star Trek tv series and the movies featuring the original cast and those with the Next Gen cast. No JJ Star Trek here I'm starting with the original Star Trek series and watching them in production order. I'll probably watch one a night. When I'm done with that I'm off to TNG and so on and so on.

So nothin' formal, I'm just going to yak about what I watched and all of you Trekkers and Trekkies are welcomed to beam in and join the landing party. I hope you ain't wearing a red shirt

So on day 1 New Years Day I watched The Star Trek pilot The Cage. Has to be one of my favorite episodes and while I know there's like a space babe every other episode I've always thought Susan Oliver was my favorite of the bunch. What impressed me was how involved she was with her acting. I could take or leave Jeffery Hunter as Captain Pike but Susan Oliver as Vina really put across a wealth of emotions, and that's method acting. I don't know why she didn't have a bigger career. She was sure stunning looking.

I've seen the original Star Trek like a dozen times, I even seen the show first run as a little tot...though I don't remember it. I haven't seen The Cage more than 3 or 4 times. I learned alot by watching it last night...like little details I hadn't picked up on. In this short video clip Vina and Pike talk about 'headaches' in a cryptic way. And we learn about the fate of the Mojave.

I never knew that!

If I recall correctly, I think the reason Majel as Number 1 wasn't used in the series is that "society" was just not ready for a female first officer. That reason seems like such a cop out by today's standards (especially when they were gutsy enough to present her in the first place), but we have to remember, at the time; TV series were a gamble even when the prospects looked good... if anything seemed the least bit risky with audiences, it was a wiser gamble to drop it and move on.

I think you're right about why Majel didn't remain as the 1st officer. It's interesting that she's described as being highly intelligent by the Italians...and said to have the warmth of a computer by a jealous Vina. Literally Spock inherits her persona when he becomes 1st officer.

How's the viewing going?

I kinda gave up on this thread as it didn't get much response....except from you, which I was glad of!

I'm still re-watching Star Trek original series almost every night. I recently watched The Galileo Seven which was a fun but very uneven episode. It has to be one of the most poorly written, dare I say illogical episodes of STOS...and yet I've spent more time rewritting the script in my head then any of the other episodes.

Some of my earliest memories are me sitting with my dad watching taped episodes of TOS. A couple of my favourite episodes were The Doomsday Device & Balance of Terror.

TNG was the best especially from season 3 when it hit its stride and it had many great episodes ie Measure of a Man & Best of Both Worlds.

DS9 was I think my 2nd favourite after TNG also had huge story arcs ie the Dominion War. Stand out episodes for me were In The Pale Moonlight & The Visitor.

VGR was ok. Not great but ok. It stil had a number of good episodes but I always felt like it had more potential but never fully realised.

ENT was watchable but rather forgettable for me.

Watched a few seasons of STD and really didnt like it.

Seen a few episodes of SNW and notreally sure what to make of it. If they stopped being so childish with all the back talk and lack of professionalism it could be good.

PICARD. Where do I even start! Watched the first couple of episodes and then stopped watching completely. How could they ruin Star Trek so badly. Completely unrecognisable to the TNG I grew up with.

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Did you know that in the 1980s movie PREDATOR the titular character was not originally portrayed by Kevin Peter Hall. It was in fact Jean-Claude Van Damme donning a much more insect inspired full body suit before he left the production which then led to the recasting and redesigning of the famous hunter.

I just seen Balance of Terror one of my favorites so is The Doomsday Machine. I think part of the reason are the guess star actors, Mark Leonard and William Windom. Both actors added so much depth to their characters and of course great stories too.

Watched a few seasons of STD and really didnt like it.

Seen a few episodes of SNW and notreally sure what to make of it. If they stopped being so childish with all the back talk and lack of professionalism it could be good.

PICARD. Where do I even start! Watched the first couple of episodes and then stopped watching completely. How could they ruin Star Trek so badly. Completely unrecognisable to the TNG I grew up with.[/quote]I haven't seen STD or SNW, not sure I will ever watch them. I did try Picard and hated it. I even watched the entire first season to see if it get better and it just got worse. It's anti-TNG, not Star Trek at all to me, too blood thirsty.

Does Mark Leonard hold the record for most different characters in the most different ST series & movies?

I wish I was 'trekkie' enough to know that, but I'm going to guess no. I think it's Jeffery Combs? Not sure though.

I know Mark Lenard played a Romulan (in Balance of Terror), a Vulcan (Sarek), and a Klingon (in TMP).
I know he appeared on TOS, TNG, TAS, (not sure about DS9 or Voyager)... he did not appear in ENT or any subsequent series.
I know he appeared in ST movies: TMP, III (SFS), IV (TVH) and VI (TUC).

Wow, that's a lot, you might be right. OK I'll look it up and report back.

Here's the answer:
https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-most-d...nt-characters/


Jefferey Combs not even close

Rules, I'm wondering if you should add The Animated Series to your list (if you can even find a complete set, that is.)

I remember not liking it as a kid (but I think I was still in the phase where I didn't like TOS either)!

Now that I've learned more about it, I'm wondering if I'd feel differently: the whole hub-bub about Nimoy standing up to get the minority characters to be voiced by their original actors (Sulu & Uhura), the fact that TAS is now considered "canon" in the Trek universe - a continuation of TOS, and just word of mouth that I've heard or read that say some of the stories are actually very good and rival some of the best from TOS.

I didn't even consider Brent Spiner because most of his other characters were kind of derivatives of Data (his brother Lore, his creator, his creator's ancestor, etc.) or his body being taken over by aliens or appearing as various Holodeck characters.

Holodeck - I still don't like the idea - it was like a built-in device to jump the shark whenever they wanted to. Want to tell an out-of-continuity story that can never take place? Just have it happen on the Holodeck... who needs creative writing?

Like Commander Tucker said after experiencing a fully-immersive holo-experience (on an alien ship)... "If we had that, no one would ever leave home or go exploring." (not verbatum, but something to that extent.)

Fun with color...

I'm not that far into my trek yet...I just finished Catspaw and Friday's Child.

I think there's not much new content that can be added to the franchise unless its context is merely used as a skin to create regular drama, political intrigue, etc.

I couldn't find any re-colored or re-fitted costumes from TOS... but I did look.
(You'd think after 30 years of Internet & Photoshop, somebody would've done that by now... I'm sure someone did, I probably just can't find them.)