Hi Dark, Well, keep in mind that the original series was produced on a shoe string budget. Back in the 1960's nobody thought Star Trek would become a big name production. At the time Star Trek was just one of several sci-fi series being shown along with Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Dr. Who, and so on. In other words people thought it was going to be a short term production.
Interesting enough there is a letter in one of the Star Trek books written by either Michael Jan Freidman or Peter David showing a letter they got from CBS when they asked why they canceled the original show. CBS said, "Star Trek was losing interest among their viewing audience, and in a few years it would be forgotten about and replaced by some other sci-fi show." I'm sure CBS is now sorry they sold the rights to Paramount Pictures who of course produced all 11 movies and four new television series making millions off the Star Trek series when CBS thought it would be dead and forgotten about. Lol! Anyway, you are right about the original series. Kirk was a risk taker, and seemed like he'd sooner shoot first and ask questions later. What Picard would have called "cowboy diplomacy." I suppose that was to give the series a more action packed feel to make up for the cheesy special effects and costumes of the time. I'm sure they were probably great in the 1960's, but once you seen Next Generation and beyond the 1960 Star Trek seems very dated in comparison. That said, they have an all new remastered version of the shows on blue ray where they went in and digitally remastered the classic Trek shows to look fairly modern. Which I think this is what contributed to why I didn't like Star Trek Enterprise. With Next Gen it takes place about 80 years after Star Trek VI, and of course the special effects, costumes, and technology was so much more advanced as you would expect after a transition like that. DS9 picked up the story starting in TNG season 6, and Voyager started around DS9 season 4 or so. In other words they continued in succession one after another advancing the story technology etc. Then, Paramount pulls a stupid move and comes up with Enterprise which takes place before the classic series. They wanted to bring back the classic feel so replicated the classic Star Trek uniforms, phasers, communicators, etc which I thought were pretty silly looking after TNG, and to add to insult the bridge set looked like something off of Voyager. In other words the special effects, costumes, and design was a horrible clash between old classic Trek and modern Trek series, and it was suppose to take place before the original Enterprise with Kirk. Everyone was put off by the way it was done, and didn't like this clash between old and new tech. They would have just been better off continuing on after Voyager and DS9 with a new Enterprise or a different ship altogether. Here is a case in point. Now, we know the Borg, the ultimate bad guys, we first encounter them in TNG, but Paramount decided to slip them into the Enterprise series rewriting history as we know it. According to Star Trek Enterprise when Captain Picard, who hasn't even been born yet, shoots down the Borg in Star Trek First Contact the Borg sphere crash lands in antartica. Well, Captain Archer and the crew of the original Enterprise discover this crashed Borg ship, bring a Borg onboard to study it, and the Borg try to take over the ship. The Borg manage to send a signal to the Borg fleet in the delta quadrant where upon the Enterprise NCC 1701-D, Picard's crew, encounter them in Q Who because of events in Star Trek Enterprise. Now, that might fit except in Q Who, when Q brings the Enterprise and Borg together for the first time, neither the Borg or the Federation are aware of each other. Thus the revised storyline doesn't fit. Otherwise Star Fleet would have been working their butt off to meet the threat. That's just the kind of storylines Enterprise is known for in order to bring bad guys etc into the series the Federation hasn't officially met yet and so on. I personally didn't like the way they handled the series because of historical plot changes like that. Cheers! On 7/11/11, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > as far as trek series go, well Enterprise is one I've not seen only heard > of. > > I watched most of tng and a good bit of ds9 and the first few series of > voyager on sky 1, but I seemed to miss enterprise. > > Though I've now got the three other series on dvd, I hesitate from buying > enterprise sinse I've just never met anyone with a good word to say about > it, and I deffinately don't like the sound of those plotholes. > > If I can ever find a comparatively cheap service who wrent series on dvd > I'll look at getting it that way. > > Like you, I'd much rather see something later, after voyager and ds9 than > just a rehash. > > Oh, and when it comes to the originals with captain kirk, I've seen many > episodes and actually also read all the novelizations by JAmes blisch (who > is a great sf writer in his own right and has captured the spirit of the > series fantastically well). > > I must confess though that's a series I don't wan to buy on dvd, sinse > unlike 1960's dr. who I just find it a litle too commically dated to be > really watchable. > > What I mean is, yes, if I watch dr. who from the 60's or 70's I have to put > my genda equality responses on ice, but in startrek it's not just that. > > The endless supply of expendable enterprise red shirts, Kirk's ability to > defeat any alien by punching it in the jaw (that's one of james' blisch's > best phrases), and the wonderful way the supposedly pieceful federation > ships seem to attack first quite a lot of the time. > > Needless to say, this was all a matter of the time the series was written, > and these things were well fixed in Next gen which is why next gen is my > favourite trek series, but for some reason I just can't get past them to > enjoy original trek as scifi. > > It's rolocking good fun, but not something I'd sit down and watch for > serious scifi. > > Beware the grue! > > dark. --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
