Star Trek TOS

The history of the show is well known to fans, but if you've come to this Lens relatively new to either the genre or the show in particular, I'll give you Vel's Abbreviated History of Trek. It goes something like this:

The show was originally sold to the networks as sort of a "Wagon Train to the Stars" (and I mention that now because it'll be important later), and apparently had been brewing in Roddenberry's head since sometime in 1964.

He got some network interest in the idea, and a pilot episode was commissioned (called, "The Cage"). Unfortunately, when the network execs saw the pilot, they complained that it was "too cerebral" for their audiences...not enough action. Now, normally, this is the kiss of death for a show that's not even out of the starting gate, but in an unprecedented move, the network executives of NBC greenlighted the development of a second pilot episode ("Where No Man Has Gone Before"). The suits liked the new pilot enough that they gave their blessing to the show, and Trek was officially on the map.

But hold on, because there's more to the story than that.

In "The Cage," the Enterprise was Captained by a man named Christopher Pike, and his First Officer was a young woman played by an actress named Majel Barrett. In this episode, the Captain referred to his XO as "Number One" (fans of the genre will no doubt recognize this title brought back to life in "The Next Generation").

Roddenberry wanted Majel Barrett to play the XO in the second pilot, but the network guys didn't like her. Thought she was "too pushy" and was "trying to hard to be like a man," so they pushed back, insisting that someone else play the second in command.

Spock was his second choice, but the network guys hated Spock, so he gave them a choice between the two. Essentially, Majel Barrett (and specifically, the network's reluctance in the late 60's to portray a woman in such a position of power) created one of the most iconic figures of the Trek Universe, the inimitable Mr. Spock.

So, the show was born.

It ran for a total of three seasons (79 Episodes, including the initial pilot), before being cancelled due to low ratings, and that should have been the end of it. Might have been, too, if not for the vocal fans.

Although the ratings had never been great, the fans the show did have were rabid supporters, and it wasn't long before Trek showed up in syndication, where it surprised nearly everyone by flourishing, gathering an increasing number of fans to it.

People everywhere were talking about this show that would not die, and although it lingered on alone...just one of a great many sci fi offerings out there, the day would come when the networks would again take a chance on the franchise, and the results would shock everyone (well, everyone but the fans!)

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Undoubtedly, one of the keys to Star Trek's long term survival has been its ability to periodically reinvent itself.

Shortly after the demise of the original series, the show reappeared in animated form (1973 - 1974) though later, Roddenberry got the network to distance itself from the animated series as non canonical.

There followed a considerable lull, during which time the show only made its presence felt by way of network syndication, but it went big screen in 1979 with the release of "Star Trek, The Motion Picture," and despite mixed reviews and having come in over budget, was successful enough that a sequel movie was proposed, and so it began, with a total of ten Trek movies coming out periodically...eleven, including the most recent offering, released May of 2009.

In addition to the big screen pictures, however, Trek continued to thrive not only in its original form, but with an impressive four spinoff shows:

Star Trek - The Next Generation (1987 - 1994)
Deep Space Nine (1993 - 1999)
Star Trek - Voyager (1995 - 2001)
Enterprise (2001 - 2005)

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Star Trek's influence on the world around us is unmistakable for a couple of reasons. First, because much of the technology we use today bears an uncanny resemblance to the devices used in the original series, and second, because many of today's Captain's of Industry admitted that they grew up on Trek and thought all the exotic devices "looked cool" (source, the made-for-television documentary: "How William Shatner Changed the World").



But don't take my word for it, or theirs for that matter. Just take a look at a few of the examples and bear in mind that as you watch (or re-watch) the episodes a little later, you'll undoubtedly see more than just the ones that this text has been written between.



Floppy Disks (already obsolete, but absolutely predicted), Uhura's communications device looks a whole lot like today's BlueTooth. A modern MRI machine looks like the design could have been taken from McCoy's sickbay, and Communicators can easily be seen as prototype designs for today's flip phones.

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The observant reader will have no doubt noticed that these things, while intriguing, do not really cut to the core and answer the question posed at the outset of this lens. That is to say, while it is all very well that the world around us has been influenced by the phenomenon we know as Star Trek, it really doesn't answer the central question of why that particular mythos resonates so loudly and deeply within us that we keep returning for more, and let's face it...it does.

Can you name me any other sci fi series that has had such an impact? Space 1999? Days of our Lives in Outer Space. BattleStar Galactica? The original destroyed itself with its sheer silliness, and while the remake is a fine addition to the genre, it lacks the history and staying power of Trek. Buck Rogers? I'll grant you that Erin Gray in a jumpsuit was undoubtedly fodder for many a teenage fantasy, but outside of that gimmick, it didn't have much in the way of staying power.

Some would say Star Wars, but Lucas himself did considerable damage to his own canonical materials in my opinion, and again, a total of six movies and an animated series doesn't stack up all that favorably with eleven movies and a total of five spinoffs from the original.

No matter how you slice it, Star Trek is the 800 pound gorilla in the Sci Fi "room," and I believe there are two keys why this is so.

The first has to do with Roddenberry's vision. Bear in mind that when Star Trek first aired, the Cuban Missile Crisis was still a fresh memory in the minds of many, if not most Americans. We were up to our collective necks in the Vietnam war, and in the thick of a terrifying 'Cold War' with Russia, and here comes Roddenberry, who shows us an optimistic future where we have managed to solve our various troubles and come together as a people (it was not an accident, nor idle chance that put a black woman, an oriental male and a Russian (a Russian!) on the bridge crew of the Enterprise, to say nothing of an alien from another world!

In Roddenberry's future, not only did we overcome all the troubles of our bloody past, not only did we unite under a common banner to "explore strange, new worlds," but when we found alien life out there, we tended to invite them into the fold (if they were technologically similar, of course...our own "rules of engagement"--known in Trek parlance as 'The Prime Directive'--prohibited us from interfering with advancing civilizations). And in addition to that, while there were some pundits who railed against the evils and dangers of technology, in Roddenberry's world, our technology and cleverness had proved to be mostly good things!

In short, his message of optimism and belief in the human race was exactly what we wanted and needed to hear, at the precise moment when we needed to hear it, and that is, in this author's opinion, one of the key reasons why, even though the show was pulled after only three seasons, it simply refused to die.

We needed it.

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At some point, and I'm not precisely sure when, a curious thing happened in the Star Trek universe.

I don't think it was the case that people were getting tired of the mythos. If that were true, then this latest movie would not have done as well as it did in theaters. Rather, I think that Star Trek became sort of victim of its own success. A victim of Roddenberry's own vision.

What I mean by that is simply this: Gene Roddenberry showed us a world where we had come together, solved and sorted out our various problems, and charged off into the unknown to peacefully colonize the galaxy.

But it was all very...clean. Antiseptic. Sterile. And the only way to introduce conflict into that environment was to bring it in from the outside...external threats had to be increasingly (and eventually, almost comically so) evil, in order to offset the goodness and tidiness of the Federation. Later movies attempted to put a bit of grime on the Federation's unsoiled uniforms, but didn't do it terribly well, and things tended to spiral downward) until the whole thing began to appear as little more than a politically correct parody of itself.

The more spinoffs they did (even when they consciously tried to steer clear of that path), the more antiseptic and sterile the whole thing seemed to get.

Chinks started to appear in the armor (or rather, the 'hull plating') of the mighty Enterprise, and the door opened a crack for something new and different. In my opinion, that's exactly why the remake of Battlestar Galactica was so well received. It offered us a stark contrast to the overbearing cleanliness of Star Trek. It was dark and gritty and raw, and we needed that. Star Trek needed that, for I believe that the success of BSG made it 'okay' to contemplate essentially a reboot of the Star Trek franchise, which is what this new movie represents. A sort of "going back to the root," and that's a good thing!

Oh, one last point before moving on. I mentioned earlier that when Roddenberry initially pitched the idea of Star Trek to the networks, he described it as sort of a "Wild West in Outer Space." A Wagon Train to the Stars.

The original series definitely captures that spirit, as does the show "Enterprise" that followed much later, but in my mind, the only other series to effectively tap into that rich vein has been "Firefly," which was a fine bit of science fiction by any definition, and probably can be seen as the spiritual cousin to Star Trek for that reason, so if this Lens has made you hungry for more things Trek related, Firefly, and it's sister movie, Serenity are well worth a look!

But I digress...

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Just as important as Roddenberry's vision in explaining the sheer staying power of what he created is another, subtler factor.

It's one that's often overlooked, in my opinion, because viewers today will watch an episode and chuckle at its antiquated special effects and sometimes over the top acting (especially by Shatner) and write the whole thing off as a low budget, somewhat campy series, typical of the era it was produced in.

That, I think, sells the series short and doesn't do the storytelling justice, and I'm not saying that as a blindly supportive fan. I say that as a writer myself, and as a storyteller, I am constantly amazed at the quality of the writing in these old episodes.

Besides Roddenberry himself, we have such recognizable names as D.C. Fontana, Harlan Ellison, and Gene Coon, and if we take a closer look at the themes developed in their stories, I think you'll see that there was a whole lot more going on than first meets the eye, but don't worry...I'm not about to turn this into a dry, crusty examination of the work like you might get from your high school English teacher. Rather, my intention in Lenses related to this one is to turn the exploration of the old episodes into an interactive event so we can explore together!

What follows then, is a listing of the episodes that constitute The Original Series.

My next several Lenses will take these episodes one at a time, and look at them under the microscope in a different sort of way than I've ever found, online or anywhere else, and believe me, before I started this lens, I looked.

My hope is that together, we'll be able to shed some new light on something that I'm pretty sure most folks are convinced tapped out. Move along, move along, nothing new to see here...except I'm betting we'll prove them wrong. ;)

To take a look at what I've got in mind going forward, scroll down and click on one of the links that has already been activated and have a look for yourself.

Watch the episode first, or not, as you prefer, but you should know that the episode specific Lenses are basically giant spoilers for the episodes they delve into, so if you've not seen them before and want to watch them for pure entertainment value, definitely watch first and read second (but you may find yourself wanting to watch 'em again after you read, which is fine too...they're certainly good enough to warrant that!)

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Watch This Space! More in-depth examinations of episodes are coming...as Seth says...drip, drip, drip. ;)

For now, have a look at:

The Man Trap - S1E1

Charlie X - S1E2

Whether you're watching them free online, or tuning into the Sci-Fi Channel, or watching them from your collector's edition DVD's, you can get more out of your viewing experience by taking your Home Theater system to the next level.

To find out how, check out my new Home Theater Setup Lens!

If this is the kind of television you enjoy, you can get plenty more where that came from by giving yourself the gift of satellite TV. Why satellite over cable? Two reasons, primarily. First, because historically, satellite is the more reliable of the two services, with fewer "no service" days (5% for the cable industry vs. less than 1% for satellite), and second, you get more of the channels you want for the same, or less money. I'm a diehard bargain shopper, so I'm forever looking for deals like that. And

StarDate
6.22.09 - Added Change Log
7.03.09 - Added S1E2 Lens Link!