The Original Star Trek

Inspired by the enjoyable new Star Trek movie, I resolved to acquire the DVD release of the original 1960s television series, which was recently released in a newly-remastered edition with lots of extra material.  Almost 80 original episodes from the 3-year run give plenty of viewing pleasure.  It took me the entire summer to get through the set, but it was worth it.  This was high quality science fiction, and it is so interesting in retrospect to note scientific advances that the series' creators anticipated back in the 1960s, and to marvel once again at some of the superb character development.  Has there ever been a more intriguing character in a continuing series than Mr. Spock?  Leonard Nimoy's creation and development of that character is without peer.  William Shatner's Captain Kirk is also quite memorable, although I found his acting much less subtle than Nimoy's.  DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy was an enjoyable caricature, as was James Doohan's Scotty.  I have a soft spot for George Takei's Ensign Sulu, who was the sexiest member of the original cast, and, from the second and third seasons, Walter Koenig's Pavel Chekov.  Nichelle Nichols was underused as Lt. Uhura; I think if they were making that series today they would have given her a more prominent role, and there would have been one or two more women on the bridge of the Enterprise.  (The pilot show featured a woman as first officer, but network honchos of the 1960s doubted this would be believable, so the actress in question was reduced in rank to being a nurse in the sickbay when the regular series was launched and Mr. Spock was given the double role of first officer and chief science officer.) 

Seeing all three seasons in rapid succession also brought forcefully to attention the sharp decline in quality for the third season.  The network slashed the budget for the show and put it into the death slot - late Friday nights when viewership and thus sponsorship is lower - so they didn't have the same resources for sets and writers and script continuity suffered as well.  I've now begun the trek through the feature motion pictures, beginning with the famous "trilogy" of Star Trek II, III & IV.  I have to say that Shatner's work was much improved over the TV series in this larger format, and some of the supporting players were given much more to do, especially Koenig as Chekov.  The two films directed by Nimoy are terrific, especially Star Trek IV with its hilarious scenes set in late 20th century San Francisco.

In retrospect, a great opportunity was lost when the original cast was disbanded and the series suspended after three seasons...  But at least we have the treasure of those almost 80 episodes, now preserved in digital format (and the first season alternatively in HDVD).  Great care was taken over this remastering.  The color and definition are striking considering the source materials are from 40 years ago, during early days of color TV, and they have refurbished the soundtrack quite beautifully - voices are clear and well-defined, with a stereo rerecording of the theme music for opening and closing in digital stereo.  Any Star Trek fan without this should be eager to acquire it, even if they have earlier releases of this material.

Comments

[mattymatt]

Aren't those old episodes fun? In particular, I think "City on the Edge of Forever" is one of the best episodes of any show.

I agree that Uhura is underused. And speaking of the casual misogyny of the 1960s: after watching a whole bunch of episodes, I noticed that at almost no point does a woman ever address another woman. With only a few exceptions, the female characters speak exclusively to men. Weird.

[Robert Gable]

Earlier this year, I watched Season 1 with my 8-year-old daughter. It took me a couple of episodes to get over feeling it was cheesy, but at some point, we started really enjoying it.

I also found an old CD this summer of excerpts of music from the show by Alexander Courage. Weird and enjoyable.

[Art Leonard]

Of course, given what is possible today with CGI, the special effects from a 1960s TV series will appear somewhat amateurish. I think that for what they could do technically at that time, Star Trek was pretty good. And once they hit their groove in that first season, the scripts and characters made up for some of the shortcomings in the sets. (Why did the interiors of alien worlds always look either like sterile office buildings or medieval fortresses? Well, you can't have everything.) After spending a summer in the world of Kirk and Spock, I really miss them!

[John Boyer]

My wife gave me the complete original series on DVD a couple years ago as a Christmas present. We've been very slowly working our way through them; after nearly two years we're almost at the end of the first season.

The series has been criticized for its shoestring-budget special effects (perhaps unfairly) and for lapses into maudlin excess (perhaps justly), but I remain faithful to it. Sometimes I must remind Nancy to withhold her wisecracks, lest a screening degenerate into an episode of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000". I explain to her that I try to take each episode as seriously as the creators intended. I think they deserve at least that much.

You've touched on the many happy and sad points about the show's relatively brief run, so I'll not repeat them. But among the things that I enjoy are:

- Gene Roddenberry's palpable optimism about a future which, though filled with many problems and challenges, is worth living and looking forward to.

- The sense of adventure that's akin to that of Greek or Arthurian legend.

- The spartan simplicity of the Enterprise and her crew's lives, reminding me both of my days in the Navy and the idea that we don't need a lot of material stuff to lead meaningful lives.

- The intense nostalgia of seeing a show meant to exploit NBC's "In Living Color" motto, and the recollection of watching it with Mom and Dad in our living room with our new RCA color TV during what were the happiest years of my life.

Golly, it was a great show!