The 40th Anniversary of Star Trek 327
Digitus1337 writes to mention the 40th Anniversary of the original Star Trek series. StarTrek.com's article has a look back at that first episode, and tries to explore the whys behind the popularity that followed it. From the article: "On the evening of the 8th of September, following Daniel Boone, this new NBC show premiered with an episode called 'The Man Trap.' The angle of the story was different, to say the least: It was a love story with a sci-fi twist, borne of a relationship from the doctor's past, featuring a monster that, in the end, just wanted to live. It was moving, tragic and anything but cheesy. The viewers -- at least the ones who were paying attention -- were hooked." Update: 09/09 16:16 GMT by Z : Just to be sure you're aware of it, Slashdot's own CleverNickName is celebrating the 40th anniversary by reviewing episodes of ST:TNG on TVSquad. He begins with "The Naked Now". You know, "You are fully functional, aren't you?"
Funny Interview with Shatner and Nimoy (Score:5, Interesting)
SHATNER: Money.
NIMOY: Yeah. The big, the big bucks.
SHATNER: Money. The money gets you fired up.
TOGETHER: The biiiig bucks.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/06/star.tre
Re:Influence on Technology? (Score:1, Interesting)
You have the wrong phone. Get a pdaphone!
Re:Influence on Technology? (Score:5, Interesting)
Tricorder v1.0 C [jeffjetton.com]
Re:Best captain (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Best captain (Score:3, Interesting)
Captains: Picard > Kirk > Sisco >> Archer > Janeway
Shows: TOS > TNG > DS9 >> Enterprise >> Voyager
But, clearly, YMMV.
of its time .. (Score:5, Interesting)
With hindsight the characters were a bit steriotypical. Scotty the Scotish engineer (what else). Nurse Christine Chapel and Spock as the token Alien.
And right in the middle of the cold war, there on the bridge was Sulu and Chekov, possibly the only Russian sounding name the viewer would be familiar with. Better that Svyatoslav Likhovtseva or that other guy perry stroika.
Ignoring the cardboard sets and the fact that all the alien planets looked the same it did make a huge impact. A number of scientists say they took their inspiration from it.
Re:Influence on Technology? (Score:3, Interesting)
Could have been the first inter-racial kiss... (Score:3, Interesting)
Star Trek (all of them) was crappy television. (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, they were both in re-runs by that time, but still opposite each other on Channels 9 and 33 in Baton Rouge, LA.
Friend's got a much better show (what was I at the time? seven or eight?): Star Trek. And the first episode I ever saw was "The Man Trap"
I didn't sleep that night.
Years later, in college, I'm still playing "name that trek" (First person to name the episode wins. If nobody names the episode 10s after it starts, game's over, no winner).
I won more than not. At a hardcore geek school (RPI).
Yes, I realize Star Trek was crappy television played by mediocre actors with lame special effects.
Preachy and unrealistic, the writing was among the worst literature ever produced.
The stories were so derivative of themselves they became exponentially worse each time another ST series or movie was produced.
And I still love it.
Star Trek, B5, Logan's Run, Anderson, Vonnegut, Bear, Benford, Brin, Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury, Niven (with and without Pournelle), Cherryh, Chalker, Leslie Fish, Le Guin, Van Vogt, Verne, Wells, Baen (let's not forget the BFL), Saberhagen, and a hundred others.
Either you're a SF fan or you're not.
And if you are, then you already know who's going to be in the spaceships when they land.
Re:It has lived long... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It has lived long... (Score:2, Interesting)
>
> - Using sex to try to improve ratings? Check.
With all due respect, this was hardly the first Trek show to do this. DS9 had no fewer than 2 lesbian saliva-string kisses.
Quite frankly, Hoshi and T'pol rubbin' each other with oil in the decontamination chamber was a welcome sight. One more season was all it would have taken...I'm sure of it!