(I am aware there exists an 8 year old thread that's just a star trek general but this is specific to The original series and people who may not have seen it)
Star Trek the original series is on Netflix (and has been for a few months now) , it's also the re-mastered bluray editions of every episode which is a visual treat for the most part. (I don't have a problem with the CG special effects like some might) I've never really watched this show before,Certainly, it was on TV when I was a kid but I was always more attached to "TNG" . I felt the original series was hokey and cheap looking which made me change the channel. William Shatner has been parodied so much that he almost plays himself as a parody and... has been doing so since the 80's. So, for many reasons , watching this show on netflix has been my first real stab at going through the series. I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit!
I feel this was a good time to write this up because I just finished up the season 1 two-parter "The Menagerie" , an episode that has been referenced by a ton of pop culture over the years thanks to the beeping captain pike. It's roughly a 5th of the way through the series and at this point , pretty much everyone has had at least a bit of screen time AND after doing some reading , I've now seen both pilot episodes in a way. In some ways , I found "the menagerie" to be the first episode that felt like "star trek" if that means anything. Every episode prior to these 2 felt closer to twilight zone or The outer limits which , I'm told, was kind of the point. Each new planet visited could re-use sets from other shows and "because space" could always be the reason why it was so strange. I'm going to update this thread with my own impressions of each episode as I feel my way through the series.
1- "The Man Trap" - Many early episodes can be summed up with "space horniness" and well, the first episode is basically that. Some of the tropes here have been borrowed by many things later on and ultimately I enjoyed this one despite it's apparent reputation.
2-"Charlie X" - This time the "space horniness" effects the boy with special powers that gave this episode it's namesake to the detriment of the crew. Parts of this one were a nice look at crew life on the ship and some of it was just a bit odd. Still feels like a twilight zone episode on a ship to.
3-"Where no man has gone before" - Watching this one I was struck by how cheap it all looked and later learned it was the second pilot. Green spock and different uniforms aside , it's not too bad of an episode but again, it still manages to feel like Twilight zone rather then it's own thing.
4-"The Naked Time" - Some iconic Sulu moments in this one and due to the way it ends, it also feels a bit closer to what I think of as Star Trek. Pretty good episode.
5-"The Enemy within" - This is the episode I would cite as an example of Shatner actually being able to act. It again feels closer to a twilight zone episode and it also has a comical looking space dog but I liked this one.
6-"Mudd's Women" - seeing the netflix description , I fully expected to hate this one but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It's a goofier one for sure but also a nice tonal change of pace after the bleakness of the previous few episodes.
7-"What are little girls made of" - This episode again features some wanton space horniness expect this time it might be from the viewer
Seriously though, this one was a gooder and it guest stars Lurch from the adams family.
8-"Miri" - Possibly the strangest episode of what I've seen if only because Kirk pretty much has a child bride and one of the other kids featured in this one looks like a 14 year old John C Reilly. This one actually felt equal parts star trek/twilight zone to me.
9-"Dagger of the mind"- This one of incredibly similar to episode 7 , better in some ways , worse in others. The show kind of feels like it's coming into it's own thing by this point but the ending was still total twilight zone.
10-"The corbomite maneuver"- This one was apparently made just after the pilots and it shows thanks to some of the crew interactions , it feels a little less baked then some of the previous episodes but , by the end the Wizard of OZ influence helps it out.
11/12-"The Menagerie parts 1/2" - Something about this one really felt like full on proper star trek to me , I'm not quite sure why , perhaps it having more influence from star fleet command ? The idea of spock being on trial ? I'm not sure. But , it was an interesting way to throw in the original pilot as part of the canon.
Hopefully I can get through the rest of this series before it gets pulled off netflix , I wouldn't mind giving TNG a re-watch as well. I did sit through the pilot /series premiere which was... a bit mediocre.
So let's all gather around and be trekkies for a little while , for those who haven't seen the show before - it's on netflix , give it a watch. For those that have , give it a re-watch !
Star Trek the original series is on Netflix (and has been for a few months now) , it's also the re-mastered bluray editions of every episode which is a visual treat for the most part. (I don't have a problem with the CG special effects like some might) I've never really watched this show before,Certainly, it was on TV when I was a kid but I was always more attached to "TNG" . I felt the original series was hokey and cheap looking which made me change the channel. William Shatner has been parodied so much that he almost plays himself as a parody and... has been doing so since the 80's. So, for many reasons , watching this show on netflix has been my first real stab at going through the series. I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit!
I feel this was a good time to write this up because I just finished up the season 1 two-parter "The Menagerie" , an episode that has been referenced by a ton of pop culture over the years thanks to the beeping captain pike. It's roughly a 5th of the way through the series and at this point , pretty much everyone has had at least a bit of screen time AND after doing some reading , I've now seen both pilot episodes in a way. In some ways , I found "the menagerie" to be the first episode that felt like "star trek" if that means anything. Every episode prior to these 2 felt closer to twilight zone or The outer limits which , I'm told, was kind of the point. Each new planet visited could re-use sets from other shows and "because space" could always be the reason why it was so strange. I'm going to update this thread with my own impressions of each episode as I feel my way through the series.
1- "The Man Trap" - Many early episodes can be summed up with "space horniness" and well, the first episode is basically that. Some of the tropes here have been borrowed by many things later on and ultimately I enjoyed this one despite it's apparent reputation.
2-"Charlie X" - This time the "space horniness" effects the boy with special powers that gave this episode it's namesake to the detriment of the crew. Parts of this one were a nice look at crew life on the ship and some of it was just a bit odd. Still feels like a twilight zone episode on a ship to.
3-"Where no man has gone before" - Watching this one I was struck by how cheap it all looked and later learned it was the second pilot. Green spock and different uniforms aside , it's not too bad of an episode but again, it still manages to feel like Twilight zone rather then it's own thing.
4-"The Naked Time" - Some iconic Sulu moments in this one and due to the way it ends, it also feels a bit closer to what I think of as Star Trek. Pretty good episode.
5-"The Enemy within" - This is the episode I would cite as an example of Shatner actually being able to act. It again feels closer to a twilight zone episode and it also has a comical looking space dog but I liked this one.
6-"Mudd's Women" - seeing the netflix description , I fully expected to hate this one but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It's a goofier one for sure but also a nice tonal change of pace after the bleakness of the previous few episodes.
7-"What are little girls made of" - This episode again features some wanton space horniness expect this time it might be from the viewer
Seriously though, this one was a gooder and it guest stars Lurch from the adams family. 8-"Miri" - Possibly the strangest episode of what I've seen if only because Kirk pretty much has a child bride and one of the other kids featured in this one looks like a 14 year old John C Reilly. This one actually felt equal parts star trek/twilight zone to me.
9-"Dagger of the mind"- This one of incredibly similar to episode 7 , better in some ways , worse in others. The show kind of feels like it's coming into it's own thing by this point but the ending was still total twilight zone.
10-"The corbomite maneuver"- This one was apparently made just after the pilots and it shows thanks to some of the crew interactions , it feels a little less baked then some of the previous episodes but , by the end the Wizard of OZ influence helps it out.
11/12-"The Menagerie parts 1/2" - Something about this one really felt like full on proper star trek to me , I'm not quite sure why , perhaps it having more influence from star fleet command ? The idea of spock being on trial ? I'm not sure. But , it was an interesting way to throw in the original pilot as part of the canon.
Hopefully I can get through the rest of this series before it gets pulled off netflix , I wouldn't mind giving TNG a re-watch as well. I did sit through the pilot /series premiere which was... a bit mediocre.
So let's all gather around and be trekkies for a little while , for those who haven't seen the show before - it's on netflix , give it a watch. For those that have , give it a re-watch !