Lit Apropos of Nothing - ACKBAR IN CAPITALS - The Lit Forum Social Thread, v2.0.15

I. I survived. I know you were all worried about me.

II. Hm, y'know -- I'm not a huge Trekkie or anything, but I always found the movies more or less entertaining (I prefer the old ones with the TOS crew -- weird, since I never watched TOS). I think my favorite part about the movies was how even though they were part of the same series, they each had a different mood or feel to them. So I don't much mind them going a different direction with the reboot/alternate universe thing they're doing now.

Of course, as a more casual fan, I probably irritate the hardcore Trekkies as much as the movie-only SW fans irritate me... so I guess I'm just a huge hypocrite.

 

Liking the TOS movies without watching the TOS series is not weird- I grew up on the TOS movies (mostly 4 & (later) 6, but I occasionally watched 2 &3)- the Enterprise-A has always been "my" Enterprise, even though I was really into TNG later in childhood and always have a special place for the D.

Even then, as a kid, I couldn't watch any TOS episodes because the look, feel and overall tone was just so radically different.

 

Yeah exactly -- I remember watching 4 on TV and making a VHS recording, and then 6. I didn't even get to 2 and 3 (and 5, urgh) until my teenage years. So yeah, I suppose we're in the same boat. I also like the TOS films the best because the uniforms actually look militaristic -- all those shiny medals and rank insignia!

I think I saw some TNG as a kid, probably DS9 too? I certainly think of the D as much as the A when I hear that word.

And of course, there was that bizarre weird Trek ride at Vegas.

 

Yeah, we sound like we're on the same page more or less. TOS films, TNG and some DS9 (I got about 3 seasons of that in and maybe the first 1.5 of Voyager before I moved past Trek).

The more militaristic facet of the TOS films was due to Roddenberry losing control over the Trek sequels after ST1 underperformed. He actually disliked the TOS films on the whole, it seems. But he got his creative control over TNG, at least for the first few seasons. Then those that took over had to spent the next 10 fighting to work around, adjust or deconstruct his influence while simultaneously praising it.

 

Yeah, the nautical feel of the films really was a key element to their appeal (beyond the cast chemistry as well). Though, sometimes, they did take it too far- such as how they kind of forget the Enterprise/Federation ships have phasers, except in ST2. Beyond that, it's all torpedoes, torpedoes, torpedoes until the TNG films.

Well, if I can plug my thread in Amp, I've been going through all the shows for the past 6 years trying to come up with a list that whittles down the massive number of episodes into what episodes are essential (relevant to ongoing plotpoints, whether the episode is actually good or not), good, average or trash, etc.

It's all my opinion, of course- and some of the longer summary breakdowns at the end of each season may still be affected by the truncated post issue, but you might find it a useful starting point (and if you don't feel like digging through the thread for the seasonal breakdown summaries and/or they've been truncated, let me know and I can send the lists to you).

And, I'm not done with DS9 or VOY yet, nor have started ENT, but the TNG and early DS9 content are done and useful enough to be applicable, especially with the seemingly incredible Blu Ray restoration work being done.

 

Given the impending film release and the above conversation, I can't imagine there beinga more appropriate time to link to this video...

I'll note that, in case it's a concern, the actual episode reviews/summaries (especially as you hit TNG and they start to morph into flow of consciousness running commentaries) likely include spoilers (or, at the very least, specify what elements will return down the road, if I'm aware of them at the time i wrote those blurbs), but that the season-end lists themselves should be spoiler free, for the most part.

 

Morn's not bad, but he just wouldn't shut up.

 

The most recent film is basically TOS by way of Star Wars, in terms of style.

 

why trak why