'Star Trek' Lives Long and Prospers on 50th Anniversary

Discussion in 'Music, TV, Movies & other Media' started by Space_Time, Sep 8, 2016.

  1. Space_Time

    Space_Time Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Messages:
    12,422
    Likes Received:
    1,965
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I wonder if it has run its course for a while. Which is your favorite show/episode in the star trek universe? How much longer will the franchise continue?

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/star-trek-lives-long-prospers-50th-anniversary-n644801

    'Star Trek' Lives Long and Prospers on 50th Anniversary
    by ADAM HOWARD
    "Star Trek" has lived long and prospered.

    Fifty years ago Thursday Gene Roddenberry's visionary TV series debuted on NBC. It was not an instant success — in fact, it was canceled just three years later — but a famously devoted fanbase kept the sci-fi epic alive and it has since spawned numerous hit TV spin-offs and over a dozen blockbuster films that have dominated the box office for 35 years.

    The show, which followed the exploits of a 23rd century crew of interstellar explorers (working for the fictional United Federation of Planets, or "Federation"), distinguished itself with its intricate plotlines that often featured prescient social commentary, and its colorful cast of characters including the logical half-human Spock, the compassionate Dr. "Bones" McCoy and the purely passionate Captain James T. Kirk.

    And, like so many other pop culture phenomenons, fans have projected all sorts of sociopolitical meanings onto "Star Trek" in the decades since it first aired.

    Play'Star Trek' celebrates 50th anniversary Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed
    'Star Trek' celebrates 50th anniversary 7:07
    Progressives tend to take note of what appears to be a humanitarian and environmentalist streak in the show. It takes place in a relatively Utopian world where there is no money (which has inspired a book called "Trekonomics") and the distinctly diverse series also boasted the first interracial kiss in television history (provoking the ire of Southern affiliates) just a year after the Supreme Court's legendary Loving v. Virginia ruling. The series is still breaking new ground today, with the latest big screen adaptation outing the character of Sulu as gay.

    Related: George Takei Says Portraying Sulu as Gay Is a 'Twisting' of 'Star Trek'

    The original series' nuanced portrayal of characters of different species and racial backgrounds working amiably together even made an unlikely fan out Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

    In 2011, Nichelle Nichols, the African-American actress who portrayed Uhura on the 1960s television show and later in six successive feature films, recounted how Dr. King revealed himself as a Trekkie at an NAACP fundraiser and encouraged her to stay on the TV series instead of taking a Broadway role because she had become a "symbol" for young black women.

    View image on Twitter
    View image on Twitter
    Follow
    Black Shadow @MissToni2U
    a Star Trek fan. Commander in Chief POTUS Barack Obama & Nichelle Nichols. #StarTrek
    9:22 AM - 8 Sep 2012
    Retweets likes
    Nichols would be welcomed to the White House by another unabashed "Star Trek" fan, President Barack Obama, the following year. Ironically, the fictional character to which the president is most often linked is the cerebral, thoughtful Spock, and it's a comparison that Obama has shied away from.

    In a 2011 interview with Barbara Walters, the president said the biggest misconception about him is, "Me being detached, or Spock-like, or very analytical."

    Meanwhile, conservatives have found plenty to champion in the "Star Trek" canon, in particular the so-called "Prime Directive," a recurring theme throughout the iterations that former "Star Trek: Voyager" cast-member Robert Beltran recently referred to as "fascist crap." It calls for the heroes to not intervene in other interplanetary squabbles. Last fall, writer Timothy Sandefur even went so far as to argue in The Federalist that the entire series is a symbol of the decline of liberalism in the post-Kennedy era.

    Former presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz has certainly seized onto the more individualistic ideals of the show, appearing to liken himself to Kirk in the past and declaring the character was likely a Republican, much to the chagrin of the actor who originally played him, the irascible William Shatner.

    Follow
    William Shatner ✔ [MENTION=32094]William[/MENTION]Shatner
    Star Trek wasn't political. I'm not political; I can't even vote in the US. So to put a geocentric label on interstellar characters is silly
    12:48 PM - 23 Jul 2015
    781 781 Retweets 1,492 1,492 likes
    "I think 'Star Trek,' to its credit, tries to take on big political and moral issues, and it's natural that people who are interested in these issues would project them onto 'Star Trek' or use it as a foil," said George Mason University Law School Professor Ilya Somin, who has written extensively in the past on the politics of the series. "I think it's a great franchise, but it also takes some very wrong stances. Particularly in 'The Next Generation' and in the succeeding shows, its very sympathetic to socialism."

    Still, Somin concedes that part of the show's strength is in its philosophical conflicts — for instance, if you believe that progressivism is inherently more logical or humane, you may believe that the triumph of Spock or McCoy's perspective in a particular episode is a validation of your own worldview.

    Regardless of the politics, Somin attributes much of the franchise's success to its aspirational nature.

    "Part of its appeal is that it offers people hope for this future of abundance of freedom and prosperity, where we have overcome some of the problems that plague us in our time — whether it be racism or poverty or war," he said.

    Related: Celebrating Leonard Nimoy: 5 lessons that Spock from 'Star Trek' taught us

    It's precisely how the major characters overcome their differences of opinion — and in some cases, background — that make the show special, according to Daryle Lockhart, vice president of the African-American Film Critics Association, and a die-hard Trekkie since the age of 7.

    "It's not just about skin color, it's about philosophy, it's about ideology," he said. "If you don't have that diversity of different points of view, it's going to be difficult to explore past your backyard. As a universe, it sort of is as middle of the road as you get."

    It's the shows contradictions that have always appealed to Lockhart. The fact that the Prime Directive is always portrayed as of vital importance — until it's not. How the show's philosophies towards peace, violence and technology can shift from week to week, or how its existential questions are never fully resolved.

    Image: John Cho and Zoe Saldana in "Star Trek Beyond"
    John Cho and Zoe Saldana in "Star Trek Beyond." Paramount Pictures
    For instance, Lockhart points out how the Klingons, who are frequently cast as adversaries to the Federation, can be seen as stand-ins for any cultural boogeymen at the moment — the Russians, the Chinese, etc. — and yet one of their own, Worf, becomes a trusted security chief and lieutenant commander in a later iterations of "Star Trek."

    "Cooperation is really what its about. They show that it's not just your way or the highway. You need another opinion to balance things to balance things out" he said, citing the original show's most acclaimed episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever," as an example of a coalescence of competing viewpoints.

    Kirk, Bones and Spock have traveled to the past and they discover that a woman's death will set a chain of events into motion of historic significance. But Kirk, not atypically, falls in love with the woman, and the three men must make an emotional and heady choice about whether or not to change the future.

    Competing viewpoints reaching the best possible consensus? Sounds like a total rebuke of Trumpism.

    Lockhart agrees, pointing out that that original show and its spin-offs take place in a idyllic world which has nevertheless been rebuilt in the aftermath of devastating war that left 50 million people dead.

    "Trump will get us to this Utopian future," he quipped. "It's just the worst possible path."
     
  2. Space_Time

    Space_Time Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Messages:
    12,422
    Likes Received:
    1,965
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I had no idea Lucille Ball helped save Star Trek:

    https://www.wired.com/2016/09/imagining-a-world-without-star-trek/

    What if Star Trek Had Never Existed?

    The original Star Trek was a failure.
    CBS passed on the show during the pitch process. NBC saw the first pilot, an episode called “The Cage” starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike, and rejected it. The network asked for another pilot, but creator Gene Roddenberry was already working on other projects, including a cop show called Police Story. And even though NBC asked for a second pilot, the show’s studio, Desilu Productions, didn’t want to pony up any cash to make it. Star Trek, it seemed, would never make it to air.
    READ MORE STAR TREK
    •
    Star Trek’s 100 Most Important Crew Members, Ranked


    Love Classic StarTrek? You Owe a Huge Debt to Gene L. Coon

    ________________________________________
    •
    Catching Up WithStar Trek IV’s True Hero: the Unkind Punk on the Bus


    But it did. Lucille Ball, who co-founded Desilu with her then-husband Desi Arnaz, agreed to help finance a new pilot over the objections of her own board of directors. A new episode—”Where No Man Has Gone Before,” starring William Shatner as James T. Kirk—was filmed, NBC picked up the show, and Star Trek eventually hit American living rooms on Sept. 8, 1966.
    But what if it hadn’t? What if NBC hadn’t wanted another pilot? Or if Roddenberry had been too busy producing the first season of Police Story to make one? In that mirror universe, the next 50 years of sci-fi TV and movies look much different. So does the cultural breadth of television casts. So does your yearly pilgrimage to Comic-Con International. Our lives would be very different without Trek—and we almost didn’t get it.
    Science Fiction About Us
    Even trying to imagine a world without Star Trek is like visiting an alternate world as weird as any planet theEnterprise ever voyaged to. And, obviously, it’s impossible to prove a counterfactual, especially one about a show that has now had so many incarnations in TV, film, and other media. But the fact of the matter is even though the Space Age was in full swing in the mid-1960s and shows like Irwin Allen’s sci-fi hits Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space were getting attention, nothing as smart and sprawling as Star Trek had ever been seen before. Where Lost in Space was a kid-friendly show that aired at 7:30 p.m., Roddenberry’s show was a more mature version of sci-fi, one that aired in a more adult-oriented timeslot.
    And if that second Trek pilot hadn’t happened for whatever reason, NBC might have filled the gap with another goofy Irwin Allen show. The network did, after all, consider picking up two Allen productions in the late 1960s: Man From the 25th Century and City Beneath the Sea. But based on interviews with over a dozen experts, one truth emerges: If Gene Roddenberry hadn’t been willing to fight for his show, and Lucille Ball’s studio hadn’t been willing to take a chance on it, nobody else might have been able to make something as visually and intellectually ambitious as Trek.
    I think a lot of the other science fiction of the day was more fear-oriented: ‘Look at this crazy alien.’ It was one-dimensional science fiction.EUGENE 'ROD' RODDENBERRY
    “I think that Star Trekemerged from a unique convergence of very special talents, and it is very possible that in their absence, nothing of a similar quality would have appeared,” says science fiction scholar Gary Westfahl, author ofThe Mechanics of Wonder, adding that it’s easy to imitate the pulp 1930s space-opera of E.E. “Doc” Smith (as George Lucas and others later did), but vastly harder to imitate the more mature space adventures of Robert A. Heinlein (the way Roddenberry did).
    And that’s really the crux of what made Star Trek different, especially for American TV of the time: It showed space exploration as a serious endeavor, one undertaken by a crew of professionals. That vision had existed in print science fiction for years, but it was extraordinarily difficult to bring to the screen.
    “He made a science fiction series about humans, about us,” Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry says of his father. “I think a lot of the other science fiction of the day was more fear-oriented: ‘Look at this crazy alien. Look at them attacking us.’ It was one-dimensional science fiction.”
    Star Trek got those additional dimensions by unifying disparate strands. Long before sci-fi allegories like Battlestar Galactica, the show was combining 1930s pulp space opera with the rising tide of social criticism in 1960s sci-fi novels. Trek also tied together the thought experiments of The Twilight Zone with Western-style action and Captain Video-style space adventure. Without that pioneering work, it’s not hard to imagine today’s world of sci-fi movies and TV looking very different.
    However, the most influential science fiction TV show is not Star Trek—it’s The Twilight Zone. According to J.P. Telotte, author of the book Science Fiction TV, Rod Serling’s groundbreaking anthology show proved that science fiction could be “something more serious and connected to the real world,” and in the process made Star Trek possible. But where Twilight Zone raised thorny issues, Trek became part of the national conversation about racism and the Vietnam War, all while reinventing the space opera.
    And while sci-fi had a huge year on the big screen in 1968 with the release of both 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes, neither film had much impact on television—and definitely not the impact Star Trek enjoyed. In fact, without Trek, live-action sci-fi might have drawn primarily from Planet of the Apes, suggests science fiction scholar Henry Jenkins. In that case, “it would have been a bit goofy and larger-than-life, though much less campy than Lost in Space at its worst carrot people moments,” says Jenkins.
    Without Star Trek, the main model for sci-fi might have been Planet of the Apes.
    In the UK, science fiction was already blossoming on TV: Doctor Who had launched a few years prior, and The Avengers and UFO were both heading to telly. But when it comes to elevating the profile of sophisticated space dramas in the States, Trek was key. And, thanks to reruns, it remained the polestar of the genre through the 1970s. It wasn’t until 1987, when Star Trek: The Next Generation arrived, that small-screen sci-fi really began to proliferate.
    The economics of television changed fundamentally in the late 1980s, thanks in large part to the rise of cable TV and direct-to-syndication programming—both of which helped break the three-network stranglehold that had prevented Star Trek from thriving, says Manu Saadia, author of Trekonomics. And while the ensuing boom might have happened without TNG, there’s no doubt the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and crew helped inspire that wave. “The resurgence in SF TV that began with TNG would have likely been very different—or even non-existent” without Star Trek, says M. Keith Booker, co-author of The Science Fiction Handbook.
    With TNG, Star Trek proved that its real draw was just its expansive universe, full of different creatures and cool story ideas. By adding more TV shows, including Deep Space Nine and Voyager, to its legacy, Trek “started a ball rolling that has gotten bigger and bigger,” says Telotte, and the sheer wealth of material in various media “makes it hard to avoid the Star Trek influence.”
    Without the original Star Trek, filmed science fiction might be pretty different. But without The Next Generation, it’s almost impossible to imagine what television might look like now. Babylon 5. X-Files. Battlestar Galactica. Firefly. The Expanse. Would all of these shows have emerged from the ether? Possible—but not likely.
     
  3. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2009
    Messages:
    30,071
    Likes Received:
    1,204
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Sir Patrick Stewart to reprise Star Trek role Jean-Luc Picard...
    [​IMG]
    Sir Patrick Stewart to reprise Star Trek role Jean-Luc Picard
    4 Aug.`18 - Sir Patrick Stewart is boldly going where he has been before - by reprising the Star Trek role of Jean-Luc Picard.
     
    Gatewood likes this.
  4. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    Patrick Stewart has gone full SJW!

    Bring back Sisko or Janeway they were bad ass.
     
  5. Jonsa

    Jonsa Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2011
    Messages:
    39,871
    Likes Received:
    11,452
    Trophy Points:
    113

    Locutus of borg. 'nuff said.
     
    Liberty Monkey likes this.
  6. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Apr 23, 2017
    Messages:
    27,703
    Likes Received:
    21,104
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Star Trek (2009 remake) was my favorite, due in notable part to Karl Urban's portrayal of Bones (one of my favorite actors playing one of my favorite characters). The two since then were meh. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country comes in at a close 2nd with the final season or two of DS9 (The entirety of the war with the Dominion) ranking 3rd, IMO
    I've only seen the first two episodes of Discovery, and they were enjoyable. I'll get around to watching the rest at some point, I'm sure...
    Star Trek Online is a pretty fun game as well (I play it off and on- off recently, but I will again).
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2018
  7. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    In the pale moonlight Star Trek's finest moment period.

    Wrath of Khan is also amazing.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2018
    Max Rockatansky likes this.
  8. Lil Mike

    Lil Mike Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2011
    Messages:
    51,287
    Likes Received:
    22,667
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Full SJW? Why do you say that? Is it because the new show: Star Trek: Transformations, is about Picard undergoing sex re-assignment surgery?
     
  9. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    You've not seen Insurrection then lol

    [​IMG]

    Inner light and Best of both worlds were amazing but Picard was consistently a big girls blouse.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2018
    Lil Mike likes this.
  10. HereWeGoAgain

    HereWeGoAgain Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2016
    Messages:
    27,942
    Likes Received:
    19,979
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Your picture matches your post very nicely. Great job!
     
  11. Jonsa

    Jonsa Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2011
    Messages:
    39,871
    Likes Received:
    11,452
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Garak is one of my favorite characters.
     
    Liberty Monkey likes this.
  12. HereWeGoAgain

    HereWeGoAgain Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2016
    Messages:
    27,942
    Likes Received:
    19,979
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Best body - 7 of 9.

    I was talking with a work associate recently who is about to retire. His dad was an L.A. cop whose best friend was Gene Roddenberry. He has photos of his dad and Roddenberry screwing around at the beach. And they met because Roddenberry was a cop as well.

    When my associate was a kid, not long after Roddenberry quit the police force, his dad took him to visit the studio where Roddenberry was making his first attempt at a TV show; one that never made it. It was a show about cops. While he was there he saw a bunch of film clips on the floor and asked what they were. Roddenberry said it was something he was working on for a new idea - something called The Cage; what became the pilot for Star Trek. My buddy said he's still kicking himself for not grabbing those clips. Each frame would have been worth real money and they were all over the floor - all lost scenes and frames.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2018
    Liberty Monkey likes this.
  13. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2018
  14. Jonsa

    Jonsa Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2011
    Messages:
    39,871
    Likes Received:
    11,452
    Trophy Points:
    113

    Hey, you think the Emissary is going to be a wuss?
    He saved the friggin universe and the prophets from the pah-wraith by throwing himself and Dukat off a friggin cliff. Okay so he just moved to the "celestial temple" but he didn't know that when he went 100% bad ass.
     
    Liberty Monkey likes this.
  15. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    ST:TNG Best of both worlds and then Inner light
    DS9 In the Pale moonlight is the best episode although it has a lot of competition it elevates itself by turning Sisko and Garak into anti heros. I really like Paradise as well.
    Voyager Living Witness is really good but hard to pick the best one, Voyager got a lot better after season 3 before that it was a bit too SJW.
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2018
    Jonsa likes this.
  16. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
  17. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    May 15, 2017
    Messages:
    34,625
    Likes Received:
    11,202
    Trophy Points:
    113
    The old ones are classic. The new versions keep getting worse and worse and worse... can't bear to watch some of them.

    I feel like the movie culture (or maybe culture in general?) is deteriorating...
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2018
    Liberty Monkey likes this.
  18. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    The new Star Trek films are throw back to late 90's PSone games.

    Lens Flare!
     
  19. Jonsa

    Jonsa Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2011
    Messages:
    39,871
    Likes Received:
    11,452
    Trophy Points:
    113
    "Let that be your last battlefield" is my favorite of the original series.

    And as I type this, I realize my favorites list is rather a long one. A die hard trekker since the first episode "the cage".
     
    Liberty Monkey likes this.
  20. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    Dukat was badass and had real depth. Not just a bad guy but a layered villain that was capable of great compassion as well as atrocities. Something TNG never managed beyond a 2 parter, the only proper character than grew in TNG was Q.



     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2018
  21. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female


    I also just realised what bugged me about voyager all these years. The 1st 3 seasons they tried to treat it as normal Star Trek like TNG but after season 4 when 7 comes, Kes leaves and Janeway turn from SJW to the southern Badass she was always meant to be. They finally remembered they were meant to be getting home and ditched the Kazon which were appalling villains.
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2018
  22. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    Garak though is the best character in DS9
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2018
    Durandal likes this.
  23. Liberty Monkey

    Liberty Monkey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2018
    Messages:
    10,856
    Likes Received:
    16,450
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
  24. HereWeGoAgain

    HereWeGoAgain Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2016
    Messages:
    27,942
    Likes Received:
    19,979
    Trophy Points:
    113
    One of my favorite episodes of TOS was Let That Be Your Last Battlefield. They hated each other because they were black and white on opposite sides. Brilliant!

    [​IMG]

    It reminds me of a story my father told me. When he was a kid, they had regular wars in a vacant lot with kids from the other side of the block. When I asked why, he said "Because they were from the other side of the block".
     
    Liberty Monkey likes this.
  25. Max Rockatansky

    Max Rockatansky Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2013
    Messages:
    25,394
    Likes Received:
    8,172
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Awww, sheee-it. I looked up the DS-9 episode on IMDB and it's rated a remarkable 9.4 plus the entire series streams on Amazon Prime --- so now I'll have to watch it tonight and you've probably going to get me hooked on watching all 7 seasons!

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708557/

    Agreed Wrath of Khan is awesome. My next favorite is "Voyage Home" since it had a lot of the humor that was often found in the series.

    One of my most memorable Star Trek NG episodes was Chain of Command Part II where Picard is captured and tortured/brainwashed. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708687/
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2018
    Liberty Monkey likes this.

Share This Page