Star Trek

At the end of the day the question becomes: Is Star Trek a force for good in American society? Is it escapist nonsense that drags the American public deeper into delusion or is it a futuristic vision to be constructively contrasted with modern failures? I understand the argument of the former, but I prefer the latter. We need more positive visions in our media. Life should be respected. Differences should be respected. We have to work with one another. It's a trite message, but it's healthy.

TOS is ultimately a show I respect more than I like. I get why it was so groundbreaking and all that, but watching it today is a bit of a chore. Give me TNG or DS9 any day over this.

A lot better than I expected, even the worst episodes were still entertaining and had something of value to offer. Nimoy and Kelley had great chemistry, and Shatner is both charismatic and hilariously over the top. Only problem is that as the series went on the episodes became more repetitive, by the third season it became obvious they were running out of ideas. Still if you love sci-fi then you owe it to yourself to check this one out, it rightfully earned its legacy as far as I'm concerned.

Fairly junky television series that has managed to survive in different incarnations for fifty years: in part thanks to clearly-drawn characters and relationships; in part because it fed the new, interstellar fantasies of a generation that had borne witness to the birth of manned space flight; and in part because, in the depths of the Cold War, there arose a need for escapist dreams in which American adventurism somehow combines with a mission to spread some new, more rational form of peace.

When a rerun comes on, my Mom and I have a game where we try to name the title of the episode before the other person gets a chance. That is to say, Star Trek is not for the faint of heart - it's not simply the kind of show that improves over time, it enriches over your life. It represents a Golden Age of science fiction - when exploring the frontiers of culture, science, philosophy, and art was both unexpected and welcome. It went Boldly Where No Man Has Gone Before, and is iconic for a reason.

When you're diving into the past you encounter some episodes that don't age perfectly. Most episodes are one of 4 themes. "Woman learns empathy by kissing Kirk." "Man vs God." "The Machine is following orders wrong." "Oh no, the Kids have God powers." The first season had a unique tone and superior lighting / color. And by god I wish they kept the Pike pilot episode uniforms for the women characters because they looks 5x better than the mini skirts.

I haven't seen all the episodes but considering the structure of the show I'll make an exception and rate this anyway. Even disregarding its seminal role in the evolution of scifi television, this is a pretty great experience. Boldly visionary work that tackles a ton of interesting (or just fun) ideas with infinite camp charm and open minded optimism. The value of these qualities is easy to recognize nowadays but honestly there will never come a day when they are uncalled for.

Its cheesiness is only equaled by its brilliance. One of the most important science fiction shows of its era and of all time. Its very easy to get past the overacting of Shatner and the very low budget because the ideas presented are very well considered and it continues to define science fiction even 50 years later.

It is more interesting than most US TV from the era, but unfortunately that isn't a hugely high bar. Some episodes are pretty good, but many are awful. Shatner is remarkably charismatic and easily the strongest aspect. It's all incredibly dated; for example, the rampant sexism is painful to watch today, even if the treatment of race and gender was progressive in some ways for the time.

I've watched a few handfuls of the top-rated episodes, and they were decent, but I like the movies more (the first and the sixth one are, by far, my favorites).