Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Star Trek: Future generations


"The City on the Edge of Forever", Episode 28, aired 4/6/67


I've had a sinus infection for the past few days, so I spent my day-off yesterday watching a few uncut episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series online at CBS.com. All I had to suffer through was four 15-second commercials; the mute button took care of that.

So far I've watched "A Piece of the Action", "The World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky", "City on the Edge of Forever", "Assignment: Earth", "The Enterprise Incident", "Turnabout Intruder", "This Side of Paradise","I, Mudd", "Miri", and yes, "The Trouble with Tribbles".

What has been truly wonderful is watching Star Trek with my girls. One night my husband and I made popcorn, took the laptop down to the living room, and we all sat on the couch watching "Tribbles". They've also seen many of the feature films as well, so they make comparisons about the Klingon make-up and how it looks more "realistic" in the films than on the TV show. But they love the camaraderie between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. They also saw the newest film and loved it as much as anything else they've seen of the Star Trek universe.

If the universal appeal of Star Trek is to continue, I think the connections need to be made between what was and what is being created now. Perhaps folks don't need to love TOS or TNG the way some of us do, but at least to see where it all began, how it continued.

It's like any other family tree: knowing where you came from gives an understanding of why you love these folks so much. They're a part of you. And this Star Trek story, whether we like it or not, is a part of us because it asks us to be better than we are, to be hopeful, and to reach for something that we're not sure we're capable of, and I'm not talking necessarily about spaceflight. I'm talking about all the citizens of this planet joining in a common purpose. For me, that is the hope of the Star Trek story. And because it's also the hope of the Christian story, perhaps that is why I love both stories so much.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I recently watched "The Menagerie," which I got on demand from Netflix. It's all so hopeful I can overlook the goofy parts. My kids adored the new movie, too.

Andy said...

Star Trek story does ask us to be better than we are, to be hopeful, and to reach for something that we're not sure we're capable of. I find that to be very inspiring.

Here's Jenna's take on the original series when she was 12:

"The special effects are really cheesy but the stories are good and I really like the characters so I can overlook them."

So true.

Cynthia said...

Yeah, but I like a little cheese now and then. And it is the stories that make the show so remarkable, the meaning beneath the story.

I watched "Shore Leave" yesterday. I had forgotten how similar "Fantasy Island" was to this episode, which was made at least 10 years before.

Songbird, I have a friend who swears the next Star Trek movie will take place on Talos IV, to either continue or give backstory to "The Menagerie".

Andy said...

Nah...they should avoid Taols IV in a big, bad way and bring on things that were only hinted at in the original series.
I'm done with Klingons and Romulans for awhile - let's see the gorn, baby!!

Jan said...

What a nice reflection on "Star Trek." Hope you're feeling better.