Trek Talk Tuesday #1 : Series Intro



To keep a semblance of a regular schedule and because I've been getting back into Star Trek following the announcement of Sir Patrick Stewart's return as Captain Picard, I'm planning a new series for this blog called "Trek Talk Tuesday". Lord willing I will post something every Tuesday but life makes such promises fragile. Suffice to say I will do my best to post one of these every Tuesday.

I am of course more into Star Wars, Tolkien's Middle-earth and Battlestar Galactica (1978) then I am into Star Trek but I do enjoy it and in my own way, I love it. But don't expect me to be the fountain of nerd-knowledge here. Since this is my first post on Star Trek, I think a good place to start is establishing what parts I've seen and my overall feelings about the enterprise (pun intended). And in the coming weeks, I will look more in depth at some of the topics I will raise here.

I have seen all of The Original Series (TOS), at least I think I have. along with some of the Animated Series (TAS). I have seen most of The Next Generation (TNG), the opening episodes of Voyager (VOY), and the first two seasons of "Enterprise" (ENT). Regarding the movies, I have seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture (TMP), The Wrath of Khan (WoK), The Undiscovered Country (TUC), First Contact (FC), Insurrection (INS), Nemesis (NEM), and the first of the J.J. Abram's reboot series.

In addition, I have seen most of the incredible fan-made series Star Trek Continues (STC) and if you love TOS, you should definitely check this series out on YouTube.

If I were to rank the "Enterprise-Based" series (i.e. shows focused on a captain and crew of the Enterprise), then I would rank them like this:

1. The Original Series
2. Enterprise
3. The Animated Series
4. Next Generation

I know a lot of fans love TNG, but aside from Picard and Worf, there is little I like about that show. To be honest, it's episode-to-episode plots are just mind-bogglingly dull. It is literally a soap opera, and honestly, the writers and the designers seem embarrassed that the show is supposed to be Sci-Fi and try too hard to be something else. I don't demand Star Trek be all thrills and excitement with no deeper questions (ala J.J. Abrams), but the two concepts are not mutually exclusive. Not only do TOS and ENT have exciting but "philosophical" plotlines, but non-Trek shows such as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits and even Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Which for the first half of its run is Star Trek underwater) maintain this balance very well. Add to this the "philosophical musings" of TNG, a show that ran for seven seasons, all boil down to the same handful of topics - bigotry, Data and the meaning of humanness, individual good vs greater good - it gets stale on that end too.

What's odd about ENT for me is that while most find the first two seasons bad and the last two good, I stopped watching a few episodes into Season 3 precisely because I stopped liking it. The first two seasons had a nice assortment of adventures and philosophical problems but the second half of the show becomes too wrapped up in the mega-story of the temporal cold-war and the Suliban. My one MAJOR dislike is T'Pol because despite being an "emotionless" Vulcan she sure has a lot of anger and resentment. And, like Counsellor Troi in TNG, she never has to wear an actual uniform which is a small thing but to a visually oriented viewer, it is annoying.

TOS is the most visually and thematically fun series although my favorite episodes consist not of "City on the Edge of Forever" and other episodes of that nature but of the cheesier entries like "A Piece of the Action", "Patterns of Force" and "The Omega Glory."  I would also submit the character dynamic of TOS is the best in all of Star Trek.

Overall, I like the idea of Trek, but as a Christian and a Free-Market Capitalist, I, of course, have multiple philosophical issues with the series but in a way that makes it interesting because it keeps me on my toes and in tune to the what the character's and the writers are saying.

Well, there's my introductory remarks. Discussion topics are welcome, so if you have something about Star Trek you'd like me to discuss for a future installment of #TrekTalkTuesday then feel free to comment with it.

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