The title "Star Trek"

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by dub, Sep 20, 2012.

  1. Duncan MacLeod

    Duncan MacLeod Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    IIRC, one of the NASA administrator's relatives served on the WWII carrier Enterprise, the shuttle was named after her.
     
  2. inflatabledalek

    inflatabledalek Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    It's one of those titles that just feels right isn't it? Nice and simple and straight to the point.

    Though I like Cosmos Patrol, it gives me mental images of a series all about the little fat green UFO Transformer flying about space.
     
  3. Maple Dog

    Maple Dog Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I was about to say that,on french canadian tv Star Trek was "Patrouille du cosmos"
     
  4. Valin

    Valin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    If they ever do a reboot/remake of 24th Century Trek, this has my vote as the perfect theme musc.
     
  5. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    It's elegant and to-the-point title just works. Could have helped, too, because just imagine all the cheesy sounding titles it could have had.

    - Space Patrol or Outer Space Patrol (redundant since all space beyond the Earth is outer or out there)
    - Star Trails

    I'm sure there are plenty others. Of course there could be positive alternatives. The Final Frontier or These Are The Voyages comes to mind.
     
  6. Defcon

    Defcon Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Starting with Deep Space Nine German TV used the original titles, so first "Enterprise", and later "Star Trek: Enterprise".

    Just in case you're curious: TNG was named "Raumschiff Enterprise - Das nächste Jahrhundert" ("Starship Enterprise - The next Century"
     
  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, there had already been a well-known US television series called Space Patrol in the 1950s, so naturally Roddenberry wouldn't have used that name. There was also a British marionette-based show of that name in 1963-4 (not from Gerry Anderson, and more realistic than his marionette shows) -- not to mention the German miniseries Raumpatrouille, meaning Space Patrol, which debuted only nine days after Star Trek premiered in the US!
     
  8. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    In Italy it was first broadcast under the name "Star Trek - Destinazione Cosmo" (Destination: Cosmos).
     
  9. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    It's possible they were also trying to distinguish themselves from earlier kids shows like "Tom Corbet, Space Cadet" and "Space Patrol."
     
  10. MarsWeeps

    MarsWeeps Fleet Captain Premium Member

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    I think in Japan, the title of the show translates into "Sulu: Master of Navigation!" :lol:
     
  11. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    That's a joke Shatner made in a Saturday Night Live monologue, which some people have confused for reality. See post #13 for what it's really called in Japan.
     
  12. MarsWeeps

    MarsWeeps Fleet Captain Premium Member

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    I know...I wondered if anybody remembered it. :)
     
  13. Mars

    Mars Commander Red Shirt

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    I wonder what the show would have looked like if they kept to the concept of wagon train to the stars? For one there was very little settlement in Star Trek, the show was about explorers not settlers. If it was to keep true to the wagon train concept it should have been about a number of families wanted to settle on a planet, they sell everything they had to purchase tickets on a starship to take them to a frontier planet so they can establish themselves, it would have been a very different Star Trek than the one we are familiar with, it would be about those families and not about a captain and his crew exploring various planets. I think the show Lost in Space was closer to the concept of Wagon Train to the Stars that Star Trek was.

    Star Trek and Lost in Space are actually siblings, they both descend from the same movie Forbidden Planet. Lost in Space take the flying saucer and the Robot, gives it another top, and replaces the Crew in Forbidden Planet with a Family, the Family is a science fiction version of the Swiss Family Robinson, and instead of being marooned on an Island, they are marooned on a planet. Star Trek by contrast takes the paramilitary crew of Forbidden Planet and expands the United Planets into the United Federation of Planets, the Forbidden Planet Saucer is expanded to a space only starship with projections sticking out of the saucer section.
     
  14. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    This is widely misunderstood these days... it wasn't "wagon train to the stars," it was "Wagon Train to the stars." Wagon Train was a successful Western TV series that was famous for its semi-anthology format; it had a standing cast of regulars, but a typical episode would focus on a featured guest star of the week as a member of the wagon train and deal with that guest star's particular drama. Roddenberry wasn't literally saying he wanted to do a show about a wagon train in space; he was saying he wanted to make a space drama that was similar in format and approach to the show called Wagon Train. Network executives in the '60s hearing "Wagon Train to the stars" would know exactly what he meant, because at the time Roddenberry first started pitching ST, Wagon Train was had been around for seven seasons and was still on the air. But today, the show is largely forgotten, so most people don't realize that Roddenberry was referring to a show title, not an actual wagon train.
     
  15. FreddyE

    FreddyE Captain Captain

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    Actually Voyager has been aired with two different titles. It was "Star Trek Raumschiff Voyager" when it first aired. On the DVDs and later repeats it was "Star Trek Voyager". It still comes up as "Star Trek Raumschiff Voyager" sometimes.
     
  16. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    This is a common enough misconception. When Roddenberry used Wagon Train as shorthand he wasn't referring to the format i.e. settlers traveling west. What he was referencing was the idea that the series wasn't set in one place, and that, like a wagon train with its many wagons and members of the party, the ship was big enough to have lots of people pop up for an episode, tell a story about them, and they could disappear again. Likewise, just as the wagon train could meet people along the route, his starship could meet people on various planets and on other ships it encountered.