What is it about TOS?

I think there's something in this.

Of the original Trek shows, only TOS presented us with human characters who were close enough to the audience to be relatable, but still far enough away to be plausibly futuristic.

(ENT came next closest, but maybe they made their humans too "modern" and "fallible", and not evolved enough..... which was kind of the whole point of the show, I know.)

The TNG crew were far too 'perfect' in that regard. They were futuristic space people, full of their own morals and the ways they had evolved from the past, especially in Season 1. They generally lacked relatable human foibles. Some of them faltered at times, some of them suffered real problems. But there was always a sense of the false about them. They were, in essence, more 'fictional' than their TOS forebears.

(DS9 and VOY both made attempts to show flawed humans, but they were constricted in many other ways that TOS was not. I'll allow that DS9 probably presented us with 24th century Trek's most realistic characters, human flaws and all.)

 

ENT fan here. One reason I like that show is they did try to get back to TOS virtues. I liked the Archer/Trip relationship, and while I thought Trip/T'Pol was unnecessary it was not a deal-breaker. Possibly they should have promoted Reed into the top echelon?

Anyway, while ENT's characterisation was in some ways stronger than previous spin-off series, they still can't really compete with TOS's Big Three. Those guys just dripped with charisma.

I never took to TNG. As said above, it looked extremely 80s, which can only be a bad thing. Everything was beige, and the Enterprise interior looked like a hotel (or my mother's place). But I never actually suffered TOS flashbacks while watching!

 

They were very.....tight.

 

TOS has a more base appeal than the later shows, especially in regards to its characters. That was a requirement of the time. A show couldn't be produced then unless it was going to appeal to a broad spectrum of viewers, by being universally likeable in that way, and though Trek was fringe for it's time, it did still have to conform to that ideal. It was made by Desilu for god sake.

Now, that's why it got made. It was likeable, and had support from people who believed in it & backed it. It wasn't likeable enough to compete for very long though, sadly. However, we have broadcast television practices to thank, because it was right around that time the syndication boom began, bringing back interest in many shows, like Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, the Three Stooges shorts, etc...

Star Trek was the phenom of that circuit. It got a much wider viewership during that time than it had in original airing, and the result was that people actually began to watch it and see it for what it was. Love happened.

Now I love me some TNG, and they too had a love affair with syndication, but much of it spawned from the resurging interest in Star Trek caused by the film franchise, which was in its declining years at the time

But all of Star Trek franchise history owes it's continued existence to that original love affair that happened in TOS syndication. That universal appeal that made it the number one syndicated show of that time

I like to think the show was just a few years ahead of it's time. People in the 60's overlook its value, but people in the 70s swallowed it whole, and asked for more, despite the fact that even by then the filming tech was outdated

You can't really say that about any other Trek series. The people who lifted it up forgave the outdated style, because it was so damn likeable

 

.....and Tribbles!

 

I honestly think it's that the later shows took themselves a little too seriously and it sucked some of the fun out of it.

 

I think this is something that cannot be overlooked. I think that they bought into the hype that they were doing some kind of visionary work on the later series.

 

One thing that really strikes me as important, (and it's the chararacters), is both how the characters actually seem like people you'd want to know and how they seem like they actually are friends with each other and not just checking in at the office. There's a real sense of comraderie that even though you are a viewer at home you feel a part of something. I just don't feel that at all with the other shows. When Jim can walk onto the bridge and barely say a word and all his officers give him a brief report of information in understandable words, that shows how well they work together. When all of his senior officers can call him Jim and not sound forced or contrived, that shows that there's really something here. When the junior officers act like they look up to him and it seems like sincere admiration and they would follow this man anywhere makes him seem like you would want to follow him, too. I don't get that from any of the other shows. I mean that's Jim Kirk. Plug in another captain and tell me you feel it. The only other Captains I've liked almost that much weren't on a Star Trek. I'd list them, but they don't belong in this forum.

Well, that's my little speech.

 

I think the ensemble cast approach hurt the later shows. Seven or nine top billed cast, and they'd all usually have to have an appearance in at least one scene with a few lines within 40-odd minutes. That's before you add any guests and bit parts. Too much juggling. TOS could get away with a show focused on the three leads, a guest star, and the supporting cast sometimes only getting a single line.

 

That really can't be emphasized enough. There was actually zero times in any later Trek show where any of the other main characters had to get personal and call the captain by their first name, where it does anything but flop disingenuously out of their face, but when Bones says Jim it rings like a warm nugget of truth about their relationship, & when Spock says it, it's like an Earth shatteringly emotional moment.

There's just no two ways around that fact. Hell, sometimes now when I hear anyone say Jean-Luc, I cringe a little.

 

Ehhh...DS9 spent plenty of time making fun of itself. And, much like TOS, the results were mixed from TERRIBLE to really good. Although, I think DS9 is also the only show that compares to TOS, so maybe I agree with your point.

 

Star Trek seems to be that one show millions of people can watch over and over and over again and never grow tiered of or bored with. It was the perfect confluence of creative talents both in front of and behind the camera that converged to create that one special series that can never be reproduced. As far as I am concerned it is the pinnacle of television programming. Roddenberry wanted to produce a show that had a message and that said something worthwhile, and Star Trek just goes to show how much impact a little extra effort can actually have.

 

I dunno. I Love Lucy is on all the time, often on several different cable channels, virtually every single day. The Simpsons has been on for 25 years, still produces episodes, and reruns of it run every day in most markets. What percentage of viewers watch that every day versus people who watch Star Trek of any stripe?

Fans of any show can watch it endlessly... that's why they're fans.

 

One thing nobody seems to have mentioned on here is that great incidental music! I mean Spock even has his own theme!
JB

 

One. Dax could get away with calling Sisko "Benjamin", and it worked. Definitely can't see Picard or Archer going for it, and Chakotay might try it at his own risk, but that's about it.

 

^It still felt flat or odd to me in comparison to TOS. Not so much from the actress' mouth maybe, but from the script treatment

 

In the end, and for whatever reason, it's because we care(d) more about Kirk, Spock, and McCoy than we ever did about any of the other characters that have come since.

 

I'm sure that nostalgia plays a part of it for me, but you're right. They are also the most interesting set of characters that the franchise produced.

 

Oh, you're probably right, nostalgia probably plays a part in it. Isn't it funny, though, that with only 79 episodes and half a dozen movies we keep turning back to them time and time again. I never tire of them.