I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th...

...just finished TOS on Sunday, and after starting TAS the same day, I finished that too just 15 minutes ago.

I guess you could say I've been promoted from geek ensign to geek lieutenant junior grade after all that.

As a 15-year-old who's never watched a show over ten years old, it wasn't the easiest. What first drew my attention to this show was J. J. Abrams' 'Star Trek' (technically my "journey through all Star Trek" began much earlier than October, but I don't think this counts ). It was fun, cool, and felt like Star Wars, something I'm a huge fan of. I watched 'Star Trek Into Darkness' not too long after, not as good, but still a pretty cool action flick.

I never gave Trek much thought before this, but my dad was a fan of TOS back in his childhood, and told me I'd love it. And since I enjoyed the movies, I thought "what the hell, let's give it a shot". I got Netflix, got a proxy to change to American Netflix, and started TOS.

Here I am now.

I can sum it up as... good. I appreciate how special it was for its time, I appreciate the impact it made on pop culture and just how progressive it was for a show airing in the 1960s, but fuck me if it didn't feel very dated at times. Most of the time I was able to get around that, but some episodes were just.. ugh. At worst, very campy, sometimes sexist, or just kind of repetitive "monster-of-the-week" stuff. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of great episodes, ones that I really enjoyed, but there were times where I felt like moving right on to TNG, mostly throughout Season 3. Also, I one way or another ended up on my phone while watching most episodes (pacing wasn't very good TBH). Boy, that season was a drag. Three or four real good episodes, tops.

The positives definitely outweigh the negatives though. The chemistry/relationship between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy is a lot of fun, and there was some character development in that regard. When you look at the show and compare it to others of its time, it deserves all the praise it gets as one of the greatest sci-fi shows ever made, if not the greatest.

The Animated Series, well, I guess you could consider it year four of the five-year mission. While it's probably even harder to watch than TOS for its even more dated look (despite being younger than TOS) and shocking animation, it has some good episodes/stories in there, and with only 22 episodes of 24 minutes length each, you can breeze through them all in a week or less. Also, 'The Counter-Clock Incident' is a much more satisfying ending than 'The Turnabout Intruder'. I mainly watched it for completionist purposes.

I ordered the 'Stardate Collection - Movies 1-10' on Blu-ray a few days back to watch over Christmas, and I'm super excited. I think I'll go TMP, TWoK, TSfS and TVH, and then move on to TNG. Reason being I'm watching in strict order of original air date.

It feels like I'm almost finished the starters, and it's time for the main course. I've been super excited to watch the original films for a long while now, I've been hearing about how amazing TNG is, as well DS9 being as good, if not better, to some, so... this could be a large main course.

Anyway, might be a pointless post to some, not needed, but I just really wanted to share that.

Thanks for giving it a read

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Nice! Keep us updated on your progress. :-)

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Always nice to see younger people appreciate older television shows.

Don't forget about Voyager

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Hey, it's a trip down memory lane for us!

I was 12 when I got into Star Trek (TOS; my first episode was "By Any Other Name"). That was 40 years ago as of the last week of November. I bought my first Blish books (Star Trek 4 & 6) on November 28, 1975.

So from one perspective you're very lucky to be discovering this series at a time when the vast majority of it is readily available. Those of us who became fans in the '60s and '70s had to hope for reruns. It took me the better part of 3 years to see the second half of "Conscience of the King." And for the books and movies, we had to wait. And wait. And wait.

But from another perspective, there was more of a sense of anticipation... is this the week when I'll find a new Blish book? Or maybe a new Bantam novel? Oh, there's this book about fandom called Star Trek Lives!? Wow! (that book is what got me started on collecting fanzines). I still remember the stores where I bought those books; sadly none of them are still around, except for the one that moved to a mall across town.

There isn't a single person on this forum who didn't have a first time for discovering Star Trek, in whichever form or series it was. We've all got our stories, and this one's yours. Go for it, and enjoy yourself.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Everyone is a special snowflake.

It was well-written and stayed on task. Reading it was the easy part. That screen name tho...

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Good for you. I just finish TNG. My complete watch of Star Trek went in a backwards order. I started with DSN, then VOY, following that I went to TNG. Now I'm working ST/TAS. I guess it really started because I wanted to watch all of Deep Space Nine. I had seen a few episodes here and there. I had already seen most of Voyager and The Next Generation. And I've already seen ST and TAS multiple times.

It's a long journey and not always pleasant. There's really great moments and other moments when you bow your head in sadness at the stupidity, but you'll enjoy it.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

I'm considering starting a full Star Trek watch next week because of the 50th.

Some of that stuff I haven't seen in 10-15 years. It's a good excuse to watch it again. I just don't think I'll be able to stick with it.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Oh, I know where it comes from. That doesn't mean it strolls easily through my mind's ear. (In fact, being a MGS fan is probably the only reason I noticed it in the first place. )

It's like how, whenever I open the fridge and see the bottle of Worcestershire, my brain begs for mercy.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

As long as they stay off our lawns


Welcome to the "show" Shalashaska.

As someone who was too young to see TOS in it's original run, but via reruns in the 70's, then everything else first-run, I think everything is worth watching & it's been a great thing to be a part of.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

And don't forget about the underrated Enterprise.

I imagine it will be interesting consuming all of Star Trek fresh, in such a short time. Just be very careful not to burn yourself out. If you find your viewing experience starting to feel negative, for god's sake take a break. Star Trek is not meant to be aversion therapy!

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

^ This. Though I'd recommend taking a month or two break in between series regardless of how you are feeling. It can be overwhelming.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Very curious to see what your fave show is when it all shakes out. A friend of mine was also not into Trek until JJ, then went on to watch almost all of TNG to ENT. It was interesting seeing a lot of it again through their eyes.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

It's very gratifying to see a modern teen appreciating good ol' TOS. Heck, I was only 10 when it came on the air, and by 15 I was still watching it every night over dinner in syndication (much to my father's annoyance).

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Welcome. It's cool to see a younger person getting into Star Trek. It's something I'm passing on to my daughter. Once you hit TNG, just know that it gets better as it goes along.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

If nothing else, the Abram's movies are introducing people who have never seen Trek before to the franchise.

Did you have any favorites among the original series and the animated series?

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

I was only a little younger, eleven, when I got into TOS via re-runs on what used to be called the Sci-Fi Channel way back in the autumn of '98. I'd already seen a little Voyager and (I think) some TNG, but TOS became my favorite pretty quickly, at least until DS9 came along to share the top spot. Good to see new people discovering the franchise.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

You're right that TMP was rushed. IIRC, they had a release date to meet, the studio refused to give them any more time, and they barely finished whacking together a final edit a week before the release. What we saw in the theater in 1979 had elements that hadn't even been color-corrected, and visible matts.

 

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Honestly I have to fast forward through those long boring scenes. Except the one where Scotty is giving Kirk a tour of the outside of the ship before they board. I like that.