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What Makes Star Trek Great.

CrazyMatt said:
1. Great writing
2. Great acting.
3. Great production (pre-, during and post-) and direction.
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And you left off great music :-)

I actually find this an extremely compelling question. Because what's interesting is, I think our love for Star Trek transcends how good any individual episode is. Our love for Star Trek somehow overcomes the fact that fully 1/3 of the episodes can be fairly described as bad. How can we love a show so much, when such a high proportion of it is not good? As a counter-example, I loved The West Wing during its first four seasons: there's no way I would feel so much affection for that show, if its hit rate were as low as Star Trek's.

I have tended, over my life, to discount arguments about how uplifting the "bright future" is that Roddenberry created. That always seemed too abstract to me. It's a nice quality, but not concrete enough to inspire "love". I tend to focus on a few more visible things:
  1. Insane charisma & chemistry with Kirk and Spock. They just convey a ton of warmth & likability. Even the worst episode, whichever that is, is brightened by their presence.
  2. The Enterprise seems an incredibly inviting place to be: adventure + safety, excitement + comfort. And you'd be proud to be an accomplished officer who deserved to be there.
  3. Very engaging supporting cast. How can you not love Scotty & Sulu et al. McCoy is distinctly not lovable in some episodes (like Paradise Syndrome); but he's a comfortable craggy presence most of the time.
  4. The "Federation building" that they did in the first half of season one continued to pay off in the background, even after they stopped doing it.
Those are my vague thoughts, anyway. The Star Trek "world" is just a super-inviting place to return to, even when individual episodes are bad. And then sometimes there is a magnificent episode (for me those are Doomsday Machine, Amok Time, etc) that just strengthens our love for that "world".
 
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GeoffreyMe said:
It's not merely good. The show that started it all was a beacon of social change during a turbulent and oppressive time.

http://whatssogreataboutit.blogspot.com/2016/02/ep-4-whats-so-great-about-star-trek-in.html
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I agree with BillJ to a fair extent. I don’t think what “makes Star Trek great” is all this hooey about “philosophy” and “vision.” True, for its time, Star Trek addressed issues and took some big risks for a network TV show that could even be considered ground-breaking in a few cases. But, I don’t think that’s what made the show so great…nor do I think that this element of the successful formula was as impactful and game-changing as Gene and many fans would have you believe. I think that became after-the-fact rationale as people tried to put their finger on why the show became so popular after it was cancelled. That became the lore and the spin to make the show's success “IMPORTANT.”


Honestly, I think it comes down to:


  1. Great chemistry and interplay between the main characters…the dynamic and relationships between Kirk, Spock and McCoy really was magic. Many narratives have tried to re-capture that magic and interplay, but the combination of the actors, writing, setting, etc. has never quite produced that lightning-in-a-bottle effect.

  2. Well-structured and smartly written action/adventure stories told in fantastic settings while still able to portray relatable characters and problems.

  3. It’s just a FUN show to watch…fun for the brain, fun for the eyes, fun for the ears (even pointed ones)! Classic stories and writing, iconic production design (no matter how “dated” it may be, the look of the show is truly awesome…from the gadgets to the ships and everything in between), iconic music etc etc.
 
Vger23 said:
Great chemistry and interplay between the main characters – the dynamic and relationships between Kirk, Spock and McCoy really was magic. Many narratives have tried to re-capture that magic and interplay, but the combination of the actors, writing, setting, etc. has never quite produced that lightning-in-a-bottle effect.
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It really does happen that way. For a few years there, "Top Gear" was the most-pirated and most-downloaded show in the world. The three guys in the cast strike a special spark off one another. You can copy the formula, but the magic either happens or it does not.
 
Bob Justman, and other TOS production crew members, have stated that there was a family atmosphere on the set that made coming to work enjoyable, at least for the first 2 seasons. They took pride in creating an intelligent science fiction show that really went where no man had gone before. For the massive time and budgetary limitations imposed on them, I think that the creative forces in all of the ST production departments did a masterful job in every aspect imaginable.
 
Vger23 and JimZipCode, I think you have both summed up what makes it great.

Maybe if 1/3 of the episodes were not considered good, it could be said when you did get a good one it was spectacular.

I absolutely think the friendship and the chemistry between the 3 main characters was the best part of the show.
 
Spock's Barber said:
Bob Justman, and other TOS production crew members, have stated that there was a family atmosphere on the set that made coming to work enjoyable, at least for the first 2 seasons. They took pride in creating an intelligent science fiction show that really went where no man had gone before. For the massive time and budgetary limitations imposed on them, I think that the creative forces in all of the ST production departments did a masterful job in every aspect imaginable.
Click to expand...

William Windom said it was the most miserable set he ever worked on.
 
There are so many things for me, but a couple things off the top of my head is the sense of wonder at exploring and finding new things. Shatner could do a good job of demonstrating that love of adventure.

Also, the show displays compassion and tolerance, a good message any time.
 
Tracy Trek said:
I absolutely think the friendship and the chemistry between the 3 main characters was the best part of the show.
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I believe it was Isaac Asimov who made the suggestion to GR about emphasizing the relationship between the troika of Kirk (decision), Spock (logic) and McCoy (emotion).
 
Consistent universe, an emphasis on mature science fiction (coming off the mature literary tradition of the time), excellent score, quite good acting for much of it. For the era (and I *know* the era!) it was a big cut above.
 
JimZipCode said:
The Star Trek "world" is just a super-inviting place to return to...
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I should have added, especially compared to some other sf "worlds" from around the same time. You wouldn't want to be Lost In Space with the Robinsons; or stranded on the Moon in 1999; or spinning around with Keir Dullea & HAL in 2001. Or, somewhat later, on the run from the Cylons aboard the Galactica.

Most TV futures of that era are not all that inviting. Star Trek is.
 
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