History channel celebrates Star Trek's 50th Anniversary

[Warped9]

I'm now not sorry I missed it. It sounds like a rushed and lazily thought out waste of time with too few nuggets to redeem it. It sounds mostly like tripe and repeating what many think they know rather than what really is.

Take the Kirk/Uhura kiss. Instead of just repeating "it was the first interracial kiss" put it context as it not actually being the first (even on TOS) but why is it remembered as such. Simple--because TOS is remembered, culturally significant and is still with us today. It's remembered partly because TOS made an impact while so many others were lost in the mists of time.

Often I read more insightful points and views on the TrekBBS then I ever have heard on these sloppy documentary specials.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Basically, it was superficial.

It was error-prone, not just about plot trivia, but about passing along major myths of the franchise without a glance at the actual facts.

It was lacking in anything much that was new.

And it hastily glossed over or omitted anything about the history of Star Trek that wasn't flattering and franchise-boosting.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

What was sad is that Ike Eisenmann's memories about his one claim to fame centered on a Shatner whine-a-thon. That's his contribution to the 50th anniversary.

Yes. But may I say, it might be more clear to the laymen if you called it an "anti-Shatner whine-a-thon."

 

[Warped9]

Basically, it was superficial.

It was error-prone, not just about plot trivia, but about passing along major myths of the franchise without a glance at the actual facts.

It was lacking in anything much that was new.

And it hastily glossed over or omitted anything about the history of Star Trek that wasn't flattering and franchise-boosting.

Yes. You see making it factual would make it genuinely new and refreshing rather than glossing over error filled stories everyone has already heard.

This is a flaw of many in entertainment and the media--they don't do their fucking homework.

 

[Indysolo]

How is Cushman a "porn sleaze"? This is the first I'm hearing of that.

Check out this twitter account.

Neil

 

[Hippocrates Noah]

This was not a very good documentary, IMHO. It lost it's direction about 1/3 of the way in. They are jumping around the history a bit. Also, if I'm not mistaken they show the ending scene of "All Good Things..." but the caption says "Yesterday's Enterprise." I ended up zoning out on it. Plus too much about "Gene Goddenberry's Vision."

I agree, but like most pop culture documentaries of this nature it's probably not intended for the well-versed fans like most of us here are. Though I'm not THAT well-versed on the behind-the-scenes stuff but even I had heard most of this or read about it on here. I mentioned the Beatles doc they showed back in '09 (though it was a BBC production and not theirs), and I'm sure one of the reasons I disliked it was the fact I'd heard all of it and seen all of that footage before in previous documentaries. I mean if you've seen the exhaustive Anthology series there's probably not much that a 1 hour overview is going to add. Especially when it reused quite a few interviews from that series. I think this was pretty much the same. It's probably more aimed at the general public and casual fans, not those who already know quite a bit of it and are mainly watching just to see what they include in it as opposed to watching it to learn something new.

I noticed/mentioned the Yesterday's Enterprise mistake as well. It's not THAT big of a deal but it does make me wonder how much the filmmakers actually knew about Star Trek. Though maybe it was just a mistake or somebody in the graphics department boned it. But you'd think somebody would have caught that at some point.

And yeah, there was a lot of Gene's Vision talk. But there was one guy (I forget who it was now) who went on to say how important everybody on that show was to creating the magic of Star Trek and made it a point to stress how the end result is because of the collaboration of many people both in front of and behind the camera. Coincidentally enough making a Beatles analogy. Though I thought it was a little funny how when the guy was talking about how all 4 members of that band were needed to create that special magic they only showed a picture of John and Paul.

I'd have to say my favorite part was the guy talking about The Final Frontier and how he and all his friends thought it was awesome. Then his brother, the only one how hadn't been drinking, said it wasn't that great, then on the second viewing they didn't like it and he never saw it again. Although I enjoy that movie, I just thought it was funny.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It occurred to me that even if they did their homework on the "first kiss" saga, they couldn't put the truth in their documentary. They wanted Nichols in the program, and putting in the historical facts would seem like they were slapping an old lady in the face. "Uhura Makes History!" was the feel-good option, and that's what they had to do.

When you note the existence of The Big Valley, I Spy and Julia, Star Trek looks less like a super-groundbreaking show for women and African Americans. Nichelle had a small role. But that's okay. ST was still a great show.

 

[Galileo7]

I learned how important Stephen Whitfield's The Making Of Star Trek book was to some fans. I also learned that like Ron Moore I purchased my copy of this book from my school's sixth grade book fair in the '70s too.

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Wasn't it DC Fontana (who should know better), who asked what other show dared to put a Russian in it? (Um, like "Man From Uncle")?

Didn't someone else say Star Trek was the first show to show the minskirt, which had debuted in Europe in 1966 but hadn't hit the US yet? That I found doubntful

 

[alensatemybuick1]

 

[Warped9]

It occurred to me that even if they did their homework on the "first kiss" saga, they couldn't put the truth in their documentary. They wanted Nichols in the program, and putting in the historical facts would seem like they were slapping an old lady in the face. "Uhura Makes History!" was the feel-good option, and that's what they had to do.

Not if they put in context.

Racism has many faces, but racism against blacks is the one most visible and talked about in contemporary times. Ricardo Montalban (a Latino) had already kissed Madeline Rhue (a Caucasian) in "Space Seed." William Shatner (a Caucasian) had already kissed France Nuyen (a French Vietnamese) in "Elaan Of Troyius. Both of these were Caucasians kissing someone identified as being of another race, but neither instance carried any real import to American society at large. But a White kissing a Black was a whole other issue in the minds of many given the out in the open racist sentiments that coursed through parts of America (and still does).

Years earlier (during the 1950s) Lucille Ball (a Caucasian) had kissed Dezi Arnez (a Latino) on television. But again no import and also given that Lucy and Dezi were a married couple in real life and on their show. Prior to "Elaan Of Troyius" airing Sammy Davis Jr. kissed Nancy Sinatra (on the cheek, mind you) during a variety special.

And finally in 1961 (approximately) a White woman kissed a Black man on British television. But since it wasn't in the U.S. then we can guess it never really happened.

What's the difference? No one cared or even remembers about the other instances. All anyone remembers is that a White man kissed a Black woman on a highly visible and successful (in the long run) American television series that has refused to fade away even after fifty years.

 

[Warped9]

A big deal is made of TOS using recurring characters in an anthology style format to address relevant anf thought provoking issues.

Twilight Zone and Outer Limits did similatly earlier in genuine anthology series.

Wagon Train was something of an anthology series with recurring characters.

But look no further than Have Gun Will Travel that had two recurring characters (Paladin and Hey Boy) in an anthology style series that sought to address relevant issues within its stories. And it ran for six generally solid years. Furthermore Gene Roddenberry sold twenty-four stories to HGWT during its run before he created The Lieutenant and then Star Trek.

HGWT was doing what TOS would later do before Gene Roddenberry came along. But none of those other shows have resonated the way Star Trek has.

 

[Greg Cox]

The thing is, it's possible to laud STAR TREK for its genuine accomplishments without overstating them or insisting that no other shows had ever broken the same ground. A white man kissing a black woman on prime-time TV in the 1960s was a very big deal, but continually calling it the first-ever is a gross over-simplification. Why not just say that it was "one of the first interracial kisses on the television" or "possibly the most famous interracial kiss on TV" or whatever?

But then again, to quote Saki, sometimes an ounce of inaccuracy saves a ton of explanation . ..

 

[Indysolo]

Didn't someone else say Star Trek was the first show to show the minskirt...

Marc Cushman (aka Cash Markman) made that statement. You can hear it here.

Neil

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Well, that is rubbish.

I turned the doc off about 1 hour into it, but I will probably watch the remainder, as I DVR-ed it. I am particularly interested in hearing the part I read upthread about TMOST, as I can remember buying my first copy at a bookmobile sale in 1976 (when I was in 4th grade).

 

[Galileo7]

Jeri Ryan/Seven of Nine was offered a role in Nemesis to replace a NG crew member, but who?

 

[Warped9]

Miniskirts, and no mention of Star Trek: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniskirt

You get to the point where these things are all based on false memory and no one seems to bother looking for some factual information.

 

[erastus25]

Sounds like I'm glad I missed this one.

 

[JE Smith]

I'd never heard the bit about Shatner giving Ike Eisenmann direction on WOK (a big, BIG no-no in any theatrical/film production; only the director is supposed to give acting notes to actors; Shatner surely knew better, but his ego was writing checks, it seems) -- I'm sure that bon mot has made the rounds but I personally had never heard it before. But yeah, overall it was a pretty superficial and oddly-structured doc with very little beyond the standard Trek lore.

 

[Hippocrates Noah]

Miniskirts, and no mention of Star Trek: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniskirt

You get to the point where these things are all based on false memory and no one seems to bother looking for some factual information.

I was kind of wondering if that was actually true about the miniskirt, but I was thinking that even if it had been is it really that big of a deal? They did mention they were popular in the UK, but whoever that talking head was who brought it up (I forget who it was) said that Gene was ahead of his time for putting it on American TV. I think we're throwing around the phrase "ahead of his time" a little too liberally here. I wouldn't call somebody a visionary because they enjoy seeing women in skimpy outfits or just understand that sex sells.