All the ways you saw Star Trek

What are the ways in which you ever watched the show? And how did you see it the most times?

1) Original NBC broadcasts

2) 1970s syndication on 16 mm film

3) Your homemade audio tapes

4) Pre-recorded Betamax, 2 episodes per tape

5) Pre-recorded VHS, 2 episodes per tape

6) Pre-recorded VHS, 1 episode per tape

7) 1985 syndication, re-mastered and sent to TV stations on video tape

8) Your homemade video tapes from syndicated broadcasts

9) Other network broadcasts (BBC, The Sci-Fi Channel...)

10) CED format (like Laser Disc but with a phonograph stylus)

11) Laser Disc

12) DVD with original fx

13) DVD with CGI fx

14) Blu-ray

For my part, I'm surprised to note that I've seen / listened to Star Trek in ten ways:
1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14.

By far, the way I saw it most was 2, the 1970s syndication. There were years when it was on five days a week, and I almost never missed it.

I'd be curious to know if anybody here was a Betamax person. And I'll bet nobody had a CED player.

 

2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 14.

Plus two others, that, if I may, I'll number (1a) and (15).

1a) 16mm film on a film projector. I saw "Space Seed" at the public library this way sometime back in the 1970s.

15) In a movie theater. I saw "The Menagerie" remastered this way in November, 2007.

 

I did! We owned 3 original series discs: The Menagerie, Space Seed/The Changeling, and Balance of Terror/Mirror, Mirror.

Neil

 

Thanks, CorporalCaptain. I never thought of those!

And Neil, that's neat that you have experience with a format that never really caught on. I'm surprised and pleased to find that out. Any observations about it would be interesting to a vintage consumer electronics fan like me.

 

2,3,6,7,8,12 and 13.

Also, number 9 on occasion. I looked at those Sci-Fi channel broadcasts out of curiosity but never followed them regularly. I had my VHS tapes to watch by then.

 

Well, you seem to have left off a couple of methods. Maybe they are not as important.....
Mine are........
2
3
6
11
12
12/B -- 2006/7 syndication with CGI FX
13/B -- HD DVD with CGI FX (season one only)
14
15 -- "Me-TV" syndication with CGI FX

 

MeTV could be covered under 9, Other network broadcasts, except that it's the CGI version which is a whole different thing from the original fx on BBC and Sci-FI. So you're right.

And I really did forget about HD DVD and the 2006 CGI syndication to independent stations. I need to expand the list.

 

Here is the revised list. Sorry about the re-numbering; just note that posts above this one refer to the prior list.


1) Original NBC broadcasts

2) 1970s syndication on 16 mm film

3) Your own copy of a 16 mm film print

4) Public showing of a 16 mm film print

5) Your homemade audio tapes

6) Pre-recorded Betamax, 2 episodes per tape

7) Pre-recorded VHS, 2 episodes per tape

8) Pre-recorded VHS, 1 episode per tape

9) 1985 syndication, re-mastered and sent to TV stations on video tape

10) Your homemade video tapes from TV broadcasts

11) Other network broadcasts of original fx (BBC, The Sci-Fi Channel...)

12) CED format (like Laser Disc but with a phonograph stylus)

13) Laser Disc

14) DVD with original fx

15) 2006 syndication with CGI fx

16) Theatrical showing of a remastered episode (this was done from disc, not film)

17) DVD with CGI fx

18) Network broadcast with CGI fx (MeTV or others)

19) HD DVD (discontinued format)

20) Blu-ray


You might not realize at first glance how many of these apply to you. I didn't.

 

2, 8, 10, 11 (Sci-Fi Channel), 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20. I probably have watched it on Blu-ray the most. In the 70s I watched syndicated episodes on WAAY in Huntsville, AL, every afternoon and what is now WIAT in Birmingham, AL, on Saturdays. The latter was such a weak signal (100 miles away) that it only came in clearly if it was raining. Regarding the Sci-Fi Channel, on September 11, 2001 the scheduled episode was "The Trouble with Tribbles", and I could not watch it without crying because of the day's events. It seemed so odd for such a lighthearted episode to be airing on such a horrible day. In the following weeks Sci-Fi changed its Trek schedule several times, presumably to avoid showing disturbing episodes (one episode that was not shown during that period was "Patterns of Force".)

 

7, 10, 13, 14, 17, 20. And also saw a couple of episodes theatrically back in the late '80s/early '90s. (Shown during 24-Hour Sci-Fi marathons at a local cinema.)

 

70's/80's syndication, VHS, DVD, Blu-ray.

 

2) 1970s syndication on 16 mm film

6) Pre-recorded VHS, 1 episode per tape

7) 1985 syndication, re-mastered and sent to TV stations on video tape

8) Your homemade video tapes from syndicated broadcasts

9) Other network broadcasts (BBC, The Sci-Fi Channel...)

11) Other network broadcasts of original fx (BBC, The Sci-Fi Channel...)

15) 2006 syndication with CGI fx

16) Theatrical showing of a remastered episode (this was done from disc, not film)

18) Network broadcast with CGI fx (MeTV or others)

I actually thought that there'd be more, since I've been watching it since the early 70s.

 

Revised 11, 14, 17, and am now going through 20

 

Caught some episodes in syndication now and then when I was growing up. But saw the series front to back last year on Blu-ray, remastered. Need to go back and watch it again with the original effects. I was more of a TOS film kid -- didn't truly discover the show until I was older.

 

You need to put "Netflix" in that list. This is the way I'm currently watching the show.

 

I remember my mom renting a "video disc" player from a video store that popped up and disappeared in a short time that was all RCA discs. I think she was trying it out before we bought a VCR. The movie: The Wrath of Khan. I can still remember where you flipped the disc: The other side opened with the E. approaching Regula 1. Funny what you recall.

But since that was a movie I haven't counted it on my list:


2) 1970s syndication on 16 mm film
5) Your homemade audio tapes
7) Pre-recorded VHS, 2 episodes per tape
8) Pre-recorded VHS, 1 episode per tape
9) 1985 syndication, re-mastered and sent to TV stations on video tape
10) Your homemade video tapes from TV broadcasts
14) DVD with original fx
15) 2006 syndication with CGI fx
18) Network broadcast with CGI fx (MeTV or others)
20) Blu-ray


Does #18 count for online streaming w/ revised FX? Because that, too. I don't "watch" it that way, but I've "seen" it.

 

BBC1, BBC2, SKY One in the nineties! Soundtracks I taped from the seventies and eighties, videotapes from the BBC transmissions of 1980/81 and later 84/85! Then the authentic video tapes released in the nineties (which I bought in 2001 from various sources) and finally the Paramount DVDs from 2004!
JB

 

2) 1970s syndication on 16 mm film (early 80s was still this way)

8) Pre-recorded VHS, 1 episode per tape

9) 1985 syndication, re-mastered and sent to TV stations on video tape

10) Your homemade video tapes from TV broadcasts

11) Other network broadcasts of original fx (BBC, The Sci-Fi Channel...)

12) CED format (like Laser Disc but with a phonograph stylus)

13) Laser Disc

14) DVD with original fx

15) 2006 syndication with CGI fx

16) Theatrical showing of a remastered episode (this was done from disc, not film)

18) Network broadcast with CGI fx (MeTV or others)

20) Blu-ray

21) View Master 3D reel

Neil

 

21) View Master 3D reel

Ha! I did that, too.

 

22) Streaming (Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, CBS All Access, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu)

Neil