News Star Trek IV Remastered Coming To Theaters Next Month

[MakeshiftPython]

Very relieved that the screening I went to had a full surround sound, as that made things like the time travel and probe feel more impactful. And man the movie looks so good now compared to that awful DNR blu-ray.

Revisiting this on the big screen really made me begin to appreciate things I never really thought of. For example, the way they depict time travel as being dangerous. The TV show could only do so much on their budget, but I love the detail of how the ship almost comes apart the closer it is to the sun, and the sound mix gets louder. Certainly the opposite of “Assignment: Earth”!

And this was my first time seeing the Enterprise on the big screen. What a beauty!

 

[STEPhon IT]

We never saw any trials of travel in Assignment: Earth but we did see the struggle in the ep. "Tomorrow is Yesterday"; an incredible fun episode which is a must watch.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

We never saw any trials of travel in Assignment: Earth but we did see the struggle in the ep. "Tomorrow is Yesterday"; an incredible fun episode which is a must watch.

True but it wasn’t very convincing and it was a terrible episode

 

[fireproof78]

We never saw any trials of travel in Assignment: Earth but we did see the struggle in the ep. "Tomorrow is Yesterday"; an incredible fun episode which is a must watch.

Agreed and I always loved the idea that they were able to use time travel for historical observation. It go close to routine but still dangerous. really interesting ideas explored in that episode.

 

[Jeyl]

Certainly the opposite of “Assignment: Earth”!

Everything Star Trek is the opposite of 'Assignment: Earth' on the grounds that it's a story that has nothing to do with Star Trek.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

I’d actually dig a spin-off series that took that concept.

 

[Kor]

In my head canon, the time travel in TVH was more perilous because they were using that "rust bucket" Bird of Prey instead of a more scientifically advanced Starfleet ship that could better withstand the incredible energies of the spacetime continuum, or something.

Kor

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

We never saw any trials of travel in Assignment: Earth but we did see the struggle in the ep. "Tomorrow is Yesterday"; an incredible fun episode which is a must watch.

Both are among the best of TOS.

On the subject of trials of time travel, by the time of "Assignment: Earth," Kirk's log entry (at the opening of the episode) gave the impression that they and/or Starfleet had perfected time travel, hence the idea that they were now comfortably observing points of history as part of their job, not as the result of an experiment ("The Naked Time") or accident ("Tomorrow is Yesterday"), so there would be no stress or struggle traveling through time.

 

[Grant]

And I think that sucks as a story concept. Everything as the series went on became so much more ho-hum and blase and run of the mill. The first two thirds of season 1 it was an air of mystery and danger to the show and each time you met a new alien race it was exciting. By the time we get to journey to Babel there's basically 15 aliens races walking around like it's the United Nations and although some of them are interesting Design Concepts they're not introduced in any kind of a dramatic way.
In the first season we get there typical big headed alien talosians and we get the tiny balok and we get the salt vampire and we get the Towering Ruk who presumably would be indicative of how the race that created him looked. You get the Primitive creature in Galileo seven and The Reptilian Gorn the interesting-looking metrons The Squire of gothos who looks nothing like he appears to be.
Then starting with Return of the archons you basically get aliens look exactly like people so much so then our heroes can basically put on a costume and blend in. But in the last third of season one we did get the horta which was awesome. Too bad for whatever reason they had to fall back on the parallel world concept. Romans and Nazis and gangsters that all look exactly like human beings.

 

[Jeyl]

I’d actually dig a spin-off series that took that concept.

But the concept behind Gary Seven and his mission is so counter to the foundational premise of Star Trek that it wouldn't be compatible. The original series showcased a future where Humanity got it's $%&# together and was able to develop advanced technology that allowed them to explore the final frontier. This Gary Seven series would have shown that not only was Humanity not capable of achieving any of this, but they needed outside alien influence to make it happen.

Plus it completely turns the idea of the Prime Directive on it's head since the actions of this unseen alien race interfering with Humanity was the best thing that ever happened to us. Kind of hard to show Humanity is awesome when they're willing to let whole alien civilizations die out due to the Prime Directive when these aliens wanted us to survive and thrive.

 

[BillJ]

And I think that sucks as a story concept. Everything as the series went on became so much more ho-hum and blase and run of the mill.

They didn't expect people to be around near sixty years later sucking the life out of the Star Trek concept. "Assignment: Earth" could well have been the very last episode if the show had been cancelled after season two. Neat way to show the Federation was continuing to grow and create new technologies.

 

[Grant]

So time travel become run of the mill where they just basically can go back in time anytime they want and observe human history? LOL. No thanks. We got the time tunnel for that.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

So time travel become run of the mill where they just basically can go back in time anytime they want and observe human history? LOL. No thanks. We got the time tunnel for that.

The Time Tunnel was typical Irwin Allen disaster plotting--in other words, the technology worked in the exact opposite of its design and intent, so that was the plot: will they or won't they return to their own time. For TOS, time travel eventually became a tool in the service of a specific mission, not the weekly gimmick..

 

[Grant]

Star Trek using time travel as a perfected tool is stupid as far as I'm concerned. But then by season 2 and season 3 they had decided the parallel Planet development was just as easy a method to get them to the Wardrobe Warehouse where they needed to be to save money.

 

[Jeyl]

The Time Tunnel was typical Irwin Allen disaster plotting--in other words, the technology worked in the exact opposite of its design and intent, so that was the plot: will they or won't they return to their own time. For TOS, time travel eventually became a tool in the service of a specific mission, not the weekly gimmick..

It still begs the question. If we can go back in time and prevent a bad thing from happening, whether it was 1 minute ago or 200 years ago, why not just keep doing it? Assignment: Earth and Star Trek IV never states how limited or unlimited this time traveling capability is.

If there are no rules that prevents anyone from going back in time in the same manner that Kirk and crew did in Star Trek IV, that will easily break an audiences suspension of disbelief. Not just with this film, but with all subsequent stories told later. And as much as I loath to say this, Star Trek (2009)'s method of time travel showed that it was not only an accident, but also dependent on a substance that could run out. So when there was no more red matter, there was no more time travel. It's simple and it works. But than again, Spock Prime should still know how to do the slingshot effect as well...

 

[Kor]

Well, Trek is full of examples of tech solutions that could be useful in later situations, but are apparently forgotten for dramatic purposes.

Kor

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

It still begs the question. If we can go back in time and prevent a bad thing from happening, whether it was 1 minute ago or 200 years ago, why not just keep doing it? Assignment: Earth and Star Trek IV never states how limited or unlimited this time traveling capability is.

Its less about capability, and more about responsibility. In "Assignment: Earth," Kirk and Company are only there to observe how mankind overcame serious problems in an especially horrible year of the late 20th century; no matter what happened, the mission was not to act on the slippery slope of preventing recognized bad events. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the mission was not to change the past (e.g., going to some key point of the past to stop the slaughter of Humpback whales / promote their survival into the 23rd century), but save the future with a 20th century creature that was set to be released back into the wild and faced death by whalers in any case. The latter was a desperation situation that would not have occurred as part of a standard observation mission to the past.

 

[Jeyl]

Its less about capability, and more about responsibility. In "Assignment: Earth," Kirk and Company are only there to observe how mankind overcame serious problems in an especially horrible year of the late 20th century

Again, why the Enterprise? If it's 5-year mission is to 'Boldly go where no man has gone before', why time travel to Earth's past just to listen in on what what people were doing? The idea of observing mankind in how they overcame problems is a very broad mandate since every country could argue they have problems. And it's all irrelevant anyways since Kirk and crew have detailed records on what is supposed to happen ANYWAYS, including future details regarding Gary Seven. And last but not least, they do not find out how Humanity overcame these 'serious problems', making the whole mission pointless.

My argument isn't how poorly Star Trek used time travel in that episode. My argument is that Star Trek is pretty much shoe-horned into a pilot for another series that is in no way shape or form compatible with Star Trek. This episode was not written to be a Star Trek story, it was written to be a life boat for Gene so he could abandon ship to somewhere else.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Again, why the Enterprise? If it's 5-year mission is to 'Boldly go where no man has gone before', why time travel to Earth's past just to listen in on what what people were doing?

Up to that time (the point of "The Naked Time"), collective Federation technology had no ability to time travel, so when it became a working method, why wouldn't the exploration side of Starfleet be interested in studying critical periods of history? If time travel is not "boldly going," I'm not sure what else would be.

The idea of observing mankind in how they overcame problems is a very broad mandate since every country could argue they have problems.

On the contrary: all problems are not equal or of the same magnitude, so if studying the most serious problems is the mission, you can choose a specific event(s) to see details that the historical record may gloss over.

My argument isn't how poorly Star Trek used time travel in that episode. My argument is that Star Trek is pretty much shoe-horned into a pilot for another series that is in no way shape or form compatible with Star Trek.

I disagree. TOS was never limited to types of characters or situations--it was not all about meeting the alien of the week, or Klingons. From Gary Seven, to the Doomsday Machine, Khan, the Organians, the culture of planet 892-IV, or the Captain Christopher incident, TOS was expansive, and able to integrate all kinds of sci-fi sub-genres with reason. The idea of an alien-trained agent dispatched to earth falls into that line of creation. Frankly, it was Roddenberry's best idea / had the most potential after TOS.

 

[1001001]

We have tickets to see this tomorrow afternoon.

Can’t wait!