Star Trek or Star Trek: The Original Series

[Extrocomp]

Those of you who enjoyed my "Airdate Order or Production Order" thread may like this new entry in my series of stupid polls.

The informal name "the original series" has probably been around ever since the start of TNG but at some point it became official. Star Trek Encyclopedia and The Art of Star Trek and all the TOS DVDs use the longer title on the covers. I own the series only on VHS so I don't know which title is used on the DVDs themselves and on the menu screens. The 3-episode VHSs have the longer title, while the 2-episode and 1-episode VHS have the shorter title.

IMDb and TV.com stick to the shorter title. StarTrek.com and Wikipedia use both. Memory Alpha uses the longer title. All TOS novels use the shorter title with the exception of The Janus Gate and Errand of Vengeance trilogies.

So which title do you prefer? Star Trek or Star Trek: The Original Series?

I'm going to write a big list in Excel, containing Star Trek episodes, movies, reference books, novels, comics and video games. Later I might do the same for other large franchises like Star Wars and Star Wars, Stargate and Buffy. I enjoy making lists. But I can't decide whether I should write the episode names as "Star Trek: For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" or "Star Trek: The Original Series: For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky". Please help me decide!

 

[Forbin]

I don't mind using "TOS" as a clarification, but that wasn't its name.

 

[msbae]

Just plain old Star Trek is good enough for me. Using the acronym 'TOS' is something that I only do when another show or film in the franchise is mentioned in the same discussion.

 

[Trekwatcher]

The show is called Star Trek.

Star Trek: The Original Series is a retronym-a term made up at a later time to differentiate something from a later incarnation. It is like saying "rotary phone." Before touch tone dialing, a rotary phone was just a phone.

 

[Outpost4]

If Joe Blow has a son and names him Joe Blow, Jr, then people don't start calling the father Joe Blow, Senior. They may refer to him as Joe Blow, Sr, just like we may refer to TOS. It clarifies things. But Joe Blow doesn't go down to the courthouse and change his name to Joe Blow, Sr. (Now I'm sure somebody will post they had a neighbor who did this, but it is not normally the case.)

And if Joe Blow, Jr, has a son and calls him Joe Blow, III, certainly people never call the patriarch Joe Blow the First. He is still unofficially called Joe Blow, Sr, but that's it.

Extrocomp, call the damn series Star Trek. The franchise is called Trek. And when the movie comes out, it will also be called Star Trek. But then there was both a TV series and a movie called M*A*S*H, and people have managed to differentiate the two just fine, thank you.

 

[cooleddie74]

I tend to use "TOS" when I write and type about the classic series. I usually say "Star Trek" or "Classic/Original Star Trek" when I speak of it with friends and family.

 

[Bacl]

Plain old Star Trek, indeed. Calling it TOS or The Original Series is just between fans.

 

[Hofner]

I don't mind using "TOS" as a clarification, but that wasn't its name.

Exactly. Put it this way, to settle the deebate just watch an episode and see what the opening title credits say.

I'll confess, the first time I saw or heard 'TOS' for a moment I thought it stood for "The Old Show"...

What?!? At least I didn't think it stood for "That Old Sh*t"!

Robert

 

[Outpost4]

I'll confess, the first time I saw or heard 'TOS' for a moment I thought it stood for "The Old Show"...

You're smarter than me. The first time I saw TOS, I couldn't figure out what in the fuck they were talking about.

 

[cooleddie74]

TOS tends to be the "nerdier," inside reference. My close Trekker buddy down in Florida calls the Remastered show "TOS Remastered" or "TOS-R" because he knows I'll get it.

 

[Trekwatcher]

I don't mind using "TOS" as a clarification, but that wasn't its name.

Exactly. Put it this way, to settle the deebate just watch an episode and see what the opening title credits say.

I'll confess, the first time I saw or heard 'TOS' for a moment I thought it stood for "The Old Show"...

What?!? At least I didn't think it stood for "That Old Sh*t"!

Robert

I too thought TOS stood for "the old show" when I first heard it (during TNG's first run).

That having been said, my dad and I still sometimes refer to it as "the old show."

 

[Extrocomp]

The show is called Star Trek.

Star Trek: The Original Series is a retronym-a term made up at a later time to differentiate something from a later incarnation. It is like saying "rotary phone." Before touch tone dialing, a rotary phone was just a phone.

Yes it is a retronym. But does that mean we should start calling WWI "The Great War" again? Or call Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope "Star Wars"?

 

[gastrof]

To compromise, maybe to differentiate the term "the original Star Trek series" could be used.

Personally tho, especially with other fans, I'll say "TOS" in context. Just saying "Star Trek" is too confusing. My local station used to advertise TNG as "Star Trek" in their local promos. The example of M*A*S*H doesn't hold up, because Trek has multiple TV series and a lot of movies.

Each has to have its own designation for reference, and it's easier to use the three letter method than saying the whole title of each.

 

[HIj'Qa]

If you are going to make a list of every title, I would put The Original Series, or (TOS) for clarity.

The book list in Voyages of the Imagination uses (TOS) and (ST) . There isn't an explaination of why they did that, but I think it might be because the books are moving out from being single-series centered. Books set after Nemesis use characters from DS9 and TNG and VOY and book-only series like NF and S.C.E. Books set between the Original series and the start of The Next Generation use characters from both and are sometimes (ST) and sometimes (TLE) The Lost Era.

I've tried to continue the VOTI list, and add comics and games to it. I put a series modifier next to titles so anyone wanting all DS9 titles can find them that way. TOS means Kirk, the Enterprise, the Five Year mission and the movies. ST can mean more, in the expanded universe.

 

[number6]

It's all Star Trek to me. I do occasionally refer to it as The Original Show, or Classic Trek.

 

[Jack Bauer]

I use TOS online because it's good short hand and everyone knows what it means. In real life I just refer to it as Star Trek because no one I know would know what that means.

 

[Skywalker]

Does the new film's title also being simply Star Trek have any effect on those who don't refer to the series as TOS?

 

[Phoenicianknight]

I have never referred to it as TOS.

I call it "Star Trek". If the conversation needs a distinction between the other shows I called it Classic Trek.

Whe I am writing about it on e-mails, it I use CST rather than TOS (Really just to piss of my brother in law, as he uses TOS)

 

[Ssosmcin]

Yes it is a retronym. But does that mean we should start Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope "Star Wars"?

Well, many of us who first saw the film in 1977 always have. The next movie we call The Empire Strikes Back (or just Empire), then Return of the Jedi (or simply "Jedi"). No time for that Episode IV, V or VI bullshit.

Star Trek is what I call Star Trek when talking about it amongst the informed and intelligent. To everyone else, I call it "the real series." Or Trek Classic.

 

[Extrocomp]

Thank you all for your opinions.

I changed the name of the Wikipedia article to Star Trek (1966 TV series) and I did the same to the list of episodes articles, the disambiguation article and some of the individual episode articles just to see how long it would take for someone to notice and change it back.

Anyway, what about the Animated Series? The title seen on the screen is also simply Star Trek and that's what IMDb calls it. However, Wikipedia, Memory Alpha, StarTrek.com and TV.com all call it Star Trek: The Animated Series.