Standing the test of time...

[BillJ]

It was adult science fiction and it was fun. A combination that we don't see often today.

 

[Warped9]

I agree the element of contextual humour really went a long way in grounding the characters and making them accessible.

 

[bbailey861]

The stories told are still relevant. Love, prejudice, power, belonging, loneliness, war. It may be a different time but it is still very easy, today, to relate to the story being told. TOS told them very well.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Probably by being the right show in the right place at the right time. (especially in the syndication market). It was for the most part well acted and well written, but it wasn't head and shoulders above all its contemporaries. Even the themes it explored and promoted could be found in other shows of the era. The setting I think gave it a certain advantage, while it might look dated or "cheesy" its not as dated as shows set and filmed in the 1960s. (if that makes sense)

 

[xortex]

There is something wierdly special about it different than anything i've ever seen. It has a divine spark to it, a gestalt. To me it is bizarre how different it is than say Twilight zone which was another classic but did not rise to the level as evidenced by this not being a Twilight Zone forum and it had great space episodes like Trek way before Trek did. Even Forbidden planet doesn't have that magically perfect convergance of forces and transcendance. It just seems like every frame is special, living and breathing, touching something bigger underneath - the alien question.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The show was about humanity. There was no "alien question".

 

[xortex]

Strange new life and civilizations - Spock. What the show is about is spoken directly in the title sequence.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The setting I think gave it a certain advantage, while it might look dated or "cheesy" its not as dated as shows set and filmed in the 1960s. (if that makes sense)

I just had a vision of space hippies playing musical numbers in every single episode.

 

[KarmicCurse]

I agree that it was the ingeniously simple premise that has maintained its popularity. The entire concept is explained in the famous "Space, the final frontier..." intro.

But when you see current TV sci-fi there is always something absurdly convoluted in the basic premise, and always some malevolent, unseen force manipulating events that is gradually revealed one step at a time, rarely satisfactorily. It takes forever to just explain it to a friend when recommeding these shows. (Try reading Entertainment Weekly's story on Terra Nova.)

I realized that while I was introducing Star Trek to an 18 year old who had never seen it before. I think he assumed it must have some overriding arc like Lost had. They were just out to explore, not unveil some conspiracy, or win a lengthy war, or free Earth from some dictator.

Of course brilliant writing and characters were necessary to keep it going.

 

[Saxman1]

I love all the Trek shows, but TOS will always be my favorite. I saw it first run and I don't know if that has something to do with it, but it will always be my favorite.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Strange new life and civilizations - Spock. What the show is about is spoken directly in the title sequence.

Only if you stop watching after the title sequence. Spock is there to give an "outsiders" perspective on humanity and the human condition. Spock more often than not winds up with either a grudging respect for the "human way" or using a "human solution" himself.

 

[xortex]

Only all half Human in the Galileo Seven. Most of his solutions were Vulcan.

 

[Nerys Myk]

And his purely Vulcan solutions tend to fail.

 

[xortex]

In Spectre of the Gun and The Immunity Syndrome, he saved the day. Thank pichforks and pointed ears.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Dont confuse Spocks physiology or abilities with "Vulcan solutions." If the wiki is correct it is McCoy and Kirk who solve the problem in "Immunity Syndrome", though Spock provides some data.

The huge expenditure of ship's energy attracts what appears to be an 11,000-mile (~17,700 km) wide amoeba, which appears on the main screen. Kirk launches another sensor probe which reveals the creature is protoplasmic in nature. McCoy believes it is a massive single-celled entity that feeds off raw energy but he needs more data to confirm this

As Kirk and McCoy meet together to have a drink and discuss various topics, Kirk suddenly realizes that if various activities in the zone have an opposite effect, then using antimatter on the organism should kill it but realizes the Enterprise will have to journey into the creature

Now Spock ( who is on a suicide mission...how human) might have come up with the same idea but doesnt get a chance to express it.

Spock decides to get the information McCoy needs and requests to pilot a shuttlecraft in closer to the creature. Kirk reluctantly accepts Spock's suicidal request and allows him to launch. He pilots the shuttle up to the creature and penetrates the outer skin, then he makes his way toward the cell's nucleus. Spock transmits data and keeps a log of his progress during the journey. He believes the creature may be ready to reproduce and suggests it can be destroyed from the inside, but his details become garbled and then cuts off.

In "Spectre of the Gun" Spock uses logic, observation and deduction to come up with a solution to their dilemma. None of which are exclusive to Vulcans. The mind meld is just a science fictiony way of saying "I think I can I think I can".

 

[xortex]

My mistake. I was thinking of the Tholian web. Plus he had all the gimmicks. Spock get us out of here. Use your Vulcan telepathic powers! Quick, reconfigure the transponders to send out a signal to disrupt/jam their sensor array. He was a get out of jail free card, caused landslides, etc. Solution city. Kirk and science officer Jones would be dead a long time ago. He was the lone ranger's kemosabe. He knew the alien ways and reasons for them. He knew everything and really didn't respect Humanity all that much and barely tolerated them.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Deus Ex Machina thy name is Spock.

 

[xortex]

Or the devil in the details, as in God is an alien. Just ask Dannikkan in 'The Chariot of the Gods' about aliens and 2012..!

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'd rather not.

Spock saves the day or doesn't die because of Vulcan feature X is as bad as Wesley Boy Genuis. Its weak writing and storytelling. It hardly supports the idea that the show was about "the alien question".

 

[Joker]

Not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet, but would TOS still be as "relevant" (?) as it is today without the spin-offs and movie series that followed it?

I think probably not. It was good... but it isn't the pinnacle of wisdom and elucidation that this thread suggests.