Was the German Staship Orion more progressive than Star Trek TOS?

[Wadjda]

It's wery much a trek like series minus the utopian preachiness + really silly dancing. We have a female general, a strong female liason on the ship and another female on the Orion who has more of a role than just handling communications.

Was 1966 Germany more progressive about the role of women? Was it the fact it was probably made by a smaller and less controlling studio?

 

[SpocksLeftEar]

Although it was more progressive re women the series itself cannot be compared to Star Trek since it has a 50's approach to alien life forms. The so-called "Frogs" want to wipe out mankind, and mankind kills them all the time. There is no pioneering spirit, this is much more cold war than anything else.
It has become a cult show (with only seven episodes) but basically it's one of the worst examples for SF on TV (storywise, I mean; the SFX are amazing for the era it was made).

 

[Count Zero]

No, it wasn't. Just watch the episode with the women dominated colony ("Kampf um die Sonne" I think) which is extremely sexist.
While it does have 3 important female roles I'd say that all things considered it's on par with Star Trek as far as the view of women is concerned. And Lieutenant Jagellovsk promptly falls into love with the male lead at the end which is very 50s pulp science fictiony.

I like the silly dancing, though.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

It doesn't shy away from strong female characters. And it doesn't fall into the trap of putting them into skimpy outfits like Trek regularly did.
But that is all off-set by the uber macho McClane and some of his male crew.
Though he learns to appreciate Jagellovsk throughout the series, he always had nothing but respect for the other female officers.
The one big blunder is the episode about the matriachal society which is presented as primitive and backwards despite their technological superiority in some areas.

The premise if the show was different than Trek, but the episode format was very similar.
If it were not for the recurring Frogs taking up half of the stories, it could have told some additional really cool sci-fi stories.
But then, the Frog arc and all those recurring secondary characters were decades ahead of Trek in establishing continuity.
Only DS9 was on par in that regard.

Edit: oh, and the theme song rocks!

 

[Wadjda]

No, it wasn't. Just watch the episode with the women dominated colony ("Kampf um die Sonne" I think) which is extremely sexist.
While it does have 3 important female roles I'd say that all things considered it's on par with Star Trek as far as the view of women is concerned. And Lieutenant Jagellovsk promptly falls into love with the male lead at the end which is very 50s pulp science fictiony.

I like the silly dancing, though.

I have a couple of eps to watch isn't this the classic case of denying that they are atracted to each other than admitting their feelings at the end?

 

[Count Zero]

Edit: oh, and the theme song rocks!

Yes, it does indeed.

I have a couple of eps to watch isn't this the classic case of denying that they are atracted to each other than admitting their feelings at the end?

Oh sorry, I didn't want to spoiler you. I assumed you had watched the whole show already.

To answer your question, well, yes, but the new woman falling in love with the heroic male lead is such an old trope. That's what I meant. She could have just grown to respect him instead.
Then again, the show is full of tropes and sci-fi clichés. Overall, it's not very well written, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun watch once but repeated viewings don't do the show any favours. I've found that it comes off worse and worse the more often you watch it. Unlike TOS which has many episodes that stand the test of time, despite also containing some ridiculous aspects.

That said, I did like the focus on just one alien race - even though the fact that they're just portrayed as the evil other bent on invasion and destruction is a bit boring - because I feel that's more realistic than Trek. (I imagined a sequel where they try to talk to the Frogs.)

Concerning the actual legal situation women found themselves in in 1966 (West) Germany I suppose the show was progressive. I don't think anyone expected General van Dyke to ask her husband's permission in order to work or buy a car.

As for progressive sci-fi shows from the 60s I must say I was very impressed with the early Doctor Who. Although there are some damsel-in-distress aspects present there, too, for the most part the women on the show are normal, yet self-confident women who often help to resolve the situation rather than being in need of rescue.