Episodes so bad they are funny/good?

[ZapBrannigan]

This is probably not the correct definition, but when I think of campy as it related to Star Trek I think about some of the acting in certain moments (Kirk pushing out his hands as he switches places with Lester, screaming "I'm Captain Kirk!!" in 1.5), the lighting on the female guest stars and the music that plays when it shows them, some of the fight scenes). I don't consider TOS a campy show - it is a scifi/drama show and holds up that way, but it does have some campy moments to me..but that's because I'm watching it in 2022 as opposed to something that was intended to be that way.

Yes, there's a distinction between intentional camp (Adam West's style on Batman and Family Guy is the supreme example) versus serious, stylish work that was done in all sincerity, but can be laughed at decades later because of changes to filmmaking that happened in the meantime.

I always took the "beautiful woman with soft lighting and a love theme" seriously on Star Trek, I ate it up with a spoon, and I was eager for more when Moonlighting gave Cybill Shepherd the same treatment in 1985. It wasn't a joke, it was a re-imagining of life as it ought to be, rather than what it is usually is. (Moonlighting would test the fourth wall and make fun of itself once in a while, especially late in the series when the show was falling apart and they were going for broke, but Cybill's beauty shots were rightly sincere.)

 

[Pikirk_Janesisko]

As a kid, I loved both Star Trek (TOS) and Lost In Space. If you think TOS is camp and/or does comedy in cringeworthy ways, well, you ain't seen nothin' if you haven't seen Lost In Space. I guess maybe that's why, for me anyway, anything that takes place in TOS is light years superior to the silliness of Lost In Space.

You're right about that. Compared with other sci-fi shows at that time, Star Trek deliberately avoided those tropes. But it still was a product of its time, so there's some episodes that didn't age well, but suprisingly most of them still hold up.

Answering the OP question, one that comes to mind for me is "Turnabout Intruder". I ironically like this episode simply because how hilarious Shatner's performance is.

 

[Neopeius]

Yes, there's a distinction between intentional camp (Adam West's style on Batman and Family Guy is the supreme example) versus serious, stylish work that was done in all sincerity, but can be laughed at decades later because of changes to filmmaking that happened in the meantime.

I always took the "beautiful woman with soft lighting and a love theme" seriously on Star Trek, I ate it up with a spoon, and I was eager for more when Moonlighting gave Cybill Shepherd the same treatment in 1985. It wasn't a joke, it was a re-imagining of life as it ought to be, rather than what it is usually is. (Moonlighting would test the fourth wall and make fun of itself once in a while, especially late in the series when the show was falling apart and they were going for broke, but Cybill's beauty shots were rightly sincere.)

I don't have a problem with Vaseline(tm) Lens(tm). It's everywhere in the 60s. Barbara Bain never left home without it...

 

[Poltargyst]

I recognize some episodes are not good, but I don't have any that are so bad they're funny to me. In even the worst episodes, there is value. We still get THOSE actors and THOSE characters, and we're still on board the Enterprise in the 23rd Century.

 

[Donald G]

Yes, there's a distinction between intentional camp (Adam West's style on Batman and Family Guy is the supreme example) versus serious, stylish work that was done in all sincerity, but can be laughed at decades later because of changes to filmmaking that happened in the meantime.

I always took the "beautiful woman with soft lighting and a love theme" seriously on Star Trek, I ate it up with a spoon, and I was eager for more when Moonlighting gave Cybill Shepherd the same treatment in 1985. It wasn't a joke, it was a re-imagining of life as it ought to be, rather than what it is usually is. (Moonlighting would test the fourth wall and make fun of itself once in a while, especially late in the series when the show was falling apart and they were going for broke, but Cybill's beauty shots were rightly sincere.)

There's a reason Cybill Shepherd got the same lighting treatment as the ladies on Star Trek. Jerry Finnerman was the cinematographer of Moonlighting.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

There's a reason Cybill Shepherd got the same lighting treatment as the ladies on Star Trek. Jerry Finnerman was the cinematographer of Moonlighting.

Yeah, I didn't mention that in my post, but when Moonlighting was in first run on ABC, his name leapt out at me in the credits. Moonlighting evidently wanted to evoke a vintage style in these shots of Shepherd. The show was partly an homage to the madcap romantic comedies of the 1930s. Maybe they chose Finnerman because he had famously applied the techniques of Golden Age b&w camera work to color TV on Star Trek.

 

[Warped9]

I’ve been following a couple of different YouTubers currently watching TOS for the very first time. One of them is a confessed Star War’s fan who never really watched Trek and certainly not TOS. I’d peg these folks to be around 30ish or so.

Now they are watching the TOS-R versions so they are not seeing the original space fx, so one can wonder how that might influence their overall impressions. What I can tell you is that while they might laugh and make the occasional jokey comment while viewing they get more serious minded in the final reviews and overall impressions.

Bottom line, though, both reviewers are generally very impressed with TOS. They really like the characters, the stories and the overall storytelling. They’ve completed Season 1 and while they will acknowledged some dated aspects of production and fx they have never called it campy or so bad as to take them out of the story. Overall they have been quite impressed with what TOS has pulled off given the time it was made.

I’m looking forward to their Season 2 reviews.

 

[Donald G]

I’ve been following a couple of different YouTubers currently watching TOS for the very first time. One of them is a confessed Star War’s fan who never really watched Trek and certainly not TOS. I’d peg these folks to be around 30ish or so.

Now they are watching the TOS-R versions so they are not seeing the original space fx, so one can wonder how that might influence their overall impressions. What I can tell you is that while they might laugh and make the occasional jokey comment while viewing they get more serious minded in the final reviews and overall impressions.

Bottom line, though, both reviewers are generally very impressed with TOS. They really like the characters, the stories and the overall storytelling. They’ve completed Season 1 and while they will acknowledged some dated aspects of production and fx they have never called it campy or so bad as to take them out of the story. Overall they have been quite impressed with what TOS has pulled off given the time it was made.

I’m looking forward to their Season 2 reviews.

You're talking about the "Target Audience" channel, aren't you?

 

[Ssosmcin]

And that makes the updated effects worthwhile

 

[Warped9]

You're talking about the "Target Audience" channel, aren't you?

Yes. Came across them by accident. Another one is the Sci-Fi Dog Lady, who has also reviewed original Twilight Zone episodes.

I sometimes like seeing younger people reacting to music, television and films we grew up with, but are totally new to them.

Amazing how many younger folks thought the Bee Gees were black. Reactions to the Righteous Brothers appear to be universal awe. And very cool that the forty-five year old Jaws can still amaze and scare the crap out of younger audiences.

 

[Neopeius]

I sometimes like seeing younger people reacting to music, television and films we grew up with, but are totally new to them.

Going through the 60s with Lorelei has been pretty amazing for the same reason.

Indeed, half our Trek Wednesdays are her cohort, many of them watching Trek for the first time. Abby has gotten so into the show that she comes in a Trek dress (sciences blue), has a Spock plushie, and she made a marriage certificate solemnizing her nuptials with the Vulcan...

 

[Phoenix219]

I, Mudd and Plato's Stepchildren are the ones that I find the most cringy, but I'm not sure if that is the same as campy.

 

[Warped9]

Cringe inducing is something outright bad. As many have said the ‘60’s Batman was pure camp.

I would call parts of “A Piece Of The Action” and “I, Mudd” camp. There are parts of “And The Children Shall Lead” that are certainly cringe worthy.

There are parts of “Plato’s Stepchildren” that are disturbing, but then thats the whole point to illustrate people deliberately humiliated for someone else’s amusement. It’s a very clear demonstration of the abuse of unbridled power, influence and privilege.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Interesting to see everyone has a different idea about what camp means. To me it means 'stereotypically gay', especially in regards to ostentation and effeminate physical behaviours or gestures. Think 1980s drag artist (like Lily Savage) and you reach a point somewhere near my definition of the word.

I think people are mostly using 'campy' as a synonym of 'cheesy' in regards to TOS. I don't think it's a camp show at all, but it is often silly.

1960s Batman isn't camp to me. It's like an piece of (unwitting) Absurdist Brechtian Theatre. It's a show I slide in with Monty Python or The Monkees from around the same period. The people who made that show knew exactly how amped up and ridiculous the show was and they played on it. It's a smarter show than a lot of people realise I think.

 

[Ssosmcin]

1960s Batman isn't camp to me. It's like an piece of (unwitting) Absurdist Brechtian Theatre. It's a show I slide in with Monty Python or The Monkees from around the same period. The people who made that show knew exactly how amped up and ridiculous the show was and they played on it. It's a smarter show than a lot of people realise I think.

Star Trek is silly more in retrospect than when seen with 1966 specific eyes (although yes I can come up with a few examples here it's hard to take a few scenes seriously even in context). There were a lot of silly SF and comedies on the air at the time and Trek was aimed a bit higher. Silly would be something along the lines of the Irwin Allen canon.

This doesn't include the original Series comedy episodes. Those are silly.

And if Batman doesn't qualify as camp, nothing does. At least in the first season when the show was deliberate, measured and walked a very fine line. In the second and third seasons, things slid into parody, satire and simple ridiculousness. The movie is one of the funniest comedies of my youth.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Star Trek is silly more in retrospect than when seen with 1966 specific eyes

Exactly and good post. TOS may look silly now but in the 1960s it was as close as people could get to prestige TV Sc-fi. No matter how much TOS stumbles there is at least always the impression that they were aiming high. Contemporary letters from fans often eviscerate the Irwin Allen stuff and hold up Star Trek as something that's just a little bit more.

 

[Warped9]

I find a lot of contemporary Trek silly.

 

[Pikirk_Janesisko]

Well, season 3 does a lot to undermine what Star Trek was trying to do. A lot of the episodes from the season have that low-budget sci-fi feel to it, but not in a good way, even more when you look at the stories. In previous seasons, the quality of the scripts overshadowed any shortcomings of the sets or makeup. Sesson 3 didn't even had the quality control that was so present on seasons 1 and 2.

Seasons 1 and 2 have very few "so bad it's good" episodes. The only one that comes to my mind it's Catspaw, but I wouldn't call that one a bad episode.

 

[Warped9]

^^ In my last series rewatch I found Season 3 is actually a lot better than usually given credit for. I feel the “Season 3 sucks” idea is pretty much an accepted notion many just accept, but doesn’t really hold much water.

For one thing Season 3 was more like the serious mindedness of Season 1 than the casual/lighter sensibility of Season 2. S3 certainly avoided the comedic stories of S2.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I love the third season.

The Enterprise Incident
The Paradise Syndrome
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
The Tholian Web
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
That Which Survives
All Our Yesterdays

All episodes I would put up there with any of the earlier two seasons and many I would choose to watch over Charlie X, Devil in the Dark, Miri, Shore Leave and many others.