lt'll be 11 years since the last ST show when Discovery premieres in May 2017. For some people who grew up with the STNG era universe, there is no conception of the 18-year gap between TOS and STNG. Sure, there were movies..lone 2 hr flickers in the dark, but nothing to justify the faith that Star Trek could work on television. After several fits and starts, the rumors during the 20th anniversary abounded, and finally, the announcement came that a NEW show with new characters set 100 years after Kirk would air.
It was not a given that it would be a success. It was sci-fi, and very little sci-fi was on TV at the time. It was syndicated. Only games shows prospered in syndication. It was a sequel. Sequels at the time were generally not successful. On top of that, some "hardcore" fans were insulted that the characters were not the originals. Generally though, fans were excited.
Unlike today, there was no world wide web. Fans got our news through the Official Fan Club and Starlog. They appeared monthly and bi-monthly. No live video from cons, no twitter, no facebook, no early CGI test footage, just 2D drawings and early, often very tentative information appeared.
Into this atmosphere came my anticipation! A handful of commercials appeared the summer before. ET did a 5-part series showings sets. It all seemed so fresh and new. Far from the narrow visions of some fans, I was expecting a huge success...a vindication of Gene's ideas and almost 20 years of advances in TV production.
I was not disappointed.
Supposedly appearing Oct 3rd, I was walking past the 19 inch TV in the living room I had left on, getting ready to help my dad in the basement with some project when I saw the saucer of the Enterprise-D flying towards me...I paused, shocked. I thought it was a commercial. IT lingered on my screen. An incredible voice spoke..it was here! Somehow the station couldn't stand to wait a second longer and aired the episode early! It was still September! I half-muttered some excuse to my dad..he never watched TV and would have no idea what I was talking about. In my excitement, I devoured every frame. I had to..no VCR yet. It was beautiful!
Sure, I could tell the show had flaws. The pacing was slightly off. The actors...well, several weren't so great. Some of the performances and lines were stiff...BUT it FELT right! The crew felt like socially advanced humans, not 20th-century people masquerading in pajamas or rags like some shows even today. Picard was a revelation..he had command of every scene, Patrick Stewart was amazing. Data was immediately a hit. I knew he'd be one of the most popular characters. Riker was the action man, but he had a 24th-century attitude...very open-minded, willing to try new things, but also creative like Kirk.
I could tell the story wasn't well integrated, as I knew they had shoe-horned an extra hour for the premiere. Three classic themes were in the pilot though: 1) flawed gods, a commentary on who we worship today 2) That mankind had failed at some point--the 21st-century horror--if we don't get our act together 3) mankind had progressed a stage beyond adolescence. It still took the time to take a jab at the Oliver North scandal. No other Tv show would even tackle such themes..even though they were not new.
It was easy to see the show would become a success after 1 episode. It turned out that syndicated stations and affiliates that aired the show had massive increases in ratings. One affiliate station was recording an 1100% increase in ratings over the previous show in it's timeslot. The season ended with a massive 10.9 rating, watched by over 15 million people every week, breaking syndication records, and even challenging the then all-powerful networks in certain key demographics and timeslots.
We all know the rest of the story. 70+ Emmy nominations, Hugos, Peabody award, best Drama nomination. 176 episodes. 4 movies. 4 sequel shows. An expensive and successful remaster. A phenomenon that many take for granted now. So happy anniversary to the show that actually started ST's success.
RAMA
It was not a given that it would be a success. It was sci-fi, and very little sci-fi was on TV at the time. It was syndicated. Only games shows prospered in syndication. It was a sequel. Sequels at the time were generally not successful. On top of that, some "hardcore" fans were insulted that the characters were not the originals. Generally though, fans were excited.
Unlike today, there was no world wide web. Fans got our news through the Official Fan Club and Starlog. They appeared monthly and bi-monthly. No live video from cons, no twitter, no facebook, no early CGI test footage, just 2D drawings and early, often very tentative information appeared.
Into this atmosphere came my anticipation! A handful of commercials appeared the summer before. ET did a 5-part series showings sets. It all seemed so fresh and new. Far from the narrow visions of some fans, I was expecting a huge success...a vindication of Gene's ideas and almost 20 years of advances in TV production.
I was not disappointed.
Supposedly appearing Oct 3rd, I was walking past the 19 inch TV in the living room I had left on, getting ready to help my dad in the basement with some project when I saw the saucer of the Enterprise-D flying towards me...I paused, shocked. I thought it was a commercial. IT lingered on my screen. An incredible voice spoke..it was here! Somehow the station couldn't stand to wait a second longer and aired the episode early! It was still September! I half-muttered some excuse to my dad..he never watched TV and would have no idea what I was talking about. In my excitement, I devoured every frame. I had to..no VCR yet. It was beautiful!
Sure, I could tell the show had flaws. The pacing was slightly off. The actors...well, several weren't so great. Some of the performances and lines were stiff...BUT it FELT right! The crew felt like socially advanced humans, not 20th-century people masquerading in pajamas or rags like some shows even today. Picard was a revelation..he had command of every scene, Patrick Stewart was amazing. Data was immediately a hit. I knew he'd be one of the most popular characters. Riker was the action man, but he had a 24th-century attitude...very open-minded, willing to try new things, but also creative like Kirk.
I could tell the story wasn't well integrated, as I knew they had shoe-horned an extra hour for the premiere. Three classic themes were in the pilot though: 1) flawed gods, a commentary on who we worship today 2) That mankind had failed at some point--the 21st-century horror--if we don't get our act together 3) mankind had progressed a stage beyond adolescence. It still took the time to take a jab at the Oliver North scandal. No other Tv show would even tackle such themes..even though they were not new.
It was easy to see the show would become a success after 1 episode. It turned out that syndicated stations and affiliates that aired the show had massive increases in ratings. One affiliate station was recording an 1100% increase in ratings over the previous show in it's timeslot. The season ended with a massive 10.9 rating, watched by over 15 million people every week, breaking syndication records, and even challenging the then all-powerful networks in certain key demographics and timeslots.
We all know the rest of the story. 70+ Emmy nominations, Hugos, Peabody award, best Drama nomination. 176 episodes. 4 movies. 4 sequel shows. An expensive and successful remaster. A phenomenon that many take for granted now. So happy anniversary to the show that actually started ST's success.
RAMA
