Help Me Watch for the First Time!

[Casi]

Hello all! I've been searching the web and found myself here and I hope I'm not breaking any rules here with this post. I looked around the forum and couldn't seem to find my answers, so I'm left with no other choice.

I grew up with Next Gen and I just saw the film in theatres and now I want to pay tribute to the show that started it all. The question I have for you experts is should I watch the show according to the original air dates or according to their production date? I've noticed the vast difference there and I didn't know which option was best. It seems like watching them out of chronological order (as per the air dates) will mean I miss things along the way.

So what should I do? Please help me! And if anyone knows where I can buy a copy of The Cage I would greatly appreciate it too. It doesn't seem to be on YouTube and Netflix doesn't have the DVD so I'm assuming it's underground and maybe not in the mass market?

Be gentle with my lack of knowledge. Everyone starts somewhere.

 

[bismarck_1892]

Hello all! I've been searching the web and found myself here and I hope I'm not breaking any rules here with this post. I looked around the forum and couldn't seem to find my answers, so I'm left with no other choice.

I grew up with Next Gen and I just saw the film in theatres and now I want to pay tribute to the show that started it all. The question I have for you experts is should I watch the show according to the original air dates or according to their production date? I've noticed the vast difference there and I didn't know which option was best. It seems like watching them out of chronological order (as per the air dates) will mean I miss things along the way.

So what should I do? Please help me! And if anyone knows where I can buy a copy of The Cage I would greatly appreciate it too. It doesn't seem to be on YouTube and Netflix doesn't have the DVD so I'm assuming it's underground and maybe not in the mass market?

Be gentle with my lack of knowledge. Everyone starts somewhere.

Go to Hulu.com

 

[Casi]

I tried Hulu. I'm planning to use it to watch later seasons, but since I've got Netflix, I'm watching the first season there since it's streaming high quality without commercials. But Hulu still doesn't seem to have The Cage. I've scrolled all the way to the beginning of their list, and there's nothing.

And I'm still undecided on what order to watch them in, anyway.

 

[Noname Given]

I tried Hulu. I'm planning to use it to watch later seasons, but since I've got Netflix, I'm watching the first season there since it's streaming high quality without commercials. But Hulu still doesn't seem to have The Cage. I've scrolled all the way to the beginning of their list, and there's nothing.

And I'm still undecided on what order to watch them in, anyway.

For the first season - production order dedfinitely; because the first 13 episodes actually had a little internal continuity from one to the next with regard to some of the secondary characters, and you can actually see and appreciate this. beyond that, air date order or production order make very little difference for TOS - they truely are 'stand alone' from that point for the most part (In the third season they start to reference some events of previous seasons; but it's only in passing here and there).

 

[Casi]

Thanks! This helps a lot. And I'm glad about the Hulu tip as I didn't know what I was going to do for seasons 2 and 3 since netflix doesn't seem to have them either.

I'm so glad I found this place. Do you have any other tips for a first timer?

 

[Cakes488]

Thanks! This helps a lot. And I'm glad about the Hulu tip as I didn't know what I was going to do for seasons 2 and 3 since netflix doesn't seem to have them either.

I'm so glad I found this place. Do you have any other tips for a first timer?

Welcome to the board and I'm glad to see that you're a TNG fan and you're checking out TOS -- you won't be disappointed!

 

[QuasarVM]

Hello all! I've been searching the web and found myself here and I hope I'm not breaking any rules here with this post. I looked around the forum and couldn't seem to find my answers, so I'm left with no other choice.

I grew up with Next Gen and I just saw the film in theatres and now I want to pay tribute to the show that started it all. The question I have for you experts is should I watch the show according to the original air dates or according to their production date? I've noticed the vast difference there and I didn't know which option was best. It seems like watching them out of chronological order (as per the air dates) will mean I miss things along the way.

So what should I do? Please help me! And if anyone knows where I can buy a copy of The Cage I would greatly appreciate it too. It doesn't seem to be on YouTube and Netflix doesn't have the DVD so I'm assuming it's underground and maybe not in the mass market?

Be gentle with my lack of knowledge. Everyone starts somewhere.

I always prefer watching them in airing order (as they are on the DVD sets)...not production order...

Well, I take that back -- I do like to watch Season 1 in production order for the reason stated above....

 

[Albertese]

I tried Hulu. I'm planning to use it to watch later seasons, but since I've got Netflix, I'm watching the first season there since it's streaming high quality without commercials. But Hulu still doesn't seem to have The Cage. I've scrolled all the way to the beginning of their list, and there's nothing.

And I'm still undecided on what order to watch them in, anyway.

Dude, I think I have an older VHS version of the Cage. It was released direct to video sometime in the early 80's. It takes the colored footage from "The Menagerie" and the black and white footage from the original test film that Gene Roddenberry evidently had in his own collection at the time and cuts them together to tell the whole story. It's a little weird having it shift form color to B&W in the middle of shots, but it's not too bad. Also the B&W stuff with the Talosian keeper has the earlier voice for him, which is quite different from the other one used in "The Menagerie." In the 90's it was cleaned up a bit and the whole thing colorized, minus a few syndication cuts and aired as an 80th episode when syndicated on local stations. (Like KPTV 12 here in Portland) Both versions are included on the third season DVD released in 2004. But they're at the end on season 3, so maybe Hulu has them listed there as well.

Anyway, if you have a VCR and you're interested, I'll give you the tape (assuming I still have it, I'll have to check). PM me your address and I'll happily mail it to you. Seeing as how I have the DVD's I don't really need the tape anymore. I've tried to sell it at comic book shows here in town, but no one is buying VHS. So it's free if you want it.

--Alex

 

[MANT!]

Drat, I've given away all of my Star Trek VHS tapes to the local Goodwill...and they FLY off the shelves there..( Maybe I helped out a poor Star Trek fan!!)

 

[Smiley]

"The Cage" is on the third-season DVD set.

 

[Casi]

I just checked out Hulu and their last episode is Turnbout Intruder. I do appreciate the offer and my boyfriend has VCR but I have no idea if it works or not. I'll PM you and let you know.

Thanks to everyone else's wonderful advice, I am now a handful of episodes in. I'm halfway through the Enemy Within and I'm fascinated that eyeliner is apparently the Key to making someone evil.

I'm really enjoying this. I'll admit, I was highly skeptical. But this is so well written I'm amazed. I think if it was to have been done today, with modern special effects, it would have been the biggest hit TV has ever seen.

 

[Smiley]

My point is that with Netflix, you can get the third season's final disc, which contains "The Cage," sent to you in the mail. You don't need to hunt down a VHS copy.

 

[Cakes488]

I just checked out Hulu and their last episode is Turnbout Intruder. I do appreciate the offer and my boyfriend has VCR but I have no idea if it works or not. I'll PM you and let you know.

Thanks to everyone else's wonderful advice, I am now a handful of episodes in. I'm halfway through the Enemy Within and I'm fascinated that eyeliner is apparently the Key to making someone evil.

I'm really enjoying this. I'll admit, I was highly skeptical. But this is so well written I'm amazed. I think if it was to have been done today, with modern special effects, it would have been the biggest hit TV has ever seen.

I so glad you feel this way!! I just new this new movie was going to prompt others to check out TOS! LOL about the eyeliner...doesn't he use coverup too for those nasty scratch marks? Yeah you'll see in his cabin on his little dresser he has quite a few bits of makeup there...it's a great ep...one of my faves (if that's possible)!

 

[Casi]

So far I'm actually really fond of the first one, Where No Man has Gone Before. It was a really interesting idea.

However, it's making me a bit frustrated with fans. I've been reading a lot on here about the different things that people don't like about the new movie and I see them citing the red matter and how it was never explained what that was. And I want to turn around and go...well...there are plenty of things that never get explained, like that unknown energy field from the first episode that latches onto people with stronger ESP readings. We never find out what the heck that was.

But I feel like I haven't earned my dues to really question old fans. So it just leaves me a bit frustrated and confused.

 

[Casi]

My point is that with Netflix, you can get the third season's final disc, which contains "The Cage," sent to you in the mail. You don't need to hunt down a VHS copy.

Sorry for the double post, but I missed this.


Netflix only has season 1 for some reason. And it's only available in the watch instantly version, they don't even have the disks.

 

[Cakes488]

So far I'm actually really fond of the first one, Where No Man has Gone Before. It was a really interesting idea.

However, it's making me a bit frustrated with fans. I've been reading a lot on here about the different things that people don't like about the new movie and I see them citing the red matter and how it was never explained what that was. And I want to turn around and go...well...there are plenty of things that never get explained, like that unknown energy field from the first episode that latches onto people with stronger ESP readings. We never find out what the heck that was.

But I feel like I haven't earned my dues to really question old fans. So it just leaves me a bit frustrated and confused.

You're right...there were a lot of things on TOS that were never explained.....technologies never used again..etc...that never really bothered me much because we were on to the next adventure to not explain the next batch of things LOL LOL.

Wow people really needed the red matter explained? I didn't get any info about that prior to the movie and I followed along with that just fine.

 

[Casi]

I just treated the red matter as "okay...that's their futuristic discovery and I trust it does whatever they say since I'm not the one who made it up."

 

[erastus25]

So far I'm actually really fond of the first one, Where No Man has Gone Before. It was a really interesting idea.

However, it's making me a bit frustrated with fans. I've been reading a lot on here about the different things that people don't like about the new movie and I see them citing the red matter and how it was never explained what that was. And I want to turn around and go...well...there are plenty of things that never get explained, like that unknown energy field from the first episode that latches onto people with stronger ESP readings. We never find out what the heck that was.

But I feel like I haven't earned my dues to really question old fans. So it just leaves me a bit frustrated and confused.

You're right...there were a lot of things on TOS that were never explained.....technologies never used again..etc...that never really bothered me much because we were on to the next adventure to not explain the next batch of things LOL LOL.

Wow people really needed the red matter explained? I didn't get any info about that prior to the movie and I followed along with that just fine.

yeah, people getting hung up on that is really weird to me too. Especially when you consider that Star Trek relies on transporters and warp drives regularly. Red Matter is no more implausible.

 

[Kirk1980]

Nah, I wouldn't get hung up on that either. You gotta allow them a couple of conceits to their plot.

It's just everything else that bothers some TOS fans (like me!) to no end.

 

[Casi]

I just know what I like. And I liked the film. I've decided to be very zen and treat it the same way I treat Harry Potter. I love the books. I love the movies. I even loved the epilogue of book seven, which I'd estimate 97% of fans hated. I just say to myself: "It's Harry Potter. I don't know how to not love it."

I think that's how it's going to be for me with Star Trek too. Though I doubt I'll ever really get into Voyager and Deep Space Nine and all that. It's just too much and I've already got so much Whedon to keep up with.