How was Spock viewed by the original audience.

[alpha_leonis]

Background: I'm a 70s kid who came into my Trek-fandom as a child during the early 80s. So I saw the movies first (ST3:TSFS was the first I saw in the theatre). Consequently, the presence of Spock was always a given for me. He was just a natural part of the story.

I've recently been rewatching TOS with my wife. She's never seen it before except for the movies -- she's always been a fan of TNG, and most especially Voyager. She asked me a question about it recently that I had to admit I'm not really sure about, because I wasn't around to see it.

How was Spock viewed by the original audience of TOS? How did they answer the question of why this pointy-eared guy was on the bridge along with all these humans? His alien nature (especially regarding his emotionlessness) was developed over time, where today we would take it for granted with our half century of hindsight.

The only stories I can recall seeing is that Spock was more popular with the fans (especially the female ones) than Kirk, who was ostensibly the star of the show, and that caused some consternation on William Shatner's part. Other than that -- what was it like to see "Spock's Enterprise" back during the first run of the show?

 

[1001001]

How was Spock viewed by the original audience of TOS?

Mostly through TV screens.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Most viewers saw him in over 50 shades of gray.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Apparently Spock was a sex symbol, believe it or not.

 

[JaxsBrokenHeart]

Spock's combination of intelligence, moderated with genuine morality really stood out. Here was the smartest member of the crew in a package of a cool and secure personality. Not smug, not mad, not weird; just a logical and astute figure respected and in control of himself.

There's a great Issaac Asimov article called "Spock is Dreamy" where raves about women finding the genius character attractive because of how smart he was.

 

[UnknownSample]

I remember Regis Philbin in the 90s being confused as to why he was on the Bridge along with humans. I'm sure many were in the 60s, but the cool people kept watching and figured it out. The rest turned their noses up at the stuff they didn't get, and watched a car chase show.

 

[VulcanMindBlown]

Wasn't Spock a cultural icon back in the 1960's despite the bad reviews by professionals and falling ratings....????

 

[urbandefault]

Mostly through TV screens.

Small ones, mostly about 19" black and white.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I remember Regis Philbin in the 90s being confused as to why he was on the Bridge along with humans. I'm sure many were in the 60s, but the cool people kept watching and figured it out. The rest turned their noses up at the stuff they didn't get, and watched a car chase show.

Why would someone be confused as to why he's on the bridge? I know my preteen self figured it out quickly.
Star Trek's competition in the 60's were sitcoms ( Bewitched, That Girl, My Three Sons, Love on a Rooftop, Gomer Pyle), Movies, action adventure (Man in a Suitcase), Musical Comedy (Operation Entertainment), Western (Hondo) legal drama (Judd for the Defense) and a talk show (Dick Cavett) Not too may car chases, sorry.

 

[UnknownSample]

Why would someone be confused as to why he's on the bridge?

Because he's an alien and not human. Viewers would have expected him to be on another ship full of aliens. He's not "us", he's "them"... A political state consisting of Earth plus other planets was unexpected for the time.
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I can't really speak for Regis here, though. He never explained his question about that.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Because he's an alien and not human. Viewers would have expected him to be on another ship full of aliens. He's not "us", he's "them"... http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x11/thenagus130.jpg was unexpected for the time.
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I can't really speak for Regis here, though. He never explained his question about that.

They would? What is this based on. As I said, in the 60's my preteen self figured it out pretty fast. And at 7 or 8 I hadn't read that much SF yet. Though I'm pretty sure the idea of "a political state consisting of Earth plus other planets" wasn't a new idea in 1966. Though when Trek started there was no Federation, that wouldn't be introduced till later in season one. The Enterprise was an Earth ship.

 

[UnknownSample]

They would? What is this based on. As I said, in the 60's my preteen self figured it out pretty fast. And at 7 or 8 I hadn't read that much SF yet. Though I'm pretty sure the idea of "a political state consisting of Earth plus other planets" wasn't a new idea in 1966. Though when Trek started there was no Federation, that wouldn't be introduced till later in season one. The Enterprise was an Earth ship.

Based on the plodding, unimaginative point of view of those millions who were utterly confused by science fiction and everything about it. It was a different world. As a small child, I think it wasn't clear to me right off. The majority saw science fiction as invading bug eyed aliens. Aliens were threats, monsters.
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Not only was "a political state consisting of Earth plus other planets" new to casual un-SF viewers, but practically everything about Trek was. People who got SF were rare mutants, huddling together for protection in SF clubs... You were one of those who got it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Based on the plodding, unimaginative point of view of those millions who were utterly confused by science fiction and everything about it. It was a different world. As a small child, I think it wasn't clear to me right off. The majority saw science fiction as invading bug eyed aliens. Aliens were threats, monsters.
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Not only was "a political state consisting of Earth plus other planets" new to casual un-SF viewers, but practically everything about Trek was. People who got SF were rare mutants, huddling together for protection in SF clubs... You were one of those who got it.

I refuse to have such a low opinion of people. I don't think it was so hard to grasp, especially since the show gave viewers the information they needed to understand who Spock was. Plus the idea of an "outsider" isn't that unusual in fiction. And the United Nations writ large isn't all that confusing. They were using it in comic books in strips like The Legion of Super-Heroes (United Planets) after all.

Star Trek isn't ground breaking in it's idea or concepts. Very little was original or innovative TV or entertainment. Placing an adult drama in a Science Fiction format is it most innovative element. Most of the other stuff had been used in one form another since before Shakespeare.

Franking this whole "People who don't like SF are idiots" line of thinking does little to prove the "greatness" of fandom.

 

[F. King Daniel]

A sexpot, according to first-gen fangirls I've spoken to.

 

[marlboro]

I refuse to have such a low opinion of people.

“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”

Star Trek isn't ground breaking in it's idea or concepts. Very little was original or innovative TV or entertainment. Placing an adult drama in a Science Fiction format is it most innovative element. Most of the other stuff had been used in one form another since before Shakespeare..

I agree for the most part. It isn't exactly a huge leap from Forbidden Planet (1956) to TOS, imo. There were quite a number of science fiction shows on tv and radio in the 50s and 60s. Some were sophisticated, some juvenile. I think that one of the challenges Trek faced is that it combined the adventure/fantasy feel of sci-fi that aimed at young boys with more mature concepts. When you've grown up with sci-fi that was aimed at kids, it would be hard as an adult to take a show seriously that still had some of the same trappings.


Considering that TOS aired at the very peak of the space race, it's kind of funny that they "blew it." You couldn't ask for better conditions to launch a show about space exploration than the late 60s.

 

[Herbert]

I always use Spock as the measure by which I view later series Vulcans. I know that's probably unfair because Spock was half human and possessed a sense of humanity the someone like Tuvok could never have possessed. I think that's what made Spock so likable and later Vulcans less so.

 

[UnknownSample]

I refuse to have such a low opinion of people. I don't think it was so hard to grasp, especially since the show gave viewers the information they needed to understand who Spock was. Plus the idea of an "outsider" isn't that unusual in fiction. And the United Nations writ large isn't all that confusing. They were using it in comic books in strips like The Legion of Super-Heroes (United Planets) after all.

Star Trek isn't ground breaking in it's idea or concepts. Very little was original or innovative TV or entertainment. Placing an adult drama in a Science Fiction format is it most innovative element. Most of the other stuff had been used in one form another since before Shakespeare.

Franking this whole "People who don't like SF are idiots" line of thinking does little to prove the "greatness" of fandom.

You're over-reacting to what I said. I didn't say anything about Trek being innovative. Trek was confusing to a lot of people only because science fiction was. I remember. You make a comic book comparison. While appealing to imaginative kids, Trek was being made for adults, who didn't read comics back then.
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It's no big issue. I'm just saying that Spock working with the humans might very well have caused some momentary head-scratching for some people. Like Regis. A viewer who may be channel-switching, coming upon ST, will not find out immediately who and what Spock is. They reveal little bits of that info over time.
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There are people even now who are flummoxed by science fiction in general, believe it or not.

 

[Nyotarules]

Because he's an alien and not human. Viewers would have expected him to be on another ship full of aliens. He's not "us", he's "them"... A political state consisting of Earth plus other planets was unexpected for the time.
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I can't really speak for Regis here, though. He never explained his question about that.

At least they weren't expecting Uhura to be the maid or Sulu to be running a takeaway..or were they? It was the 60's after all.

 

[UnknownSample]

At least they weren't expecting Uhura to be the maid or Sulu to be running a takeaway..or where they? It was the 60's after all.

That would be the 50s and earlier. The 60s were the time of liberal guilt and what came to be called by the 70s the "token black". One black actor would be put onto shows to show lack of prejudice, but s/he often wouldn't get anything challenging to do.
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A liberal guilt show that was joked about at the time was the sitcom "Julia", which starred a black nurse who was shown raising her kids in a fancy upscale apartment that was obviously beyond a nurse's income. Fighting racism by ignoring it?
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Then All In the Family in 1971 sent things reeling in the other direction, as Norman Lear and others dealt with racism more head-on.

 

[T'Bonz]

A liberal guilt show that was joked about at the time was the sitcom "Julia", which starred a black nurse who was shown raising her kids in a fancy upscale apartment that was obviously beyond a nurse's income. Fighting racism by ignoring it?

More of a TV unreality thing than racism. Look at Friends. No way those people afforded that swank apartment on their meager salaries.

Watched Julia first run. I liked it.