I want to watch TOS, but I'm having some difficulty

[Swarm Emperor]

I saw some episodes as a kid and enjoyed them well enough, and I loved the movies, but as of late, I've started to go back and watch the show on Netflix, and I'm having some difficulty. All of the Trek shows show their age to some extent (the first season of TNG sometimes looked like The Dark Crystal), but I find the sheer sixties-ness of TOS to be a major impediment. The zeerust, the awkward zoom-ins on people's faces and other camera techniques, the technology, the effects; I find them very distracting and they stretch my ability to suspend reality to the breaking point. Don't get me wrong, I love the characters and I'm by no means knocking the show as a whole, it's just that watching it often feels like some monastic penitential exercise than entertainment. I'm watching TNG and want to move to DS9 afterwards, but I want to get the basics of the franchise out of the way first.

I hate to knock this amazing series, and I know that it has some real gold, but the idea of trudging through it seems more like punishment than anything else. Are there any episodes you think I can skip, or some ones that you think are the best of the best if I want to focus my efforts? Also, anyone else suffer from this, and how do you get around it? Again, I hate speaking of TOS like this, and it's a show that I so want to enjoy as I know that there's some great stuff in it, but it's aged so much, I just can't.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Play the episodes backwards....there might be an embedded, hidden message from Starfleet Command in the audio.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Mihssimmihssimnamdaedsikcops.

 

[Emperor Norton]

TOS tech holds up well enough if you just assume it has all the functions that technology should have. It is easy enough, as you do not see what is written on their tablets or what Spock sees in his visor thing. The computers are capable of holding the information of all the Earth's computers, hence their size. And insert the other assorted explanations here. Other than that, fashions come and go, and the miniskirt is back in style by the 23rd century, along with technicolor.

 

[UnknownSample]

Sorry, I can't the least bit identify with your discomfort. Maybe immerse yourself exclusively in TOS for awhile, to wean you off your instinctive expectations?

 

[dahj]

but I find the sheer sixties-ness of TOS to be a major impediment

That's one of the things I like best about it.

If watching them feels like a chore to you, well... don't?

 

[BillJ]

Sorry, I can't the least bit identify with your discomfort.

Same here. But, I grew up with the show. I don't know if I was a young adult with no exposure to it, if I would be able to get into it the same way?

 

[Emperor Norton]

Same here. But, I grew up with the show. I don't know if I was a young adult with no exposure to it, if I would be able to get into it the same way?

I was. I grew up on TNG and came to TOS later. I loved it.

 

[geotrek]

Mihssimmihssimnamdaedsikcops.

Me too.

the idea of trudging through it seems more like punishment than anything else. Are there any episodes you think I can skip, or some ones that you think are the best of the best if I want to focus my efforts?

I've never considered TOS in that light... more like the opposite; a blissful reward for working during the day. I'd recommend not skipping any (even Turnabout Intruder). Also you may want to try imagining that you grew up before the digital age, when blinking lights, a giant screen, and doors that went "whoosh" were unheard of, and you could only watch the greatest TV show ever created once a week.

 

[alensatemybuick1]

No one will judge you if you can't bear to watch TOS any longer.

I find "Dr. Strangelove", a movie I loved when I was an adolescent, to be puerile and unfunny (probably for a couple decades now). So....I don't go out or my way to watch it, and even if I am flipping channels and its on, I'll usually move on.

Tastes change.

 

[1001001]

Get seriously baked first.

 

[J.T.B.]

Also, anyone else suffer from this, and how do you get around it? Again, I hate speaking of TOS like this, and it's a show that I so want to enjoy as I know that there's some great stuff in it, but it's aged so much, I just can't.

People post things like that from time to time, you are not alone. But it's not a surprise, really; fifty year old TV shows don't generally have mass audience appeal. If you don't have an interest in the history, techniques, style, actors etc. of TV in the 1960s, Star Trek may not offer you enough to really enjoy it. I think there are things about the show that are really valuable and I think it holds up very well compared to other TV shows of its day, but if you're looking for entertainment and it feels like homework, move on and don't worry about it.

I find "Dr. Strangelove", a movie I loved when I was an adolescent, to be puerile and unfunny (probably for a couple decades now).

Well now you've gone too far!

 

[johnnybear]

To me Star Trek TOS is the best of the lot! Each episode is a great story full of action and with excellent acting and chemistry unlike the spin offs which sometimes spend the whole show in the holodeck or trapped in a lift with children or keep mentioning an enemy without showing it and eventually giving us a lack lustre ending!
JB

 

[Spock's Barber]

To me Star Trek TOS is the best of the lot! Each episode is a great story full of action and with excellent acting and chemistry unlike the spin offs which sometimes spend the whole show in the holodeck or trapped in a lift with children or keep mentioning an enemy without showing it and eventually giving us a lack lustre ending!
JB

I still have problems watching a ST series that has a captain with a smooth dome, as in Picard's hairless head.

 

[FormerLurker]

It could be worse. It could be Janeway's hairless head.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Are you watching it in order or skipping around to the "greatest hits"? You may find going to the notable episodes will help ease you back into it. The strongest stories could make you forget about the sixties-ness of it.

On the other hand, TOS is not for everyone. There's no getting around its groovy 60's vibe or its groovy 60's effects. Some people (me) love that about the show. It's part of the show's enduring appeal. But if it's not for you, that's fine. There's no need to guilt yourself into watching it or force your way through it. We all have our favorite and least favorite Treks.

 

[Noname Given]

I understand where he's coming from because as someone who saw TOS first run (at age 6); while I grew to accept the various retcons of TNG when it was first run; years later I find a lot of it unwatcable because of the era it was produced in (the super Politically Correct era - plus the fact that unlike TOS, they rarely had any science fiction writers contributing scripts - so we got 'moral' situations you's see oon shows like 'family Ties' - only "in space on a spaceship that internally look and ran more like a cruise ship/hotel.)

So, yeah, I can see where the era TOS existed in might be a barrier for some (not me, it's when I grew up so I understand what they were going for on the occasion - which actually wasn't as often as people think - that TOS decided to make a political/societal statement in an episode.

But for me - TNG shows it's age/era the worst. I can't really watch most of it's first or second seasons anymore.

 

[Emperor Norton]

The Sixties were great.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The datedness is part of the charm, IMO.

 

[diankra]

Just try Balance of Terror or Devil in the Dark. If you can't see past the 60s production on those two, you're probably in trouble.