Let's continue TOS

(TOS) was not of an age, but for all time !
And all the Muses still were in their prime,

uh, well, maybe not. It was of it’s time. And it was a TV show. The iterations that follow likewise reflect their times. They may work for you or not.

TOS harkens back to my youth and how I could spend hours pouring over the franz Joseph blueprints or the Alan dean foster books. I enjoyed the fan continuations… but I can’t imagine a world where it would be continued professionally. arguing over which variant is better is like arguing over colour… it’s all subjective.

 

Indeed, especially as this very idea was being bandied around by Roddenberry back when TAS was being develolped:

 

Good thing they're not doing that, then.

 

Yeah, they are.

 

Erm, they are all phases of Lego Batman. It's canon.

 

Certainly not.

Quite true--and that was the intention of Roddenberry, Fontana, et al., with the creation of TAS. With all of the creative firepower behind TAS, and what was achieved in ST world-building (and advancing the popularity of the then-young franchise), its doubtful--and laughable to think anyone associated with the latest, horrid ST productions would create a strong, creatively satisfying continuation of TOS.

A myth long debunked by episodes of TOS (the ST production Roddenberry had the most control over), with characters of faith / events related to it, and was not the result of nonexistent pressure from NBC, or any other entity involved with the show.

 

He was very vocal against religion in the years after TOS, and this showed up in TNG (e.g. "Who Watches the Watchers").

 

I was talking about the myth of Roddenberry being irreligious during his control of ST during the TOS years, which would not be the case based on episodes and character statements.

 

From the available evidence, I don't think he was ever really 'religious' per se in his adulthood, just more neutral and tolerant about it prior to the 70s. His first marriage was a Christian one, the second (in 1969) Shinto Buddhist.

https://heavy.com/entertainment/star-trek/gene-roddenberry-religion-shinto-humanist-atheist/

 

The Canon Debates didn't really begin until the 1980s (and didn't become more serious until the 2000s), well after that timeframe, so what I say stands.

I don't see how someone can write a story like "The God Thing" and not have already turned against religion.

 

Steering back to Canon:

As long as it was his version, Gene favored newer material (TMP and TNG) over older material (TOS). So he was changing things as time went along himself. He didn't throw things out altogether (unless it was TAS!), but he was constantly making adjustments.

If it wasn't his version, all that type of thinking went out the window, and he'd declare it non-canon if it wasn't well-liked (TFF) or just quietly ignore it if it was well-liked (TWOK-TVH).

 

When they were getting TNG off the ground he purportedly told the writhers they were not beholden to what TOS had established. Hence some of the subsequent inconsistencies.

 

Which is of course appropriate for telling a story as you go. Star Trek had so many different influences and writers and cooks that it would happen that something wouldn't be completely agreeable. That's why the new direction bothers me so little. The original is still there; it's not being changed, nor am I being told "this is the only version." Heck even Star Wars struggles with that one.

Canon will be contradictory. How well people are OK with that will be a mileage will vary. Me? Well, I have a much different view than many on Trek. It is not something I take super seriously.

 

Gene Roddenberry didn't like TOS at that point because he had sold the IP Lock Stock and Barrel to Paramount and wasn't making a dime off of the merchandising (and for a time Paramount was even suing him over his Lincoln Enterprises merchandise, and both parties eventually came to a settlement.)

To get Gene Roddenberry back or Star Trek the Next Generation, Paramount essentially made it his, and he was going to have a big piece of any and all merchandising, and whatever other profit streams they could devise. So yeah at that point Gene Roddenberry wanted to bury TOS and take it out of the public consciousness as much as possible; and replace it with this new better version that he now actually would make some real money off of.

GR's two main concerns were always:

1. $$

2. Young (.)(.) On a casting couch.

Although yeah, by 1987 he knew that 2. was a pipe dream at his age and condition at the time.

 

Totally missed the perfect opportunity to say Lock Spock and Barrel

#allaboutthepuns

 

Being kicked out of producing Trek after TMP (and reduced to "Executive Consultant) probably figured as well.

 

So in 1973 during the animated series Gene Roddenberry wanted to replace the Klingons with another more ruthless enemy.
Then instead he decided that this new force may be the rulers of the Klingon empire that made the humanoid looking Klingons go out into space and threaten the borders of the Federation in the first place.
These baddies would have still used the D7 design of Starship. But in the end we ended up getting Klingons voiced by George Takei or James Doohan and not John Colicos, Michael Ansara or William Campbell!
But these Klingons were presented to us with perms and pink tabards instead!!!!
JB

 

Nothin wrong with pink!

 

It would have been a wild time!

 

This is exactly the reason why I get annoyed when people bring up 'Gene's Rules of Nacelles' or whatever as some kind of holy gospel, when in fact Roddenberry didn't give a shit about nacelles. He just wanted to discredit Franz Joseph Schnaubelt's tech manual because Roddenberry wasn't making any money off of it.