Original Response to TOS

[Alienesse]

I recently caught "How Techies/William Shatner Changed the World" again on Discovery Science. I love this documentary because it shows how incredibly influential Star Trek has been, and it's actually what made me want to watch the original series in the first place. Seeing how all those people who created the gadgets that we now take for granted were inspired by Star Trek made me realize that this was not a show I afforded to miss.

Anyway, I wanted to ask people who were there when it all began what their reaction was, how they responded to Star Trek as a new show. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. For me, the concept of a world without Star Trek is rather hard to fathom, to be honest. I never lived in it. For me Trek has always been there.

Of course, I had my own wide-eyed introductory experience, but that was with TNG. And the beginning of the nineties was an entirely different world than the late sixties. We already had space travel, computers, and mobile phones. I couldn't really draw a parallel between waking up to TNG and witnessing Star Trek as a totally new phenomenon.

So, it would be really great to hear from people who had that experience. Were you entirely struck with wonder at what you saw on screen? How did you respond to the obvious social and political commentary? How easy was it to relate to the characters and their adventures?

 

[Greg Cox]

Well, it's worth remembering that although it was the first Star Trek series, TOS was hardly the first or only science fiction show or movie that most of us had seen. I remember liking it the same way I liked The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.* It was another cool science fiction show with monsters, spaceships, and clever Rod Serling-style twists. ("Wow. The scary-looking alien monster is really a friendly baby!")

The transporter kind of freaked me out, though. I kept expecting Captain Kirk to end up with a giant fly head. (Seriously, I used to worry about a fly sneaking into the transporter room when nobody was paying attention--like in the Vincent Price movie.)

Given that I was only seven or eight at the time, I would be lying if I claimed I was blown away by the social and political commentary. I was in it for the monsters and the ray-guns. But I always liked the characters and enjoyed the banter between Kirk and Spock and McCoy. Even as a kid, I knew a good team when I saw it.

(*Oddly, I think I hadn't seen Forbidden Planet yet.)

 

[Captain Tracy]

I concur with GREG COX, that not only was STAR TREK not the first Sci-Fi show which demonstrated these 'futuristic technological achievements', but moreover - save for the 'Transporter' - the movie, 'Forbidden Planet' demonstrated or implied the pre-existence of nearly all of the same so-called 'Star Trek' technology;... and even some of the characters!

The main point is that there is not one LEGITIMATE shred of evidence that STAR TREK actually, directly, and SINGULARLY influenced anything in our modern technology of today.

Ideas, on the whole, are not are unique as the average layman might think. In fact, most laymen are 'totally surprised' to learn that the mast majority of these ideas have been around for a very long, long time.

These are the same people who are 'Astounded' to learn that there existed something on the order of 47 other patent applications for an electrically operated 'light emitting bulb',... and some years before Edison worked his crooked and underhanded deal,...

Edison was just the guy who put it in the hands of the mass population.

Much like Roddenberry.

Where the confusion and TOTAL MISCONCEPTION comes in, is when a high-profile personality like William Shatner has a book Ghost-Written for him, entitled: 'I'm Working On That' - A Trek From Science Fiction To Science Fact; and gently suggests that it was the direct reciprocal influence of STAR TREK that the 'Flip-Top Cell Phone' took its inspiration from Captain Kirks' Communicator, etc, etc.

Sorry, the vast majority of these so-called 'Star Trek' design concepts were already on this planet a very long time before Roddenberry was presented with the concepts for integration into his new show- by other parties, no less.

To further frustrate the truth - and that which propagates this huge fallacy among the unthinking - is when addressing a convention hall full of costumed fans, Mr. Shatner assigns the source of genius not to the real source, but to the wrong party,... and the DROVES listening fans nod their rubber-eared heads up and down dutifully,... and then produce their Motorola 'Razor' cell phones (with flip-top), and hold them up as DEFACTO EVIDENCE in support of *his* claims.

The fact is: that by-in-large, STAR TREK INVENTED NEXT TO NOTHING TECHNOLOGY-WISE,... it did however CAPITALIZE on many old ideas, was influenced BY THEM, fleshed them out very well, and was able - through the powerful medium of Television - bring these old ideas into the consciousness of millions of people around the world,... for the first time.

STAR TREK just did it better than it had ever been done before, and we love everyone associated with the show for it.

So ALIENESSE, while I know that was not the point of your otherwise wonderful post,... but to infer - even through reiteration - that STAR TREK was a source for directly 'influencing technology', is highly irresponsible; as that statement is utterly false.

And for those who still don't get the difference - Why don't you write to Harlen Ellison, and ask him to explain it to you,.. oh, and be sure to mention 'Roddenberry's', City On The Edge Of Forever'.

 

[Greg Cox]

I concur with GREG COX, that not only was STAR TREK not the first Sci-Fi show which demonstrated these 'futuristic technological achievements', but moreover - save for the 'Transporter' - the movie, 'Forbidden Planet' demonstrated or implied the pre-existence of nearly all of the same so-called 'Star Trek' technology;... and even some of the characters!

And, as I joked, I was already familar with the concept of the transporter from the original Vincent Price version of THE FLY. ("help me, help me!")

I do remembering preferring TREK to LOST IN SPACE, which, even as kid, I never got into . . .

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Star Trek completely won me over with the very first episode, "The Man Trap."

Roddenberry lifted a great deal of the look and feel of the early Star Trek from other sources, some of which I had already seen, and I was thrilled at the chance to see that world I loved so much from Forbidden Planet and other sci-fi movies and from episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits on a weekly basis.

And, there were enough new things in Star Trek to make it even more fascinating to me. The characters were new (at least in name and look, if not always in personality or behavior); the ship was more than just a simple flying saucer or rocket ship; the ray-guns looked different from the "norm," and they made a really neat, unusual sound when fired; the bridge looked really cool (although it took me a bit to get used to that big "throne" in the middle); and the transporter was really cool, too (and a major "WTF" when first encountered, with no explanation other then "We are beaming down to the planet surface" in that first scene in "The Man Trap" ).

As for the social and political aspects, I was a kid. Even if I could have understood it, I wouldn't have cared a whit. All that mattered to me was that the heroes were courageous and honorable and always won the day.

As for Star Trek inspiring so many modern inventions, yeah, I think it does get too much credit for that. Not that I don't think some young engineer might have said at some point, "Gee, wouldn't it be great if we had (fill in the blank) like on Star Trek!," but Captain Tracy's right: I don't think the Trek guys ever came up with any concepts along those lines that lots of other people didn't as well, and often a lot earlier.

Incidentally, I got to "discover" Star Trek twice! Once when it first aired, and again when we got our first color TV set!

 

[Alienesse]

Thanks a lot for your answers, guys.

You're right, it is a conceit to claim that Star Trek invented the technological wonders it presented. I did take that particular implication in Shatner's documentary with a pinch of salt, because it simply defies common sense, even to someone not so well versed in science and technology, like me. After all, the people who created the show had to draw inspiration from somewhere.

What I think Star Trek did do, and Captain Tracy sums this up excellently, is bring those preexisting revolutionary ideas into popular focus. And that's a great achievement in itself.

TNG did that for me. I've never been very good at sciences, and mathematics was my arch-nemesis in school. Naturally, this led me to stray from subjects like physics or astronomy because I simply didn't understand any of it. But something happened to me as I started watching TNG regularly. Almost without my noticing, my brain began to rewire and I found myself suddenly able to grasp scientific concepts that had entirely eluded me before. I became interested in the real physics of space and started reading articles, watching documentaries, etc. I'm very grateful to Trek for that, because it literally opened my mind to something extremely important. I would have never thought, say 10 years ago, that I would one day be able to read an article about quantum physics, much less to actually enjoy it.

 

[Captain Tracy]

I've never been very good at sciences, and mathematics was my arch-nemesis in school. Naturally, this led me to stray from subjects like physics or astronomy because I simply didn't understand any of it. But something happened to me as I started watching TNG regularly. Almost without my noticing, my brain began to rewire and I found myself suddenly able to grasp scientific concepts that had entirely eluded me before. I became interested in the real physics of space and started reading articles, watching documentaries, etc. I'm very grateful to Trek for that, because it literally opened my mind to something extremely important. I would have never thought, say 10 years ago, that I would one day be able to read an article about quantum physics, much less to actually enjoy it.

Now THAT is really something to write about! Quoth Spock: "Fascinating"

 

[Gary7]

I've never been very good at sciences, and mathematics was my arch-nemesis in school. Naturally, this led me to stray from subjects like physics or astronomy because I simply didn't understand any of it. But something happened to me as I started watching TNG regularly. Almost without my noticing, my brain began to rewire and I found myself suddenly able to grasp scientific concepts that had entirely eluded me before. I became interested in the real physics of space and started reading articles, watching documentaries, etc. I'm very grateful to Trek for that, because it literally opened my mind to something extremely important. I would have never thought, say 10 years ago, that I would one day be able to read an article about quantum physics, much less to actually enjoy it.

I think that with grand concepts presented in the sciences, the best way to understand them is through example. Even if it's a fictional example, it can still present the idea. And by watching Star Trek, that must have happened for you.

I too have been a bit miffed by how much credit Star Trek is given for inspiring so many inventions. However, I also recognize that Star Trek helped boost those ideas that had already been conceived of in sci-fi novels. Edison didn't invent the lightbulb, but he invented a passable version that could be mass produced. That's just as important as the original idea. But of course, the proper thing is to give credit to all concerned.


The Original Star Trek series was my first television exposure to sci-fi. I was 5 years old when I first saw it, displayed on a relatively "huge" color TV of a friend. I was mesmerized. I wanted more! However, I didn't quite grasp the idea of television programming and had no clue about finding Star Trek again. In fact, I didn't even catch the name the first few times. We had a black & white TV then. It wasn't until right after the Apollo 11 moon mission that we finally got a color TV. Thankfully Star Trek appeared in syndication and I was able to see it at home. Although I liked a lot of other sci-fi going on at the time, Star Trek was by far my favorite. It was the one that felt most realistic, down to the last detail.

There is one thing that Star Trek did that was kind of a negative. I'd wanted to be an astronaut and be part of the Apollo program in the future (not knowing it would be canceled), but that desire faded as our primitive technology paled in comparison to what was visualized on Star Trek. I knew full well that we'd never venture beyond the solar system with manned spacecraft until well after my death. What's the point? I felt that the experience of being in the US space program would be too much of a letdown. It was just as well, since it is tougher to get into the program than it is to be nominated for a presidential election.

Anyway, for the most part Star Trek inspired me on a lot of levels. I'm very grateful for what Roddenberry created and what it inspired going forward. TOS will always have a special place in my mind, despite all of it's flaws compared to the pristine production values of TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT.

 

[Captain Tracy]

Good post GARY7, it really caused me to reflect back on the whole NASA situation during the Mercury and Apollo programs, and the impact - and fallout, as you pointed out so well - on young minds of the day.

 

[HGN2001]

I was there in front of the TV on September 8, 1966, watching that first episode of a new series called STAR TREK. The official start of the new season was still a week or so away, but the networks were playing a jump-the-gun game that year. NBC ran "Sneak Previews" of some of its new series, and STAR TREK was one of them. I recall the TV Guide's advertisement using this artwork:

telling me to tune into then NBC channel 3 in Philadelphia.

The show was on at 8:30 PM on a Thursday. I liked outer space stuff and had watched LOST IN SPACE, OUTER LIMITS and TWILIGHT ZONE, but this was a new show in color, and we had just gotten a color TV that year. Our house happened to favor CBS. It's just the way we were back then. We had access to all of the networks, but CBS was our favorite. So we usually defaulted to whatever was on CBS first. So it was a conscious choice to deviate away from normal and watch an NBC show. But we did.

I found "The Man Trap" a bit confusing. It seemed like there were too many people on the ship. 400-some? That's too many characters to get to know. And that guy with the pointed ears. He was weird. Still it was an outer space adventure. So I'd attempt to give it a chance. The problem was it ran against my then-favorite sitcom, BEWITCHED, which aired 9-9:30 opposite the second half of STAR TREK. So I had to choose. I chose BEWITCHED for most of that season. But with the idea that I'd start watching STAR TREK each week and then switch at the half-hour to see BEWITCHED, which was also now in color for the first time.

It wasn't until late in the season, on the occasion of the airing of "City On The Edge Of Forever" that I became hooked on STAR TREK permanently and for good. I thoroughly enjoyed the reruns that summer and watched every episode as it aired thereafter.

Heady times.

Harry

 

[Bones]

I was turned on to Star Trek by my mother of all people. I immediately was engrossed with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, the Enterprise and all Treknology.

When Star Trek captured my imagination I was so young that absolutely fantastic things were still possible in my mind. I thought Star Trek was a depiction of real events and capabilities, and that there was a Star Fleet and interstellar travel. This is what I wanted to do when I grew up.

At some point (probably when I was about 7 or 8 years old) I figured out it was fiction. I still remember my disappointment. It was probably the same time that I discovered the truth about Santa Claus.

Star Trek has been with me as far back as I can remember. I enjoy the spinoffs and the new movies, but TOS always has a special place in my mind and heart.

 

[jayrath]

^ Many excellent points, above. For many of us, who enjoyed TOS from the first, we were still children. We responded in ways that were different from the intended mass audience. (Oddly enough, a few laters I didn't really care at all for the animated series, though I still adored TOS. As an adult, however, I enjoy it the animated adventures very much as a legitimate fourth season.)

Reading accounts of the letter-writing campaigns and such, it seems that there was a very hard core base of college students and sci fi fans.

As for myself, I saw it as an exciting part of my future. We were about to go the moon! I was living in a new age! I drank Tang, ate space sticks, and imagined I would live to see something very much like the early days of the Federation. According to TMOST, there were even some who believed that TOS was secretly-approved by NASA to prepare us for this new interstellar reality.

I was a Mercury baby, a Gemini toddler and an Apollo pre-adolescent. Lots and lots of problems in the '60s, but TOS at the time was very much our hopey-changey future. Still is for me.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

I have a vague memory of a major "Woah!" moment when I first realized those little some-lit-and-some-not rectangles all over the ship were windows! "Jeez, that's a big mofo!"

(Although, at that age, I probably didn't actually use the words "jeez" or "mofo.)

 

[Greg Cox]

As for myself, I saw it as an exciting part of my future. We were about to go the moon! I was living in a new age! I drank Tang, ate space sticks, and imagined I would live to see something very much like the early days of the Federation.

Ohmigod, I haven't thought of space sticks in years. I loved those.

And, yeah, space was very much in the air back then. I played with my "Major Matt Mason" astronaut toys and thoroughly expected to visit the moon as an adult . . . .

 

[Nerys Myk]

As for myself, I saw it as an exciting part of my future. We were about to go the moon! I was living in a new age! I drank Tang, ate space sticks, and imagined I would live to see something very much like the early days of the Federation.

Ohmigod, I haven't thought of space sticks in years. I loved those.

And, yeah, space was very much in the air back then. I played with my "Major Matt Mason" astronaut toys and thoroughly expected to visit the moon as an adult . . . .

Space sticks were great! As was Major Matt Mason. Though since I lived in Japan for part of the 1960, he and GI Joe often ran into Ultra Man.

 

[Greg Cox]

As for myself, I saw it as an exciting part of my future. We were about to go the moon! I was living in a new age! I drank Tang, ate space sticks, and imagined I would live to see something very much like the early days of the Federation.

Ohmigod, I haven't thought of space sticks in years. I loved those.

And, yeah, space was very much in the air back then. I played with my "Major Matt Mason" astronaut toys and thoroughly expected to visit the moon as an adult . . . .

Space sticks were great! As was Major Matt Mason. Though since I lived in Japan for part of the 1960, he and GI Joe often ran into Ultra Man.

And Captain Action, too?

There was even a Big Little Book about Matt Mason which I read several times as a kid.

 

[RandyS]

I was turned on to Star Trek by my mother of all people.

You say that like it's a bad thing. My mom also turned me onto Star Trek. In my case though, I was born almost a year after TOS left NBC and went into reruns, so I don't really remember my first exposure to it, since mom always said that I watched the reruns as a baby when she had it on, and in 1973 when TAS started and our local station was rerunning TOS, I watched both, and would ask her why it was that Spock was sometimes a real perosn, and other times, a drawing. I was three, and have only the most basic memory of that.

My own "original response to TOS" was in 1979 at the release of TMP. I was nine then, and my response was negative. I figured it was just another Star Wars knock-off. And, when, shortly after the release of the movie, our local station began rerunning TOS, I though, "ugh, they made a series out of that stupid movie??". Once again, mom got involved, and told me no, it was the other way around, and the series was old reruns, and convinced me to watch with her. At that point, I became a fan for life.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Ohmigod, I haven't thought of space sticks in years. I loved those.

And, yeah, space was very much in the air back then. I played with my "Major Matt Mason" astronaut toys and thoroughly expected to visit the moon as an adult . . . .

Space sticks were great! As was Major Matt Mason. Though since I lived in Japan for part of the 1960, he and GI Joe often ran into Ultra Man.

And Captain Action, too?

There was even a Big Little Book about Matt Mason which I read several times as a kid.

My dream Christmas present was to find all of the Captain Action costumes under the tree. Sadly, my parents did not share that dream.

 

[M'Sharak]

As for myself, I saw it as an exciting part of my future. We were about to go the moon! I was living in a new age! I drank Tang, ate space sticks, and imagined I would live to see something very much like the early days of the Federation.

Ohmigod, I haven't thought of space sticks in years. I loved those.

Space Food Sticks, wow - I hadn't thought of those for a long time, either.

 

[Alienesse]

I'm really glad I started this thread because it's turning out exactly as I'd hoped. I have come to love TOS, but having discovered it much later than you have, my vantage point on the series is quite different. That's why it's fascinating to read about your experiences. Thanks for all your insightful replies!

What's also very interesting to me is the way in which the show is perceived differently depending on the culture to which the viewer belongs. That's only natural, of course, but I'd never thought about it seriously. For instance, I'd never realized the impact of Star Trek in relation to the beginnings of the space program in the US - the hopes and dreams it created, or the disappointment that the kind of space travel depicted in the show was far, far-removed from what the then present day could offer.

I think that with grand concepts presented in the sciences, the best way to understand them is through example. Even if it's a fictional example, it can still present the idea. And by watching Star Trek, that must have happened for you.

I suppose that's true. I've always been unhappy with the level of practical teaching in Romanian schools, especially for subjects like mathematics or physics, which are difficult to grasp for most of us at a young age. I guess Star Trek provided the examples I needed and hadn't been able to find somewhere else.

To HGN2001, thanks so much for that great poster! Truly a piece of history.

I was turned on to Star Trek by my mother of all people. I immediately was engrossed with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, the Enterprise and all Treknology.

Every time I hear that somebody was introduced to Star Trek by their parents, I smile because that's like the ultimate cool thing to me. I also watched TNG with my parents and even grandparents. They weren't particularly taken with it, but at that time TNG was all the rage on Romanian TV. Each episode was presented as part of a special Sci-Fi / real science program detailing the bits of Treknology that we were about to see. I, on the other hand, was in a hypnotic trance every time a new episode came on.

When Star Trek captured my imagination I was so young that absolutely fantastic things were still possible in my mind. I thought Star Trek was a depiction of real events and capabilities, and that there was a Star Fleet and interstellar travel. This is what I wanted to do when I grew up.

I'm glad to hear that, because that's pretty much how I responded to TNG. I was already in my early teens and had long found out about Santa's secret , but in my mind, TNG was a possible future. And it still is. That's how I see Star Trek - an opportunity for me to experience a future I will never get to live in. That's probably a foolishly optimistic point of view, but I can't help it. I'm already very happy that we have laptops, iPads, memory sticks, touchscreens and other pieces of technology that I'd seen in TNG as a teenager.

As for myself, I saw it as an exciting part of my future. We were about to go the moon! I was living in a new age! I drank Tang, ate space sticks, and imagined I would live to see something very much like the early days of the Federation. According to TMOST, there were even some who believed that TOS was secretly-approved by NASA to prepare us for this new interstellar reality.

To think Tang only reached Romania in the early 90's! Sadly, space sticks never did, they look pretty neat. Amusingly enough, I also have this personal suspicion that all these sci-fi shows with lots and lots of aliens in them, primarily Trek, are part of a conspiracy meant to prepare us for contact with the real aliens.