Rewatching Star Trek For the 50th Anniversary

[tomalak301]

I realized last week I have not rewatched the entire series completely since when I got the DVDs. I watched an episode here or there, and last week I watched some episodes I haven't seen in years like Conscience of the King and Lights of Zatar. I decided because this is the 50th anniversary I was going to give Star Trek a proper rewatch and that's what I've been doing this week. I am going in air date order so the last episode I watched was Miri. I'm excited to do this because there are many aspects of Star Trek I really like, namely the friendship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy and I don't think Season 3 is that bad. I've also found myself excited to talk about this series so I'm going to use this thread to make observations on episodes that I see, and maybe talk about episodes that never get discussed, like Miri.

So far the best episodes I've seen are The Enemy Within, Where No Man Has Gone Before, and Naked Time. Also, I guess it's obvious because of how much TV has progressed over the years, but the sexism of this series is really showing now more than I noticed before. It's not a bash against the series, but more showing it as a product of it's time. It's also one of the reasons I didn't like Mudd's Woman. I get what they were going for, but it was so overt that it was a bit of a turn off.

Still, I'm glad I decided to do this. There was a lot to like and love about the series that started it all, 50 years ago.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I've considered doing a weekly rewatch by airdate starting on the 50th anniversary of the original "Man Trap" airing. Fun fact: The days and dates of the 2016 calendar line up with those of the 1966 calendar, so doing it that way would not only mean watching on the same date, but the same night of the week as well.

 

[Anji]

Go for it, man! Enjoy the marathon!

 

[tomalak301]

I've considered doing a weekly rewatch by airdate starting on the 50th anniversary of the original "Man Trap" airing. Fun fact: The days and dates of the 2016 calendar line up with those of the 1966 calendar, so doing it that way would not only mean watching on the same date, but the same night of the week as well.

That is a cool fact. Then when you get to the first season you can watch it at 10:00 on Friday nights and experience the death slot all over again.

 

[tomalak301]

Dagger of the Mind

This episode is just really cool. Love the idea of brainwashing in sci fi (The Aurora Chair from Farscape is probably my favorite kind of brain torture) and the Neural Neutralizer concept was really interesting here. When this episode is brought up, the first thing people think of is Helen Noel, and yeah she is attractive, but what excited me was she was a badass. She held her own, was really smart, and saved Kirk's life. It's a pity we never saw her again.

 

[tomalak301]

The Corbomite Maneuver

Was this the only episodes the series where McCoy was chilling with Kirk in Kirk's quarters, a la the doctor doing the same thing with Pike in The Cage? There felt a more casualness to this episode namely when Kirk and McCoy were talking in the beginning.

This was a good third episode. Can't believe Clint Howard played Balok.

 

[Warped9]

There is still a lot of sexism in the world and our society certainly can't be excluded.

Harry Mudd was a conman, but the idea of "mail order brides" is still going today albeit adapted to the times. Today there are numerous sites devoted to connecting people between countries. And both men and women can be conned into getting (or not) something other than what they expected.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Was this the only episodes the series where McCoy was chilling with Kirk in Kirk's quarters, a la the doctor doing the same thing with Pike in The Cage?

McCoy give his famous "Don't destroy the one named Kirk" speech in Kirk's quarters in "Balance of Terror." There's also a scene between the two in Kirk's quarters reminiscent of Pike/Boyce in "The Ultimate Computer," with McCoy bringing drinks in to console Captain Dunsel.

 

[tomalak301]

McCoy give his famous "Don't destroy the one named Kirk" speech in Kirk's quarters in "Balance of Terror." There's also a scene between the two in Kirk's quarters reminiscent of Pike/Boyce in "The Ultimate Computer," with McCoy bringing drinks in to console Captain Dunsel.

Ok. It just felt like this episode was a lot more casual than the military episodes I've seen so far in this rewatch. Always fun when we see the big three off duty. We also saw Kirk and Spock playing chess together which was always fun.

 

[tomalak301]

Balance of Terror

There is one thing I love about this episode above all else. It was spending quite a bit of time on the romulan ship and watching the similarities and differences of tactics in warfare between the Romulan Commander and Kirk. With what little we see on the Romulan ship, I love that both are just strategists and really look at the big picture. You have Kirk's crew who has doubts about violating the treaty, and you have the Romulan crew who just wants to get home. Loved the ending where the Commanders says in an alternate time, I could have called you friend.

Still a classic episode 50 years later.

 

[Thomas Amundsen]

Coincidentally, I am working through the TOS at a seemingly similar pace as you, and we started around the same time. I am going to be watching Balance of Terror tonight. I didn't read your post on it, because I don't want to spoil the plot. But I'm really looking forward to it as I've heard it's one of the best episodes in the franchise. I'm really excited to see what TOS Klingons look like!

 

[tomalak301]

Coincidentally, I am working through the TOS at a seemingly similar pace as you, and we started around the same time. I am going to be watching Balance of Terror tonight. I didn't read your post on it, because I don't want to spoil the plot. But I'm really looking forward to it as I've heard it's one of the best episodes in the franchise. I'm really excited to see what TOS Klingons look like!

This is your first time watching the series. Enjoy it.

 

[Thomas Amundsen]

Yes, it is. I'm having so much fun with it! I ordered some Star Trek pajamas the other day (red, I have too much respect for Kirk and Spock to wear their uniform).

Commenting on some of the episodes we've been through so far: I also cringed a little bit at Mudd's Women... but I still enjoyed it. I can see why some people would be upset by it. But I am slightly sexist, so I was still able to sit through it.

I actually think that The Menagerie is my favorite episode so far, even if there was so much stock footage from The Cage in it. I think I'm still glad I watched The Cage first, though. It's really hard to say which would be the better way to approach it. I'd say there's no right way. The set design is so awesome in this episode... After the episode before it, you can see that they sunk a lot of money into that pilot episode. But it's the small details that add to the overall philosophy of awe and wonder that do it for me. The moment where Spock and Capt. Pike are playing with the blue leaves is just so fun and playful. After every episode, I just appreciate Star Trek and its positive message so much. As Kirk said in ST II, "I feel young!".

 

[tomalak301]

Shore Leave

One of the things I was looking to when starting this rewatch was revisiting episodes I haven't see n years. Shore Leave I think is one I haven't seen since the DVD release and I wonder why. Even though I could figure out the planet was a place where dreams literally come true, it was a decent episode. It was beautiful to look at that's for sure (I'm not watching the remastered versions). Also this episode had some of the most whimsical music in the series so far.

 

[tomalak301]

The Gailaio Seven

This is one of the best episodes of the first season. You really can see the dichotomy of Logic versus human emotion, even though it seems like they were trying to paint Spock has kind of a bad guy. Spock was half human, yet he seemed to really ignore his human side here. Still, it was interesting watching Spock's reactions to the situation and the rest of the landing party's reaction to Spock. Also nice to see the Shuttle Bay for the first time.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Shore Leave
[...]
It was beautiful to look at that's for sure

[Insert Tonia Barrows innuendo here.]

 

[tomalak301]

[Insert Tonia Barrows innuendo here.]

Well, I wasn't thinking about that bit of you insist. I was thinking more of the stuff on the planet looked beautiful, and it was a gorgeous day when they were filming. Was that the first time we saw Vasquez Rocks?

 

[tomalak301]

The Squire of Gothos

This episode could have been so much better. I loved when the crew first met Trelene and thought this was going to be a fun romp. Campbell had a whimsical quality to him. I've even seen on various message boards that Q could have been a cousin or relative.

The problem with this episode was Trelene changed midway through. He went from a threatening omnipotent Q like figure to a spoiled brat child. His begging to his parents was dumb and it all added up to nothing. A shame to because if we're only judging the first half it would have been a great episode.

 

[new_mercury]

Cool Istarted this. Did three episodes and then decided to watch Encounter at Farpoint, then Emissary. I'm planning on carrying on the premiere episode pattern I unintentionally got into. Then I may watch al the movie's in order. Or that's was the plan until I read this and now I want to go back to plan A!

 

[DarKush]

I bought TOS-R last week. I'm thinking of doing this myself, watching all three seasons this year. Got to get amped for it and set aside some time.