"So there's more than Voyager?"

I am posting here because it's about all the shows.

So on Friday night we had a couple friends over for dinner. They're young. The husband is like 26 and the wife is 23. We love these people. He startstelling me about bingeing on Netflix. Aks, "So have you heard about this new show, Lost in Space?"

I'm about to reply when the wife chimes in "It's not as good as Voyager"

Interesting. These are more outdoorsy types. I wouldneverin a million years have pegged them, especially her, as a Trekkie.

"You guys like it?"

"Oh, yeah,"the husband replies "We just watched theone where the Doctor is daydreaming."

She says "I watched it all the time when I was a kid. Seven of Nine is my favorite."

I do the math. She was bornduring Voyager's original run. And she's an adult now, about to have a kid of her own. My goodness I feel old.

"I like Voyager, too," I reply, "but my favorite is Deep Space 9."

"What's that," she aske.

What the what?, I think, but I say, "Oh, it's one of the other Star Trek shows."

"Wait, there are more?" She's serious.

"Um, yeah. like the first show was in the 60s. It was just called Star Trek.Then in the 80s was The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine came in the 90s and Voyager as on not long after that."

"So am I missing the story? I started at the end?!"

"Nah. Voyager takes place along way away, so it's pretty much jsut on its own."

She's serious. She's not messing with me. And it's clear by the look on her face that this is not just pregnancy brain. She's never heard of the others, and I don't think he has, either. As a side note, they also weren't aware of the original Lost in Space. There'snothing off about them. We hae lots of stimulating discussions. They just somehow made it a quarter century lving in the United States without hearing about Star Trek, or at least not paying attention.

Now that I write this, I realize that some episodes wouldn't have made much sense. Like the appearances of Counselor Troi and Barclay. Or the occasional Romulans that show up. That would have meant nothing to them. Anything like this ever happen to you?

 

And you're surprised by this because?

There are a lot of people out there that are "casual fans" of one particular variant of this or that. Many of them are completely oblivious to the idea that there are other versions of that something.

Like the 1980's version of "The Thing" being basically a remake of the 1950's "The Thing from Another World".

Now, how a cultural phenomenon like "Star Trek" could slip under their radar...I don't know!

 

When you mentioned DS9 and she was all "what's that" you should have answered "a show all about that space station in Caretaker where Harry pissed off the bartender."

Thing is, Voyager's credits include "Based Upon Star Trek Created by Gene Roddenberry." So even if someone came to Voyager on its own and wasn't aware of the greater Star Trek pantheon, that alone should have clued them into realizing there's "more than just Voyager."

 

I like to think I have a good sense of perspective about this kind of thing. I don't expect the average person to have heard of, say, FARSCAPE or THE 4400, but even still I'm startled sometimes. Believe it or not, I once had neighbors who didn't know who "Yoda" or "Godzilla" were. That still boggles my mind. Even if you're not really into this stuff, there's STAR WARS merchandise all over Wal-Mart. How do you overlook STAR WARS? And Godzilla has been around for over sixty years. They never caught a Godzilla movie on TV as a kid?

Then again, I have also met people who didn't realize that the Flash and Flash Gordon were not the same thing. Ditto The Green Hornet and the Green Lantern.

 

That's great. I had a lunch conversation with two of my co-workers and only one knew there was a '90s Lost in Space movie. I was the only one who knew there was a '60s TV show. I, of course, informed them that the '60s TV show is the REAL Lost in Space and there are no others.

 

@StarCruiser, I was just surprised by the fact that it's Star Trek, of all franchises, that she hadn't heard of. Like, they've released six films within this kid's lifetime.

So I had researched Lost in Space some, when the new one came out. I remember watching reruns as a kid, until I got the willies from that episode where Smith and Will and the Robot find that android facory and the boy goes through it. NOT OKAY for a six-year-old. I liked the show well enough, but I was always annoyed in the nineties when nostalgia kicked in and people started debating whether Star Trek or Lost in Space was the superior show. It feels like that was more of a media construct than a realconflict. I mean, as fun as LiS could be at times, it simply was not as good as Sta Trek.

But, the origins of the show Lost in Space are pretty interesting. Looks like three people had the idea to plagiarize a comic book at the same time. And Irwin Allen was the one who was lucky enough to get the paychecks. As an aside, I've never subscribed to the notion that JJ Abrams is the "Steven Spielberg of this generation. He might aspire to that, but he's really the Irwin Allen of this generation. He's talented but doesn't have much follow-through. He packs all of his ideas into a shotguun shell and fires them at the wall. Halff of the pellets fail to penetrate, and those that do get passed off to other writers.

 

So you answer your own question here.

Seriously, we live in a completely media-saturated society. In today's world of "peak TV," it's perhaps understandable if there's some cool new show that people haven't heard of. Or even more obscure older stuff... I was recommending the new Lost in Space to a friend over drinks the other day, and he assumed it was a remake of the 1998 movie, because he'd never heard of the 1960s TV series. But something that's been a major cultural phenomenon for over 50 years, with marketing blitzes every time some new iteration comes along? That's a whole other level of obliviousness. Being unaware of Star Trek is like being unaware of Spider-Man.

I often find it useful to remind myself that half the adult population is of below-average intelligence...

Interesting. I'm familiar with the Space Family Robinson background and the legal settlement about it (even though I've never seen a single episode of the original LIS), but I hadn't heard that there were other attempts to adapt it too. What's the story?

 

Although @lawman these kids are sharp. I don't mean anything against intelligence.

 

Disney's Ib Melchior was working on a Space Family Robinson script (supposedly unrelated to the comic book) in 1964. Hilda Bohem purchased the film and TV rights to the Space Family Robinson comic book back in 1962.

It's basically Ib Melchior's lawsuit, I feel, that killed the franchise off after the film (although that movie sucked). Like he died in 2015 and then lo and behold they start working on a new one.

 

I hope she likes the rest, if she ever gets around to seeing them

 

Gonna have to watch them all in 6 months. Once the baby comes there's gonna be no time ever again.

 

Sounds like a good opportunity or idea to invite them over for drinks or dinner and watch select episodes. At least TNG and DS9 pilots. TOS may be a bit too old school.

And you didn't mention DISCO? That's a current series.

 

I forgot about STD. Didn't care for it and literally forgot that it is on.

 

Green Arrow will really blow their minds then...

 

They didn't know of DS9 and yet you still choose to associate yourself with them?

 

There are plenty of people who are mostly unaware of the specifics of SF, and don't even know the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars. And in my experience, a lot of people are absolutely uninformed when it comes to any movies, music, or television from before the time when they were kids.

Kor

 

True. But they're on like Season 6!

 

What a damning thing for the new LiS series when it's not as good as the terrible "Star Trek: Voyager" series.

 

It was fine, but each episode was a little long. And for whatever reason the last episode came across as dull. Oh, and that boy paying Will is bad, even for a child actor.

 

That's really mind-boggling to me. I can perhaps understand it when you are a kid, and everything is new. But after that?

Like I wrote, we live in a media-saturated society... darn near everything ever written/filmed/recorded is out there in some form competing for our attention, and it's easier than ever to be informed about it. These days you don't have to find a film society or a revival theater, or even stroll through a video store... you literally just have to sit at home and browse your favorite streaming service.

(And for music, or books, that level of obliviousness is even harder to fathom...)

I can't agree. I just finished streaming the new LIS the other night, and I found it more consistently enjoyable than DSC, never mind VOY. (And I say this, as noted above, as someone with zero nostalgic attachment to the original LIS.) And I distinctly recall thinking to myself that they'd found a darn good child actor for that key role.