TOS: Influenced by Psychedelia, or influential?

[Commander Kielbasa]

So a question:

TOS has always struck me as quite a psychedelic show. It's got over-the-top acting, beautiful, trippy worlds; vibrant, almost cartoonish Technicolor glitz; miniskirts and so on. My question is, with Trek coming out in Sept 1966, was it influenced by the psychedelic aesthetics...or was it more influential on that era than influenced?

 

[Albertese]

I'm certainly no expert, but I would assume that all of those things simply emerged from the same cultural gestalt. I doubt any one of them "influenced" any of the others in any meaningful sense.

--Alex

 

[Spock's Barber]

Cheech and Chong must have been kicked out of Starfleet Academy.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[scotpens]

I'd say certain specific effects in TOS definitely had a "psychedelic" esthetic. The galactic barrier in "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the giant space amoeba in "The Immunity Syndrome," the appearance of Commander Loskene in "The Tholian Web," the inter-dimensional void in "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" all come to mind. The artists who created these effects were just following trends that already existed in popular culture.

As for "over-the-top" acting, the acting in Trek TOS was no different from most television dramas of the time. Most TV actors in the 1950s and '60s got their training in live theater, and the performances were in a more theatrical style than we're accustomed to today. And miniskirts were already a common fashion item by the mid-1960s.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Looking at the Medusan, Kollos, was also kinda psychedelic. But I agree with others so far: TOS was trend-following more than trend-setting, when it came to psychedelia, plus the psycheldelic wasn't all that major in TOS anyway, if really there at all.

 

[Maurice]

Let;s just be careful in our terms here because in many people's minds (pun intended) psychedelia is synonymous with psychedelic drugs whereas to others it's more a style.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I was speaking of the artwork associated with the 1960s counterculture generally resembling art inspired by psychedelic drug use. So, the latter.

 

[Phaser Two]

Loskene is a great example of this. The Zetarians' effects are another. I think it was just the style of art direction at the time, and of course the setting allowed for virtually unfettered creativity.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The Zetarians' effects are another.

Good one. I had overlooked that episode. Also, the color change the Zetarians' victims undergo while making the croaking noises might be considered psychedelic.

 

[The Old Mixer]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Yeah. "City...," "Wink of an Eye," "Shore Leave," "Mudd's Women." Etc. I overlooked a lot. I take it back. There's more psychedelia than I'd thought, especially when you factor in subtexts.

 

[Phaser Two]

Good one. I had overlooked that episode. Also, the color change the Zetarians' victims undergo while making the croaking noises might be considered psychedelic.

Absolutely. I wasn't clear but I meant everything to do with the Zetarians. I still view the scene of the croaking woman on the floor of Memory Alpha as the most chilling moment in all of TOS.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I wasn't trying to make a point, just saw the perfect opportunity to post an old favorite.

In seriousness, I definitely don't think Trek had an influence...the timing was wrong, on top of anything else, as the psychedelic culture was emerging back in '65, IIRC. Trek may have been influenced by it, as part of the cultural gestalt of the time, as touched upon above.

Not that psychedelic culture didn't have its genre-oriented pop cultural influences. I've read that Steve Ditko's Doctor Strange art was a major influence on psychedelic poster art.

 

[Phaser Two]

I wasn't trying to make a point, just saw the perfect opportunity to post an old favorite.

In seriousness, I definitely don't think Trek had an influence...the timing was wrong, on top of anything else, as the psychedelic culture was emerging back in '65, IIRC. Trek may have been influenced by it, as part of the cultural gestalt of the time, as touched upon above.

Not that psychedelic culture didn't have its genre-oriented pop cultural influences. I've read that Steve Ditko's Doctor Strange art was a major influence on psychedelic poster art.

What's the origin of that video? I'd never seen it before you posted it and I thought it was very clever in weaving in scenes to fit the Jefferson Airplane lyrics.

 

[The Old Mixer]

No idea...something I found on YouTube years ago.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I wasn't trying to make a point, just saw the perfect opportunity to post an old favorite.

Nah, it opened my eyes. Well done. I now think that TOS was more psychedelic than I realized. Not oodles and oodles more, but quite noticeably more. Quite educational.

 

[Kor]

Leonard Nimoy once met Jimi Hendrix, but it was after TOS was already cancelled.

Kor

 

[Jayson1]

Isn't a great deal of art based on people getting high? I have heard of that reasoning. Basically drugs are supose to open your mind and make you more creative. I got to think that kind of thinking must have made a impact on the show. Surprised nobody mentioned the episode "The Alternative Factor" and that weird dimension were Kirk fights Lazarus and then the 2 Lazarus's are doomed to fight each other for all of eternity.

Jason

 

[The Old Mixer]

Surprised nobody mentioned the episode "The Alternative Factor"

Bad trip.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Bad trip.

Ninja'd.