TOS Season 1.

[ConRefit79]

I've watched TOS since I was a boy in the late 70's. It seemed to run an random order while in syndication then. Recently I started watching Season 1 of my Blu Ray set in production order. One thing I've noticed is that the stories and acting of the 1st season are on the same level as the other series finally reached in their 3rd season. The actors seem to know who the characters are early on. I don't recall any stiff or awkward performances from the regular cast. Perhaps it's just my fondness for the series. Or maybe the actors or writers were better then.

 

[EnsignHarper]

What is truly amazing about it, is that Star Trek was such a totally new idea for television and beyond - adult episodic science fiction. Whatever you may think of Roddenberry as a person, whatever you may think of some of the things that happened later, what you see on the screen in that first season, is the direct result of a LOT of hard work on the part of him, Bob Justman, and later on, Gene Coon.

Both Roddenberry and Justman, in particular, literally worked themselves sick that first year. Roddenberry trying to get both Sci-fi writers who knew nothing about writing for TV, and TV writers who had problems with Science fiction. I forget, but someone estimated that up to 75% of what you see on the screen that first half of the first year was personally written/rewritten by Roddenberry, in order to keep it even REASONABLY consistent with his vision, and keep it relatively good. And it ended up costing him a lot of friendships within the sci-fi world. (I don't care HOW poetic/whatever Ellison's version of COTEOF is, it simply is useless as an episode of 1960's television)

 

[EnriqueH]

I still havent gotten around to reading Ellison's version of the story, (but I do have his book on my shelf), but Justman told Shatner in his Trek memoirs that Ellison's version was both exquisite and unusable.

I love TOS Season 1. It's really worth watching in production order, by the way.

 

[spockboy]

I've watched TOS since I was a boy in the late 70's. It seemed to run an random order while in syndication then. Recently I started watching Season 1 of my Blu Ray set in production order. One thing I've noticed is that the stories and acting of the 1st season are on the same level as the other series finally reached in their 3rd season. The actors seem to know who the characters are early on. I don't recall any stiff or awkward performances from the regular cast. Perhaps it's just my fondness for the series. Or maybe the actors or writers were better then.

I agree. It reminds me of what someone said who was involved with Planet of the Apes (1968)
When you do science fiction you must be careful to introduce TOO MANY science fiction concepts at once or you loose your believability and then your audience.

Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, all of them from the get go played it completely straight which is why we believed it because their acting grounded the viewer even though we were in a completely strange and new sci=fi world.

If Star Trek never existed and you went up to somebody and said...
How about a TV show with a giant spaceship that runs on crystals and goes faster than light all over the galaxy with a green blooded pointy eared first officer on board,
oh, and whenever these guys go somewhere they sparkle, disappear then sparkle and re-appear again wherever they are going.

Imagine your reaction.

Star Trek is an out there concept, but so beautifully executed that you don't question what you are watching,
unlike most movies today that make me groan as they constantly break the laws of physics and believability with the usual CG jerk fest.

Roddenberry, Justman, Coon, Jefferies, Finnerman, all of the actors, writers, directors, really took their job seriously. A lot of those guys went to war.
They were professionals, not self entitled 20 somethings with no real life experience or drive to create something really special and unique.

Sorry, that last line sounded a little bitter (LOL)

Spockboy

 

[EnsignHarper]

I've watched TOS since I was a boy in the late 70's. It seemed to run an random order while in syndication then. Recently I started watching Season 1 of my Blu Ray set in production order. One thing I've noticed is that the stories and acting of the 1st season are on the same level as the other series finally reached in their 3rd season. The actors seem to know who the characters are early on. I don't recall any stiff or awkward performances from the regular cast. Perhaps it's just my fondness for the series. Or maybe the actors or writers were better then.

I agree. It reminds me of what someone said who was involved with Planet of the Apes (1968)
When you do science fiction you must be careful to introduce TOO MANY science fiction concepts at once or you loose your believability and then your audience.

Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, all of them from the get go played it completely straight which is why we believed it because their acting grounded the viewer even though we were in a completely strange and new sci=fi world.

If Star Trek never existed and you went up to somebody and said...
How about a TV show with a giant spaceship that runs on crystals and goes faster than light all over the galaxy with a green blooded pointy eared first officer on board,
oh, and whenever these guys go somewhere they sparkle, disappear then sparkle and re-appear again wherever they are going.

Imagine your reaction.

Star Trek is an out there concept, but so beautifully executed that you don't question what you are watching,
unlike most movies today that make me groan as they constantly break the laws of physics and believability with the usual CG jerk fest.

Roddenberry, Justman, Coon, Jefferies, Finnerman, all of the actors, writers, directors, really took their job seriously. A lot of those guys went to war.
They were professionals, not self entitled 20 somethings with no real life experience or drive to create something really special and unique.

Sorry, that last line sounded a little bitter (LOL)

Spockboy

Actually, the point is that Roddenberry, et al, were not out to PLEASE 20 something year olds with no real life. Their job, as they saw it, was to please (as Roddenberry put it in the original Writer's Guide) Joe the cab driver and Mabel down at the local diner. In other words - ADULTS. Roddenberry also knew that technobabble would bore those people, and kept PLEADING with his writers to IGNORE that sort of writing as much as possible. Technobabble is LAZY writing - and is BORING. The old saw about a writer in a story using two or three pages of very nice technically accurate dialogue to show Kirk making a course change, and Roddenberry slashing it to one line: "REVERSE COURSE!". This is why Star Trek even today is more salable to the general public than most of the offshoots. You can go out on the streets today, and a good number of them will still know who Captain Kirk is...or Spock...even Scotty. But it will "Neelix? whats that?" Or "Whats an Odo?" THAT is the genius of Roddenberry.

 

[Warped9]

So much of TOS' Season 1 is a pretty solid template for how to do science fiction on television, even today.

 

[mb22]

If we are referring to the first part of Season 1, props should be given to John D.F. Black as well.

 

[Darren Mooney]

I'd argue the first season starts solid and builds to a crescendo with The City on the Edge of Forever. Sure, there are outliers on both ends (Balance of Terror on the one hand, The Alternate Factor on the other), but those last bunch of Coon-produced episodes are a thing of beauty. (That said, City really should have been the finalé.)

 

[Talos IV]

For me, Season One of TOS is the best single season of any TV series, period (before or since). Not just science fiction series, but any series.

I never tire of it -- in fact, I discover new things each time I watch it. (OK, maybe not "The Alternative Factor.")

There are other shows with superb seasons (Twilight Zone season one, Outer Limits season one, Breaking Bad most seasons) but none with quite the re-watchability of ST:TOS.

Seasons two and three have plenty of standout episodes, but just aren't as special to me overall.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

One thing I've noticed is that the stories and acting of the 1st season are on the same level as the other series finally reached in their 3rd season. The actors seem to know who the characters are early on. I don't recall any stiff or awkward performances from the regular cast.

I noticed the exact same thing.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Spockboy

All I can think of, for some reason, is that' it's not easy being green!

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It's funny how good TOS was from the beginning, and it got canceled, and how bad TNG was for its first two years, and it got seven seasons.

 

[Poltargyst]

It's funny how good TOS was from the beginning, and it got canceled, and how bad TNG was for its first two years, and it got seven seasons.

TNG might have TOS to thank for the popularity of Star Trek by that time.

 

[Melakon]

All I can think of, for some reason, is that' it's not easy being green!

It's not easy being Green either.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

All I can think of, for some reason, is that' it's not easy being green!

It's not easy being Green either.

Good one!

 

[FormerLurker]

Gotta pay attention on landing parties, or the job will suck the life out of you.

 

[Melakon]

I never tire of it -- in fact, I discover new things each time I watch it.

Same here, and still true after nearly 50 years.

Speaking of finding new things, I have just started watching "Shore Leave" again and just stopped in the teaser because I'm not sure if I've spotted something for the first time. I have very poor eyesight and a TV built in 1991 and dvd remastereds, so I'm not seeing anything highly defined. Someone will have to confirm this for me.

In the teaser, a few seconds in-- Yeoman Barrows starts massaging Kirk's back though he thinks it's Spock. Kirk sees Spock step into his field of view and realizing his mistake, dismisses Barrows.

Watch Nimoy. He and Shatner exchange a glance, then he faces forward. Watch his eyes. Am I seeing it wrong, or does he glance directly into the camera for a moment, breaking the fourth wall? To me, it looks like he almost broke character, Shatner did give him a bit of a wide-eyed look a second earlier.

I'll go watch the rest of the show now.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

That's called leaning on the fourth wall. Since character isn't broken (it's perfectly conceivable that Spock could look in that direction with such a not-quite-neutral expression; it's not like he's addressing the audience verbally—which Spock would never do), the fourth wall isn't actually broken either. But yeah, the fourth wall is involved, and I believe that Spock does look directly into the camera as Barrows is saying "If it's not out of line," seemingly in acknowledgement of the joke.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

That's called leaning on the fourth wall. Since character isn't broken (it's perfectly conceivable that Spock could look in that direction with such a not-quite-neutral expression; it's not like he's addressing the audience verbally—which Spock would never do), the fourth wall isn't actually broken either. But yeah, the fourth wall is involved, and I believe that Spock does look directly into the camera as Barrows is saying "If it's not out of line," seemingly in acknowledgement of the joke.

I'm not quite seeing it. If Nimoy meant to lean on the fourth wall, he was a little too careful or inhibited to really go there during a take. He just looks in our general direction for a split second, never making direct eye-contact with the lens.

I think Spock was suddenly aware that Kirk was embarrassed, and he nervously looks away when that happens because you have to give your superior that courtesy. And in that moment, Nimoy realized his eyes were heading for camera territory, and he corrected quickly.

Didn't Shatner look right at the camera in "Tomorrow is Yesterday," when he said "That ought to be just about right"?

 

[Melakon]

In "Tomorrow" it's an intentional joke. I started "Shore Leave" again and now agree with Zap that it may be an accidental glance at the lens. He doesn't do it until after Emily Banks starts her line, and Nimoy was too professional to break up in the middle of someone's line, judging from blooper reel evidence. I either overanalyzed the scene or not enough before commenting.