TOS Season 1.

[CorporalCaptain]

I can't imagine that a professional actor such as Nimoy would look in the direction of the camera without the approval of or instructions from the director. Ergo, Nimoy may have been directed to do that, to give the audience a knowing glance, Vulcan style. I read it as a theatrical technique to draw the audience in; a lot of blocking in TOS had the actors facing the audience as if in a play. Characters would face the same direction and talk to the audience when to be totally in character they would have faced each other. This is probably really just one of those theatrical tropes.

Another subtlety that TOS-R incompetently obliterates is that the ship orbits the planet in the opposite direction for the whole episode: all the stock footage for planet orbit was reversed as a mirror reflection. With Alice in Wonderland, the whole episode was intended to break the mold of the normal Star Trek episode, up to that time. The whole scene with Kirk getting his back scratched on the bridge is an outlier to begin with.

 

[Melakon]

There's some great editing by Fabien Tordjmann during McCoy's standoff against the Black Knight, the rhythm of the cuts is tight.

 

[HIjol]

that's what she sai-...ooops, sorry wrong thread

 

[urbandefault]

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.

In the screencap it looks intentional, but it goes by so fast that I think it had to be accidental.

 

[Sybok Was Wrong]

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've noticed this too!

TOS is just a solid, solid show from beginning to end; I think TOS is from top to bottom the most entertaining TV program ever made. Hungry, ambitious, energetic sci-fi writers, & actors.

The other shows had the brand name, and the luxury of time to figure out what they had, and reach their potential with "TV writers", not necessarily SciFi writers- and some unsure actors here and there.

TOS is magic.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

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.

In the screencap it looks intentional, but it goes by so fast that I think it had to be accidental.

Yes, that look by Nimoy goes by in a fraction of a second and his gaze is in motion. If he'd held it for even one second, I'd know it was deliberate.

 

[Maurice]

He's not looking into the camera. His eyeline is just off to camera left.

 

[urbandefault]

He's not looking into the camera. His eyeline is just off to camera left.

He did look at the camera, just for a split second. Like he was going to look past, but something caught his attention. It was there, and gone.

 

[Melakon]

Okay, at least I'm not going crazy. Regarding the scene anyway. I was, shall we say, a bit baked at the time.

 

[ConRefit79]

Glad to know I'm not imagining it through rose colored glasses. Well, it's on to Season 2.

 

[ConRefit79]

Season 2 is standing up well. Not quite as good as Season 1, but still good.

Couple observations about these Blu Ray's.
1. The stunt doubles stand out more than they used to.
2. Why didn't they enhance the backgrounds of the planet sets? Many seem to be a consistent orange color. I would think they could have updated them.

 

[tafkats]

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 would argue that TNG is really the only series that took until Season 3 to get going. All of the others, TOS included, had first seasons that were, if not as good as the rest of the series, at least fairly representative of the whole.

There are places where TOS Season 1 feels a little rough around the edges. The Kirk/Spock/McCoy relationship wasn't as well developed as it became in Seasons 2 and 3; its portrayal, especially between McCoy and Spock, could be inconsistent. And because the mythology was still being written, there were a lot of random things like "Vulcanians," UESPA and the series being set around the 28th century that later had to be simply ignored.

 

[Melakon]

Leonard Nimoy was still developing Spock in those early first season episodes too. Besides a Logic transplant from Number One and other script cues, he was using some mannerisms, like the raised eyebrow, in work before Star Trek. They sort of leap out at you when you see him in Bonanza or The Untouchables. And also in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as a bad guy.

 

[FormerLurker]

^He kind of invented the raised eyebrow, though. Look at how many have used it since, including VOY alum Dwayne Johnson(the Rock). It was shared between he and De Kelley, but TOS was the first popular recorded dramatic presentation where the raised eyebrow was a thing. And all the entertainment reporters all compare new users of the raised eyebrow to one, the other or both of Nimoy and Kelley. So you would kind of expect one or both to have used it in previous work.

 

[Poltargyst]

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 would argue that TNG is really the only series that took until Season 3 to get going. All of the others, TOS included, had first seasons that were, if not as good as the rest of the series, at least fairly representative of the whole.

There are places where TOS Season 1 feels a little rough around the edges. The Kirk/Spock/McCoy relationship wasn't as well developed as it became in Seasons 2 and 3; its portrayal, especially between McCoy and Spock, could be inconsistent. And because the mythology was still being written, there were a lot of random things like "Vulcanians," UESPA and the series being set around the 28th century that later had to be simply ignored.

DS9 didn't get good until Avery Brooks went back to his Hawk look.

 

[Melakon]

DS9 didn't get good until Avery Brooks went back to his Hawk look.

One user asked a confusing question about that in the DS9 forum about 2 years ago...

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=219448

Don't resurrect it though, it's too old.

 

[Noname Given]

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.

^^^
Pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about Season One as well.

 

[Poltargyst]

DS9 didn't get good until Avery Brooks went back to his Hawk look.

One user asked a confusing question about that in the DS9 forum about 2 years ago...

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=219448

Don't resurrect it though, it's too old.

That's awesome.

 

[FormerLurker]

^He kind of invented the raised eyebrow, though. Look at how many have used it since, including VOY alum Dwayne Johnson(the Rock). It was shared between he and De Kelley, but TOS was the first popular recorded dramatic presentation where the raised eyebrow was a thing. And all the entertainment reporters all compare new users of the raised eyebrow to one, the other or both of Nimoy and Kelley. So you would kind of expect one or both to have used it in previous work.

Reading my above post after todays sad news, I have to reply anew.

Leonard Nimoy taught me how to do the raised eyebrow thing, so to speak. I thought it was cool how he did it, and also how Lee Majors did it on The Six Million Dollar Man, usually with the other brow. So I spent many months teaching my face how to work itself in the same way, and once I was successful, I entertained several family members at a reunion with my eyebrow impressions of Spock and the Six Million Dollar Man.

I like happy memories. They make the sad ones go away.