TOS -- the "happiest" of the Treks?

[Trollheart]

Would most (or any) of you agree that in general, TOS could be seen as the most light-hearted, feel-good, friendly version of the franchise?

NextGen had its dark moments, and a captain who was stiffer than Stiffy the stiff thing, Voyager, through its hamfisted approach to many problems and its constant use of the "reset button", never came across to me as anything much more than a soap trying to be a sci-fi show, and DS9, well, Ds9 was dark. Very dark. Enterprise I stopped watching, but what I saw of it was not something that made me laugh (except at how someone could commission this pile of....)

But TOS always made me smile. The episodes, though well-written for the most part, seemed to play to the often comedic strengths of Kirk, Scotty and yes, even Spock, not to mention Sulu and Chekov. Every episode (almost) ended with a laugh on the bridge before achieving Warp Factor One, and in general the messages in the eps seemed to be of a hopeful and optimistic nature. So much so that an episode like "A private little war" jarred me so much, it stepped entirely out of the usual "it all works out in the end" approach.

Anyone agree/disagree?

 

[Gecko of Gorn]

I don't know about happiest- it did have some rather dark moments, but it was definitely the most inspirationally hopeful.

IMO, of course.

 

[sbk1234]

I still think TNG was the happiest, most Polyanna-ish Trek show. Everyone was happy, perfect. The dark episodes were few and far between. THey even had complete episodes centering on crew members "relaxing" in the holodeck.

 

[Noname Given]

I still think TNG was the happiest, most Polyanna-ish Trek show.

QFT - and trhat was one of my main issues with it. In a moral dilemma Picard 9after pontificating some moral point) was usually proven right 99% of the time. That DIDN'T happen in TOS, and was one of the things that made TOS (and the ORIGINAL concepts behind Star Trek so interesting for me. TNG took that and watered iyt down quite a bit.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Would most (or any) of you agree that in general, TOS could be seen as the most light-hearted, feel-good, friendly version of the franchise?

Of course.

 

[plynch]

After Gene L Coon took over. Why I like the first half of season one. It bugs me when some terrible thing happens, but at the end they're chuckling on the bridge.

I'd agree TNG was "happiest" b/c it was a GR edict that the crew not have strife. Thus the show lacks vitality cf. TOS, IMHO.

 

[Trollheart]

I still think TNG was the happiest, most Polyanna-ish Trek show.

QFT - and trhat was one of my main issues with it. In a moral dilemma Picard 9after pontificating some moral point) was usually proven right 99% of the time. That DIDN'T happen in TOS, and was one of the things that made TOS (and the ORIGINAL concepts behind Star Trek so interesting for me. TNG took that and watered iyt down quite a bit.

I would have to take issue with that. I found that Kirk's worldview was almost exclusively supported in the series, he was rarely seen as wrong and his decisions were pretty black-and-white usually.
Can you cite examples, perhaps?

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

In my opinion, TOS was the happiest of Treks. DS9 was bogged down with the Dominion War for a couple of years. VOY was stranded in the Delta Quadrant trying to find home. ENT could have been optimistic with the birth of the Federation but ended up from the start with the Vulcans holding them back, the Temporal Cold War and later the season long Xindi threat. TNG would be 2nd place to TOS but the human crew got along soooo well with each other in Roddenberry's new utopia that is was just boring more than happy. Does that make any sense?

 

[Nerys Myk]

I still think TNG was the happiest, most Polyanna-ish Trek show.

QFT - and trhat was one of my main issues with it. In a moral dilemma Picard 9after pontificating some moral point) was usually proven right 99% of the time. That DIDN'T happen in TOS, and was one of the things that made TOS (and the ORIGINAL concepts behind Star Trek so interesting for me. TNG took that and watered iyt down quite a bit.

I would have to take issue with that. I found that Kirk's worldview was almost exclusively supported in the series, he was rarely seen as wrong and his decisions were pretty black-and-white usually.
Can you cite examples, perhaps?

Kirk had to make some decisions that he might think of as wrong on different moral levels. Letting Edith die. Keeping the war of escalation going in "A Private Little War." Reyna's "death" in "Requiem for Methuselah."

 

[VOODOOXI]

TNG was the "happiest" it makes TOS look like Ron Moore's BSG. TNG was full of Polyannaish morailty stories that usualy had happy endings.

 

[Tribbles]

I have only really watched TOS, but I find it very light-hearted and pleasantly goofy at times. When explaining to my husband why I took to it so quickly, I said, "I think it's because Spock, Kirk, and Bones are such... cute friends." Hee! He thought that was a silly way to describe them (and I admit it was, as well), but he understood what I was saying. Their dynamic is charming and even innocent in a way.

 

[Anji]

I know that that is the one ST series I look back at with the most fondness. I feel like I'm at home when I watch that show.

 

[DevilEyes]

TOS did have a lot of lighthearted moments (sometimes too many - the endings with everyone laughing on the bridge became an annoying cliche after a while), but it also had episodes with genuinely tragic or sad, or bittersweet endings (City on the Edge of Forever, Balance of Terror, This Side of Paradise, All Our Yesterdays, Requiem for Metuselah, etc.)

TNG had episodes where sympathetic characters that the audience loved got killed, it had an episode about torture, it had Picard being assimilated by the Borg (and unlike in VOY, it was a big deal) and participating in mass murder, it had a main character refuse to 'do the right thing' (Worf in The Enemy), the Klingon storyline wasn't exactly Polyannish, etc.

I think that VOY was the Trek show with the most lighthearted approach (however unlikely that would have been, judging by its premise). I can think of very few moments that would qualify as genuinely sad or tragic, or dark in the sense of moral ambiguity. There are a few darker episodes, but most of the time it's just the crew being one big happy family, even more so than the TNG crew.

My ranking of Trek shows, from the most lighthearted to the least (which says nothing about the quality of comedy in the show - that would change the list quite a bit...):

VOY
TOS
TNG
ENT
DS9

Which doesn't mean that DS9 was all doom and gloom, it had at least a couple of comedy episodes each season and lots of very funny moments and banter between characters in many other episodes, but it also got into darker places more often and to a greater degree than the other Trek shows.

 

[Trollheart]

I think that VOY was the Trek show with the most lighthearted approach (however unlikely that would have been, judging by its premise). I can think of very few moments that would qualify as genuinely sad or tragic

Other than the fact that the series was made!

And after delivering yet ANOTHER smart-ass comment, Trollheart goes back to whatever it is he does...

 

[plynch]

Just watched "Gamesters" (possibly worse than Spock's Brain IMHO). The Captain and two senior staff have disappeared! and the writers stage a "chuckle" scene on board ship; the 3 have just been teleported light years away and are battle slaves, Uhura has been nearly raped and . . . and TPTB insert a "lighthearted" moment between Chekov and his manly, orange female drill thrall mispronouncing Chee-koov's name while Koenig overacts his stuttering like a sixth grader in a pageant, while the cute music from "Tribbles" plays. WOOF! Terrible.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Someone asked me recently why I've been a fan of this show for 38 years, and why I prefer it to the other four Trek shows. I thought about it, and said, "Because, it's fun."

Whether or not it is a "happy" show isn't an issue - it's the show that make me happiest. TNG is like having a nice dinner with family. The original series is drinking with your friends.

 

[maryh]

I would say that TOS did it's thing better with all the genres. They did comedy better, they did tragedy better, they did drama better, they did romance better, they did cerebral better. Excepting of course, special effects.

 

[Navaros]

I don't think TOS was overly happy. It dealt with dark themes in a very serious way, like killing people in ovens because a computer said to do so.

If TOS seems more happy then IMO that is literally due to the bright colors it uses, not the scripts' content. There is no question that TOS uses the happiest colors and is literally the brightest of all the Trek shows.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

I agree. It had that hopeful feel, kind of a wondrous feeling of exploring new things which I don't think Star Trek has been able to replicate since The Final Frontier. Even though it bombed, I think TFF really captured the essence of Star Trek: Exploring new things, meeting new people, seeing something new every day.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I always think of it as the happiest one, despite some of the dark moments like the end of "The City on the Edge of Forever". As others have said, part of the reason is the cinematography because it uses much brighter colours and lighting than TNG and DS9. This is a big reason why I prefer to revisit TNG and DS9 in winter months and watch "Star Trek" in the summer.