TOS -- the "happiest" of the Treks?

[Vonstadt]

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.

I agree with most of what was said here but I dunno, even today most of the effects stand up. I always felt and still do when I see the ship I am looking at a real ship.

Though I liked the remastered FX for TOS even they never felt the same when I saw the ship. The landscapes yes....the old Connie...nope too cartoonish for me.

The old FX suit me just fine for the most part.

As for he happiest of treks, No. TOS wasn't the happiest, the crew had a strong bond that had a natural feel, I would say TNG was the 'happiest' of all of them. VOY comes in a close second.

Vons

 

[Elzie]

I don't know was TOS the happiest of all (please note that I have seen only few eps of VOY, DS9 or ENT) but there was certainly something...lovely in the way every ep ended with a joke - wheter I actually laughed at it or not.

 

[Kagan]

I'm not sure that I would call TOS "light-hearted" or "feel good" because there are times that the credits began to roll with me still pondering the significance of the storyline. On the other hand, I never felt like I needed to take a bath with lye soap and a brillo pad after watching TOS. There were times in watching TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT that that was the case.

I often thought that I walked away from TOS at least discussing the "what if's" of life: Errand of Mercy, Taste of Armageddon, The Omega Glory, A Private Little War, Friday's Child, Enterprise Incident were those "Cold War" episodes that cause me to think about "war"...not its glory, but how it was a trap of mankind...yet with a positive solution. DS9's Dominion War arc was depressing; it simply presented war as unavoidable.

TOS presents the human race as master of its destiny; TNG and afterward shows humanity as suffering from fate.

 

[CaptainStoner]

TOS presents the human race as master of its destiny; TNG and afterward shows humanity as suffering from fate.

TNG showed humanity as the author of its own destiny with "Tapestry".
TOS showed humanity suffering from fate with COTEOF.
The broad brush paints broadly.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I often thought that I walked away from TOS at least discussing the "what if's" of life: Errand of Mercy, Taste of Armageddon, The Omega Glory, A Private Little War, Friday's Child, Enterprise Incident were those "Cold War" episodes that cause me to think about "war"...not its glory, but how it was a trap of mankind...yet with a positive solution. DS9's Dominion War arc was depressing; it simply presented war as unavoidable.

I just can't think of "Friday's Child" as a serious episode. From the idiot crewman actually yelling, "Ahhh! A Klingon!" and immediately being eviscerated after, to the interaction between McCoy and Julie Newmar (especially the slapping), to Kirk and McCoy teasing Spock at the end with the name bit...I always think of this as one of my favourite comedic episodes.

Yes, there's some serious stuff in there, but it's the comedy that sticks out in my mind. And as Karl Urban said, "I'm a doctor, not an elevator!" is one of the best "I'm a doctor..." lines when they're trying to get McCoy to carry pregnant Newmar (I forget her character's name).

 

[JustKate]

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?

Well...

Please as you read this try to remember that I do love TOS. I do. But while I agree that it's the happiest, and it is the most fun. But...

But....

I think that's partly because it's also in some ways the most...shallow. Maybe that's too harsh, but that's the only word I can think of right at the moment.

What I mean is, serious stuff happens, serious issues are discussed - as Kagan noted, you can often find yourself pondering the serious issues as the credits are rolling.

But what makes it a little lighter, and not entirely in a good way, than some of the other Treks is that almost all of the serious stuff leaves the crew essentially untouched. Aside from Spock, there is very little character development. Almost no one seems to be changed by the wonders and terrors that he or she experiences. That isn't entirely Trek's fault since that's the way most TV was in those days, and besides, the show only ran three years. But still, there it is.

Kirk loses the woman he loves, and he grieves, and the next week...all is forgotten. And then a few episodes later, he does it again. McCoy is angry because Spock is so cold and emotionless and logical and then he finds out that Spock does care deeply about some people. But the next week, all is forgotten, and a few episodes later he does the same thing again. They are all like that, as far as I can remember.

A lot - though certainly not all - of those laughs at the end that you mention, Trollheart, are jarring and inappropriate, I think, when you consider what came before them.

My 2 cents...