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TOS unique?

C

C57D

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As a huge fan, and player, of the FASA ST-TRPG I have long been bemused as to why it is an deal match for TOS (and the TOS movies to a lesser extent) but not TNG or any other Trek after.
And that got me thinking just what makes TOS so unique both on my TV and on my gaming table. My list is as follows but I would love to read yours (or opinion to the contrary!).
Improved humans -not superior ones. Better than we are today, but still with plenty of flaws. Creates drama, is more realistic and helps the audience to identify with them as real people.
Following on from that is the oft mentioned triumvirate of Kirk Spock and McCoy. Everymans hero flanked by logical reason on one side and emotional humanism on the other.
The "swashbuckling" combat style, whether diving behind dusty ruins phaser duels or "cheesy" punches and kicks.
Seat of the pants encounters with monsters and mystery. The crew always feel like they are well beyond their comfort zone, on their own and facing the great unknown. And yet they somehow find a way to survive and suceed.
Ship duels at warp speeds at ranges of several thousand miles. Seems more realistic and exciting than the mostly stationary, face to face "battles" of TNG.
This is why TOS is unique to me.
 
StarCruiser said:
I.E. 'Fun'?

Pretty much nailed why I still love "Star Trek" and have issues trying to watch the later shows...
Click to expand...
StarCruiser, your post instantly reminded me of one of Kate Bush's lines in her song "In search of Peter Pan" which say.
"They took the game right out if it."
So true of all Trek but the unique Original.
 
C57D said:
Improved humans -not superior ones. Better than we are today, but still with plenty of flaws.
Click to expand...
Maybe not even that, just regular people in space.

They fall asleep in the briefing room, the captain has to watch what he eats, the crew walks the corridors in their occasionally ill-fitting wrinkled uniforms, security personnel who don't always seem to know what they're doing, and a bridge officer who sometimes breaks into song.
 
Like most parents, the first three series are tremendous, loved, and bring their own flavor to the Star Trek family. Those two on UPN? Well, I just blame it on the fact they weren't raised the same as the other three.

Gene Roddenberry did not get caught in the trap of Science Fiction being "other worldy." It was a new setting, but the setting couldn't carry the premise of the show alone. The difference between great Science Fiction and bad incarnations is often that the show is not grounded in real emotions, at its center. I made a list of favorite movie scenes in another forum on this site, and I found the "human adventure" is very much alive, in Trek movies. TNG centers on technology and exposition, the job of being on the Enterprise. The theme of oppression. The science and pseudo-science.

It's still compelling, just for a different reason; TNG is meditative and macro. TOS is human emotions and morality. DS9 is about the shades of gray, still omnipresent, of the Trek universe.

Episodes like "The Inner Light" and "The Visitor" return Trek to it's roots. Kirk may be lecturing about a planet's false gods, but the emotions are indignation and protection, a little smirk communicating Kirk's lack of respect for the rules. It was still emotionally compelling from that perspective.

Picard was not indignant, he was understanding and professional. Kirk wanted to bash the god in the face for oppressing people, Picard wanted to negotiate over tea. And when emotions became raw on TNG, it was often lauded as their best episodes and arcs. The Borg and Picard. Worf and Honor.

TNG, for that reason, was tremendously imaginative and ground-breaking, but TOS was emotionally compelling. DS9 was, at best, a show about a group of people United by this city in the sky and all its problems and triumphs. At its worst, it tried to lecture like TNG when it had no white Knight armor to wear.

I don't mess with the original. The concepts it tackles, the ability to stay grounded emotionally, it is amazing. The amount of ground covered in just 55 episodes...wow.
 
Tenacity said:
Maybe not even that, just regular people in space.

They fall asleep in the briefing room, the captain has to watch what he eats, the crew walks the corridors in their occasionally ill-fitting wrinkled uniforms, security personnel who don't always seem to know what they're doing, and a bridge officer who sometimes breaks into song.
Click to expand...
Very true.
Ordinary people, but in a "just enough" improved society to work together, get beyond our present petty disagreements and outmoded tribalism and build a spacefaring society (Kodos and Garth excepted!!).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes, unique. Having debuted in the '60s it was and still is amazing how well it turned out because of the choices made. They captured lightning in a bottle. TOS was my first exposure to Trek and I never avoid watching it.
 
I think the fact that KIrk said sabotage the way he did in Wink of an Eye and then the woman actor pronounced it correctly with an amused look made it just that much better.
 
I will always contend that the 3rd season is every bit as good as the 1st and 2nd. They all have some stinkers, and they all have great ones. I don't see S3 any differently, and never have. It's become a very group-thinkish thing over the decades to just dismiss it out-of-hand.


But yes, TOS is unique in that it may actually be the best television series ever produced. I honestly think the argument can be made.
 
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