What is it about TOS that makes it look so distinctly 1960s?

[scotpens]

Check out this clip of Bobbie Gentry from 1968. The costume, the hair, the makeup, even the earrings make her look like a Star Trek guest star.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Good ol' Bobby Gentry. Last time I saw her she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

 

[MANT!]

Some visual evidence from the 2 iconic serious Science fiction programs of the era..

The use of sets and designs was minimalistic in BOTH shows..

 

[Christopher]

^^Except you're using a shot of Greg Jein's Enterprise miniature from DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations" to represent the look of the '60s...

 

[scotpens]

Some visual evidence from the 2 iconic serious Science fiction programs of the era. . .

And from one of the sillier ones:

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Some visual evidence from the 2 iconic serious Science fiction programs of the era..

The use of sets and designs was minimalistic in BOTH shows..

You know, I just find stuff like that so beautiful. Nostalgic recall.

The Invaders saucer has always looked to me like it was borrowed whole from Adamski. You think?

 

[MANT!]

Dennis..
I'm positive that George Adamski's "work" influenced the Invaders..

Oh Christopher..I was going for design ethic..a design when copied is still the same design (Pirate Gucci Handbags anyone?) So the source of the picture is irrelevant to the discussion at hand..

 

[Christopher]

^Well, it just struck me as incongruous. Also, the Jein model has a level of surface detail (like the saucer deflector grid) that's more in keeping with the '90s and thus kind of clashes with your point.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Some visual evidence from the 2 iconic serious Science fiction programs of the era..

(snip)The use of sets and designs was minimalistic in BOTH shows..

Here's a few more similar designs:

First Spaceship on Venus (1960).

 

[MANT!]

I for one always thought that First Spaceship on Venus had several interior sets that set the stage for Star Trek's design...
Perhaps Gene or Matt Jefferies had watched that movie and it had an effect on the later designs for the Big E

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

I think there's no doubt about the similarities to the Enterprise's bridge AND the Jupiter II. Both First Spaceship on Venus and 12 to the Moon featured the model interracial/international cast for Star Trek as well.

edit:
And honestly, the bridge of the Potemkin, too.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I for one always thought that First Spaceship on Venus had several interior sets that set the stage for Star Trek's design...
Perhaps Gene or Matt Jefferies had watched that movie and it had an effect on the later designs for the Big E

Can't speak to Roddenberry, but Mike Okuda asked Matt Jefferies that very question, and no, he never saw it.

Maybe Pato Guzman saw it, no way to know...

 

[EmperorTiberius]

Mostly acting, especially the fighting. Very 60's. Reminds me of Batman. Other things that immediately jump at the viewer are computers

 

[Christopher]

Mostly acting, especially the fighting. Very 60's.

Ahh, yes -- the classic '60s TV fighting technique where a light karate chop delivered anywhere in the vicinity of the neck, shoulders, or upper back would cause instant unconsciousness. Mission: Impossible's Jim Phelps was as much a master of the technique as Jim Kirk. Famous Spock Nerve Pinch, eat your heart out!

 

[Neutral Zone]

In comparison to the later ST's I would say nearly everything made TOS look so sixties. The sets, acting and at times the music, remember when Spock did a jamming session with the space hippies in The way to Eden. That music was soooo 60's but great nonetheless. Even the concept of what may be out in space with some of the aliens such as the Gorn.

 

[Destructor]

remember when Spock did a jamming session with the space hippies in The way to Eden.

I try not to.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Dennis..
I'm positive that George Adamski's "work" influenced the Invaders..

Adamski published an illustration of a "Saturnian Scout Ship" in his second book that looks even more like the Invaders saucer than the "Venusian ship" in that image does, in that the roof is a little flatter and the skirt a bit more shallow:

It almost looks like the designing involved at Quinn Martin was to erase the portholes and add the landing gear.

 

[Nero's Shadow]

The Saturn v seen in tomorrow is yesterday or is it assignment earth I always get the mixed up lol very 1960,s indeed hairstyles and makeup are still a big giver and miniskirts I love them 60,s miniskirts lol !!!!!

 

[Warped9]

Unlike today actors acted and didn't mumble and speak in monotone like they often do today.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

It's true that 1960s television acting was stagey, mannered and by current standards pretty unpersuasive - often minimal effort seems to have been made to simulate normal speech at all. Film was already way ahead of television in that respect, and things have improved immensely since.

The characters in the opening of Galaxy Quest do a fair approximation of what passed for dramatic TV acting in the 50s, 60s and 70s.