I have only read the 1st page so far. but wanted to quickly comment(will try to catch up) ..I. did anyone show TOS to their kids or grandkids when they were little (before they could judge quality)? I failed to do so, by the way.
Will TOS maintain its legendary status as Trek fandom gets younger?
- Thread starter BlueStuff
- Start date
Yeah... i am having a hard time having my kids watch more than 10 minutes of A New Hope. ... even though my youngest wanted to be Rey for Halloween a couple years ago (when she was 10).
The effects on Star Wars is better, so the over all lack of interest might be farther out...but it is there
Yup. Try making anyone younger watch anything in black and white, quality or not.
Impossible with the kids of almost every household I know. Quality content absolutely ages out. Many younger people that I know won't even acknowledge anything from before they were born. They're certainly different from my generation who grew up watching what my parents also grew up with.
Impossible with the kids of almost every household I know. Quality content absolutely ages out. Many younger people that I know won't even acknowledge anything from before they were born. They're certainly different from my generation who grew up watching what my parents also grew up with.
There’s so much more stuff now.
When I was a kid TV consisted of what was currently airing on the major networks, plus 20 years of TV shows good/popular enough to be syndicated and 45 years worth of movies, so it was much easier to watch old stuff and be familiar with your parents’ favorite shows. There must be a thousand times more content generated in the 50 years since then, so I can forgive today’s kids not being familiar with the classics.
When I was a kid TV consisted of what was currently airing on the major networks, plus 20 years of TV shows good/popular enough to be syndicated and 45 years worth of movies, so it was much easier to watch old stuff and be familiar with your parents’ favorite shows. There must be a thousand times more content generated in the 50 years since then, so I can forgive today’s kids not being familiar with the classics.
Yeah, Streaming really has changed everything so fundamentally. Half the stuff I was into growing up was made before my time. It was just normal, growing up in the 90s/00s.
My niece has watched some Star Trek with me, but I don't think it's really clicked with her. Maybe when she's older.
My niece has watched some Star Trek with me, but I don't think it's really clicked with her. Maybe when she's older.
I think that each generation has a preference to the Trek shows that they enjoyed growing up with. I see it not only in myself, but in others. So for me, it was the TMP-TUC and the early Berman era (TNG/DS9). But folks older than me prefer TOS very consistently. And folks younger than me either like the latter portion of Berman (VOY/ENT), or theyre full on about Abrams/Kurtzman era. I mean sure theres lots of overlap in some cases...
I think as the Abrams/Kurtzman era continues to be produced and viewed by younger audiences, they will not relate to Shatner/Nimoy much at all. They'll consider TNG to be ancient history, and well today's version of Trek is a lot edgier than Roddenberry/Berman stuff ever was. Its the sign of the times...
TOS/TMP/TNG will be for us old farts...
I think as the Abrams/Kurtzman era continues to be produced and viewed by younger audiences, they will not relate to Shatner/Nimoy much at all. They'll consider TNG to be ancient history, and well today's version of Trek is a lot edgier than Roddenberry/Berman stuff ever was. Its the sign of the times...
TOS/TMP/TNG will be for us old farts...
I'm 50 and I grew up with TOS reruns. I will always love the show, but even I will admit that it's incredibly dated. And the treatment of women on that show was horrendous (although I get that it was a product of its time.) However, there are a ton of people who still go to conventions and such wearing TOS outfits and have such a huge love of the show despite its flaws, so I think TOS will still be in the fans' consciousness for some time to come.
The answer to the question in the subject line is "yes." Its legendary status is completely independent of the opinions of Trek fandom. It is a TV shown from the 1960s that has been the basis of new entertainment properties for six more decades. Whatever anyone thinks of the series itself, that is a pretty rarefied achievement in the history of television.
The older a TV show (or film), the less it appeals to a broad audience. "Vintage" entertainment is a niche interest, and weighs more toward historical significance the older it gets. To many people, watching something from a few generations earlier, even if highly regarded by critics or academics, is a bit of a chore. It's harder to relate to, the acting style is different, the pace is not what one is used to, etc. This is the norm.
A decrease in interest will happen to every Star Trek property in its turn. But even though TOS will always be the oldest, it will also outlast all the others for a significant cultural engagement because it will have the most historic and academic value.
Agreed. Exposure can overcome preconceived ideas, but it's so easy now to avoid exposure to anything one is not familiar with.
The older a TV show (or film), the less it appeals to a broad audience. "Vintage" entertainment is a niche interest, and weighs more toward historical significance the older it gets. To many people, watching something from a few generations earlier, even if highly regarded by critics or academics, is a bit of a chore. It's harder to relate to, the acting style is different, the pace is not what one is used to, etc. This is the norm.
A decrease in interest will happen to every Star Trek property in its turn. But even though TOS will always be the oldest, it will also outlast all the others for a significant cultural engagement because it will have the most historic and academic value.
Agreed. Exposure can overcome preconceived ideas, but it's so easy now to avoid exposure to anything one is not familiar with.
I totally get her, but at the same time, in 2023, to consider TOS cheesy but TNG not, seems a bit idk contrasensible
The visual leap in not only vfx, but also the tech displayed on the sets makes it seem like huge difference. The very limited budget really stands out in this regard. Compared to say 2001:ASO which came out around the same time - it still looks pretty good, but they had a 100x budget of TOS.
And given what we're used to seeing now, even TMP/TWOK/TSFS seems dated because of the computers and consoles on the sets. TFF at least propelled us to touchscreens which people relate to now contemporarily.
The cynical answer for me is TOS will continue to keep its notoriety for as long as it's profitable for CBS/Paramount. That's always the first series to get any sort of tie-in merchandise. Once that no longer sells, Paramount will go all-in on whatever "face of the franchise" generates the most income.
What drives me crazy is that there have been art department folks working on the Kelvin films and the Kurtzman-era series that refer to the TOS sets as cardboard, despite the fact that the methods they use to make the sets now aren't that much different! It's also not a good look - if you have to cut down the reputation of what came before in order to make your work seem superior, that's a major turnoff for me.
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I like the Abrams and Kurtzman era Trek stuff…..but their designs can’t hold a fucking candle to TOS or the TOS films. It’s not even the same league. Even the TNG era designs were more iconic/interesting.
TNG Era designs... ponders that for a bit...
Sorry, but the only way anyone could think the Nebula Class looks "interesting" would be if they took LSD.
Maybe not the starfleet ships but the Vorcha class, Rommy Warbirds, Borg Cube, Galor class, and Dominion ships all come from that era (and many more) and they all seemed interesting to me
I hated the "D" when TNG first came out. I thought it looked like a flying glob of snot. I was flabbergasted by the design and left me longing for the designs from the films and TOS.
But I guess around season 3 it had grown on me... perhaps like mold, but I just accepted it. And from the point on I was ok with the TNG designs, though theyre still to this day not my preferred look. I definitely dont like the Abrams/Kurtzman era designs, I just find them to be an eyesore.
Aww, I love the Nebula class and I'm LSD free.
Yorktown alone blows everything from movies I-X out of the water. It's amazing.
With the possible exception of V'Ger, which had truly epic scale and detail.
Agreed, and the cultural proof is evident, while it is not for Berman / JJ / CBS Trek at all. That crop of ST series are not even a common reference in the pop-cultural lexicon as numerous elements of TOS are. As noted some time ago, many of Universal's horror movies are nearly a century old and despite innumerable Dracula and Frankenstein movies produced in the decades since, the Universal films remain the pinnacle and face of those adapted characters. The same applies to Connery's Bond, now 61 years old. The innovative, groundbreaking achievements along with truly iconic characters lifted TOS to a level few movie/TV series ever reach.
Indeed.
I actually liked how in the theatrical version of TMP you never got a good look at V'ger in its entirety, which made it seem even more alien and incomprehensible.
Then here comes the Director's Edition and you realize that it looks like a sea cucumber with fins.
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