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Recently, I finished watching the original Star Trek, beginning to end. Which actually makes it the first complete Trek that I have seen every single episode of! (I skipped an episode of DS9 - Covenant, I think? - because Selena advised me I was better off without it and I trust her judgement on these things, and I didn't watch all of the first two seasons of TNG because life is too short.) On the whole I enjoyed it, the irritations of television produced in the sixties not withstanding.
Things I had not previously realised about original Star Trek:
1. Random crew members wearing red die a lot, but not as often as I was expecting from the legendary power of the curse. (According to statistics I googled, it's really just being security personnel that you need to avoid. Those guys die incessantly. Which I guess is kind of their job.)
2. It's much funnier than I was expecting. I mean, intentionally. It's also the other kind of hilarious sometimes, but that's only to be expected after a gap of so many decades. I still think my favourite joke is the look on Kirk's face in The Trouble With Tribbles when Scotty explains why he had to beat up those Klingons. (Oh, like you wouldn't have punched the guy who called your beloved a garbage scow, Jim.)
3. Wow, Leonard Nimoy truly was the Most Valuable Player here, and it becomes particularly obvious whenever he's called on to play something other than Spock. Or to play Spock who has temporarily been afflicted with ~feelings~. This is not any insult to the rest of the cast, but he earned his reputation.
4. That said, Shatner is way better than pop culture osmosis would lead you to believe. (Especially in the first two seasons - I think he got a little lazy in the last one. Maybe one of those actors who needs a director to reign him in? Which would make sense given the stories of his behaviour on set.)
5. It's sort of boggling just how often Kirk's plan boiled down to 'seduce the closest pretty girl.' Except when he delegates that part of the job to McCoy or even Spock if she's a Romulan. It's even more boggling how often this works.
6. OMG, Kirk is lucky that his command style works out for him. The number of times the whole senior crew could have been taken out by one unlucky transporter accident is pretty frightening. I know they called this out in Generations, but still.
7. There were definitely more cats than I was expecting. Or, more aliens disguised as cats, anyway. It's a shame that later Trek series don't contain so many felines - I guess that after the various Spot actors were such a pain to work with during TNG they swore of animals that were difficult to wrangle. (Beagles are better behaved and fish just do their thing and look pretty in the back of the shot.)
8. I remain unconvinced that anyone understands or has ever understood the Prime Directive.
Things I had not previously realised about original Star Trek:
1. Random crew members wearing red die a lot, but not as often as I was expecting from the legendary power of the curse. (According to statistics I googled, it's really just being security personnel that you need to avoid. Those guys die incessantly. Which I guess is kind of their job.)
2. It's much funnier than I was expecting. I mean, intentionally. It's also the other kind of hilarious sometimes, but that's only to be expected after a gap of so many decades. I still think my favourite joke is the look on Kirk's face in The Trouble With Tribbles when Scotty explains why he had to beat up those Klingons. (Oh, like you wouldn't have punched the guy who called your beloved a garbage scow, Jim.)
3. Wow, Leonard Nimoy truly was the Most Valuable Player here, and it becomes particularly obvious whenever he's called on to play something other than Spock. Or to play Spock who has temporarily been afflicted with ~feelings~. This is not any insult to the rest of the cast, but he earned his reputation.
4. That said, Shatner is way better than pop culture osmosis would lead you to believe. (Especially in the first two seasons - I think he got a little lazy in the last one. Maybe one of those actors who needs a director to reign him in? Which would make sense given the stories of his behaviour on set.)
5. It's sort of boggling just how often Kirk's plan boiled down to 'seduce the closest pretty girl.' Except when he delegates that part of the job to McCoy or even Spock if she's a Romulan. It's even more boggling how often this works.
6. OMG, Kirk is lucky that his command style works out for him. The number of times the whole senior crew could have been taken out by one unlucky transporter accident is pretty frightening. I know they called this out in Generations, but still.
7. There were definitely more cats than I was expecting. Or, more aliens disguised as cats, anyway. It's a shame that later Trek series don't contain so many felines - I guess that after the various Spot actors were such a pain to work with during TNG they swore of animals that were difficult to wrangle. (Beagles are better behaved and fish just do their thing and look pretty in the back of the shot.)
8. I remain unconvinced that anyone understands or has ever understood the Prime Directive.