Star Trek turns 40
I’m sure you’ve heard it on the news. Or, at the very least, the right hailing frequencies.
Star Trek is hitting its 40th anniversary this year. That’s right. The big four-oh. Time to break out the bottle of Romulan Ale.
It’s been around for a long time. Four spin-offs and a host of films isn’t a bad thing for a beat 1960s TV series that struggled and limped its way through its first three seasons. It's greatest enemy turned out to be the Neilson ratings.
Sept. 8, 1966. That was the first public airing of the TV series with “The Man Trap” to be the flagship in a roll-call of episodes. I’m not counting the couple of pilot shows that came before it.
It’s impossible to put into a blog or column the mammoth popularity that Star Trek has become. The spirit of Star Trek lives on. You heard about Jimmy Doohan’s ashes being blasted into space on a maiden flight with the space shuttle a while ago. The series has become a welcome part of the mainstream.
It’s been culturally accepted.
It’s tough to put into a few words about the long history involving the numbered crews of the Enterprise and other series involved. For me, it’s always been the original series. The whole family thing with Kirk, Spock and McCoy could never be duplicated anywhere. Sure, we’ve got close to it. But it’s never the same.
I don’t mind the Next Generation series either with its extravagent upping of special effects, but keeping the original spirit of the old shows. It’s when 1991 hit when three different TV series were running the same time. It was a bit of an overkill that never really salvaged the franchise name. After that, slowly and surely, the series went on a downward spiral into a rehashing of same ideas and concepts.
Any show runs the risk of getting stale and it’s no exception to the Star Trek franchise. They really ran it to the ground and milked the ideas for all it’s worth. It’s the commercial wheel of Star Trek they kept turning. It’s safe territory when you know there’s a fan base. You can keep coming back to knocking on the same door. But it didn’t work anymore.
The death of Star Trek?
It’s unthinkable.
The most recent series struggled without the kinetic energy it needed. Instead it became lost in its own flood of reused ideas. The stories grew uninteresting. And the franchise name was showing its old age.
No new episodes being made now. No sign of any movies for a long time to come. It’s quiet. But there were several conventions taken place across the United States such as the PlanetXpo’s STAR TREK 40th Anniversary Gala Celebration & Conference in Seattle, Wash. Several actors appeared to celebrate the franchise such as Walter Koenig and George Takei.
There seems to be a healthy dose of life in the franchise. And there’s still hope. In the dreamland of Hollywood, still crackling with some ideas, some talk about a forthcoming Star Trek film crops up in conversation. J.J. Abrahms, creator of the hit TV show Lost, may take the helms in steering Star Trek into undiscovered frontiers: the younger years. The story may be set during the academy days of Kirk, Spock and McCoy.
It’s a possibility. I’ve seen many things go back to the original roots that turned successful. You’ve seen it in Superman Returns and Batman Begins. Both lagging franchise that had turned into a huge deal. It could work for Star Trek also.
It’s not too late to look ahead at the prospect of a TV series that had the ability to change people’s lives. And the utopian view it had struggled to portray on both the small screen and theater. But it’s humanity’s greatest destiny to continue exploring. Nothing could ever quench the thirst for knowledge. Or perhaps it’s just plain simple curiosity that keeps us going. And so does Star Trek.
Star Trek is hitting its 40th anniversary this year. That’s right. The big four-oh. Time to break out the bottle of Romulan Ale.
It’s been around for a long time. Four spin-offs and a host of films isn’t a bad thing for a beat 1960s TV series that struggled and limped its way through its first three seasons. It's greatest enemy turned out to be the Neilson ratings.
Sept. 8, 1966. That was the first public airing of the TV series with “The Man Trap” to be the flagship in a roll-call of episodes. I’m not counting the couple of pilot shows that came before it.
It’s impossible to put into a blog or column the mammoth popularity that Star Trek has become. The spirit of Star Trek lives on. You heard about Jimmy Doohan’s ashes being blasted into space on a maiden flight with the space shuttle a while ago. The series has become a welcome part of the mainstream.
It’s been culturally accepted.
It’s tough to put into a few words about the long history involving the numbered crews of the Enterprise and other series involved. For me, it’s always been the original series. The whole family thing with Kirk, Spock and McCoy could never be duplicated anywhere. Sure, we’ve got close to it. But it’s never the same.
I don’t mind the Next Generation series either with its extravagent upping of special effects, but keeping the original spirit of the old shows. It’s when 1991 hit when three different TV series were running the same time. It was a bit of an overkill that never really salvaged the franchise name. After that, slowly and surely, the series went on a downward spiral into a rehashing of same ideas and concepts.
Any show runs the risk of getting stale and it’s no exception to the Star Trek franchise. They really ran it to the ground and milked the ideas for all it’s worth. It’s the commercial wheel of Star Trek they kept turning. It’s safe territory when you know there’s a fan base. You can keep coming back to knocking on the same door. But it didn’t work anymore.
The death of Star Trek?
It’s unthinkable.
The most recent series struggled without the kinetic energy it needed. Instead it became lost in its own flood of reused ideas. The stories grew uninteresting. And the franchise name was showing its old age.
No new episodes being made now. No sign of any movies for a long time to come. It’s quiet. But there were several conventions taken place across the United States such as the PlanetXpo’s STAR TREK 40th Anniversary Gala Celebration & Conference in Seattle, Wash. Several actors appeared to celebrate the franchise such as Walter Koenig and George Takei.
There seems to be a healthy dose of life in the franchise. And there’s still hope. In the dreamland of Hollywood, still crackling with some ideas, some talk about a forthcoming Star Trek film crops up in conversation. J.J. Abrahms, creator of the hit TV show Lost, may take the helms in steering Star Trek into undiscovered frontiers: the younger years. The story may be set during the academy days of Kirk, Spock and McCoy.
It’s a possibility. I’ve seen many things go back to the original roots that turned successful. You’ve seen it in Superman Returns and Batman Begins. Both lagging franchise that had turned into a huge deal. It could work for Star Trek also.
It’s not too late to look ahead at the prospect of a TV series that had the ability to change people’s lives. And the utopian view it had struggled to portray on both the small screen and theater. But it’s humanity’s greatest destiny to continue exploring. Nothing could ever quench the thirst for knowledge. Or perhaps it’s just plain simple curiosity that keeps us going. And so does Star Trek.
posted by K.M. Paters at 3:14 PM
1 Comments:
live long and prosper. and they did.
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