Star Trek Thoughts, Part 4
Jan. 9th, 2026 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribIn lieu of commenting on the shit-storm that is Current Events, here's a continuation of my ongoing (semi-) rewatch of Star Trek: The Original Series. I've completed Season 1 and this post will cover stories from episode 19 ("Tomorrow is Yesterday") to the season-ending "Operation - Annihilate!"
Technical: Star Trek caves have suspiciously smooth floors and are well-lighted. To be fair, this is a 60s-TV thing. I remember my dad noting the same thing about the Bat-Cave. With the remastered video, you can see when they swap in the stunt doubles for the main actors in the fight scenes. I noted that they got Shatner a more durable shirt which seems to stay on more!
Story: Generally the stories hold up well. The only full-on dud in this run was "The Alternative Factor" which is the first alternate universe story. It was frankly incomprehensible.
Star Trek invented the concept of red-shirting, which is killing off an unnamed character and completely forgetting he existed by the end of the episode. We see that starting in "Devil in the Dark" (the Horta we meet in those flat-floored caves) - Kirk loses a man, he mourns for two beats, then we're off again. By the end of the episode the mining chief (who's lost 50+ people) is amused by the antics of the young Hortas.
Star Trek also follows a trick as old as Shakespeare - instant love. In "Space Seed" (Ricardo Montalbán, a Mexican playing a Sikh), we have Lt. Marla McGivers going immediately ga-ga and then helping Khan take over the ship. Of course, it ends with Kirk giving these dangerous budding Napoleons their own planet. (We know how well that turned out!)
Lastly, we remember Kirk as a horn-dog with a girl on every planet. I'm not seeing that so far in the series. We'll see what Seasons 2 and 3 may bring.
Technical: Star Trek caves have suspiciously smooth floors and are well-lighted. To be fair, this is a 60s-TV thing. I remember my dad noting the same thing about the Bat-Cave. With the remastered video, you can see when they swap in the stunt doubles for the main actors in the fight scenes. I noted that they got Shatner a more durable shirt which seems to stay on more!
Story: Generally the stories hold up well. The only full-on dud in this run was "The Alternative Factor" which is the first alternate universe story. It was frankly incomprehensible.
Star Trek invented the concept of red-shirting, which is killing off an unnamed character and completely forgetting he existed by the end of the episode. We see that starting in "Devil in the Dark" (the Horta we meet in those flat-floored caves) - Kirk loses a man, he mourns for two beats, then we're off again. By the end of the episode the mining chief (who's lost 50+ people) is amused by the antics of the young Hortas.
Star Trek also follows a trick as old as Shakespeare - instant love. In "Space Seed" (Ricardo Montalbán, a Mexican playing a Sikh), we have Lt. Marla McGivers going immediately ga-ga and then helping Khan take over the ship. Of course, it ends with Kirk giving these dangerous budding Napoleons their own planet. (We know how well that turned out!)
Lastly, we remember Kirk as a horn-dog with a girl on every planet. I'm not seeing that so far in the series. We'll see what Seasons 2 and 3 may bring.
