The Intellectual Content of Star Trek

The Texas Mercury ^ | August 2002 | Hank Parnell

[marajade]

yes... I've never heard of those shows...

[Consort]

"NOMAD" looked like a prototype for a hydrogen fuel cell that will soon be available.

[marajade]

"A problem B5 always had was that like a soap opera you just couldn't start watching it without having a long time fan explain to you the plots and secrets and relationships."

Heck I've seen the series two to three times now and even own Seasons 1-4 on vhs and still figure stuff out...

[Consort]

[longshadow]

I once heard a radio satire of Star Trek (the Original Incarnation): On his way back to his cabin from the annual Christmas party aboard the Enterprise, Capt. Kirk discovers Yeoman Rand (va-va-VOOM!) and a yound Ensign in flagrante delicto in a little used closet on the Engineering deck.

Kirk: "What do you think you're doing?"

Yeoman Rand: "Oh; Captain --- it's okay; we're engaged."

Kirk: "Well. DIS-engage, dammit!"

That's what ST should have been, but never was....

[Young Werther]

Hey! Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire sang, "..that's entertainment!" That's what all the flavors of Star Trek and the various off-shoots are. Want intellectual SciFi? Try Asimov and Clarke who found it more difficult to portray emotion. Asimov writes about this lack in the sidebars to his stories.

BTW I was reminescing about the summer of '62 which was my first year as a lifeguard. I discovered the James Bond novels that summer. I read "Gone with the Wind" and in the following two years would relish the serialization of the new Bond novels in Playboy. Yes, I READ Playboy for the articles!!!{I also have this bridge that I can sell you to cross the Florida Swamp land I would like you to consider buying.}

[Consort]

Klingon Empire

[Junior]

Can you believe he actually wrote a screenplay for a movie called "Killdozer" about a bulldozer that comes to life and kills people and someone actually PRODUCED THE MOVIE?!

So, you're saying he's written at least one more successful screenplay than you have?

[elephantlips]

I confess, I remember the show.

[Jeff Chandler]

So, you're saying he's written at least one more successful screenplay than you have?

At least.

[Consort]

Romulan Star Empire

[Bobby777]

Try to find "Killer Klowns From Outer Space" to add to that collection... :)

I've got it!!! LOL ... also have "Buckeroo Banzai and Adventures Across the 8th Dimension" ... was disappointed though, it's just too hard to follow what "storyline" they were shooting for in THAT one ...

Also have the B-movie "Piranha" ... "Maximum Overdrive" ... and John Carpenter's remake of "The Thing" ... I even have "The Big Bus" with Stockard Channing from the 1970's ... My VHS / DVD collection is pretty extensive so I had to grab a few B movie titles in there for fun ...

[Wolfstar]

To say nothing of the fact that the new series is shot with a determinedly dull, monochromatic gray color palette and poor lighting a good deal of the time. What is it with modern cinematographers and their preference for dim lighting and dull colors? I've been trying to watch the latest in the PBS Mystery series about Arthur Conan Doyle before he wrote Sherlock Holmes. The stories are interesting, but the shows are unwatchable because the lighting is so damned dark. I guess the idea is they are trying to mimic every detail of the Victorian gaslight period. But they forget there is a reason why electric lighting was considered such a miracle when it was introduced in the late Victorian period. People could SEE more. Sheesh!

[Cacique]

sci fi bump

[Consort]

Star Empire of
Epsilon Indii (Andor)

[another cricket]

I have to say that I'll take the Babylon 5 worldview over either Star Trek or the neo-feudal fantasies of George Lucas in Star Wars.

B5 was in many ways a very conservative show. I dug out my old tapes this summer as there is nothing else on and I am surprised by how conservative.

B5 had everything that was missing from ST, An economy, a government, an actual military and religion. Finally it had Passion and no I don’t mean lovey dovey. Every one believed in a cause and they were willing to fight and die for it.

a.cricket

[balrog666]

I call it "An Act To Improve the Quality of TV Sci-Fi Shows." It will require that all female cast members on a TV sci-fi show must wear either:

a: a miniskirt (micro-miniskirt; nothing longer than would be worn by Ann Coulter)

b: a space bikini (preferably a thong space bikini), or

c: a clinging diaphanous gown.

Great article but my first thought when I read this part was about the potential (and horrible) unintended consequences. You know, the guest spots by Oprah and Rosie O'Donut, "stars" like the fat broad on "The Practice", and political specials including, shudder, Andrea Dworkin.

Argggggggggggh! Shoot me now!

[ffusco]

That was my favorite too, Trivia: they used a plastic AMT model 12" long for the Constellation shots. BTW a lot of the campy-ness of Star trek was budgetary- They used a lot of optical effects $$$ in the weekly show- and used a lot of back lot sets and the metaphors were pretty heavy-handed- but it wasn't Science fiction- in Gene rodenbberry's words it was a western in space. i think he called it wagon train to the stars. And the audience was a lot less sophisticated back then.

[balrog666]

B5 was in many ways a very conservative show. I dug out my old tapes this summer as there is nothing else on and I am surprised by how conservative.

B5 had everything that was missing from ST, An economy, a government, an actual military and religion. Finally it had Passion and no I don’t mean lovey dovey. Every one believed in a cause and they were willing to fight and die for it.

I agree with you. B5 was the best all around SF show ever.

[Consort]