Scott Atwell Star Trek Discussion thread (Series and Films) (3 Viewers)

[Carabimero]

Decades TV is airing a two part episode of Studio One, a live kinescope recording from 1957, an anthology drama. They are airing the episode called The Defender starring Ralph Bellamy and William Shatner in one of his earlier appearances. I'd heard of this episode before and I've been curious to see it fully.

That episode is available, in its entirety I believe, in THE DEFENDERS season one DVD set, which is worth the price of purchase all on its own. I watched the episode in question and enjoyed myself capitally.

 

[Nelson Au]

Yes, the series is available from Shout! It's ordered and on it's way.

 

[Carabimero]

Yes, the series is available from Shout! It's ordered and on its way.

You won't be disappointed.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Alan.

 

[Doug Wallen]

I second that remark. I purchased this set when it became available and was very impressed with the overall quality of these season 1 episodes. I have heard that it only gets better in the following seasons. We are still waiting word on whether those will become economically feasible for Shout! to offer.

 

[Sam Favate]

So, I have been showing my kids Star Trek. They're both 8. I was six when I first starting watching it (TAS and TOS), and 8 when I was obsessed. They've so far seen a handful of episodes from all the series (and all of TAS), except Voyager, which we are getting to (we need 90 min to see the pilot). They really like them all. It helps that my wife is a big fan too.

Today we watched Shore Leave ("the one with the bunny") and after, one of my sons said "Dad, I want to live on that planet." He also agreed that as captain, Kirk should have ordered Yeoman Barrows to take off that silly hat and throw it away.

 

[Nelson Au]

I had read your post Sam in the Star Trek The Motion Picture thread when you showed your kids the first film. It was interesting that they liked it, even if it wasn't the most exciting. That's cool they were receptive to it.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thought I'd mention I had a chance viewing of an episode of Kung Fu yesterday where William Shatner was a guest star. And France Nuyen was also a guest star playing his character's wife. (Decades TV was doing a Kung Fu binge all weekend)

I've always liked the series and have been meaning to get the DVDs. These were shown in widescreen, I recall the uproar when the DVD's were released with the image cropped to fit 16:9.

I thought it was a delightfully done episode with Shatner as a larger then life Irish captain of a ship who comes to America to bring Caine back to a China. His character was well played I thought. Always interesting to see him work when he's given good material. He wasn't exactly malevolent or benevolent. And his makeup was really wild, long Red hair and a bushy mustache.

I still have to see his performance in the Studio One episode mentioned above.

 

[Blimpoy06]

I recall the uproar when the DVD's were released with the image cropped to fit 16:9.

Only the first season. The second and third are 4:3.

 

[Sam Favate]

I had read your post Sam in the Star Trek The Motion Picture thread when you showed your kids the first film. It was interesting that they liked it, even if it wasn't the most exciting. That's cool they were receptive to it.

They're very interested in the whole world of Star Trek right now, memorizing all the characters and wanting to see "famous" episodes. (Tribbles, Mirror, Borg, pilots, etc.) I think they will be very excited to see Wrath of Khan next (they saw Space Seed over the weekend). Star Trek is so big, it's almost impossible to introduce it to someone and watch it all chronologically. We started with the Animated Series in full and then jumped around. One of them has a friend in school who is a Star Trek fan, and his favorite is the Next Generation, so one of my sons comes home with questions about that and wants to see all the different shows. He said yesterday at summer camp they were flashing one another the Vulcan hand sign.

It has facilitated a lot of good discussions about the importance of science and logic.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

So...I just started watching Voyager, aka The One Trek Show I've Never Watched. I saw the pilot the night it first aired and hated it so much that I never saw another episode.

I figured better late than never, and at this point, some Trek is better than no Trek, so here I am. Rewatched the pilot and...didn't hate it this time! Liked the first couple episodes too (I like time travel stuff). Who knows, maybe I'll dislike it eventually, but for right now, color me pleasantly surprised.

 

[TJPC]

It actually is my favourite spin off.

 

[Sam Favate]

So...I just started watching Voyager, aka The One Trek Show I've Never Watched. I saw the pilot the night it first aired and hated it so much that I never saw another episode.

I figured better late than never, and at this point, some Trek is better than no Trek, so here I am. Rewatched the pilot and...didn't hate it this time! Liked the first couple episodes too (I like time travel stuff). Who knows, maybe I'll dislike it eventually, but for right now, color me pleasantly surprised.

More power to you. I found when I revisited Voyager on DVD, I didn't like it any more than I did when it aired. I tried. Now, Enterprise, on the other hand, I revisited on DVD and blu-ray and had a very different reaction. I was indifferent at best when it aired, but I really liked it on disc.

 

[TJPC]

You have to persevere until Kate Mulgrew gets the new hairdo.

 

[Jason_V]

You have to persevere until Kate Mulgrew gets the new hairdo.

Isn't that the truth. It's like DS9 didn't find it real footing until Avery Brooks got his goatee (near the end of S3) and shaved his head (S4). Or TNG until the new uniforms debuted at the beginning of S3. Everyone says Voyager "got good" when 7 joined. I disagree. It "got good" when Mulgrew got rid of the bun of steel. A good number of the S3 episodes (ponytail hairstyle) were quite good.

I'm in the middle of a Voyager rewatch...I'm up to mid Season 5. Voyager has never been my favorite show and I deride it, sometimes unfairly. What it has going for it is the heart to try something new about 60% of the time. Episodes like Bride of Chaotica! (a pulpy, sci fi throwback romp) and Jetral (from S1) just remind you that everyone was trying to do creative and original work. Now, there are a good number of clunkers, too. But that's expected.

 

[TJPC]

The paradys of Buck Rodgers serials in the holadeck are hilarious.

 

[Gary Seven]

I'm watching DS9 and am toward the end of season 3. The first two were painful to get through as I never cared for the premise (I departed after the first season when it aired) but the characters are good and the stories are getting more interesting as I get to know the characters better. I see Sisko will soon morph into Hawk.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

The "holadeck." I see a dude on a chair watching girls go by in the corridor, going, "Holla! Holla! Holla!" And that's all that deck is used for.

 

[TJPC]

The "holadeck." I see a dude on a chair watching girls go by in the corridor, going, "Holla! Holla! Holla!" And that's all that deck is used for.

No, I see a dude on a chair who pays no attention to content, but whose chief joy is scanning through people's responses for spelling mistakes, and trying to think of some cheap mocking joke.

 

[Carabimero]

My only real problems with Voyager besides Janeway's occasional over-the-top self-righteousness are after episodes with real gravity that deepened the characters and premise, the reset button is too often hit. I also recall often getting frustrated that Voyager didn't do the smart thing, but the blatantly moral thing, and at least my memory is that no good deed goes unpunished on that show. Always frustrated me because they seemed by choice to be alienated masochists. I remember Robert Beltran being frustrated with the high-and-mighty antiseptic tone of the show. Haven't watched it in 10 years. I wonder if I would be more forgiving the third time around.