>>1635619
OK folks, I've had a hard time coming to grips with this, seeing as how I grew up on Star Trek when I was a kid... but here goes:
(deep breath)
Star Trek (The Original Series) sucked.
Not only did it suck, but it sucked long and hard. It sucked on many different levels, some obvious, some sublime. While I applaud the concept, the execution of that concept was awful, even for the time, and even for their given budget.
I'd like to say how at least the actors excelled... but I really can't. Everybody knocks down William Shatner, but tell me, is George Takei really any better? Could any two actors in Hollywood do worse accents than Jimmy Doohan and Walter Koenig? How about the wooden performances of Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett? I'll give you Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelley if you like, but that still leaves a whole lot to be desired.
The writing is constantly lauded, but come on... can you really make it through an entire episode without cringing? I loved "The City on the Edge of Forever" (Harlan Ellison), but after that? Even some of the better episodes, like "The Trouble with Tribbles" (David Gerrold) and "Amok Time" (Theodore Sturgeon) contained lines of dialogue and scenes of such thesbian contortionism that you have to just sit and stare.
And as for some of the other storylines... how many freakin' alternate Earths can there possibly be? Let's see, we have a planet modeled after the Roman Empire, the hippie free-love movement, the American Indians, and 1930's Chicago. Through various manipulations, we have been subjected to Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Khan, Jack the Ripper, and a giant louffa. Some of the episodes are so bad that their very name elicits a shudder, even among the most die-hard Trekker. ("Spock's Brain", anyone?)
I won't knock the special effects... yes, I know the show's entire FX budget was only $1.57... and I know that it was light years ahead of it's time, but... aaargh... OK, let me just say this: if I see one more scene of stock footage of the Enterprise firing at something just off screen (ship to the top-right corner, firing down), I'll have to take a stick and start beating things.
I do appreciate some of the little things: the transporter effect, the sound effects, the choice of music... but for the most part, folks... and this is coming from a fan... we all need to come to grips with the fact that Star Trek sucked. Lots of other TV shows also sucked around this time -- I Dream of Jeannie comes to mind -- but we don't revere Rogner Nelson and have convention panelists debate "The Physics of the Tiny Glass Bottle", do we?
I mean, come on!
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