What's on the idiot box Part 4 (or something)

[ShadySands]

I've been watching Star Trek:TOS with my wife but she's not really feeling it. Will probably drop it and go back through TNG and DS9 since she didn't like Voyager or Enterprise either

[Amentep]

I've been watching Star Trek:TOS with my wife but she's not really feeling it. Will probably drop it and go back through TNG and DS9 since she didn't like Voyager or Enterprise either

I hear divorce is an option too.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Amentep

[majestic]

Not liking Voyager or Enterprise isn't a real reason for such drastic measures. Not liking TOS however screams for more than just a divorce.

[Leferd]

I love classic Trek. But unless you grew up watching it, it's going to be a hard sell. A little too dated and camp for modern audiences.

 

...and Voyager and Enterprise are garbage.

[Blarghagh]

Yeah, if you didn't grow up with it (I grew up with The Next Generation, Picard is my captain) then the original series is almost laughably bad. I can see what the appeal of it used to be back when it was cutting edge, but none of that appeal remains and the show gets a pass solely on age and nostalgia. Actually, on occassion William Shatner's performance turns it into So-Bad-Its-Good territory. To be fair, Wrath of Khan is still pretty badass.

[Bartimaeus]

It is literally laughably bad. I watched a few episodes at random with a friend, and it was so bad, we were pretty much laughing the entire way through. We were only gonna watch one, but they were so bad, we couldn't help but try a few more and continue the fun.

[Blarghagh]

I was trying to be charitable, but yeah.

[majestic]

TOS is campy, over the top and has all the production charm of a 60ies TV show, but the quality of its content (= sci fi storytelling) is no better - or worse - than that of any other Trek series.

 

But I guess graphics are as important to TV shows as they are for games, right? Right?

[Oerwinde]

I was watching some of the remastered original Trek a while back and actually really enjoyed it. Hated it when my dad would watch it in the 80s, didn't get into Trek until TNG, but I hope to go back and watch the old stuff sometime. Right now me and my daughter are bonding over DS9. She likes Quark and Odo because they look funny.

[ManifestedISO]

It's only campy until Nimoy. 

[ShadySands]

I watched TOS as a kid with my mom and it's pretty weird watching it again now. I still enjoy it but I dunno if I'd still like it as much if I didn't have those warm fuzzies associated with it. Voyager was always a last resort Trek for me and I still can't get beyond the first few episodes of Enterprise.

 

My wife had never heard of the Joy of Painting either so we watched an episode of that. Almighty mountains, happy little clouds, and majestic trees

[Oerwinde]

Voyager was the first Trek I watched from the beginning. I started DS9 a season in, caught TNG through syndication, Voyager was the first one I made a point to sit and watch every week. Then they changed nights and I couldn't watch anymore. Was shortly after the episode they ended up in the 90s dealing with the guy who stole the timeship and reverse engineered it to start a tech company.

Enterprise gets better every season. Season 4 was some of the best Trek IMO.

[Volourn]

Funny thing is TOS was a medicortv show that was lucky to get past its pilot let alone stumble for 4 seasons. It had lacklustre popularity both in terms of critics and viewership. It only managed to get its real big break when the movies came out and then B00M! history was rewritten. It had its fans but the tv was not some super hit.

 

\Me personally? It is alright but as others mentioned, it was extremely cheesy. How can we discuss TOS without bringing up THE BEST FIGHT SCENE EVAR. L0L

[Amentep]

• TOS lasted three seasons not four
• Its well known that the lack of ratings for Star Trek (and other 60s shows) was partially due to how Nielson ratings were calculated. Had the revised rating system (used the year after TOS cancellation) been used, the third season would have definitely led to a fourth
• Using that revised rating information and the syndication success as a basis, Paramount started trying to launch a movie ("The God Thing") in the early 70s. Paramount was so eager to do so, most of the cast were given "Pay or Play" contracts to ensure their availability.
• The Animated Series was seen as a way to capitalize on TOS syndication popularity
• Unable to agree on a movie script, Paramount planned on launching a new network in the late 70s with a TOS relaunch, PHASE II
• When buyers were reluctant to back the Paramount network, Paramount used the pilot PII story ("In Thy Image" by Alan Dean Foster) as the basis for STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE
• While the movies did well, they were continual sellers which was their strength (more so than immediate return on investment as they were costly to produce); Paramount actually made their instant cash off the FRIDAY THE 13th series (hence why for many years a F13 movie alternated with a ST one).

Frankly I still think most of TOS holds up very well. I suspect that people who complain about it being sad (or camp) are the people who'd probably argue the same of most 60s tv.  That's not a value judgement, but some people just can't watch stuff from earlier generations or they hold it to unreasonable expectations based on what they expect a TV show now to do.

 

And if you think ST is camp, don't watch Lost in Space, your head will explode.

 

I think - generally speaking - TOS had better stories than TNG; as an 80s show TNG eventually did more in the terms of character, but DS9 might be the best of the series, overall, in terms of character.  IMO.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Amentep

[Bartimaeus]

I'm afraid I must admit to a little bit of a gaffe in my previous post that Amentep unwittingly just illuminated for me: I completely forgot that the Animated Series existed, and that's what I was actually watching with a friend, not TOS...and that's what we thought was ridiculously hilarious. I'm not sure how I forgot I was watching a cartoon instead of live action, but...suffice it to say, I forgot I was watching a cartoon instead of live action.

 

I don't think I've seen enough of the TOS to form much of an opinion about it...though I absolutely know it wasn't quite as ridiculous as TAS was. So if you think TOS is not very good, well, I suggest trying a few episodes of TAS on Netflix before you judge.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Amentep]

I'm entertained by TAS, but it has a lot of limitations. 

[Bartimaeus]

Oh, I assure you, we were entertained, too.

[majestic]

I think - generally speaking - TOS had better stories than TNG; as an 80s show TNG eventually did more in the terms of character, but DS9 might be the best of the series, overall, in terms of character.  IMO.

 

 

DS9 certainly had the best character development of any Trek series and it had the advantage of having Robert Hewitt Wolfe (whom I would say is the MCA of sci-fi writers) working on it for a while, and a noticable dip in quality after he left at the end of Season 5. TNG had some really, really good stories that easily rival the best of TOS but it is all wrapped in a lot of filler and sprinkled with some damned awful stinkers that kind of dilute the experience - for every Drumhead there are two Shades of Grey...

[Hurlshort]

I have one episode left of Narcos.  Netflix has put out some pretty good programming, but this might be the best so far.

[ManifestedISO]

I asked Siri to remind me of these premiere dates, but she was like, 'who me?'

 

 

9/13 Lions at Chargers

 

9/21 Blindspot 10pm NBC

 

9/22 The Muppets 8pm ABC

 

9/24 Heroes Reborn 8pm NBC

 

9/29 Agents of SHIELD 9pm ABC

 

10/6 The Flash 8pm CW

 

10/26 Supergirl 8:30pm CBS

 

11/5 Elementary 10pm CBS

[Volourn]

Only thing worth checking out on that list is Supergirl.

[Leferd]

• Warriors Basketball
• Survivor
• The Muppets
• Daredevil
• Jessica Jones
• The Man in the High Castle

* Going to also check out Narcos.

[kgambit]

Premieres September 15th on FX

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWst4WokXUM

 

 

14th Century during the reign of Edward I

[ManifestedISO]

Three-hour season finale of Ninja Warrior tonight. Gonna need a lot more beef jerky. 

 

Actually BB-8 should be here any minute, so I might have to divide my attention. 

 

Colbert is a can't-miss, though, loving that. 

[Amentep]

Interesting finale of ANW.  Kinda figured it'd go that way when we got to stage 3.