Today is a big day! And not just for us Trekkies but for sci-fi geeks everywhere! 😁 Star Trek: The Original Series celebrates it’s 50th birthday today, and i couldn’t be happier!
There really is no other show or Star Trek for me except for the chronicles of Captain James Tiberius Kirk, his right hand man-alien Spock, best pal Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy, witty Mr. ‘Fix-It-In-The-Nick-Of-Time’ Scott, the sultry Uhura, often confused Chekov and calm as a cucumber (unless he turns samurai crazy on you) Sulu! And what a phenomenal team they were!
These were the guys we grew up with and learned to open our minds with (first interracial kiss on TV anybody?!?!)! I remember how my Editor In Chief, my brother and i used to get so excited at a certain time of day on a specific day because the next adventure of Captain Kirk and his USS Enterprise NCC-1701! And till this day, when i catch the odd re-run episode i feel that same joy, excitement and yes even pride!
No one sang the cheesy intro song as great as we did! Complete with melodramatic, operatic facial expressions! 😋 Not to mention mimicking Spock’s iconic eyebrow raise (which my brother still can’t do) and hand gesture.
And lest we forget William Shatner’s unique dialogue delivery style! My personal favourite! You know he only got away with because he was handsome!
That’s the thing about Star Trek. While many are quick to judge, roll their eyes and exclaim a loud ‘LAME!’, the show was the first of its kind in many aspects. It broke so many boundaries and barriers, all the while on a minuscule, practically non-existent budget! And lets not forget the hours the actors put in, working at times for 2 or 3 entire days straight! This was show that did it’s own thing and yet challenged very political and societal issues. For example, the episode with the guys who are black and white and have similar looking fellows who are white and black. A HUGE difference apparently! The underlying message in that episode, like in almost all of them, was that we are at the end of the day all the same and should really just get along. If you don’t believe me, when you next see an episode of TOS, don’t change the channel and think ‘Oh here goes Kirk making out with whoever and whatever he gets his hands on’, ignore the slight melodrama, and read between the lines.
At a time when Civil Rights was at it’s zenith, it was a very bold and risky move for Roddenberry and his team to pull off the things they did. And believe me when i say he got into some serious trouble over it. After all, a white man kissing a black woman full-on on the mouth, on-screen! OH THE HORROR! 😒 The entire team stood by Roddenberry’s decision to keep the scene while censor boards had their field day and threatened to not just pull the episode but the show altogether. William Shatner also made it a point to stare directly into the camera in the scene, to goad all the racists and the critics and to drive the point home that hey, we don’t care and there really is nothing wrong with anyone who isn’t white.Even then, the episode was only allowed to air because Nichelle and Bill constantly, and purposefully, kept messing up the takes and kissed! I still find it amusing! 😁
In all seriousness though, Star Trek paved the way for so many sci-fi classics, including Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and so many others. Not only that but high-tech, imaginative scientific props used in the show, paved the way for our modern-day technology. Communicators Vs. Mobile Flip Phones anybody? Automatic doors? Holograms? Projectors? Need i go on?!?! Apparently scientists are even trying to produce a real, working Tricorder! Who’d have thunk it?!?! GENE RODDENBERRY THAT’S WHO! 😆
I could go on and on about this show, but i actually want you guys to READ what i’m writing and not get put off by a wall of text…so i’ll stop! What i will say is this though…due to the above and so much more, it is no wonder that the show, to-date, is still a riotous success! Especially with the latest movie series in the franchise, starring the very handsome Chris Pine!
And yes, ladies…his eyes really ARE that shade of blue!
William Shatner’s face as Kirk on top of Chris Pine’s face as Kirk. The likeness is uncanny!
It’s actually strange to think it’s really been 50 years…but that’s the thing with TV shows, actors and their characters…they are immortalised, forever young, on celluloid. And when reality has that cruel way of snapping you back to the mundane, you realise it was only on for 3 years, you were a kid watching re-runs, and most of the cast and crew are no longer here (we miss you Leonard Nimoy, Gene Roddenberry, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan and all of you gone before)…
The scene i ALWAYS cry in…
I think personally what i miss the most and what gets me all emotional, teary eyed and sentimental is the crew’s camaraderie. That’s something that tugs at my heart strings when i think specifically of Bill and Leonard…they really were that close in real life and suddenly one is gone and the other left behind without his best friend and colleague of YEARS! But it’s not just the real actors i’m talking about. It was the characters they played too..getting to see them bond and grow together, the inside jokes that they shared with us (especially in the movies)…i really missed that when the show ended. I missed seeing them together, happy, laughing, joking, in trouble, fighting for and even sometimes with each other. But then for those of you who know me, i am an emotional sap who gets attached to the silliest and weirdest of things (i have a receipt that i can barely make out but won’t throw it away because memories…😒)….
Either way, today i find myself looking back at all of those actors, writers and producers, their journeys, their struggles…i remember some of my favourite episodes (The Trouble With Tribbles being one of many), how Season 2 was an absolute riot of fun and laughter…and of course, i remember my childhood. I remember the happier, simpler times of my life with the people i care most about..a time when things were so very different..
But before i turn myself into an emotional wreck looking back on hindsight and getting all retrospective, i’ll beam myself outta here.. Today is a day to do exactly what this great show and franchise did (and arguably still does), look to the future and hope for a better tomorrow!
So for now…
Tya's Reel Deal 