New Appreciation for TAS

[PureCrimson]

I'm just seriously tired of the "it looks cheap" jabs. Without those "cardboard" sets and Styrofoam rocks, none of the things you love about Trek would exist.

Did I say I hated it or wrote it off despite that? Not at all.
I'm well aware that is the Trek that started it all and I have great admiration for it because of that, nor do I even dislike it, BUT the visual aesthetic does hinder it a little for me, sadly. But I think it's even more than that, so it's hard to explain.

Just relax though; no one is badmouthing it. Some people will have different takes than you. That's just the forum experience.

 

[BillJ]

Just relax though; no one is badmouthing it.

You did, by calling it a "cheap TV show". Cheap, at least in the US, is considered an insult.

 

[PureCrimson]

You did, by calling it a "cheap TV show". Cheap, at least in the US, is considered an insult.

Star Wars was a 'cheap scifi film' for the time too. As was Lost in Space.

But I see your point; "low budget" then. But that was television in general before the 2000s, to say nothing about the 60s.

They did a good job despite that for the time, but it doesn't hold up well. It's nowhere near the level of cardboard sets or something like you mentioned.

 

[BillJ]

But I see your point; "low budget" then.

I'm not sure you understand what low-budget means? Neither the original Star Trek nor Star Wars were low-budget. I think, maybe, what you are looking for is "of their time". They had limitations that really no amount of money could solve. Technology and production techniques were still being developed. Once again, an evolution that later Trek's owe a debt of gratitude to. Not just the original Trek and Wars, but things like Space:1999, Battlestar Galactica and others.

One day, you'll be old like me standing on your virtual lawn shaking your fists at the kids that say the things you love look cheap.

 

[PureCrimson]

Very true.
Budgets were vastly different than today, especially for television. So they had a good budget for their time.

I'll try and word my posts better from now on.

 

[Commishsleer]

I don't have that problem with any of the films or Next Gen, since I believe the setting more.

Next Gen and even VOY is starting to look its age when you compare it to something made recently like DISCOVERY.

I can still look past it all for the story, the characters the message etc.The styrofoam rocks the painted backgrounds are much less important to me in comparison.

I find the best thing about TAS are the stories. I'm glad TAS wasn't some Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the Scooby-doo gang in space. We were so lucky there.

 

[Phaser Two]

The TAS plots are pretty good for the most part. It's amazing that they managed fit some of them (The Time Trap comes to mind) into 22 or so minutes.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Next Gen and even VOY is starting to look its age when you compare it to something made recently like DISCOVERY.

Personally I find the flashiness of STD to be very distracting and separated me from what I was meant to be focusing on.

I find the best thing about TAS are the stories. I'm glad TAS wasn't some Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the Scooby-doo gang in space. We were so lucky there.

I know you mean that as a bad thing, but that would be a crossover I would've loved to have seen! Kirk hitting on Daphne, Velma swooning over Spock, Shaggy and Scooby draining the food dispensers dry, all before discovering that the Ghosts of Starbase 10 were actually Orion smugglers trying to scare Starfleet out of the system to sneak contraband through it

 

[TrickyDickie]

For those who are not aware, James Doohan did a lot of the additional voices for TAS.

I saw it first-run and have loved it right from the beginning. The look, the music, all of it.

For more of TAS, read Alan Dean Foster's novelizations. 'Slaver Weapon' is volume 10 and the longest. I'm not sure how it compares with Larry Niven's story.

Curiously, for the GAF Viewmaster, the live-action episode 'The Omega Glory' retains its name (although it's only called 'Star Trek' on the front), but for TAS 'Yesteryear' becomes 'Mr Spock's Time Trek'.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

After watching TAS I'm thinking I should go back and have my first full rewatch of TOS in a couple of decades. I watched it as a bairn and loved it, but kept myself from revisiting it as an adult so as to remember it fondly and not be overly critical with it, but think I'll have to take the plunge and just go for it.

 

[Christopher]

For those who are not aware, James Doohan did a lot of the additional voices for TAS.

As did George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, and Majel Barrett. However, while Doohan did perform the majority of TAS guest voices, the 1990s re-release of Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance incorrectly gave Doohan credit for many TAS voices that he didn't do, that were actually done by uncredited voice actors whose identity remains unknown. Memory Alpha has unfortunately perpetuated those false attributions.

 

[Herbert]

I don't have that problem with any of the films or Next Gen, since I believe the setting more.

Next Gen wasn't much better early on. Go back and look at the sets for any planet they beamed down to in season one. It's pretty bad. Fake plants. Fake rocks. Fake sky. Certainly TOS was no worse in that regard.

 

[Herbert]

I'm not sure you understand what low-budget means? Neither the original Star Trek nor Star Wars were low-budget. I think, maybe, what you are looking for is "of their time". They had limitations that really no amount of money could solve. Technology and production techniques were still being developed. Once again, an evolution that later Trek's owe a debt of gratitude to. Not just the original Trek and Wars, but things like Space:1999, Battlestar Galactica and others.

One day, you'll be old like me standing on your virtual lawn shaking your fists at the kids that say the things you love look cheap.

I think that typically if you ask old timers like us, "Do the TOS sets look cheap?" we would say no. However, ask younger viewers who came to TOS much later and you get a much different viewpoint.

 

[Christopher]

Next Gen wasn't much better early on. Go back and look at the sets for any planet they beamed down to in season one. It's pretty bad. Fake plants. Fake rocks. Fake sky. Certainly TOS was no worse in that regard.

It struck me recently that early TNG was only a few years removed from the '80s cheesiness of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. TNG was sort of the transition between that age of cheesiness and the more sophisticated SFTV era of the '90s and after; it transcended the dumbness of most of its contemporaries and predecessors and opened the door for SFTV to mature, but its early seasons hadn't yet fully shaken off the vestiges of '80s cheese, so they haven't aged that well.

 

[Phaser Two]

After watching TAS I'm thinking I should go back and have my first full rewatch of TOS in a couple of decades. I watched it as a bairn and loved it, but kept myself from revisiting it as an adult so as to remember it fondly and not be overly critical with it, but think I'll have to take the plunge and just go for it.

Do it!! Maybe keep a thread with your thoughts as well. Well, that could be too much work. But the perspective of someone like yourself who liked TNG/DS9/VOY or at least some of them, has not seen TOS as an adult, and who didn't really like DISC is pretty interesting.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Do it!! Maybe keep a thread with your thoughts as well. Well, that could be too much work.

I was actually thinking of that. Maybe do two or three episodes a night and then posting my thoughts and impressions on them afterwards. Might get started with that tonight--be a fun way to procrastinate over the housework for a little while longer

 

[Herbert]

As a kid, I only saw TAS sporadically. There are many episodes I've never seen. Just got the DVD set so I'm looking forward to diving into it.

 

[Lost Archon]

I just dicovered TAS a couple years ago. As with any TV show that is over 40 years old, I always try to look past the limitations and constraints of it. I look at it like this: They are 22 minute stories that are easily digestible and made, I’m guessing, for a young mind that does not analyze any aspect of it. Watching it for the first time as an older adult, I filter out all the shortcomings and look at the story for what it is. That’s all. I have enjoyed the episodes now, and more than likely, will in the future.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

You like it for what you see in it. I'm an adult and I still like Peep and the Big Wide World, mostly because of Quack.

 

[TrickyDickie]

As did George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, and Majel Barrett. However, while Doohan did perform the majority of TAS guest voices, the 1990s re-release of Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance incorrectly gave Doohan credit for many TAS voices that he didn't do, that were actually done by uncredited voice actors whose identity remains unknown. Memory Alpha has unfortunately perpetuated those false attributions.

Thanks for the clarification.