After 40 years, 'Star Trek' still going strong

[Cannikin]

It seems like the TV show that never dies.

Forty years ago a science fiction show debuted on television with a paltry budget and a bold mission to go where no one had gone before.

That show, of course, was Star Trek, which sent Captain James T. Kirk (played by the now iconic William Shatner) and his Starship Enterprise crew on a voyage to a final frontier. Created by Gene Roddenberry and billed as a ‘Wagon Train to the Stars,’ Star Trek debuted on Sept. 8, 1966 on a five-year mission that is as entrenched in the American lexicon as apple pie and baseball (both of which have popped up in episodes at one time or another, in fact).

“Star Trek won’t die because there is that interest,” Fincke says. “It touches a fundamental nerve in human beings, especially Americans, because we’re pioneers and explorers…all these things that are the good parts of our country, and Star Trek captures that in a glorious way and gives us a picture towards the future.”

Rest of the article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14720731/

[LeftyMom]

1. We exist in a culture with little original mythology

Star Trek is part of America's mythology. There are few aspects of the story that would not make sense in a pre-modern culture if magic were used to replace science, because good storytelling is about people. Sometimes people writing science fiction sometimes make the mistake of making the science the story rather than a part of the setting, and that never really works well.

[xchrom]

2. why did i think you were in canada? were you ever in canada?

[TOhioLiberal]

3. My Reply to people...

...Who smartassedly ask me, 'Are you one of THOSE people?' I always say, hell yeah! Star Trek (the Original Series) entertained me and gave me hope in almost hopeless situations, both personally (adolescence) and when it seemed like the whole world was on the verge of exploding. That we wouldn't go up in a flash and a roar.

[Deja Q]

4. The original loved to tak of the human condition.

And for that, it is just deserved in its classic status.

The spinoff series were never quite the same, content-wise. TNG started as a pale imitation and then was morphed into something different. Something special in its own ways, but I found it to be less of discussing the human condition and preaching on how humans ought to live. Even TOS's most heavyhanded episodes ("The Way to Eden", "Let That be Your Last Battlefield") still have a certain quality that the newer shows regularly lack.

'Voyager', at times, comes close though at being what the original was about, despite having a premise being the exact opposite ("Wagon Train back to Earth")... even if, by this point, Berman and company retconned the entire Star Trek lore umpteen million times in a bad attempt to ignore continuity (especially with the Borg, who fare surprisingly well in 'Voyager'...), Voyager is a suitable and worthy series. (especially with the number of aliens who damn Captain Katheryn "Self-Righteous" Janeway... maybe that's why she became an Admiral, whereas Picard never did...)

[bluecrush]

5. "Wagon Train to the Stars"

I still peep Star Trek Classic for comfort.

[Cannikin]

6. Gene finally made it. I wonder if he's re entered the atmosphere yet.

[Broken_Hero]

7. Thats good to hear

I've always been a star trek fan, and enjoyed the OE and a lot of TNG...most of the movies(except The last frontier) were good, to great...:hi:

[InvisibleTouch]

8. I wrote an essay on this in high school once.

Talked about what made the show so enduring and popular, which was basically the characters and their interactions and loyalties to one another. That's what makes any show or book worthwhile, IMO - if it has excellent characters to relate to and get emotionally caught up with. The rest is just window dressing, a structure within which the characters interact.

The teacher was obviously not a sci-fi fan, and totally didn't get it. Scrawled all over my essay and picked it apart. It was probably the only really lousy grade I ever got on a writing assignment, which is ironic, since I was writing about something that I totally loved. Which made the teacher's response even more of a slap in the face. But so it goes.