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Old 05-01-2014, 12:18 AM
 
11,541 posts, read 12,565,080 times
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The producers did try to get it a wider appeal. They threw in Checkov for the pre-teen and teen girls. Kirk was initially supposed to be the matinee idol. They had plenty of action for the kids, especially boys. Those Star Trek lunch boxes were very popular. But you had to be old enough to really understand all the underlying messages being told in these morality plays. Even the cartoons are too "adult" for children to really understand. When the kids grew up, they got the real jist of it by watching it in syndication. And it was so popular, even before the movies, there were Star Trek novels.
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Old 05-01-2014, 01:19 AM
 
14,613 posts, read 17,293,877 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mack Knife View Post
Really, you need to be 60 or 70 to know what feelings you had in 1966?

I don't think so.
It's 47.5 years ago. I think to be the target demographic you needed to be age 12.5 to 22.5 years old. At age 9, I think I was below the age that they were aiming for.

Star Trek was on Thursdays it's first year, and Time Tunnel was on Fridays. For the 2nd and 3rd year Star Trek switched to Fridays.

It's first year Star Trek was up against My Three Sons and Bewitched. It's second year Star Trek was up against Gomer Pyle and CBS movie, and it's third year it was moved to 10PM on Friday which was a graveyard for a show aimed at teenagers.

Last edited by PacoMartin; 05-01-2014 at 01:38 AM..
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Old 05-01-2014, 08:06 AM
BMI
 
Location: Ontario
7,456 posts, read 7,212,060 times
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I love Star Trek (Original series).

Interesting thing for me is the changing tone (and quality) of the series
during it's 3 year run.

First season 1966-67 for me is the best, first season episodes have a darker tone,
more serious, with great writing, like "City on the Edge of Forever".

Second season 1967-68 is also quite good, episode tone not as serious,
more character interplay, but on the downside a few clinker episodes.

The show was "saved" for a third season, however 3rd season episodes
(with a few exceptions) are not quite as good (some even silly...like "Spocks Brain").
Rodenberry was not directly in control anymore and they tried to make the show appeal to a wider audience.
I personally love that 3rd season "space hippies" episode "This Way to Eden"
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Old 05-01-2014, 10:17 AM
 
14,613 posts, read 17,293,877 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI View Post
Rodenberry was not directly in control anymore and they tried to make the show appeal to a wider audience.I personally love that 3rd season "space hippies" episode "This Way to Eden"
NBC had agreed to air the 3rd season in the sweet spot on Mondays at 7:30 PM. However, they put another show that they initially thought would fail (the 4th season of I Dream of Jeannie) there instead. Star Trek was given the Friday night 10 PM death slot.


After Jack Paar went off the air, the 10PM Friday night hour had killed for NBC
  • Police Woman
  • Dean Martin Comedy Hour
  • Banyon
  • Local Programming
  • Strange Report (British)
  • Bracken's World
  • Star Trek
  • The Bell Telephone Hour / Actuality Specials / NBC News Reports / American Profile
  • Laredo
  • The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
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Old 05-01-2014, 11:30 AM
 
5,718 posts, read 7,203,819 times
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When they first aired, I didn't care for the goofier episodes, like "I, Mudd", "Spock's Brain", "The Trouble With Tribbles", or "A Piece of the Action", because they didn't match the more serious demeanor of episodes like "City On the Edge of Forever". But over the years, with repeated viewings, I've grown to appreciate them, particularly Shatner hamming it up as a gangster in "A Piece of the Action". Still can't stand the kid actor in it, though. I think he's the same annoying kid who was in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming"
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Old 05-01-2014, 11:45 AM
 
Location: Upstate NY 🇺🇸
36,754 posts, read 14,714,499 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PacoMartin View Post
...

You need a sampling of men who are now between the ages of 60 and 70 who can be truthful and honestly remember their feelings in light of almost 5 decades of history. You aren't going to get that on this forum.

Huh? What the heck to feelings have to do with it, and why just men? I watched it as a young girl, and I watched it as entertainment. I don't need to remember my feelings for that.
Yeesh!
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Old 05-01-2014, 11:49 AM
 
Location: Miami, FL
8,087 posts, read 9,775,687 times
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For some reason the show appealed a great deal to prepubescent males as I was and my brothers and classmates when we saw it in reruns during the 1970s. Before Star Trek fanboi hysteria when it was just a rerun.

We were watching something unique and different so it left an impression. We all committed favorite portions of dialogue to memory. Still a source of humor today.

I always say if I were born in the 1890s I would have memorized Homer but instead I recite plot and dialogue from Star Trek.
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Old 05-01-2014, 02:27 PM
 
Location: Somewhere flat in Mississippi
10,062 posts, read 12,712,992 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nightbird47 View Post
CBS tried their best to make it no more memorable than the normal run, but the producers didn't do it.
Er, Star Trek was on NBC.
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Old 05-01-2014, 02:51 PM
 
Location: Cushing OK
14,539 posts, read 21,162,297 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coney View Post
The producers did try to get it a wider appeal. They threw in Checkov for the pre-teen and teen girls. Kirk was initially supposed to be the matinee idol. They had plenty of action for the kids, especially boys. Those Star Trek lunch boxes were very popular. But you had to be old enough to really understand all the underlying messages being told in these morality plays. Even the cartoons are too "adult" for children to really understand. When the kids grew up, they got the real jist of it by watching it in syndication. And it was so popular, even before the movies, there were Star Trek novels.
As soon as it went into syndication, which was shortly after it was cancelled, it ran almost daily. I wasn't alone in watching it over and over and over. I still remember the lines in my favorites. But it was comfort and belonging to this group who also loved it. And the first convention was in I think 70 or 71. I went to the second, in LA. They decided to run a single add for it during the syndicated showing. They'd figured they'd get maybe five hundred. They got many fold times that, and you had to wait in line to go in with a gate since they could only let in the amount of people the fire martial allowed.

But the early first conventions, and it becoming a part of science fiction fandom and conventions at the same time, really gave birth to the ongoing fandom. It's one thing to sit attentively and watch your show each night, even if you know all the words. It's another entirely to find out that there were others who did the same and meet them in mass. And fans of the show shared much more than any random bunch, and pulled in others of the same like mind. And others discovered existing fandom in search of others like them.

Roddenberry didn't want to make a kids show. CBS forced changes like the stupid youwomen's uniform (the pilot has men and women dressed the same as did later treks) and the elimination of the female second in command. He knew how to play the game and get his content and not annoy CBS too much. The animated series was excellent too. I'd get up early on Saturday to watch it. I don't do mornings, and went back to bed afterwards. But those short little plays were often written by established writers.

If you want to look at the long term influence of trek, look at your phone. If you had a flip version, then how many didn't think of it as their own communicator? And the phrases which have slipped into the language.

Today Star Trek would get the budget to not skimp, and with out the need for model work on the smaller transports, might well have never established those limitations of the transporter (so you didn't end the episode by beaming them out of danger in the first five minutes). And it would get the publicity and they would know HOW to handle it. It wouldn't have to be aimed at teenagers but a wider audience. But back then, CBS didn't have a clue how to handle it and what Gene the Great Bird really had in mind. And they didn't really even notice until they thought they'd won that a lot of the audience DID get everything he wanted to say.
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Old 05-01-2014, 03:02 PM
 
Location: Cushing OK
14,539 posts, read 21,162,297 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo View Post
Er, Star Trek was on NBC.
True. Sorry bout that. Today it is much more complicated.

At the moment the company which owns and runs CBS also owns trek. I believe that is Junction. It is also run as a network with decisions made by that portion of the mix. NBC didn't own the production company, just showed it. They did have the option to keep or cancel. ABC is owned by Disney and I'm not sure who owns NBC.

Networks did productions of their own and in partnership with other production companies. But then it was more common that networks produced their own content.
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