Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I loved it then. I love it now. I'm collecting all the DVD's from the series as well. But when trek first came on, and the fans started talking to one another and letters poured in to the producers it showed that for all the outer spaceness of it, it had clearly connected with the time too.
Someone asked if it was the first show with a notable fanbase. Strictly speaking no, there were plenty. But in terms of the influence of a three season tv series about space aliens it clearly has had much more influence. It's one of those shows with words that made it into the language. How many people got their first flip phone and thought it was so neat because it was a real communicator? How many ended up studying science related subjects and wanted to put real space ships out there? It wasn't like Lucy, which had a big fanbase, but was all about Lucy. It was about the ship and her passangers, but the dreams and inspiration of changing things it inspired.
And there are still Star Trek conventions. And they are well attended. How many other shows can say that. And people still wander around conventions in star trek uniforms (I will soon be able to again, Dominion war style)
This is because people wanted to be part of its world, not just liked the actors. Few shows then could say that, thought today its much more common, and especially with science fiction. We still do.
Thought the sets were just a bit tacky, but thought the utopian portrayal about the future was just what was needed in the divisive and troubled late 1960's. It appealed to my hippie sentiments.
One truism about "Star Trek" in the 1960s was that its ratings were mediocre. Some have since claimed that the show was actually more popular at the time because of errors in the way ratings were determined back them. Were any of you around back then and enjoyed the show in its original run?
The problem is that I was just 9 years old. I remember being more fascinated with "The Time Tunnel" which was cancelled after one season.
8 Sep, 1966 Star Trek premier
9 Sep, 1966 The Time Tunnel premier
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.
The problem is that I was just 9 years old. I remember being more fascinated with "The Time Tunnel" which was cancelled after one season.
8 Sep, 1966 Star Trek premier
9 Sep, 1966 The Time Tunnel premier
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.
Really, you need to be 60 or 70 to know what feelings you had in 1966?
The problem is that I was just 9 years old. I remember being more fascinated with "The Time Tunnel" which was cancelled after one season.
8 Sep, 1966 Star Trek premier
9 Sep, 1966 The Time Tunnel premier
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.
I was fifteen. I absolutely remember what the show meant to me. I liked Time Tunnel, but it was a watch and forget. There were a number of shows, ie Lost in Space, where there was no message and it was mostly just fun. We absolutely got that Trek was about more than that. It was a time with huge anger and disillusionment. But here was this show, where after all our fears the future had come out good. They hadn't lost the ability to be idealist. Later we found out there had been a massive war with Kang's people, and a third world war. But they still remembered how to dream.
Sure, we were fascinated by Spock, and the fx, even though today they look hokey. And we *wanted* to be a part of that world. This is what was different with this show and Time Tunnel and others. It meant something. This is why today there are still Star Trek conventions filled with those sixty year olds to twenty somethings who still understand that.
Some of those on this thread have said how much it meant to them. How many shows from then do they remember so clearly and with such clear recall? Trek was wagontrain in space in some ways, but it was about something other than flashy gimmicks.
CBS tried their best to make it no more memorable than the normal run, but the producers didn't do it. And while it ended after season 3, it spawned ten years of letters for more, and rhelms of fanfiction which kept the characters and the meaning alive when there was no other stories. And the fans picked what they liked, it being characters and hope and how they still related. So the new show carried those on.
This didn't happen with any other show. It was the first show which FANS kept alive because there was sufficient meat in it to make it into many other stories which were acts of love to write.
I'm not a man, but I'm in that age range, and I absolutely remember watching the first time and bring a tv when babysitting since theirs was broken. And that its an important part of my life. And I know these other shows were on tv, but I don't remember them. The really good things stand out. The fluff just blows away.
I don't know how I remember this but when I was a kid I would watch Star Trek on Friday nights, but it was up against that juggernaut Gomer Pyle. I would have fights with my brother as to which show to watch.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
