STAR TREK

A few months ago, while channel surfing, Natsuko and I stumbled upon an old episode of Star Trek. Not the Next Generation, or Voyager, but STAR TREK the original series. Natsuko had never watched it before. We decided to set up a series recording on our PVR, so she could see an episode or two. I was never a big fan of the original series, but I thought it would be good to watch for a laugh.

What ended up happening is we both fell in love with the show ! We watch it almost every day now. We can't get enough of it ! In fact we've almost watched all the episodes, and it's kind of sad to think that soon we'll run out of shows to watch.

Star Trek was way ahead of it's time, and even has a few historical tv moments (like when Kirk and Uhura kissed). The relationship between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy is very complex and genuine. The majority of stories are interesting and well written. The old vfx and sets are really silly, but they ad to the fun of the show.

I now understand why Star Trek is still very popular. I don't think Natsuko and I are officially "Trekkies", but we're definitely fans now.

Having been a teenaged fan of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, it's neat to see what it was like in an era where Klingons and the Federation were at war. Captain Picard was a firm believer in the Prime Directive (a law that states the federation can only observe and not interact with primitive and evolving cultures). Although Kirk sometimes talks about the Prime Directive, he seems to break that rule almost every show ! If one of his men is trapped on a planet full of cave people... well then it's "set your phasers to stun" and save them !

Each show usually makes you think. Some of them are more affective in doing this than others. The clip above is from an episode where the federation uses Kirk's ship to test out a new COMPUTER that could potentially replace him as Captain. Of course in the end, Captain James T. Kirk proves only a human can ever affectively command a starship. It's a great episode for anyone that has ever feared losing their job to a computer.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER !

your pal,
Beadle