After blowing through all of the Dr. Who episodes on netflix with the kids ( 8 and 9 yrs ), we were looking for something else to watch and started at the beginning of the original Star Trek series.

A couple of things I noticed after the first 7 episodes watched;

1- the episodes, for the most part, hold up very well. a few anachronisms but because of the story-based writing rather than tech-based writing of the spinoffs, it is still very enjoyable.

2- the updated special effects ( space scenes mostly ) are VERY tastefully done and not intrusive at all. Other filmmakers could learn from this ( Ol' Fatneck Lucas I'm looking at you )

3- on a more philosophical note, the enthusiasm for exploration and the space program is prominent in contrast with the "meh" attitude of today, where the country is so introverted and self-absorbed, and NASA may as well not exist.

I have the bluray sets for the remastered ST: TOS and I watched all of them a couple years ago. Agreed on the new special effects being tastefully done and not overdone. I think the anachronisms give the show a unique charm even though they are sometimes pretty funny for a 21st century viewer.


As for Dr. Who, did you watch all of the "new" series starting with Eccleston or did you watch every Dr. Who series ever made? Does Netlix have them all?

Part of it was they had lost the original soundtrack sources, so all effects shots had to be exactly the same length as the originals. This meant no minute long sweeping space shots replacing a 15 second one. Lucas didn't have that problem, so he freely changed the length and pacing of multiple scenes.



The Jedi Master

The "new" series starting with Eccleston. Netflix has them through season seven.


The kids loved it, but me, I'm a Tom Baker man myself... although I thought Tennant did an outstanding job, despite the fact that Matt Smith got the better babes

Yeah, between Amy and Clara he lucked out.

That said, Tenant got a couple winners (and losers).



The Jedi Master

I've always liked the episodes with River Song too.
I've yet to watch the premier with the new Dr, is it any good?

Wasn't there a really old Dr. Who female companion a few years ago? WTF were the producers thinking?

I don't know yet. Right now, I'm leaning towards "not like" for the new guy. Matt Smith won me over very fast. Clara and Amy won me over fast. This guy has an uphill battle.



The Jedi Master

Look who's talking about old! She was 40 when she was his companion, although she'd been a guest a couple of years earlier. Same pattern they used with Clara and now Capaldi himeself, guest turned regular.

She was also on twice as many episodes of The Office a couple of years later.


The Jedi Master

I thought Donna was a great character and a good foil to Dr Who's personality. Also a good way to break up the recurring "love interest" themes.

"Old" by usual Dr. Who standards. When viewers get used to seeing companions in their 20's I'm sure it was a big shock so see a companion almost twice the age.

Revisiting the original Star Trek? I never left!

As to the new effects, I _prefer_ the original effects... warts and all. I'm a bit of purist and do enjoy miniature work over CGI, even today. However, I do enjoy and like the new effects. Albeit with a couple MAJOR "problems" in them... when they change the story or characterizations. (for example, in the Doomsday Machine, in an effort to show off the new effects, it detracts from Captain Kirk's powers of observation and tactical understanding. In the original, he declares the Constitution was attacked, while the burnt AMT model is still fairly distant. With the new effects, he declares it, after the visuals of the damaged Constitution is _well_ into the "Duh" range.) I do really enjoy the added shuttlecraft scenes (I've wanted a Star Trek shuttlecraft since the 60's... but then again, I'm still waiting for personal jetpacks* and flying cars).

I've not worked up the nerve to watch Dr Who. The slide shows of the first one or two years that are left are a bit of a turn off. Not to mention I'm still recovering from watching all of Blake's 7 about 5 years ago (even with the BEST tv show ending of all time, that made the viewing worth it).



* As an aside, I saw one fly in the 60's. I've wanted one since then! (The real problem has always been one of fuel. I don't see the problem! Such a miniscule amount of antimatter would solve that! Well... okay, obtaining dilithium crystals does remain problematic. *sigh*)

Best Doctor for a long time. Last night's episode was the darkest I've seen in years. I liked Matt Smith a lot, but Capaldi has a vicious edge to his portrayal that gives him the feel of some of the early Doctors.

They also seem to have toned down the 'weekly guest star' nonsense that was giving the show the vibe of a pantomime.

I am getting a little bit tired of the Dr vs Dalek thing, though. First Tenant and then Smith both had big buildups to a Dalek showdown...but then the first regular episode with the new guy and we're back again?
Don't get me wrong, the episode by itself was good enough, it's just in the larger context it's like time travel in Star Trek films where fully 1/4 use it.

As for jetpacks, fuel was the smallest problem. The far larger ones were heat (the exhaust were red hot and would be likely to give severe burns to people taking it off, if not causing damage/fires from bumping into things) and control. The pilot who did the stunt for Thunderball talked about how very difficult it was to control as it purely based on your own body movements and there was no way to train.
While in theory you could automate it to make it easier to control, you'd also be increasing its weight making its endurance less. And if you misjudged and ran out of fuel while you were more than 6 inches off the ground...



The Jedi Master

I disagree on the heat issue. I don't believe heat was that big of a problem. Or even much of a problem beyond a normal jet engine when handled correctly, as the exhaust nozzles were off the sides of the shoulders. And no one involved in the demo, even gave the slightest impression they were "worried" about burns. While calling it "red hot" is definitely an exaggeration, personal experience of working on and/or close to jet engines that are expelling air that's about 685f (leaving the combustion chamber), has shown me that it can seem to be a very appropriate term!

Now bumping into things and starting a fires seems to be a page pulled from pilots' war stories' "oops" pages (Yup, you put jet exhaust next to and/or on flammables... *grin*)

Yes, control did require the muscle tone of a gymnast... there was no fidgeting inflight! (You're not going to want to try any barrel rolls. And snap rolls are RIGHT OUT! *grin*).

However, Thunderball was a wonderful example of a very long flight with one (Lost in Space episodes had some good shots, but my memory says they were edited to look much longer than possible).

Be all that as it may, I still want one (and the flying cars we were told would be here by now! *grin*).

By the way... Sept 8, 1966 was the first air date of Star Trek.

http://time.com/3269295/star-trek-1966/

Who's the redshirt? Didn't she get killed like 5 mins later?



The Jedi Master

Whoever can guess correctly which episode that still is from is truly an uber-Trek fan.