March 17, 2023

TO BOLDLY WATCH WHAT I HAVE NEVER WATCHED BEFORE

st:tos pt.1/?

Netflix is pressuring me to continue a project I began a month ago and quickly forgot about:

One morning I, pretty much in all ways a Trek agnostic1, whose only knowledge of the franchise is via cultural hearsay, decided I was gonna watch all of Star Trek TOS2 3

S1E1: wtf is going on, who are these people

Its around min. 14 that we see our first forehead alien, and slightly before, our first seductive space lady. We are really laying the foundations here. And what to say about the costumes and the set design. The collars on those velour sweaters look so comfy. I want to put one on and just vibe out inside this alien menagerie.

Speaking of laying foundations, its surprising how even the first episode is so concerned with placing these future spacefolk in anachronistic settings (castles, farmland, etc). Correct me if im wrong but thats a well theyll be going back to mannny more times.

Final thoughts: Anyway, I enjoyed that, Vina gets top marks for her Eleanor Shellstrop vibe, looking forward to the next pilot, ig?

S1E2 [Shatner voice] captains log stardate bla bla

Ah, now thats more like it!

Once again we are working with the premise of men projecting their dreams and desires onto strange women who are probably psychic alien monsters.

We get our first dead ensign in the landing party. Body count then keeps rising. Not one red shirt among them. Also, Uhuru is out here flirting with Spock, wtf is going on

Love the color palette and the lighting, the gauzy vaseline lens on some of these close-ups of Kirk. The sweatiness and stoniness of everything.

Final thoughts: Good stuff, though I will say the uniforms Pike and them had on looked way comfier. Still, very high marks.

S1E3 “Charlie X”

We appear to have a weird teen on our hands. A very special episode, perhaps.

Uhura is once again getting flirty with Spock, has this always been a thing? (That vulcan autoharp thing is dope, btw.) Also, having never in my life heard of this Yeoman Ross character, its wild how big a role she has in these early episodes, but thats my ignorance showing I guess.

Wait, now I think I understand why I havent heard of Yeoman Ross—oh, wait never mind, she’s back. Are they gonna give that other lady her face back?

Final thoughts: Bit of a thasian ex machina at the end, and also wtf is up with Yeoman Ross's I Dream of Jeannie get up? I have so many questions

S1E4 "Where No Man Has Gone Before"

These are the comfiest-looking sweaters since the first pilot. Also, a little sexism to get started.

I unironically love these special effects.

also, are these contact lenses, howd they do that

okay we’re going back to the well of "what if someone on the ship had superpowers" like in the previous ep. The idea of a guy named "Gary" becoming like unto a God is funny to me, idk

With this episode, I’m starting to form an idea as to why this old series is more enjoyable to me than any contemporary sci fi series:

Star Trek, Shatner etc were fodder for parodies and send-ups for so long, because of how supposedly "cheesy" it was but this doesnt read to me as "cheesy" at all anymore.

The aggressively-mid CGI effects of today's productions, wherein the computer-generated images try and fail to create some illusion of reality—that is "cheesy". ST: TOS is making no such pretense to realism, and i am loving it for that reason.

The stark, at times almost Expressionistic use of color and light, the pronounced melodrama and anti-naturalism of the line delivery and physicality--compared to today's series, these elements seem alien which is pretty appropriate, really its good, to me lol

Final thoughts: Anyway, scotty showed in this one which is cool, bones and uhura must have had the day off tho