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TOS and Star Trek Beyond

Captain's Blog Stardate 93993.38

With Star Trek Beyond on the horizon and a TOS expansion coming to STO, there's a lot of talk about Star Trek: The Original Series. Why do people love it? Why do we continue to revisit it in multiple forms? What makes TOS great? Let's explore the Star Trek Beyond trailer, the upcoming expansion, and TOS.

The one thing we keep hearing about Star Trek Beyond is that it's going to be more like The Original Series. The first trailer came out and it was Star Trek meets Fast and Furious. Obviously no one liked it. Simon Pegg even said he was shocked at the trailer and that there was more to the movie than action. Trailer two just came out and not much has changed. We're back to a shoot 'em up film: "Our Captain will come for us. Mercy will be the last thing on his mind," spoken by Uhura. Whaaaaa????? I know Kirk and the TOS era was much like a cowboy film but come on!

The Original Series definitely had it's share of action, but there was meaning behind it which still holds true today. Look at "Mudd's Women" which explores the fact that women should not be told how to look. "Space Seed", which introduced the beloved villain Khan, showed us that no one is superior despite what they may say or think.

Let's not forget the race related topics. TOS showed us how racisim can be destructive if we don't let go of that irrational hatred ("Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"). It was also one of the first (if not the actual first) series to show an interracial kiss in "Plato's Stepchildren". To put this into perspective, the Civil Rights Act was signed in 1964 so issues related to race and discrimination were still fresh in people's minds making both of these important stories during this time.

Battles, Kirk's love interests, spats between Spock and McCoy were all just plot devices to tell a much deeper story. Beyond the technobabble, action, comedy, romance, etc. this is the true reason why TOS is so popular. Unfortunately the recent reboot movies haven't been able to capture that... or rather they didn't want to capture it. They wanted action to capture the attention of people from around the world. It lacks the courage to tell important stories relevant to our a time, a courage that TOS had.

With that being said, as fans we have to realize that Star Trek is and can be anything. It can teach us lessons, entertain us with action or comedy, pull at our heart strings with romance and friendship. This is why it can fit in any type of media. It's very versatile. Sure we may not love the new movies, but they have elements of Star Trek. Sure Star Trek Online may be mostly combat, but it has elements of Star Trek.

This TOS expansion introduces a single story arc which allows us to visit a much beloved time in Star Trek history and meet characters that helped shape it. Yes it's going to be combat intensive because it's a video game, but it reminds of us the series. I can't speak about the types of stories that will be told during this arc, but I hope they explore important topics, even if on a small scale. I hope they allow us to reminisce about TOS and remember the lessons we learned.

When all is said and done, Star Trek Online has a clear goal in mind. To bring every series in to the game. We've had an abundance of Voyager, and now TOS is next. TNG, DS9, and ENT have been explored a little but I believe will eventually have a larger presence in the game as well. If everything I wrote doesn't make sense then at the very least this can be the only reason why we have a TOS expansion.

I'd like to hear from all of you about the upcoming movie, your thoughts on the expansion, and maybe even why you like or dislike TOS.

Written by Attilio on May 22, 2016 at 09:22 pm

Comments

Superplush (Member) said...
June 05, 2016 at 10:46 am

Me Again Attilio :)

Well my previous posts have gone on about why I don't like TOS. The modern films are just casualties of what they -could- do. As mentioned they depict nothing but action because that's what the modern day crowd wants. They're not doing Trek for the star trek, they're doing an action-film with a trek skin.

On the other hand I have sever problems with the way all this is handled.

1) Star trek teaches us to "Boldy go" to foray into the unknown. So why are we re-visiting what we've already done? Why're we stuck in the past? Nothing new has been achieved, even the "New" movies are just rehashed stories from the previous-generation.
2) Star trek is about overcoming our differances and working together. So why is it the 50th annaversary only has competitions open to the U.S ? Why is the rest of the world feeling left out? We're all fans aren't we ? Sadly another cash-grab "You're not worth it because it doesn't sell as well over there". Ingame, well we have the violent federation, the Klingons that don't know what to do .. because there's only 5 of them ( :P ) and the romulans haven't 'overcome' their differences, Cryptic just cut them out and made them the same as everyone else.
C) I'm not a fan of TOS. I'll tolerate it but when I saw the expansion trailer and I heard those TOS phasers .. like nails on a chalk-board. *Shudders* Trek was all about moving on, overcoming diversity and looking to our bright future. From WW3 to First Contact, Klingon wars, romulan wars, Jem'hadar invasions, borg invasions; right the way to the alpha / beta quadrants being under one banner. So, it still niggles me why cryptic took the road of doing STO after Voyager and going back. Surely they should've started with ENT, then moved on. Lots of room to expand?
IV) Not sure on the future of the films, I lost interest in them after ST'09 I'm not even looking forwards to the new series. I think monopolising Star trek is what's killing it and sadly, ironically exactly what Gene didn't like about the present. :(

Reply to Superplush

ElFlesh (Member) said...
July 15, 2016 at 03:48 pm

Forgive me for contradicting you, but Star Trek CANNOT "be anything". Yes, it CAN be very ludicrous situations to make a commentary for past events ("The Way to Eden", "Patterns of Force", "The Omega Glory", "Assignment Earth"; don't even get started about deliberately assassinating JFK idea of GR)
or even the non-stop lightning speed action of Kirk vs Gorn....but it is not the drivel JJ has made.
The reason it captured so many minds and hearts is because of Gene Roddenberry's vision. He had an optimistic view of our future, and he generally didn't do ludicrous things. One where the Kirk vs Gorn fight was more realistic than an entire JJ movie. The JJ movies has not 1/100th of the Science, Philosophy, and realism of TOS, despite its primary color sets and uniforms.

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