Star Trek - Did you know this?

[Pianist]

I only watched it in reruns and thought it was cheesy. Therefore, I made it though about 5 or so episodes before I quit watching. Same goes for Lost In Space.

I used to watch VBS for the episodes that featured the flying sub.

As a ten to twelve year old watching Lost In Space, Doctor Smith used to vex the hell out of me. Really disliked how stupid and manipulative he was. I though it cool that Brigitta from the Sound of Music was Penny. I liked opening theme too.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

I used to watch VBS for the episodes that featured the flying sub.

As a ten to twelve year old watching Lost In Space, Doctor Smith used to vex the hell out of me. Really disliked how stupid and manipulative he was. I though it cool that Brigitta from the Sound of Music was Penny. I liked opening theme too.

YES!

That's right Pianist, Angela Cartwright was in "The Sound of Music" and "Lost in Space".
At the time both Angela Cartwright and Billy Mummy were the most popular child stars in Hollywood. I remember Angela as Danny Thomas' daughter in the hit comedy series, "Make Room for Daddy", waay back in the 1950's. Angela Cartwright was absolutely adorable and set a standard for child actors that was very high.

I was 8 years old in 1965. What made "Lost in Space" so popular was the cast. Every member of the Robinson family was like an old friend - Guy Williams as "John Robinson" and June Lockhart as "Maureen Robinson". It was exciting to see people you already knew in a brand new series.

By Season 2 the color came in and the serious adventure went out as LIS descended into silly for every episode. The color saturation was awesome but the show was unwatchable. What a blow to Guy Williams who counted on LIS to propel his career.

 

[gsdx]

As a ten to twelve year old watching Lost In Space, Doctor Smith used to vex the hell out of me. Really disliked how stupid and manipulative he was.

Blame that on Jonathan Harris. He was a proper villain in the pilot. Dark, cunning, sly, dangerous... and he knew his character would be knocked off in the first few episodes if he didn't do something to make the fans want him to stay. 'Camp' was the thing, and it worked.

 

[gsdx]

One thing I've noticed about both Star Trek and TNG (I don't know about the others because I never watched them) is that the writers seemed to have a problem with the metric system. I'm watching 'The Corbomite Maneuver', and an alien probe got to under 50 metres away before they destroyed it. The Enterprise was less than 300 metres long. Fifty metres is half the distance of a track and field sprint.

There was an instance on TNG which I can't recall in which they seemed to have no idea how long a metre is.

And even on a programme (Law & Order, I think), someone was giving a suspect description to an officer who was using a computer program to create a composite of the suspect. The person told him to move the right eye 2 centimetres to the right and then said 'Perfect' after it was done. That move would have put the eyeball somewhere in the vicinity of the ear 'ole.

It's rather amusing when you know what it actually means, and it certainly doesn't mean what they think it means.

 

[jbrown329]

One thing I've noticed about both Star Trek and TNG (I don't know about the others because I never watched them) is that the writers seemed to have a problem with the metric system. I'm watching 'The Corbomite Maneuver', and an alien probe got to under 50 metres away before they destroyed it. The Enterprise was less than 300 metres long. Fifty metres is half the distance of a track and field sprint.

There was an instance on TNG which I can't recall in which they seemed to have no idea how long a metre is.

And even on a programme (Law & Order, I think), someone was giving a suspect description to an officer who was using a computer program to create a composite of the suspect. The person told him to move the right eye 2 centimetres to the right and then said 'Perfect' after it was done. That move would have put the eyeball somewhere in the vicinity of the ear 'ole.

It's rather amusing when you know what it actually means, and it certainly doesn't mean what they think it means.

I have links in my Bookmarks Toolbar to convert metric to US measurements. I know that 14mm is roughly half an inch. A meter is roughly 39". The US was supposedly going to move to the metric system in the 70s but that was nixed.

 

[gsdx]

The US was supposedly going to move to the metric system in the 70s but that was nixed.

Not really. Canada and the US were going to convert at the same time, and we started. The US government started to, beginning with, I believe, speed limit signs. It spent millions changing a number of the signs. Canada did the same. A few months into the changeover, there was such flack from the American citizens that the government rescinded their decision to go metric and spent millions more switching the signs back. Canada continued with the conversion.

The United States is one of 3 countries in the world that aren't metric. The other two are Burma and Liberia.

Metric really isn't that difficult. If you can count to 10, you can do metric. Everything is based on the number 10.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

One thing I've noticed about both Star Trek and TNG (I don't know about the others because I never watched them) is that the writers seemed to have a problem with the metric system. I'm watching 'The Corbomite Maneuver', and an alien probe got to under 50 metres away before they destroyed it. The Enterprise was less than 300 metres long. Fifty metres is half the distance of a track and field sprint.

There was an instance on TNG which I can't recall in which they seemed to have no idea how long a metre is.

And even on a programme (Law & Order, I think), someone was giving a suspect description to an officer who was using a computer program to create a composite of the suspect. The person told him to move the right eye 2 centimetres to the right and then said 'Perfect' after it was done. That move would have put the eyeball somewhere in the vicinity of the ear 'ole.

It's rather amusing when you know what it actually means, and it certainly doesn't mean what they think it means.

Isn't that the strangest thing?

So much time and attention paid to all sorts of details and yet they blow it by being lazy in a careless sorta way. People who "proof " the scripts may not have the time or encouragement to rationalize the dialog.

It all must make fans cringe when they hear it, LOL!

 

[jbrown329]

Not really. Canada and the US were going to convert at the same time, and we started. The US government started to, beginning with, I believe, speed limit signs. It spent millions changing a number of the signs. Canada did the same. A few months into the changeover, there was such flack from the American citizens that the government rescinded their decision to go metric and spent millions more switching the signs back. Canada continued with the conversion.

The United States is one of 3 countries in the world that aren't metric. The other two are Burma and Liberia.

Metric really isn't that difficult. If you can count to 10, you can do metric. Everything is based on the number 10.

The government should've said fo and did it anyway. I was young enough that I would've caught on quickly.

 

[gsdx]

The government should've said fo and did it anyway. I was young enough that I would've caught on quickly.

I was in my 30s and I had no problem. The biggest obstacle people encounter is converting back to 'the old way'. Just think in metric and it's easy.

 

[smokeshadow]

As an architect, the metric system just makes work so much easier and simpler. And, if we USAers really thought about it, we've got our own "metric" system already in place. It's called the Dollar, which is divisible into 100 units

 

[Kyanimal]

As an architect, the metric system just makes work so much easier and simpler. And, if we USAers really thought about it, we've got our own "metric" system already in place. It's called the Dollar, which is divisible into 100 units

I remember traveling in the UK, when it took 3 clerks to figure out the bill, for multiple purchases, when the Pound was divisible by 12!

 

[EddMarkStarr]

One aspect of Star Trek's original broadcast was the capture, for all time, of some unusual guest stars.

None more unusual then Michael J. Pollard.

I've said it for years and I'll say it again: Michael J. Pollard was born 50 years too soon!
His looks and personality made Michael difficult to cast. He seemed capable of so much more than the limits of the roles he performed. I remember Michael from his first appearance in 1959 on, "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". From there he would appear on many popular TV shows from the 1960's. But Michael never found the role that would capture that "inner-spirit", a role he could make his own.

It's strange how his small role on the Star Trek episode, "Miri", became his most viewed character. "Miri" is one of my least favorite episodes but I watch to see Michael again. Last time I checked Michael is still active in Hollywood, probably involved in another project either in front of, or behind, the camera.

 

[gsdx]

That was broadcast here just 2 days ago.

Bonk bonk!

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Whenever I meet "Trekkies" they quickly find me a disappointment.

I've lived with Star Trek for most of my life. After watching each episode many times I've grown to see the flaws. But maybe "flaw" is not the right word.

Each episode started as a story. But as production rolls along the story has to bend in order to fit what is possible production-wise. As I watch these old episodes I can almost spot where the story was changed because of time constraints or production costs.

Even with animation storylines are changed. You can imagine anything, but how do you show your imagination to the world in a TV series?

Remember Lee Meriwether as "Losira" the alien android guard? She represented an alien culture that attacked enemies on an individual basis. That's very sophisticated but in practice looks kinda stupid keeping in mind the high science needed to destroy on a cellular level. This is a case where "high-tech" takes up too much time - good news to Kirk and the landing party!

"That Which Survives" is an episode that started as a good story but maybe had ideas and concepts difficult to show on camera. So you change a few details and try your best to tell an interesting story.

 

[jbrown329]

^^ I am for you

 

[Kulindahr]

What was the episode where they had no script ready so they made it up as they went along? It involved a planet where what they thought about became real.

 

[gsdx]

^ Shore Leave?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shore_Leave_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)

 

[Kulindahr]

^
That's the one!

I still think it would have been fun for Kirk to wrestle a tiger.

 

[gsdx]

Another thing I was reminded of is that Shatner could never understand (and still can't) why the cast hated him so much. As far as Shatner was concerned, it was his show. As time went by, he used to go through the scripts and count words. If Spock had more words to say than Kirk, Shatner would demand rewrites in which he came up with the solution even as Spock was explaining it.

There was particular animosity between Shatner and Doohan. Shatner liked James (he liked everyone), but James couldn't stand Shatner.

Oh, and another thing just popped into my head. When Deforest Kelley scraped his name in the cement on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she spelt his name wrong. When it was pointed out to him, he squeezed the 's' between the 'e' and 't':

 

[Vitamin]

Another thing I was reminded of is that Shatner could never understand (and still can't) why the cast hated him so much. As far as Shatner was concerned, it was his show. As time went by, he used to go through the scripts and count words. If Spock had more words to say than Kirk, Shatner would demand rewrites in which he came up with the solution even as Spock was explaining it.

Perhaps Shatner's constant screams of "MORE LINES!" was actually just him requesting more cocaine on the set?