HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY STAR TREK

From the Huffington Post:

Star Trek Haters, Take Your Snotty Attitudes And Stuff It

Yes, Star Trek is a vital part of our culture. But it is that standing that frustrates more than a few science-fiction fans as well as large contingents of general fiction adherents.

Many of them are quick to embrace Heinlein, Bradbury and even the fantasies of Tolkien as literature- while consigning the original "Star Trek" and even its several successor series as little more than cartoonish escapades.

While I cannot say the authors I've cited have a lack of merit, I find much of their work intolerably quirky or overly ponderous. Sometimes both.

Yes, the original "Star Trek" had its hokey moments, but its memorable high drama as well. Some involved the complexities of moralistic dilemmas. Successor series, such as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine," were graced with plots that richly explored human tableus and taboos- the preservation of dying races and creatures, the inner struggle many of us face between our good and potentially evil sides, the balance between emotion and logic, the question of whether or not it is ever justifiable to expend some lives to save many more, the appropriateness of whether or not to interfere in another culture's civil war.

Hear today's headlines in the examples I've just cited?

Click here for the rest.

Anybody who knows me, or reads my blog, knows what a big Star Trek fan I am. Always have been. It's actually one of my earliest television watching experiences. Consequently, it's always been a big influence on me, even today, in numerous areas like science, philosophy, morality, ethics, the greatness and evil of humanity, the notion of exploration and research, comedy, tragedy, music, dramatic action, and, yes, even acting. Shatner's Kirk often tended toward melodrama, but he was usually effective, and he definitely had his moments, like in the episode City on the Edge of Forever. Kirk is the epic hero in my own aesthetic. And Leonard Nimoy has never been matched by any other actor trying to do a Vulcan: Spock's internal struggle between extreme logic and extreme passion, such as in the episode The Naked Time, is, in my humble but well educated opinion, one of the great performances of the 20th century. I also appreciate the camp value--me and my buddy Shane once giggled ourselves silly through a viewing of the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before: "... and if successful, ma-roon-him-there." But just because I get the joke doesn't mean I don't take Star Trek seriously. Like I said, it has profoundly influenced me, maybe more than any other single cultural artifact.

So, anyway, happy birthday Star Trek. We've had a good life together, and I have no doubt that we'll be together for many years to come.

Here's an amusing interview with Nimoy and Shatner courtesy of my buddy Matt.

Here's the Wikipedia article on the original series.

Here are the opening credits in German.

A couple of cool pics:





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