Post by Dimitris on May 18, 2005 9:34:35 GMT -5
05.13.2005
Star Trek Joins the 700 Club
It's either the end of an era, with Star Trek: Enterprise airing its final episode "These are the Voyages..." tonight on UPN, or the beginning of a new one, an "undiscovered country" even. As we take a break from the franchise, we thought it was time to look back at the vastness of the Star Trek library and put it all into some perspective. Or at least attempt to.
In typical Hollywood style, Star Trek started out as in idea in someone's head (Gene Roddenberry's), and within a few years became an actual TV show. A few years later, it became a world-wide phenomenon that no one who worked on the show in the 60's could have possibly foreseen, even Roddenberry. With a bold new vision of life in space that wasn't silly (à la Lost in Space), Star Trek gave viewers back something a lot of shows did not — intelligence. You could watch Star Trek and not feel like you had just wasted an hour of your life. The characters that inhabited this world were a bit perfect and heroic, sure, but they were your allies, your friends, your idols. They certainly had their flaws, but their innate goodness made up for any shortcomings. The stories could be fantastical and at times even edgy, but there was always a point to the story, often times a political allegory. You knew they would escape whatever jam they were in, but that wasn't really the point. The journey was the prize, the new worlds often revealed things about us as a society, things we may not have liked but we had to acknowledge nonetheless. The fact that Star Trek could produce commentary on things such as race relations, war, technology, demagoguery, servitude, pleasure, diplomacy and mental health among others, is testament to its timelessness. But this intelligence behind Star Trek is what helped propel it towards its longevity.
No Star Trek fan, back in late 1969, could have possibly imagined that in 36 years there would be — counting from the end of Star Trek: Enterprise's run — a back catalogue of 704 different episodes across five different TV series. (And that's not even including 10 feature films and the short-lived animated series.) The monumental "700" threshold was crossed, by our estimates, at "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I." To put this number in perspective, if you averaged out the time per episode it would take you approximately three solid weeks — without a break — of sitting in front of a television to watch every one. If you uncompressed that number and watched one episode or movie per day, it would take you two solid years. And the reality now is, when all the DVDs are released, you really can try this at home!
But what is the significance of 700? Besides soap operas and possibly the Law and Order franchise, the 700 episode barrier represents something no other TV franchise will easily approach. Impressive as a monument to a great franchise, sure, but for the unseasoned fan this can represent a giant, if not insurmountable, wall of entertainment to scale. If you are new to the franchise, where do you start? Well, that would depend on your tastes and sensibilities. If you are someone who has to be in from the beginning, start with Enterprise, move on to Star Trek and the rest to see how it all fits together. That's the easy answer. But kids today may find the Original Series a bit slow and talky when compared to the faster-paced contemporary shows on air. The other option is to find a path through these hundreds of hours and not even bother to watch every episode, just the ones that look interesting or are recommended to you by a fellow fan. More feasible, perhaps, but maybe a bit unsatisfactory to others.
What this amazing catalogue of Star Trek means is that you have a lot of choice. For those who came on board with the Original Series and never left the ship by watching all the other shows, the overall scope may not seem so huge as you only had one episode, sometimes two when two shows were airing, to contend with. Star Trek fans are also spoiled for choice in that no other franchise has spawned such a vast array of spin offs, books and merchandise as well. (While "Star Wars" mines a similar licensing vein, it does not have the catalogue of books that Trek has produced.)
So before you delve into the 700 plus episodes, you may want to limit the scope of your viewing, sample a particular series and see what works for you, or just dig in from the beginning and take that 2-year commitment. If you have the DVDs but can't see yourself watching every one, we suggest you look at our Fan Reviews that accompany each episode. Based on the episode's rating, this should give you an indication that you are either in for a treat, or you that you could put your 45 minutes to better use by watching another episode. Whatever the case, you can make your own playlist, watch on your own time, and, if the mood takes you, add your own Fan Review.
So sit back, pop in your DVDs, watch SpikeTV or check out Enterprise in syndication this fall. Who knows, you may have about two years to catch up on the franchise before we see the next Star Trek show.
Star Trek Joins the 700 Club
It's either the end of an era, with Star Trek: Enterprise airing its final episode "These are the Voyages..." tonight on UPN, or the beginning of a new one, an "undiscovered country" even. As we take a break from the franchise, we thought it was time to look back at the vastness of the Star Trek library and put it all into some perspective. Or at least attempt to.
In typical Hollywood style, Star Trek started out as in idea in someone's head (Gene Roddenberry's), and within a few years became an actual TV show. A few years later, it became a world-wide phenomenon that no one who worked on the show in the 60's could have possibly foreseen, even Roddenberry. With a bold new vision of life in space that wasn't silly (à la Lost in Space), Star Trek gave viewers back something a lot of shows did not — intelligence. You could watch Star Trek and not feel like you had just wasted an hour of your life. The characters that inhabited this world were a bit perfect and heroic, sure, but they were your allies, your friends, your idols. They certainly had their flaws, but their innate goodness made up for any shortcomings. The stories could be fantastical and at times even edgy, but there was always a point to the story, often times a political allegory. You knew they would escape whatever jam they were in, but that wasn't really the point. The journey was the prize, the new worlds often revealed things about us as a society, things we may not have liked but we had to acknowledge nonetheless. The fact that Star Trek could produce commentary on things such as race relations, war, technology, demagoguery, servitude, pleasure, diplomacy and mental health among others, is testament to its timelessness. But this intelligence behind Star Trek is what helped propel it towards its longevity.
No Star Trek fan, back in late 1969, could have possibly imagined that in 36 years there would be — counting from the end of Star Trek: Enterprise's run — a back catalogue of 704 different episodes across five different TV series. (And that's not even including 10 feature films and the short-lived animated series.) The monumental "700" threshold was crossed, by our estimates, at "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I." To put this number in perspective, if you averaged out the time per episode it would take you approximately three solid weeks — without a break — of sitting in front of a television to watch every one. If you uncompressed that number and watched one episode or movie per day, it would take you two solid years. And the reality now is, when all the DVDs are released, you really can try this at home!
But what is the significance of 700? Besides soap operas and possibly the Law and Order franchise, the 700 episode barrier represents something no other TV franchise will easily approach. Impressive as a monument to a great franchise, sure, but for the unseasoned fan this can represent a giant, if not insurmountable, wall of entertainment to scale. If you are new to the franchise, where do you start? Well, that would depend on your tastes and sensibilities. If you are someone who has to be in from the beginning, start with Enterprise, move on to Star Trek and the rest to see how it all fits together. That's the easy answer. But kids today may find the Original Series a bit slow and talky when compared to the faster-paced contemporary shows on air. The other option is to find a path through these hundreds of hours and not even bother to watch every episode, just the ones that look interesting or are recommended to you by a fellow fan. More feasible, perhaps, but maybe a bit unsatisfactory to others.
What this amazing catalogue of Star Trek means is that you have a lot of choice. For those who came on board with the Original Series and never left the ship by watching all the other shows, the overall scope may not seem so huge as you only had one episode, sometimes two when two shows were airing, to contend with. Star Trek fans are also spoiled for choice in that no other franchise has spawned such a vast array of spin offs, books and merchandise as well. (While "Star Wars" mines a similar licensing vein, it does not have the catalogue of books that Trek has produced.)
So before you delve into the 700 plus episodes, you may want to limit the scope of your viewing, sample a particular series and see what works for you, or just dig in from the beginning and take that 2-year commitment. If you have the DVDs but can't see yourself watching every one, we suggest you look at our Fan Reviews that accompany each episode. Based on the episode's rating, this should give you an indication that you are either in for a treat, or you that you could put your 45 minutes to better use by watching another episode. Whatever the case, you can make your own playlist, watch on your own time, and, if the mood takes you, add your own Fan Review.
So sit back, pop in your DVDs, watch SpikeTV or check out Enterprise in syndication this fall. Who knows, you may have about two years to catch up on the franchise before we see the next Star Trek show.