The original series of Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry started a humble existence in 1966. Starring William Shatner as the iconic Captain Kirk, a role that would define his entire career. Beside him Shakespearian trained Leonard Nimoy as Spock, and DeForrest Kelly as Dr Leonard McCoy. The rest of the crew… well, they are certainly there.

Star Trek is a household brand now (as much as some creators are trying to drive it into the dirt these days) but it is hard to imagine a time it was an unknown. The series was not well received initially. Being considered a silly flight of fancy. Something that children would enjoy. You can find captions online of old television guides and newspapers saying as much.
Indeed, despite its current fame, the original series only ran for three seasons, and ends on a rather glib note. But you have to appreciate that this was serialized television. Studios didn’t look for overarching storylines or character development. Shows had episodes to be played in any order. So Star Trek just ending… simply proves that the studio lost faith in it entirely. William Shatner even expresses how he was living in a trailer, practically homeless, while the show actively running.

So what happened? Syndication. Star Trek‘s power arrived later on, with the advent of re-runs on television. It would become immensely popular and viewership of these reruns did not decline. What’s incredible is that Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released in 1979… ten years after the series had ended. Quite probably owing George Lucas something with Star Wars releasing in 1977. Proving that Star Trek was no misfire; that science fiction was here to stay.

In the grand tapestry of the original series, it is safe to say that a lot of the momentum is in the motion pictures. As rocky as some of them are, they have passion, time, effort, and money in them. The series itself… eeeehhh…

I never watched the original series growing up. I was introduced to The Next Generation and never looked back. In fact, I only watched the original series in its entirety for this review. I’ve had a couple of goes in the past, but always fall off of it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t any easier this time.

It is a product of its time, and you have to watch it with this in mind. The budget is low, extremely low, and this affects everything from effects to storytelling. It is frankly ridiculous how often the stories revolve around “these aliens have modelled their entire culture around Earth <insert historic time period here>”. Purely because the studio got a loan of Roman costumes, or a Western set, or gangster props. While certainly The Next Generation had its share of these sorts of episodes, it is mentally draining to watch so many of them here.
There were a couple of strongly stupid episodes that stopped me watching. Simply to take a break. One involved Doctor McCoy following the white rabbit from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The other involved Space Lincoln. No really, it was actually American President Abraham Lincoln. Floating in space. I could not with it.

There are other stylistic choices, film-making decisions that were the norm but simply do not exist now. Some of them are extremely dated, like how all women are filmed through a glamour lens. Or are wearing extremely short skirts. Goddamn. Some choices, though, are quite novel and – honestly – quite cool? Like how music-forward the episodes are. From using harps to suggest something magical is occurring, or Spock’s theme that is an husky acoustic guitar. I didn’t even know Spock had theme music. Very cool.
There are some very good episodes as well. Given this is the first Star Trek, it is very pure. It wants to speak to the human condition. The show wants to be cerebral. To tell the story of what the Federation is and what it stands for, to audiences in the 1960s. Even the silliest of episodes can be leading towards some poignant storytelling; usually expressing a utopian view.

The writing is very much like short stories. Self-contained fables. The characters don’t evolve or change. They don’t have relationships that grow or fall away. We just get to see the crew face some unknown danger every episode. Kirk will probably kiss a beautiful lady as well. What little development is provided, it is entirely on the lead three: Kirk, Spock, and Bones. The Next Generation was ahead in this aspect; giving a lot more time for secondary characters. I wish Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Sulu (George Takei) had more to do as characters. It is still incredible that these characters even exist, as well as Chekov (Walter Koenig) as well as important to the future of the Star Trek brand of science fiction. I was always excited to see them in a scene, then a bit let down when their contribution was ultimately limited.

Enterprise, the much maligned show from 2001, doesn’t do that badly leading into this original series. The Original Series crew are not perfect, morally. They are better adjusted that the prequel series crew, so there is a good through-line of humanity maturing. With The Next Generation as the zenith point. They also did their best to not wreck continuity. Although early episodes of the original series have the baffling (I repeat BAFFLING) fact that the Federation take deliberate trips into the past to perform studies. I’m sorry WHAT? Never mind the issues Enterprise brings up with that, just… just the illogic of “casual” time travel.

There were very strong episodes. The Tholian Web is always one of my favourites. I feel I need to repeat this because to say “I didn’t enjoy watching this show” isn’t true… But it was also a slog to watch it all. I love sci-fi stories and the short story structure of the original series should have been great. But there’s just such… stupid episodes in there.

I enjoyed its music. The Netflix version has improved CGI on space scenes and starships which is extremely welcome. I enjoyed the expression of a utopian human future, even though it could only express this by contrasting with Roman legionnaires. Or Nazis. Captain Kirk never was “my captain”, but in watching all of the episodes I do find more appreciation for him as a character. For William Shatner too; the man really throws everything he has into the episodes.

What’s next…?
I hear Strange New Worlds is actually good. But I am not about to start paying for Paramount+. This might be the end of my Star Trek journey. What a note to end on. With Captain Kirk walking out of a room going “Hmm.”