Captain conundrum

[paranoid marvin]

Another reason why I prefer the more serious action of TNG to the more 'fun' original series.

A very valid view. Although they increasingly sucked alot of that fun out of the franchise by bogging it down with it's own mythology (you know who you are Enterprise). Even alot of Star Trek fanboys (like me) who knew all of the back stories didn't enjoy Enterprise because of it's unrelenting tedium (although Jeffrey Coombs' character Shran enlivened proceedings occasionally and Dr Phlox was a great character).

What Star Trek needs right now is a series that can recapture the fun and adventure of the original series whilst incorporating the 'human element' of the stories from TNG (the Picard - Cardassian interrogation story you refer to is a prime example).

Imho most of the best storylines came in the 2-parters of TNG , although the original series had a few great stories , somehow 45 mins didn't seem enough to do it justice . There was the odd 2-parter in the original series , the one where Spock took control of the Enterprise to help out his old captain (Decker was it?) was a particularly memorable one

[DrBlue]

There was the odd 2-parter in the original series , the one where Spock took control of the Enterprise to help out his old captain (Decker was it?) was a particularly memorable one

This was the only two parter in the original, and it was Captain Christopher Pike the second man to command the Enterprise (NCC 1701) after Captain Robert April (so the Enterprise was a pretty old ship when Kirk took over).

There is an interesting story behind this episode, The Menagerie (which is actually scenes from the Pilot episode with new bits inserted). During the filming of the first series it became apparent that they were swiftly running out of scripts to film (as with most series in the US Star Trek was aired before they had actually finished filming all of the episodes) and needed to buy themselves some time. So the production staff came up with the great idea of using the Pilot episode (bearing in mind it had never been shown on TV and in fact wasn't seen by anyone in it's entirety until the late eighties).

This paid off in a number of ways, it bought them more time to finish writing and producing later episodes. It was a cost effective use of a fully filmed episode which would have gone unused otherwise.

Interestingly Star Trek is the only TV series I have heard of with two Pilot episodes. There was The Cage (which was used in The Menagerie) and Where No Man Has Gone Before (which featured William Shatner and DeForest Kelley and was later shown as an episode of the first season (it's the one with the salt sucking monster and stands out because of some slightly different sets and different uniforms)).

ABC failed to commission Star Trek on the strength of The Cage stating that it was too intelligent for TV audiences, but they were willing to give them a second chance to film another Pilot episode (which caused some headaches at Desilu as The Cage was one of the most expensive Pilot episodes in TV history). It is ironic to consider that when The Menagerie was shown, not only was the 'too cerebral' episode one of the most fondly remembered in the shows 3 year life span, it went on to win a Hugo award for Best Dramatic Production.

The Menagerie has also been one (or rather two) of the episodes to receive the lovely new CGI special effects.

[JetSetWilly]

A KIRK VS. PICARD THREAD?????





WHY THE HELL WASN'T I TOLD?




SPOCK, BEGIN YOUR COMPUTATIONS FOR TIME TRAVEL!!!!!

[revgiblet]

I thought that this was going to be a thread about the Ultimate 'Captain Conundrum' Gyles Brandreth.

[Nitters]

I thought that this was going to be a thread about the Ultimate 'Captain Conundrum' Gyles Brandreth.

I'm glad it proved not to be; I've just had lunch and I'd like it to stay down.

[stejay]

It would have to be Kirk for me.

[paranoid marvin]

D'you reckon Cptn.Brannigan is based on Kirk?

[DrBlue]

D'you reckon Cptn.Brannigan is based on Kirk?

Probably, he does seem to be a parody of all of Kirks worst (i.e. best) traits.