50 years of boldly going

Where no one has gone before...

I remember how much I loved going to my grandparents' house in upstate NY in the 70s because they got a channel which showed reruns of Star Trek. We didn't get the show at our house in Connecticut at the time.

They played a little snippet of the ST:TOS opening theme song on NPR this morning and I got goosebumps.

So which character (from any incarnation) did you want to be?

(Wasn't sure where to put this thread: Science? Travel? Arts and Entertainment?)

We watched some of the original episodes this weekend - hadn't remember the original shows had a woman AHHHHing the opening theme song. Made me laugh. I never wanted to "be" anyone - but would have happily served in any capacity on a starship captained by Picard.

Picard, sighhh.

(50 years?? 50 years really???)

Can't think of anyone I wanted to be, but there was one character I for sure did not want to be. She was an ordinary-seeming house-wifey person on some outpost planet who had my (sort of unusual) last name. Turned out underneath she was a raging awful murderous alien, seems to me there were suction-cup tentacles like an octopus? Nightmares for a while on that one.

Harry Mudd. He had all the fun.

50 wife robots? No, thanks.

mjc said:

Picard, sighhh.

(50 years?? 50 years really???)

Can't think of anyone I wanted to be, but there was one character I for sure did not want to be. She was an ordinary-seeming house-wifey person on some outpost planet who had my (sort of unusual) last name. Turned out underneath she was a raging awful murderous alien, seems to me there were suction-cup tentacles like an octopus? Nightmares for a while on that one.

The woman's name was Nancy Crater, and the episode was The Man Trap. She appeared to McCoy as she had when they had known each other years prior. Kirk saw her as an attractive, but middle-aged, woman. To the requisite redshirt on that episode (who may not have actually been wearing a red shirt; I don't recall offhand), she was a sexy blonde. She was, in fact, the last creature of her kind, who had killed the human Nancy Crater. I'm pretty sure they never mention a name for the creature, but most people call it the Salt Monster because it fed by sucking the salt out of the bodies of other living creatures.

I wanted to be Spock, BTW.

How about favorite episodes:

STTOS: Hard to choose - but A Piece of the Action makes me chuckle every time.

TNG: The one where they encounter a strange object floating in space and Picard collapses and experiences what life was like on that planet (living a lifetime) before it was destroyed (went Nova?). He got to be a husband, father and grandfather. Also loved the Moriarity episodes.

STDSN: No particular episode - emissary storyline was good and I really liked the Jadzia Dax character.

STV: Again no particular episode - all great characters though - the holographic Doctor, Kes, Torres, Chakotey, Paris, 7of 9 - even Janeway.

BrickPig said:

The woman's name was Nancy Crater, and the episode was The Man Trap.

Also notable for being the first broadcast episode.

Cue the opening... 50 years ago right now!

BrickPig said:

I wanted to be Spock, BTW.

I wanted to seduce Spock.

The Man Trap is on right now! The guy who dies is wearing a blue shirt!

Smithsonian showed "The Making of Star Trek" on Sunday. Any idea how to get a copy?

Here's an interesting FB post about Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhuru) making broadcast history as a black character and being urged to stay with the show by Martin Luther King.

I liked the episode with Nomad.

The Empath is an amazing episode.

We watched "The Man Trap" and "The Trouble With Tribbles" last night. I didn't remember Uhura expressing some romantic interest in Spock in the first episode (which he quickly rebuffed). Now the relationship between the two characters in the reboot franchise doesn't seem so random.

Definitely one of the better ones.

richiekess said:

The Empath is an amazing episode.

Always liked the episode where the super-advanced aliens stop a battle between the Enterprise and some other aliens and transport the two leaders to a planet to fight to the death. Kirk pulls a Macguyver and comes up with a makeshift shotgun and kills the lizard guy. Awesome.

Key plot distinction: Kirk didn't kill Capt. Sleestak.

Now, back to waxing my mustache.

Just started watching this fan remake online. Professionally done, and they really capture the spirit and vibe of the early Star Trek. Impressive.
http://www.startrekcontinues.com/episodes.html

also: cool Star trek stamps from the USPS https://store.usps.com/store/browse/productDetailSingleSku.jsp?productId=S_474004

When I think of Star Trek, one of the episodes that always immediately comes to mind is "The Last Battlefield". Frank Gorshin guest-starred as a being from a world that ultimately was destroyed by a war between the part of the population that was colored black on the left side and white on the right side and those who were black on the right and white on the left side. Pretty provocative and moving story.