How to watch Star Trek

[crazy canuck]

Wasn't there a Star Trek Cartoon from the 1970's?

There was.  It's so obscure *I've* never seen it though.  And I'd like to see it.

I saw it as a kid and loved it.

I would start there - if you can find it.

[dps]

Wasn't there a Star Trek Cartoon from the 1970's?

There was.  It's so obscure *I've* never seen it though.  And I'd like to see it.

I saw it as a kid and loved it.

I would start there - if you can find it.

I would definately recommend it to intoduce little kids to Trek.  For the most part it's not dumbed down as far as subject matter (though the science can be even dodgier, and some of the plots are clinkers--but he latter is true of any version of Trek).  You might want to not let them watch the tribble episode until after they see the tribble episode of TOS, though.  It might not make much sense unless they've seen the tribbles before.

[Ideologue]

They're like, a little past toddlers and shit, right?  At that age, TOS should suit them just fine.  They haven't reached the age of Ideologue-esque pretentiousness over film.

Fuck you.  You need no critical faculties to enjoy Star Trek, just to enjoy it as much as I do.

It's a bright, colorful program with usually clear-cut and largely correct moral teachings.  I highly recommend youngsters be exposed to it.

The greatest hits of TOS is probably the best place to start, since kids will probably lack the context, if not the attention span, for the films.  Also, while TWoK teaches admirable collectivist values, III and IV, despite being fantastic films, better than TWoK even, they are anti-state and hence should be kept away from more impressionable youth.

[jimmy olsen]

Also, while TWoK teaches admirable collectivist values, III and IV, despite being fantastic films, better than TWoK even

Woah! Lets not go crazy here!

[Ideologue]

My favorite is Star Trek III.  It has the most affecting scene in the canon.

It's arguable whether I really do like IV more than II.  IV's extremely enjoyable as both its own weird thing and a significant piece of the ongoing narrative.  VI also stands with them, concluding that story.

The other two are the outliers, though I'm extremely fond of TMP.  Though it deserves much of its criticism as the Motionless Picture, it does so almost singularly for that bit with the Enterprise in spacedock, which is interminable and horrible--the rest may be slow but it's visually stunning.  You've just got to be in the mood for silence and pretty images.  I also enjoy its uniqueness, because love it or hate it, there's not another piece of the Star Trek universe quite like it.  I'd say it's close to as good as any of the Kirk Vs. Being Old quadrilogy.

(And V's still good, though it has its well-documented problems.)

P.S. As I've said before, every TNG movie is garbage.  Generations is fun garbage, but still garbage.  The rest are unfun garbage.

[jimmy olsen]

P.S. As I've said before, every TNG movie is garbage.  Generations is fun garbage, but still garbage.  The rest are unfun garbage.

Ridiculous - First Contact is easily ten times as fun as Generations

[Ideologue]

There was a 37% drop in funtrino radiation between Generations and First Contact.  I credit this to their shitty twist on the Borg, who should have been abandoned after I, Borg, if not Best of Both Worlds.  The Borg were ultimately a one-shot existential threat (though there's a Trek novel or three that tries, really hard, to one-up BoBW, it doesn't really make it, partly because no working Trek novelist is an especially good novelist, and David Mack in particular is only okay, and partly because it was a bad idea).

I mean, you don't see dozens of superfluous stories told with increasingly diminishing returns with the Goddamned whale aliens*--though arguably they'd be more interesting than what they actually did with the Borg, which was shockingly dull.

*NERD CONFESSION: I liked Probe.

[Josquius]

Come on, First Contact is without a doubt the best Trek film involving TNG crew. A contender for best overall.

[Admiral Yi]

Arguably the best Star Trek movie is Galaxy Quest.

[grumbler]

Arguably the best Star Trek movie is Galaxy Quest.

[CountDeMoney]

That was a great movie, and a fantastic tribute to Leonard Nimoy's acting career. 

[Syt]

Who doesn't dream of being spoofed by Alan Rrrickman in a movie?

(Well, CdM would have to be spoofed by Joe Pesci, though.)

[HVC]

Who doesn't dream of being spoofed by Alan Rrrickman in a movie?

(Well, CdM would have to be spoofed by Joe Pesci, though.)

too tall. Need a shorter actor.

[CountDeMoney]

Well, a nyuk nyuk nyuk and a tee hee hee.

[Eddie Teach]

Arguably the best Star Trek movie is Galaxy Quest.

Arguably also the best sci-fi comedy of all time.