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MY RATING: 9.5

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)

CREATED BY: Gene Roddenberry

PRODUCED: Gene L. Coon; John Meredyth Lucas, Fred Freiberger

STARRING: William Shatner; Leonard Nimoy; DeForest Kelley

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Space. The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. It's five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations...to boldly go where no man has gone before.

PROS: Thoroughly Developed; Well written with interesting stories; Excellent acting.

CONS: horrible budget; bad execution of design; other studio problems beyond the control of the creators.

BOTTOM LINE: A few problems with the budget and cheesy fight scenes are never enough to destroy a classic among science-fiction television.

What is there to say about the Original Star Trek series? After over 40 years the series still remains a classic, and it would probably be safe to say it is the primary influence in modern science-fiction television. I saw it as a kid and I loved it. I couldn't have cared less of the horrible set design built with an extremely low budget. Those things don't matter too much anyway, not as much as a good story and compelling characters.

Gene Roddenberry described Star Trek and the lead character, Captain Kirk, as Horatio Hornblower in space, which suits it well. James T. Kirk is the captain aboard the U.S.S Enterprise, a space faring vessel exploring the unknown regions of the galaxy. He is joined by a large crew of over 400 managed by his bridge crew which includes his first officer, Spock, the ship's doctor, McCoy, and the chief engineer, Scotty, among others. Together they tackle the unknown and are forced into confrontations with alien races.

Unfortunately the show was canceled after only three seasons despite the protest and large letter campaigns from fans. The show was given a poor hour-slot and this, combined with an extremely low budget, was enough to kill the show. However, the subsequent success of Star Trek Television and Films has proven how popular the original Star Trek was.

The show was well developed by Gene Roddenberry who provided realistic situations and solutions to each problem. The world of Star Trek seems plausible and believable. Should mankind ever travel the final frontier as they did, I would expect the methods to be very similar. William Shatner does a superb job acting the captain. He provided a genuine command figure that demanded respect and obedience whilst maintaining the daring decision making necessary in space. Leonard Nimoy also plays the part of a humanoid alien well, but perhaps the most refreshing performance is that of DeForest Kelley, the ship's doctor. His grouchy ill-tempered brilliance is at its best when interacting with Nimoy and Shatner, the three of which make a memorable trio.

As stated above, the original Star Trek series continues to go where no television show has gone before, having influenced dozens of other sci-fi series and spawned a huge franchise that continues to this day.

Remastered Edition: The Remastered Edition created for the show's 40th anniversary adds updated effects and a cleaner musical score taken from the exact same sheet music composed for the original show. Unlike the Star Wars special editions, Star Trek Remastered should not annoy as many fans as it remains true to the original and cleans up bad visuals. In my opinion the Remastered Edition are the best choice for newcomers to the series and fans alike. It can be found on DVD and Blu-ray.