43 years ago today, on Sept 8, 1966, the first episode of Star Trek’s original series aired on NBC. The first broadcast episode was The Man Trap, however, chronologically the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before happens first (and the unaired pilot The Cage happens before that).
Being born in 1974 and having my formative years in the ’80s I missed watching the original series on television. What I did enjoy, was watching the movies. I missed the first Star Trek movie (probably because my dad didn’t enjoy it), but I watched Star Trek II as my first Star Trek experience and I loved it. I would grow to love Kirk and Spock and the rest of the crew through the next 4 movies (or 5, depending on if you count ST: Generations as an original cast movie). I would catch some of the syndicated reruns of the TV show, but only in pieces. I also used to watch the cartoon on Nickelodeon, but as a child, it seemed boring to me. I plan on revisiting that cartoon. The only original series episode I can think of off the top of my head that I’ve seen more than once is episode #17: The Squire of Gothos. I only watched that because the main adversary in that episode, Trelane, was the precursor to one of my favorite Next Generation characters, Q.
After watching the phenomenal JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot, and in light of Star Trek’s birthday, I decided to re-watch the original cast’s movies as well as the first season of the television show on DVD. I’ll have two more articles up this week with quick reviews of those movies and TV shows. Are they still bad ass? Are they completely played out? Find out this week in my reviews.
And Happy Birthday, Star Trek!
Star Trek 43rd Birthday Articles coming this week:
1. Review of the first 6 Star Trek movies
2. Review of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series Part I
3. Star Trek Season 1 highlights Part II
