What was the last TV show you watched?

[Fading Fast]

Last night we watched the latest (the second) episode of the BBC's adaptation of SSGB. Superb stuff. I love this alternate-history type stuff. I'm hopnig eventually one day somebody writes a great one for more of the UK - e.g. what happens in Northern Ireland with a Nazi-ruled Britain? Do the ancient tribes unite to fight a common enemy? In doing so, does the politico-religious symbolism fall out of place in favour of a more conventional left / right struggle?

Sure, sure, hope they make the show you want them to also, but let's get to the important part, when is "SSGB" coming to the States!?

 

[Touchofevil]

SPEW! Don't leave until the end.. trust me!

Worf

It was a doozy!

 

[LizzieMaine]

The entire episode has a different feel than most of the other original episodes. Kirk is pretty flippant in his attitude toward the mission and the overall tone of the episode is just shy of tongue-in-cheek. Even the Klingons play it lightly (and I know that they hadn't fully developed their persona yet, but even still, their commander is almost comedic). And the Kirk, McCoy and Spock one-liners and banter is upped as is all the pro-Russian / pro-Scottish Chekov / Scotty play. A fun episode, but not typical.

There's a fascinating book written in the 1970s by David Gerrold, who wrote the script for that episode, telling the story of how he happened to do it, and how he developed the story from the initial outline to the final screenplay. He was just a college kid when he did it, and he sent it in to the Star Trek office because he was so enthused about the show -- and the producer, Gene L. Coon, decided to take a chance on Gerrold and his story. Gerrold was an utter novice as a screenwriter, and Coon had to heavily rewrite parts of it himself to make it fit into the general format of the show. The book includes the original premise, the outline, and several drafts of the script, and it's really interesting to see how the thing developed. I read it when I was a teenager, and learned a lot about writing from it -- both the craft and the racket.

Gerrold submitted a final draft of the script as his thesis for his degree in screenwriting, and he got an "A." That's even better than an Emmy. He's gone on in the years since to do a lot of Star Trek related projects.

If you enjoyed that episode you need to look up its sequel, done by "Deep Space Nine" in 1996. It's a time travel story, in which the Klingon spy, Darvin, a hundred years later travels back in time to Kirk's day to assassinate him with an exploding tribble before he can expose the plot with the grain. The DS9 characters have to travel to Kirk's era to intervene in the plot to save Kirk's life and keep history on the right track. It's a great episode in its own right, and it seamlessly composits the DS9 cast into clips from the original 1967 episode, to the point where DS9's Captain Sisko interacts with Kirk on the bridge of the original Enterprise. It's a very very atypical episode for DS9 -- which usually dealt with much deeper matters -- but it fits right in with the spirit of the original Tribble episode.

That Klingon captain is also revisted in another DS9 episode, and is treated with much more gravity than he ever got in the orignal. He even gets to die a heroic and noble death.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Caught up on the latest SHIELD. Wow. Matrix meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Donovan's Brain meets The Brain That Wouldn't Die.
Dark thematically and visually.

 

[Edward]

Sure, sure, hope they make the show you want them to also, but let's get to the important part, when is "SSGB" coming to the States!?

I can't imagine it'll be long before it hits BBC America, given that, as I said before, it's impossible not to see it as the Beeb's response to the success of Amazon's Man in the High Castle.

 

[MisterCairo]

Last night's Taboo.

Oh. My. gosh....

 

[Fading Fast]

There's a fascinating book written in the 1970s by David Gerrold, who wrote the script for that episode, telling the story of how he happened to do it, and how he developed the story from the initial outline to the final screenplay. He was just a college kid when he did it, and he sent it in to the Star Trek office because he was so enthused about the show -- and the producer, Gene L. Coon, decided to take a chance on Gerrold and his story. Gerrold was an utter novice as a screenwriter, and Coon had to heavily rewrite parts of it himself to make it fit into the general format of the show. The book includes the original premise, the outline, and several drafts of the script, and it's really interesting to see how the thing developed. I read it when I was a teenager, and learned a lot about writing from it -- both the craft and the racket.

Gerrold submitted a final draft of the script as his thesis for his degree in screenwriting, and he got an "A." That's even better than an Emmy. He's gone on in the years since to do a lot of Star Trek related projects.

If you enjoyed that episode you need to look up its sequel, done by "Deep Space Nine" in 1996. It's a time travel story, in which the Klingon spy, Darvin, a hundred years later travels back in time to Kirk's day to assassinate him with an exploding tribble before he can expose the plot with the grain. The DS9 characters have to travel to Kirk's era to intervene in the plot to save Kirk's life and keep history on the right track. It's a great episode in its own right, and it seamlessly composits the DS9 cast into clips from the original 1967 episode, to the point where DS9's Captain Sisko interacts with Kirk on the bridge of the original Enterprise. It's a very very atypical episode for DS9 -- which usually dealt with much deeper matters -- but it fits right in with the spirit of the original Tribble episode.

That Klingon captain is also revisted in another DS9 episode, and is treated with much more gravity than he ever got in the orignal. He even gets to die a heroic and noble death.

Fantastic information and explains why that episode feels different in style / tone. For no reason that I can remember, the one "Star Trek" sequel I've never seen is DS9. It's on my list, but I might just "jump in" with the tribble episode. I just checked and I have access via my Amazon Prime account. Should I just jump in, or is it better to start at the beginning of DS9 one day and build out to that episode?

 

[LizzieMaine]

DS9 is unlike any other Trek in that much of it is serialized -- the Tribble episode is a deliberate stand-alone designed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the franchise, but even it contains references to the ongoing storyline as it stood at that point.

Basically the setup is this -- Commander Sisko is a bitter, disillusioned officer whose wife was killed by Picard-as-Locutus during the events of "Best Of Both Worlds" in ST:TNG. He's raising his teenage son alone, and is considering retiring from Starfleet when he is assigned to a new post: after fifty years of occupation, the Cardassians have withdrawn from the planet Bajor, and left behind a space station which is to be run as a joint Bajoran/Starfleet base, with Sisko assigned to command it. His assignment is to prepare Bajor for admission to the Federation. He arrives, is extremely disillusioned with the whole setup, but is confronted by the leader of the Bajoran religion -- the "Kai," a sort of space pope --who advises him that he has a vital role to play in the outworking of events. He goes on to discover a stable wormhole leading to the "Gamma Quadrant," on the other side of the galaxy, but also discovers a strange race of non-linear energy beings living inside the wormhole, who turn out to be "The Prophets," the beings whom the Bajorans worship. After examining Sisko and discovering from him the meaning of linear time, they appoint him as their Emissary, and send him home to follow the path they've laid out for him. Sisko wants nothing to do with this, but the strategic importance of Bajor and the newly-discovered wormhole lead him to reluctantly continue in his assignment, and in the role of "Emmissary."

Meanwhile, there is a power on the other side of the wormhole known as "The Dominion," which bases its outlook on the need for "universal order." It views the incursions from the wormhole as chaotic, and forms a plan to control the "Alpha Quadrant" as a way of protecting itself. This eventually leads to an all-encompassing war before Sisko eventually meets his fate.

That's a very simplified description. The show is extremely rich in characterization and complex in plot -- Sisko's Bajoran first officer is a former terrorist who engaged in violent attacks against the Cardassian occupation, his science officer is a "symbiotic" being controlled by a three hundred year old slug in her belly, his chief engineer is poor, put upon Chief O'Brien from the Enterprise who has to keep the station running with the 24th century equivalent of duct tape, his security chief is a mysterious alien shapeshifter who formerly worked for the Cardassians, and his medical officer is an arrogant young whelp with a dark secret in his past. Plus there's a scheming Ferengi bartender and his family, an obsequious Cardassian tailor who may or may not be a spy, and the Cardassian former "Prefect of Bajor" who remains a frequent presence on the station as a dangerous rival to Sisko. In the 4th season, Worf, from the Enterprise, transfers to DS9 just as the Klingons are declaring war on the Cardassians, leaving Bajor and the station caught in the middle. None of these people particularly like or trust each other, and it's fascinating to watch their relationships evolve over the seven year run of the show. It is, to me, the best of all the Trek shows, and in fact one of the best TV programs in any genre to come out of the '90s.

The first season is not the best, but there are several good episodes following the pilot. The Dominion plotline begins to evolve during the second season, and by the end of the third season it's in full swing. It pretty much consumes the entire remaining part of the series' run, and doesn't let up till the very end.

 

[Fading Fast]

DS9 is unlike any other Trek in that much of it is serialized -- the Tribble episode is a deliberate stand-alone designed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the franchise, but even it contains references to the ongoing storyline as it stood at that point.

Basically the setup is this -- Commander Sisko is a bitter, disillusioned officer whose wife was killed by Picard-as-Locutus during the events of "Best Of Both Worlds" in ST:TNG. He's raising his teenage son alone, and is considering retiring from Starfleet when he is assigned to a new post: after fifty years of occupation, the Cardassians have withdrawn from the planet Bajor, and left behind a space station which is to be run as a joint Bajoran/Starfleet base, with Sisko assigned to command it. His assignment is to prepare Bajor for admission to the Federation. He arrives, is extremely disillusioned with the whole setup, but is confronted by the leader of the Bajoran religion -- the "Kai," a sort of space pope --who advises him that he has a vital role to play in the outworking of events. He goes on to discover a stable wormhole leading to the "Gamma Quadrant," on the other side of the galaxy, but also discovers a strange race of non-linear energy beings living inside the wormhole, who turn out to be "The Prophets," the beings whom the Bajorans worship. After examining Sisko and discovering from him the meaning of linear time, they appoint him as their Emissary, and send him home to follow the path they've laid out for him. Sisko wants nothing to do with this, but the strategic importance of Bajor and the newly-discovered wormhole lead him to reluctantly continue in his assignment, and in the role of "Emmissary."

Meanwhile, there is a power on the other side of the wormhole known as "The Dominion," which bases its outlook on the need for "universal order." It views the incursions from the wormhole as chaotic, and forms a plan to control the "Alpha Quadrant" as a way of protecting itself. This eventually leads to an all-encompassing war before Sisko eventually meets his fate.

That's a very simplified description. The show is extremely rich in characterization and complex in plot -- Sisko's Bajoran first officer is a former terrorist who engaged in violent attacks against the Cardassian occupation, his science officer is a "symbiotic" being controlled by a three hundred year old slug in her belly, his chief engineer is poor, put upon Chief O'Brien from the Enterprise who has to keep the station running with the 24th century equivalent of duct tape, his security chief is a mysterious alien shapeshifter who formerly worked for the Cardassians, and his medical officer is an arrogant young whelp with a dark secret in his past. Plus there's a scheming Ferengi bartender and his family, an obsequious Cardassian tailor who may or may not be a spy, and the Cardassian former "Prefect of Bajor" who remains a frequent presence on the station as a dangerous rival to Sisko. In the 4th season, Worf, from the Enterprise, transfers to DS9 just as the Klingons are declaring war on the Cardassians, leaving Bajor and the station caught in the middle. None of these people particularly like or trust each other, and it's fascinating to watch their relationships evolve over the seven year run of the show. It is, to me, the best of all the Trek shows, and in fact one of the best TV programs in any genre to come out of the '90s.

The first season is not the best, but there are several good episodes following the pilot. The Dominion plotline begins to evolve during the second season, and by the end of the third season it's in full swing. It pretty much consumes the entire remaining part of the series' run, and doesn't let up till the very end.

Wow and thank you. Looks like - as I always thought - worth investing the time one day to give the series its due. This current period of really good new TV will run its course and that will be my window to catch up on shows like DS9 and others that are on now that I don't have time for but think I would like.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Fantastic information and explains why that episode feels different in style / tone. For no reason that I can remember, the one "Star Trek" sequel I've never seen is DS9. It's on my list, but I might just "jump in" with the tribble episode. I just checked and I have access via my Amazon Prime account. Should I just jump in, or is it better to start at the beginning of DS9 one day and build out to that episode?

"Tribbles" was intended to be a comedy, at least by Gene Coon, and then shaped by Gerrold toward that end. An earlier outline by Gerrold focused on one creature, "Bandi" (the proposed title), who was super-cute but turned out to be dangerous. (I've forgotten how -- perhaps it was telepathic in some way. It's been a while since I read Gerrold's behind-the-scenes Trek books.) That was not going to be a comedy, not overall. The comic tone must have seeped in as Gerrold conferred with Coon and the single creature became the tribbles.

Both Gerrold's The Making of The Trouble With Tribbles and The World of Star Trek, as Lizzie said, have a lot of background stories about the show and its production. The former even includes Gerrold's outlines for other episodes he proposed -- one of which impressed Gene Coon to the point of calling him in for a conference.

As for DS9, when my local channel ran it in the '90s, they kept shifting the time and day to the point where I gave up trying to find it. I understand they did some very fine work -- including revisiting the "Mirror, Mirror" universe, the one with the Empire of Earth and Spock wearing a goatee, but 75 years later. Now those I'd like to see.

 

[Benzadmiral]

. . . That Klingon captain is also revisted in another DS9 episode, and is treated with much more gravity than he ever got in the orignal. He even gets to die a heroic and noble death.

It features no less than three famous Klingons, and all played by the actors who created the roles originally. I remember that one!

 

[Benzadmiral]

"Becker" was a quality comedy that sort of ran under the radar.

[A character asks Becker if he has seen his ex-wife lately]
Dr. John Becker: "No. A house fell on her sister and I haven't seen her since."

As for Cheers, it too was quality comedy. No drunk jokes (which the producers intentionally eschewed), just funny stuff that happened to the people who worked at and frequented this particular spot in Boston. A late-run episode in which Norm reveals reluctantly that he can make a good living as an interior decorator ("I've spent my whole life concealing the fact that I've got a great eye for color and I always know where to put the ottoman") is a classic.

 

[Worf]

DS9 is simply the most "adult" of all the Trek spinoff's. Many dislike it because it basically shoots Roddenberry's prime directive in the face with a shotgun. The whole "play fair and come in peace" tenor of the original series and TNG is ground away in the face of war, betrayals and a hundred other scenarios where the prime directive proves inadequate at best and criminally shortsighted at worst. It's my fave of course. My favorite early episode sees Obrien and Sisco "stranded" with a colony of Space Luddites who eschew the technology of the Federation feeling that it has robbed them of their human spirit and girt. They try to force Obrien and Sisco to join them even to the point of torture... But then Commander Sisco would rather die than give up the uniform he's sacrificed his whole life to wear.... Tough stuff...

Worf

 

[LizzieMaine]

As for DS9, when my local channel ran it in the '90s, they kept shifting the time and day to the point where I gave up trying to find it. I understand they did some very fine work -- including revisiting the "Mirror, Mirror" universe, the one with the Empire of Earth and Spock wearing a goatee, but 75 years later. Now those I'd like to see.

The "Mirror Universe" episodes -- which have their own continuing storyline over the course of the series -- are as close as Trek ever comes to comic-book space opera -- they're, in their own way, hilarious self-parodies of the whole genre. "Regent Worf" locking treacherous minion Garak in a dog collar and raging around the bridge of his ship while dragging Garak along on the end of a chain is one of the most outlandishly funny things that Trek ever did.

 

[Touchofevil]

Last night's Taboo.

Oh. My. gosh....

Yes! Thank you for the reminder. It has been a busy enough week and somehow I forgot it was on last night.
We will be watching it tonight.

 

[Stearmen]

DS9 is unlike any other Trek in that much of it is serialized -- the Tribble episode is a deliberate stand-alone designed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the franchise, but even it contains references to the ongoing storyline as it stood at that point.

Basically the setup is this -- Commander Sisko is a bitter, disillusioned officer whose wife was killed by Picard-as-Locutus during the events of "Best Of Both Worlds" in ST:TNG. He's raising his teenage son alone, and is considering retiring from Starfleet when he is assigned to a new post: after fifty years of occupation, the Cardassians have withdrawn from the planet Bajor, and left behind a space station which is to be run as a joint Bajoran/Starfleet base, with Sisko assigned to command it. His assignment is to prepare Bajor for admission to the Federation. He arrives, is extremely disillusioned with the whole setup, but is confronted by the leader of the Bajoran religion -- the "Kai," a sort of space pope --who advises him that he has a vital role to play in the outworking of events. He goes on to discover a stable wormhole leading to the "Gamma Quadrant," on the other side of the galaxy, but also discovers a strange race of non-linear energy beings living inside the wormhole, who turn out to be "The Prophets," the beings whom the Bajorans worship. After examining Sisko and discovering from him the meaning of linear time, they appoint him as their Emissary, and send him home to follow the path they've laid out for him. Sisko wants nothing to do with this, but the strategic importance of Bajor and the newly-discovered wormhole lead him to reluctantly continue in his assignment, and in the role of "Emmissary."

Meanwhile, there is a power on the other side of the wormhole known as "The Dominion," which bases its outlook on the need for "universal order." It views the incursions from the wormhole as chaotic, and forms a plan to control the "Alpha Quadrant" as a way of protecting itself. This eventually leads to an all-encompassing war before Sisko eventually meets his fate.

That's a very simplified description. The show is extremely rich in characterization and complex in plot -- Sisko's Bajoran first officer is a former terrorist who engaged in violent attacks against the Cardassian occupation, his science officer is a "symbiotic" being controlled by a three hundred year old slug in her belly, his chief engineer is poor, put upon Chief O'Brien from the Enterprise who has to keep the station running with the 24th century equivalent of duct tape, his security chief is a mysterious alien shapeshifter who formerly worked for the Cardassians, and his medical officer is an arrogant young whelp with a dark secret in his past. Plus there's a scheming Ferengi bartender and his family, an obsequious Cardassian tailor who may or may not be a spy, and the Cardassian former "Prefect of Bajor" who remains a frequent presence on the station as a dangerous rival to Sisko. In the 4th season, Worf, from the Enterprise, transfers to DS9 just as the Klingons are declaring war on the Cardassians, leaving Bajor and the station caught in the middle. None of these people particularly like or trust each other, and it's fascinating to watch their relationships evolve over the seven year run of the show. It is, to me, the best of all the Trek shows, and in fact one of the best TV programs in any genre to come out of the '90s.

The first season is not the best, but there are several good episodes following the pilot. The Dominion plotline begins to evolve during the second season, and by the end of the third season it's in full swing. It pretty much consumes the entire remaining part of the series' run, and doesn't let up till the very end.

Don't forget "Little Green Men," hand down the funniest of all the Star Trek franchise.

 

[Worf]

Don't forget "Little Green Men," hand down the funniest of all the Star Trek franchise.

Yeah that was a goodie... All the inside "Red Scare" and Alien Invasion jokes were spot on!

Worf

 

[Otter]

Got the Gerry Anderson series UFO on DVD (1970's). My 14 yo daughter was gobsmacked at the costumes, what the people in the seventies thought people in the eighties would be wearing. And so many people smoking you would think they had a tobacco company sponsoring it.

 

[MisterCairo]

Yes! Thank you for the reminder. It has been a busy enough week and somehow I forgot it was on last night.
We will be watching it tonight.

Fasten your seat belts...

 

[MisterCairo]

Two more episodes of season three of Vikings: the siege of Paris.

I've never seen the French fight so fiercely...