TOS

At approximately 8:30pm on Friday, September 15, 1967, I changed the channel on my family's television to find Captain Kirk, First Officer Spock, and Chief Medical Officer McCoy of the U.S.S. Enterprise appear in glittering beams of light on Spock's home planet, Vulcan. From that moment I was hooked.

In a sea of features and Voyagers and even documentary films about the fans themselves, I've never had my love for those original characters and the early episodes (almost all of Season 1, more than half of Season 2, and about five episodes from Season 3) dislodged from my heart.

Lately I've been sharing the early episodes of what fans refer to as Star Trek TOS, i.e. The Original Series, with my two sons, one of whom is 6 1/2 and is totally hooked, and the other at 3 likes the tribbles best. Thankfully, G4 is airing the original episodes unedited, i.e. the TiVo goes to 1:08. And they've got these killer spots featuring Charlie Murphy as Spock:

Star Trek Cribs - The Director's Cut
Star Trek Karaoke
Star Trek Coffee House
Star Trek Poolside

Adding to the hilarity, if unintentionally so, but adding to the possibility for expanded TOS enjoyment as well are a number of varyingly credible fan episodes, essential fanfic (a post-TOS, pre- anything else phenomenon of the 1970's) writ large with the wide range of filmmaking and effects tools available to amateur filmmakers today. The New York Times has a nice piece, with a great video accompaniment.

It appears that as long as you don't monatize your production, Paramount turns a blind eye. The best of these may be Star Trek New Voyages, which boasts actual creative involvement from original series participants. Walter Koenig (Chekhov) actually in what he expects to be his swan song for the role, George Takai (Sulu) may be in an upcoming episode, and TOS Story Editor/Writer D.C. Fontana has written for the amateur series.

There's been the fan re-edit of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (hint: Jar-Jar Binks now a walk-on) and the five years in the making shot-for-shot fan reproduction of Raiders of the Lost Ark (why does Lucas seem to draw these efforts?), Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. But those are one-offs, while some of these "5 Year Mission"ers have been going a lot longer.

The best TOS episodes, especially the very early ones, are just solid, imaginative, smart science fiction stories. Some of the writers were original greats, like Jerome Bixby, Theodore Sturgeon, and the later but influential Harlan Ellison. But I think there's an additional aspect that worked in an alchemical way with the sci-fi to make it so popular over time.

Check it out, but every episode of the original series is about leadership. That's the big theme. Usually James T. Kirk's, sometimes (when Kirk is incapacitated) by Mr. Spock, but it's always the crux of the episode.

By having Kirk, a rational yet intuitive 20th century idealization of a leader, always seeking opposing council from the logical Spock and the emotional McCoy, we get to experience the decision-making process laid bare. Whether it's Kirk going all Ahab after a deadly gas cloud or being body/mind swapped by a scientist or a spiteful woman, or even split into ruthless and weak halves, there's always that element of what do you do in the jackpot situation -- when you have 500 other souls to protect.

I'll try to skip past the thirst for such leadership today and just give credit to the creators and performers who brought the TOS world alive.

Two of the original crew are gone already, Deforest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy) and James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott). I'm betting that even when the rest of them have warped out, the original show will still be widely playing, inspiring a new generation of dreamers and leaders.

I'm starting with my own young crew.