Start Trek

Had been binge watching on Star Trek since last couple of weeks. Whenever I used to see the alert popping up on my watchlist, somehow felt it would be another boring sci-fi one. Ever since I started with the first one, it has been absolute binge. Saw all the 3 movies back to back and now onto Star trek Original series on Netflix. I was surprised to recall this series, that used to play on DD long back. That phasers (guns that shoot lasers) made me realize that they used to be my favorite gun as a kid and how we used to make paper guns and fight our own battles. That part of my childhood memory had long been lost and the other one being the transmitters. The way they get transported to and from their ship was fascinating and I used to long for such options to try it out. I never had a chance to see those series frequently and whenever I did, I used to get glued to the screen with no clue as to what they were speaking. And I used to think Spock was the villain all along for he used to look very different with his sharp ears, funny hairstyle and weird eyebrows. Now that I had a chance to watch them all, rather than starting from New generation series, wanted to go all the way back from the original series. 

Quite surprising fact about the whole series is that, the setting and the thought process behind it. Star Trek – Original series, was broadcasted first about 50 years back. Many of the tools they use for communication, health reading equipment, the weapons, were all so ahead of their time that, must’ve sounded fantastic at that time. I believe, the flip model mobile phones were designed based on this series and to imagine such a concept several decades ahead of their times was nothing short of amazing. Same goes for their meeting tables with ports for connecting to videos and projector for showcasing presentations. What is common place now would’ve all been fascinating as an idea at that point of time. The setting that they use and the make up for the aliens are all quite simple and nothing fancy about them. As a story line, if you replace the alien and space setting with any regular ship or plane on a sparsely populated island or desert, the setup will still make sense. It is minimalistic in nature in that regard. You don’t have to learn PhD level physics or a science grad to understand their dialogues. Yet the feel of watching a science fiction is never lost on you. The cast and crew hardly have 3 sets of dresses all throughout and one setting for major part of the running episode, yet it never feels bored. Though on scale and size, the 3 movies were several times bigger than the drama series, the storylines for each episode, more than makes up for them. Planning to move on to New generation series once this is over, for that is rated equally better by other viewers. To misquote the series tag line, boldly venturing to see those episodes that many has already seen.