Why modern movies suck - they teach us awful lessons

[dragoner]

It was a bit of a shock to the system seeing Spock in reruns of "Combat!", in the late '60s

I remember one episode, where they were fired upon, and first thing he does is hunch over and run behind a rock, not very heroic by today's standards, though back then, people would have probably thought that to be the normal way to do it.

Great point about the combat!

One of the things I love about TOS is the way that it has aged. Because it was filmed on, well, film (THANK YOU DESILU!), and because of the strange sparseness of most of the sets, it's gone past the point of looking "dated" and now looks strangely timeless, like every episode is a play in some dream-like fantasy-scape.

It really puts the story front & center.

The mat paintings for the sets are really great, and set design in general, it definitely had it's own vibe. Music too, overall, the production values were high; I mean I have seen some where it was "cleaned up" with CGI, (TNG as well) and I think it detracted from the original. Maybe that is me, and my taste ...

 

[Ryujin]

I remember one episode, where they were fired upon, and first thing he does is hunch over and run behind a rock, not very heroic by today's standards, though back then, people would have probably thought that to be the normal way to do it.

"Heroic" can also mean "dead." I'll take cover, please and thank you

The mat paintings for the sets are really great, and set design in general, it definitely had it's own vibe. Music too, overall, the production values were high; I mean I have seen some where it was "cleaned up" with CGI, (TNG as well) and I think it detracted from the original. Maybe that is me, and my taste ...

The 'remastered' versions of TOS episodes put me off. There's a certain charm to models being used in special effects. Seeing the newer digital effects makes me thing that the things were directed by J. Michael Straczynski. Knowing that the whole Romulan/Klingon treaty thing was the result of the original Bird of Prey model being lost or destroyed only adds to the charm.

 

[MGibster]

This stuff is hard to track. On a quick search the first on air lesbian kiss was 1991 on LA Law (but even that is hard to track depending on how you define it because I think Howard Stern might have beat them by a year if you are including stuff that isn't fictional; and 21 Jump Street had an episode where they cut away from the kiss but it happened). The movies is a different story, there was a same sex kiss as early as 1922 (and in film it seems like it waxed and waned over the decades depending on sensibilities).

The usual standard is that it occurred on a prime time network television show rather than cable or a movie of the week. It's not a hill I'm going to die on though. You're right that movies are a different story. Pre-Hays code movies showed a lot of things that would be surprising to those of us who are only used to movies made between 1934 and sometime in the 1960s.

 

[Mallus]

Pre-Hays code movies showed a lot of things that would be surprising to those of us who are only used to movies made between 1934 and sometime in the 1960s.

Cecil B. DeMille’s erotic Bible movie Sign of the Cross (1932) is really… something.

 

[Mallus]

I’d like to take this opportunity to proclaim my love of a good matte painting and practical in-camera effects in general. If you‘re into that sort of thing, I heartily recommend the movie Black Narcissus (streaming on HBO in the US). Now there’s an old movie that taught a great lesson that made viewers better people!

 

[Zardnaar]

Oh, yeah. We all knew what the episode was about just like we did when we say the TOS episode with the aliens who were black on one side, black on the other side, and couldn't get along with one another because they were black on opposite sides. Plausible deniability isn't necessarily credulous deniability.


I don't know either. Especially since a lot of times censors are censoring because they're worried about angering the audience.


At least in the United States, Star Trek did not feature the first female/female romantic kiss on television. LA Law did it two years before Deep Space 9 was on the air and Picket Fences did it in 1993 during DS9s first season. These were both primetime network shows. When it came to LGBTQ+ representation, Star Trek wasn't exactly on the leading edge back in the 1990s.

Married With Children had one of the first positive gay characters. In 1990 iirc.

Strange but true.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That is pretty in keeping with star trek logic which sounds good (Klingons were introduced as an alien race in the original series, but in the Next Generation, you have a Klingon serving aboard the ship). Do you think they were intentionally referencing the Next Generation episode with this character?

Yes. The Orville picks up themes and ideas from TNG and runs with them. It's more of a thematic follow-up than any of the later official Trek series.

I think all the later Trek shows felt they needed to establish their own distinct identity, rather than just be more of the same with new characters. The Orville uses "It's a parody, honest" as a shield to just make more TNG.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yes. The Orville picks up themes and ideas from TNG and runs with them. It's more of a thematic follow-up than any of the later official Trek series.

I think all the later Trek shows felt they needed to establish their own distinct identity, rather than just be more of the same with new characters. The Orville uses "It's a parody, honest" as a shield to just make more TNG.

Well, given its incredibly obvious how much of a giant fanboy McFarland is, that should surprise no one.

 

[Rabulias]

Someone (here on ENworld, maybe?) described The Orville as "a love letter to TNG" and I think it's spot-on.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Someone (here on ENworld, maybe?) described The Orville as "a love letter to TNG" and I think it's spot-on.

I've used the term before, but I probably picked it up from someone else.