Though Voyager, DS9 and the Original Star Trek really sucked in my opinion.
When I was growing up and watching the original I was watching re-runs in the early 80's and by those standards they were pretty campy and cheesy...even though new shows, like Buck Rogers were on that were at least just as campy and cheesy. lol
Even now, whenever I happen to watch an episode of the original with an objective eye, I still don't much care for them though. When I was a kid, watching TV was serious business you know? Now I can watch and see past some of the campy stuff and attribute it to the era in which it was produced.
But there is largely one reason why I don't care for it much still today and that is William Shatner.
I...absolutely...hate...the...way...he ...haltingly...delivers...his...lines.
Ahhh, Grasshopper...you lack the wisdom of historical perspective.
The original Star Trek was revolutionary in so
many ways.
First, Gene Roddenberry was a genius for even getting it on the air. At the time (late 1960's), television science fiction was almost universally crap. With the notable exception of The Twilight Zone* (and to a lesser degree The Outer Limits) most television sci-fi of the era** spent almost nothing on quality writing. You can spend a bundle on fancy production values and special effects but if you have crap for a story then the series will suck because the foundation is mush. Lost In Space, Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants and most of the episodes of Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea (all produced coincidentally by Irwin Allen) were far more typical of 1960's sci-fi fare.
Roddenberry spent money on quality writing and what he wanted and got were morality plays set in a 23rd century space exploration framework. And, contrary to your assertion, he also recruited very good, if relatively unknown, actors to do the work. Shatner may not be to your taste but he is an unforgettable actor nonetheless. What Shatner did require and sometimes got was discipline meted out by a strong director.
Anyway, Star Trek was a revolution in science fiction produced for the small screen. There had never been anything like it before and it was many, many years before there was anything on television that approached its level of quality. There is a very good reason that to this day there are still Star Trek conventions but no (1970's) Battlestar Galactica conventions. Or Six Million Dollar Man conventions. Or Buck Rogers of the 25th Century conventions. When Star Trek was under threat of cancellation viewers actually wrote letters to the network imploring that it be kept in production...the network gave in. I don't believe that had ever happened before.
Consider
some of the writers of the original Star Trek television series' episodes:
Robert Bloch
Norman Spinrad
Theodore Sturgeon
Richard Matheson
David Gerrold
Harlan Ellison
...all successful/famous/award winning writer/novelists before and after Star Trek aired.
We can reasonably guess how great Star Trek could have been if Roddenberry had been given a serious budget for the entire life of the series. Typical of the times, the budget was continually downgraded until the series was eventually cancelled.
But, as we know now, it would not die. Roddenberry got the last laugh and Star Trek made a staggering amount of money in television, film, books and merchandise. It will be making money long after all of us are room temperature.
And like it or not, it all started with Shatner & company and the best writing and production values available at the time. You may think of it as campy. I was there and it was not. I know this because at about the same time there was another fictional icon on television that was
purposefully made in full throttle camp mode. That mistake has since been corrected. Can you guess what it was?
Here is the
LINK to the answer.
I also liked the way that Roddenberry worked the "big enemy" allegory. He set up two alien races as enemies/challengers to mankind/freedom: The Klingons (who I always thought of as the Nazis...evil but beatable) and the Romulans (sort of like the Soviets...evil and mysterious, maybe not beatable, maybe an enemy in perpetual standoff mode). That might seem tame now but it was pretty edgy stuff back then.
So...sorry to differ with you but from my perspective the original Star Trek television series holds up quite well (especial with the new hi-def release) and made other high quality productions, like Firefly, possible. Anyway, that's my two cents on the issue. Your mileage may vary.
*which featured Shatner in at least two episodes that I can remember.
**note that I am not including anything in this argument but American productions so please don't tell me about any of the UK stuff...especially the puppet work by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson or any and all Dr. Who episodes. Not interested in going there.
