07 January 2015

To go boldly, where many have gone before ('Star Trek' 1.1, "The Man Trap")

So, I've decided to watch the very first Star Trek series in order; I've seen odd episodes of various series (plus the first four and latest two movies), but never done a straight-through. For one thing, the 50th anniversary is next year, but I just saw it was free with my Prime subscription and decided to give it a go.

Skipping the un-broadcast pilot until the end of Season 1 (that's the Amazon Instant Video order), I've started with "The Man Trap"...

Wow; this is a story older than pretty much anyone on Phoenix Roleplaying bar Mike Palmer... and it still holds up excellently today. We're thrown very much straight into the action with a suspenseful tale of a shape-shifting creature that kills people by removing the salt from their bodies (that's not really a spoiler).

I can see why Captain James T. Kirk is such an archetypal character; the man oozes swagger (I can see why he got his shirt off a lot, the pecs are obvious even fully clothed!) and 'command presence'. Approaching these characters afresh is hard because we know them so well; they've become part of pop culture even for the completely uninitiated.

It probably won't be five years, but I'm on this voyage for the duration.

9/10

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