Just recently started my second viewing of TOS, and I was surprised how well the writing held up.
Tap for spoiler
There’s one episode where a guy builds an artificial human, and his wife is like “Did you have sex with it?” And he responds “Robots can’t feel love.” “Did you have sex with the robot?” “They only follow commands, it could no more love than a toaster!” and everyone just kind of stares at him for a beat before moving on and you can tell from that moment on everyone knows he built a sex bot.
It definitely has its fun moments. I was not expecting to see Spock get bullied by the crew! Very uncomfortable scenes that really just felt like punching down on neurodiverse folks but also helped me really sympathize with Spock.
I think it does a good job of showing the reality of how clunky integration of different groups can be, and how even in a future where humans have “solved” racism amongst themselves, it’s not a lesson that can be buried with the past yet.
The frustrations that the crew has with Spock’s behaviors that are baffling to them, and vis versa, how Spock feels (and frequently verbalizes) about what he thinks are human failings, are very real reflections of how different groups learn to understand each other better. The friction of their interactions is the point, as well as showing that they are incredibly loyal to each other and care about each other’s wellbeing at the end of the day.
This is the heart of Star Trek, in my opinion - seeing them actively grow together despite their occasional rude outbursts and misunderstandings.
Everything was roughly in chronological order (watch until movie 6 before starting The Next Generation) until 2001 with Enterprise, which jumps back a couple of centuries for better or worse.
Start where it all began! The original is a fun watch.
Just recently started my second viewing of TOS, and I was surprised how well the writing held up.
Tap for spoiler
There’s one episode where a guy builds an artificial human, and his wife is like “Did you have sex with it?” And he responds “Robots can’t feel love.” “Did you have sex with the robot?” “They only follow commands, it could no more love than a toaster!” and everyone just kind of stares at him for a beat before moving on and you can tell from that moment on everyone knows he built a sex bot.
I had to look up the exact exchange, because this line always makes me laugh too. Her tone, lol
KORBY: You think I could love a machine?
CHAPEL: Did you?
It definitely has its fun moments. I was not expecting to see Spock get bullied by the crew! Very uncomfortable scenes that really just felt like punching down on neurodiverse folks but also helped me really sympathize with Spock.
I think it does a good job of showing the reality of how clunky integration of different groups can be, and how even in a future where humans have “solved” racism amongst themselves, it’s not a lesson that can be buried with the past yet.
The frustrations that the crew has with Spock’s behaviors that are baffling to them, and vis versa, how Spock feels (and frequently verbalizes) about what he thinks are human failings, are very real reflections of how different groups learn to understand each other better. The friction of their interactions is the point, as well as showing that they are incredibly loyal to each other and care about each other’s wellbeing at the end of the day.
This is the heart of Star Trek, in my opinion - seeing them actively grow together despite their occasional rude outbursts and misunderstandings.
When in doubt, just watch release order.
Everything was roughly in chronological order (watch until movie 6 before starting The Next Generation) until 2001 with Enterprise, which jumps back a couple of centuries for better or worse.