Star Trek Season 1 Review

I’m going to hit upon some key points here.

The first season was a tremendous opening season. Out of 29 episodes I had 11 with 5 stars. Only one episode was under 3 and that one was at least interesting. Some of the most classic episodes are in Season 1 but we have more in Season 2. We will also see a new crew member Pavel Chekov, a Russian who joins the crew in the 2nd season. The Monkees were huge at the time so the producers wanted to have their own “Davy Jones” for the girls watching.

Chekov Replacement? | The Trek BBS

Lucille Ball... without her, it might not have happened. She wasn’t in on the creative side of the show but she and her studio Desilu did help finance Star Trek. A studio accountant named Edwin “Ed” Holly is on the record saying “If it were not for Lucy, there would be no Star Trek today.”

Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand… only after 8 total episodes Yeoman Rand just vanished from the series. Janice Rand was supposed to be a major character on Star Trek but was written off the show after season 1. Gene Roddenberry once stated that Whitney’s firing was purely financial. Whitney tells a different story. Only a few days before her firing, she was sexually assaulted by a studio executive on the Star Trek set. Whitney discussed the incident in her autobiography years later and, although she deliberately did not mention the executive by name, stated that she had a hard time believing the assault wasn’t at least in some way related to her exit from The Original Series.

Gene Roddenberry later apologized for giving in to pressure from the network to let Whitney go, even going so far as to say that writing Janice Rand off “was the dumbest mistake” he had ever made. To show how much she was loved by the fans and cast…she returned when the movies started in 1979.

William Shatner once said that their budget was lower than what it takes to cater a cast and crew in today’s time. What they had were great writers and good actors who had extremely good chemistry. The leading three men will always be known for their roles in this series. William Shatner as Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, and DeForest Kelley as “Bones” or Doctor McCoy. The supporting cast was great also…with  Majel Barrett as Nurse Chapel, Nichelle Nicols as Nyota Uhura, George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov, and James Doohan as Scotty. I can’t forget Grace Lee Whitney who should have been in the entire series.

Thank you all for reading each Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. We have some more in front of us and I’m looking forward to it.

Thanks

Max

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

33 thoughts on “Star Trek Season 1 Review”

  2. Sorry to read what happened to Grace. How many other shows suffered from studio execs who couldn’t keep it in their pants? Star Trek was a great show that suffered many roadblocks before it became successful. But we fans knew a good thing when we saw it.

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      1. Yes. Good writing and excellent actors. That’s what I told my kids when we watched the series together, and they were comparing it to Next Generation and were reluctant to watch it at first because of the outdated special effects.

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      2. I was young enough to grow up with The Land of the Lost…it made Star Trek look like the best effects ever…but like you said…it was the writing and acting that saved it.

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  3. Even I who only watched some Star Trek episodes back in the ’70s and is by no means an expert have always associated the series with Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy. It’s amazing how certain TV characters can become so iconic!

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  6. A lot of work you put into that, Max! A very helpful guide. It is impressive how everyone knows who Spock & Kirk are , even those who almost never watched the show.

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    1. You may have seen this episode but start with The City On The Edge of Tomorrow… you can’t go wrong with that one. The effects are dated but the stories are not

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  8. I agree with you the that the intriguing cast of characters hooked me in during that time. The new versions of Star Trek not so much any more. Special effects can’t replace superior acting.

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  9. You know how thrilled I am to have you doing the series, Max. Thank you again for doing it. It’s a blast learning so much of the trivia with the episodes. It’s also enjoyable to discuss them with others here. It also motivated me to go back and watch them and see them through adult eyes. So funny I never put the Chekov and Davy Jone connection together. Totally agree that Grace Lee Whitney should have been one of the regulars through all 3 seasons. I’ve finished watching all of S2 now and will wait a bit before borrowing S3.

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    1. I agree Lisa, so thanks Max.
      I’m also restraining myself from hyper-warping through Series two… can’t get too far ahead of the journey, but one episode leads to another and before you know it you’re halfway through. ‘Restrain you must’ as someone once said. (Ooops, wrong Star Saga story!)

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    2. Thanks for continuing to read them Lisa! Its a lot of fun. I want to cover on the second season review…Star Trek Continues or just throw in another post somewhere.

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  10. I had not consciously realized the connection between Lucille Ball and Star Trek. She made a good decision. It was great to see Grace Lee Whitney back in the movies as Janice Rand. I’m glad to know Gene Rodenberry eventually apologized and recognized her worth. Thank you very much for all the background on these episodes.

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    1. Thank you for reading JoAnna… I really appreciate it. I was going to wait a week but some people are following along with me so I’ll start the 2nd season tomorrow with a great episode.

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      1. Whitney passed in 2015. Nimoy, Kelley, Nichols, Doohan & Barrett are all gone. I think Shatner is gonna live forever.

        And, speaking of, most of B5’s cast is dead, too (Koenig being a tie-in, tho still alive). I just read that the time frame start of TOS is 2266, which is damn close to B5’s 2257 start. JMS is definitely a Trek fan & he is the executor of Harlan Ellison’s estate (whom is featured in a lot of the TZ magazines I sent you).

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I didn’t watch Babylon 5 much but I always wanted to. I remember Bruce Boxleitner on there. He is married to Pam Dawber I believe.

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      3. Pam Dawber is married to Mark Harmon. Bruce (Tron) was married to Melissa Gilbert at one time. Melissa is now married to Timothy Busfield (think 30 Something).

        Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan) took over in Season 2, as Michael O’Hare (Commander Jeffrey Sinclair) was diagnosed as schizophrenic. JMS was sworn to secrecy…until O’Hare died. I remember when Jerry Doyle had his radio show, talking about how nutty O’Hare was. He didn’t know until O’Hare passed in 2012.

        Excellent show. I’ve been watching it on the Tubi app. Well written. It’s first season is better than the 1st season of TNG.

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    1. It was great…I’m surprised though because lately I’ve been watching season 3…and there are some good shows in that one…I didn’t realize it had that many good ones.

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