Is every 1701 bridge readout a logical, scientific development of every NX-01 readout?

Is every TMP bridge readout a logical, scientific development of every TOS readout?

Are the uniform preferences of TOS a logical, sociological development from the ENT era?

Are the women's attitudes a logical sociological development from the ENT era?

See, if I were to fly off into the sky tomorrow like Superman, that would be consistent with my not being able to fly today. Would it be a logical scientific development, though?

[ October 29, 2001: Message edited by: Phelps ]

I dont think people thought in the 60s that trek looked like a definite track our future design standards would look, but one of the reasons i love it is because of its look, which is partially unrealistic.
This same argument goes to the really 70s TMP (Len McCoys lapels and disco medallion), the 80s look of the movies and the beginning of TNG (those episodes arent looking so great now that the 80s are over), its all reflecting the times so it wouldnt really hurt to have a flashback production that also reflects those

If they had taken active care to ensure everything was a logical development of what came before and what came after, the shows would've looked differently. If they hadn't, what's the point of us doing so? We must rather assume that we're looking at an artistic depiction of the Trek universe, and that the 'real' Trek universe looks a bit different.

I'd like to take the discussion to another level and try and figure out how the Trek universe would've been different if it had taken on a logical, real-world-like development that can be scientifically explained and traced, rather than reflecting any of the periods from 1960s to 2000s. That kind of logical development happened certainly during the fourteen years of the TNG era, during the film era (except for maybe TMP), and during the three years of TOS. Between TOS and TMP there is this sudden, unrealistic shift. Same as between "Enterprise" and TOS.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Phelps:
I'd like to take the discussion to another level and try and figure out how the Trek universe would've been different if it had taken on a logical, real-world-like development that can be scientifically explained and traced, rather than reflecting any of the periods from 1960s to 2000s. That kind of logical development happened certainly during the fourteen years of the TNG era, during the film era (except for maybe TMP), and during the three years of TOS. Between TOS and TMP there is this sudden, unrealistic shift. Same as between "Enterprise" and TOS.

---

And that's the problem... TOS didn't even look like a logical extension of the sixties technology, to say nothing of that in First Contact. Bringing Star Wars briefly back into things, Lucas could reuse props and even the "feel" because the movie-budget props from 1977 don't look all that bad even by today's standards. Television-budget props from 1967, though, looked like shit at the time, much less today.

Even in the sixties, people had to assume that there was some level of budget neccessity. If we assume that the designs from the original series are essentially accurate, but with modern execution, the problem becomes drastically less severe. So yeah, I can see your point, and I agree; but I think it's safe to say that even if no other Star Trek had been produced since, the original series was a budget-constrained interpretation of the 2260s, not an exact facsimile.

Because, at the end of the day, the font didn't look dated. So it could be kept. If the font had been some late 70s LED looking thing, it would have been replaced, because it would have looked horrible.

The font Trek used for TMP looked fine, and was still being used for Voyager, over 20 years later.

"None of the changes they made in CGI techniques or vessels seriously affects the perception that this movie is a part of the other three."

The thing is, a lot of Star Wars is set on planetary surfaces, out in the open. You don't need to change Tatooine to look more modern, because it isn't suppossed to be modern. That's a world away from the fairly huge problem of trying to design a bridge to look futuristic, but less futuristic that a similar set designed 35 years ago that now looks slightly quaint.

(And, as an aside, there are a fair few arguements for TMP rewriting cannon, even in regards to the films. Obi-Wan was trained by Yoda, and took it upon himself to train Anakin, against Obi-Wan being trained by Qui-Gon, and considering Anakin to be an annoying little shit. Sure, you can argue that they might get resolved, but I'd put money that some won't, and will require the fans to jump through hoops to explain them).

Also, I do actually find a lot of ANH to look dated compared to ESB and ROTJ. The starship sets in particular. The Death Star never convinced me internally, especially compared to the far superiour sets used for the Star Destroyers in ESB. And compare the graphics of the Death Stars that the Rebels look at in ANH and ROTJ. That's a fairly big tecnology jump in 4 years of story-time.

Tim mentions in another thread that watching TOS today is occasionally hard, because the dated nature of the show ruins the suspension of disbelief that you've built up. If Enterprise had tried to look like a prequel to TOS (or like 30s Flash Gorden), the problem would have been even worse.