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Star Trek: The Original Series - S1 E1 Full Reaction!

"The Man Trap"

I wanted to do the second pilot next, but I messed up. :( I thought Paramount+ had the episodes in production order. Oh well!

Star Trek: The Original Series - S1 E1 Full Reaction!

Comments

That episode was, of course, "The Devil in the Dark."

Lee

Not a spoiler, but there is an episode late in the first season that calls into question so much of this one. You'll know it when you see it.

Lee

"I was thinking about the buffalo" Kirk was, I think, sadly mulling over the fact that they were forced to kill the last of these creatures (affectionately known as the Salt Vampire among fans) and cause it's extinction, not unlike how humans were so destructive to the existence of buffalo on Earth like Crater had talked about earlier.

Absolute0

Thanks :D

bunnytails

NBC decided to change the episode order from the production order. The Man Trap was #6 in order, but they decided to show it first because the felt it was more typical of what people expected from a science fiction show. Back in the day, science fiction was typically some kind of monster movie. Star Trek TOS pretty much broke that mold.

Carlos Stevens

Great reaction Bunny. I agree that "The Man Trap" is not the best episode, but it's still a fun one, and I can see why NBC decided to go with this one as the first episode to air. Regarding "The Cage" being too cerebral -- I agree with you the episode was fine as it was, but things were different in the 60's with the audience that watched TV So they went with a episode that had more action and suspense in it, and didn't require as much 'brain power' as it was. Ironically, it didn't take long for Star Trek to find it's core audience -- not young people, but instead the fan base who would best support it, and this helped the show get renewed for two seasons. Taken from the Wikipedia article on the show about critical reaction: "The show, according to the 6,000 letters it draws a week (more than any other in television), is watched by scientists, museum curators, psychiatrists, doctors, university professors, and other highbrows. The Smithsonian Institution asked for a print of the show for its archives, the only show so honored. Much of the mail came from doctors, scientists, teachers, and other professional people, and was for the most part literate–and written on good stationery. And if there is anything a network wants almost as much as a high Nielsen ratings, it is the prestige of a show that appeals to the upper middle class and high-brow audiences."

Greg Polander

Amazing really loving these reactions! You'll be alright kicking off with "The Man Trap", just remember "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is set about a year before that (the different uniforms, different doctor, and different position for Sulu are the giveaways for this).

Matt B


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