The original Star Trek series is on YouTube complete.

Not a big YouTube fan, frankly, but when it comes to Star Trek, I don’t have to be. When you have all the episodes on everything from 8-track tape to Laserdisc (there’s even a set of purchased Betamax tapes in the basement), who needs flash video?

(As mentioned, I don’t have the commercial DVDs, though, since Paramount decided to fleece its customers by charging twice as much as any other television series currently sells for…)

Larry Moore

Even if we could somehow manage to return again to that first awesome encounter with the Starship Enterprise and its crew. Time has passed. We have changed. Star Trek (the franchise) has evolved. But that’s no reason to cut yourself off from the spirit of that original Star Trek in the present. There are many of us who still remember, treasure, and hold dear the morals Star Trek attempted to teach us in our young lives, and we try to hold onto it and keep it safe in the present, for the future to enjoy and hopefully live by.

I’ve now seen the Star Trek (2009) movie twice in theaters, once on opening day and once 2-weeks later, and enjoyed it immensely both times. It’s not my childhood Star Trek, but the new movie provided deja-vu glimpses of their “future” lives together and elicited in many of us more senior, diehard fans, the recognition responses they were meant to. And I was more than happy to oblige.

Yes, I intend to buy the DVD, to savor again in the comfort of my own home. But to see Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and the others come to vivid life again in a theater setting — that’s something that nostalgia is made of.

Ibsen’s Ghosts after experiencing Joanne Woodward as the mother.

William’s “Glass Menagerie” after Julie Harris as the.

Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” with Irwin and Turner

Seattle Ballet Company “Swan Lake”

American Ballet Theatre’s “Romeo and Juliet”

Etc., Etc., Etc.

As for films, many just don’t hold up over the years. I think the big reason is pacing. We are used to faster moving productions and the older films seem to drag particularly if viewed in our living room.
I do think that viewing a film in a theater does create a tension which augments the tension required of the film. For example, in my high school days I was a projectionist in the local theater. At that time there was a break every 15 to 20 minutes to change projectors from one reel to another. Because of the break, even though I saw the whole film, there was no tension. But when I saw the same film when not operating the projectors, I enjoyed the film. The tension was there and the enjoyment results. Tension, by the way, is defined as the emotional reaction to the desire to know what is going to happen next. It occurs in books and theater as well as film.
A film audience is not necessarily heard in a theater and can augment the experience. For instance Brooke and I went to see “The Pianist” in NYC during a Jewish holiday. The theater was packed but we were not aware of any noise from the audience. They were enthralled as much as we were with the horror of the film as well and admiration as to how the main character, Wladyslaw Szpilman, would survive.
But writing off film all together is a shame. Film “Monsters versus Aliens” which Brooke and I saw at an IMAX was most enjoyable. And the 3D was great. Keep in mind I go back to “Creature” as well as Vincent Price in “House of Was”. I would agree with a review that it is appropriate to check ones brains at the door – Unlike “–Woolf”. By the way “Aliens” has a homage to “Wax” with I think a paddle board ball shooting into the audience.
As for Star Treck we plan to see it but not at a time there will be many kids in the theater.
By the way, if you do break down and see Aliens in 3D “acquire” an extra pair of the glasses. You can use them to make some interesting 3D shadow effects.

I do wonder how IMAX does 3D with only one projector.

Larry Moore