ust finished watching the first episode of "The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek" on Amazon.
It's an 11 episode documentary about the Trek franchise, from the original up to Enterprise.
So you think you know everything about Star Trek?
Think again.
Based on the recommendation here, I have begun watching "The Center Seat". I've just finished Episode 5, I believe.
My review so far is.... meh.
Ok, I admit I'm probably not the target audience, as I've been a trekkie since the 1970's. This documentary is CLEARLY geared to those who came into Star Trek with TNG. I read Bjo Trimble's book "The Making of Star Trek" in the 1980's, so I am familiar with all the stories behind TOS. I was kind of annoyed that they kind of glossed over the 2nd Pilot, AND they made is sound like Deforrest Kelly joined the cast as of the second pilot, which he did not.
Anyone who's read Trimble's book and/or Issues of STARLOG magazine should be familiar with behind the scenes TOS stories, The Animated Series and The Motion Picture, which are the first three episodes of "The Center Seat". There was very little new material here except that I'd never seen those test shots for Phase II.
Also I'm familiar with the Eddie Murphy story, as I attended a con where Harlan Ellison tells it as he was brought in to write the script. He had an initial meeting with the producers at paramount who said "Listen, we make $10 million from Star Trek movies and we make $10 Million from Eddie Murphy movies, so, we want a Star Trek movie with Eddie Murphy in it and we'll make $20 Million."
At which point, Harlan claims he stood up and just walked out of the meeting.
Also I remember from my old days "in the industry" and I had heard that several NYC studios were working on SFX for Star Trek 5, because they wanted the FX in NY because Shatner was in LA and this way he couldn't screw up the FX as well. Peter Wallach, I guy I had worked for at one time was doing some shots for Star Trek 5. I had (briefly) worked with Wallach's studio on "Little Shop of Horrors" (the Remake with Steve Martin)... I painted all the cells for the title, with the dripping blood. Odd thing, is I have never gotten around to seeing the movie, keeping perfect my track record of never watching films or TV shows I worked on.
Now admittedly, I am less familiar with TNG and forward "behind-the-scenes material", so, there might be some surprises awaiting me but we will see as the internet provided enough rumour-mill fodder and my head is pretty good for Star Trek trivia. So, let's see if this series gets better. Despite my review, I consider it worth watching, because I enjoy all things Trek.
. They try to make a "logical" reason for a musical. It was pretty darn corny!
"Why are we singing"
