I thought this was a fun read :)
Note: The site does have an annoying "Registration Wall" that sometimes pops up.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/24/enterprise_vs_enterprise?wp_login_redirect=0 (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/24/enterprise_vs_enterprise?wp_login_redirect=0)
Cool article. Thanks for sharing it
republic!
QuoteOne of the recurring themes I have encountered in working with the U.S. Navy has been the number of Navy personnel who were inspired to join because of science fiction in general, and Star Trek in particular.
Quote...one thing I find interesting in talking about Star Trek with naval officers is that when the subject turns to which character from Star Trek would best fit in the USN, the name that always comes up is Edward Jellico, the character played by Ronnie Cox in the Next Generation episodes "Chain of Command, Part I" and "Chain of Command, Part II." Most Star Trek fans say, "What a jerk," and there's some truth to that, but most of it is just reminding the ship's officers to focus on their responsibilities. He's direct and no-nonsense; he's in charge, it's his responsibility, and he wants his officers to remember that. Not the usual method for Starfleet, but you see it a lot in the U.S. Navy.
Those were a couple of passages I found particularly neat/interesting.
I actually know Chris Weuve, and have worked with him on a couple of things at Connections and Origins... fascinating dude and a lot of fun to hang out with. Been trying to get him to hang out here for a while, but he's pretty busy.
The article makes the point that there was a small crew on the Starship, and they had a lakc of paperwork, keeping their off watch hours very free and leisurely.
The original precis that Roddenbury pitched for the show was for a large crew. He compared it to "Wagon Train" to the stars. Wagon Train was a popular TV show that was about a wagon train leaving from Missouri and trekking to Oregon or California, every season. Because there were so many families in the train, it allowed a lot of different stories to be told without recurring characters outside of the core leaders of the train.
Roddenbury planned on lots of different crewmembers working in their own episodes with the core group being the only regulars.
I forget who changed the focus, probably the studio, that the stories revolved and involved only the core group. The rest of the crew were just background. If you look at the very earliest shows, there are always a lot of crew moving around. They're going somewhere and creating an atmosphere of a lot of things going on, but you're never quite sure what.
This is more like a carrier, than TNG and later iterations.
that darn pop up wont let me read the article >:(
^try a different browser. Chrome had the page all effed up so I tried it in FF. Still a little bit 'off' but easier to read.