Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation
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They went out of business in 1982. Then they were reformed back in 2018 and started making their classic figures again.
I hate to break this to you, but that is an edited video where they take people's reactions to Soccer matches, comedy shows, and Wrestling. People weren't watching Picard season 3 like that.
I was fooled
. It was a good facsimile, impressive special effects, in the spirit of Star Trek.
If anything, TNG brought even more "nerd" types into it. There's absolutely nothing about it that appeals to any mainstream.
Voyager is the only series I'm aware of that's enjoyed by people who can't get into other Trek series.
Voyager is the only series I'm aware of that's enjoyed by people who can't get into other Trek series.
Star Trek was mainstream in the 60s. If anything made Star Trek stay mainstream, I would say it was the 1980s as a whole. All the TOS films(TWOK-TFF), reruns of TOS and TAS, and new episodes of TNG made it a Sci Fi juggernaut of the decade. Sure, Star Wars started out strong, but had nothing going for it in the last half of the decade all the way until 1999, where as Star trek had 20 years of constant new TV series and films. Like most of Star Trek that people know, The Voyage Home through First Contact, TNG, DS9, and even parts Voyager, all happened between the time of Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace.
Star Wars' "dormant phase" would be more properly 1986-1991 -- from the winding down of the Marvel comic and Nelvana cartoons to the publication of Heir to the Empire. In that time, there was only the West End Games dice-and-paper RPG and anything written for it.
Aside from that point of information, though, pretty much spot on. The success of the Genesis trilogy films made TNG a concept Paramount was willing to sign off on (after the false start of the Phase II series considered for 1976, and reworked into TMP).
I'm not the first to say this, but where TNG eclipsed its spinoffs was in timing -- it came out as special effects were getting cheap enough that a weekly syndicated space-operatic series was feasible (in a way that Battlestar-TOS sadly was not for Universal and ABC in 1978), but before it had to worry about a host of genre competitors as DS9, Voyager and Enterprise did. (Enterprise also suffered from the fragmentation of the media landscape, where 3 million viewers a week put it on UPN's deathwatch even as 2 million a week for Ron Moore's Battlestar on basic cable made it watercooler conversation -- or at the very least, TV critics were devoting column inches to asking us "Why are you not watching this?") So while Picard and Data may not have quite the same cultural reach as Kirk, Spock et al., it's definitely more comparable, at least in the 'danelaw, than the Sisko, Janeway, or Archer. (that article is there for a reason....)
As SNW's Pike is a new take on a classic concept, we'll see if that trend reverses, but while I'm kind of glad that ST's not dealing with the stodgy-minded businesspersons strangling network television even in Gene's heyday, there's a bit of a cost to making everything prestige seasons on a proprietary streaming service....
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Maybe not initially but then this game-changer happened:
This episode alone garnered huge ratings and, in general, helped push the series from its lower ratings ranking to become the highest syndicated series during this time, the late 80s-early 90s).
Man, I remember watching that live. And then having to wait four months as a kid to find out what happens next.
There is a story I have been told, and I want to believe that it is true. That one fall day, Patrick Stewart was driving around LA in his little convertable, and he stops at a red light next to the van. The van had a family in it and the he could see the kids spotting him and getting excited. He gives them a little wave and just as the light turns green turns green the dad rolls down his window and shouts, "You ruined our summer!" and speeds away.
There is a story I have been told, and I want to believe that it is true. That one fall day, Patrick Stewart was driving around LA in his little convertable, and he stops at a red light next to the van. The van had a family in it and the he could see the kids spotting him and getting excited. He gives them a little wave and just as the light turns green turns green the dad rolls down his window and shouts, "You ruined our summer!" and speeds away.
I loved the EU novels, and Timothy Zahn is one of my favorite authors. I remember getting most of them in the early to late 90s when they were coming out. They were great, but I would not classify that as mainstream though, especially after the Thrawn trilogy. One example was that you couldn't get the Star Wars books at walmart, I had to go to actual bookstores to get them around here.
I did like the Star Wars RPG though. My brother and I used to play it as we weren't allowed to play D&D. I need to see if he still has those books.
Let's also not forget about the 1997 re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy on VHS, and the release of the Shadows of the Empire video game. Both of those certainly brought about a resurgence of interest in Star Wars.
At that time, both of those certainly got me and all my friends all talking about Star Wars and buying up a whole bunch of the Kenner toys to play with. And we were just little kids who all completely missed out on the 80s and knew nothing of Star Wars's past popularity. All it took were those three videotapes and that one video game to get us all hooked on Star Wars.
At that time, both of those certainly got me and all my friends all talking about Star Wars and buying up a whole bunch of the Kenner toys to play with. And we were just little kids who all completely missed out on the 80s and knew nothing of Star Wars's past popularity. All it took were those three videotapes and that one video game to get us all hooked on Star Wars.
I never got hooked on Star Wars. I always wondered why it was more popular than Star Trek when the whole Star Wars franchise consisted of only three movies.
Star Wars the first movie was low budget, not very realistic looking at all.
Empire Strikes Back did not have a proper ending, which left moviegoers “at the time” feeling unsatisfied.
Return of the Jedi was clearly a rush job. George Lucas was still making up the story as he went along. He was trying to decide whether to make Luke and Leia lovers. Also his marriage fell apart and he blamed Star Wars. So he wanted to be done with it and wrapped up the story prematurely, when there was supposed to be three more movies.
Star Wars the first movie was low budget, not very realistic looking at all.
Empire Strikes Back did not have a proper ending, which left moviegoers “at the time” feeling unsatisfied.
Return of the Jedi was clearly a rush job. George Lucas was still making up the story as he went along. He was trying to decide whether to make Luke and Leia lovers. Also his marriage fell apart and he blamed Star Wars. So he wanted to be done with it and wrapped up the story prematurely, when there was supposed to be three more movies.
While Shadows of the Empire was a popular console game with a tie-in toyline, there were a lot of Lucas Arts produced PC games back then too. Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Rebellion, and a few other games dominated on the PC. Giving us lots of the lore we love today, like the Dark troopers, TIE Defenders, and more.
And yes, the VHS releases as well as the DVD releases of the OT Star Wars were always a big deal, but not as much as the late 90s when they release the special editions in theaters.
Star wars had a lot of kid love and focus after ROTJ in the 80s, and starting int he early 90s it had a lot of EU content that came out starting with the Thrawn trilogy all the way up until the Prequels came out.
The original Star Wars film was low budget, but well made for the time. Its hero saga story was great, and the cast was fantastic in it.
I always felt that the ending of ESB was just flat out sad. Luke lost his hand and lightsaber, Han was frozen and gone, and the empire had pretty much just crushed our heroes the entire film. I know what they were going for, doing the whole arc in a trilogy, but as a kid it made this film my least favorite of them. That is a shame too, as the film really doesn't deserve that, as it is a great film.
Return of the Jedi was not as good as it could have been for a lot of reasons.
Lucas fired his #1 guy that had helped make the first two.
Lucas had ticked off the directors guild when making ESB, so he was banned from picking any good directors and got this unqualified British guy to direct it.
They didn't really have the story locked down, and had planned on bringing in someone else for the third film to be the other hope Yoda talked about.
All that said, they still made an interesting good Sci Fi classic film.
As for Lucas' divorce, it was because of the crazy work schedule, and the fact that his wife cheated on him with the carpenter that was building the library in Skywalker Ranch. And after that happened, she got half of everything which left Lucas so broke that he couldn't make another Star Wars film. Which is why ILM became such a powerful in the CGI industry as they had to to keep the lights on.
Lucas’ wife denies there was ever an affair. George Lucas based that on rumors and what other people were telling him. So it was all speculation.
She was the heart of Star Wars as Mark Hamill put it.
Her film editing is what made the original trilogy great, and salvaged Return of the Jedi.
George Lucas was a fool to let her go.
She was the heart of Star Wars as Mark Hamill put it.
Her film editing is what made the original trilogy great, and salvaged Return of the Jedi.
George Lucas was a fool to let her go.
No, Mark Hammil said that she was the best editor that he ever knew.
Yeah, about the affair, here is the wiki.
So they adopt this baby girl and a few months into it, she wants a divorce. She literally married the Rodrigues less than 6 months(6 months at the most as sources just say 1983, but it was probably less than that) after she left Lucas. She had known Tom Rodrigues for three years while he had created the Stained glass art in her library. Let me tell you from experience, that woman was after him long before 1983. She can deny the affair all she wants to, but it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to solve that case.
As for her contributions, she saved the original Star Wars film in the edit room. No denying her that. All that tension at the end where the Death star is blown up right before the rebel base is about to be destroyed. That was all her. She didn't do much at all on the editing for ROTJ as she was already checked out by then. She reportedly added some of "Crying and dying scenes", so that part with the ewok checks on his friend after being shot and sees that he is dead. Yeah, that was her. Not the best addition to that scene.
Yeah, about the affair, here is the wiki.
So they adopt this baby girl and a few months into it, she wants a divorce. She literally married the Rodrigues less than 6 months(6 months at the most as sources just say 1983, but it was probably less than that) after she left Lucas. She had known Tom Rodrigues for three years while he had created the Stained glass art in her library. Let me tell you from experience, that woman was after him long before 1983. She can deny the affair all she wants to, but it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to solve that case.
As for her contributions, she saved the original Star Wars film in the edit room. No denying her that. All that tension at the end where the Death star is blown up right before the rebel base is about to be destroyed. That was all her. She didn't do much at all on the editing for ROTJ as she was already checked out by then. She reportedly added some of "Crying and dying scenes", so that part with the ewok checks on his friend after being shot and sees that he is dead. Yeah, that was her. Not the best addition to that scene.
That was a line by Yoda that was out of place. I had to assume he was talking about Leia in order for it to make any sense.
That was another obvious clue George Lucas rushed to put Star Wars to bed. He wanted nothing more to do with it. It cost him too much personally and professionally.
Lucas just basically put Star Wars on the shelf after Jedi, not wanting anything to be done with it by him or anyone else. He kept complete control of it.
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