Sunday, September 13, 2015

John Champion

The host of "Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast" is here! Jon and John find common ground through his young exposure (and audition) to Star Trek, his process of covering all 740 episodes of the series one week a time and just what will happen if CBS announces a sixth series!

1 comment:

  1. Hello. This is my 1st time listening to your Podcast -
    brought here by none other than John Champion himself
    thanks to the link that was provided on the Mission Log Facebook Page.

    TOS was 1st brought to me in 1984
    via UHF TV21 ( now FOX) when the local Start-up Channel 1st launch.
    They aired Star Trek opposite the local news
    ( They won that battle - btw)

    I was 14 and was already a huge Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica fan.
    At that time in my young life, I just loved Spaceships.
    The 1st episode I watch was "Where No Man...."
    and to me, that opening effects shot where the ship tilts
    and we fly into the top of the bridge dome was like
    the Star Destroyer going over our heads in Star Wars.
    I was hooked. I had No idea what I was getting into-
    but I remember to this day that waiting 24hours to see another night's episode seemed like forever. .

    Saw Star Trek III @ our local theatre and LOVED it !
    Remember seeing Trek IV opening night
    and thought it was the best Trek ever done.
    and then came Next Gen.
    And I wanted it to be awesome.
    And it sucked. I hated the 1st episode with a passion
    Not so much because it wasn't Kirk and Spock
    but because it was cheap.
    The new ship was ugly. The bridge set sucked-bad .
    I didn't care for the "hey - it's like a Motel " look of the sets,,
    and the uniforms were terrible. The script sucked.
    Picard surrendered the Enterprise ! Nooooooooooo!
    - and I remember hoping Kirk would show up ( somehow) to kick somebody's ass.
    The whole "hey- we are at peace with everybody now" - and we don't want to start any trouble - and if you have a problem with us - then hey - we are so sorry - here what do you want us to do and we'll give you the best customer service in the business - anything for peace -
    just made for boring TV and SUCKED ! I hated it !
    Also - since this was 79 years past Kirk - then for the love of God -
    spend $20 Million dollars and give us Movie quality effects.
    Make it look like you are 80 years past what we have seen in the films.
    I just thought that now of that was achieved - that is - until Season Three -
    w/ ( like John said ) "Yesterday's Enterprise."
    I remember thinking - as the episode aired - ok ! now don't f this up and fix it all back to "normal" by the end of the episode - give us a two -parter or a season even - but don't change it back - the bridge set Finally looks like it should have all along ! and NO Troy !
    and hey - spaceships in a dog fights - The Enterprise C's
    ( the model they should have used as the Next Generation Enterprise
    from the get go ) well, her Captain is a woman and they kill her !
    ( it was that hair , you know) .
    Original Movie series uniforms - which to this day still look better than anything they ever sported on the Enterprise D
    ( minus Captain Picard's jacket - maybe?)
    Picard didn't surrender the ship ! Stuff blew up ! ...and Great Lines !!!
    But - it was all a dream - and it was over in 45minutes !
    Nooooooooooooooo!
    I never wanted THAT Next Generation episode to end.
    & Now they had me. Those Bastards. Those GD Bastards had me !

    Then the series ends - you try to follow the others - but - you know - life happens. Marriage, kids, 55 - 88 hour work weeks, death of parents, marriage fails, kid visitations, etc etc etc .

    and then you come back to this thing years later, ( I would come to have all the series on VHS, TOS and TNG on Laser, and finally the DVd's) and now you have this totally different adult perspective and you see so much more when you are re-watching TOS and Next Gen. then you did when you are young. Hey - remastered and CGI redo effects. Blu-ray HD !
    Some of it is -
    WOW ! that is the really campy - and some of it is really deep
    . But then you begin to quickly realize just how inconsistent these series were, and I think that's half then fun of it then. Thanks for the trip down memory lanes guys.

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