Neapolitan's analogy is not only very apt, it helps to explain the whole idea of Kirk beaming down every week. He was indeed seen as something of a sheriff --- TV at that time was still mostly dominated by the Western genre, and indeed when Roddenberry pitched Star Trek he called it "A Wagon Train to the stars (Wagon Train being a popular western series at the time) --- zap guns instead of six-shooters, aliens instead of injuns". So the idea of the sheriff (Kirk) and his deputy (Spock) staying at home (on the Enterprise) while "danger reared its head" or there was "trouble at the saloon" was pretty ludicrous to the TV-watching audience of the sixties. Kirk was the leader, and he should be in there getting his feet wet, fighting the bad guys. The ship could look after itself. Did Roy Rogers worry about his horse when he went into the saloon to sort out the bad guys? That sort of thinking --- the responsible, dedicated officer who put duty before personal fulfilment --- was not popular, hardly even dreamed of at the time.
Not to mention that many of the TOS episodes took place on a planet. With the nascent and embryonic state of special effects in the sixties and early seventies, it made financial sense and was just easier for the crew to face, say, cowboys on a planet or gangsters in an alternate reality (ie another planet, ie the same one!) than choreograph complicated space battles or the like. If Kirk were not on the planet, then it would be difficult for him to be in them, unless he was called down, and you couldn't have that happening every week. Shatner surely expected as much screentime as possible and would definitely not "do a Picard" and stay home (though in one or two episodes he did, but then either the show focussed on the ship or he beamed down soon after to the planet).
As NextGen came up, CGI and emerging techniques in effects, together with much tighter and more far-ranging storylines made it eminently possible for a story to take place completely aboard ship and not lose any of its drama, so that the imperative for the captain to be "planetside" was diluted. Also, as was mentioned, NexGen, knowing they would have a pretty rabid (read, nerdy) fanbase knew they would have to make it as realistic as possible, so things like ethics, duty, morality and codes of conduct were explored, making the show a more well-rounded affair.
__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
|