[cwerdna]

STAR TREK Documentary Series THE CENTER SEAT to Debut November 5 on The History Channel

First announced back in March, the ten-part series is set to debut Friday, November 5 on The History Channel with a weekly run of four episodes - after which the remaining six chapters in The Center Seat series will follow on The History Channel's subscription streaming service History Vault.

I'm in the middle of watching the 1st ep now.

 

[cwerdna]

I watched part 1 last night. It was ok. Some of the info I already knew. I didn't know about the funding situation early on and some of the Lucille Ball backstory nor did I know where the name Desilu came from.

Oddly, if I Google for center seat episodes, it lists 8 eps so far, eps 1 thru 6 "aired" on Nov 5th and the one that was on History Channel "Lucy Loves Trek" (E06?) being the ep that aired last night. Weird. It also points to a service Philo that I never heard of that I guess has those eps already?

 

[cwerdna]

Nah, they're mistaken (or being purposely misleading?) - philo is a streamer of linear channels and wouldn't have any access to the six Vault-only apps.

Thanks. Makes sense. Now, the Google search results in the upper right include Philo and Hulu.

I searched on Hulu's app and it comes up under "WATCH WITH LIVE TV" and if I tap on it tells me "Sorry, but your subsription doesn't include this series. You can manage your subscription from your Account page." And yeah, I don't subscribe to the pricey live TV portion of Hulu.

 

[cwerdna]

Ep 2 was ok. It focused on the animated series. I remember seeing some eps when I was a child. As such, a lot of info in ep 2 was unknown to me.

Maybe I'll go and rewatch TAS when I find some time.

 

[cwerdna]

It was funny how much adult/serious stuff they got into the show!

Exactly. What I recall them describing would've been totally over my head when I was a child.

Some of the stuff in TOS I didn't get when I was really young I now understand...

 

[cwerdna]

The Center Seat ep touched on the bizarre color choices in TAS.

 

[cwerdna]

Finally finished the ep that covered Phase II and TMP. That was a great ep! I knew about Phase II and Xon. I think I heard something about TMP being really rushed and down to the wire but didn't realize it was that bad and that the FX house, Abel failed that badly.

I'd known about John Dykstra and Andrew Probert's name comes up a lot in books. I'd just not seen him on TV/video. I didn't know about the fighting between Livingston and Roddenberry.

I have a deal from Roku for some channels including History Vault for only 99 cents/month good for 2 months. The deal ends up in about a week so I guess I'll subscribe to that channel/service to catch more/all of the remaining eps.

 

[cwerdna]

I finally found the time to get started on the eps that aren't being aired on TV via History Vault and a 99 cent/month deal via Roku.

In the middle of Queue for Q, labeled as ep 5. Am really enjoying it so far. The infamous lawyer that was mentioned a lot in Chaos on the Bridge was brought up a bunch.

 

[cwerdna]

What's available for me via History Vault subscription in the Roku app is weird. The 4 eps that aired on History Channel aren't present. I currently only have these:
E5: Queue for Q
E6: Dancing with Syndication on the Pale Moonlight - was on DS9
E8: Starships A-Z
E10: Trek Stars

So, it'd seem E7 and 9 are missing. Are they available elsewhere already or were they ones that aired and I'm missing something else?

Since someone else mentioned Amazon Prime, it seems Watch The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek Season 1 | Prime Video has the above + ep 7 but not 9.

Update: I closed Roku app's details page, searched for center seat again and now, it shows E1 thru 6 (so the 4 that aired on TV are present) then 8 and 10.

 

[cwerdna]

I submitted a help request with History Vault support the other day. I actually got a reply back. Their response in part read:

Thanks for reaching out. We have re-delivered Episode 7 to Roku and it is in processing. We expect it to be available soon.

Episode 9 has not been released yet, but should be available by next Friday.

I checked earlier today and on my Roku 3, it still only has eps 5, 6, 8 and 10. And, their iOS app still has eps 1 to 4, 5, 6 and 8.

It's odd that their set top box app has such a difference. If anyone has a Roku box/stick and is missing eps 1 to 4, you may want to reach out to Roku or History Vault support.

 

[cwerdna]

Another update: In the Roku iOS app for History Vault within the Roku channel, I now see eps 1 to 6 and 8 thru 10. Ep 7 is still missing but 9 got added.

Ep 9 is titled "It's Been A Long Time..." and the synopsis confirms that it's about Enterprise.

 

[cwerdna]

I'm getting close to done. Was on a vacation and also the release order has been funky. I just started on the Voyager ep.

The Enterprise one was good. I didn't realize a lot of the backstory going on w/Berman vs. Les Moonves and Manny Coto being given the reigns. I had seen every ep of Enterprise, AFAIK.

I totally forgot that they'd tried to jazz up the opening theme a bit by remixing it.