Text 639, 75 rader
Skriven 2005-02-05 08:25:00 av David A. Berkowitz (1:278/230)
Ärende: ENTERPRISE canceled!
============================


At 12:45 AM 2/5/2005, you wrote:

>Hmm... one of the things that Berman and company have always said they've
>been trying to do with post-TNG Trek was to make it more accessible to new
>viewers.  Hence, they plopped Voyager into a "new universe" in the Delta


>require hundreds of hours of continuity to understand -- to the point that
>they dropped such trappings as the "Star Trek" name and the traditional
>instrumental theme.

Dropping the Star Trek name was a mistake, IMO.  Not that I think it made 
any difference one way or the other.  And the different type of theme was 
also a big mistake. "Faith of the Heart" was certainly an appropriate mood 
piece for the first season concept as it was almost entirely devoted to 
exploration and celebration of mankind wandering out into the galaxy for 
the first time. But to the established fan base it was a jarring 
departure.  And newbies would have had no basis for comparison, so it was a 
different theme merely for the sake of difference.

And I have to back off of my criticism of Enterprise not breaking new 
ground, because it really did - or at least they tried.  The pacing of the 
episodes and the episode content (ignoring Broken Bow which was, after all, 
a pilot) was very different from the Treks that came before. Unfortunately, 
"different" didn't mean "good."  And TPTB quickly went back to a 
comfortable, but worn out format.  This season (and last) with 
substantially better writing, the results continue to be poor because the 
decision has consciously been made to cater primarily to the long standing 
fan base.  But I think that's OK.  We long time loyalists will apparently 
get good closure for this well conceived but mishandled series.

Paramount has come to realize that the franchise needs a rest if it is to 
continue into the future.  We have to look at this as a GOOD THING.  And 
hopefully, we'll all still be alive and kicking for the next TV incarnation.


>As much as I hate to say it, though, the best answer may be to "reboot" the
>Trek universe by creating a whole new TOS with a new cast and an updated

This is a very workable approach.  But, why call it Star Trek?  It would 
simply be a new ship based science fiction series.  The biggest advantage 
guaranteed to a series named Star Trek is that, for the most part, elements 
of the society and technology are so much part of the general culture that 
they can be assumed rather than explained.  People who have never seen a 
single episode of Trek know what phasers are and what warp speed 
means.  And there is the secondary benefit of guaranteeing a base of a 
million steady viewers who will watch anything that is part of this 
franchise and buy related merchandise.  But pleasing a million people just 
isn't enough.

>idea...  I don't know if I'm completely sold on the idea, but if it would
>make a Trek series popular again -- and give the writers a boost with pretty
>much infinite ways to approach this new universe (after all, there's no
>guarentee the "rules" would be same as in the Trek universe we know), who am
>I to argue?

I don't think that the universe and its rules are the problem.  The problem 
is that there is nothing new on Earth to explore at this time - or at least 
nothing that TPTB are likely to explore.  Sci Fi always is at its best when 
it examines today's world through tomorrow's eyes.  The Trek series that 
would be relevant today is one in which the entire Federation has been 
corrupted by commercial interests and the citizens have had their freedoms 
restricted due to an overreaction to terrorist activities.  That's pretty 
close to the Babylon 5 scenario, isn't it?

Dave 



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