Can Star Trek Be Saved? (lighter topic alert)

TV Guide ^ | 2/03 | Nollinger

[Sloth]

I guess I am one of the fans that drifted away.

Timeline:

I was born in 1975, so I grew up watching syndicated reruns of the original series on local TV... loved it! I would draw pictures of the Enterprise and Klingon ships. (Aw, heck, I still do sometimes... Here's one I did a few weeks ago using MS Paint, of all things.) I don't remember a time before I was into Star Trek.

Okay, so being born in '75, I was fortunate enough to miss out on the awful Motion Picture, with its interminable shots of the V'ger cloud and the same ominous chord playing over it 40 quadrillion times, interspersed with shots of pastel-pajama-clad (!) Starfleet officers gaping in awe.

The first Trek movie I can actually remember seeing is The Wrath of Khan -- wow, 180 degrees away from that 'Motion Picture' crap. Arguably the most dramatic movie of the franchise. Ricardo Montalban was a cool villain, the uniforms finally looked like something military, and there was everything lacking in the first movie -- tension, suspense, action, humor, and good characterization, consistent with the TV show. All around, outstanding.

The Search for Spock was not so good as 'Khan,' but it still was a creditable effort. Replacing Kirstie Alley's Saavik seemed a little weird, instead of just writing her out, but that can be overlooked. In fact, this movie has grown on me over the years... especially Kirk's devastated reaction to David Marcus's death. It's always cool to see Kirk's human vulnerabilities, because you know he's going to kick some @$$ afterwards, not sit and cry like Picard. :)

The Voyage Home, even with it's PC eco-nut save-the-whales theme, was thoroughly enjoyable, even without the Enterprise. A lot of humor, a lot of character interplay, and the 20th-century fish-out-of-water time travel device that still worked well then but has since been overplayed into predictability. Very well written.

The Final Frontier... from one awkward campfire scene to another... hmmm, well, the less said about this, the better. It was better than ST:TMP, but that ain't saying much.

The Undiscovered Country -- Excellent. Even though it stank as a whodunit, the plotting was very good, the characters were on-target, life on the Enterprise had a cool, dark, edgy quality, it actually presented some new ideas (i.e., detente with the Klingon Empire, even as the Cold War was ending in Real Life). Christopher Plummer as an outstanding villain, possibly better than Khan. My favorite Trek movie, overall.

I guess at this point I should talk about the newer TV incarnations. The Next Generation started off a little poorly, but it really improved in later seasons. A little too PC, but well-executed. It took me years to grudgingly admit it, but TNG ended up being a better series than the original in many ways. As long as you throw out any episode in which Riker is cleanshaven, that is. Best characters: Data, and perhaps Worf. Worst characters: Guinan and especially Weasely Crusher.

Next was Deep Space Nine. I have mixed opinions about this show. I really liked some of the characters (O'Brien, Kira, Bashir and especially Odo) but the stories seemed to fall flat. They tried to shake it up some by adding the Defiant, but it still didn't really click. One big difference introduced in this series was extended, overlapping story arcs -- an admirable goal, and more like real life, but they also made it hard to appreciate individual episodes without having seen the previous ones. Overall, this series was fairly good, and worth watching, but didn't deserve any feature films. I didn't watch it nearly as faithfully as TNG.

Voyager -- what on earth happened? I watched a handful of episodes and never watched again. Maybe they got better later on, but that's not what I've heard from those who did watch. The characters were flat, and the stories were pitiful. Janeway's command style -- if you can even call it that -- was atrocious. Absurd, contrived moral angst over the stupidest things. Tuvok should have arrested Janeway due to gross unfitness for command, & assumed control of the ship.

Enterprise -- beats me, haven't seen it.

Okay, back to the movies...

Generations -- Technically well-executed, but a crappy story with plot holes so gargantuan you could fly a Borg cube through them. The ridiculous plot sequence of events still drives me nuts every time I see it. Otherwise, it would have been a good movie.

First Contact -- much better effort by the Next Generation crew. Tension, action and a better plot. No 'Wrath of Khan' but still worth the price of admission.

Insurrection -- Quite a good movie, this ninth entry broke the old 'odd-bad, even-good' rule for Star Trek films. It was well-acted and the plot was okay. The characters were consistent with what we already knew, although they really were milking that 'Data goes crazy and disobeys Starfleet' thing, since it was in all of the last three movies. Would you let someone this unstable be a commander of a starship?

Nemesis -- don't know, haven't seen it. Honestly, I wanted to, and would have if I had been busy getting married and moving when it came out. I wish it was still in theaters locally. I'll certainly buy the DVD.

I've gone on way too long, so I'll summarize:

Voyager's bad writing killed it.

[Cold Heat]

Why don't you take a gander at the gay sites that follow his career and call me in the morning.LOL

The guy is not straight in my book.

Look, I am still pissed about Rock Hudson!

[Bogey78O]

What? You didn't like Tuvix? Heh.

[sonofatpatcher2]

As I said in my post Here 02/23/2003 5:25 AM CST:

Ok, sports fans. Nemesis tanked somewhat at the cash box (It will make a bundle overseas and in Video-DVD sales) and "Enterprise" has low ratings. What can put the star back in Star Trek?

IMHO: Ashley Judd as Captain Lefler of the USS Enterprise-F with (Jerri Ryan) Seven of Nine as her Number One.

Star power plus acting chops, beauty and two tuff broads leading a new Enterprise would do it for me.

BTW, I always have thought Kirk would kick Picard's hinney-- YET Janeway would bitch slap all the Enterprise's Captains. She's in a class of her own and never sat in the Captain's chair on the Enterprise.

Remember, Janeway showed her steel by not once, not twice, but three times using her death to make things right. Review all the episodes. Janeway would eat Kirk, Picard and Worf for lunch.

Don't confuse Kate the actress (She's anti-war braindead) with her character who would have taken Saddam to the woodpile long ago.

[hattend]

Yep, 2 women and 4 kids are one hell of a beard.

Just because the gay community likes him doesn't make a man homosexual. Maybe they think he's cute.

[Liberal Classic]

Good post. I like Farscape, but its storyline has none of the scope of Babylon-5. Farscape is a better "Trying To Get Home" story than Voyager was, and the special effects and puppetry make it stand out among other sci-fi television shows, but nothing had the emotional impact of Babylon-5. It really had the sense that it was going somewhere. It didn't use a lot of violence, but when it did it was to drive home a point.

What was great about Babylon 5 is they weren't afraid to kick butt, either. Take this quote from the end of season two (The Fall of Night) where Sheridan was chastising the Centauri ambassador for putting him in the position of firing on a Centauri warship to protect a Narn one:

"I apologize. I'm... sorry. I'm sorry we had to defend ourselves against an unwarranted attack. I'm sorry that your crew was stupid enough to fire on a station filled with a quarter million civilians, including your own people. And I'm sorry I waited as long as I did before I blew them all straight to hell... As with everything else, it's the thought that counts."

Can you imagine Captain Janeway ever saying anything like that? No way.

[demosthenes the elder]

To make matters worse, the edict from Roddenberry shortly before his death to make the future "politically correct" and conflict free meant that it is difficult to get a real level of drama going. We can't have the great sorts of debates we used to have between Kirk, Spock and McCoy because, now, every one has to get along. We can't ever have a really EVIL alien race because that would be politically incorrect...

screw him, he's DEAD. What's he going to do, SUE??? I prefer a more dystopian universe... gimme B5 any day.

[Bogey78O]

Janeway's badly scripted and weak. Kirk was a solid character.

[AFreeBird]

If you want decent SF on TV, you have to watch Farscape (cancelled by the SciFi Channel and ending on Mar 21)

I like that series, too bad it got canceled now that it is starting to get interesting with Criten being able to open wormholes and all.

I DO like Enterprise but would like to see some more of the American Pioneering spirit as portrayed by Rodenberry in the original. Yea cut the PC crap.

I also like Stargate SG-1. Lots of action, character development and interaction is good too. I liked the recently aired episode where the weasel Senator invited other nations ambassadors for a briefing (Disclosure) on the Stargate, trying to screw Gen. Hammond (from Texas) in the process. It failed at the end when Thor, the Supreme Commander of the Asgard (Little Grey Dudes) made a special appearence and stated that although it was not required for continuing relations with Earth that Gen. Hammond and his team remain in place; it was Preferred.

Check and mate on the Senator. I cheered. Good show. Maybe Trek can borrow some of their writers.

[Cold Heat]

I won't give him the benefit of a doubt.

The PC crowd has not influenced my thinking as of yet.

Actually, it is of little consequence, but his stage presence is undeniably feminine.

If he is, and has not come out, that is his wifes problem. The reports that I have seen regarding his sexuality were more than rumors.

[Political Junkie Too]

This series was supposed to explain the events and character that were taken as given in the TOS. To that end, they so far have mixed results.

The story arc with the Andorians is good, they need more like that. The Suliban and the Temporal Cold War will need a final solution in order to explain why it was never mentioned in any other series.

Other story arcs to introduce/play up could include: 1) The Orion Syndicate, 2) the merchant fleet (there were several episodes in TOS where merchant captains -- not good enough for Starfleet -- were involved, 3) the rise of Starfleet (who were the original three races: Earth, Vulcan, and ???), 4) the pig-faced race, etc.

-PJ

[demosthenes the elder]

hrmn... the idea has merit.

[sonofatpatcher2]

Sorry, Bogey, but I beg to differ. Have you seen all the episodes of "Voyager?" Janeway is tough as nails in all of them. If you have and still think Janeway is a whimp, I guess we will just have to disagree.

[mg39]

Okay, that's Vulcan behavior, and I can be talked in what you say, but riddle me this: the TOS Vulcans were much stronger than humans. Which episode was it where Kirk punched Spock a few times, and Spock backhanded Kirk and flipped him through the air? (Amok Time, methinks). It was pretty well established that Vulcans were all like that.

Fast forward to "Enterprise." The episode where the Vulcans were hiding a spy center in some Vulcan temple, and the Andorians got all peeved. Anyways, at the end Archer k.o.'d a Vulcan with one punch.

I know, I'm nitpicking, but continuity is half the fun!

[Media Insurgent]

I'm really not much of a Trekkie. I liked the original series as a kid, and am a very causual watcher of everything that has come since on TV. I've seen all the movies except the last one. In short, I think I'm exactly the kind of person that Star Trek needs to appeal to to come back as a franchise. The hardcore sci-fi fans will always be there unless you really tick them off. People like me need a little more coaxing to come into the fold.

I agree with the people who have said that the new shows are over-reliant on revisiting the same old, same old. This stuff has been done ad nauseum. I read an interview with Berke Breathed (of "Bloom County" fame) and he described Star Trek as an obsolete buggy whip which has been beaten to death with buggy whips. That's a great way to put it. Rehashing old favorites might satisfy the cultists, but it's boring for the more casual fan.

I think these shows need more of a sense of the new and different. Science fiction should challenge you, open your eyes to new possibilities, and occasionally creep you out. It shouldn't be a stroll down memory lane (unless it's a time travel episode...and even then it should be a weird stroll!)

I get the sense that the people calling the shots for this franchise believe their own hype too much. They are so wrapped up in being a cultural icon that they are afraid to entertain. They're looking at these shows as a merchandising cash cow instead of drama. That's always a formula for bad art. I'm not saying that they shouldn't care about financial success, just that they should concentrate on making a good product and trust that the money will follow that.

Just my $0.02.

[AFreeBird]

Aviators sent on GI missions?! Ain't happenin'.

Don't tell that to the Marines whose aviators are grunt riflemen first and do pound ground just so they know who it is they're supporting from the air.

BTW: Space Above and Beyond was about MARINES. U.S. MARINES!

[Frank_Discussion]

DOH! AAAARRGGGHH!! I havn't seen that SG-1 ep yet!!! My eyes, my EYES!

(Yeah, I say send Senator Buttmunch on his way...)

[hattend]

If he is, and has not come out, that is his wifes problem. The reports that I have seen regarding his sexuality were more than rumors.

Guess we'll have to disagree. I'll take 4 kids by 2 women over a bunch of rumors or inuendo from a bunch of sexual deviants anyday.

Unless you personally have actually seen him pitching or catching, that's all it is, rumors or inuendo.

[Political Junkie Too]

Which episode was it where Kirk punched Spock a few times, and Spock backhanded Kirk and flipped him through the air? (Amok Time, methinks).

That was the one with the spores. Kirk was trying to get Spock mad in order to cancel the effect of the spores.

Spock wanted to arrest himself for striking an officer, Kirk said if we're both in the brig, who will save the ship?

-PJ

[demosthenes the elder]

yes, and YES.
B5 was supreme.
Crusade sucked.
You may have noticed, Crusade was essentially "B5: Star Trek"
...and people wonder why B5 fans panned the show!