8 years ago
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Why Isn't There Any 'Star Trek' On Television?
Next year will be the fiftieth anniversary of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek franchise, one of the longest-running American film franchises spun off from two iterations of the property on television: the progenitor, Star Trek, and its sequel series Star Trek: The Next Generation. After Star Trek‘s three seasons on NBC hit syndication it became popular enough to let the cast transition into movies that told the story of Captain Kirk’s (William Shatner) crew past the initial five-year mission.
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As much as I love Star Trek (and hate Abrams with the heat of a thousand suns for his "reboot") I think it's a good thing that the franchise went on hiatus. One variation of the show was on television every year for almost thirty years, and Enterprise earned more jeers than cheers. Most people prefer to ignore Voyager altogether. They were struggling to keep the genre fresh and it was showing.
Would I love to see more Star Trek? Absolutely! But I want to see it done right and true to the original. CGI and explosions are no match for good acting and a compelling story. If the primary reason they do it is for nostalgia's sake it's likely to suck and the Star Trek universe deserves better than that.
I disagree, Voyager isn't TNG quality but it's still very good... it strays from the formula a bit but I don't want the same show again. I'm also not a fan of TOS though.
edit: I like DS9 a lot too... but enterprise ? nope.
Voyager is genuine Star Trek. Even if a few of the characters bug you, at least it’s Trek proper. Janeway’s an unusual character for TV. The “Year of Hell” episodes, Part I and Part II, are solid. The less said about Enterprise the better.
As long as we’re full-on geeking out, let me recommend a book I haven’t read in a long time, as risky as that can be. It's the novel in which John M. Ford developed Klingon culture in what I accept as the canon. It’s called The Final Reflection and it’s still around, if you look for it.
Sorry this is 4 days too late, but thank you for the recommendation!
Qapla'!
Maybe if netflix jumped on the chance and actually created a quality show with a strong cast.
They'll never be able to buy the rights away from Paramount and all the other entities with claims to the franchise. They're too lucrative. See: Marvel's intellectual property rights for Spiderman and the Fantastic Four.
Doesn't mean I can't dream :D
It would be a nice dream. And Netflix has been doing a good job with shows like Daredevil.
But they already have TNG streaming...I bet it gets a lot of consistent viewings.
Is there a "true to the original" though? I think this notion might be somewhat flawed, in that the greatest of an reiteration is always somewhat changed and evolved. I think a key problem with Voyager was the goal to stay "true to the original" which held it back (and the characters were not quickly differentiated and made unique during season one). With each iteration, I like a little change, risk taking, etc. It is only that risk that something beautiful might appear, but yes, the chances of quality coming out of each iteration is very, very low.
Some change is good but what Abrams did in the reboot wasn't even internally consistent let alone "true to the original." I mean, Kirk hasn't graduated the Academy yet in the reboot, but Chekov has. Nevertheless he's promoted above even serving ship officers to suddenly command the Enterprise.
Death is too good for Abrams.
It sounds like your standards are probably a little higher than my own! I enjoyed the RedLetterMedia review of the Abrams reboot though, I thought it was a fair analysis and critique.
The star trek reboots weren't all that different from any other Star Trek movies. Most of the good Star Trek movies ended up being a lot more action driven than the show, and none reached the level of the show as far as having a point to the story.
Rick Berman killed Trek with Enterprise, which may as well have been called Baywatch Space.
Abrams re-animated that carcass, but as always happens with ill-advised resurrection-from-beyond-the-grave stories, there was a twist — all that remained of the original was mindless action schlock. And lens flare. Lots and lots of lens flare.
I knew that was indeed all it would be since all the big movies are the same action crap ..I'm so dreadfully sick of their same old same old action thrillers..Soooo dreadfully boring.
I feel the same ole same ole
Yup,and once you have seen it, you have seen it. Different actors,different backdrop,but everything ends up being the same with the huge fight scene at the end, rinse and repeat.
You wonder how much more of this people will watch. I guess when they do we might move on.
Honestly, Enterprise started off bad, but by season 4 it had gotten really good. It felt like they ended Enterprise right as it was hitting it's stride.
"re-animated that carcass" Thank you for the best phrase I have heard on this day.