I was perusing my local used book store, as I often do, and I came across a cache of those old Best of Trek fanzine anthologies. I've read most of them already, if only to glean an interesting point here and there. Anyway, I was reading the letters section in #15, and came across one letter circa 1987 from a die-hard Star Trek fan that amused me. I had my Pocket PC with me so I jotted a few quotes...
"I urge you not to devote much space in your books to The Next Generation--unless, of course, the space is used to expose it for what it is: apocryphal."
"I suspect there is a strong corrolation between knowing Star Trek and disliking The Next Generation."
Sound familiar to anyone?
Posted by Phelps (Member # 713) on :
Ryan, remember what Roddenberry kept saying about "The Next Generation" -- it was to be the better Star Trek ("I want you to say those people twenty years ago didn't do their job half as well"). He told Braga not to watch TOS in order to develop an independence from the show, make it better. He initially abandoned stories with Vulcans, and changed god knows how many things.
It was his idea that TNG was supposed to be a new vision of Trek, not simply a continuation of the old show. They were trying to get at a better show, not necessarily at a sequel. Given such a point of view, it's only natural that if you're seeking some kind of a continuation of TOS, TNG would be apocryphal.
"Enterprise" brings us back to that time period and reminds those fans who've by now seamlessly fit TOS into TNG and DS9 that TNG and DS9 have little to do with TOS in their creative vision, just as Roddenberry intended. That's why I have no problem with it being regarded as a show unto itself, "Enterprise" and not "Star Trek: Enterprise".
[ October 28, 2001: Message edited by: Phelps ]
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Yeah, there are some parallels between the start of The Next Generation and the start of Enterprise. If had to guess, though, I'd say that the more fiery anger towards a new Trek series was back in the 1980s in regards to The Next Generation. At that time, Star Trek fans didn't want a new series set in a new time featuring a new crew on a new Enterprise. The fans at that time wanted the new adventures of Captain Kirk on the new starship Enterprise. Of course, I'm making a very big generalization. Not every fan was opposed to the idea just as not every fan is opposed to Enterprise.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
"He told Braga not to watch TOS in order to develop an independence from the show, make it better."
Not to Nixpick, but surely "Berman", not Braga. I think Roddenberry was quite, quite dead by the time Braga had any real influence on the show.
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
He was referring to when Braga joined the TNG staff (around seasons 3-5? im not sure?) he told Roddenberry that he had not seen much TOS.. Roddenberry told him not to.. so that he could keep his creative prespective. Braga once said in an interview that he 'doesnt watch TOS', based on the fact that he was trying not to. Since everyone took him to be a philistine, a destroyer of worlds and bearing the mark of a continuity hating beast, he has since watched TOS.
But I still dont like him
Posted by Ryan McReynolds (Member # 28) on :
quote:Originally posted by CaptainMike: But I still dont like him
You know, I may be shot for this, but I don't really mind Braga. At times, I like the guy, at others, I'm indifferent. Aside from his one-time comment about not caring about continuity (which he has since proven to have overcome in Enterprise interviews), I can't really think of much that Braga has done that frustrates me, aside perhaps from getting to do Jeri Ryan.
I think a much stronger argument could be made for disliking Berman ... though all good Star Trek since TOS (Seasons 3-7 of TNG, DS9, and parts of Voyager, for instance) has been under his reign, so that argument isn't all that great either. Unless, of course, you think the first season of The Next Generation was the pinnacle of Star Trek and it's been downhill since.
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
Yeah, I realize that Braga is just doing his job. I'm just not sure I like where him and Berman are taking Star Trek... but that isnt even their faults, its the Paramount-Viacom ownership that takes Star Trek out of the hands of the fans.
But they are the figureheads that get all the criticism when stuff goes bad
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
If you want Star Trek straight from the hands (and other parts) of the fans, you're free to go to alt.startrek.creative. Of course, there might be some minor side effects, such as internal bleeding or brain damage. Still, that's a small price to pay to read about Captain Skip Haverskip's adventures on "teh USS Sovregin!"
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
Yes, there is a certain safety we take for granted by having all our Star Trek come from people whos parents spent a lot of money getting them that there readin' 'ritin' and 'rithmetic edjimication from that there hahvahd or yail (or brown if they didnt study hard enough).
And most of the times i read fanfics they might even start off with good sentence construction and spelling, but then all of a sudden Kirk and Spock have sex. ew.
Posted by Phelps (Member # 713) on :
It's not that difficult to write fanfic. There are no rules, no quality control, no agents to deal with, no producers who could reject you.
