Post A Reply
my profile
|
directory
login
|
search
|
faq
|
forum home
»
Flare Sci-Fi Forums
»
Star Trek
»
General Trek
»
Star Trek 2000 - Live Long and Fester?
» Post A Reply
Post A Reply
Login Name:
Password:
Message:
HTML is enabled.
UBB Code™ is enabled.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Savar: [QB] Greetings all. I just joined the Forum and thought I'd solicit a few opinions from the august members regarding the history and future of Star Trek. I have lately become rather dismayed to observe that the Star Trek "franchise" has become exactly that - a franchise - a business proposition where anyone with enough money or power can purchase the right to create a new chapter in the epic, fill it with whatever drivel they desire, and call it Star Trek, with no thought or concern over whether it bears any resemblance to the original concept. With each successive series, the vision that Gene Roddenberry created is left further and further behind. This explains why each series was less popular than the one before it. Deep Space Nine never quite captured the Next Generation audience, and Voyager was watched by even fewer viewers. Voyager had so little support in some areas that many stations dropped the series from their lineups altogether. I do not mean to suggest that DS9 and Voyager were unsuccessful or lacking in entertainment value. Only that the concepts of these series strayed from that which made Star Trek the phenomenon it became in the first place. Star Trek was conceived by a humanist. Ultimately, in my humble opinion, it examined what it means to be human. Ironically, we learned about being human from non-human characters like Spock (yes, half-human, I know...) and Data. While there are still some vestiges of this philosophy to be found in DS9 (Odo)and Voyager (the Doctor), these series seem too preoccupied with their story arcs to truly explore the human condition. They risk turning Star Trek into just another space opera. I find myself wondering if Star Trek would have followed the same course if Gene Roddenberry had not died. I really doubt he would have approved of the dark, confrontational, war serial that DS9 became. And a series about a lost ship trying to get home is so clich� in science fiction... I know that before he died, Gene turned the production over to Rick Berman, but I have never been happy with his custodianship. It almost seemed that since he was not capable of creating a successful series himself, Berman tried to reshape Star Trek to his own tastes. The results, of course, were less than spectacular. For me, Star Trek is about a ship named Enterprise, her crew, and captain. Formulaic? Admittedly so. But Gene proved the formula works. He caught lightning in a bottle - twice. Stick to the charter. Show me strange new worlds. Seek out new life and new civilizations. Wait a few years until we all recover from Star Trek Overdose, then bring back the Enterprise. Tell the story of the Enterprise-B (just get a new Captain - not that spineless dunsel Harriman in his ill-fitting uniform), or the Enterprise-C (yes we know her fate, but what of the years before?) Fill in the gaps or find a new Enterprise to embark on. If this can't be done, perhaps we should consign Star Trek to the annals of television history and put an end to what might become a sad saga of mindless spin-offs, attempting merely to milk the cash cow. In my view, to let this happen would denigrate the legacy of a show that has had an enormous impact on American life, and diminish the memory of a man whose wonderful imagination created it all for the purpose of teaching us about ourselves. Well, that's my rant. I sincerely hope I haven't offended anyone. If DS9 or Voyager is your favorite show of all time, you'll get no quarrel from me. I enjoyed aspects of both shows. I would only argue that we shouldn't be so accepting of just anything Paramount is willing to slap a Star Trek label on. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Instant Graemlins
Instant UBB Code™
What is UBB Code™?
Options
Disable Graemlins in this post.
*** Click here to review this topic. ***
© 1999-2024 Charles Capps
Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3