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Incoming hail!Incoming Hail from: Captain Adam Heinbuch, USS Eclipse - NX-94359
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Stardate: 51798.5
I'd like to bid everyone welcome to this, the first edition of Incoming Hail and the new Behavior Group newsletter. It is my hope that this commentary will serve to examine and debate various issues of Modern Trek. Right now, the basic idea of this commentary is that it will examine a various subject over the course of many separate commentaries, although, a shorter subject may be only one commentary long. As my first topic, I thought I'd tackle an area filled with mass speculation and rumor, that area being The Future of Star Trek. So, without further ado, let's start the how...
The Future of Star Trek
Part I: The Past
To begin this exploration, let's summerize what has come before, shall we?
It all began, as many of you know, when a man named Gene Roddenberry had a vision. It was a vision of a future where humanity no longer fought amongst themselves. It was a future where humanity had created a vast interstellar organization known as the Federation, who explored the galaxy peacefully, instead of conquering it through force. And most importantly, it was a future where humanity coexisted peacefully with those who were alien. This vision became the classic Star Trek (now referred to The Original Series). TOS introduced viewers to the wonderful world that is Trek. Depicting the 5-year voyage of the original USS Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, this show inspired and awed millions world wide. It has since become integrated into our culture and part of everyday language. Indeed, modern culture also had its effect on TOS. Many of the ideas introduced in TOS had a basis in real life. The mighty Klingon Empire was to represent the Soviet Union. Racism was dealt within the episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, where a civilization composed of people who are black on one side of the body and white on the other, war to the death with the other half of their population who have the skin coloring switched. But despite all of these great stories and ideas, TOS had many close encounters with cancellation, finally meeting its fate after 79 episodes from three seasons.
After its death, TOS endured through years of syndication, and grew to a popularity beyond what anyone imagined it could achieve. Ten years after it had been canceled, Paramount began to plan a sequel, which would have been know as Star Trek 2. It would reunite the original cast, with the exception of Leonard Nimoy, in a brand-new series. Production was on the verge of beginning on this new series when a new movie called Star Wars swept the world. Its groundbreaking Special Effects got the powers that be at Paramount thinking. Could Star Trek be resurrected in the form of a multimillion dollar movie with massive amounts of Special FX? Star Trek: The Motion Picture resulted from this question. Though it wasn't exactly the best of movies, it made a large profit and began a new life for Star Trek. ST's popularity continued to grow at a rapid rate. To follow up on the first film's success, ST II: The Wrath of Kahn was made. This movie was, and still is considered to be one of the best ST movies around. The Original crew went on to make four (five if you count ST: Generations) more movies before this founding chapter of ST history came to an end.
Looking at the success of the first three movies, TPTB began to wonder if it could be possible to capture lightning in a bottle a second time, as they put it. Could they create a totally new ST series? Would it be accepted by the fans? Fortunately for us, they made the attempt... and succeeded. Thus, Star Trek: The Next Generation was born. This series was to revolutionize ST. Set 100 years after the beginning of TOS, this series was to be based around the adventures of the new USS Enterprise - NCC-1701-D. This ship and its crew, commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, started off little unsure of itself, but soon found its legs and rose above and beyond the original series success. Following the tradition of TOS before it, TNG also drew upon current real world events to create its stories from. The issues of Drug abuse and Terrorism were the inspiration for the episodes Symbiosis and The High Ground. After seven glorious years of production, TNG left the world of Television and moved into the land of Movies.
The first TNG film outing, entitled Star Trek: Generations, was partially a symbolic passing of the torch movie. It included three of the original series crew members (Scotty, Chekov and most importantly Captain Kirk). This movie key events were the destruction of the Enterprise D and the death of the legendary James T. Kirk. Opinions were varied, but Generations was a good first try for the TNG crew. The next movie would go down in history as a worthy competitor to ST II for favorite Star Trek Movie. Star Trek: First Contact reintroduced viewers to the Borg, TNG’s most feared and favorite villains. ST:FC also introduced us to the brand-new USS Enterprise - NCC-1701-E. The main focus of this film was a key event in the history of the Federation, that being first contact with an alien culture, namely the Vulcans. After receiving almost unanimous liking by fans, it was a sure thing that there would be a 3rd TNG movie.
Star Trek IX, rumored to be named Star Trek: Prime Directive at the present time, began filming on the March 31, 1998 and is projected to be released on November 20, 1998. One thing is certain, The Next Generation chapter in ST history is not yet over...
Thus ends my first commentary. Next issues editorial will continue this subject into the present era of Trek. Until then, this is Captain Heinbuch, signing off...
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Incoming Hail...
Incoming Hail from: Captain Adam Heinbuch, USS Eclipse - NX-94359
Engage Starfleet Security Encryption Mode: 42680 Delta Blue
Stardate: 51922.5
Welcome to the second edition of Incoming Hail. In this weeks edition we'll be taking a look at the present ST series.
The Future of Star Trek
Part II: The Present
The Time: the Sixth Season of TNG
The Idea: A third Star Trek series
The Setting: An abandoned Cardassian space station
The Twist: A stable wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant.
During the late 5th season of TNG, the Powers That Be looked at the massive fanbase supporting The Next Generation and began to seriously wonder if they could run two ST series at the same time. It looked promising, but if they were to create a new show, it would like nothing ever seen before in ST. They needed a setting that was completely different than that onboard a starship. They needed a setting that would allow for storylines even though the show would never actually go anywhere. The solution? An alien space station next to a recently discovered wormhole leading to a far off part of the galaxy. Over the course of many months, the pieces that would form this
series fell into place.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine opened with a bang, a very big bang. The opening scene of the pilot was a retelling of the Battle of Wolf 359, complete with Locutus of Borg giving a deadly warning to the Federation Armada assembled to stop the Borg from assimilating Earth. Right away, I loved this series!
One of the central themes in DS9 is Religion. In the last newsletter, Daryus wrote an article on this, so I will refer you to it instead of repeating things. A second theme is DS9 as of late, is War. The Federation/Dominion conflict had been building since the Season Finale of Season 2. Lead by the shape-shifting Founders, the Dominion is out to impose order to all of the galaxy, specifically the Alpha Quadrant (us). Being shape-shifters, the Founders had sparked massive paranoia throughout the governments of the AQ. The Jem'Hadar are ruthless and cunning warriors, genetically engineered to be the ultimate fighting machines. They are a worthy match for even the Klingons. The mounting conflict came to a head in the 5th season "Call to Arms", where the Federation declared war. The war has provided many opportunities to see things at a different angle than normal. The Federation is appearing to be not all as perfect as it was told to be, as we see it's darker side during war. Several characters have been forced to make some less-than-ideal actions in attempts to keep the Federation afloat. Despite all the great story possibilities, one gets the feeling that the writers are afraid to look too deeply into the war. Several times this season, we have been given useless fluff episodes featuring comedy or love stories. I personally find these distracting and unrealistic. The Federation is engaged in the bloodiest war it has ever fought and the crew of DS9 are off fooling around in the holosuites!
Still, DS9 is hands down, the best of the Star Trek series. It has the best actors, the best writers, setting, storyline, it has it all. There may be a few who disagree, but this is the overall consensus. It is a shame that next season will be it's last. Can DS9 wrap up all it's lose ends in only one season? Will the Dominion War be concluded? Will Bajor finally join the Federation? Will the Dominion take revenge on Cardassia for the attempted destruction of the Founder's homeworld? There are several more dangling plot threads that remain to be tied up for good. There 's no doubt that DS9's 7th season will be one, if not THE best. Deep Space Nine, like The Next Generation before it, will be going out on top. It will be missed.
The Time: The end of TNG's 7th season
The Idea: Yet another ST series to replace TNG after it's run ended
The Setting: A return to a starship-based show.
The Twist: The ship would be stranded in the Delta Quadrant, 70,000 lys from home.
Star Trek: Voyager... Where to begin? This show was planned to be the perfect replacement for TNG It would take place on a starship, but this ship would not be traveling around in the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager began with great promise. One ship, all alone in the middle of unexplored space. No Federation to fall back on, no starbases for supplies, hostile and unknown races all around them. Unfortunately, the writers considered this reality to be boring for the audience and they chose to have a clean, fully stocked and looking like it was fresh out of McKinley Station every episode. The endless supply of shuttles? How many shuttles has Voyager gone through, exactly? Limited torpedoes? Back in the first season, Voyager only had 40-ish torpedoes and couldn't replace them. Now? They have lots of torps. In the season finale alone, they shot off 5 or 6. And these are only the technical mistakes the show has made.
Voyager's second weakness is the stories telling. Dare I mention "Threshold"? "Favourite Son"? There are dozens more. The sad fact is that most of the time, the writers on Voyager just don't know how to write an interesting episode. True, there have been several good eps. But the percentage of Bad to Good is tipped drastically in Bad's favour.
Overall, I place Voyager at the bottom of my 'Favourite Series' list. It seems that the whole show was written for a dumber audience. Almost like a cartoon. TNG was a moderate show when it came to actual thought needed by the viewer to follow and understand. DS9 is far and away the most thought provoking and requiring series. Voyager? My cat can understand that show just as well as any other 14 year old boy. Did I hear someone say Seven of Nine? The reason that she was brought on in the first place is such a low point that I won't even go into detail. On the upside, she is a great actress and has been one of the bright spots this season. Hopefully, next season will try to shake off the show's bad image.
There you have it. Next issues editorial will really get into some interesting ground, the future of Trek. Until then, this is Captain Heinbuch, signing off...
End of Message
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Incoming Hail...
Incoming Hail from: Captain Adam Heinbuch, USS Eclipse - NX-94359
Engage Starfleet Security Encryption Mode: 42680 Delta Blue
Stardate: 51998.4
Hey, all! Welcome back to the third issue of The BG Newsletter and my third commentary. This issue marks the end of my 3-part examination of Star Trek�s history with a look at what may lie in store for dawning of the next millennium.
The Future of Star Trek
Part III: The Future
As of right now, there is exactly one season of DS9 left and up to 3 of Voyager still to come. In one year�s time, DS9 will be history, going out with a bang I�m sure. Where will Voyager be in a year?
Good question. With Braga now in charge of Voyager�s production, the future of that show is looking brighter than of late. I guess we�ll just have to wait and see. But 3 years from now, Voyager will most likely have just aired its Series Finale and will have joined TOS, TNG and DS9 as part of Star Trek history. The question then becomes �Now what?�
- Should there be a 5th series?
Have the channels out there become too saturated with ST? There are almost 500 hours of ST floating around out there in TV Land, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And there�s still another 100 hours of episodes yet to come. Does the world REALLY need another series?
Many of you would say �Yes� without a second thought. But really think about it... What else is there to do that we have not already seen? Many people already complain that modern Trek is running low on ideas. Every few Voyager episodes, there seems to be a plot which bears a small resemblance to something TOS or TNG did years ago. I admit, you can�t always have a completely original idea but what if you can�t manage to make it different enough so that we, the viewers, do
not experience deja vu? Another problem: ST�s ratings are down drastically since the end of TNG. The cause? Many factors. Having 2 series co-existing creates competition for resources. Many viewers only watch one or the other, thus cutting the audience in half. DS9 is syndicated while Voyager is the flagship UPN show. Thus, Voyager gets all the promotion while DS9 gets virtually nil. But the main factor in my opinion, is that there are just too much ST out there and not enough demand to support it. ST, under the command of Berman, has become concerned about making money, not quality entertainment. ST is exploited where ever possible for a fast buck.
So, what is the best solution to this? Well, for that we should look back 30 years ago. The Original Series was never popular by today�s standards. After it was canned, there was a 10-year period where there was no new Trek. But oddly enough, TOS�s popularity soared. I think that now is a good time for another break in ST. A good 5 or 10 year break would clear out all the writers we have now (not that they�re bad, just tired and out of ideas after 10 years of solid Trek). In 10 years, Paramount could bring in completely fresh people with brand new ideas to work with. This would also allow people to build up a real hunger for new ST and also to create a larger fanbase.
- But I don�t want to wait 5 or 10 years. I want Trek now.
If there was to be a 5th series now, what should it be about? TPTB have repeatedly stated that there are no series in the works, but let�s ignore that for now. Would you have another series, set on a starship right after DS9 ends? Why not just bring Voyager home then? We�ve seen that type of show twice already. Captain Sulu of the Excelsior? One word: Why? Should we have a series set at Starfleet Academy? Honestly, who would want to see a bunch of Wesley Crushers running around week after week? How about an all Klingon show, set on a Klingon ship? Well, maybe. But many people already complain when DS9 does Klingon episodes. A series about them would really piss them off. The most original and interesting idea would be an anthology show. Something like the Outer Limits. Every week would be something completely new. We could go back in time and see what happened when the Federation first met the Klingons. We could watch the horror of the Romulan War and see the birth of the United Federation of Planets. How about the Cardassian War? The adventures of Captain April on the original Enterprise. Anything and everything would
go. Wanna see more of the Orion Syndicate? See how ordinary Federation citizens think of things? The possibilities are ENDLESS. Now, some of you may think that such a series would be incredibly expensive. Why would it be any more than current ones? With CGI, set construction would be minimal. You would not have to pay actors big bucks for 5 year contracts, every actor would be signed up on a per episode basis. The only limiting factor would be the writer�s imagination.
- So, what exactly would *you* like to see?
I would like a 5 to 10 year break from the TV series� only. Movies every 2 years and the novels would be enough new Trek for me. After this break, I�d like an all-new production staff, brimming with new ideas, to start making that anthology series. The sheer amount of area that could be covered on such a series would easily provide 10 season�s worth of stories and the Trek-starved public would just eat it up. I fear that if ST continues as it is now, there will not be any new ST for far longer than 10 years, if ever... So let�s all cross our fingers and hope that ST will still be around, many years from now, in all its glory so that our children can enjoy it as much as we do.
Well, there you have it. I hope that everyone who has read these 3 commentaries has learned something new and interesting. I also hope that you also have gained a new respect for ST as a whole. Since the Newsletter is going bi-weekly, I will only have a commentary every-other issue. Now I have to think of something else to comment about... Until then, this is Captain Heinbuch, signing off...End of Message
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