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Should Star Trek Die?

securitas writes "The New York Times Television reporter William S. Kowinski writes about questions of the Star Trek franchise's viability due to overexposure, audience fatigue and creative exhaustion. Star Trek actor and director LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge) is in favor of a hiatus, and is quoted as saying, 'Star Trek's just not special enough, not anymore.... They need to shut the whole thing down, wait five years, create an interest, an excitement, a hunger for it again.' Also quoted are Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and executive producer Rick Berman. The article is particularly salient given the recent announcement of Star Trek Online, a massively multiplayer online game scheduled to launch in 2007. Remember that Activision sued Viacom over the Star Trek franchise last year, ending the license despite a 10-year licensing agreement that originally expired in 2008. So the question is: Should Star Trek die?"

49 of 703 comments (clear)

  1. I think it died by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

    1. Re:I think it died by hplasm · · Score: 1, Funny

      The 7th episode... hmm that would make it 7 of 9. That should make for some ST v SW geek wars... :>>|

      --
      ...and he grinned, like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.
  2. Yes... by AltImage · · Score: 5, Funny

    The good of the many outweighs the needs of the few...

    1. Re:Yes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...or the one.

      *cough*Berman*cough*

    2. Re:Yes... by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's a typo. You meant to say:

      The good of the money outweighs the needs of the few.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    3. Re:Yes... by madprof · · Score: 5, Funny

      No one has the courage to say "It's dead Jim"...

    4. Re:Yes... by pjt33 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nonsense. It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.

    5. Re:Yes... by petepac · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm a Slashdotter, not a Doctor!!!

      --
      >> Practice Safe Hex
  3. ST XX: Return of the Franchise by richie2000 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Star Trek can't die. It can enter a state of suspended animation, however, and that's what it should do. Hibernate, if you will, to be revived when we have the technology to cure it. Put the whole thing in a time capsule and dig it up in five years, conveniently "forgetting" to pack any oxygen for Berman. That should do the trick nicely.

    --
    Money for nothing, pix for free
    1. Re:ST XX: Return of the Franchise by richie2000 · · Score: 4, Funny
      Um, yeah. In the pattern buffer interface right next to the impulse-stream modulator. Stick Berman in it and then transport the whole section into a nearby star. Kinda like the Beam-A-John 3000:

      Enterprise Tech Manual, page 378:

      The Galaxy-class starships are the first Federation-built space vessels built with only one conventional bathroom (in the Captain's private cabin). All other cabins come with a Beam-A-John 3000 personal transporter that will transport all human (or alien) waste products into space, well aft of the ship.

      The model 3000 also has the newly implemented Waste-Away feature that gives the feces a relative speed to the ship corresponding to one quarter impulse power. This ensures that, even during heavy manoeuvering, the ship will never double-back and hit anything to spoil that beautiful off-white Federation paintjob. Should the inertial dampening field collapse, the Beam-A-John 3000's powerful sensor array can also cope with any kind of surprise vomit attack. The main and battle bridges are ofcourse equipped with enough transporter power to handle an elephant's excrement, should Q see fit to materialize one there.

      --
      Money for nothing, pix for free
  4. Anyone else find it amusing? by plover · · Score: 4, Funny
    Did anyone else find the layout of the article amusing? This quote, '[Leonard Nimoy] likens the current situation to the period after the first "Star Trek" feature film, when "I felt that 'Star Trek' was like a beached whale," he said.' was right next to the picture of a 400+ pound 'John Harper, of Tulsa., Okla., in Starbase 21, his booth of memorabilia at the "Star Trek" convention in Los Angeles.'

    Sorry this is so cruel, but it made me laugh.

    --
    John
    1. Re:Anyone else find it amusing? by underpar · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I won it as a door prize at the Star Trek Convention, although I find their choice of prize highly illogical, as the average Trekker has no use for a medium-sized belt."

  5. YES! by rdilallo · · Score: 5, Funny

    If Star Trek would die, so would half of the conversations on Slashdot!

    1. Re:YES! by richie2000 · · Score: 4, Funny
      If Star Trek would die, so would half of the conversations on Slashdot!

      And if Microsoft would die, we'd be all out of topics.

      (From the Netcraft-confirms,-yada,-yada,-yada-dept.)

      --
      Money for nothing, pix for free
  6. Seems applicable by Jonas+the+Bold · · Score: 2, Funny

    Clicky Clicky

    Personally I agree, it's already dead. Voyager sucks, and theres not a big following of Enterprise. The last movie sucked.

    --
    Everything seemed to be going so nice
    'till the end of all beings punched right through the ice
  7. Re:should star trek die? yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Ja, lägg ner rymddallas en gång för alla.

  8. Re:McCoy by Nos. · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dammit Jim I'm a doctor not a writer!

  9. Re:Star Trek is dead, has been for awhile by FictionPimp · · Score: 4, Funny

    ok, I'd pay to see shatner playing a dead guy with scottie and bones taking him around the ship pretending he's alive.

  10. My opinion may be unpopular... by cronostitan · · Score: 2, Funny

    but I am still greedy for Star Trek.. and I am looking forward to the next ST:Enterprise Season.

    You can get into a big discussion wether it should be historically correct based on the previous series' but IMHO it isn't so important that anyone should get desperate about it.

    Personally i dont like the original TOS.. its so cheesy and artificial. I am an early adopter so I like to play around with new things all the time.

    A new star trek episode every week is exactly the thing i need ;)

    Play well..

    Rick

    --
    Spelling errors were made for your amusement only...
  11. after RTFA by WormholeFiend · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did I miss an episode or something?

    Original cast, from left, Grace Lee Whitney, Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, James Doohan, George Takei and Nichelle Nichols and the astronaut Neil Armstrong

    WTF?

  12. wrong topic by Slashbot+Hive-Mind · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think Timothy should have posted this story here

    --

    --
    We are the collective Slashbot HiveMind
  13. put a red shirt on it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    and beam it down with jim, bones, spock and the femme fatale. that'll kill it.

  14. Hey! Hey! Hey! by nightsweat · · Score: 4, Funny
    Let's not get carried away with the bad-mouthing random semi-nudity.

    I mean, come on!

    --

    the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
  15. Re:If you don't know... by fr2asbury · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah but . . . what have "In Search Of . . . " and "Reading Rainbow" have to do with Star Trek? ;-)

  16. Re:Star Trek is dead, has been for awhile by GlassUser · · Score: 4, Funny
    shatner playing a dead guy


    And this is different from any of his other star trek appearances how?

  17. "It's DEAD, Jim!" by abb3w · · Score: 2, Funny
    Sorry, but someone had to say it.

    --
    //Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
  18. Re:yes by schwatoo · · Score: 2, Funny

    The time travel is hokey, the metaplot is mediocre, but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

    That's not a baby in the bathwater, it's a turd! Lose it!

    --
    I have trouble with passwords among other things.
  19. Re:Star Trek is dead, has been for awhile by Lt+Cmdr+Tuvok · · Score: 2, Funny
    Your attitude is commendable, although your choice of wording is poor. However, it is, as you might say, the spirit that counts.

    As described at some length in this post, the phenomena known collectively as 'Star Trek' should preferably be brought to an end as quickly as is practically possible.

    The crew of Voyager are still in peril, and any actions taken in your timeline towards bringing about the end of 'Star Trek' would be most beneficial to our survival.

    --
    Without the darkness, how would we recognize the light?
  20. In fact.... by Iowaguy · · Score: 2, Funny

    If someone recited Shakespeare at Kirk, he would kick the crap outa em alla star trek VI style. Or, as summarized by one of my favorite Kirk lines:

    "Diamonds, rubies, emeralds. I would trade them all for a hand phaser or a good stout club."

    You da man, Kirk. You da man!


    -Iowa

    --
    "He who laughs last, didn't get the joke."-Cap
  21. Re:Star Trek is dead, has been for awhile by discord5 · · Score: 3, Funny

    He isn't dead, Jim

  22. Re:yes by Enahs · · Score: 2, Funny

    This may be a copy-and-paste, but I have to agree. When I'm given the choice of Enterprise vs. Stargate SG-1, and want to watch Stargate because it's deeper, there's something very wrong. :-D

    --
    Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
  23. Star Trek Porn by AliasTheRoot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Thats pretty much all that can save it. Marina Sirtis should get naked and service Brent Spiner.

  24. Re:If you don't know... by IronicCheese · · Score: 5, Funny

    "In Search Of..." and "Reading Rainbow" (ISO and RR for those of us who know and love the Trek Canon) are two of the least-watched and certainly least understood of the Trek Shows.

    ISO was a Spock vehicle, a spinoff meant to explore the mind of our favorite Vulcan. Week after week he would show off his latest research; giving us a sense of what he was doing, peering into that scope of his while Kirk was seducing the alien babes.

    Spock's facination with UFOs (naturally) later gave way to an obsession with Uri Geller and the Bermuda Triangle, by which time, most Trekkers left feeling that this show had jumped the shark.

    RR was a prequel to the TNG storyline -- wherein a very gifted warp physics engineer shows his softer side by reading children's books, set at a time before he was blinded in a tragic e-book explosion. Paramount, for reasons that are not totally clear, decided to set this futuristic space adventure somewhere in modern times, and sadly, the pilot that explains the temporal anomoly was never aired and is lost to posterity.

    Hope that clears things up.

  25. Just Wesley Crusher... by fred3666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Star Trek doesn't need to die, just Wesley Crusher.

    (sorry Wil, I know you could use the work but they'll just edit you out again anyway).

  26. Re:GameDev forums by julesh · · Score: 2, Funny

    How do you say 'ironic' in Klingon?

    That would be "SlashbotHiveMind". Or maybe Q'Ghaqrxla'ptah. I might be getting confused.

  27. Re:Probably by syn3rg · · Score: 2, Funny

    > Yes, they probably should let it die. I'd much rather see it die than have another bad movie/series/game with the Star Trek name come out.

    Leisure Suit James T.?
    You don't know Spock?

    --
    The contents of this message have been doubly encrypted by ROT13
  28. Re:Um... by GeekZilla · · Score: 2, Funny

    (I mean, hell, I'll give you Voyager ;)

    No! You can't make me take it! Nooooo!

    --
    Veritas patesco per quaestio questio. Truth is revealed through questions.
  29. Forethought by MouseR · · Score: 2, Funny
    LET GO OF THE FOREHEADS!

    Geez. I really enjoyed TNG when I was in my early 20s but even then I quickly grew tired of foreheads being the only feature that differentiated races.

    We need a ST series that doesn't care about warp. One that pop through universe bubbles and discover REAL NEW STUFF. Not just a forehead.

    And for crying out loud, we could do away with the character repeats. Every ST series has had it's

    1. comical doctor
      bombshell bimbo
      nerdy teen
      over-compassionate captain
      stick-shoved-next-to-spine emotionless moron
      scores of NPG meat-grinder-ready ensign


    Sick of it!

    Bring back Spinner/Data. THAT was both a good actor and character wich doesn't need to be brought back through a stupid plot to appear in a show to spur up interest (Dysan sphere anyone? Nexus?)

    Turn Voyager around damnit! They're explorers. Not whiners that ought to go back to mommy. They have deep space communications now. No need to go back home. Turn around damnit and see if there's more to this universe THAN FOREHEADS!!!!!!!

    Arf.
  30. Re:BERMANNNNNNNN!!!!! by Foolhardy · · Score: 5, Funny
    Nimoy is high.
    He must be on LDS.
  31. Re:BERMANNNNNNNN!!!!! by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Funny

    Once they found out more people like Hoshi than T'Pol, I noticed Hoshi became a lot more scarce. That is just dumb.

    You'll lust after whom Rick Berman wants you to lust!
    Fall in line, ensign!

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  32. Re:"First Contact" with Romulus or Cardassia.. wha by Moofie · · Score: 2, Funny

    Gosh, I wonder if that's because all the Star Trek baddies are foils for social commentary of present-day Earth!?

    What a staggering notion. It's almost like it was a piece of fiction, written by human beings!

    --
    Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
  33. Quote directly from Michael Dorn: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "If you were any other TV show, I would kill you where you stand"

  34. Star trek should die... by slimyrubber · · Score: 3, Funny

    and take Star wars with it.

    --
    [ I can not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presents danger, the solution is ignorance ] -- Isaac Asimov
  35. Get a life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    He's dead Jim.

  36. kill -9 star* by IdJit · · Score: 3, Funny

    stopping startrek...
    stopping starwars...
    stopping stargate...

    "kill -9" 'em all!

  37. Top Ten Bad Things About Star Trek by teko_teko · · Score: 3, Funny

    The lameness filter won't let me post the joke contents, so I'll just post the link:

    Top Ten Bad Things About Star Trek

    It's obviously written by someone who has watched too much star trek ;).

  38. Captain Wesley Crusher by n2rjt · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think the Star Trek franchise should go down in a blaze of glory. Imagine the possibilities!

    After several years of surfing the galaxy with the Traveler, Wesley returns and graduates from the Academy. He spends several more years working his way up to where he's finally captain of a starship.

    Anyway, give him a character VERY MUCH like Captain Kirk, and give us a ONE YEAR series of We don't need no steenking political correctness!
    Captain Crusher hits on every female of every species he encounters. This, of course, constantly gets him in trouble with the PC folks in the Federation, but it helps him make great friends among the Klingons and Ferengi. Whatever mission the Federation assigns him, he blatantly ignores the red tape, and uses bottom-feeding-scumbag tactics to Get the Job Done.

    Make the series just barely tame enough for American Television. Make the spin-off movie very R-rated. The whole thing should be raw, over the top, and generally offensive. I don't know if that approach would revive the franchise or seal its demise. It would certainly be fun while it lasts!

    Long Live Captain Crusher!

  39. Re:What series' did you watch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    When you're busy flaming TV for being anti-intellectual, you should always make sure to spell "inteligent" correctly. Just a thought.

  40. Re:BERMANNNNNNNN!!!!! by cmotd · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes BER-MAN must die. I have repeatedly sent his address and personal schedule to Al-Quida, Al-Jamir, the IRA, the Sandanistas, the Triads, the Yakuza, the Mafiosi and the International Tuba Players Association to no avail. If anyone out there knows how to get within arms reach please smear him with honey and I'll supply the killer ants. Or maybe a quick furtive push at the right time could see him under a bus or other equaly dangerous heavy, fast moving object. I heard talk of Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Unspellable getting his job, that would be kewl.