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Straczynski Offers To Re-Boot Star Trek [updated]
EvilMagnus writes "I just came across this thread over on usenet where J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5 and Jeremiah, talks about the cancellation of Enterprise. It seems he and a collaborator have already written a series bible and treatment for a new version of Star Trek - but it's not been pitched to Paramount out of 'political considerations' (Berman refusing to give up his dead horse?). JMS calls for everyone who thinks a JMS-run Star Trek series would be a good idea to write Paramount and let them know." Along similar lines, yonnage writes "Last week there was an article posted here about Enterprise fans atempting to pay for the next season of Enterprise. It seems that all the efforts have been pulled together and a new website has been created and has started collecting contributions for Enterprise's next season." Update: 02/16 19:47 GMT by T : Read the rest of the thread to see JMS's followup; he's decided to at least postpone this endeavor.
The nice thing about JMS's work is how he weaves complex themes into the story arc, rather then exploring and discarding them in single episode blips. That was great for the original Star Trek and early science fiction on tv (time tunnel, that sub show, quantum leap, etc) but the work of series like Bab5 has raise sci fi on tv to a higher level - where they take advantage of the serial esque nature of weekly broadcasts.
I'm in.
The rock, the vulture, and the chain
...That they now have a unified site to try and save Enterprise. *sigh* I wish they'd stop, it makes Gene Roddenberry's (SP?) corpse cry. As for there being another trek, I think the series needs to rest for a while.
It's Berman's fault the series on TV is as stale as it is. Proof is that some of the ST novels are tremendously well-written, proving their are plenty of new, fresh, and quality stories left to tell in the final frontier.
Of the best, are the DS9 relaunch, which continues the story of Deep Space Nine directly after the TV series ends, and Peter David's remarkable New Frontier series with it's Xenexian captain Mackenzie Calhoun. This series has proved, IMHO, to be one of the best out of all the Trek series.
Sugapablo
How about bringing back a show that was interesting and original, like Firefly?
That would be worth the money. Not watching YATS (Yet Another Trek Show).
Cue all the "Let it die already!" and "Trek needs a rest" comments...
These people have nothing to lose by pitching another series to Paramount. Enterprise is dead, and I'm sure Paramount would eagerly pick up anything with the slightest chance of turning a profit.
Since the article mentions they're taking their idea "to the public" I think they'd get a better reaction by releasing a preview of some type. Kind of hard for an audience to approve and support a project without knowing what it is! (Because we all know counting on the Trek name alone doesn't always work)
More Wil Wheaton!
Given JMS's sucess in creating followups to B5, I think I'd be happier to hear he was working on something new.
_O_
.|< The named which can be named is not the true named
Here is the Feb 2nd trektoday article about the cancellation.
Enterprise fan ?.. join here to support.
fifteen jugglers, five believers
He has already recanted this offer. http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17287/
From here
------- Code to try when you're bored: qsort( 0, UINT_MAX, sizeof( int* ), IntCompare );
..Voyager, and then Enterprise proved that the producers have completely lost their marbles, and totally lost touch with the core audience.
As soon as I heard the Enterprise opening theme, I knew it was dead.
I think trek needs to die, and stay dead for another 15 years or so. Only then will it be ready for another revival.
Such wasted effort on tripe like Enterprise, when stuff like Firefly is far more deserving.
Maybe JMS can sell one-year long mini-series or something ? Bab5 was overlong, although the idea of a multi-episode script was nicely exercised .
This is not a signature.
I have a feeling that it would be something amazing if JMS was to "reboot" Trek...
It's become increasingly obvious that the franchise has run out of steam in it's current incarnation. There's just nothing left that feels new or exciting... So I'd be happy to see this happen. That said, I think there's a number of obstacles, not the least of which is the fear of the star trek establishment to try something new for fear of "breaking something".
Here's a newsflash folks. It's already broken, and staying with the status-quo is going to ensure that it remains broken. I suppose they could always take another 5 year hiatus and come back with another rehash, but they'll know it, and so will we.
I quite enjoyed Voyager because they had more free reign in the series to try new things, and trying new things is what keeps the show fresh...
N.
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
JMS already pulled the idea (Paramount decided to give Trek TV a rest).
Check out the updated info at TrekWeb
Je ne parle pas francais.
That link's broken. I thnk you meant this: http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17287
-- Sorry, I can't think of anything funny to say here.
Michael Straczynski is among the few people that, I think, could save Star Trek and bring it back to its former glory.
Of course there are MANY people who could improve the current situation (for while I can image quite a few worse than Berman, yet most of them aren't in the TV biz) but Michael Straczynski is among the few that have the skill to revive a franchise that badly beaten.
So let's see the good part - either Michael gets to do the new series, or Berman drives another series in the ground and then - finally - is fired - even the most ignorant bosses don't like dropping ratings, and the cancellation of Enterprise shows that something is fundamentally wrong with the ratings and that the bosses noticed.
+++ MELON MELON MELON +++ Out of Cheese Error +++ redo from start +++
I continously hope for enterprise to be ended in it's seven season as a Star Trek series ought to be ended! I must admit though that some seasons were really lame, I liked enterprise at first. When they didn't have any equipment that worked and their was no experience in anything of what they did had political problems with klingons and vulcans as well as andorians, pretty much the starting seasons. later on as they got photonic torpedoes and other technologies to their usage so that the humans wouldn't seem so inferior, that was when the show started to go bad and it's anticlimax must in my opinion been the whole time wars shit. This season been quite good though with Vulcans having internal problems and dealing with Andorians and Romulans starting to look like something good again, and hence I would like to have the series continue. Hopefully a new Star Trek series will also be made, I seem to never be able to get enough of Star Trek. I would have nothing against a remake of the old series, but I think they need to cram in some more juice into it, better scenery and Klingons that actually look like they should do and not human!
Ah, the requisite NextGen nazi.
Dont get me wrong, NextGen rocks, but to lump DS9 with Enterprise is just wrong. Enterprise totally sucked, and thats why it got axed. DS9 is rad and allowed for a real overarching plotline to develop, as opposed to the NextGen thing of the "X-Character Episodes." Like the "Data Episodes" where the silly humans are doing something that puzzles data and he endeavors to understand, or the "Barclay Episodes."
That's not to say that DS9 is better, I happen to like NG better overall, simply because the best of the "X-Character episodes" are just soo good.
But needless to say, Berman has shown himself unworthy of the reigns and should, in turn, be shown the door.
Come read my stupid blagablog. Rants and Giggles
... tripe on Slashdot. People go on and on about how "It has all been downhill since TNG" and it has all been Berman's fault, etc.
For one thing, Roddenberry died midway through TNG. Berman was basically the man at the helm for what was argueable the best portion of the series, the last 3 seasons. Even before that, he played a very, very large part in TNG. So to say that "Berman is Death" of everything, than to praise TNG, borders on the edge of ridiculousness.
For another, DS9 (the first series run soley by Berman) was actually very good (once it got going - the first season or two were quite.. icky).
Voyager, well..... what can you say. An amazing capability for a plot line, but it descended into fodder. Basically, the same thing with Enterprise.
So from *my* point of view, he is batting 0.500 - a decent average the way I look at it.
Aside from all this - you people seem to believe that the whole series lives and dies by Berman's word. Shouldn't some of the blame be put on the writers? The writers are the ones coming up with the same old crap over and over again.
I just think it's unfortunate that it turned out so bad. I like Scott Bakula and was thrilled that he was going to be the next Trek Captain. They squandered a potentially great character and actor on a poor iteration of a tired series. How you could have a show with someone that made Quantum Leap such a success for so long and turn it into absolute crap is beyond me. It's like being given the Dream Team and losing out to a sixth-grade play-ground team.
I only watched two episodes of the most recent series. I couldn't get past the stupid intro music. And the infatuation with the hot vulcan chick was juvinile and uninteresting.
I wasn't that interested in DS9, but from the few episodes I watched, it seemed far superior to Enterprise and Voyager. Voyager has to be the worst. Possibly even worse than the original Star Trek.
Then again, I'm just not a big fan of Star Trek. Or Star Wars. I like my sci-fi a little more X-Files, Farscape, Millenium, Red-Dwarf, Dr. Who, Blake's Seven, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone-ish... When it comes to television, at least.
Not to be a prick, but Star Trek always seemed like "sci fi" for the ditch digger, relaxing in his recliner and sweaty wife-beater, tossing back a beer. Sort of like checkers, instead of chess. TNG was unique, because the characters were typically very interesting and you cared about them. What other Trek characters since the Original are so widely known, besides TNG? That's also why Babylon 5 was so great. Aside from the wonderful story of self-sacrifice, hope and destiny - the characters were compelling.
Maybe they could make Star Trek miniserie every other year with only good episodes and not of that day to dayt crap. Or they could relax the format a little and ask Quentin Tarantino and others direct episodes like Ltn. Worf and planet of samurai swords.
Dyslexics have more fnu.
It's generally thought that DS9 was a pretty good series, getting better as it went along and getting a story arc.
However, JMS might be reluctant to speak about DS9 for a personal reason. JMS had tried to pitch Babylon 5 to a number of studios, such as Paramount, but they wouldn't have it. After years of work, WB finally took up the show. After the Babylon 5 pilot was shot, Paramount just happens to shoot a pilot of their own new show that just happens to be set on a space station, and get the pilot to air just before the Babylon 5 pilot. (Why are some of the sets from the Enterprise?)
Although this had happened, JMS vocally disliked rivalry between the fans of Trek and B5 and advocated that one could like both.
DS9 turned out quite different in the end, so the competition from B5 was kind of good for Trek, wasn't it?
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
You'd prefer something more enlightened? Another series of Survivor, perhaps?
If you don't like it, don't watch it. Some of us do like it, and are doing something proactive to see if we can keep it around for at least another season.
Well, lets' see... Could the fact that QL was a formulaic remake of Highway to Heaven with smaller hair and some special effects be relevent here?
People involved in one crap series are often a good indicator that another will be crap IME.
_O_
.|< The named which can be named is not the true named
I think I speak for many Trek fans that when I first heard about Enterprise, the possibilities for a prequel series seemed very interesting, and after Voyager we deserved something decent.
Like many I was worried about Berman being involved. I became more worried when the opening credits feature a dreadful recycled pop song instead of something symphonic. Then the temporal cold war silliness starts. Meanwhile, all along has been little effort to remain consistant with the Trek universe.
I will admit, I have not laughed so hard in a long time as I did when I saw the Xindi Nazi at the end of last season. But I don't think that was the intended effect.
For everyone who who is proclaiming this season is much better, how could it get much worse. Paramount and Berman especially should be ashamed at how they have treated such a large and loyal fanbase.
That said, I'm actually surprised that UPN killed it. They kept Voyager going for seven years and it was horrible most of that time. Enterprise seems like the high spot on their garbage filled network.
Trek needs a rest. If you want to send someone your money give it to http://www.eff.org/ or some other worthy cause. Don't worry, there will be more Trek, it has made too much money to be ignored forever.
"Kittens give Morbo gas!"
I can recall a few years ago anxiously waiting to see "Enterprise" for the first time on television, having been a fan of the franchise. I immediately grimaced upon hearing the theme song and new it was going to suck. The electric guitar style theme music was incredibly outdated and wreaked of a routinely formulaic bad-taste Hollywood production. And as I recall, it didn't even have lyrics in that broadcast. The lyrics made it even worse when I eventually heard that vesion, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse.
That episode started with that one crew-member yapping about how she couldn't sleep because the stars were moving the opposite direction she was used to in her quarters. I kept thinking she was going to whine "but Dawson!" any moment. As for Scott Bakula, he was already typecasted from "Quantum Leap" and didn't fit the role. The whole concept of a series that was supposed to happen before the original series should have been a warning, since one of the big attractions of Star Trek was the fictional technology, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt when I first heard that.
But they just royally screwed it up. They really overdid the large breasts thing, blatantly pandering to an adolescent demographic. And the writing was awful. As an example, there was that episode where Archer tells a ship of Klingons that they have a defenceless alien vessel riding in the wake of their ship. I recall thinking that no character with half a brain would ever do that and it was just plain ridiculous, even to anyone who wasn't familiar with the franchise. I just recently saw an episode where Archer speaks with a senior Starfleet officer who's uniform had a friggin collar. A jump-suit with a collar. Another mistake. They just keep making them.
It takes some serious stupidity to screw up a franchise that had such a dedicated fan base as Star Trek, yet the people behind "Enterprise" have managed to do just that. Even if they manage to improve the writing now, bad first impressions last. I don't think this series is worth saving. I think people are clinging onto it out of dedication to the Star Trek franchise. If that is the case, they ought to just cancel this series and come up with a completely new one, or just focus on the movies. I'm personally a fan of the franchise, but it has gotten off-track in a direction I don't care to follow.
I've only watched Star Trek "part time". I watch reruns of Voyager and Next Gen quite often and enjoy both of them quite a bit. Even with the old "away team is screwed" or "lookit Jim, theres aliens in that there alien!" plots we seem to see alot, it's kinda like a inside joke now more then anything. But Enterprise made me cringe, I couldn't stand it from day 1. It doesn't FEEL like Star trek, it feels like Krikkit has been renamed "Earth" and they forgot to build their battle robots. All the "OMG TEH VULCANISM IS HOT!" just doesn't seem to work for me as I'm sure many others will agree.
Some hot nerd + no feel to the series or intresting plots = a failed series.
If they want to revive Star Trek maybe they should look at continueing the adventures of Picard outside of the movies. The movie cast is starting to dye off or get sick of it, so why not do a short series (straight to DVD would do) or 20 episodes say, restock the crew, fill in some plot holes, give the fans what we want (real Trek) and then continue on the movies for another 5 years (2 movies maybe?) and use it to set up the next Enterprise. In the second film introduce the guy as a trainee, the series would then start 20 years later when the guy has command of his own ship. Picard could be his mentor and would pop up from time to time with other series spin offs to give advice, but rather then the "lets go look at the same 12 sets every 2 weeks!" put it in a war where Earth is being attacked on pass and the new enterprise is trying to defend it untill re-enforcements arrives. Once it's held off and got support it could go on the offence and try and find out information about the attackers (could be mysterious or some rebel faction of a friendly group). Throw in linked episodes (so you meet a character in episode 1-3 and he does some helpful stuff, only to find out in ep 24 he was infact a spy), if it was this well thought out geeks would adore it and the idiot fanbase who watched Enterprise just for the Vulcan ass and edited porn would all get confused and fuck off back to their little hell hole to oogle more poorly edited porn leaving the real Trekkies and geeks to enjoy their new series which isn't 4 sluts doing whatever or yet another cop drama,
I like muppets.
Some think that this is also a hidden message to the fans that their campaign KeepB5Alive has worked.
The campaign was calling for the original cast to play their roles in the upcomming Babylon 5 theatrical movie "Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows"
He was calling for a letter-writing campaign when it's "common knowledge" that those campaigns have become devalued because everybody is doing them these days.
The retraction also references a TV show for the fall of 2006. A TV show. One that sounds like a done deal. Which probably means that it's a new show that they believe so strongly in that they know it'll be picked up (a B5 universe show maybe), or that it's an existing TV show.
PS: When it comes to his reading of the poll on ScifiWire: "This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane."
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
I don't care what anyone says even JMS. I personally think if there's enough intrest, and if Paramount decides to jump, I think JMS would even re-consider. Paramount is just giving it a rest because Berman and crew that are the current keepers of Star Trek have no frickin idea what to do. They have SO lost sight of what Star Trek is supposed to be that even if they gave it the 2 year rest they are saying, they will still create another steaming pile of goo.
:D Anyway, give me soemthing we can be proud of. Something to compete with Battlestar. I bet if NBC DOES pick up BSG, then maybe, just maybe, Paramount may start working on a Trek series.
No, I don't think there's a loss of intrest in Star Trek. the only reason their seems to be is we have not been given something even remotely similar to Star Trek (Enterprise was so different and so bad.....the only reason it was Star Trek was because it had Vulcans, Romulan's and Klingons in it....). The NX-01 is so small scale to what we're used to....the gradioise in scale Enterprise NCC-1701-A-E's were what we WANTED to see. HUGE ships capable of not only exploration, but of defending itself. Why is it that from ther tail end of TNG onward the Federation routinely got thier asses handed to them? In any case, it's more then about the ship. It's about the people. The Best of Both Worlds episodes was some of the best trek there was with Commander Shelby and Riker trying to get Picard back from the Borg. Encounter at Farpoint was so much better of a start then the forgettable episode Enterprise started with. If we actually HAD a good trek series though, it woud likely not be good by our standards now though. There's too much at stake. They gotta try and make trek something many people would like. Unfortunately, that makes it a lousy series. Case in point, a friend of mine who is not a big fan of SciFi religiously watched Enterprise while I lost interest somewhere around 1st season. If I remember right, I caught myself many times watching TNG repeats on the old TNN network!
Gorkman
Hey All ...
... SG1 ... Atlantis ... Battlestar Galactica ... Andromeda ... (He he ... that's kind of gone down the toilet too ... but I still watch hopeing it will get better.)
I am disappointed w/ what's happened to Enterprise. Both the story lines and the cancellation.
However, There's plenty of good SciFi TV going on until the franchise gets it's act together.
Might I suggest SciFi Friday
Cheers,
-- The Dude
The story of two Chinese laundry truck drivers. Their 5 hour mission, to deliver clean lanudry, to seek out new customers and clients, to Boldly Go® where no chinese laundry truck drivers have gone before!
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Just because Gene Rodenberry visualized humankind exploring the universe in what seemed to be their pyjamas, all subsequent series have assumed a starship would have to be a military operation with everyone in uniform. This does not actually reflect very well on us.
Science fiction for grown-ups...
Since it sounds like JMS isn't interested, I wonder more and more if Trek needs a 5-10 year TV hiatus. They've got novels, games, etc., they can still rake in the $$$.
But after Enterprise (which I think didn't get a fair shake), what can they do? I can't think of anything. The well's dry.
Give SF a few years without a Trek. See what else pops up - fresh ideas, new takes, old concepts revived. Then perhaps something else can be tried.
I also wonder - and dare to ask - if the unspeakable could be done. From what I've seen the new Battlestar Galactica is quite good - could someone imagine a reboot of Trek TOS?
"The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
Minor corection to the blurb: Jeremiah was a European comic a long time before US TV found out about it. My Yugoslavian friends used to read it in Belgrade in the 1980s.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
And the girl creeps me out...monotone robots trying to be cute to gain our trust...they've got to be trying to take over the world! Have we learned nothing?
Mercy was given to me by Christ...I must give the same to others.
A 0.500 batting average might be good in the creative world; a writer that churns out really great stuff half the time is probably a really good writer. But the executive producer position is basically a "CEO" of a business, in this case a business that we call "the Star Trek franchise" -- with UPN basically a holding company for many such businesses. When your job is running a business, a batting average of 0.500 is pretty bad.
I hope that after I die the one word people use to describe me is "resurrected."
I found it suspicious that this last season spent so much time repairing the general plot and timeline of the Trek universe. And I don't mean in a temporal cold war, either.
Every. Single. Plot. Was overturned, reversed, or even erased. The Xindi, the temporal cold war, the Vulcan mind-meld disease. Anything new has been put aside for old-school plots. Tellerites? whoa. And no more trips to Klingon, thank you.
This is the PERFECT OPPORTUNITY for this property to do right by its fans, while attracting an entirely new viewing audience, while bolstering viewership with JMS's current, dedicated fanbase.
And that means more money for the franchise and Paramount. Lots. Not to mention no further suits from Activision and whoever has bought into this IP.
Why am I writing this as less a fan and more a business plan? Because that's what UPN needs to hear.
Now, let's go tell them!
kulakovich
Yes Jim, Star Trek has now joined my in the great beyond.
It died of boredom- redoing the same tired old plots for the tenth time.
... tripe on Slashdot. People go on and on about how "It has all been downhill since TNG" and it has all been Berman's fault, etc.
But it is - he is in charge, ego he is to blame.
For one thing, Roddenberry died midway through TNG.
Lies. Roddenberry died at the end of season 5.
Berman was basically the man at the helm for what was argueable the best portion of the series, the last 3 seasons.
1: He was mostly working with the talent Roddenberry had hired.
2: He didn't have the guts to suddenly change TNG to something else in the middle of the series (like he let them do with DS9)
Ie, he just continued on the course set by Roddenberry.
For another, DS9 (the first series run soley by Berman) was actually very good (once it got going - the first season or two were quite.. icky).
So DS9 became better once Berman withdrew from day to day running of the series and started to focus on Voayger - funny that. Not to mention again, he had Ira Steven Behr("Dark Angel"),Michael Piller("Dead Zone") , Ronald Moore("Battlestar Galactica") to help him. I entirely suspect he was out having lunch with management while they were writing.
Aside from all this - you people seem to believe that the whole series lives and dies by Berman's word. Shouldn't some of the blame be put on the writers? The writers are the ones coming up with the same old crap over and over again.
Yeah, except: HE HIRES THE WRITERS, his blame.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Star Trek has suffered from poor writing since after TNG. Even Deep Space Nine still had some good plots that made you interested. Another problem with Enterprise is that they have bores like Trip and Malcom. I loved B5. Loved it. I am sure JMS would make sure that the writing wasn't lame. How? Because with little money to work with he concentrated on the storylines. I think they should stop spending so much money on the props, sets, makeup, etc., and start spending it on the writing. I also loved the original Trek which became classic because of the writing again, certainly not the props.
sportsdot
The slashcode sports site
Captain Adama's speech in the pilots for example was completely ridiculous. Why do we even deserve to live? Was that supposed to inspire anyone? Crap, if any real military leaders ever did that, their soldiers would be too dispirited to fight.
Then you have the fact that the Cylons are attempting to cross-breed with Humans. But if they wanted that so much, why did they try to wipe all the Humans out with nukes, *before* getting their hybrid? It makes no sense. If they wanted to nuke all the colonies, and destroy military ships, plus evading civilian ships, how could they ever get a cross-breed?
The fact that Baltar got too tired from doing tests, so he stopped testing people was also sheer nonsense. Why didn't he just get *someone else* to do the hard labour of testing? I mean, he was supposed to have an assistant already, plus a nuclear warhead, I doubt he would not be granted spare personnel. Not to mention: who is doing the testing (supposed to take man-years) now since he seems to be only doing political work since he got to be Vice-President?
There is some good stuff in there of course. I like this Baltar better than the old Baltar in the original series. The old Baltar made absolutely no sense at all.
Might I suggest SciFi Friday ... SG1 ... Atlantis ... Battlestar Galactica
I agree. I watch SciFi Friday, although I wish it was on a different night. SG1 and Atlantis are great shows and I have followed every episode. At one time I even bought Showtime just to get SG1 and have been glad SciFi bought it so I could cancel Showtime.
My biggest gripe: Every Alien they meet speaks English. At least with Trek you had the Universal Translator. With SG1 and Atlantis they completely ignore this. After many episodes it really bothers me.
sportsdot
The slashcode sports site
Just so that we're not exclusively on Babylon 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer did a decent job at this too. While there was a definite story going on that had been planned out (and included a large number of references towards and fro in the timeline) and things could change quite drastically (Spike's status as enemy, then friend, then enemy, then lover, then psychotic nutcase actually made some sense in the course of the series), you could pick up any one episode and enjoy what was going on. In my opinion, any good TV show or book series, should be like that, enough going on that it rewards people who site down and view it all, enough hints to allow people to step in at the middle, and subtle enough hints that people who are watching all the way through don't get annoyed at the repeated redundancy.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
This doesn't make any sense to me. I've been a big star trek fan for my whole life, this Enterprise just sucked... I mean really sucked from the beginning intro song all the way to the end of each show. There is a reason it's going off the air you know....
I mean, I know that SF on TV is pretty much a kind of stage-play allegory, but it all feels so grounded in a '60s kind of shiny smarmy middle-class american morality (yes, I know all about demographics, I'm a director/producer). JMS's B5 brought a touch of biological diversity into the vidiotic galaxy.
What I would really like is a SF series that takes nanotech and extreme body customization into human -- not just evil borg -- society. One that has Samuel Delaney's sense of cultural development, Ridley Scott's visual and human grittiness, and KS Robinson's sense of the march of history. B5 had some of all that, but some truly cheesy interludes and unconvincing dialogue, and in the end fell back frequently to rely on the hollywood galactic tropes, so he should be able to cope in the ST version of 'future.' Here's hoping he can move the franchise into something more... contemporary.
Damn those pesky terrorists
I have seen every episode and don't recall one time they have resolved the English problem. GateWorld is a good site. (I vaguely recall them making a joke about the English problem once. Does anyone remember what episode that was?) Even the show Farscape had a great idea with injecting the translator microbe. Not to mention hordes of novels with interesting ideas. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had the Babel fish worm. I just cannot understand why Stargate cannot come up with any idea of how to explain them understanding Alien speak. I think they realize it is to late to explain it now. Otherwise, a terrific show, SG1, that hasn't lost any humor over the years either.
Trek must work on having great storylines, new ideas, more Romulans, things it's been lacking. I'd like to see Star Trek back to the level it should be someday. I think it will be back because it's how we envision the future to be.
sportsdot
The slashcode sports site
William Shatner: You know, before I answer any more questions there's something I wanted to say. Having received all your letters over the years, and I've spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled... y'know... hundreds of miles to be here, I'd just like to say... GET A LIFE, will you people? I mean, for crying out loud, it's just a TV show! I mean, look at you, look at the way you're dressed! You've turned an enjoyable little job, that I did as a lark for a few years, into a COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME!
[ a crowd of shocked and dismayed Trekkies.... ]
I mean, how old are you people? What have you done with yourselves?
[ to "Ears" ] You, you must be almost 30... have you ever kissed a girl?
[ "Ears" hangs his head ]
I didn't think so! There's a whole world out there! When I was your age, I didn't watch television! I LIVED! So... move out of your parent's basements! And get your own apartments and GROW THE HELL UP! I mean, it's just a TV show dammit, IT'S JUST A TV SHOW!
Charlie: Are- are you saying then that we should pay more attention to the movies?
William Shatner: NO!!! THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M SAYING AT ALL!!! HEY, YOU GUYS ARE... THE LAMEST BUNCH... I'VE NEVER SEEN... [ walks away from podium ] I can't believe these people... I mean, I really can't understand what's....
Trekweb
11 teams of people with an existing relationship will race around federation worlds solving problems and seeing improbable sights.
The teams are:
Captains Picard and Riker.
Dr. Crusher and all powerful son being Wesley Crusher.
Lt. Commander Tuvok and Captain Kathryn Janeway
The Doctor and The Doctor
Lt. Ezri Dax and Dr. Phlox
Captain Jonathan Archer and Porthos
Constable Odo and Seven Of Nine
Chief Miles O'Brien and Lt. Cmdr. Data
Sub-Commander T'Pol and Tasha Yar
Lt. Cmdr. Deanna Troi and Commander Kira Nerys
Guinan Ensign Hoshi Sato
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
You're good with plot arcs, and managing huge projects.
But you are a *terrible* writer!
Your dialogue is so unsubtle it is akin to be smacked in the face by a hallibut every time someone opens their mouth.
Hire
someone
else
From Comic Writer Warren Ellis' mailing list:
---------------
""Joe Straczynski suggested his fans suggest to
Paramount that he and Bryce Zabel be hired to
perform their revival of the Star Trek franchise.
Joe briefly outlined it to me over lunch in
Vancouver last summer (because I am so
fucking jetset and famous, me), and it sounded
like it could make entertaining TV.
Today, Joe's asking people to stop, because
he has been made aware that Paramount are
intending to rest Trek for an indefinite period --
"a year or two" -- and he's just taken a
showrunner gig elsewhere for a show that
launches late 2006. Which, being "a year or
two" away, means he couldn't do his Trek
if the idea were picked up.""