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Is Enterprise Heading To Canada?
Tycoon Guy writes "TrekToday reports that the TrekUnited fan campaign a few weeks ago partnered with a group of Canadian production companies to pitch a co-production deal for 'Star Trek: Enterprise' to Paramount. As part of this deal, production would be moved up to Canada, and TrekUnited and the Canadian group would share the costs of a fifth season with Paramount. Apparently Viacom executives are considering the proposal, despite another branch of Paramount saying the cancellation was final just a few days ago."
To boldly go where no man has gone before :-)
Why hasn't Congress passed a bill to force Paramount to keep Enterprise alive!?
I think Paramount wants to kill off Enterprise because they're ready to start with something fresh after Berman/Braga are canned. It seems to me that a company that is consistantly rejecting bribes to keep a rather popular show on the air is either incredibly stupid, or has an ace up their sleeve and doesn't want anyone to know about it.
Well, either that or they're trying to piss off the people who watch it via bittorrent (quite a few if I'm not mistaken).
"Haha!!! That'll show you commie pirates! We'll just cancel whatever you like to download."
...Enterprise is ordered to deliver a mysterious cargo labelled only "WHIPS" to the planet Equus Mortis.
Faith: n. -- That human impulse that drives them to steal appliances when the power goes out
I used to like the US production of Airwolf, a former Bellasarius production. It died in the US market, losing Jan Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine and a few other characters, but was resurrected in Canada. Having watched Airwolf since about 1983 or 1984, I was surprised when in 1988 in Bahrain at the Admin Support Unit lounge and saw Airwolf on TV. But, I was initially dismayed at the glassy-screen-like camera treatment and the character changes. But, actually, I ended up liking it a bit later, despite it moving up north and using different formatting/ratios. One thing I did later liked was that the cinematography was different: The camera angles and movements and even focal length seemed un-US-like. I like it. The show then seemed "quicker" and "grittier" in some aspects.
However, many US Trek fans and unions will probably bitch like hell at the move. If it can be moved to Canada, some will reason, then why can't the costs be brought down, and it kept here in the US. Well, maybe the Canadian studios do the same or better work for slightly less up-front cost. I dunno, but for a production to leave the US and go to another country, SOMEthing is being saved. Or, someone else wants the cachet of having Trek or (name your show) on their notched belt.
Heck, even the Simpsons show has most of if not all of its artwork and animation done in South Korea. It costs a fraction of what it would in the US, and the Korean team is doing a great job, it seems.
To the dismay of a number of Trek fans, and maybe even the cast, as with Airwolf, some or all of the cast and characters might change. I wouldn't be surprised if some elites or idealists in Canada tweak Enterprise to be more CanaPrize, making Star Trek's vision of the future include MORE of the real world, instead of Hollywood's US-market-centric/pleasing view of the world.
For example:
Voyager had Harry Kim, cuz "we gotta please the economically powerful and politically savvy Asian community..." yet while Tom Paris was a misfit inmate who caused the death of Starfleet personnel, he was eventually promoted to Lieutenant on Voyager, the ship, not just the show. Clean-nosed, sometimes defiant Harry Kim? Oh, he's done what NO ensign wants to do/be: Remain ensign for SEVEN YEARS on the same ship. His not receiving a field promotion by Janeway was NOT a Federation/UFP/Starfleet issue. I DARE say it was a US-centric, hollywood "thing" about keeping Garret Wang's character "down". (No, Kim's being promoed AFTER Voyager destroyed/set back the Borg does NOT count, since his promotion was a cheesy-assed future-scene, not part of Voyagers' Fans chronology...)
Of course, that example won't fly when compared to DS9, since women were elevated, but aside from Cassidy Yates, most were not real-life ethnic minorities.
As for Enterprise, Mayweather seems to gleefully smile at the console, from most of the episodes I've seen. It is true he and Hoshi had their little moments, one of Hoshi's being to copulate with an alien and "exchange some language"...
I hope the Canadians take Trek where it's never been before: GLOBAL!
It would be nice to see an Indian in a turbin on duty, in uniform. It would be NICE to see a Black/Asian couple aboard ship, instead of the all-too-beaten/submission-forced Anglo/Sino pairings. It would be nice to see an Iraqi, or Greek, or person from Tuvalu or Vunuato and identified as such, on the ship. It would be nice to see crew members in their off-duty, and NOT just the main ensemble.
In Canada's hands, after about a year of some close-minded segment of the audience kvetching, Trek could TRULY improve, for instance, diving into details of a new and improved UN Security Council's fictional but pivotal role in rescuing the world from one-country-control, despite global markets theoretically dictating that one country cannot control the world.
Yeh, up to this point, Trek has been a franchise of US origin, and it is a venture/business driven by demographics. Well, it's time for WORLD demo
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