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TrekUnited Campaign Ends
ForteMaster writes "TrekUnited, the controversial campaign to save Enterprise from cancellation, has ended its campaign today. Interestingly enough, the article mentions that "a multiple of the money raised by TrekUnited so far" was being offered, with "further details to be released shortly". A case of counting the chickens before they've hatched, maybe? Here is some
commentary from TrekToday on the subject."
A serious question is "What happened to the money I donated".
Do they just keep it now?
In some ways, it's sad because it shows Paramount do plan to continue extending the series further and further. It's kind of the equivalent of that Mercury Grand Marquis or Buick Park Avenue you see with the Canadian license plates in the left lane, blinker on, vehicle driving at 5, 10, 20 below the speed limit, annoying just about everyone. You can't fault the drivers, they're clearly too old to know better, but it'll continue doing the wrong thing at the wrong pace until different drivers come along, and, truth be told, at that point you're probably looking at the type of kid who'll do the car up with spinners and under-the-body neon lights.
So you end up feeling, really, that maybe the old people, with their poor eyesight and slow reactions, really are the best people to drive the car, and once they no longer have use for it, that the car should, really, be sent to the dump.
Of course, the other solution is we move to driverless cars. Then this whole business of people going at 75, or even 80, on a highway clearly marked as 70, will be a thing of the past. In the analogy, I guess, this would mean handing over control of the Star Trek series to a computer. With the right AI, this would be in many ways the most fitting solution and the best tribute to what Trek stood for. Technology being used to help mankind, exploring areas never explored before.
To boldly go, indeed, where no man has gone before.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Who gets the money now that this ridiculous idea failed?
Damn I wish I had started this. I'd be sitting on a beach some where wiping margarita off my mouth with a $10,000 towel.
It didn't work for Farscape, why would it work for Enterprise.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
They could create a new series that can captivate audiences, tell stories in a new world that starts sometime 100 to 200 years from now. Sure, they couldn't use much of the Star Trek hardware; no Transporters, no Warp Drive, but is all of that really necesary to tell a SciFi story along the lines of Gene's vision?
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
In a few years time they'll be looking for what new programs they can make and yes, instead of creating something really new and interesting, they'll figure that the golden goose as a new egg to hatch.
The milking of this baby will go on and on.
Take a look at the various fan films being made on the web, like:
r shipexeter.com
www.newvoyages.com
hiddenfrontier.com
www.sta
These prove that Trek can still work. All it needs is people with PASSION behind it, making it GOOD. True, the fan films aren't perfect, but they are far more enjoyable than what Paramount puts out.
If Paramount insists on hiring the "it's just a gig" crowd, like they have been, they will continue to turn out mediocre shows. The "it's just a gig" crowd can't be bothered to make plots work, develop characters, or keep continuity.
Personally, I have wondered why fans don't just get together and make their own ORIGINAL series which has nothing to do with Trek. Flying around the universe in spaceships is nothing patented or copyrighted by Paramount. It's a genre, and it's not owned by anyone. Think of the wonderful freedom which comes with making your own universe.
How many episodes would 3.1 million make? A quick Google tells me its about 1.6 million per episode, so about two. So it isn't going to be much of an impact when looking at making a new series.
They can monopolize Trek because they own the rights, that simple. This is true for just about every creative endeavour these days. Indeed, it's rather the point of copyright to grant a limited time monopoly (although you can argue the limited time part has been effectively removed, and the rights holders are often not the creators).
IMHO, Buffy should have been cancelled two seasons before it was: quality was seriously down.
The first phase is to construct the universe in which the stories will take place.
Then you start hashing out plots for a first season run.
Then you start in on the actual scripts. Seems like you could eventually converge on logically plotted and entertaining scripts.
You could also wind up with an unholy mess, but if you had the right people in charge you might get something. You'll need someone who knows how to pitch ideas once it's ready.
If, by "Democratic leaning" you mean the sort of Democrat who wore a grey uniform and fought the Union in the War of Northern Aggression, then sure, Firefly leans Democratic. Otherwise, I don't see how you categorize a pro-gun, anti-government, Western-in-space as either progressive or "Democratic leaning." Libertarian, sure--but just throwing a professional hooker into the mix doesn't make a program "Democratic."