Slashdot Mirror
Startrek.com Shutting Down
Curlsman writes to let us know that the fan site startrek.com, operated for 13 years by CBS, is being shut down and its staff laid off. Is this site worth a write-in campaign? From the (perhaps final) post: "Goodbye from the STARTREK.COM Team. Sadly, we must report that CBS Interactive organization is being restructured, and the production team that brings you the STARTREK.COM site has been eliminated. Effective immediately. We don't know the ultimate fate of this site, which has served millions of Star Trek fans for the last thirteen years. If you have comments, please send them to editor @ startrek.com — we hope someone at CBS will read them."
It would be great news if they then donated the domain to a fan based organization who could then preserve, maintain and preferably enhance the whole website and continue to move it forwards.
But I suspect it will be sold to the highest bidder, no doubt something to do with the new upcoming prequels.
Could memory-alpha.org be part of the reason? I know I go there for all things Trek (huge nerd here...get over it). I can't remember ever going to ST.com for anything.
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
"Is this site worth a write-in campaign?"
Nope.
(Count the mods who break their legs in a rush to mod this as "flamebait" even though I'm answering the question asked.)
I visited the link and there is no mention of the site shutting down! (is kdawson again posting misleading headlines?)
O.k., the production team have been pulled of the site - not a good sign!
There seems to be alot of advertising on the site - *if* the site is shut down - that would be nuts (assuming it is generating a profit)! There is also a new Star Trek film in the pipeline why would they shut the site down.
Unless they will use the domain to promote the new film - hopefully the content will still be available if people are interested in the film it makes sense to allow the 'old' content to be available.
"Live long and prosper?"
While reading the summay. Last fall/winter/ this spring i watched all 6 star trek series and 10 movies in chronological order by episode. Memory alpha was an indispensible resource for getting the order right, as well as reading background info and things on just about evey episode while i was watching, i cant remember ever going to the official site...
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
So, essentially, it's already dead and writing will do no good.
Wow. This just about says it all - CBS has so completely wrecked the franchise that it doesn't even want to maintain its own franchise group. It's difficult to imagine a more complete case of mismanagement. I mean, the show has had one of the strongest, most resilient, self-sustaining cult followings for almost forty years. It's not easy to kill something like that.
I suppose that for an encore, they'll sue Star Trek conventions into obsolescence for licensing violations. Or, maybe, Star Trek: The Musical. Either way, their scorched-earth policy can't leave any scrap of consumer interest in their franchise untorched!
- David Stein
Computer over. Virus = very yes.
Why the AC? I would be happy to post a heartfelt comment like that.
How much do you like toast?
Timing seems a bit strange considering the movie is upcoming; you'd think they'd want to preserve the online fan community to hype the new picture. Especially considering that CBS and Paramount Pictures are one and the same (I think?)
http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/
and it includes D.C. Fontana and many of the original Startrek series crew.
The episodes are free, and some extend old story lines.
Over all, very enjoyable!
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
714 regular episodes * 45min
22 animated episodes * 25min
10 movies * ~120min
565 hours / 9 months (sept to may i believe) is roughly 2 hours a day, so i averaged about 3 episodes a day, not as bad as it sounds.
And for the record, i have a job and live with my fiancee.
As for my overall opinions of the franchise...
Enterprise, definitely watchable and definitely underrated. Never watched it when it aired, but the 3rd and 4th seasons were better than a lot of Voyager.
TOS, good, has stood the test of time pretty well, but not fantastic.
TNG, also good, but soooo overrated. I was a little young when it was on (1yo and 8yo), so i hadnt seen much of it, its all pretty good and there are some classic episodes, but its definitely overrated IMO.
DS9 was a rewatch for me, but it was as good as i remember it and is still my favorite series.
VOY, another rewatch, worse than i remember since i was still only in middle school when it was on. It got off to less of a rocky start than TNG or DS9, whos first 2 seasons were pretty bad, but voyager got worse as it went along. Overall i think i liked enterprise better than voyager.
And the movies dont require much comment, i think the accepted order of best to worst is 4, 2, 8, 6, 3, 10, 1, 9, 7, 5.
It was a fun experience, and i recommend it, its not as daunting as it seems, 2 eps a day and you can do it in a year. Part of the fun for me was watching them in chronological order, which helped break up TNG, DS9 and VOY, although i still had to watch 2 seasons of voyager straight through. Interesting to note, the finale of TNG and the premier of VOY are only separated chronologically by the first 7 episodes of the third season of DS9.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."