A lot of these issues have already been talked about but I thought that I'd share with you what I learned at a speech given by Brannon Braga about a month ago at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, CA. The topic of discussion was philosophy in Science Fiction but he quickly diverged into the subject of writing for Star Trek over the years.
One of his more memorable quotes I thought was when someone asked him to explain the declining interest in the Star Trek francise. He replied that it was strange to hear that question because for years and years the question was always "why is Star Trek so popular even to this day?" Of course to that question he would talk about how it reaffirmed many of our hopes and dreams for the future and reflected on our own lives, etc. etc. But now that he was being asked this question, he attributed the decline in interest was, as has already been stated, due to an oversaturation, that audiences needed a break. He said that Episode 501 of the Star Trek series could be just as good as Episode 1 but it's still the five-hundred and first episode. There's just only so much we can take.
What I thought was more interesting, though, was that he claimed that the actual writing quality hadn't declined throughout the years, that Star Trek episodes were just as innovative and interesting as ever, but that the audiences were just too tired of stories about time travel and worm holes. (This point I think I would have to disagree with but as a writer for Voyager and the Creator/Writer of Enterprise, I think I gave him the benefit of a doubt.)
He pointed to "Lost" as a promising show that he classified as science fiction which was going in a new direction that he felt other shows should follow.
Finally, I thought I would just add that Brannon Bragga seems to be a little more generous with how much time it will be before Star Trek comes back. When asked if Star Trek would continue on in any other forms, he said that certainly fans would continue on efforts to keep the show affloat (he sited the group of fans who tried to pay for an additional season of Enterprise by raising money themselves) but he said that Star Trek wouldn't be back for at least another ten years.
I'm not an expert in the field of digital broadcasting but I do know that Apple has been updating all of its video-related products (Quicktime, Final Cut, iMovie, etc.) with MPEG-4 compliance. A few months ago Steve Jobs announced that he envisioned all of the video being produced both in the home and professionally in this new HD format.
I'm curious about what MPEG-4 technology in HDTV means for computers in the near future. I have a Alchamey TV card installed in my G5 which I used to watch cable. Will we be seeing HDTV cards coming out soon that take advantage of the fact that both Apple and Direct TV seem to be using the same technologies?
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One of his more memorable quotes I thought was when someone asked him to explain the declining interest in the Star Trek francise. He replied that it was strange to hear that question because for years and years the question was always "why is Star Trek so popular even to this day?" Of course to that question he would talk about how it reaffirmed many of our hopes and dreams for the future and reflected on our own lives, etc. etc. But now that he was being asked this question, he attributed the decline in interest was, as has already been stated, due to an oversaturation, that audiences needed a break. He said that Episode 501 of the Star Trek series could be just as good as Episode 1 but it's still the five-hundred and first episode. There's just only so much we can take.
What I thought was more interesting, though, was that he claimed that the actual writing quality hadn't declined throughout the years, that Star Trek episodes were just as innovative and interesting as ever, but that the audiences were just too tired of stories about time travel and worm holes. (This point I think I would have to disagree with but as a writer for Voyager and the Creator/Writer of Enterprise, I think I gave him the benefit of a doubt.)
He pointed to "Lost" as a promising show that he classified as science fiction which was going in a new direction that he felt other shows should follow.
Finally, I thought I would just add that Brannon Bragga seems to be a little more generous with how much time it will be before Star Trek comes back. When asked if Star Trek would continue on in any other forms, he said that certainly fans would continue on efforts to keep the show affloat (he sited the group of fans who tried to pay for an additional season of Enterprise by raising money themselves) but he said that Star Trek wouldn't be back for at least another ten years.
I'm curious about what MPEG-4 technology in HDTV means for computers in the near future. I have a Alchamey TV card installed in my G5 which I used to watch cable. Will we be seeing HDTV cards coming out soon that take advantage of the fact that both Apple and Direct TV seem to be using the same technologies?