I'm not a hard-core Trek fan. I liked the original series, and most of the Next Generation series. Not all that taken with Deep Space Nine, or with Voyager. And Enterprise, I usually liked; some, I thought incredibly dumb, and some, incredibly tight. Still, the overall concept of Star Trek appeals to me as much now as it did when the original series aired, and it was that attitude that appealed to me in the recent reissue of the Star Trek movie - Trek 2.0, I've heard it called. I was apprehensive that it would be Star Trek the way that Wild Wild West was the newer, better WWW from TV -- which is to say, edgier, smarter, hipper. Kirk with spiky hair, that sort of thing. But it wasn't. It was captivating. It wasn't faithful to the canon, but it was faithful to the concept that motivated the original, and generated the canon.
I didn't mind the "Is the parking brake on?" comment, either. Slick.
So when I saw this article about what if they rebooted the Star Trek TV series, I thought hmmm....interesting idea. I wouldn't have cared for the idea, two years ago, for the same reasons as I cited above. But when I saw what could be done with Battlestar Galactica (truthfully, I wasn't a fan of the remake, but I very much liked the intelligence and energy and integrity that went into it; this was real -- or as real as something totally fictional could be), I was primed to think that maybe, just maybe, a remake of Star Trek would be worth watching. What would it be like to be aboard the Enterprise, doing discovery, first contacts, all of that? What would it be like to encounter totally alien species? To deal with life on a starship, away from other humans for months at a time? Yeah....I could get behind something like that.
Only: no tribbles, okay?
1 comment:
There are a million stories which can be done in the star trek universe. Voyager told some of them, without the inclusion of Captain Kirk. There were some good stories, however Voyager suffered a little from having too obvious politically correct characters instead of outrageous characters. I even grew to like or at least, respect the character played by Kate Mulligrew (except I NEVER could stand her voice) and lets face it, Jerry Ryan was a simple sop to pander to the purile pimply pud pulling post adolescent male teenager the network execs believed were driving the show. To add real insult to the concept, it actually worked and Jerry with her Borg balooned bosoms drove Voyager on for another two years into the Delta Quadrant. And lets face it, that Doctor was truly outrageous and superb. I mean, here he is, a hologram, he can look like anything he wants, and he chooses to be a balding obnoxious technogeek! Can the producers target an audience or what?
Me...I would like to see a series where we would follow different threads, with no connection necessary. The Amazing Adventures of Harry Mudd come to mind. The United Federation's HBO presents "Klingon Shakespeare". And of course, the ever popular Pon Phar finals for the sports fans. Green girls gone wild! Coming to a beach near you! Computer lovers might enjoy a tour through the "Binary" worlds. And perhaps Bajor might have some murders that need solving by Odo, PI and his highly unreliable partner Gul Du Quat. Some rattlin good spy stories still need to be told.
But sadly, we get "that car is an antique, you get your ass back here young man" followed closely by the results we have come to expect. The ST movie was wildly predictable, and a great romp down memory lane...all the old guys (sadly, this means me....) vied with each other attempting to find the hidden easter eggs and all the young folks just rolled their eyes...I fear the magic was lost on a generation raised on Doom 3 and Grand Theft Auto. (Easter eggs...grin! Why else would they keep filming on that same diagonal outcropping of rock?)
The original star trek did it without a budget to speak of. (They had to invent matter transporters because they could not afford shuttle craft) McCoy's instruments were salt and pepper shakers from the local Ikea, and the tricorder was a tricked out volt-ohmeter. With no special effects to fall back on, they went with acting. The fashion at the time was to have outrageous and memorable characters (Starsky and Hutch, Dirty Harry, Cannon, Ironsides) and machine gun action which had matured to a format which you deviated from at your peril...two minor climaxes, and a major climax, leading to a denoument, interspersed with two commercial breaks. The only thing more perfect than the TV shows of that era were the commercials. (They cost more to make, and told their story in 15 seconds or less...how excellent is that!)
We need a return to non-politically correct characters. I mean, we need more Tony Sopranos, more Agent Skullys.
Oops, my time here is done. The home planet is calling me back.
mork mork
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