Star Trek - Longevity

[Lord J]

  Well, I know a lot of you guys are ST fans.  I'm not quite the fan I thought I was (before the convention), but I really like the universe.

  My question is this: With the last movie being the flop that it was, with the semi-failure of Enterprise and with the lack of new ST computer games, how much life is left in the series?

  I really don't think it's going to last without something really fantastic.

  The original Star Trek was groundbreaking (Okay, it was B-rated SF on TV, but just keep reading), it opened doors with race, politics, philosophy etc. that everyone else was either afraid or unable to touch.  TNG continued the tradition, for the most part, with the psychological aspects.  Voyager and DS9's purposes were pretty much just to continue the series, but they tended to have decent, original storylines and an addictive cast.  Enterprise, though, just...doesn't...do it.  The storylines (that I've seen) tend to be as one-dimensional as the cast.

  The ST movies have all been pretty good, The Motion Picture was a bit too Space Odyseeish, but Wrath of Kahn is one of the most famous movies of all time ("KAAAAAAAAAAAHHNN!").  Each movie represented a search of some kind, an exploration of power, God and racial relations.  Even First Contact continued the theme to some point, going back to the original warp engine and Zephram Cochrane.  But Insurrection was, in reality simply a long episode of TNG-- Then we have Nemesis.  Must I say more? 

  The convention last year was a major eye-opener for me.  I saw Trekkies (the movie) and I read several convention-esque books, including Shatner's Get A Life, but it did not prepare me for the reality of the Las Vegas convention at all.  First off was the lack of attendees, there may have been a few thousand there, but when you read about the 10-15,000 person conventions of the past, you realize how little that is.  The major feeling of the convention was something like "Ohh well, let's just do this because we've been doing it for years."  There was no real fun theme, except for the speakers, most of the fans seemed almost rabid for information and collectibles (some of you may remember my description of the semi-orgasmic sighs accompanying the sale of a Patrick Stewart autograph), not the loving, celebratory sharing that I had read about and seen on Trekkies.  Most of the fans seemed to dislike (to the point of shouting at the stage) Enterprise pretty vehemently, and the audience was very selective of who they were there to see.  While the attendence was pretty good for DS9 actors, it was pretty sparse for Koenig and Takei, not to mention the turn-out for the guy that plays Malcolm on Enterprise.

  One of the major themes I felt at the convention was that the fans want the glory days of TOS back, but in an original form.

  I'm not sure how to finish this post.  The convention I'm talking about was, obviously, last year's.  I don't plan on going to another.  Comment, please.

[Caid Ivik]

Wrath of Khan is one of the best, if not the best movie ever made. Even without all the other saga, it makes the ST universe immortal.

[EWS]

Apparently Star Trek is now dead after Enterprise ends....there was rumour of another movie however that all went to pot after Activision decided to sue Paramount over killing the series in Nemesis.  So if we do see another one, lets pray it is good.

[Dunenewt]

Hardly anyone turned up to see Malcolm?  Racists, can't take the fact that a British guy is the best actor in Enterprise. lol

[Andoreion]

I agree. Malcolm is priceless. ;D

Personally, I didn't really the first two seasons of Enterprise. Luckily, they started developing a bit of storyline in season 3. Which I felt was a great improvement. Now, I actually stay home to watch it  :)

[Dunenewt]

Enterprise is my favourite one out of all the different Star Trek ones.  I haven't seen many of the original ST series, but TNG always seemed a bit poor to me, DS9 was usually boring until there was that invasion thingy, and I only enjoyed Voyager when the Borg or Species 87...something, were in it.

[Lord J]

Hardly anyone turned up to see Malcolm?  Racists, can't take the fact that a British guy is the best actor in Enterprise. lol

  I personally think the actor John(?) Billingsley (Dr. Phlox) is the best actor on Enterprise.  Not that I dislike Malcolm's actor because he's British, more because he's a bit of an egotist.  I like Billingsley because the actor is *nothing* like the character, if that tells you anything.

[Dunenewt]

Maybe because the actor is a human ;)

[Andoreion]

I agree that Phlox is one of the best characters on Enterprise, but I doubt he'll be able to measure up to Robert Picardo (The 'Doc' on Voyager), who is one of my favorite Star Trek characters. 

[Vanguard3000]

I agree, LordJ, on both accounts.  Dr. Phlox was the only thing I had seen on Enterprise that was any good.  I remember one of the earlier episodes, where he does a monologue about being an alien on a primarily human starship ("It's not easy making friends, but I am a doctor; eventually, everyone comes to see me at some point...").  John Billingley was also quite good in the (unfortunately) short-lived series The Others.

The rest of Enterprise is pretty weak.  Plot holes within plot holes, the ever-present special effects crutch, and pathetic tricks to attract viewers, like the scene in the pilot, where the Vulcan commander and some other guy are rubbing each other down rather sensually, to protect from alien spores or some crap like that.  As soon as I saw that scene, I realized Enterprise just wasn't worth my time. Even the appearence of the glorious Andorians didn't compel me to tune in.

Don't be discouraged though, LordJ.  'Fanboys" may be aplenty, but there are still many who truly appreciate the series for those qualities that made the original series set the bar for quality sci-fi.

[ordos45]

JMS creator of B5, is making a Star Trek series.

[Mahdi]

No, he, like several thousand others, has proposed one.  It has not been greenlighted.

[ordos45]

Ah my mistake.  Misread it in a B5 community I'm in.

[Mahdi]

Not that it matters.  Even if it is true they're trading a couple repetative white-bread-no-crust showrunners for one can't write dialogue, direct, or cast showrunner who apparently is skilled plotting out arcs.

[Lord J]

  'Newt: Good point! :)

  Andoreion: I tend to agree, I really liked Picardo as both The Doctor and as an actor, who I saw at the convention.  He presented the new Borg Invasion 4D, and sang a song about the Queen.

  Vanguard3000: Yeah, the episode with Phlox writing the letter to his friend was, by far, the best episode of the season. 

[Vanguard3000]

Episode?  I could only stomach the monologue.

And if you're a Picardo fan, you should check out his book, The Hologram's Handbook.  It's about being an EMH in a vastly inferior human's world.  Or something.  I saw it in a bookstore, and recommended it to my fake-newfie friend, who seems to have really enjoyed it.

I only flipped through it myself, but it had some pretty neat little comic strips in it every now and then.  I remmeber one involved the Doctor dancing after having whupped Tuvok at 3D chess.  :D