Can Star Trek Be Saved? (lighter topic alert)

TV Guide ^ | 2/03 | Nollinger

[discostu]

One of the things I really like about Enterprise is that episode tied to the Temporal Cold War arc (which has been pretty cool all around) aren't pre-announced, they just show up. Though the Suliban are pretty boring as an enemy, they need to either be beefed up or replaced. Threats also need to be more external to the ship, as a friend of mine who has actually written for Trek says "everybody knows they won't blow up the Enterprise", as such threats within the ship lack a certain urgency. One thing that would be good is to have the Suliban actually win a round or two in the Temporal War, the more regularly they lose the lower the threat. I really like the fact that they've broken out of the episodic model, episodes don't start and end in the same condition, when the Enterprise gets damaged it's really damaged and they really need to get it fixed. Don't lose that.

As for the movies the author couldn't be more wrong. They need to be LESS like Spock humps the whales, that was boring and stupid without the joke the movie would be insufferable. More action, more edge of your seat. They've proven in the movies that they actually WILL blow up the Enterprise, that's good. One thing for sure: less Borg. The Borg are a bad enemy because they're too good, defeating them always require deus ex machina garbage. I would say more Romulans but somehow in Nemesis they made the Romulans completely boring. Bad guys need to be cool not just destructive, if the viewer can't understand why the bad guy would do what he's doing then they lose suspension of disbelief. In order to do that they need to breath more life into the cultures of the bad guys.

[clamper1797]

1. Lose the PC social engineering Bullsh!t. Janeway/Voyager should have taught the writers that people are NOT interested in a PC soap opera in space.

2. Get some better fire power (a lot more) and don't be so DAMNED panty waisted about using it. People don't like seeing the Enterprise crew being pushed around by every space capable species.

3. Give us some REAL enemies that we REALLY have to arm up for ... Klingons and/or Romulans would work well.

[clamper1797]

1. Lose the PC social engineering Bullsh!t. Janeway/Voyager should have taught the writers that people are NOT interested in a PC soap opera in space.

2. Get some better fire power (a lot more) and don't be so DAMNED panty waisted about using it. People don't like seeing the Enterprise crew being pushed around by every space capable species.

3. Give us some REAL enemies that we REALLY have to arm up for ... Klingons and/or Romulans would work well.

[Bogey78O]

What ever happened to the Eugenic wars?

KHANNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Texas_Jarhead]

"OPEN FIRE AND CLOSE THOSE PIE HOLES"

Right! and get off your damn social soapbox with all the liberal blathering

[strela]

The franchise has been Rick Berman-ized to death. When the writing team assigned situations and abilities that are out of canon to the universe as established in the original series, it sounded the death knell for the franchise as far as I am concerned. I've seen exactly two episodes of Enterprise and will never watch another.

The Enterprise was supposed to look like a toy at this point in the canon, not this advanced, shiny new thing that would not look out of place next to the Enterprise-J. Robert April, a man's man, was the first captain of the Enterprise, not this slack-jawed twit with his mangy, flea-bitten beagle and range of emotions that run the gamut from A to B. (The decontamination scene with Jolene Blalock in the pilot was very hot though).

As far as I am concerned, this incarnation of Enterprise and the ST universe is DOA. Run Rick Berman out of town on a rail, get some decent writers who PAY ATTENTION TO AND ACKNOWLEDGE CANON, and stop calling the killing of major characters "high art," and you might have something.

[Bogey78O]

Great Idea!

Enterprise would do well to remember that there is a major conflict with the Romulans approaching. They could easily follow that concept and have a series of episodes centered around different crews in the conflict with each episode centering only on that crew and their experiences.

[william clark]

Actually, there's one obvious shot in the arm they could give it. Veer away from the strict premise of a ship going planet/galaxy hopping, and create a series set in the ST universe that has a more conventional premise like that of a cop show or a spy show (how does "Federagents" sound for a title). That's not to say that the characters would have to stay tied to a specific location all the time, but some sort of location consistency would actually be refreshing to see in a world where the only constant has been change. Instead of a "Wagon Train" to the stars, a "Gunsmoke" amidst the stars.

[Hodar]

Good list. I hope you don't mind if I add a few of my thoughts to yours.

6) Pick an enemy, and tell the story. Borg destroy and absorb. Hence the term "Resistance is Futile...you will be Assimulated". There is not a 'Good Borg', making "Hugh, the friendly Borg" destroyed the entire Borg premise. In a rationale Borg society, Hugh would have been found defective, and either destroyed, or re-programmed.

7) Klingons worship battle, conquest and honor. Having a tentitive and lose treaty is fine. Having them as an ally is just ridiculous. A Klingon NEEDS no ally, for they are warriors who fight for themselves.

8) Sex sells. Whether it's the hottie chasing James T. Kirk around in a micro-mini or babes in skintight spandex jumpsuits(Buck Rogers), give your audience (males) what they want. Percentage wise, how many females watch Star Trek. Do your writers have any clue who your audience is?

[wolficatZ]

I always wanted to see Alien get aboard Voyager and rip Neelix to shreds.....

[SteveH]

Bring in Aliens. And Predators. And Aaahnold. And Sheryl Crow (on bass). :-)

[Question_Assumptions]

More Romulans, more Klingons. That's all that's needed. At least they busted out the Tholians recently.

Of the original series, how many episodes included Klingons? How many included Romulans? And how many other episodes had repeat races or characters?

Your suggestion points to exactly what has gone wrong with Star Trek. The first series was written by real TV writers and real science fiction authors who weren't copying anything else and who did their own thing. New planets. New aliens. Exotic and thought provoking situations that often didn't take the easy way out.

The later Treks have been written by fanboys (and fangirls) who can think of nothing original and only want to go back and have another Klingon episode, another Romulan episode, another Borg episode. The ratings are down? What alien or character from a past series can we dig up this week?

Why was there a Tholian in last week's episode? Some fanboy or fangirl writer couldn't help themselves. And what makes it all the more painful is that each "nod" to the original series only damages the continuity of the original series.

Zephram Cochrain was from Alpha Centauri and he certainly wasn't a hippy as portrayed in the original series. The Romulans and even the Ferengi were supposed to be mysterious and new aliens when they first appeared but how many times will we get to see them in Enterprise? How about seeking out some new life and new civilizations and boldly going where no man has gone before instead of seeking out well known life, well known civilizations, and boldly puttering around a well known and populated galaxy where everyone, except perhaps humans during the time Enterprise takes place, have been before.

The other thing that annoys me is that the Federation of the original series was on top. Now we're stuck with post-Vietnam anti-Americanism that has Enterprise flying around as the weaklings of the galaxy with the humans patronized by just about everyone as if they were infants taking their first steps. Original Trek had a few episodes where we ran into races far superior to humans. In Enterprise, it's an event if the species du jour is less powerful than humans.

As for the suggestion in the article that the crew be more human and have more problems, please no. Have them act more compitent and military. They already act like the rejects sent out into space because no one would want them on Earth. There is a reason why people reacted well to Troi being told to put on a uniform and that costume change stayed. This is a quasi-military ship representing a government, not the Love Boat in space.

[Bogey78O]

"...as a friend of mine who has actually written for Trek says "everybody knows they won't blow up the Enterprise"

It seems they've taken that to heart in the last few movies. However it's become comical how (with the exception of data) the entire crew survives and the ship gets rebuilt with no lasting scars.

[Lee Heggy]

I would like to see a little bit of the style of writing that is in 'The Outer Limits' adapted to the 'Trek' theme. Plot twists and some really drastic senarios with some truly BAD and truly 'alien' aliens. Of course that takes creativity and that cost $$$$.

[Bogey78O]

DC Fontana is still alive I believe.

[Doug Loss]

Actually, Trek hasn't been worth watching since DS9 ended. If you want decent SF on TV, you have to watch Farscape (cancelled by the SciFi Channel and ending on Mar 21) or Firefly (cancelled by Fox; read about it at www.fox.com/firefly/). As you can see, there doesn't appear to be much of a market for decent SF on TV.

[537 Votes]

Berman and Braga have got to go. They 'retired' Gene Roddenberry from Trek for a lot less, and Roddenberry was the creator.

Super Colossal Mega Blunder #1: Going backward, not forward. Everything Enterprise encounters is something where Kirk could say, "Been there, done that." So right there is the critical flaw. The premise of the show is, "Where someone has gone before." So you have an entire series based on making the first-run episodes feel like reruns.

[The Toad]

Thanks for the Gorn pic--one of my favorite episodes from the original series.

[Billy_bob_bob]

Not just different crews, different starbases and planets. Sometimes an episode could revolve around the activities of a scout ship in a distant quadrant. Let's say they commit some kind of galactic faux paux that pisses off some newly contacted race. The next episode could revolve around the ramifications of their actions as the politicians get involved at the Federation Council. The episode after that could involve something completely unrelated, the episode after that could somehow tie them all together. Or not. You have that freedom with this format. However, an overriding "story arc" would be an asset to a production like this, IMHO.

[strela]

David Gerrold too.