Jendresen: Star Trek Needs Epic Adventure

[Jem'hadar]

Jendresen: Star Trek Needs Epic Adventure
http://www.syfyportal.com/article.php?id=1764

[Tobian]

I'm sceptical, but it could be good. Inreaguing!

[Rayaru]

We'll see. I'm open to almost anything.

[REG]

I'm sceptical, but it could be good. Inreaguing!

Hmph. I'm skeptical, period.

[BouncyCaitian]

Facinating indeed. He wrote band of brothers. it could be good.

[IceGiant]

It looks like with Jolene Blalock calling the finale "appalling" it's quite possible they went with enterprise being a total holodeck adventure. I have no problems with the way this movie is shaping up.

[REG]

Facinating indeed. He wrote band of brothers. it could be good.

That's what we all say about Gladiator scribe John Logan, when he was initially brought onboard for NEMESIS.

I still long for Nicholas Meyer.

[PGoodman13]

I still long for Nicholas Meyer.

The more I think about it, the more I think Meyer really screwed the pooch, especially with The Undiscovered Country. I can't put my finger on a single reason why (at the moment, anyway, though perhaps later), but the more I think about it, the less I like what he did.

[REG]

Just so you know, Nicholas Meyer collaborated with Leonard Nimoy on the sixth film.

I'd be curious as to why you don't like it.

[Don Mappin]

That's what we all say about Gladiator scribe John Logan, when he was initially brought onboard for NEMESIS.

We think a lot alike, REG.

[Don Mappin]

It's a pretty basic premise, but my opinion (and that's all it is), is that Trek needs to continue moving forward and growing, not revisiting its fictional past. Somewhere between ENT and TOS? I just can't get moved by this.

That's what was so good about TNG and DS9...they grew the franchise into its "logcial" future. (TNG moreso than DS9. VOY had a slew of problems but its premise was strong.)

What's with the fascination of looking to Trek's past to propel the franchise forward?

[BouncyCaitian]

Well....if We continue in the logical extrapolation of DS9

"The long night has come. The United Federation Of Planets, the greatest civilization the galaxy has even known has fallen."

[D.S.McBride]

Originally posted by Don Mappin
What's with the fascination of looking to Trek's past to propel the franchise forward?

To borrow a line from a band I much admire - and I've used it here before, under similar circumstances - "You glorify your past when your future dries up."

If Ron Moore is to be believed, Rick Berman and Branon Bragga are - in terms of storytelling values, at the very least - moral cowards. The situation in the "regular" Trek universe has become normalized and there're no more threats to face? Well, okay...faced with the choice of inventing new sources of conflict that follow along with the format already developed, or delving back into a past that's already been written - and where we know how it's going to turn out, pretty much - it looks like we're going to choose the latter. It's easier, safer, and it doesn't present us with the terrifying prospect of setting our boots out on to a path that hasn't been walked before.

I've written it a million times before, but to drag out the dead horse again, ENT's premise was about as close to an utterly unworkable storytelling situation as I can imagine. You have two choices when writing from a format where the past has already been established: stick with the established history, in which case you're telling stories where people already know how it's going to turn out, and they're going to get bored watching these little automatons go through the numbers. It's going to piss people off. The other choice is the one B & B took; ignore the established history, make stuff up as the situation warrants, and to hell with the consequences. The result is that this take on things pisses people off. No matter what, you're going to end up pissing people off.

The route that B & B took might have been understandable, if not condonable, if they had developed and vetted stories that had actually been worth a tinker's cuss in a high wind. For the most part - at least as I understand it - they were not. Thus, they failed on two fronts: cowering away from taking the risky high road with regard to stimulating new ideas, and then not even bothering to do their best when taking the safe route. At the end of the day, and with the litany of lacklustre reviews the first three seasons recieved (or two, if you're a fan of the 90 degree turn that was taken in third year), I'm frankly amazed the thing lasted as long as it did.

If it does turn out to be the Holodeck-fantasy bit, or a dream that Will Riker had after a bad turn with Betazed five-alarm chili, I have to say I'm actually going to breathe a sigh of relief. To offer another quote, from a man (of sorts) who ruled the Known Universe for thirty-five hundred years - and should know, don't you think? - "Only fools prefer the past!"

[BouncyCaitian]

Considering the ramshackle condition of the galaxy post DS9, the frontier has opened up again. actual stories are possible again.

[Don Mappin]

If it does turn out to be the Holodeck-fantasy bit, or a dream that Will Riker had after a bad turn with Betazed five-alarm chili...

ROTFLMAO!!

Good stuff and convincingly argued, sir.