Star Trek Reboot prospectus by JMS

[Tobian]

That's the difference between picking and chosing what you want to respect, and respecting the fact Trek is a bit of a quagmire Nemesis both ignored the TNG dynamic (No, but it is NOT just Picard and Data!) and sucked as a plot. If you're going to makea trek project, but you really just have to take the baggage with you, not just relegate the baggage to the baggage car and press on the accelerator pedal

Other singular dangers in re-imagining Trek are:

It smells of BSG - Holywood thrives on sequels and remakes - people both love and hate this. BSG got through on raw nerve; anything less than an awsome show is going to win over the fans!

Deifying TOS Trek is dangerous. TOS was NOT Shakespeare.. it was groundbreaking, entertaining and it worked briliantly, but not more than what it was. Maybe it'll seem good when TV grinds down into an endless stream of brainless reality shows, but it's not that bad yet.. Many shows push the boundaries of TV, this just smacks to me of abusing a brand name to push a concept show, and win ratings. I'm not convinced.

BSG -reimagined - was an ancient old show re-imagined - Sure, if you wait 20 years, maybe this will work, but not this 'fresh' after the cut - the online arguments will be frightening ! I'd be fine with this, in 20 years, when maybe it's time to revisit Trek afresh...

[Aldaron]

I was just about to mention the BSG connection when I flipped to page 2 and read Tobian's post.

Sounds to me like JMS is getting sick of writing Spiderman comics and wants to try and repeat the success of BSG with his "reimagined" Trek.

I personally don't think it can be done. Not because I worship TOS - I am generally ambivelant to TOS, although I like the movies with the TOS characters. I just frankly don't trust JMS with Trek. I narrow my eyes when JMS starts ranting, because, in general, I've found he is his own biggest fanboy.

Look, I really enjoyed B5 - enough to buy them all on VHS and then again on DVD - but I find JMS tends to wax majestic about his own SF show, and I just don't feel B5 was that much better than a lot of others. 5 year story arc? Nonsense - it was a generalised idea, as cobbled together as the DS9 Dominion arc. No doubt I'll be flamed for saying it, but I find all the drooling over B5 to be a bit of the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome. Most of the acting was barely acceptable, a lot of the stories were downright painful, several characters (Delenn, especially) were nauseating and the entire final season was a waste of celluloid.

And the only series he had anything to do with that involved starship travel (Crusade) was among the most dismal television I've ever had the misfortune of watching.

No...keep JMS' hands off Trek. There are at least three sensational SF shows running since then whose producers I would trust more (Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica). What he has proposed is not particularly original, and he's confusing the reaction of comic book fans with SF TV series fans.

If I wanted a "Unverse B" Trek, I'd find someone to write a comic book series about it. But I doubt I'd be bothered watching a remake - sorry, reimagining - of TOS.

Stick to Spidey, Joe...

[tonyg]

A There are at least three sensational SF shows running since then whose producers I would trust more (Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica).

If I wanted a "Unverse B" Trek, I'd find someone to write a comic book series about it. But I doubt I'd be bothered watching a remake - sorry, reimagining - of TOS.

Stick to Spidey, Joe...

I Agree. But if someone were to reimagine Trek. I'd prefer it to be the folks behind SG-1. It seems to me that they were really stating to get down the TOS character dynamic a few years back with the main characters. The O'Neil-Tealk relationship was looking a lot like Kirk-Spock.

Any reinvetion/restart of TOS is going to succedd or fail on the character relationships.

[spyone]

The advantage of having a Trek series directed by a ST fan is that we can be sure the characters and universe will be treated as they should be without blatant errors.

You haven't met enough ST fans.

Seriously, there are idiots in every group. I call them the "Fish are people, too" crowd (for reasons it will probably take too long to explain).
I've met fans who were more active than I am, who went to conventions and dressed up for same. And a large number of them held some really crackpot ideas about the Trek universe.

I'll also say that sometimes someone who is completely unsuited for one job is quite suited for another: Branon Braga wrote some of my favorite episodes of TNG. It is only his work as an Executive Producer I don't like.


I find JMS's argurment flawed from the start: he believes that the ratings drop because the body of work that has gone before creates a "been there, done that" attitude that stifles creativity, and he believes the solution is to ditch the background and do it over from the start.
I believe that the asset the franchise has is a huge fanbase devoted to exactly that background body of work, and that the ratings dropped because of a percieved lack of caring about that background by the writers and production staff.

If JMS is right, Enterprise should have been a huge commercial success, as it was not burdened by the backlog of work to remain consistant with. If Enterprise still suffered from the "been there, done that" influence, then all Science Fiction shows will suffer from it: "Didn't they already do this story on Star Trek?" Does he believe it will make the repetition more platable to the audience if it is a remake?

One need only look at Battlestar Galactica to see how dangerous this is: while the new show has attracted many of the fans of the old show, and also many new viewers, a large portion of the fans of the older show hate the producers of the new one for "ruining" something they have cherished from childhood.

Since TOS was running on NBC, Star Trek fans have been unusually devoted and exceptionally vocal about what they want: can you imagine fans of any other show picketing the network when they heard rumors of its cancellation?
The way to revitalize the franchise is to figure out what the enormous fan-base wants, and then give it to them. You must clearly express the change in management philosophy in a way that will lure those who drifted away during Voyager and Enterprise back into the fold, and then you must provide them with something that satisfies them. And you must not piss them off.

I believe that what JMS proposes will piss off far too many of us. We all hold Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and McCoy as somewhat sacred, and it is inevitable that something will happen where a lot of fans will go, "(Insert character name) would never do that! This is bull! This sucks!" That is the huge landmine of a remake over blazing new ground: we can accept that characters change far more readilly than one acting in a way we don't agree with in a period we've already seen covered.
Far safer to chronicle the adventures of the Enterprise-B, if you like that era.

IMO, what alienated the fan-base was the feeling that no one working on the shows gave a damn about continuity, and therefore that no one gave a damn about the fans who did. Which is most of us. Which is why the Encyclopedia sold so well. To revitalize the fan-base, you need do one thing, and it is a simple thing to express even if it is a difficult thing to do: convince us you care. Convince us you care about us, and about Star Trek. Convince us you love it as much as we do, and you want to take good care of it. Convince us you are more concerned with telling us a good story than selling Coke.
Sorry, JMS, but I am only convinced of that last one with you. You are a storyteller not a salesman, but I am not convinced you hold any love for Trek, and I think you view its fans as buyers for your story and not your beloved brothers.

[spyone]

And the only series he had anything to do with that involved starship travel (Crusade) was among the most dismal television I've ever had the misfortune of watching.

To be fair, JMS was not happy about Crusade.
He had put in his contract the right to change his name in the credits if he didn't like the end product, and then he went out and registered a new name with the union for just that possability. Sure enough, he didn't like the show and tried to switch his name, and the network balked at his choice. They went to the union, and the union agreed he couldn't make them put that name in the credits.
Last I heard, he was suing the union over that ruling because they had accepted his union dues for the name I Ben Screwed.

[tonyg]

IMO, what alienated the fan-base was the feeling that no one working on the shows gave a damn about continuity, and therefore that no one gave a damn about the fans who did. Which is most of us. Which is why the Encyclopedia sold so well. To revitalize the fan-base, you need do one thing, and it is a simple thing to express even if it is a difficult thing to do: convince us you care. Convince us you care about us, and about Star Trek. Convince us you love it as much as we do, and you want to take good care of it. Convince us you are more concerned with telling us a good story than selling Coke.

Oh Yeah! Direct Hit!
I've noticed that Trek started to slide downhill at about the same time that cast and crew started to discount (and even ridcule) the fans. We went from the old production staff who had a good relationship for and appeciated the fans (that's what made the films and TNG possible) to people who considered the fans an inconvience.

It is pretty badfor someone who is producing a TV show (any TV show) to give an interview for and say "Well the fans only make up a small percetage of the audience, you know. " (I must have read this line in practically every interview in the last decade). Even if that is what someone believes, it isn't a good idea to tell the fans that they don't count. It is downright stupid to do so in a magazine like STAR TREK COMMINUCATOR that is designed for and sold to the aforementioned "small percentage" of fans.

Ticking off the fanbase is never a good business move.

[BouncyCaitian]

I have never understood the mentality of people who think torquing off the people who make your show populat is a good idea

[V'Lor]

To this point, I have one thing to say. Nemesis was written by a Trek fan...

Whose work and story was rewritten by B&B and Brent Spiner. Thus contamninated by incompotance. B&B when Nemesis came out said they rewrote a majority of it. Berman was proud of it! Then denied it after it tanked.

[REG]

Whose work and story was rewritten by B&B and Brent Spiner. Thus contamninated by incompotance. B&B when Nemesis came out said they rewrote a majority of it. Berman was proud of it! Then denied it after it tanked.

Which brings back to my earlier statement, not interested in rebooting the universe, just interested in reforming the franchise folks.