Rick Berman's helming of Star Trek

[Kosst Amojan]

I'm going to side with those of you who said the creative team needs some new blood. Since Enterprise permiered, I have been nothing more than apathetic about it. I was excited to hear Scott Bakula was cast as the captain. And who can deny JoLen Blalock is an excellent Vulcan? However, the characters are lacking something. I don't fault the actors for this, I fault their material.

When I think about Captains, the ones that come to mind are Picard, Sisko and Kirk. These guys were larger than life. My favorite series is DS9. I think Avery Brooks projected a particular presence that I could feel flow through the screen when I watched him. However, it wasn't all Brooks, it also involved a well developed character. It's much the same way for those of you who are into the roleplaying game. As a GM, or player, you want to make a character that has that "something." I think that is what the characters of Enterprise are lacking. This is sad, because some actors with tremendous potential are involved. The series has just failed to "grab me" or perhaps I should say "beam me up" as a fan.

I disagree with anybody who says the franchise itself is tired. All you have to do is pick up one of many good Star Trek novels. Again, being a DS9 fan, I would reccomend all the recent novels from that series, especially those by S. D. Perry, and the excellent Millenium trilogy. Wow, these writers have some awesome ideas. Let's get them to write some scripts! I have supplanted my need for good Trek with reading. Also, I am lucky that TNG and DS9 reruns air EVERY day in my area.

The problem can easily become a creator becoming tired (perhaps without his knowing) with his work. There are many examples. Look at the X-Files. In the beginning, Chris Carter was brilliant. However, I went from never wanting to miss an episode of the show to not really caring about it at all. The same could even be said of the first three Star Wars movies vs. what we have today. However, I believe that some great creative minds are out there waiting to step into Berman and Bragga's shoes. These men have done great things for the ST universe. Now, I think they should step down from the Captain's seat and let a new commander take over. The problem is, no captain wants to relinquish control of his ship. Just ask our beloved Capt. Kirk.

[Ineti]

I also agree that some fresh blood on the Paramount lot would be welcome. Take Berman out of the creative area and keep him the final yea/nay man, but get some fresh, non-Trek producers, writers, etc in there to really turn things around.

Or just get Ira Steven Behr back. That would work for me.

[Phantom]

Originally posted by Ineti
I also agree that some fresh blood on the Paramount lot would be welcome. Take Berman out of the creative area and keep him the final yea/nay man, but get some fresh, non-Trek producers, writers, etc in there to really turn things around.

Or just get Ira Steven Behr back. That would work for me.

If you keep him in the yea/nay postion then he still is in charge of the production effort, and still able to infiltrate his drivel into a story. And if any writer disagrees then they'd be out, possibly destroying good story potential.

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Phantom
If you keep him in the yea/nay postion then he still is in charge of the production effort, and still able to infiltrate his drivel into a story. And if any writer disagrees then they'd be out, possibly destroying good story potential.

Hmm. Well, in that case, we need to infiltrate Paramount and replace Berman with a pod-person bent to our will.

[Balok]

It might be that Paramount would like to replace Berman. Certainly, the dismal performance of Nemesis would lead me to take a hard look at him, if I was an executive there. Likewise the diminishing share of Enterprise.

But they might have a fundamental problem: no one to hand the reins to. Berman's been doing the job so long, he certainly has a tremendous wealth of knowledge, and it's known how he works with all the key players. I assume if they remove him, they would also have to remove his protege Braga (otherwise, what would be the point: Berman likes Braga because they think alike). That would leave ... who? Ron Moore? Busy doing other things. Likewise Ira Behr. And they'll think really hard before they give an unknown the center seat.

Moonves is too smart not to be thinking about a changing of the guard, given his desire to keep the Trek brand strong (at least at Paramount -- and Moonves is respected throughout Viacom). But his options might be very limited.

[Ineti]

So change all the key players the new head of Trek would be involved with. Then hire a new head of Trek whether s/he knows Trek or not. If s/he doesn't know Trek, sit 'em down and have them watch select episodes from all series, and some of the good movies. Then show 'em select crap episodes and Star Trek V.

Then say, "Go forth and create a new Trek in the spirit of the original."

Can it really be all that hard?

[REG]

Hmph. The only way to keep the brand strong is to give the franchise a much-needed hiatus. All you're doing is wearing the brand out.

[odoital]

Glad to see some good spirit regarding DS9 around here...

I too, would love to see Ira et al in charge again... but let's face it, DS9 was not the best recieved... and it wasn't TOO thinly veiled that Berman wasn't all that happy about DS9 either. Kinda sad that Voy was so much more of a pet to the big wigs.

Does Star Trek need a hiatus? Maybe. I don't hate Enterprise... I am just not enthusiastic about it. In a way I think Enterprise, because of the time frame, should be less like Voyager or TOS (both of which it seems to be aiming at) and more like DS9. The galaxy is smaller for the Enterprise people. Where are the established aliens like the Tellarites? Maybe we can get some interesting stories about that. Go deep into the known aliens (and come on, as much as I love Tholians, I am afraid of how they would portray them) and have them show us a reason they got together to form Starfleet and the Federation!

*looks around*

Oops... off my soapbox now.

[Kosst Amojan]

Good points Odoital. Here we have a wonderful opportunity for the Star Trek franchise to show us the actual foundation of the Federation. However, what we have is a typical alien of the week adventure series going on. I admit, I like the Suliban story, and perhaps it is the only thing I really like about the series now. However, aren't the writers & producers missing a golden opportunity to tell us the tale of how the Federation came to be? I know, the show focuses on the voyages of a Starship, but I think it is still possible to tell that story. After all, First Contact was a movie about the voyage of a Starship, and it gave us the story of the first human achieving warp drive. How much harder would it be for Enterprise to give us all the wonderful politics of the Federations founding in an engaging subplot?

I don't think the premise of setting a show in the pre-Federation times if flawed. However, the execution of it in this case I see as severely flawed.

[odoital]

Kosst Amojan, sounds like you are a fan of DS9, and maybe more open to an over-arching theme than Berman and Co. I understand where they want to to the exploration thing and I like that aspect of Trek myself... but why throw the series backwards in time, when you don't also focus on the foundation of what we know? Are they just going to keep introing new aliens with new and better tech every week? (eg. how come the roms had cloaked mines more efficient than the ones Rom could cook up 2 centuries later?)

Oh well. I figured we'd agree on much trek things anyway kosst... your sig is my favorite line in trek.