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Has star trek changed

Now Jesus Christ, there was a guy with a vision, and one that didn't revolve around cranking out TV pilots and banging the talent in his office. I'm pretty sure I'd be willing to listen to him review Transformers II.

Roddenberry worked on the movies after ST:TMP to the extent that the studio would permit it. This meant that he was free to offer suggestions to the producers and they were free to ignore him altogether.
 
I don't see how you can expect to not hear the phrase "Gene's vision" in a Trek BBS. Should we just erect JJ-specific Trek hangouts so people like you can avoid Trek purists?

I think the term "Gene's Vision" has reached mythical proportions at this time to the point where it really isn't true. I think Gene's true vision was making money.

I do not mean to sound cynical because I do not think I am being cynical. I just think that the whole "Gene's vision" overrated. Plus Star Trek was made into what it became through the vision of many, not just one man.

I know it's been denied, but Zephram Cochrane in First Contact screamed "commentary on Gene Roddenberry" the minute he gave that speech in the cockpit of the Phoenix.

He was a man of his times, he had some good ideals and a knack for getting some of the best and brightest to work for him,but he got turned into a hero and idol long after the fact by fans that only know the PR version of Gene.

I did always think that Cochrane's speech was about Gene too. From what i know money and women were very important to him!
 
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I hope so, it needed to change. It didn't change the way I thought immediately after Enterprise...I thought there might be a movie first but that an eventual TV show may have some science fiction writers on the staff or producing it. Actually what I discovered a few years ago is that my timeline for a show was probably right, but that it would have producers with cachet Like McFarlane, Singer, JJ ABrams or the like to get it on.

Ultimately Berman and Braga as well as other producers did produce some good work on Voyager and Enterprise, but overall the sameness made it feel tired. The shows needed new producers and writers as well as a new "vision" (vision doesn't have to be visionary lol), this might include updating the production, writing and filming methods. What it should keep at the core, even if different outwardly would be a future where the environment allows people and organizations (like the UFP) to function on a cooperative level..I don't like using the word utopia, but for lack of a better word it should be positive, space travel perfected. I think a TV show might explore this more in depth, but I like what we've got...JJTrek still has many elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey, it has the idea of Starfleet as peacekeepers, STID has them as explorers to begin with, and most of all it is not a dystopia, like 85% of even the big blockbuster scifi hits (think of the big budget, big name movies coming out this year that actually are scifi). The technology is not leading us to doom. The people are self-motivated and positive! Pike is Kirk after a 5 year mission!

One last note: It's been discussed before but Gene Roddenberry didn't invent anything, he popularized a LOT! Along with Coon, Justman and the bunch--which Gene endlessly credited with helping him--they made a series which wasn't an anthology that still told allegories based on a city in space...at a time when everyone was thinking small...rockets and saucers. Then they put it on TV...I don't think Gene really planned on having women and different races being controversial, I think he thought it should be normal, but it still made a splash. By hiring people like Jefrries, he tried to make the show believable, grounding the 23rd century for what normally might seem like a wild fantasy to your average TV viewer.

RAMA
 
I think what I miss from Gene Roddenberry was the "futurist" aspect he contributed to Star Trek. Gene didn't appear to be a very good writer and came up with some kooky stories, but he did have some really cool futurist ideas that made into it Trek. Some ideas were too futurist for 20th century/early 21st century audiences, but plenty others made it into TOS and TNG and I'm all the grateful for it. I also liked how he tried to distance away from the TOS style and TOS aliens when doing TNG, again Gene wasn't a total loon, I think he was a pretty good TV pitchman and futurist, just not a very good writer/storyteller. But as others have repeatedly said, there really is no such thing as "Gene's vision" for Trek, other then something to energize the fanbase in the 1970s and early 80s.

Somewhat unfair, he had a few ideas in the 60s, which doesn't mean he didn't have human foibles...but I don't think it's fair to say a man can't grow and learn philosophically all the while having issues (drinking and drugs were worse than being unfaithful because I think they damaged his thought process and brought about his early demise), he admits as much in 80s interviews. He learned and adapted between TOS, STTMP and STNG so they naturally were going to be different.

RAMA
 
"Gene's Vision" has been an effective marketing strategy for the franchise since the seventies, but as many others have posted, it doesn't have much concrete meaning because it (a) exaggerates Roddenberry's status as a "visionary," (b) gives him credit for the creations of others, and (c) has been constantly revised to sell whatever the latest product happens to be.

When Star Trek: Voyager came out, the idea that Roddenberry at first wanted a woman as the lead in the original series was fed to the media more than once. Earlier, Brandon Tartikoff wanted the dedication in front of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country to invoke "Gene's vision." Roddenberry, of course, had almost nothing to do with that film, clashing in meetings with Nick Meyer and ultimately refusing credit as "executive consultant" before his death. And so on and so forth...

Anyone decrying the fact that the Bad Robot version of the franchise conceives of it as an action-adventure series has obviously never read a Roddenberry story memo from the 60s. Rarely did an episode go by where Roddenberry didn't comment on ways of increasing the action-adventure potential.

Best. Avatar. Ever. Looking for the one of Scorpy and Crichton in the bunny suits now.
 
Star Trek should always change with the times. It should never be stagnant. Just keep a vague message with the ships and fighting and it will continue to be like itself.
 
I myself have always liked and felt passionate over GR view of our future and over time this view of the future has changed with the history and trends.

JJ,s vision is a eye opener and I'm always getting a buzz about this. I know people that I know just say that it's just a TV series that was made in the 60,s that was cheesy its make believe but to me it's a Positive and Realistic vision of our future as a human species and if we ever come into contact with ET race and there similar to us will our world change will we have a better understanding of our universe.. Who knows ???

When I watched the 1st movie it was jaw dropping good a Star Trek film that deserved to be made on a grand scale.. Only time I have had this similar feeling is when I've watched Star Trek TMP before that film we had a series that the budget was very tight but when you see and watch TMP you really get the Feel it deserved to be on the big screen and I feel that JJ has done that again in the 2009 film and hopefully with the release of STID.....
 
Keep on changin' and Keep on Trekkin' for the next 50 years. Reboot/Re-Imagine/Retcon/Remake etc just stay relevant and stay cool. Trek will have to change a great deal in the next decade to keep up with the technological revolution currently taking place (cheap computing devices/smart devices/phones/tablets/smart tv/internet/robotics/medicine).. these movies are just the start. For every old fan that gets pissed off there should be 10 new ones to take their place. Thats how you keep it going.
 
I think the incredible boost of energy JJ gave Trek-- along with the way he breathed new life into the original characters-- more than makes up for any story problems the films might have.

Obviously for any new TV series I'd want something a bit deeper and more complex, but for the movies I'm perfectly happy with them being just fun action adventure flicks.
 
Which cool futurist ideas were those?

The idea that humanity would co-exist with each other without borders and exploring the stars would be a combined human endeavour and not limited to soley one nation/country, gender, or economic class of people. It was a bit more of a radical idea in the 1960s. Roddenberry believed that the pursuit of science and technology is not a bad thing but something that can educate and open doors to mankind. It was not a dystopia sci-fi universe he presented. One of the core tennants of Trek was that of opitimism. Granted it got heavy handed and messages were often delivered hamfisted, but it was a TV show and they had to entertain people too. Which is why there are adventure and comedy stories sprinkled in there as well as a lot of opitmism, political messages and/or soul searching.

Now we may not get transporters or warp drive anytime soon, but tricorders, communicators, teleconferencing, a paperless society, touchscreens, and PADDs were all ideas pushed further into the mainstream concisnous by Star Trek moreso then any other franchise. Even if not all those concepts had their origin from Trek. And while the credit certainly does not go all to Roddenberry, the man as a futurist set the franchise bible out there for other writers to pick up and run with. Without GR around, modern Trek doesn't seek out the futurist angle as much, it basically has settled with what was established from TNG and hasn't expanded that much beyond it as the last two Treks have been prequels.
 
I think what I miss from Gene Roddenberry was the "futurist" aspect he contributed to Star Trek. Gene didn't appear to be a very good writer and came up with some kooky stories, but he did have some really cool futurist ideas that made into it Trek. Some ideas were too futurist for 20th century/early 21st century audiences, but plenty others made it into TOS and TNG and I'm all the grateful for it. I also liked how he tried to distance away from the TOS style and TOS aliens when doing TNG, again Gene wasn't a total loon, I think he was a pretty good TV pitchman and futurist, just not a very good writer/storyteller. But as others have repeatedly said, there really is no such thing as "Gene's vision" for Trek, other then something to energize the fanbase in the 1970s and early 80s.

Somewhat unfair, he had a few ideas in the 60s, which doesn't mean he didn't have human foibles...but I don't think it's fair to say a man can't grow and learn philosophically all the while having issues (drinking and drugs were worse than being unfaithful because I think they damaged his thought process and brought about his early demise), he admits as much in 80s interviews. He learned and adapted between TOS, STTMP and STNG so they naturally were going to be different.

RAMA

:confused: :wtf:

???

I'm lost on what you mean here or why you responded to my post that way, I never mentioned Roddenberry's unfaithfulness, drinking or drugs nor did I say he can't grow and learn philosophically. Others here have made repeated comments/jokes on the guy being a man-whore, (which I don't doubt he lived that lifestyle) but I've never brought it up.
 
Also don't understand the view that Abrams 'has no interest' in science fiction. He's involved, however tangentially, in making so much of the stuff - Lost, Cloverfield, Super-8, Star Trek 2009, Star Wars - he seems to have at least a passing interest, no?

The only one of those I'd consider to be true science-fiction would be the time travel episodes of Lost and he had zero influence on them. They were conceived of/written by Damon Lindelof and Calrton Cuse.

He is from the Spielberg/Lucas school of thought regarding the genre which is PERFECT for Star Wars Episode VII but entirely wrong for Star Trek. My two pence.

Okay smarty-pants, just who the frack do you think is better than Abrams at running the Star Trek franchise?:D

Please let us know.
 
Also don't understand the view that Abrams 'has no interest' in science fiction. He's involved, however tangentially, in making so much of the stuff - Lost, Cloverfield, Super-8, Star Trek 2009, Star Wars - he seems to have at least a passing interest, no?

The only one of those I'd consider to be true science-fiction would be the time travel episodes of Lost and he had zero influence on them. They were conceived of/written by Damon Lindelof and Calrton Cuse.

He is from the Spielberg/Lucas school of thought regarding the genre which is PERFECT for Star Wars Episode VII but entirely wrong for Star Trek. My two pence.

Okay smarty-pants, just who the frack do you think is better than Abrams at running the Star Trek franchise?:D

Please let us know.
Careful, it's a trap.
 
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