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Could the Star Trek Universe Get the Same Treatment as Marvel?

Trek doing a kind of 'Avengers' let's involve everyone ? At least from the prime continuity.

Intro/teaser (old footage, CGI, new footage intercut, whatever) Kirk's movie Enterprise and crew experience something unusual that they partially resolve, report and go on their way. During the sequence, someone calls up partial records of a similar incident involving Archers Enterprise.

Main body of story set after Voyager returns, involves some cast from all three 24th century shows - whoever's available/interested. A third 'incident' of a similar nature ocurrs and the ad hoc crew need to work together to solve the problem. Along the way they encouner a very ancient T'Pol who tells the full version of Archers crews incident in flashback. Armed with this information the 24th century crew prevail, ending the threat once and for all.

It would probably work best as a two or three part miniseries, Kirks crew seen in the first, Archers in the second.

A bit fanwanky, but it could work...
 
I have no desire to return to the wall-to-wall Trek of the mid-90's. A movie every two-four years makes it an event.

the same. I'm liking this current 'movie only' era of Trek. Like 1979-86. I don't mind another TV show (show. Not shows) but after Trek3
 
Which means it wasn't canon.

Only the parts that were contradicted.


It's become fashionable lately to claim "the EU was never canon", but that is the operative myth in this context.

If by "fashionable" you mean the production team of SW ep VII said the EU would be discarded, then I suppose fashion rules.

Why would I mean that if I was talking about the state of affairs before that happened?
 
I have no desire to return to the wall-to-wall Trek of the mid-90's. A movie every two-four years makes it an event.

the same. I'm liking this current 'movie only' era of Trek. Like 1979-86. I don't mind another TV show (show. Not shows) but after Trek3

I also agree with this sentiment. Another TV show would be nice, and we probably should have less lag time between the movies (every three years would be fine), but otherwise Trek's fine they way it currently is. I don't want Trek to turn into something like the MCU or what Star Wars is being planned as. Both are going to severely suffer burn out within the next five years. Maybe Disney should talk to Rick Berman and listen to what he has to say about oversaturating the market.
 
I have no desire to return to the wall-to-wall Trek of the mid-90's. A movie every two-four years makes it an event.

the same. I'm liking this current 'movie only' era of Trek. Like 1979-86. I don't mind another TV show (show. Not shows) but after Trek3

I also agree with this sentiment. Another TV show would be nice, and we probably should have less lag time between the movies (every three years would be fine), but otherwise Trek's fine they way it currently is. I don't want Trek to turn into something like the MCU or what Star Wars is being planned as. Both are going to severely suffer burn out within the next five years. Maybe Disney should talk to Rick Berman and listen to what he has to say about oversaturating the market.
Marvel loves to over saturate. That's why there are a million Avengers titles right now.
 
Like I said, though, the MCU will run out of steam and burn out within the next five years. That's a guarantee with two to three movies a year being released.
 
yes Trek feels more of an event every 3 years (like 1979-86...those films were all BIG deals and major events - much more so than any of ones following...until 2009). each movie felt like a special event...a big deal that felt like a proper MOVIE which could compete with anything the likes of Spielberg or Lucas had out (Lucas even got them to change the Star Trek II 'Vengeance' of Khan title as it was too similar to his 'Revenge' of the Jedi)...

it could be argued that the introduction of TNG dampened anticipation and enthusiasm for the movie series somewhat - making a trek film less of an event…. its difficult to be sure as the first film to come out after TNG was Trek V...but Trek VI didnt do as well as Treks I-IV (although that could be due to it being part '6' and coming after TFF)…and with the TNG film era it really felt overcrowded with several new tv shows showing at once as well as the movies . i remember reading a review of First Contact saying although it was a good movie it felt less of a big deal due to all the tv shows and how less is more.

that was Harve Bennetts view on the matter too - in the Trek VI Cinefantastique he said something along the lines of the TNG show had affected anticipation for the movies and it was like fans having their turkey every week (tv) instead of just thanksgiving (movies)
 
Like I said, though, the MCU will run out of steam and burn out within the next five years. That's a guarantee with two to three movies a year being released.

After they get done with the Infinity Gauntlet storyline they should just stop, but they won't.
 
Like I said, though, the MCU will run out of steam and burn out within the next five years. That's a guarantee with two to three movies a year being released.

After they get done with the Infinity Gauntlet storyline they should just stop, but they won't.
There's just no reason to. Just by introducing new characters from the comics and adapting the best of the comic stories they've got enough fresh material to release three or four movies every year.

The public MAY eventually tire of superhero movies, but it probably won't be due to any collapse of quality. And why would the public tire of good movies ?
 
Trekmovie is running a more expanded article.

Admittedly, Star Trek is a dramatically different franchise than Star Wars, but the template remains just as applicable. While at its heart Star Wars is a movie franchise, Trek is a television franchise with a motion picture component. The sense of wonder and exploration at the heart of Star Trek can only be served best in an episodic series. There’s a reason that Star Trek inspired a generation of fans to become scientists, astronomers, engineers, doctors and bricklayers. While Star Wars is elevated pulp in the best sense of the word, Star Trek is something else entirely. At its heart have always been characters who are a family who are united by friendship, loyalty and an insatiable curiosity about the unknown. In a culture in which cynicism and fatalism are the currency of the day whether it be because of political gridlock, economic depression, famine, the horror of disease, even our best television series such as Breaking Bad plumb the darkness of man. What makes Star Trek so great is that even when it goes into darkness – it still manages to come out the other side extolling the human adventure which is a palpable sense of optimism and hope for the future. It’s a progressive, liberal vision that is to be lauded and not deconstructed or replaced with the fashionable pessimism that permeates the zeitgeist of today. I don’t think optimism needs to be old school, but it needs to be earned. In the end, it’s harder to write characters that aspire and situations that inspire without being hokey and, dare I say, old-fashioned, which is why it’s so important that the creative team be chosen wisely and rise to the challenge before them. It also doesn’t mean there can’t be conflict, both inter-personal and inter-stellar, there must be both in order for Star Trek to be good drama, but humanity united has always been at the very heart of Star Trek rather than humanity divided. Star Trek at its best is space opera writ large with something to say about the human condition.

Excuse me? Star Trek is pulp/space opera with an action-adventure component. Despite what it said about the human condition and its other social commentary, it is still that. Elevating it to the levels that the writer of the article has done is only setting it up for a massive fail, as seen in the 1979 movie. As for said social commentary about the human condition, Star Trek Into Darkness did that, but people didn't like even that and had to be bitchy about it like they were about the last movie.

I have no desire to return to the wall-to-wall Trek of the mid-90's. A movie every two-four years makes it an event.

Although I would like to see Star Trek return to the small screen myself (perhaps as an animated series focusing on Starfleet Academy) I am in agreement.
 
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Things were still canon unless contradicted, though.

Which means it wasn't canon. There is no middle ground on the matter, either something is canon or it isn't. Nothing can be "canon unless contradicted."

But filmed (live-action) Trek was said by TPTB to be canon and the only thing that was canon ... yet still at times contradicted itself. The Star Wars films, that took priority over everything else, also at times contradicted themselves; given this, I think you have to have some middle ground and I don't see why the newer stuff taking precedent means an inconsistency should render past works non-canon.
 
Shaka Zulu said:
As for said social commentary about the human condition, Star Trek Into Darkness did that, but people didn't like even that and had to be bitchy about it like they were about the last movie.
:techman: Yeah, people even insist that there is no social commentary in the film.
 
For whatever it's worth, Ex-Astris-Scientia has chipped in two cents on Facebook Re: the io9 piece. It's not lengthy, it's listed "Public," and it's commenting on an openly-published article, so I'll reproduce the text here:
E-A-S said:
I see this article by Mark A. Altman is creating more buzz than I expected. While I concede that it's more competent than previous takes on the future of Trek that I have read, I have a bad feeling about the ideas put forward.

The author focuses on sales and marketing, and says almost nothing about creative issues. Fair enough. But: "How To Turn Star Trek Into The Next Marvel Movie Universe" sounds like "How to turn a fillet of beef into a best-selling hamburger." It sounds offensive to me. Like a clearance sale. I doubt that many people will still talk about the current Marvel hype in ten years, while Star Trek can remain the greatest sci-fi franchise if only it is expanded with a sense of proportion. Turning Star Trek into some sort of Marvel Universe will scare away long-time fans, and it is questionable whether it will attract new ones. Ultimately it will be at the expense of quality.

There's one point where I agree with Mark Altman. Star Trek needs to come back to the television. But with a fresh start that truly returns to the roots of Star Trek (continuity-, philosophy- and style-wise) and doesn't only cite them, as opposed to the Marvel-ish Abrams movies that only work as popcorn cinema.

https://www.facebook.com/easpage/posts/955992837760853
 
For whatever it's worth, Ex-Astris-Scientia has chipped in two cents on Facebook Re: the io9 piece. It's not lengthy, it's listed "Public," and it's commenting on an openly-published article, so I'll reproduce the text here:
E-A-S said:
I see this article by Mark A. Altman is creating more buzz than I expected. While I concede that it's more competent than previous takes on the future of Trek that I have read, I have a bad feeling about the ideas put forward.

The author focuses on sales and marketing, and says almost nothing about creative issues. Fair enough. But: "How To Turn Star Trek Into The Next Marvel Movie Universe" sounds like "How to turn a fillet of beef into a best-selling hamburger." It sounds offensive to me. Like a clearance sale. I doubt that many people will still talk about the current Marvel hype in ten years, while Star Trek can remain the greatest sci-fi franchise if only it is expanded with a sense of proportion. Turning Star Trek into some sort of Marvel Universe will scare away long-time fans, and it is questionable whether it will attract new ones. Ultimately it will be at the expense of quality.

There's one point where I agree with Mark Altman. Star Trek needs to come back to the television. But with a fresh start that truly returns to the roots of Star Trek (continuity-, philosophy- and style-wise) and doesn't only cite them, as opposed to the Marvel-ish Abrams movies that only work as popcorn cinema.

https://www.facebook.com/easpage/posts/955992837760853

Why should I care about what this guy and his fellow fans (who are all stuck in the past of this franchise and can't deal with the present of it) think about the new movies?

As I said above (and as others have said countless times) Star Trek is an action/adventure franchise (with a smattering of social and political commentary.) If he or the other fans can't get that, that's their problem, not Paramount's, Abrams's, Bad Robot's, or CBS's.

If a MCU approach should be done (and done successfully), let it be done, and if intelligent commentary can be done in the context of a movie (and it was done-they weren't paying attention due to all the hatred of Abrams, Orci, & Kurtzman and what they've supposedly 'done' to the franchise) even all the better. But pleasing fans like him isn't the way-they're the past, the younger generations who've seen the movies and made them box-office champs are the future.
 
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Why should I care about what this guy and his fellow fans (who are all stuck in the past of this franchise and can't deal with the present of it) think about the new movies?
This. I can't imagine EAS' fans being happy with the future of Trek, whatever form it takes.
 
For whatever it's worth, Ex-Astris-Scientia has chipped in two cents on Facebook Re: the io9 piece. It's not lengthy, it's listed "Public," and it's commenting on an openly-published article, so I'll reproduce the text here:
E-A-S said:
There's one point where I agree with Mark Altman. Star Trek needs to come back to the television. But with a fresh start that truly returns to the roots of Star Trek (continuity-, philosophy- and style-wise) and doesn't only cite them, as opposed to the Marvel-ish Abrams movies that only work as popcorn cinema.

https://www.facebook.com/easpage/posts/955992837760853

So they are saying that Star Trek should go back to the very loose continuity that it had in the 1960's?
 
if intelligent commentary can be done in the context of a movie (and it was done-they weren't paying attention due to all the hatred of Abrams, Orci, & Kurtzman and what they've supposedly 'done' to the franchise)

No, not really. STID pays lip service to some things which are topical to today's society, like terrorism, but they really are just plot devices meant to advance the story. There is nothing profound, significant, or meaningful said on the matter. If anything, they handled it in the same clichéd way any other action movie would.
 
The fact is anyone who knew anything about Star Trek knew at the time that the eroding ratings and declining box-office of films like Insurrection and Nemesis had nothing to do with a lack of interest in Star Trek, they had to do with the fact people weren't interested in seeing bad Star Trek.
:guffaw:

This is always such fannish bullshit, and the fans who believe it repeat it to one another until they've heard it echoed so often that they think the whole world is saying it.

Star Trek's ratings had been on a steady, long-term decline since the mid 1990s, chartable through every post-TNG series along a simple timeline. The fact is that interest in Trek peaked and then declined without respect to series or fan-perceived "quality." Paramount managed to produce a Star Trek series that had a years-long mass audience appeal - TNG - and then were never able to replicate that.

It really is that simple. Look at the numbers over time.
 
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