Impact on the Franchise

[C.E. Evans]

^Next Gen was a huge merchandise machine in the early-to-mid-90's.

It seems that someone expected Star Wars-level sales from the STXI toys. During a recession. When the figures were as basic as could be imagined and the bridge set was pitiful.

They never even did a Robau figure.

i remeber that, i had worf and tasha yar... that was the original playmates line right?

and wait... didn't the star wars boom end after lucas glutted the market with crappy episode 1 toys?

Nah, Star Wars toys still sell better than most toys today. They did go crazy with the Episode I stuff--namely because it was the first new Star Wars movie in sixteen years--but they learned from that.

But the Star Trek XI toyline failed due to poor execution and customer dissatisfaction on the part of Playmates as well as unhappy retailers refusing to carry any more of the toys after the initial first wave, IMO.

 

[Saxman1]

My son has all the reboot toys (communicator, etc.) but no action figures from XI. All the stores carrying them in our area (Chicago suburbs) sold out within two weeks of the film's opening and as mentioned above, did not restock.

Perhaps they will take a page from the Narnia producers and concentrate on making a great film, toys be damned. When Narnia was under Disney backing, they went overboard and had every toy imaginable, which Target slashed to $1 - $5 within a month or two. The new film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is much better than the previous Disney backed film and opened at #1. I'd rather see the $ on the screen in a quality film for Trek.

But before anyone fires away at me, I saw the original series first run (I was VERY young at the time, having been born in 1959) and LOVED Star Trek (2009)! it was everything I'd hoped for and more, a huge improvement over the TNG films. I say that as a fan of all things Trek!

 

[Jeyl]

lol. For Star Trek, the toy line was absolutely dreadful. Just look at the basic action figures. THEY'RE ALL THE SAME except with different heads. And have you seen the bigger action figures? Try cutting open the shirts of every one of those middle sized figures and you will find that every member of the crew is more ripped than Arnold Schwarzenegger was in his prime!

 

[Tarek71]

Would you say that JJ's movie has had a positive effect on the franchise in that it will attract substantially more fans, or is the move to a more generic action movie format alienated older fans, and just attracted a set of fickle ADHD generation ones that will leave once Sucker Punch is out?

Its attracted some new fans. I dont know how many. Alot of non-trek people I know that saw the movie, liked it, but they havent given it a second thought since. They arent trekkers/trekkies. They just saw a movie they liked.

For the generic popcorn muncher, it had lights, gizmos, swooshes and wooshes and stuff got blowed up, and then they went home. We'll see how many actual real fans that there are of it. Of Star Trek in general.

I dont see it myself, but others say that there are just all sorts of new fans. Some im sure, but I must just keep missing them somehow.

I suspect JJTrek will last only as long as JJ is involved in it. Like Batman, etc I think reboots and recasting will happen every so many years as new creative teams take a crack at it. But no question that making money is a great way to keep life going in a franchise. As long as that keeps happening, Trek will go on.

 

[AJ86]

Yeah, wow...I'd be pretty surprised if any of those cost as much as Trek. For starters, they film in Canada to get production credits to drive down the costs. Otherwise, they'd be in LA. BSG in particular did a great job stretching what had to be a sketchy budget and getting the most out of it. I respected the creativity behind it, but there's a reason everyone wore suits and ties, and used whiteboards. That saves on the expense of actually creating a futuristic wardrobe for everyone in the cast, and creating some futuristic gizmo for every element they use, right down to the whiteboards. So much cheaper to just get everything from Wal-Mart.

We weren't talking about cost, we were talking about production quality, what you see on screen. The quality of the sets, the CGI and the actors on BSG, Caprica and SGU are all either on par or superior to that of the existing Trek series. I suppose there's room for argument in terms of the casts, but the set design and CG is clearly superior on these three shows.

Trek on Syfy could well be a no-go, but Syfy not being able to put out a show of high enough production quality would certainly not be the problem.

 

[Saxman1]

Would you say that JJ's movie has had a positive effect on the franchise in that it will attract substantially more fans, or is the move to a more generic action movie format alienated older fans, and just attracted a set of fickle ADHD generation ones that will leave once Sucker Punch is out?

Its attracted some new fans. I dont know how many. Alot of non-trek people I know that saw the movie, liked it, but they havent given it a second thought since. They arent trekkers/trekkies. They just saw a movie they liked.

For the generic popcorn muncher, it had lights, gizmos, swooshes and wooshes and stuff got blowed up, and then they went home. We'll see how many actual real fans that there are of it. Of Star Trek in general.

I dont see it myself, but others say that there are just all sorts of new fans. Some im sure, but I must just keep missing them somehow.

I suspect JJTrek will last only as long as JJ is involved in it. Like Batman, etc I think reboots and recasting will happen every so many years as new creative teams take a crack at it. But no question that making money is a great way to keep life going in a franchise. As long as that keeps happening, Trek will go on.

As long as the next film does decent business, there will be a third. There are a lot worse things than a good, solid Trek film with TOS characters every 2-3 years. I'll take it and say thank you!

 

[C.E. Evans]

I suspect JJTrek will last only as long as JJ is involved in it. Like Batman, etc I think reboots and recasting will happen every so many years as new creative teams take a crack at it.

That may actually have less to do with Star Trek or Abrams but more to do with the apparent current trend in Hollywood to reboot movie franchises after only a few films now.

But no question that making money is a great way to keep life going in a franchise. As long as that keeps happening, Trek will go on.

IMO, there's no doubt that Star Trek will continue in some form. If anything, there will always be a need in Hollywood to reinvent and update a popular or successful long-existing property for a new audience. These days, the intervals between such relaunches seem to be shortening, though...

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The quality of the sets, the CGI and the actors on BSG, Caprica and SGU are all either on par or superior to that of the existing Trek series.

Caprica looked great but they didn't need to shell out bucks for "alien" makeup, costuming, set design, etc. It was all pretty much 20th C Earth. The CGI needs were modest. I couldn't stomach much of SGU (because of bad acting and writing more than bad production design), but what I saw didn't impress me aesthetically. Then again, Stargate has always looked like ass, so I wasn't expecting much.

As for actors, all Star Trek needs to do is be willing to hire people in their 40s and 50s. That's how you get the likes of Mary McDonnell and Eric Stolz on a shoestring - once actors get wrinkly, suddenly the roles dry up. But I'll bet a new Trek series would also feel the need to hire a bunch of pretty 20-somethings for the cast. Skiffy shows don't do nearly as well getting terrific actors in that age group, no doubt because they can command a higher price. But can you envision a Star Trek series with a largely middle-aged cast? I dunno...

 

[AJ86]

Then again, Stargate has always looked like ass, so I wasn't expecting much.

Really? I can't remember it ever really falling behind Trek.

 

[Vance]

It seems that someone expected Star Wars-level sales from the STXI toys. During a recession. When the figures were as basic as could be imagined and the bridge set was pitiful.

Actually, during a recession, toy sales should go UP. But to be fair to the movie itself, the toys for the movie were awful to the point that they can't be stressed enough. Even the Enterprise, the one toy you would think they would put effort into, was decidedly weak.

In other words, the line was so bad that I don't think it can be measured as a statement on the movie. If the original Star Wars had that weak of a toyline, it wouldn't have sold either.

 

[sonak]

slightly off-topic, but since the discussion involved toys.... why was the Nemesis toy line so weak?

only data, picard, shinzon, and reman vicerory, right?






a B4 figure would've been cool.

 

[Bishop76]

Because no one bought them and no one was going to buy them. Making a toy line is an investment that companies like to see a return on and no one was willing to take that risk on a shitty movie.

 

[The Castellan]

The toyline was atrocious, I seen them slashed to $2.50, and they are keeping Terminator's Marcus, and the Fabulous Moolah company in many toy clearance isles.

With a few exceptions, toy lines based on movies often fail.

And Playmates are not exactly the the best toy makers around, they need to realize it's not 1990 anymore. Also, human character action figures was always a weakness for them, their non human/non-realistic human lines, like TMNT, Simpsons, Toxic Crusaders, and so on were their strong points....they got a double whammy of that revelation with both Trek '09 and Terminator Salvation going under.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I do love the Playmates 2009 Enterprise model. I wish they'd done a Kelvin one.

And where was the Captain Robau figure?? They never even had one planned for the second wave.

 

[Bishop76]

I agree - the Enterprise was actually pretty excellent. Looks great right next to my TOS Enterprise and E-A toys from Diamond.

 

[shapeshifter]

I disagree. I actually took mine back for a refund - twice! You cannot say I didn't try to like it.

I do agree about wishing they'd done a Kelvin.

 

[danielpaul571]

The Dream Toys was mainly planned by a group of parents who felt that
purchasing the toys for their loved one’s was a mere waste. The toys
purchased to their kids were very costly, gets outdated very soon and
also the toys were used for only 15 to 20 days, after which the toys
would land in their storage.


[Link removed]

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I do love the Playmates 2009 Enterprise model. I wish they'd done a Kelvin one..

I've got mine on my piano, next to the NX-01.

And where was the Captain Robau figure?? They never even had one planned for the second wave.

And the second wave was canceled wasn't it?



I've still got to get Pike.

 

[The Castellan]

I do love the Playmates 2009 Enterprise model. I wish they'd done a Kelvin one.

And where was the Captain Robau figure?? They never even had one planned for the second wave.

They cowabungled their first wave by:

1: Too many scale ranges
2: Their bridge and transporter sets were not complete...you had to buy EVERY figure to get another part to add to the sets, and that included every version of Chekov, Sulu, Kirk, etc. So you were forced to buy absolutely everything, even what you did not want, to complete the sets.
3: The figures sucked horribly....look at Kirk....that's not a figure of Christopher Pine, that's a figure of Tony Dow from Leave It to Beaver.

Playmates' horrible marketing of this line not only resulted in wave 2 being canceled, but canceling the remainder of Wave 1 that had yet to be released.

Playmates, stick to TMNT and Simpsons.....leave the rest to those who can make detailed figures.....like Art Asylum, Character Options, and he Four Horsemen.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Given the tremendous financial success of this film, for the greater good of the franchise at large I'd probably be willing to say this were a positive end result even if I hated the movie.

As it so happens, I rather enjoyed it so it's win-win.