Nimoy: Impossible for Trek to go back to TV
- Thread starter Admiral Buzzkill
- Start date
TV production values have improved a great deal over the past few years - and the process will continue. I don't see why that would be some huge barrier.
For me, Trek is not eye candy, it's primarily about ideas. A two hour movie every year or two just can't convey complex ideas nearly as well as TV can. Star Wars might do best in the movie format, being more about eye candy and battles than ideas, but Trek's the opposite. The movies should be an adjunct to TV.
For me, Trek is not eye candy, it's primarily about ideas. A two hour movie every year or two just can't convey complex ideas nearly as well as TV can. Star Wars might do best in the movie format, being more about eye candy and battles than ideas, but Trek's the opposite. The movies should be an adjunct to TV.
Maybe by the time Series VI gets made, we can have affordable technology to make all-CGI sets, such as in the SW prequels? 
I can see it now:
Dr. McCoy
Damnit, Jim, why does ever planet we visit look like a forest outside of Vancouver!
I agree.
TV has made massive leaps forward in the last 10 years or so. It's treated with a lot more respect that it used to be. Serious film actors are prepared to do TV shows.
Just look at the production values of Heroes. They are spending a fortune on the top shows these days. I see no reason why Trek couldnt return to TV at some point.
Not yet, but down the road. If TPTB think there is money to be made then it will be back.
I was far more interested in what this implies about the designs and production values of the new Trek movie, given that Nimoy has worked on and closely observed the production of six of them with budgets ranging from TV-level to ridiculously high.
Quite. In a backhanded way, this is the most ringing endorsement of the film's visuals I've heard so far. Clearly, the unprecedented budget is being used wisely.
But as to the issue at hand, I'm fine if Star Trek is now just a movie series. It milked the TV idea for way too long anyway.
True.
Actually, I'm probably doing him a disservice. I implied that Nimoy wasnt aware of current trends in TV producion and how much money they spend and so forth.
If he is truly blown away by what he has seen, then maybe we are in for something special. I love the fact that they are shooting on location. I hope, I hope that they have built the sets properly.
Not half-arsed Prequel trilogy green-screen cgi-ed set nonsense. That kills those films. Kills them dead. I happened to watch AOTC on the TV this afternoon. I couldnt help notice how great the movie looked when it went on location, and how like a video game it looked the rest of the time.
Nothing wrong with Cgi. Nothing wrong at all. But for a purpose.
What kills the prequel films dead is...they're mediocre films. Especially when the actors are, you know, talking (with one or two exceptions).
I tried to watch AOTC a month or two back. I got so utterly bored eight minutes in I gave up. The issue isn't the visuals - they're incredible right across the board. We get a Star Trek film looking that pretty and I'll be happy.
But the visuals are passionless expressions of a plot utterly devoid of drama. And that's something Star Trek needs above all. It used to be a tacky 1960s TV show with cardboard sets, but it had heart. A soulless experiment in pyrotechnics isn't what this film should be.
I want the best of both worlds, in essence.
But the visuals are passionless expressions of a plot utterly devoid of drama. And that's something Star Trek needs above all. It used to be a tacky 1960s TV show with cardboard sets, but it had heart. A soulless experiment in pyrotechnics isn't what this film should be.
I want the best of both worlds, in essence.
Well yea well said, but, it's funny but the "tacky" late 60's show was indeed presented as very 'dramatic' when it ran on NBC. Looking at TV from the period, which were remarkably like Trek (Combat, Nine O'Clock High) shows how Trek was being serious in the early eps (As serious drama, not so much, but for TV back then...). Only later did the 'Lost In Space' camp come into play... *cough*Fred!*cough* ... from what I hear in these parts.
These shows were all top stuff, Network shows. They were the main game in TV. You're completely right about the lack of drama, and plain story, in the Star Wars prequels. Let's face it, they were FX ad reels. Without a real story, a real drama like many Treks managed and as for Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back is a brilliant film. After that, it's comic book at best. I thought the Clone Wars cartoons were wonderfully animated though the stories were rather grim all around.
Kegek Kringle said:
Ah, Fred Freiberger. Lost in Space, Star Trek, Space: 1999. His answer was always the same: Can we camp this up a little?
Except that — to my knowledge — Freiberger never worked on Lost in Space. Damn the man for what he did, if you will, but don't pillory him for things he had no involvement with.
He also wrote for a lot of shows that were fairly serious. he even wrote an episode All in the Family.
None of which is to say he was well suited to genre shows like Star Trek. But let's give blame and credit where it's due and deserved.
Fred Freiberger on IMDB
...and on Wikipedia
And then he tied an onion to his belt, which was the style at the time.
