Rank the Trek storytelling mediums

[JD]

I don't know anyone else here, but over the years I've read/watched Trek in pretty much every medium there is. Of course some mediums work better than others, and which ones do and which ones don't tends to differ from person to person. So I thought it might be fun to see where people rank the mediums.
1. TV, Books - TV is where it all started, so it's gotta be up here for me. Although for me the books have given me just as many great stories as the TV.
2. Movies - While there have been some great Trek movies over the years, I really think they tend to focus to much on big action, and forget that some of the best Trek stories were the smaller personal stories.
3. Comics - Pretty much the same issue as movies.
4. Video Games - Video Games just don't allow us to get the kind of depth that is needed to make a great Trek story. Although the way games are going now, with more focus on quality stories along with good action, I'm thinking that someday we should get the amazing Trek games all of us Trekkie gamers have been waiting for.

 

[Dayton Ward]

You forgot: "Making up your own stories using action figures."





What? It's not just me, right?

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's apples and oranges. I'd put film and tv together as one medium, though as well as books/comics. Both film/tv and books/comics have given us greatness and shit over the years.

I disagree that videogames don't have enough depth to be good Star Trek. They very much can (Deus Ex, Half-Life 2), but the right Trek game just hasn't come along yet. The Elite Forces were the most immersive (exploring Voyager, Borg Cubes and the Enterprise-E was fantastic), Judgement Rites/25th anniversary were the most episode-like, but the former's "beam over and kill anything that moves" mentality was about as anti-Trek as you can get (even STXI) and the latter's old point-and-click style is just too ponderous. The space battle games were all rubbish, and I don't think there's ever been a good multi-genre game yet.

I don't think a videogame genre exists yet that can do Star Trek justice. I don't think developers have the balls to spend money on anything other than remakes of the Trek games that have gone before. Shame.

 

[8of5]

1) Books, Trek may have come from the TV, but it's the books where it really comes alive for me. The tv provides the background, but the books have really built the universe. Most of my favourite characters and ships are found only in the books, and are as core my enjoyment of Star Trek than any canon stuff.

2) Movies, while I grew up in the golden age of Trek, with a constant supply new Trek TV, there was so much tv that it never sunk in quite as much of as movies, which I watched time after time on vhs. I became familiar with Kirk and co through the Genesis trilogy and Undiscovered Country, so that's pretty much my core for on-screen Trek.

3) TV, while it might just be the fluff the books really bring to life it was TV that gave us Trek, and established most of the big stuff, so it at least deserves to be third place :P

4) Comics, I really really enjoy Star Trek comics, but only a rare few seem to really explore the Trekverse in any depth, or do anything with consequence. It's a medium I really enjoy, but I wish there was more to them.

5) Video games, I'm barely a gamer at all, the only games I have ever played are those with either Star Trek or Lego in the title. I love the game Star Trek Armada, but most other games I've played have only kept my attention by virtue of my inability to not love Star Trek :P

 

[ryan123450]

1) TV- Watching threw DS9, VOY, and ENT were some of the funnest media-based experiences of my life.

2) Books- The main draw of the books, to me, is continuing those stories which I hated to see end when each series was over. And it's been very fun not to have to let those characters and storylines fade into memory.

3) Movies- Has to go up pretty high since it's basically an extension of category (1)

4) Comics- I've enjoyed searching through the Complete Comics Collection, but for as many issues as there has been over the years, most of them were pretty poor. To me this could be the best medium for Trek, but about 80% of the time, it's potential has been squandered pretty well. IDW has done some good work, but has also fallen short many times. Marvel did a pretty excellent job in the 90's but were it bothers me how their two best series were cut short mid-story.

5) This is only at the end for me because I've not played a Trek-game in about 10 years, and only very few before that.

 

[21Spike65]

1) TV - That's where it started, it's still fun to watch, so I can't really put it anywhere else. That said, at this point I prefer to see the 24th century and the so-called 'Prime' universe stay with the books, because frankly I think it's in better hands than those making live-action Trek.

2) Books - My favorite medium now (helps that there isn't anymore TV =P), and while there have certainly been some less-than-stellar books, overall the quality has set a high standard over the past decade or so.

3) Movies - Overall, while I certainly enjoy a good share of the movies, I don't feel they're the best Trek. When considered against the franchise as a whole, they don't stick out as the most memorable stories to me. But that's not going to stop me from watching them several times over and loving it.

4) Comics - Ok, I can't say I've actually read any comics except for Countdown (sort of) when someone put it on Youtube or something. I'm not going to judge them based on Countdown, however, but on what I do know of those comics that I haven't read. I think you have to do a lot more weeding out of the comics to find the good ones, but there are some that tell from good stories (so I hear...)

5) Video Games - These can be fun to play, and the storylines can be interesting, but I never really consider them anything more than a game storyline.

 

[William Leisner]

You forgot: "Making up your own stories using action figures."

QFT.

 

[Ghalev]

You forgot: "Making up your own stories using action figures."

QFT.

Or it's close cousin, pen-and-paper RPGs, which is where I've experienced my favorite Trek stories and met my favorite Trek characters

 

[JD]

Feel free to include the other mediums you guys talked about, I just didn't think to include them in my list.

 

[Cybersnark]

1) Novels. Star Trek just works in prose in a way it never could on TV. Part of what made TOS such a phenomenon was that it was telling "literary" sci-fi stories on television, but there was compromise from the beginning (and I don't just mean the effects/makeup --witness Roddenberry having to choose between Number One and Spock).

2) TV. Every series, almost every episode.

3) Film. I especially love how both generations of films made it a point to show that their respective crews were families --from the easygoing Kirk/Spock/McCoy banter in TMP to Geordie and Data in Generations; these were not cardboard character archetypes being introduced to one another for the first time (as we see in every other movie ever made), they were people who had worked together for years.

4) Video Games. They're a big hit-and-miss, but they've also managed to give me some of the most immersive Trek experiences I've had. Elite Force showed what Voyager should've looked like (without the magic "repair all damage instantly" button the TV series had), and I actually like The Fallen better than the Millennium Trilogy novels its based on. Playing that game actually felt like I was strolling around the Promenade or hanging around Ops.

 

[Smitty]

You forgot: "Making up your own stories using action figures."

QFT.

Ok, I must be behind the times. What does QFT mean?

 

[LightningStorm]

You forgot: "Making up your own stories using action figures."

QFT.

Ok, I must be behind the times. What does QFT mean?

"Quoted For Truth" basically emphatic agreement with the quoted text.

 

[JD]

Oooh, for some reason I was thinking it was quite fucking true.

 

[Smitty]

Oooh, for some reason I was thinking it was quite fucking true.

That did cross my mind but I figured there was something better behind it.

 

[JD]

Yeah, well Weeds and True Blood are two of my favorite shows... so I think that pretty much tells you what kind of a mind I have.

 

[terpette]

I really don't think I could rank the mediums. Each has had stellar things and really awful things. So I can't say whether I enjoy playing Star Trek Online more than I enjoy reading the books, or watching a TNG marathon on BBC America today.

I just love a really well-done story, whether that's on the TV, in a book, in a fanfic, or whatnot.

Karen

 

[vess]

Making up your own stories using action figures.

THHHIIIIIIIISS.

 

[JoeP]

Making up your own stories using action figures.

THHHIIIIIIIISS.

 

[vegaslover62]

I really enjoyed the ebook-only stories before they were suspended indefinitely. There were some days I wanted to get me a new Trek story but didn't feel like setting foot outside my house.

 

[Thrawn]

^ Well they're basically ALL available in eBook now. I never have to leave my house!