The writer who wrote the original article has obviously not watched that much Star Trek and just concocted some really generic arguments in some attempt to appear witty. I just wished he had a more informed argument that was worth the brief time that I took out of my day to click and read it. Having said that, there are a few points that he touched on that perhaps with further elaboration can be agreed upon.
Even though I'm a fan, I sometimes would agree that Star Trek needs a rest so can be rejuvenated later on with a new creative staff, new actors, new characters, new premises to build a show around, and new and challenging stories. I wouldn't say that it should stay dead because the fact that it has lasted this long must mean there is some value to it just like other franchises like James Bond, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, etc. As with other franchises, it can get formulaic and tired when it's been laboring on without a rest, which is why the most recent entry into Trek cannon was such a failure. When ENT premiered so soon after VOY I knew there was no way we were going to get a quality program since it seemed as if the main focus was just getting another Star Trek show on the air rather than trying to create something unique for fans to sink their teeth into. With Star Trek, there are so many potential premises to build on for a series or a movie that it amazed me that we were getting yet another show set on a starship named Enterprise and a prequel no less. First off, Star Trek is best when it moves forward. Why go back to the pre-Kirk days and try to explain a back-story that very few but devoted fans wanted explained anyway (that’s what Trek-lit is for and the original writer in the first post made this point). The excuse at the time of the show was that they wanted to build a new fan base so they expected audiences who had never seen Star Trek to watch the show simply because it was a prequel and required no prior knowledge of the past series. Let's face it: Star Trek is Star Trek. You can't disguise it and hope that you'll build a new fan base by telling them it's a prequel and you can watch it without ever having seen a single minute of any other show or movie in the franchise. No one is going to be tricked into watching a sci-fi program with the kind of history that Star trek has without knowing what they're getting into.
The point is that the potential audience has to already be inclined to want to watch Star Trek, and that audience has to be big enough to sustain the show to justify its existence. The fan base was already dwindling by the time VOY ended so ENT already had that working against it. I would argue that unless there is a strong demand for more Star Trek, the franchise should rest. If that means the death of the franchise so be it. As of now, aside from this message board, I don't really sense a huge clamoring for more Trek. I could be wrong though. This is just my perception. I just feel like the new film be out and the trek faithful will all go out and watch it the first weekend (and then commiserate on message boards about how the movie sucked but they'll go see it 2 more times anyway just to be sure) and then after that first weekend, no one will care and the franchise will just disappear again until CBS feels it can milk it some more. It just feels like the franchise is doomed to linger in that kind of cycle. The glory days of Trek are long gone (at least for us geeks anyway- see I admit it) or maybe I've outgrown the franchise. Maybe a lot of fans have outgrown the franchise. I remember a time when Picard, Data, and Riker were like buddies. Tarentino suggests that he makes "hang-out" films: films where the overall premise is for the audience to enjoying "hanging out" with the characters and the plot while certainly of some importance is also inconsequential at the same time. That's kind of how I felt about Star Trek growing up on it. I "hung-out" with Picard, Riker, Data, Geordi, Dr. Crusher, Wesley (though in his case not by choice). Then DS9 came and after some reluctance I embraced Sisko, Kira, Bashir, Garak, Jadzia, etc. and I even came to appreciate DS9 more so than I ever thought I would. The stories were somewhat less formulaic that TNG and the I felt like I had a new hang-out spot that I enjoyed just as much as the first. Then VOY came, and while I was not a big fan of it, I respected it and watched it from time basking shamelessly in my geekdom. Fast forward to ENT, and I just completely lost all my passion for the franchise. I obligated myself to watching some episodes, but it felt more like a chore than the sheer escapism I felt with TNG and DS9.
Perhaps the blame lies with both me the fan and the franchise. At some point we grew apart, and when I think of the relationship I prefer to bask in the good times (which for me is from TOS through DS9 and some VOY). I don't really care to move beyond those times because right now I have no faith in anything new in store for the franchise. It just feels like to much work to have to get to know new characters, follow new stories, and go out of my way to watch a show when it comes out or see a movie when there are other great new movies coming out that I want to see that might offer less of a disappointment factor because let's face it no matter how good the new movie is it will never live up to how good it was way back when.
Of course, this is a two way street, and I don’t think I deserve all the blame here. Lest we forget that my recent memories of Star Trek have been filled with disappointment for a reason. Frankly, the writing hasn't been very good with very few exceptions even though some season 4 episodes of ENT managed to get my hopes up only to be knocked down the following week. The characters have become bland, stale, and shamelessly predictable. Starfleet characters still have that self-righteous moralizing habit they always have only now it comes off as disingenuous instead of ethically sound. The stories have become predictable, and even though we are in an entirely different universe we still get stories that adhere to formula rather than challenge the audience. Who's fault is this? Rick Berman? CBS? Who cares. The point is that somewhere along the line the franchise got caught in stasis and has not come up with a way to combat this. Who knows, maybe the movie will succeed, and usher in a new way of doing things, but I highly doubt it.
Having said that I guess, I'll fall into the category of people who will no doubt see the new movie during the first weekend, so perhaps I'm no different than any other fan in that respect, and maybe this little rant is my way of coming to terms with my own fandom. In either case, whether the fans embrace the film may not matter. Perhaps we just need to get to a point where we're happy and elated that there is any Star Trek at all even though for some of us, this may not be an easy state of mind to achieve.
