TOS' ratings were actually six points (a lot) higher than TNG's, but in the days of having only 5 or 6 channels to choose from, it was expected to do better.
"Star Trek: Rebooting a Classic" article from Entertainment Weekly
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TOS' ratings were actually six points (a lot) higher than TNG's, but in the days of having only 5 or 6 channels to choose from, it was expected to do better.
If rebooting Star Trek is a fine idea, then why didn't they just reboot it then? Instead, they went and created this crazy storyline of time-travelling Romulans with a Space Octopus, elderly Spock with with a Space Jellyfish and Captain Robau somehow being responisble for the TOS gang becoming the TOS gang.
And you're telling me this is less confuisng for the non-fans than another 24th century film, or jumping ahead to the 25th?
And you're telling me this is less confuisng for the non-fans than another 24th century film, or jumping ahead to the 25th?
I agree with Ron Moore too. But I disagree with you.
Yeah, the canon and continuity thing was difficult to navigate - that much is true. But it certainly was not impossible - IF one was open to new ideas - to different ways of looking at Star Trek.
Instead, B&B got lazy, and beginning with season 4 of VOY, began to rely less and less on innovative and original storylines and more and more on a) the Star Trek name; and b) boobs, boobs, boobs! to bring in the target demographic of 20-something guys.
Now, while it's true that the closest most of Trek's target demographic ever GOT to boobs was Jeri Ryan and Jolene Blalock, I know that by the time Berman came out with that "We are all very pleased" piece of shit propaganda quote, I was ready to hurl. Maybe HE was very pleased. But we most definitely were not ALL very pleased.
In fact, many of us who, previous to ENT, had never turned off a Star Trek episode in our LIVES started turning the show off. I know I did, about 2/3 of the way through season 2. Didn't come back until a few episodes into season 4 when B& B finally admitted defeat, turned the wheel over to someone else, and people I trusted started telling me it no longer sucked.
Now, I'm not much of a critic - I leave that to my esteemed co-mod in the DS9 Forum. But me? I'll watch anything Trek that rises above the level of 'Downright Painful'. However, that was where I was at when I finally turned off ENT. It was just too painful to keep watching.
And Nemesis only reaffirmed that opinion. Wow, what a godawful movie that was!
So sorry...gotta keep laying a good bit of blame at the feet of those to whom it belongs.
Canon was a culprit. But it does not erase what in my view was outright laziness.
Spot on. I saw the film because I was interested on new takes on those characters - a show or a film about Captain cheesepuff in the 26th century? PASS.
WHen Kirk sits in the chair, a splash of light shines across the captain's eyes. Afer 20 years of Bermanized-snore trek, a so called "Star Trek" that was scared to death and or forbidden to take ANY cues from that corny old TOS...how refreshing it is to have someone like JJ take the helm and remind the world WHY classic Star Trek is so damn likable. Who says you can't go home again! It's about damn time.
The Doctor was the star of Voyager. Why? NO HAIR.
Robau. Picard. Sisko. The Doctor. What do they all have in common? No hair.
Robau. Picard. Sisko. The Doctor. What do they all have in common? No hair.
Extending the TV franchise beyond TNG so quickly was what eventually killed Star Trek. Entertainment Weekly got that exactly right.
There's also the "starve 'em till they beg for it" angle. TMP came ten years after TOS. Gene R. actually suggested to Paramount that the old TOS syndication package, which had done wonders for stripped (daily) TV shows in early prime time, be taken off TV several months before TMP premiered. What a tease!
We never had time to yearn for TNG movies because the cast we'd watched - for free, for seven years - began filming "Generations" a few weeks after "All Good Things..." was in the can.
To try TNG movies again now: there simply hasn't been enough time missing the TV cast to re-cast them with younger actors. People would clamour for the now-expensive TV cast "one more time" and resist a new version of Picard, Riker, Data, et al.
I'm sure when ENT was being planned TPTB were hoping that a projected seven-year run, and a subsequent "The Romulan Wars" storyline (telemovies?), would take them up towards a dovetailed TOS remake/recasting.
The general populace is intrigued/teased/eager for a new version of TOS adventures!
It's not that they extended it too much. It's that they did it poorly.
We all would have been happy to watch Voyager and Enterprise and the next show and the next if they were done well...BUT THEY WEREN'T DONE WELL.
That's a silly argument.
We all would have been happy to watch Voyager and Enterprise and the next show and the next if they were done well...BUT THEY WEREN'T DONE WELL.
That's a silly argument.
IIRC, many US fans had no access to UPN.
Here in Australia, ratings for DS9, VOY and ENT weren't all that different to TNG's run. They all tended to play in a late-night timeslot, having already been available on sell-thru video, pleasing the Nine Network because they were able to sell advertising space as the guaranteed #1 rating show in that timeslot. Whereas TNG in prime time was only #3.
I Still think we should jump forward in the future, the problem with staying back is that the bad guys are boring. TOS was started prior to manned moon landings, and TNG was started during the cold war. It is not that hard to make a newer series based around the fact we are now in the 21st century.
Most of the problems people come up with as to why we shouldn't simply revolve around getting a good writer.
Most of the problems people come up with as to why we shouldn't simply revolve around getting a good writer.
Please give examples of boring ENT and TOS villains, compared to not-boring 24th century villains.
Those novels are written specifically for fans, who are not only familiar with the Star Trek canon, but are actually fascinated by it. If you're aiming for a wider audience, you can't expect them to be mesmerized by arcane references to Trek's byzantine continuity.
I agree the writing was a big issue (and I'll always be bitter at how VOY wasted such a great concept and group of characters), but honestly even with the writing WAS good (on DS9) Trek was bleeding viewers.
As much as I would have been perfectly happy with Trek remaining a fringe thing with a small audience forever, at some point that audience WOULD have gotten too small to maintain the franchise and they would have needed to strip down and simplify things the way they're doing now.
Then perhaps Star Trek is not the franchise you're looking for. You stuck it out through over 40 years of boring villains?
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