• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Star Trek's Troubling 50th Anniversary

How do you feel about the current state of Trek and its future?

  • Optimistic

    Votes: 50 38.8%
  • Worried

    Votes: 42 32.6%
  • Cautiously Optimistic

    Votes: 37 28.7%

  • Total voters
    129
Who wouldn't want to know the direction their favorite series is going? Not sure about TV/movies but I followed my favorite video game series back before the internet, there were magazines and you'd still want to know about which developers were involved etc.. not to mention back then they'd sometime stick in actual advertising for the next installment. "Bond will return in.... ______".
 
What exactly do we need to know right now?

Exactly. The next movie is two summers away. Why on Earth would we expect to know about any plans beyond that? Heck, the new movie hasn't even started filming yet . . .

Why so impatient for news?

This is where I channel my inner curmudgeon and recall the days before the internet when we didn't expect to know everything about every new movie or TV series years in advance . . .
We reach, brother. We reach. :techman:

Right, maybe I didn't articulate myself properly.

The problem isn't actually that we know next to nothing about the movie, but we do know that the script they've been working with up till about six weeks ago (I'm guessing, because I don't actually want to look up when the news about Orci's exit broke) is gone, we know they've hired a director from a shortlist who feels like the least qualified (or one of the two least qualified) from said shortlist, and there's the rumor going around that Paramount wants to GotG-ify the next Trek movie.
That last one, while being a rumor, is indeed cause for worry.

And that's what I'm expressing. Worry. Not certainty of doom. Worry.
 
Except DS9 was syndicated, whereas VOY and ENT were on networks.

Please - they were on what was charmingly called a "weblet" in those days, with about 86% national coverage. No excuses - Star Trek started on a ratings decline with the cancellation of TNG and the three remaining series all shared in it.

And yet two were successful enough to remain for seven seasons whereas ENT just kept dipping throughout it's whole run. The only time I remember DS9 and VOY being in real trouble was during their third season and the addition of Worf and Seven help boost ratings. They never reached TNG levels, but they're still considered successful shows.
Dennis is right. Here's the chart showing what actually happened:

startreknielsenratingaverage2.jpg


It could even be argued that the decline began before TNG went off the air.
 
...we know they've hired a director from a shortlist who feels like the least qualified...

What exactly makes Justin Lin the least qualified? He's worked numerous times with ensemble casts in technically heavy films.

Seems to me that he is very qualified. :shrug:
 
So when was it that Trek got "in the red" with the ratings? Once it went below 4 or 3?

I don't think it was about when it went "in the red" but that there was a long-term, consistent erosion of the audience. The ratings never really stabilized.
 
Despite the decline since TNG, Paramount was still making the shows, but it got to a point where they couldn't keep them going once it went below a certain line. I'm just curious to know when it was bad enough that they were no longer profitable.
 
Sometime during the third year of Enterprise, certainly, if not before.

A lot of factors entered into UPN's decision to cancel the show, one being that for a long time Star Trek in one form or another was the weblet's consistently best performing show. America's Next Top Model put an end to that.
 
You know what I think?

I remember Star Trek's reputation being on a steady decline in the late 90s.

It seemed to me that everyone was getting increasingly more frustrated with Berman, Braga and the rest of the creative teams in control and so fans started jumping ship.

I think the ratings would've stabilized if Paramount had given creative control to another generation of writers and executives and the change had resulted in better episodes.
 
No, because the ratings began a steep decline within weeks of DS9's premiere (for DS9, not TNG) and never recovered - that was in the early 90s. If you look at the chart, the fall-off actually flattens as it reaches a certain point; basically, all but serious Trek fans had abandoned the shows by the late 90s.

That big audience of casual viewers just plain got tired of Star Trek and moved on - the novelty was gone and DS9 didn't hook them. There's no reason in the world to think that kind of erosion was reversible.
 
No, because the ratings began a steep decline within weeks of DS9's premiere (for DS9, not TNG) and never recovered - that was in the early 90s. If you look at the chart, the fall-off actually flattens as it reaches a certain point; basically, all but serious Trek fans had abandoned the shows by the late 90s.

That big audience of casual viewers just plain got tired of Star Trek and moved on - the novelty was gone and DS9 didn't hook them. There's no reason in the world to think that kind of erosion was reversible.

Let's try it! Graphic nudity, lots of one-liners, guns ahoy, and we'll have Gary Oldman narrate the sex scenes. We'd be back on top in half a season! I could do it!
 
Change or die. Life-forms or media franchises have to find ways to keep what works, ditch what doesn't and make necessary alterations. Even as a big Trek fan, I can see how the Trek of TNG-ENT can be compared to a musician who was a stadium filler in his 20's (TNG) but, in his middle age, played to "intimate gatherings" (DS9-VOY). ST needed to reinvent itself as a new act or retire.
 
I don't think the new Trek films have probably yet rekindled or created sufficient new interest in Star Trek for another TV series to seem like a strong bet to the money people. Guess we'll find out sooner or later.
 
You know what I think?

I remember Star Trek's reputation being on a steady decline in the late 90s.

It seemed to me that everyone was getting increasingly more frustrated with Berman, Braga and the rest of the creative teams in control and so fans started jumping ship.

I think the ratings would've stabilized if Paramount had given creative control to another generation of writers and executives and the change had resulted in better episodes.

I think we saw a creative rennassiance once they finally did do this and put Manny Coto in charge of Enterprise, but that was fourth season and the writing was on the wall by then. One does wonder what might have happened if there had been a change at the top sooner.....
 
What happened in season four of Enterprise was pretty accurately described as a "reach-around for the trekkies who hung in there until the bitter end." It was the closest thing to pure fan-wank that we will (hopefully) ever see out of the studio.
 
What happened in season four of Enterprise was pretty accurately described as a "reach-around for the trekkies who hung in there until the bitter end." It was the closest thing to pure fan-wank that we will (hopefully) ever see out of the studio.

Why do you think this is so?
 
What happened in season four of Enterprise was pretty accurately described as a "reach-around for the trekkies who hung in there until the bitter end." It was the closest thing to pure fan-wank that we will (hopefully) ever see out of the studio.

Why do you think this is so?
Probably because it was so. I remember watching it and thinking "finally, they're listening to us Trek fans!"
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top