Bolding Not Going
First things first.
It is Election day in the U.S. If you haven't already, get your tail to your polling place. People have fought, bled, and died for your right to Vote. Don't throw it away!
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Bolding Not Going
Word is out that there is a new Star Trek series in the making. I most likely will not be watching it. Why would a die-hard Trek fan, a staunch SF fan, say that they won’t watch?
There are several reasons.
Number one is that Star Trek, the show I know and love, is a child of the 60’s. Many of the ideas that Gene espoused, have actually come about, and many have not. ST was about adventure. It was about exploring. It was about expanding our minds beyond this small world.
What has come after the original has, with each new incarnation, become a pale shadow of the greatness. The Next Generation started off okay, but it started to become too “correct”, too preachy, not enough SF for my taste. Deep Space Nine was a nice concept, but it faltered right out of the gate. It did not help matters that it was competing with another SF show based on a space station, one that had a known SF writer working as a consultant. DS9 quickly became DS90210. The less said about Anoy, er Voyager, the better. It failed from the start. Enterprise was another nice concept, but even Scott Bacula couldn’t get me to watch after I spotted too many contradictions with established history from ST. Then they had to get all “dark and gritty”. It became less about the science, about the adventure and more about the people, how everyone is maladjusted in some way.
I was left wondering where the Science in the Science Fiction was.
The movies fared only slightly better. We’d have a good movie followed by a flop. But with the movies they had the time and the budget to get it right. I just wish they had gotten it right more often. (and please burn ST:V)
No, I do not like the reboot. Which leads to my second reason: I don’t, as a rule, like reboots/remakes/reimages. Leave the past alone.
ST worked in its time because we wanted to dream. We, some of us, wanted to explore, to see what was beyond the next mountain. We wanted to go to space. Some even went into science and engineering fields to pursue that dream. Trying to bring it back is only trading on shadows and ghosts, profiting from the memories of people like me who would love to see that dream reborn. But that dream has changed. We no longer dream of space and exploring. We want to sit nice and cozy in our living rooms and let robots do the exploring for us.
Finally, there is the “small” detail that it will only be available on this CBS all access. It won’t be available to everyone, just to those who are willing to pay. How can the impressionable young minds of those who do not have a lot of discretionary income be exposed to the opportunities of science if you limit the access? The dream is not for them? Then too, I’m hearing it is for “America”, not the world. ST had (and still has) an International following. The dream, battered and bruised though it maybe, is for everyone and I object to this exclusion.
I will not pay for the privilege of watching one network. It simply is not cost effective. I’m not happy that we pay for cable, but the switch to digital broadcast made it necessary if I wanted to see the news and weather. (okay, I get the benefit of seeing Dr. Who and Mythbusters.) But one network, with as little time as I have, and on my computer instead of my TV - no.
So, no new Star Trek for me. If I get nostalgic for that dream I need only pull out the DVDs or, better yet, reach into my bookshelf, pull out a novel and fly the skies of Pern, fight evil along side the Lensmen or just roam the skies with the Stone family.
It is Election day in the U.S. If you haven't already, get your tail to your polling place. People have fought, bled, and died for your right to Vote. Don't throw it away!
=======================
Bolding Not Going
Word is out that there is a new Star Trek series in the making. I most likely will not be watching it. Why would a die-hard Trek fan, a staunch SF fan, say that they won’t watch?
There are several reasons.
Number one is that Star Trek, the show I know and love, is a child of the 60’s. Many of the ideas that Gene espoused, have actually come about, and many have not. ST was about adventure. It was about exploring. It was about expanding our minds beyond this small world.
What has come after the original has, with each new incarnation, become a pale shadow of the greatness. The Next Generation started off okay, but it started to become too “correct”, too preachy, not enough SF for my taste. Deep Space Nine was a nice concept, but it faltered right out of the gate. It did not help matters that it was competing with another SF show based on a space station, one that had a known SF writer working as a consultant. DS9 quickly became DS90210. The less said about Anoy, er Voyager, the better. It failed from the start. Enterprise was another nice concept, but even Scott Bacula couldn’t get me to watch after I spotted too many contradictions with established history from ST. Then they had to get all “dark and gritty”. It became less about the science, about the adventure and more about the people, how everyone is maladjusted in some way.
I was left wondering where the Science in the Science Fiction was.
The movies fared only slightly better. We’d have a good movie followed by a flop. But with the movies they had the time and the budget to get it right. I just wish they had gotten it right more often. (and please burn ST:V)
No, I do not like the reboot. Which leads to my second reason: I don’t, as a rule, like reboots/remakes/reimages. Leave the past alone.
ST worked in its time because we wanted to dream. We, some of us, wanted to explore, to see what was beyond the next mountain. We wanted to go to space. Some even went into science and engineering fields to pursue that dream. Trying to bring it back is only trading on shadows and ghosts, profiting from the memories of people like me who would love to see that dream reborn. But that dream has changed. We no longer dream of space and exploring. We want to sit nice and cozy in our living rooms and let robots do the exploring for us.
Finally, there is the “small” detail that it will only be available on this CBS all access. It won’t be available to everyone, just to those who are willing to pay. How can the impressionable young minds of those who do not have a lot of discretionary income be exposed to the opportunities of science if you limit the access? The dream is not for them? Then too, I’m hearing it is for “America”, not the world. ST had (and still has) an International following. The dream, battered and bruised though it maybe, is for everyone and I object to this exclusion.
I will not pay for the privilege of watching one network. It simply is not cost effective. I’m not happy that we pay for cable, but the switch to digital broadcast made it necessary if I wanted to see the news and weather. (okay, I get the benefit of seeing Dr. Who and Mythbusters.) But one network, with as little time as I have, and on my computer instead of my TV - no.
So, no new Star Trek for me. If I get nostalgic for that dream I need only pull out the DVDs or, better yet, reach into my bookshelf, pull out a novel and fly the skies of Pern, fight evil along side the Lensmen or just roam the skies with the Stone family.