Star Trek

And for those of who DIDN'T want to see that, they have only themselves to THANK.

brotherofshran,

I'd be happy to get more "on topic" and express why I think the idea sucks.

With all due respect to the tastes and appetites that certain fans have developed, a "Romulan War" idea is a giant redundant pile of the worst kind of fanwank imaginable. The only thing worse would be if fans wanted a Romulan War story where Riker and the Titan are thrown back in time to help change history with the help of Daniels and Janeway. Seriously, it's that wanky.

There have been numerous posts on this board over the last several months analyzing the decline of the franchise, particularly with regard to the television series VOY and ENT. The overriding theme seems to be that those two series, despite having the “window dressing” of a new and exciting premise, really just stamped and re-produced the successful formula and themes of TNG. The idea is that they were really just “copies of a copy” in that regard, and offered little of substance to audiences that was truly NEW and exciting.

I view the idea of a Romulan War series to be an even worse offense than what VOY and ENT did.

First and foremost, DS9 did the “Starfleet at war” thing at a very high quality. The series spent 3-4 seasons establishing characters, relationships, tensions, etc…and THEN dumped them into the very human drama of war. And that war was, at the time, a unique undertaking for Star Trek, making it original, exciting, and entertaining. So, DS9 has done it and done it WELL already. They established a very fine balance of exploring the issues of war while still maintaining the spirit of Star Trek. Why would we need to re-visit that? Doing it during a different time and place is NOT a good enough reason (as ENT clearly proved out).

Second, the outcome of the Romulan War is not in doubt. We know what happens. We know that humans are not going to fail, Earth isn't going to be destroyed,  and we know that the struggle is one of the seminal factors in the establishment of the UFP. Even if the HOW is well-done, the drama is not nearly as interesting because it is a prequel and the outcome is a given. A lot of people think that it can be successful "if it's done well," and that's wrong. A lot of "well-done" series never get past 13 episodes.  

Third (and perhaps most importantly) is that not only would “war” be a "been there, done that" undertaking for Star Trek, it is even more of a tired cliché for science fiction in general. The most over-used beaten horse in the entire genre is “outer space wars.” It’s been done to DEATH. There’s no new ground there to explore. Why would general audiences CARE about yet another space wars show? It’s hard enough to get audiences to watch well-executed UNIQUE programming, let alone shows that are dripping with cliché.

It always comes back to the same thing with me: Fans don’t seem to understand that just because we think that something would be “AWESOME” for the studio to do DOESN’T mean it’s a good idea for a viable television series or feature film. In fact, it’s usually quite the opposite. There aren’t enough fans out there to sustain a television series by ourselves. It will need more appeal than “oh…but the fans DESERVE to know how the Romulan War went!” And, right now, a Romulan War show, movie, or animated series would NOT offer that "something more". At best, it’s a Pocket Books novel-of-the-month idea…but it’s not an idea to carry the franchise onto television for the next foreseeable era of Star Trek.

I hope that clarifies my position more.  

Bump

Didn't want anyone to think that I hadn't corrected my "off topic" behavior.

So what do you have to offer as a series that is more suitable to the Romulan war? I have floated the idea of exploring the Andromeda galaxy using the Kelvins as allies. New starship class, drives and weapons. So far mixed reviews. Besides the Star gate series, someone has already done exploring another galaxy, so why do it. what else is there?

The Romulan war IS an outcome that we know about but it doesn't mean I do not want to know who, what when, and where. I say give it a shot.

But "give it a shot" isn't good enought to base a 2-million dollar per-episode series around!

I think there's plenty of ideas that could be leveraged that are unique enough to draw interest while still in the spirit and form of Star Trek. I'm not a television writer or developer, so I don't claim to know what those ideas might be. That's not my thing. My thing is WATCHING the shows, not developing ideas for them.

But, as a WATCHER, I know what I'd want to see. And a repeat of the "Starfleet at War" idea is not something that would interest me in the slightest.

If Trek is going to do anything, they should get back to the simple ship exploring the galaxy idea. That's what Star Trek really IS. The trick is in making the TONE and FORMAT and THEMES of the show significantly different from the TNG format. it doesn't have to be some fanwank about exploring fluidic space with Species 8472 and the Packleds. It doesn't have to have the same cliched mix of characters that fans seem to love to come up with.

For example, if you look at the BSG remake, that was as fundamentally different in tone, theme, and format from the original 1979 show as possible. BUT, it was still about a group of refugees fleeing from the Cylons in a large fleet defended by a lone warship, looking for a new home. The PREMISE was the same, but everything else was different, and it worked very well.

Star Trek should strive for the same. And, before everyone flips out, I don't mean "make it like BSG." I simply mean that it's that kind of total transformation that's necessary.

You can retain a premise while still altering the fundamentals of the show. That's what I would suggest. I'm not good enough to say what that should be exactly. That's not my area of expertise and, quite frankly, it's not the area of expertise of most fans either.

Not that thare's no place for conflict with the Romulans but the focus seems to be primarily us against the them.

Your opinion cannot be called a "Cold Hard Fact".  It is an opinion.  

Anyone can invent another good animated series that can be better than the next.  It's been done for years.

Star Wars itself was a great movie.  I saw in the theatre when it first came out and was not called "A New Hope".  But there have been better moves since then that have won oscars, etc.  My favorite movies to watch are the Star Trek movies, but I wouldn't say they were the greatest movies ever. Because I consider them great for me to watch is my OPINION.

Please stop saying "Cold Hard Fact".  I am guessing you must be a young person.  What are you doing on a Star Trek discussion board anyway?

I agree.

i think the next series should take place in the 25th century. I mean Enterprise occurred in the 22nd century. TOS occurred in the 23rd century. but they made 3 shows in the 24 th century? what the hell is up with that. I mean TNG would've sufficed.  I would've taken DS9 as the last 24th century show and that's it. Voyager should've been about the 25th century exploring the delta quadrant.

If the firefly fans will band together and go to great lengths to resurrect a show, where’d the fire go in trek fans?  They fought to save TOS, ENT, and name a space shuttle.  Where's the zeal?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/23/bring.back.firefly/index.html?hpt=C2#

MR,

Because they got 14 or 15 hours of their favorite franchise.

We have 100's upon 100's.

i think the next series should take place in the 25th century. I mean Enterprise occurred in the 22nd century. TOS occurred in the 23rd century. but they made 3 shows in the 24 th century? what the hell is up with that. I mean TNG would've sufficed.  I would've taken DS9 as the last 24th century show and that's it. Voyager should've been about the 25th century exploring the delta quadrant. ~ Tribblenator

ST Wish List

- Move farther into the future, 25th century or later

- No more damn near omnipotent/wise/perfect captain and his/her spiritual/non-human/super smart but tortured 1 st officer

- No more perfection and humans have it all figured out scenarios. Shades of grey and failure should be dealt with.

- No soap opera relationships.

Point being?  As the books show, there is still a lot of good story left to be told.   Besides, I don't know about you but I could eat PF Chang's spicy chicken or touch a woman hundreds of times and that doesn't get old!  I'd probably want more just as much after a couple hundred servings as 15.

On several occations, in the movies and in TOS the war mentioned is not with the Romulans but with the Klingon Empire; so I don't why so many people are focusing on this

The war was only really talked about in one Episode, Balance of Terror, and never really mentioned again after that.

Point being; there's a limit to even the most ravenous appetites. And "more" isn't always "better," contrary to popular belief.

And "Star Trek letter writing campaigns" are about as cliche as it gets.