Chun-tzu
First Post
JM Straczynski has made it known that he's very interested in doing Trek right (my words). In case you missed the link on the news page, here it is again:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30385
I'm 100% with JMS on his statement that Trek lately has been too cautious with its stories, and I like what he says in the article. JMS' work on the Spider-Man and Supreme Power comics proves to me that he knows how to add to an existing mythology, making sense of parts that don't, and changing the character in ways that make sense for the character. Also of great importance, he talks about drawing upon some of the best and brightest sci-fi writers, whereas the previous administration kept things in-house, to the detriment of the series.
I think a reboot for Trek is definitely the way to go. I'd like to see technology in Star Trek dealt with in one of two ways: either make it more realistic (i.e., true science fiction), or completely forget the explanations and downplay the techno-talk (i.e., make it more like fantasy). Frankly, Star Trek's tech and scientific explanations are typically about as realistic as Spider-Man getting powers from a radioactive arachnid. Either update the tech for modern times, or throw the tech talk out the window and just go with it.
Besides the whole tech side of things, there are aspects of Starfleet culture that just really don't work for me. A culture without any form of currency is just bizarre. I can completely understand a de-emphasis on materialism, but there still has to be currency of SOME form, especially if other cultures (like the Ferengi) use them. And in early TNG, they said headaches were practically nonexistent. Again, this is just bizarrely unrealistic. They don't have any stress in the future? They face invasions, they have family squabbles, they compete for important positions... there is just no way in the world they've "cured" headaches. I get that Roddenberry had created a certain vision of the future, but I bring it back to the super-hero analogy: today's audience is more sophisticated than the 60's TV audience, and things that seemed perfectly plausible then are not so plausible now. That doesn't mean Roddenberry's vision has to be thrown out here, just that it would be done better if painted in a more realistic light.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30385
I'm 100% with JMS on his statement that Trek lately has been too cautious with its stories, and I like what he says in the article. JMS' work on the Spider-Man and Supreme Power comics proves to me that he knows how to add to an existing mythology, making sense of parts that don't, and changing the character in ways that make sense for the character. Also of great importance, he talks about drawing upon some of the best and brightest sci-fi writers, whereas the previous administration kept things in-house, to the detriment of the series.
I think a reboot for Trek is definitely the way to go. I'd like to see technology in Star Trek dealt with in one of two ways: either make it more realistic (i.e., true science fiction), or completely forget the explanations and downplay the techno-talk (i.e., make it more like fantasy). Frankly, Star Trek's tech and scientific explanations are typically about as realistic as Spider-Man getting powers from a radioactive arachnid. Either update the tech for modern times, or throw the tech talk out the window and just go with it.
Besides the whole tech side of things, there are aspects of Starfleet culture that just really don't work for me. A culture without any form of currency is just bizarre. I can completely understand a de-emphasis on materialism, but there still has to be currency of SOME form, especially if other cultures (like the Ferengi) use them. And in early TNG, they said headaches were practically nonexistent. Again, this is just bizarrely unrealistic. They don't have any stress in the future? They face invasions, they have family squabbles, they compete for important positions... there is just no way in the world they've "cured" headaches. I get that Roddenberry had created a certain vision of the future, but I bring it back to the super-hero analogy: today's audience is more sophisticated than the 60's TV audience, and things that seemed perfectly plausible then are not so plausible now. That doesn't mean Roddenberry's vision has to be thrown out here, just that it would be done better if painted in a more realistic light.
