YenChih Lin
Master Member
Well, the 50th anniversary of Star Trek is coming soon, thought the year 2016 is still "young" and we have a couple of months ahead before 8th September 2016.
And somewhat in the last 2 weeks, when I listened and read the usual news about terrorism, refugees coming to germany, the wars at the borders at the Ukraine with a newly sparked "cold war 2.0", recession tendencies in china and it's global effects… a thought popped into my mind. "Man, we really need a real good Star Trek series again…"; later watching the documentary "Chaos on the bridge" solidified the thought as well as NeilT's thread here: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=254401&p=3882322 .
I hope not to bore you with my ramblings and try to keep it as short as possible, but I felt the need to express my personal view on a franchise that has endured so long and is watched on more than 120 countries; from where it came, what it was and which future it may hold now and more importantly, what relevance it has today, why we need a positive series like Star Trek again and how maybe the time is right again. All what you read is my personal opinion, I may be wrong on certain aspects, but let me start without further adieu.
Star Trek, in that sense of "Star Trek: the next Generation" and it's sucessors up to VOY has shaped me, but more so TNG. I was interested into science from an early age, fondly remembering a public broadcast about a science teaching show, where it explained black holes with all the stuff around like the Schwarzschild Radius and how light can't escape from this celestial object. TBH, I understood nothing, but I was totally fascinated (no pun intended here) by these things. From about 6-8 more or less, I was a like every boy in that age a Star Wars fan, had toys and all, but somewhat between 9-10 there was nothing (which was a long time for every kid) until on a Saturday evening, a cinema/entertainment show about upcoming movies, series and Hollywood in general was showing "Star Trek V" and showed excerpts of "Star Trek: the next generation" (1989, I guess). Was I excited? Not really, but I noticed it, because of their fancy red uniform and the Starfleet Delta. Later in the year 1990, TNG was running at 5:00 pm late afternoon on TV and I was like, "Yeah, I remembered the preview. Let's see what it is all about…" I was hooked from the start.
I think, it satisfied my need of wanting to know more… if there's really someone out there. I loved the stars and wondered as many of you: "Are we really alone?" (astronomy was also my favourite). For the start, it was entertainment for me, spaceships… new planets… adventures. During the course of the series, I discovered the philosophical and moral values as well as resolving matters with diplomacy and reason instead of weapons. Star Trek became a self educational show, where I learnt more than from my parents. They laid the foundation of how to be a decent person, but to use an analogy: my parents were kindergarden to high school, while Star Trek was college/university for ethics.
DS9 IMHO is the epitome of Star Trek, compelling story-telling, important ethic messages. Yet with a good balance of action, fun and adventure, due to the more realistic picture of how humans are ticking, especially our protagonists, who aren't perfect (which Roddenberry hated, yet he's a deeply flawed person himself).
Now we all know, how Star Trek started, from the mind of a former WWII and Pan Am Pilot Eugene W. Roddenberry, who had the dream of writing for the young medium television; his concept of "wagon train to the stars", where a brave starship crew would explore the final frontier. He created a new science-fiction, something that doesn't rely on the clicheés of good humans, bad aliens. No invasion scenario (which I deeply deeply despise). Nothing that totally paints it in black and white (pun intended here
), he challenged to viewers to think in a time, where I think, is not unlike ours again. Where escapism from the harsh reality was the norm. The cold war between the US and Soviet Russia was there, MLK and his assasination as well as the hippie movement, everything was in motion. And yet there was this little series consisting of 79 episodes that dares to dream the dream of a better world, where humans of all nations and even aliens are working together for the betterment of themselves and the society, to strive foward into tomorrow, to overcome prejudice, bigotry and hate. Roddenberry could fullfill it in its fullest with TNG and DS9 showed, that a show can stand on it's own without the need of the creator, still retaining the spirit of Star Trek.
It is my personal belief, that the time is right again to make a new Star Trek series, BUT! as I stated in a old thread, it has to be done right. The new series has to adapt to the heightened expectations of the viewers of today. It it most important to show in such a connected world, that we are humans on one planet and we should dare to dream again, to have hope that we CAN do this and overcome all those flaws that came before. Never than ever before, was such a series like Star Trek needed to guide us and show, that we can have a brighter future, if we are willing to adapt and change.
Star Trek 2017 has to be bold, it has be about the future, not the past, I don't want to see a reboot TOS or a prequel. The new 2017 series has to ask the hard question of our time, to challenge and to be controversial once again, without the need of a vengance-path ridden story arc of the last series, which I don't want to name. The stories have to be progressive and overarching, where consequences shape the characters of the series (like Breaking Bad) and maybe like DS9 again come to a full circle instead of being open end. The crew has be radically different. To make Star Trek interesting again, the formularic cast has be broken. As I said once, there are still interesting stories to tell within the federation, where still the vast space is charted, but yet not explored. Tell it from an federation alien perspective to reflect our human condition instead of telling it from the human perspective. Make the characters relatable. Don't let executives meddle with Trek, where they clearly don't have any knowledge about it. Heck, I would go for a Star Trek with an MA rating to carry the moral message over to the audiences. Maybe this would be interesting to see how far we can go yet keep the Trek spirit more than alive.
The one thing I know, it's time for Star Trek come back.
Thank you for taking your time to read all this.
And somewhat in the last 2 weeks, when I listened and read the usual news about terrorism, refugees coming to germany, the wars at the borders at the Ukraine with a newly sparked "cold war 2.0", recession tendencies in china and it's global effects… a thought popped into my mind. "Man, we really need a real good Star Trek series again…"; later watching the documentary "Chaos on the bridge" solidified the thought as well as NeilT's thread here: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=254401&p=3882322 .
I hope not to bore you with my ramblings and try to keep it as short as possible, but I felt the need to express my personal view on a franchise that has endured so long and is watched on more than 120 countries; from where it came, what it was and which future it may hold now and more importantly, what relevance it has today, why we need a positive series like Star Trek again and how maybe the time is right again. All what you read is my personal opinion, I may be wrong on certain aspects, but let me start without further adieu.
Star Trek, in that sense of "Star Trek: the next Generation" and it's sucessors up to VOY has shaped me, but more so TNG. I was interested into science from an early age, fondly remembering a public broadcast about a science teaching show, where it explained black holes with all the stuff around like the Schwarzschild Radius and how light can't escape from this celestial object. TBH, I understood nothing, but I was totally fascinated (no pun intended here) by these things. From about 6-8 more or less, I was a like every boy in that age a Star Wars fan, had toys and all, but somewhat between 9-10 there was nothing (which was a long time for every kid) until on a Saturday evening, a cinema/entertainment show about upcoming movies, series and Hollywood in general was showing "Star Trek V" and showed excerpts of "Star Trek: the next generation" (1989, I guess). Was I excited? Not really, but I noticed it, because of their fancy red uniform and the Starfleet Delta. Later in the year 1990, TNG was running at 5:00 pm late afternoon on TV and I was like, "Yeah, I remembered the preview. Let's see what it is all about…" I was hooked from the start.
I think, it satisfied my need of wanting to know more… if there's really someone out there. I loved the stars and wondered as many of you: "Are we really alone?" (astronomy was also my favourite). For the start, it was entertainment for me, spaceships… new planets… adventures. During the course of the series, I discovered the philosophical and moral values as well as resolving matters with diplomacy and reason instead of weapons. Star Trek became a self educational show, where I learnt more than from my parents. They laid the foundation of how to be a decent person, but to use an analogy: my parents were kindergarden to high school, while Star Trek was college/university for ethics.
DS9 IMHO is the epitome of Star Trek, compelling story-telling, important ethic messages. Yet with a good balance of action, fun and adventure, due to the more realistic picture of how humans are ticking, especially our protagonists, who aren't perfect (which Roddenberry hated, yet he's a deeply flawed person himself).
Now we all know, how Star Trek started, from the mind of a former WWII and Pan Am Pilot Eugene W. Roddenberry, who had the dream of writing for the young medium television; his concept of "wagon train to the stars", where a brave starship crew would explore the final frontier. He created a new science-fiction, something that doesn't rely on the clicheés of good humans, bad aliens. No invasion scenario (which I deeply deeply despise). Nothing that totally paints it in black and white (pun intended here
), he challenged to viewers to think in a time, where I think, is not unlike ours again. Where escapism from the harsh reality was the norm. The cold war between the US and Soviet Russia was there, MLK and his assasination as well as the hippie movement, everything was in motion. And yet there was this little series consisting of 79 episodes that dares to dream the dream of a better world, where humans of all nations and even aliens are working together for the betterment of themselves and the society, to strive foward into tomorrow, to overcome prejudice, bigotry and hate. Roddenberry could fullfill it in its fullest with TNG and DS9 showed, that a show can stand on it's own without the need of the creator, still retaining the spirit of Star Trek.It is my personal belief, that the time is right again to make a new Star Trek series, BUT! as I stated in a old thread, it has to be done right. The new series has to adapt to the heightened expectations of the viewers of today. It it most important to show in such a connected world, that we are humans on one planet and we should dare to dream again, to have hope that we CAN do this and overcome all those flaws that came before. Never than ever before, was such a series like Star Trek needed to guide us and show, that we can have a brighter future, if we are willing to adapt and change.
Star Trek 2017 has to be bold, it has be about the future, not the past, I don't want to see a reboot TOS or a prequel. The new 2017 series has to ask the hard question of our time, to challenge and to be controversial once again, without the need of a vengance-path ridden story arc of the last series, which I don't want to name. The stories have to be progressive and overarching, where consequences shape the characters of the series (like Breaking Bad) and maybe like DS9 again come to a full circle instead of being open end. The crew has be radically different. To make Star Trek interesting again, the formularic cast has be broken. As I said once, there are still interesting stories to tell within the federation, where still the vast space is charted, but yet not explored. Tell it from an federation alien perspective to reflect our human condition instead of telling it from the human perspective. Make the characters relatable. Don't let executives meddle with Trek, where they clearly don't have any knowledge about it. Heck, I would go for a Star Trek with an MA rating to carry the moral message over to the audiences. Maybe this would be interesting to see how far we can go yet keep the Trek spirit more than alive.
The one thing I know, it's time for Star Trek come back.
Thank you for taking your time to read all this.
