The future of STAR TREK (merged thread) (1 Viewer)

[todd s]

The following rumor was posted at www.cinescape.com

As we first reported last week, a scooper contacted us with what they claimed was inside information about the mood of the crew on the set of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE. The UPN series, the fifth in the TREK franchise, has had a number of rumors circling it like dark clouds, some of which were confirmed and others dismissed by Paramount and ENTERPRISE brass.

After we ran our first scoop about ENTERPRISE, and after the weekend of the Television Press tour, the same person contacted us again with what they claimed was more inside information about the production. We will present what they told us with the caveat that the following report is unconfirmed and should be treated as gossip right now, for reasons that will become clear in a moment:

"It would seem the lackluster support of ENTERPRISE by Les Moonves and Dawn Ostroff at this weekend's UPN press junket has gotten the attention of Garry Hart, President of Paramount Television Productions. Quiet for some time regarding the dismal performance of his division's most important moneymaker, it has been rumored that Hart may be planning as early as March to make concessions to UPN to help keep ENTERPRISE on the air. From an insider in John Wentworth's office at Paramount Television's Marketing and Media Relations Department, a memo has been spotted suggesting Hart may be waiting until after ENTERPRISE's February sweeps performance to announce the possible replacement of some of the show's production staff, to possibly include longtime TREK Executive Producer Rick Berman. There is no word at this time of any possible replacements."



As you can see, the information our scooper sent to us is riveting but also extremely next to impossible to verify -- and that is why we are stressing that it should be taken as speculatory at this stage.


Hours before the annoucement of this week's shuffling of ENTERPRISE to its 9 PM timeslot (beginning in March), we were sent another message from the same scooper. Again, we present what they had to say to us as they sent it:

"The mood at ENTERPRISE, however, is mixed. Some fearing a dreaded Friday time slot are relieved the change is minor. Others, however, are less than optimistic considering the lead in shows of GAME OVER and THE MULLETS and think this may be a setup for disaster.

And as I reported earlier, the set is still awash with concern that within a month or two, there may be a new 'captain' in the Executive Producer's chair. There is concern that Rick Berman's future with the beloved TREK franchise may be coming to an end, making less certain than before the future of ENTERPRISE and a possible fourth season."

The reason we are choosing to now publish the scooper's two reports, even though we cannot confirm if this is truly the mood on the set of ENTERPRISE, is the mention of the timeslot change slightly ahead of the time the news broke online. Whether there are definitive plans for Paramount to remove producer Rick Berman from the STAR TREK franchise or a "memo" circulating in their offices remains unknown, but we still felt that it was necessary to print what was being told to us at this time. Fans reading this article are again stressed to keep this in mind; these are rumors right now and not known facts, and until our scooper chooses to show us hard proof of their claims or we discover another means to confirm what they are telling us, an open mind should be kept.

It may simply take time to determine if what we are being told is an accurate portrayal of events happening to ENTERPRISE or some individual crying wolf. With February around the corner and sweeps imminent, the final answer to these speculative questions should be known soon.

Berman..don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Too little, too late?

 

[Jason Seaver]

To be honest, I thought Paramount was planning on losing Berman last year. It seemed kind of fishy that they'd hired John Shiban, one of the more popular X-Files writers who'd run The Lone Gunmen, if there hadn't been plans for him to be the heir apparent.

Do I think it's likely that Berman's out? Yeah. Les Moonves has only been running UPN along with CBS for a year or two, and I can't recall him ever being shy about looking for new show-runners. He also understands the value of a franchise, though, so I can see him trying to help Trek out by putting someone new in charge.

Will it help? Well, here's the thing, I think he'd have to hire a name for it, a David Greenwalt or Robert Wolfe or someone else the audience might have heard of and trusts. The sci-fi audience is pretty savvy about such things, and that's not how this usually is done.

 

[Will_B]

I care about the show still, so I just hope that the reason they're keeping him through Feb is so that the Feb Sweeps episodes can resolve the Expanse plot in a sensible way (a way that does not appear to have been thought up by someone else, I mean!).

 

[David Rogers]

I like Trek. However, I hate Berman. SF is about ideas and characters, not skin. There are several good examples of SF on TV that can be emulated. They include:

* Babylon 5
* ST:Next Generation
* Firefly
* Space: Above and Beyond
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer

These shows *all* focused on content. They had no stupid sexy alien babes. They had no pointless Decon-Gel scenes with crew members rubbing it on each other in a uni-sex environment. The storylines grew out of the characters and their drives. The audiences were not asked to swallow crap.

If they get rid of Berman, I can absolutely promise I will tune in immediately to see Enterprise and/or the next Trek Series. I think *many* Trekkies would return to the fold to see if Trek could be what it used to be prior to Berman's idiocy.

 

[MikeH1]

I hope Berman's gone. As much as I like half naked babes I really hate how they use sex to try to grab ratings when Star Trek is so much more than that.

 

[Todd Hostettler]

Well, if Martin Blythe happens to ever find his way into this thread...

Hey, Martin! Let me know the names of the Paramount execs involved in this decision. I'd love to put them on the Christmas Card list.

 

[Sven Lorenz]

As long as they don't fire Braga too nothing will change.

 

[RickGr]

Yah! Like the orginal Trek never used half naked babes!

 

[Will_B]

But they had Sarah Michelle Gellar! And vampire babes! And Willow! And Anya!

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

This is the only thing that would make me want to watch the show again.
I wont give it anymore chances until I find out the creative staff and producing staff has been changed.

When Boobs and rubdowns and special effects became the focuse of Voyager and Enterprise instead of good stories, I knew the hay day of Trek was over.

 

[Eric F]

Braga still bragging about how he never saw all the TOS episodes? Lol (Yes, I know he said he saw them all on the TNG extras).

I agree, he needs to go as well, and the show needs an extended hiatus, at least 5yrs.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

From Dark Horizons...

The Paramount sci-fi franchise is standing on its last legs it seems.

SyFy Portal reports that UPN has decided to give the Star Trek spinoff series "Enterprise" an initial 12-episode commitment for a fourth season, which could be renewed to a full 24 episodes. Despite going head to head with "American Idol" and a newly timeslotted "Smallville", "Enterprise" has managed to hold steady and even improved slightly ratings wise compared to its dismal performance the previous year. It's unclear whether or not executive producers and co-creators Brannon Braga and Rick Berman will continue to helm the series which wraps up its third season in May.

Meanwhile Marina Sirtis appeared at this past weekend's United Fan Con outside Boston where according to IGN Filmforce, she advised fans on Saturday not to anticipate any further "Star Trek" films: "It's over. There's not going to be another one". The cause was due to the box office drubbing endured by "Star Trek: Nemesis" and suggested it's time perhaps for "Star Trek" to retire for at least a decade before it's brought back.

 

[Shane D]

startrek.com says has a blurb about coming back thursday for big important announcment and theres isa shot of the NX with a question mark on it.

 

[Ivan Lindenfeld]

It's canceled. The rest of the season will air, and it will wrap up in a big way with lots of money spent. There will not be any more Trek on TV or in movies until after 2010.

Someone had to take the exreme opinion. We shall see.

 

[Tony Whalen]

I seriously hope they are NOT making any form of real OFFICIAL annoucments on April 1st.

Meantime, I don't want to see ENT cancelled. B&B, on the other hand, should be turfed.

 

[Ric Easton]

Well, I can't even bring up the website right now...

As much as I hate to say it, maybe the franchise needs a rest. It's too bad it had to hit the creative skids. Although I didn't think Nemesis was that bad, and Enterprise was definately improving. I will miss getting a regular dose of Trek... in whatever form.

To think, we have been getting it in some form on a weekly basis since 1987! I remember when TNG premiered, I faithfully taped every episode for fear it wouldn't last!

I was looking forward to seeing the beginnings of the Federation. And I will certainly miss seeing my favorite Captain (Picard of course!) continue to explore strange new worlds.

It just doesn't seem like good news in on the horizon.

Ric

 

[Nelson Au]

I was going to post the follow musings on the future of the Star Trek series, but since there is this thread on the future of Star Trek, I’ll post it here. Regarding tomorrow’s important Enterprise announcement on StarTrek.com if they’re going through the trouble of making the announcement to look there Thursday, I doubt Enterprise is cancelled. April Fools Day would be a mean day to say it was not cancelled and then say April Fools it really is cancelled, or visa versa. Maybe the rumours of a 12 episode order for the 4th year is true, but I doubt it too. My optimistic view says that Enterprise will be renewed for a full 4th year.

Now regarding the film series, here’s what I was thinking:

Seems the money says there are going to be no more TNG films. Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes has made that sentiment clear. And now Marina Sirtis is quoted as saying that because Nemesis was murdered at the box office, the future for TNG films is over.

Add this to the AICN story about the possibility of a trilogy of Star Trek films as prequels to TOS, even if there were a micron of truth to this story, would suggest that Paramount is considering a new path. As the producers of the Bond films seem to be going through a period of uncertainty for its future, the Trek franchise is at a crossroads as well.

And some fans have been making their own TOS films and Bring Back Kirk trailers, which says that fans are longing for the grand old days of Captain Kirk. It all implies the fans are not happy with modern Trek. They want the good old days of Star Trek.

But I have a theory why the TNG films often do not do well. I’ve always thought that in the case of TNG and even DS9, these shows over time became ensemble shows. Over the course of 26 episodes per year, each character or characters had a chance to contribute or be focused on per episode. Each film has focused on Picard and Data. Of course the rest of the cast contribute, but it’s been focused on the two leads on average.

In the case of the Original Series, there was always Kirk, Spock and McCoy that were the focal point of stories. And unfortunately for the rest of the cast, they became support characters. But in the film series, with the exception of The Voyage Home, the supporting cast was doing support roles. The fans love the 3 leads, and many love the support characters too. But it seemed better balanced for them.

So when the TNG films came out, there was a sense of ensemble lost for me. A major piece of what made the series so good was missing. And to a certain degree, the same was true for the TOS films.

My point is that as an entertainment entity, I think Star Trek is better off as a TV project, particularly as a series, or maybe a series of TV films/mini series. It allows the characters to be better used over the course of a whole season. This theory of course goes without saying that the stories have to be good. Just my 2 cents on the film series anyway.

I truly hope it’s not over for Enterprise or the films. Like Ric said, it’s nice to have a weekly dose of Star Trek.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I doubt if tomorrow's update will be a cancellation announcement. Would they put it this way on their teaser page?


I don't think they would be all that excited to announce the end of their show.

I hope the show isn't canceled, but I also hope it's not a damn April Fools' Joke. :rolleyes

 

[Ric Easton]

Looks like its a page of fake stories! Happy April 1st, everyone!

Ric