CONTENTS |
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Sunday, October 27: 7th Annual
Halloween Spooktacular
Saturday, November 9: Away
Mission to Thor: The Dark World
Saturday, November 16:
Fall Business & Dinner Meeting
Saturday, December 7: Farragut
Fest 2013 (Kingsland GA)
SAVE THESE DATES NOW: DETAILS TO BE ANNOUNCED
Saturday, December 21: USS Republic
Christmas Party
NEWS
& ANNOUNCEMENTS
TrekTrax Atlanta new staff
appointments and promotions
Personnel Records
Library Computer
Recent Chapter Event Photos
SIDEBAR
October Birthdays
Membership Renewals
About the Republic
For More Information
USS Republic Online
Crew Roster
News from TrekMovie.com
Editorial:
You Just Can't Bring Star
Trek Back to the Small Screen (But How You Would If You
Could) |
UPCOMING
EVENTS
The
USS Republic's Seventh Annual Halloween Spooktacular
6:00 p.m. Sunday, October 27, 2013
Terminus Media LLC
2103 Idlewood Road, Suite B; Tucker GA 30084 |
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Capt
Michael Cowart
was absolutely ghoulish at last year's Halloween Spooktacular!
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Members
and friends of the USS Republic are invited to our
Seventh Annual Halloween Spooktacular, to be held this year
at the "office" of Terminus Media LLC in Tucker. (Their
"office" is actually a two-story house that has
been converted into a commercial business site.) Many
thanks to our old friend Tony Cade (formerly of The
Dragon's Horde, now of Challenges at North DeKalb Mall) for
inviting us!
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Located
on Idlewood Road in downtown Tucker, the door to Terminus
Media is
actually hidden by this lovely box truck. But
there's plenty of parking, so bring friends!
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This is
a pot-luck event, so please bring a dish, dessert or appetizer
to share with our friends! Anything you might like
to bring, from a meat dish or casserole to some type of snackie/munchie/nibbler,
would be perfect! A selection of Klingon Bloodwine,
Saurian Brandy and Romulan Ale jelly shots, as well as a limited
variety of adult beverages, will be available to guests of
the age of majority, courtesy of the USS Republic. Feel
free to bring your own, and please be responsible.
This is, of course, a costume-encouraged (but not required)
eventand not necessarily Star Trek or science
fiction costumes! It's Halloween, so be as creative
as you'd like and come dressed in your scariest outfit!
We'll have games to play, "scary" stuff to watch
on TV (there's a widescreen TV and lots of living room furniture
for seating) and hopefully lots of great food to eat, so come
on out and spend a festive evening with your friends aboard
the Republic!
Please visit our Facebook
event page and click "Join" if you're planning
to come, and tell us what you're planning to bring! We
hope to see you there!
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Away
Mission to Thor: The Dark World
2:00 p.m. Saturday, November 9, 2013
United
Artists Perimeter Pointe Stadium 10
1155 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs GA 30338
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Marvel's Thor: The Dark World continues the
big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles
to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy
that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath
of Marvel's Thor and The Avengers, Thor fights
to restore order across the cosmos... but an ancient race
led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe
back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even
Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his
most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite
him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything
to save us all.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston,
Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale
Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi,
Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony
Hopkins as Odin, Thor: The Dark World is directed by
Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige and presented by Marvel
Studios. Thor first appeared in the comic book Journey
into Mystery #83 in August 1962.
Join your friends and shipmates at the
United
Artists Perimeter Pointe Stadium 10 in Sandy Springs for
this two-dimensional, regular screen 2:00 matinée showing
for only $9.50 for adults, $9.00 for seniors aged 60 and over,
and $8.50 for aged 11 and under. (Prices for the
next 2D screening are $11.75 for adults, and prices for 3D
and IMAX screens are exorbitant.) Please Like and
Share our Facebook
event page to let us know that you'll be attending,
wear your favorite USS Republic shirt or Star Trek
costume, and be sure to stay for our traditional group shot
in the lobby when the movie is over!
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Fall
Business & Dinner Meeting
7:00 p.m. Saturday, November 16, 2013
Galaxy Diner
3320 Henderson Mill Road, Chamblee GA 30341
(770) 723-9555 |
Please
make plans to join your friends and crewmates at the USS Republic's
Fall Dinner & Business Meeting, where we'll get together
for fun, fellowship and fannishness! And while
we're at it, we'll also
discuss
plans for the chapter for the next several months, including
upcoming chapter events and our big annual convention, TrekTrax
Atlanta,
in April. This would be an ideal opportunity for
anyone who is interested in serving as a staff volunteer for
the convention to sign up and climb on board. Your
input and feedback, ideas and suggestions, and participation
and attendance are all welcomed, invited and needed as we
chart our course for the next six months. Plan
to attend and bring a friend or two!
And
what better place to hold a Star Trek fan club dinner
meeting than at... the Galaxy Diner? Conveniently
located near the I-285 and Chamblee Tucker Road interchange,
the Galaxy Diner offers delicious American, Italian and Greek
cuisine favorites in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where,
they say, you will always feel right at home. Their
patio is open year-round, their Saturday night dinner special
is all-you- can-eat
catfish, and for our members of the age of majority, they
also offer a selection of domestic and imported beer and house
wines. For a
complete list of all their appetizer, dinner and dessert selections,
please visit their web
site. For a restaurant critic's opinion
of the place, read
this.
In
the meantime, please let us know if you're planning to attend
by "joining" our Facebook
Event Page so we can arrange for appropriate and sufficient
seating. Thank you! Live Long & Prosper!
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Away
Mission to Farragut Fest 2013
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday, December 7, 2013
Farragut Films Studios
451 West William Avenue, Kingsland GA 31548 |
Farragut
Fest 2013 is a celebration of science fiction, Star
Trek and "All Things Farragut" on Saturday,
December 7, at Farragut Films' studios in Kingsland, Georgia.
Kingsland is about 35 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida,
and a 350-mile, 5-hour drive from Atlanta.
Farragut Fest includes an open house, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m., of the studios, where you can walk through the largest
display of freestanding Star Trek sets on planet Earth
and meet some of the cast and crew from the Internet series
Starship Farragut, Star Trek Continues, Dreadnought
Dominion and ExeterTrek. There will
also be dealers with a variety of collectibles and merchandise
for sale. Both the open house and the screening
are free to the general public.
CO Capt Eric L. Watts is planning to leave Atlanta
around 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning and hopes to arrive in Kingsland
around noon. Unlike last year, when Farragut Fest's
events continued well into the evening and an overnight stay
was required, this year's event will end at 5:00 p.m. with
no events planned for the evening. Therefore, Captain
Eric will return to Atlanta on Saturday evening. If
you are interested in carpooling with Captain Eric, please
contact
the Captain and/or post a message on our Facebook
page to coordinate travel arrangements. Additional
information about nearby motels
and directions
to the event can be found on Farragut Fest's web
site.
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NEWS
& ANNOUNCEMENTS
TrekTrax
Atlanta announces new staff appointments and promotions |
TrekTrax
Atlanta is pleased to announce that Ms. Marcia Patterson
has joined the convention as its Director of Space Opera
Track Operations.
Ms. Patterson gets great joy from helping fans and stars interact
for magical fun. From childhood, like zillions
of others, she became enthralled with Star Trek, along
with reruns of The Outer Limits and The Twilight
Zone. Her semi-pro involvement with sci-fi
fandom began with her love of the television show Beauty
and the Beast (with Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman). She
was selected to head the large local Beauty and the Beast
fan club and helped organize South of Oz, a Beauty and
the Beast fan convention in Florida, where she produced
the literary competition, hosted the award show and produced
her first celebrity and fan panels.
In the mid 1990s, in northeast Florida, Ms. Patterson worked
as host and head writer for the First Coast Fandom
cable show and as editor and co-publisher of the zine FanNews.
In the sports world, she was voted in as president of
the official fan club for the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team
and did voice work for their commercials. In 2003, she
created Stargate Offworld, the first fan-produced Stargate-only
convention in the United States.
Ms. Patterson served as staff for the American Sci-Fi Track
at Dragon*Con for many years and as the director of their
Stargate Programming Track for three years. She
"birthed" the MegaPanel, for a mix of fun and madness,
where she hosted up to a dozen guests on stage at the same
time. She has also produced fan programming at the sprawling
San Diego Comic-Con.
Over the years, Ms. Patterson has continued to work with producers,
media outlets, companies and production companies, actors,
across many fields, and now joins the staff of TrekTrax Atlanta
as Director of the Space Opera Programming Track to help foster
new adventures!
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TrekTrax
Atlanta is also pleased to announce that Ms. Cheralyn
Lambeth has joined the convention as its Co-Director of
Star Wars Programming.
Ms.
Lambeth likes to refer to herself as a "fan who went pro,"
crediting her work in the film/TV/entertainment industry to
her early love of Star Wars. After a brief stint
in the Air Force Reserve, she went on to study drama and Radio/Television/Motion
Pictures at the University of North CarolinaChapel Hill.
Shortly after graduation, Ms. Lambeth relocated to New
York to study at The Juilliard School and earned her first
fifteen minutes of fame performing Off-Broadway with John
Leguiazamo in Mambo Mouth. She then moved to
Minneapolis to create Muppet costumes for Sesame Street
Live (as well as a large purple bunny for the film The
Net), and returned to New York a year later to work with
Jim Henson Productions on the TV series Dinosaurs!
and the film The Muppet Christmas Carol.
After her time at Henson, Ms. Lambeth worked with Paramount
Production Services, creating costumes and props for Paramount
properties such as the Star Trek Earth Tour, Titanic:
The Movie on Tour, and Star Trek: The Experience at
the Las Vegas Hilton. Some of her other credits include
work both behind and in front of the camera on The Patriot,
The New World, Evan Almighty and Leatherheads,
as well as costuming work on the National Park Service film
Manassas: End of Innoncence, directed by Star Wars
sound specialist Ben Burtt. She was also a principal
character in The History Channel docudrama "Isaac's Storm,"
which premiered in the fall of 2004 and can still occasionally
be seen on THC. Her most recent work is on the film
Blood Done Sign My Name with Rick Schroeder.
On the fan side of things, Ms. Lambeth is proud to be an active
and longtime member of the Fighting 501st Legion of Stormtroopers.
She also serves as the voice of the Federation starship
Montana in the acclaimed Star Trek fan audio
series Star Trek: The Continuing Mission.
Most recently, Ms. Lambeth has been expanding her interest
in paranormal research, combining that with her theatrical
background to produce her first book, Haunted Theaters
of the Carolinas, published by Schiffer Publishing in
2009. She is currently working on Ghosts of Greater
Charlotte (North Carolina) as well as completing a book
on puppetry, The Well Dressed Puppet, both to be published
by Schiffer.
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TrekTrax
Atlanta is also pleased to announce that Ms. Jenna
McCoy has joined the convention as its Director of Firefly
Programming.
Jenna "Tink" McCoy has been a science fiction fan since she
was a small child and clearly remembers seeing Star Wars
in the theater in 1977, when she was five, and Star Trek:
The Motion Picture in the theater in 1979, when she was
seven. She considers Star Trek, Star Wars,
Doctor Who and Firefly as her favorite sci-fi
franchises of all time.
Ms. McCoy has attended Dragon*Con and many other southeastern
conventions for more than twenty-five years, and served as
a staff volunteer for the Southern Interactive Entertainment
and Game Expo (a.k.a. SIEGE)
in 2009. She has served as the Vice Chairman of the
Southeastern
Browncoats since 2003, has been a member-at-large
of the Atlanta
Browncoats since 2005, and has assisted with their
"Can't
Stop the Serenity" screenings for the last five years.
She is also an Imperial Cadet in the Georgia
Garrison of the 501st Legion and participates in the
76th
Independent Battalion.
Ms. McCoy will be working closely with the Southeastern and
Atlanta Browncoats to develop and present nine hours of outstanding
Firefly programming for TrekTrax Atlanta.
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TrekTrax
Atlanta is also pleased to announce that Mr. Russell
Ruhland has joined the convention as its Director of On-Site
Registration.
Mr. Ruhland has been a fan of science fiction since his early
youth when the Thunderbirds puppet sci-fi TV show was
aired in the 1960s. Although his sci-fi followings were
interrupted on various occasions during a 20-year career in
the U.S. Army, Mr. Ruhland continued to keep up with as much
sci-fi fandom as possible. He has been a dedicated attendee
of Dragon*Con for the last 10 years and of TrekTrax Atlanta
since its beginning. His favorite sci-fi interests include
Star Trek, the original BBC Dr. Who and the
black & white sci-fi film classics.
Mr. Ruhland is currently a longtime member of the STARFLEET
International Fan Association and serves as the commanding
officer of the Columbus, Georgia, chapter, the USS DaVinci.
He assists with various sci-fi-related events at the
Coca-Cola Space Science Center in Columbus, Georgia, and was
a member of the registration staff for TrekTrax Atlanta in
2013.
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As
part of its reorganization, TrekTrax Atlanta is also
pleased to announce that Mr. Brian Holloway (above
left), who has served the convention as Director of Costuming
& Makeup for the last three years, has been promoted to
Director of Star Trek Track Operations; Mr. Marq
Collins (above center), who previously served as a Co-Director
of Klingon Programming, has been promoted to Director of Videography;
and Mr. Mark A. Ozanick (above right), who previously
served as a volunteer staff member for Guest Transportation
& Services, has been promoted to Director of that department. |
Personnel
Records
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Congratulations
to Ens Derek Leman, who received a grade
of DISTINCTION for the STARFLEET Academy course "Officer's
Training School" from the Institute of Leadership
Studies, completed on October 1, 2013 |
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Congratulations
to Lt. JG Robert Simon, who received a grade
of PASS for the STARFLEET Academy course "PD-100
Marine Basic Training" from the School of Professional
Development, completed on October 17, 2013 |
STARFLEET
Academy is a special collection of correspondence courses
available to every STARFLEET member. Over 60 Academy
Colleges offer courses spanning all aspects of Star
Trek and science fiction; some courses even cover non-sci-fi
real world topics. Each college offers dozens of different
courses at varying levels of challenge from super-easy to
really hard. In total, there are nearly 1,000 different
courses available. Take
a course today!
Something
special going on in your life? Submit
your Personnel Record for publication in the next
issue of The Republiqué!
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Library
Computer
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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Mayberry
on the Edge of Forever? Maybe... maybe not. The
web site Mayberry
in Star
Trek makes a compelling argument that
the episodes "Miri" and "City on the Edge
of Forever" were both filmed on the same outdoor lots
as was The Andy Griffith Show and cites this iconic
image of Kirk and Edith Keeler walking past Floyd's Barber
Shop. But... it is really? In the
top photo, all three words are on one line across two window
panes. In the bottom left photo, from an Andy
Griffifth Show episode, Opie is seen walking past Floyd's
Barber Shop, but "Floyd's" is on one line on the
store window and "Barber Shop" is on another. In
the bottom right photo, from another episode, the three
words are all on different window panes. Clearly,
neither of these barber shop windows is the one seen in
"City."
But the bottom two photos also indicate that Floyd's barber
shop window was replaced at least once during the series'
eight-season run, and it's possible that the window that
Kirk and Keeler walk past was yet another actual set window. But
it's also possible that the "City" window was
never seen in Mayberry and that Star Trek's set designers
painted "Floyd's Barber Shop" on theirs as an
homage to the venerable and well-loved sitcom.
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Recent
Chapter Event Photos
CLICK ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE |
World
Record Attempt at Dragon Con || September
1, 2013
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More
than a thousand Star
Trek
fans assembled in the Marriott Marquis Atrium Ballroom in
an attempt to break the Guinness world record for the most
costumed Star
Trek
fans in one room at one time, but the effort fell short
by less than a hundred such fans. Many past and
present members of the USS Republic
participated in the event, including the Captain, but we
were unable to get everyone together for a group photo as
we'd hoped. When the disappointing results were
announced, many fans suggested that if Dragon Con should
choose to attempt this again, it should be held on a Saturday
rather than a Sunday in order to get the most number of
fans together.
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STARFLEET
Bowling Challenge || September
28, 2013
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ENS1
Todd Dissinger and Republic CO Capt Eric L. Watts
played three games against each other, with the Captain
taking two out of three, with scores of 141-119, 142-136
and 101-138. A good time was had by... both.
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OCTOBER
BIRTHDAYS
Wednesday, October 2
ENS1 Nelson M. Barnhouse
Thursday, October 10
Ens Lauren Rhodes
Friday, October 11
Ens
Derek Leman
Monday, October 14
ENS1 Daniel Wolfgang
Wednesday, October 16
ENS1 K'La Albertini
Thursday, October 24
ENS1 Mark A. Ozanick
Wednesday, October 30
ENS1 Eddie Hines
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MEMBERSHIP
RENEWALS
These members' dues will
expire in November. Please renew
now!
CDT1 Karl Dissinger
ENS1 Todd Dissinger
ENS1 Hal Doby
ENS2 Tasheka Gipson
ENS2 Tracey S. Harwell
ENS2 Renardo Hunter
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ABOUT
THE REPUBLIC
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The
USS Republic NCC-1371 was originally commissioned
as a chapter of STARFLEET International on May 14, 1988,
at the Dixie-Trek convention in Atlanta, Georgia. As
of October 19, 2013, the Republic crew includes 44
members who are active members of STARFLEET in good
standing.
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The
Republic plans and coordinates an active schedule
of events for its members, but does not hold meetings
on a consistently fixed date each month.
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Because
the USS Republic is a duly commissioned chapter
of STARFLEET International and is bound and governed by
its Constitution and By-Laws, membership in STARFLEET
is a prerequisite for membership in the Republic. Combined
annual dues for both groups are $25 per person and is
collected by the chapter (family discounts are available
with certain conditions and restrictions). Membership
in the Republic includes access to our YahooGroups
message board, voting privileges in chapter elections
and additional privileges that occasionally become available.
Additional information on Republic membership
and how to join or reenlist is on our award-winning web
site.
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FOR
MORE INFORMATION
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USS
REPUBLIC ONLINE
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CREW
ROSTER
AS OF OCTOBER 19, 2013
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Crmn Eliya Brog
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CDT
Zarena Nova Tucker
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ENS1
"Wolfy"
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NEWS
from
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Editorial:
You Just Can't Bring Star Trek Back to the Small
Screen (But How You Would If You Could) |
By
Jared Whitley
September 19, 2013
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In
"The Icarus Factor," Riker is offered his own
ship and we meet his father for the first (and only) time.
But the episode is better remembered for the subplot,
where Worf is in a particularly grouchy mood. He yells
"Enough!" at Wesley and "Be gone!" to Data, whowith
his trademark gentlenessdescribes the Klingon as "out
of sorts." Worf's friends determine that the only
solution to his foul spirits is to hit him repeatedly with
pain sticks. |
I
have been reminded of this episode as I've followed the
recent furor over Star Trek Into Darkness.
Just as Worf wasn't really mad at his crewmates, I believe
that much of the anger toward STID has nothing to
do with the film: fans are angry because they have to wait
four years to see a new movie when what they really want
is new episodes every week. |
As
a writer here said: "Star Trek should be back on
TV. Period." And of course Trek
fans are going to say thatbut even Rolling Stone
said the same thing. |
Since
the success of the 2009 reboot, the subject has come up
a lot, especially as some interested parties have tried
to resurrect Star Trek on the small screen. This
hasn't happened (obviously) because, as some speculate,
executives don't want to kill the golden goose (again).
But from a branding perspective, one movie every four
years has still kept people buying merchandise, buying Blu-rays
and going to conventions. Plus, the Internet is taking
care of the Trek legacy by itself, with Patrick Stewart-themed
memes and web series like SF Debrisso the suits
are probably fine with the status quo. |
Also,
I'm sure these execs have come to the conclusion that you
just can't make another Star Trek series because...
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1)
It's all been done already. |
As
anyone will tell you, the biggest problem with doing anything
Star Trek-related is that it's already been done
before. Some people will actually put together videos
demonstrating how there is nothing new under any sun in
the Alpha Quadrant. |
While
the Abrams team is certainly well versed in Trek
lore, I'm going to bet they didn't set out to make most
of the allusions cited in this Red
Letter Media video. But with about
750 hours worth of Star Trek, it's probably hard
to create something that doesn't feel like man has gone
there before, especially when... |
2)
Its core concept doesn't work anymore. |
Star
Trek's original concept was heavy-handed polemics about
social issues behind the guise of science fictionthe
only way you could address these issues at the time because
of network censors. (The Twilight Zone had
shown the way a few years earlier.) This was creative
in the 1960s. It was groundbreaking in the 1960s.
It was relevant and interesting and bold to say that
(space) racism was bad in the 1960s... but it's not now.
Even some of the more transparent allegories from
TNG were eyeroll-inducing in the '80s, like when
they taught us that drugs are bad, that space racism is
bad, and that drugs are bad. |
There
aren't any stories you can't tell anymore. There aren't
any social issues you have to masquerade in science fictionunless
you want to talk about the collapse of white middle America,
and then you have to use zombies. So because of that...
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3)
It wouldn't fit into the modern TV landscape. |
The
best TV shows of the last 10 years are all about a damaged
male protagonist who survives in an unfair world by making
decisions that are mostly immoral, but entirely understandable:
Walter White in Breaking Bad, Don Draper in Mad
Men, Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, Stringer Bell
in The Wire and Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones. |
And
that paradigm is antithetical to Star Trek's philosophy:
good people from a perfect world doing good. They
tried to change the perfect world part with Voyager,
by isolating the crew to ostensibly make them desperate,
but the effort was always half-assed. Trek
demi-god Ronald D. Moore had to show them how to do it with
both cheeks on Battlestar Galactica. (As to
a lesser extent did Joss Whedon with Firefly.) |
The
only way they could make a Star Trek series that
fit this new model would be to redo Deep Space Nine
and make the main characters Quark and Morn. Cooking
space meth. For the space mafia. While sexually
harassing space secretaries at a space ad agency. |
So
everything's been done, your core concept is 40 years out
of date, and you wouldn't fit on TV anyway. So what
does that leave? Generic action movies in Star
Trek drag. Folks can criticize the writers of
the Abramsverse, but they just don't have a lot of options. |
You
just can't do another Star Trek series again. You
just can't. |
But
here's how you do it. |
1)
Put someone invested in charge. |
We
are living in a Golden Age of designer TV shows, and each
one is connected to one or two key creative individualsnot
studio executives, committees or a revolving door of writers.
A new Trek series would also need strong creative
leadership. |
The
best team to lead a new Trek series would be one
outsider and one insider. For the outsider, I'd pick
Jane Espenson, who's worked on Buffy, Firefly,
Battlestar Galactica, Torchwood, Game of
Thrones, and so on. That's some serious industry
and nerd credibility right there. For the insider,
I'd pick Jonathan Frakes, whose work behind the camera has
been more important than his work in front of it. And
unlike Riker refusing command of his own ship, Jonathan
Frakes would be happy to take the conn of a new show. |
2)
Keep it short. |
The
Next Generation created a standard that a Star Trek
show should last seven years and 170 episodes. This
is probably not the case. DS9 dragged out the
Dominion War for one year too long and Voyager's
premise got so stale they had to retool it halfway through
as Star Trek: Borg. Keep yourself to about
50 episodes over four or five seasons. |
3)
It's the characters, stupid. |
The
problem with Star Trek's demise in 2005 was not that
the stories were all the same: it's that the characters
were the samea bland array of uniformed individuals
who increasingly felt like copies of copies. If the
characters are fun and different, you can recycle stories. |
The
best example of this is "Arena" and "Darmok." For
those who don't know, these are the episodes where the captain
is forced into a hand-to-hand combat with an alien. |
Both
episodes have the same premise. Both are awesomeand
they both very different because Kirk and Picard are such
different characters. |
You
could do another ship-through-the-universe show, but not
a ship full of model Starfleet officers. The main
characters might not be the senior officers, but rather
the "Lower Decks" charactersor misfits who never would
have made it onto the Enterprise. The most
interesting characters on all of TNG were Barclay
and Ro, both of whom were rejects dealing with their infuriatingly
perfect senior officers. |
All
of this could be consistent with the known Trek universe
but still fit the modern taste for grittier stories. |
4)
Please leave Wrath of Khan alone. |
Yes,
it was the best film. But the last three movies all
cribbed heavily from itthat's one-quarter of the film
franchise. (Enterprise also did a Wrath
of Khan three-parter in its last year. You probably
haven't seen it. It's on Netflix.) There are
other good episodes/movies you can reference. The
real crime of Into Darkness is they cast this great
up-and-coming actor and rather than create a new, exciting
character, they shoe-horned him into a part that will, forever,
be unfavorably compared to the star of Fantasy Island. |
5)
Listen to your fans – even the ones who hate you. |
For
years, Trek fans demanded a TV show about Captain
Sulu. Rick Berman gave them Enterprise. Here's
a graphic of its ratings.. |
Here's
a screen capture from George
Takei's Facebook page. |
So
to put a fine point on it: more people follow George Takei
on a daily basis than watched most of Enterprise.
Who knew he was so charming and wonderful? (Answer:
Star Trek fans.) |
6)
Find the right theme. |
The
original series and movies hit the right chord because they
were essentially the Cold War in space. The U.S. was
the Federation and the Soviets were the Klingons. And
from 1966 to 1991, that basic premise worked really well:
it was timely, creative and meaningful. |
So
you'd have to come up with something comparable. And
no, it's not "terrorism in space." Terrorism-themed
fiction had already been played out by 2005. A much
better contemporary theme is the "The Post-American World"
we now live inso you could make a Trek series
about a "post-Federation galaxy" or a "post-Earth Federation,"
where alien worlds don't need as much protection because
the Klingons and/or Romulans aren't as adversarial as they
used to be. Or something akin to Asimov's Foundation
series, but with Earth as Trantor. Of course, the
trouble is they already kind of did this on Andromeda.
But they could do it again with more interesting characters
and the Trek brand. (And a cameo or two from
George Takei for good measure.) |
It
would definitely be a challenge to get a successful Star
Trek series up and running. But with the right
people, the right concept, the right format and the right
characters, it could be done. The most important part
of a successful TV show, viewership, is already taken care
ofthe furor over STID proves it. For
fans, the best part about loving Star Trek is hating
Star Trek. Bring on the pain sticks! |
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