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Jihadnik wrote:

 Khornholio wrote:
A klingon focused series might be interesting.

I think that would get old pretty fast, although I could see it working for awhile...

I'd watch that. Hell, a decent chunk of the final season of DS9 was basically this, and I remember a fairly Klingon-intensive series of TNG episodes with Picard on Klingon that were entertaining enough for me to think it'd make a good spinoff.

But it'd have to be awesome, viking-inspired Klingons from TNG/DS9; not lame Klingons defined by their insecurities like from Voyager.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Y'know, I was brainstorming some more. thinking about how the show could have this theme of trying to rebuild the Federation, they could have a ship's AI as one of the characters, use the genetically enhanced thing (ie Khan and Bashier) for a character, and have a point of view character from the past to try and guide everyone on the right path.

And you know what I was ending up wtih?



Andromeda.

Which always was a thinly veiled Trek squeal anyway.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Enough of the goody two shoes. Do a series set in the Mirror Mirror universe. A new human ship fighting the bad fight against Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans, all of them.
Purge the Xenos!!!

Why not just do a Mirror Mirror version of the show from the Klingon Hegemony's POV? All inclusive Klingons! Like the Tau, but they fight the Federation instead of the Imperium.

Once more, I find myself agreeing with Frazz :( it's a worrying trend

We can only but dream for a gritty new series (battlestar shaked things up big time for sci-fi) but instead we'll get a wishy-washy prequel like enterprise. When you watch Quantum leap, you realise how good an actor Scott Bakula is, and how much his talents were wasted playing Captain Archer.

Am I in a minority here of liking Trek, but thinking Farscape and Babylon 5 are so much better. Please tell me I'm not the only one!

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Once more, I find myself agreeing with Frazz :( it's a worrying trend

We can only but dream for a gritty new series (battlestar shaked things up big time for sci-fi) but instead we'll get a wishy-washy prequel like enterprise. When you watch Quantum leap, you realise how good an actor Scott Bakula is, and how much his talents were wasted playing Captain Archer.

Am I in a minority here of liking Trek, but thinking Farscape and Babylon 5 are so much better. Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Agreed on all points.
BSG was utter awesome sauce (the first two seasons anyway). B5 was literally the greatest epic ever, being about the fate of the galaxy. Farscape looked inspired, but I only caught a few episodes.

Frazz, with DVD boxed sets and winter approaching (do you get snow in the Texas winter??) there is no excuse for not getting Farscape. Highly recommended.

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Frazz, with DVD boxed sets and winter approaching (do you get snow in the Texas winter??) there is no excuse for not getting Farscape. Highly recommended.

What is this snow you refer to? About January I have to wear...pants.

That is an interesting suggestion though. I may have to look into it.

TNG was a highly overrated show. There were good episodes, but a lot of clunkers in between. I get that it had a long run and thus more opportunity for clunkers. Still, BSG, DS9, B5, Farscape, etc. were all more consistently good.

TNG was a very stuffy show at first. I think it loosened up -- especially after Gene R. passed away -- but it still seemed to suffer from a lot of "rules" and legacy issues that hampered the writing. IIRC, the head writer for BSG said their approach to that show was to do all the kinds of things they weren't allowed to do when writing for TNG.

I liked voyager even though I didn't get to see the last couple episodes. They never play those when they do the reruns. They get close to the ending and then start over. At first I thought I just missed them but after its happened a couple times I think it's on purpose. I assume they made it home.

Didn't see the last few episodes of Voyager?

You didn't miss anything. Really. Apart from the cool armour plating for the travelling steam iron.

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
but thinking Farscape and Babylon 5 are so much better. Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Nope, you aren't the only one. Bab5 was one I used to set my vcr for (and DS9) - the others I'd watch if there was nothing else on and it was too wet to leave the house and I had nothing else to read.

I worked on Farscape, so my opinion of it is a trifle biased. Had fun working on little Talyn and making weapons.

Personally, I always liked DS9 better than either TNG or TOS. I just loved that there were actual plot arcs that moved through the series and the fact that it dealt with a war that spanned multiple seasons. It was far less monster-of-the-week with much more emphasis on telling a story.

chromedog, you are a prince amongst men

I would have given my left nut to work on a sci-fi tv show, even if it was voyager!!

 chromedog wrote:

The closest ST got to it was Enterprise: A mirror, darkly (pts 1 &2) - two of the better episodes of a crap series.

I was so disappointed with Enterprise.

It SHOULD have been about the beginning of the war against the Klingons or the early encounters with the Romulans or some of the other races.

Instead, we got random time-traveling super secret alien enclave that lives in a dust cloud or something. Lame.

I think perhaps most importantly regarding that series it didn't feel like 'Star Trek'. I'm not sure why, i can't put my finger on what it was exactly. I felt like I was watching some kind of cos-play theatre of Star Trek, with a large budget, rather than the actual thing.

Chromedog - That's absolutely awesome that you worked on Farscape! What kind of stuff were you involved in? Any interesting stories or events that you would like to share about it?

I'd like to see them expand and bring to a head the internal schism between the idealists and realists in the federation. Like we saw with Section 31 and Insurection. Although The Federation's Roddenberry ideals would almost come undone the idealists would triumph in the end (it's still Star Trek afterall).

It's weird not having a Trek show on anymore. Back when I was growing up there was always at least one on.

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
I'd like to see them expand and bring to a head the internal schism between the idealists and realists in the federation. Like we saw with Section 31 and Insurection. Although The Federation's Roddenberry ideals would almost come undone the idealists would triumph in the end (it's still Star Trek afterall).

It's weird not having a Trek show on anymore. Back when I was growing up there was always at least one on.

They've gone to movies. ST reboot II is in production now.

 Pacific wrote:
I think perhaps most importantly regarding that series it didn't feel like 'Star Trek'. I'm not sure why, i can't put my finger on what it was exactly. I felt like I was watching some kind of cos-play theatre of Star Trek, with a large budget, rather than the actual thing.

Chromedog - That's absolutely awesome that you worked on Farscape! What kind of stuff were you involved in? Any interesting stories or events that you would like to share about it?

Hardware and props workshop. Did part of the Talyn model but was mainly doing fabricating of the various weapons and equipment. Wanted a Peacekeeper commando helmet or pistol. They were VERY hard to acquire - each one was carefully kept track of. EVERYTHING was trashed when it got cancelled. Never got to meet Ben Browder, but the actor under the Ka D'ago makeup was cool (Anthony Simcoe). A mate did score the doormat from outside the studio - "Wipe your frelling feet", though.

Trufact: Claudia Black's Pulse pistol was urethane rubber unless it was in a close-up. She had a habit of letting it go if trying to "fast draw" it - so it would fly across the set and generally hit a wall or something else and break. So we made her a fairly solid rubber one that would bounce.

A lot of the other guys went on to work with the Star Wars prequels. I went back to my logistics job (freight handling).

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Its Kinda Odd, The oldest shows(TNG, Sg-1, Fire Fly, Red Dwarf) are the ones still holding the mot weight.
After im done with Star Gate Atlantis I might watch all the TNG

It's not really surprisingly: sci-fi is comparatively expensive to make, and producers are cautious about spending money, meaning they're rather keep remixing the old hits. The new Battlestar Galactica is by far the best example of this, having practically nothing in common with the original that wasn't a common sci-fi trope in the first place; it was a well-made ultra-modern series, which frankly deserved not to be obliged to share a name with 80s show that's a byword for dated, formulaic rubbish. Firefly is in fact a counter-example to your arguement; it was rare for being a new property (albeit from a well-established creator), and - despite being obviously great - failed. Perhaps it would still be going if Joss Wheedon has spent a few quid to buy, for example, the Blake's 7 franchise, and call it a reboot.

Back to the topic: I remember TNG fondly from my youth (Wednesday nights, 6pm, BBC2), but the few episodes I've seen in recent years haven't aged particularly well, not just because the pre-digital model effects look rather underwhelming, but because it's horribly over-lit and shot in very long takes. It retains a certain charm, however, and Patrick Stewart at least is capable of making otherwise unbearably dull, technobabble-filled expository speeches fairly compelling.

 Frazzled wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
I'd like to see them expand and bring to a head the internal schism between the idealists and realists in the federation. Like we saw with Section 31 and Insurection. Although The Federation's Roddenberry ideals would almost come undone the idealists would triumph in the end (it's still Star Trek afterall).

It's weird not having a Trek show on anymore. Back when I was growing up there was always at least one on.

They've gone to movies. ST reboot II is in production now.

They can do both god damnit!

The 46th anniversary tribute at www.google.com is pretty funny. I like the little short with the red shirt letter e.

LOL I notice that to Kronk

 kronk wrote:
The 46th anniversary tribute at www.google.com is pretty funny. I like the little short with the red shirt letter e.

Not to mention a nod to one of the best episodes of Trek ever, "Arena."

Borg.....Imperium....

So judging by this thread, there really is no place for a noblebright* sci-fi show?

*the opposite of grimdark

I don't know, I'd like to think so. Enterprise was noblebright for year then the Xindi thing happened. That always felt like some kind of 9/11 analogy to me. Are we far enough removed from 9/11 to have a noblebright show now?

 Frazzled wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
I'd like to see them expand and bring to a head the internal schism between the idealists and realists in the federation. Like we saw with Section 31 and Insurection. Although The Federation's Roddenberry ideals would almost come undone the idealists would triumph in the end (it's still Star Trek afterall).

It's weird not having a Trek show on anymore. Back when I was growing up there was always at least one on.

They've gone to movies. ST reboot II is in production now.

I hope they kill off Scotty's Snarff sidekick thing in the first minute, minute and a half.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:I don't know, I'd like to think so. Enterprise was noblebright for year then the Xindi thing happened. That always felt like some kind of 9/11 analogy to me. Are we far enough removed from 9/11 to have a noblebright show now?

In the current everything-is-a-political-football universe that is American TV programming, you'll never see another Star Trek series, because it's very existence is a stark anti-Republican universe.

 azazel the cat wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:I don't know, I'd like to think so. Enterprise was noblebright for year then the Xindi thing happened. That always felt like some kind of 9/11 analogy to me. Are we far enough removed from 9/11 to have a noblebright show now?

In the current everything-is-a-political-football universe that is American TV programming, you'll never see another Star Trek series, because it's very existence is a stark anti-Republican universe.

Really? I know you hate Republicans, but really?

Man, that's just hateful talk. Perhaps you should go out for a walk and clear your head or something.

 azazel the cat wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:I don't know, I'd like to think so. Enterprise was noblebright for year then the Xindi thing happened. That always felt like some kind of 9/11 analogy to me. Are we far enough removed from 9/11 to have a noblebright show now?

In the current everything-is-a-political-football universe that is American TV programming, you'll never see another Star Trek series, because it's very existence is a stark anti-Republican universe.

You're right but it's ways been that way. Star Trek has always done a good job of keeping on the down low it's full blown communism.

kronk wrote:

 azazel the cat wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:I don't know, I'd like to think so. Enterprise was noblebright for year then the Xindi thing happened. That always felt like some kind of 9/11 analogy to me. Are we far enough removed from 9/11 to have a noblebright show now?

In the current everything-is-a-political-football universe that is American TV programming, you'll never see another Star Trek series, because it's very existence is a stark anti-Republican universe.

Really? I know you hate Republicans, but really?

Man, that's just hateful talk. Perhaps you should go out for a walk and clear your head or something.

I don't hate Republicans in any general sense. Irrespective of this, my statement was factual.

The Republican platform:
-Laissez-faire capitalism
-God
-Privatized social services
-Policies that increase economic disparity
-No endorsement for education
-World police as foreign policy

The United Federation of Planets:
-Communist, seemingly lacking in any form of economy
-God and advanced space travel don't reconcile very well, and the Federation seemingly lacks any religious devouts. No crucifixes, no yamakas or any other religious artifacts, and no chapels on the starships
-All social services are free and state-run, such as unlimited universal health care
-No economic disparity
-Education is the ultimate reason for existence
-Prime Directive

Now, the universe of Star Trek wasn't the antithesis of the Republican platform when it was first imagined by Roddenberry, but the GOP has drifted so far into the front pews of the Christian fundamentalists that it is now quite oppositional to the values promulgated by the United Federation of Planets. In fact, I believe that only the Ferengi are really able to reconcile their way of life with the Republican platform.