Star Trek redux

Last year (as early as January) I had an entry about how I liked Star Trek - mentioning what's so good about it. At about that time, there was hardly any news about anything Trek related, and I'm sure I shared some form of frustration with other Trek fans about how this missing genre piece was a blow to the Science Fiction world.

Was it disinterest that did this? Hardly - I would like to think that it was the general direction set by the producers of Trek, and the not too keen writing they dished out for the episodes. They even tried a retcon (of sorts) with the creation of Enterprise (carefully keeping mum on Star Trek, per se... and presenting a less perfect world where Humans were still being treated by Vulcans with mistrust or condescension.

Well the series seemed to be exciting at times, yet these exciting ways were still a far cry from the intellectually stimulating stories of a franchise that had seen better days. Still... even when they decided to stop Trek production altogether, I had hopes of watching even some movie or direct to TV special, updating what we know of Trek.

Maybe I was not the only one doing the wishing... Paramount, not really wanting to release the franchise so others could try producing it, opted for a Trek film... number XI it should seem, and would bring back the focus to Kirk, Spock and McCoy.

But wait, Deforest Kelly (who played Dr. McCoy) has long since been gone from this world (soon followed by James Doohan - who played Scotty), so how would this pass muster?

Answer... it would be a retelling (of sorts) of Trek's crew for the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701) . Yes it would have Kirk and company - but stepping into these characters shoes would be a new generation of actors (and actresses).

After all, if the roles of Batman and Superman can be handled by many faces (albeit, not at once) why not Trek? But the produces know that Trek has always had a strong fanbase - some would say, bordering on zealousness - so they (the production people) were probably cautious, not wanting to anger such loyal fans. So how did they make the announcement?

They started by announcing the plans to do a movie - based on the characters of Kirk and co. When fans did not protest, they started searching for people they could include in the cast. How fares the names of the people connected to the film? For starters, the seemingly most recognized actor amongst them (by way of Lord of the Rings) is playing the good Doctor McCoy, a known actor - thankfully recognized for his role as a villain in Heroes the TV show, will play the famous Vulcan (as portrayed in the past by Leonard Nimoy) and a relatively new actor will be playing Kirk (or at least, relatively new to me - recognition-wise).

How do I feel about this? I'm glad there's a new initiative to start (revive) the franchise, but like many fans apparently, I'll be reserving the right to either love them, or hate them - after I've seen the movie. After all, if being a Trek fan has taught me anything, it's to be very patient. Until then "Live Long and Prosper"

Star Trek - what's so good about it?

In the '60s, a TV series called Star Trek debuted. Like many TV shows, it presented a colorful cast in terms of costumes and relatively sparse studio backdrops - the first aspect was to take advantage of color which was now visible with colored television (as opposed to the mundane grays of black and white TV), the latter aspect was for budget purposes of course - unlike movies, TV shows had to stretch their budgets. Hence the near spartan-like sets, and if some could be reused for future shows, well even better.

But that was as far as similarities would go... the rest would be uniquely Star Trek.

The premise: In the 23rd Century, humanity has reached the stars - in fact, they travel amongst the stars using Space ships - in this case, mostly having a saucer shaped front section connected to a cylindrical body, which then connected to twin aft thrusters. The crew would be mostly human - but of international in aspect... we'd have a Scotsman, an Asian, another person of African-descent, two Americans, a Russian and last but not the least - an Alien.

This presented two important premises as of its time - peace amongst the nations, as evident by these people working in harmony with each other and the concept of tolerance/exploration with whatever situations they would encounter. The series did not handle things with the usual shoot first and sort things out later - rather, it presented a view of reasoning, use of logic and the understanding through, need for and respect of diversity... in short, it was a thinking person's show.

It also, as an offshoot of its limitations, explained a few gadgets to make things easier - take for example a device called the universal translator, which allowed for everyone to understand each other, and communicate. Then there's the replicator - where food and other items were, well... copied as good as the original (and Xerox still had to shoe its face - not to mention the concept of cloning), but this allowed people to get what they need and not have to wary about scarcity. Of course the need for transport from ship to planet was answered by transporters.

Some of today's inventions are gearing towards trying to copy what Star Trek has introduced. Of course, it may be some decades in coming (and that's being an optimist) before we can fully appreciate similar devices. But we are getting there... thanks to a multitude of fans wishing to make real, what was imagined for the show.

I mention the fans... actually, Star Trek can easily be considered a culture by many - and the fans are legion indeed. The franchise (business parlance, I know) has birthed an animated TV series, four newer TV series, books, comic books, an exhibit, at least 10 movies and many souvenir items.

Am I a fan? Yes... though possibly not as rabid as others, and when i say this, I mean that I'm relatively familiar with the show, the imaginary universe it revolves around and of course some terms that have been created with the show's universe in mind. I know a lot of trivia, own a sizable collection of TV episodes, which I get to watch when I find the mood - and yes, I even have a Tribble (fans would know of what I'm talking about).

I don't have a Starfleet uniform though, nor do I have models of the ships. I don't speak Klingon (though I have a dictionary of its terms), and I may understand and remember certain episodes - though not to the extent that I could quote certain personalities verbatim. I am thankful for the actors' contributions to the universe, but I don't stalk them, nor do I try to find out every tiny tidbit about them. Oh yeah, I do the 'V' sign with my fingers and can recite the greeting "Live Long and Prosper".

I am a huge fan of the lessons it teaches - IDIC (i.e. Infinite Diversities in Infinite Combinations) is a prime example for pluralism and the embrace of diversity... the Prime Directive, which states the need for non-interference of a lesser advanced society for fear of accidentally destroying their unique culture... and of letting them grow naturally, of letting them go at things in a natural state - rather than jump starting them into something they may not be ready for. The use of reasoning - first and foremost, and lastly... the need for exploration, for discovery.

In the last company I came from - the group I happened to be working with happened to be Star Trek fans, and we would enjoy our discussions - back then, we would be watching episodes of Voyager, then come the next working day, we'd discuss what we watched. I can honestly say that this act built camaraderie amongst us. This extended itself to our watching Enterprise, though more likely - via CDs burned with episodes.

I still enjoy reading books about Star Trek... in fact, right now, I'm enjoying a book that further follows the adventures of one of the show's characters. I also hope that soon, we - the fans, will be treated to a new movie, or even better - a new TV series that could expand the already large universe.