Star Trek: To Boldly Go
Star Trek holds a special place in my heart. Now that it has been a number of years since the last scene played, with the end of Enterprise in 2005, my interest in Star Trek has waned somewhat. With the horrible disaster that was Voyager and the disappointment of Enterprise, two shows that had such great potential, but seemed to squander it for a variety of reasons, it left me feeing bitter and betrayed by the powers that be. I do not think it was just one person, or in many instances two people (Berman and Braga) who were solely responsible for the demise of Trek. While it is true that they contributed, I cannot overlook some of the gems they have created. They worked on some of my favorite episodes, but at the same time they created some of the worst stories and ideas, and, in my opinion, contributed greatly in the decline in Star Trek. When I heard a rumor, however, that much of the creative staff of Star Trek: Voyager wanted to do more character driven stories but were denied by the guys and gals in suits, who wanted more action oriented stories, I knew that was the beginning of the end. It’s the reason why Voyager as a whole failed when it had the potential to, dare I say, be even bigger and better than the Next Generation. Rather than long story arcs, they created simple battles, unrealistic science fiction plots catered towards adolescent boys leading ultimately to the addition of a female borg in spandex suit to the crew of Voyager who took all the spotlight from other, more deserving crewmembers (One has to wonder why ever show she has ever been on seems to fail before its time…).
Fans of the show can debate, into eternity, what killed off the show. It was Berman, Braga, the execs, the fans; seemingly and endless sea of people. In the end though, I think it was a number of factors that all added up that eventually saw its downfall. Personally, I think one of the big events that helped was the Star Trek: Generations, the first movie of the Next Generation run that saw an incompetent and too new captain take over the Enterprise (in this case the “B”), the death of the legend that was Kirk, the destruction of the Enterprise-D at the hands of renegade Klingons in an old space ship in a horribly contrived plot, and the clichéd death of a bad guy who showed promise but never lived up to the bad-guy persona. Generations, in my mind, was the first stone to fall, so to speak, in the eventual death and decline of Star Trek. It seemed to have lost direction. Once Next Generation ended, a number of ideas seemed to go in strange tangents, including a very strange and short lived war with the Klingons. Deep Space Nine, as well, pulled the creative elements that made Next Generation great and could have made Voyager great. Despite this, DS9 is the best written of the series and the one that seemed to get it right for the majority of its run. Although there are problems in this series as well, most notably the short war with Klingons and the entire Worf situation, this series began to show that Star Trek could travel in directions Roddenberry never could dream off, but at the same time, still keep some part of his dream of the future alive and bright.
With the possibility of a Star Trek Reboot with J. J. Abrams vision of Star Trek, Star Trek may live again. It will certainly be different than any previous installment of Star Trek and even though I continue to have my doubts about this new series, Star Trek will always have a place in my heart. This blog, then, will showcase my love of Star Trek, and will express my views and thoughts on this series that surpasses merely television and movies. All Star Trek, even the ones I criticize the most, are still very near and dear to me and will be featured here. It is my desire to begin a review of all episodes and movies of Star Trek, starting with my favorite, The Next Generation. There are a number of reasons why it is my first, but the most important was that it was my first introduction into Star Trek and its meta-verse. I began watching shortly after it was off the air, when the local stations out of South Bend began showing it at 4 pm. I was in middle school at the time, and was thirsty for more wonderful adventures. Quantum Leap, another favorite show, had just stopped being shown on television where I live and it too was shown at 4 pm, an optimal time after school and before I would have to have dinner. I remember one day, flipping through the stations looking for something else to watch, now that Quantum Leap was not showing, when I stopped on one station, where a soothing voice was talking about a cup and an old memory of a grandmother. It was the episode “Violations” from the Next Generation, and the scene that eventually got me hooked was dealing with a group of telepathic aliens who help recover the memories of others. Although, by far from one of the great Star Trek Episodes, “Violations” kept me enthralled enough to continue watching; my fate as a Star Trek fan was sealed. I begin then, with a list of my top ten episodes from all the series as well as the movies and will then soon start reviewing episodes of each series, starting with The Next Generation.
Leave a Reply