TREK SERIES V
It's sounding more and more likely that the unprecendented fifth Star Trek television series will be set before the original series, dealing with issues surrounding the birth of the United Federation of Planets.
It'll remain a mystery for a number of months -- and the show won't hit the airwaves in the U.S. until sometime in 2002 -- but if it's true, I say "Three cheers!"
This is by far the best idea I've seen, as a way to tell interesting stories and return (quite literally) to the foundation that made Star Trek the world's biggest and most successful franchise. Few will deny that Star Trek has been going steadily downhill, and needs a rebirth.
Think about it! Stories about the first, doomed encounter with the Klingons. Rumors of Romulans in distant space. The construction of a "star fleet" of ships, exploring the newness of space in what is by Next Generation standards extremely primative vessels. The Federation is formed, humans don't really understand Vulcans at all, and Captain Robert April commands a little ship named "Enterprise."
I love Star Trek. I've got tapes full of it. I love the original series, I love The Next Generation, I love Deep Space Nine, I love Voyager, I love the movies. Sure, I've got my favorites -- but the entire franchise is a joy to watch. Sure, the writing sucks from time to time, and will never live up to the genius of J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5 and Crusade. But I hope Star Trek goes on forever. Never before has there been a universe so vast, filled with so many story possibilities.
The biggest concern I have about the new series is this: current producers of "Star Trek" have demonstrated (and even explicitly stated from time to time) that they have little or no concern with continuity. And continuity, of course, is what the fans like best. We don't want an anthology series, where every episode is set on a different ship in a different universe with different rules and facts. We want connection; we want to see how last week's episode affects this week's, and how this week's character development builds off of something established two years back.
This is what Stargate is good at, and what Babylon 5 was the best at. If a prequel Star Trek series does not pay attention to continuity with religious devotion, the premise will fall flat. Viewers won't be able to stomach a series that allegedly forms the foundation for all the existing Star Trek series, yet ignores established canon.
But I'm anxious to see how The Powers That Be flesh out this idea -- if indeed it's the one to win. But it's the most exciting idea to hit the screen since The Next Generation.
Meanwhile, Star Trek: Voyager ends its seven-year run this Spring. That means, thank heavens, that the franchise will get a brief break -- no new Trek on the air for at least a year. That, too, is what the franchise needs.
And I'll pass the time watching Stargate SG-1 and reruns of Babylon 5 on The Sci-Fi Channel, trying desperately to forget notions of a Star Trek series based on the Klingon Empire, or on Section 31 black-ops, or on Starfleet Academy hotshots.
Darren
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