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Is Star Trek on the Way out?

USS_Excalibur

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I am feeling like JJ's attempt to revitalize the Series may have done more harm than good. I see that Star Trek Gaming communities have been dying out. And the few new Star Trek games there are have been nothing but crap. I am afraid to see potentially the end of the Star Trek fandom within my own lifetime. I'd be like Fry from Futurama where he's the last Star Trek fan and the rest were wiped out.
 

CABAL

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I feel like it's not so much that JJ's movies are causing the issue as they have failed to stop or slow it. The Armada community has been shrinking since long before I arrived or the new movies came out, ENT was a critical and ratings failure, and there had just been twenty continuous years of Trek shows, often with two airing simultaneously making casual viewers bored with the show. The pseudo-reboot had the potential to revitalize the franchise, but it didn't do a good job of drawing in new viewers and most of the existing fans (particularly those of TOS) reacted quite hostilely to it.

I also think that Star Trek simply lends itself better to a TV series format than a movie format. The shows made great use of their time to display character growth and interaction and could (and usually did) have just a portion of the cast in any one episode. In a movie, you need to give all of the cast significant screen time or the audience forgets about them and while each installment is longer, you have less total hours to develop your characters. It's very clunky for what is ultimately a character driven series.
 

Majestic

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I agree with Cabal, JJ movies have very little to do with the franchise's condition. This has been an on going process. Ever since the DS9 days. I think thin the 90's they tried to do too much as within a span of several years we had TNG and DS9 running and as soon as TNG stopped VOY started up. Yes all series were good in their own way, it was just too much that most viewers got sick of it. The same thing happened to Stargate.

Movies just don't cut it for Trek, a series is what is really needed, something I highly doubt Paramount/CBS will be willing to do. TV has gone down the drain a lot since the late 90's, it's all about reality TV these days.

As for the games lets face it, most Trek games are crap, even the earlier ones. The Elite Force, BC and Armada games were the only really good games that were ever produced and Armada 1 and 2 weren't even finished when they got released.
 

CABAL

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As for the games lets face it, most Trek games are crap, even the earlier ones. The Elite Force, BC and Armada games were the only really good games that were ever produced and Armada 1 and 2 weren't even finished when they got released.
What about Starfleet Command? I've still got the original on my game shelf. Actually, I think I'm going to re-install that right now.
 

Majestic

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That one too. :D
 

SciFiFan

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I don't think that Star Trek is on it's way out either. I have friends that have not been Star Trek fans that have enjoyed the new Star Trek movies. So to put the blame on those would be, IMHO, misplaced. I agree with Maj, Star Trek movies are nice and all but, the franchise really thrives as a series. I agree they did too much with the shows. They should have done it the way it was done between Babylon 5 to Crusade. One did not start until the other finished with a movie that bridged them together. The way I would have liked to have seen it would have been after TNG ended, there would have been a movie that would have introduced the Bajoran home world. Think Insurrection with Bajor and the Cardassians instead of Baku and the Son'a. Then, you start the DS9 series. I think it would have flowed a little better in the grand scheme of things.
 

Majestic

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Yeah that would have been awesome and really connected the different series together a lot better. It would have also allowed for characters from the earlier series to make more guest appearances.
 

Zelph

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I've noticed the decline too. JJTrek earned the franchise some fans, but they came at the cost of some old ones.

I think the major focus is shifting either to fan-driven productions or to the books.
 

Majestic

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Books are indeed the future, any other official stuff isn't that good including STO. The books are awesome and continue to get better and better IMO. :D
 

SciFiFan

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I've noticed the decline too. JJTrek earned the franchise some fans, but they came at the cost of some old ones.

I think the major focus is shifting either to fan-driven productions or to the books.

One thing I have noticed my life about old Star Trek fans.....they usually come around. They hate change pure and simple. Once the change becomes the norm however, they tend to trickle back in.
 

Jetfreak

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I agree, ENT used to be the franchise whipping boy. That all changed when 09' Trek came out and suddenly the ENT era was deemed "okay".

Some Trekkies just need time to let any new stuff "sink in". The older the better as I've come to observe.
 

Terradyhne

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I see no near end of the Star Trek fandom, only an end to the Onscreen era, i say nothin more to this as most will not accept my opinions in detail. :exter:
 

CABAL

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I agree, ENT used to be the franchise whipping boy. That all changed when 09' Trek came out and suddenly the ENT era was deemed "okay".

Some Trekkies just need time to let any new stuff "sink in". The older the better as I've come to observe.
They even loathed TNG when it came out. Now it and TOS are considered to be the pinnacle of Trek.

ENT got better as time went on, but it did have some serious issues. The Temporal Cold War never made any sense and is a great demonstration of Trek's inconsistent time-travel rules. They also kept introducing new aliens that are never seen again or bringing back TNG species and contriving to keep the cast from finding out what they are called rather than fleshing out the founding Federation members or the Klingons or Romulans. It could have been much better if they focused on the Earth-Romulan War, the beginning of the Federation, and the beginning of the Federation-Klingon-Romulan three way Cold War.
 

Majestic

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One thing I have noticed my life about old Star Trek fans.....they usually come around. They hate change pure and simple. Once the change becomes the norm however, they tend to trickle back in.

I agree, ENT used to be the franchise whipping boy. That all changed when 09' Trek came out and suddenly the ENT era was deemed "okay".

Some Trekkies just need time to let any new stuff "sink in". The older the better as I've come to observe.

Absolutely right guys. I have seen that trend myself, funny thing is I have always embraced the new stuff. I like how they try something different, the same thing over and over does get dull.

If anything DS9 I dislike the most due to it's similarities (cough, copying) of Babylon 5 and it's rather inconsistent story arcs. But that's another thread, one already posted I believe.

They even loathed TNG when it came out. Now it and TOS are considered to be the pinnacle of Trek.

ENT got better as time went on, but it did have some serious issues. The Temporal Cold War never made any sense and is a great demonstration of Trek's inconsistent time-travel rules. They also kept introducing new aliens that are never seen again or bringing back TNG species and contriving to keep the cast from finding out what they are called rather than fleshing out the founding Federation members or the Klingons or Romulans. It could have been much better if they focused on the Earth-Romulan War, the beginning of the Federation, and the beginning of the Federation-Klingon-Romulan three way Cold War.

I do agree ENT could have been handled so much better and season 4 did make great efforts to fix this, if it had been given a season 5 I think it would have gotten a full 7 seasons.

Also I don't see why it has to always be 7 seasons, why not 9 or 10. :D

I would love to see a Romulan War movie or mini-series seeing the cast return and getting a proper conclusion.
 

CABAL

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I would love to see a Romulan War movie or mini-series seeing the cast return and getting a proper conclusion.
Unfortunately, I think the cast is too old now. Scott Bakula in particular looks much older. And the finale killed Trip. Poorly.
 

Majestic

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Unfortunately, I think the cast is too old now. Scott Bakula in particular looks much older. And the finale killed Trip. Poorly.

Yeah just a hopeful dream from a fan. Anyway Scott is now committed to NCIS New Orleans and probably wouldn't have the time.

Trip was my favourite too.
 

SciFiFan

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They could still do the Romulan War. If DS9 and Voyager as shown anything, its that there does not have to be an Enterprise for Trek to be successful. Just look at the support Axanar is getting. If written well, the fans will love it regardless.
 

Hellkite

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They could still do the Romulan War. If DS9 and Voyager as shown anything, its that there does not have to be an Enterprise for Trek to be successful. Just look at the support Axanar is getting. If written well, the fans will love it regardless.

True

But it is more than that .The Soul of Star trek is that it must engage the mind , loose the imagination and above all hold the mirror up to show us complex faults and problems of our world in will written stories and show that there is hope to fix them.. that nothing is insurmountable.
 

SciFiFan

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True

But it is more than that .The Soul of Star trek is that it must engage the mind , loose the imagination and above all hold the mirror up to show us complex faults and problems of our world in will written stories and show that there is hope to fix them.. that nothing is insurmountable.

I agree wholeheartedly.
 
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