Good morning, gentle readers, and welcome to the world wide premiere date of Star Trek: Section 31 from Paramount Pictures, CBS Studios, Roddenberry Entertainment, and Secret Hideout. No, I've not seen the flick -- me and mine apparently doesn't 'fit the bill' to be an official media outlet so far as the suits are at Paramount and more -- so this is most definitely not a review. I'm merely putting up a post to remind readers of the film's launch as well as to give a bit of greater commentary on the State of Trek as it pertains to this development.
In short: Ugh.
Reviews have come in over the Information Superhighway based entirely on the fact that the feature's actual premiere was two days ago. A great many entertainment and fan sites are already piling on what looks like yet one more unmitigated cinematic disaster to the once revered Roddenberry legacy. I've no desire to do that: mind you, I'm no fan of anything that's come out since Trek moved behind the pay wall, but I've not seen enough of it to feel my voice on those matters would be any more authentic than someone not watching. I can say -- of what I've watched -- only Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' first season came close to being entertaining ... but, as I said, I'll leave that for what it is.
Because I do like to talk about entertainment more from a historical perspective, I do have something I'd like to put out there this morning.
You see, a student of history will tell you that Paramount has long seen Star Trek as a Golden Goose when it comes to truly cracking some amazing financial rewards. All the way back in the mid-1970's, in fact, the studio believed they could use the continuing adventures of the Starship Enterprise to launch their own network. Indeed, Star Trek: Phase Two was originally scheduled to be the 'next generation' of adventure; and this was actively on the drawing boards back in the 70's.
What happened?
Well, a little something-something called Star Wars truly changed the face of entertainment as we know it. George Lucas' space western showed that audiences were willing to go boldly where no one had gone before on the silver screen, and Phase Two went through a few other phases before eventually churning out 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I don't talk about that much in this space because -- sigh -- so many Trekkies, Trekkers, and general Trek enthusiasts don't think it was that great of an experience (I disagree, as I still fervently love the production), so I won't go more into that. All I'm really doing here is trying to set a bit of context, so deal with it.
In the mid 1980's, Trek was increasingly popular, so Paramount decided that perhaps going back to television would be a good idea. Instead of pushing their own brand-new network, it was ultimately decided that they'd pursue TV syndication as a way of honoring those smaller broadcast outlets that truly were with Trek from the beginning (once the original show was cancelled, you found it all over the dial on such stations). Star Trek: The Next Generation was born, and there we are.
But Paramount couldn't give up that idea of having their own television network; and in the 1990's they finally put their money where their mouth was -- Star Trek: Voyager wasn't exactly a barn-burner (so far as I'm concerned), but it was interesting occasionally to see just how those Federation values might work in a distant part of the universe where morality was a bit different. Personally, I thought it failed to achieve anything worthwhile -- in fact, I've often suggested that Syfy's Farscape is the show Voyager should've been -- but, again, the suits knew what they wanted. Unsurprisingly, UPN -- that beloved network they so long sought -- died perhaps not even a decade later, ultimately disappearing from the broadcast landscape.
For all intents and purposes, Paramount+ -- in my humble opinion -- eventually emerged to pick up that baton and run with it. The studio contracted Robert Kurtzman to bring Trek both into the future and behind a paywall as beancounters once more believed those dollar signs they dreamed about could be achieved. While the suits have continued to throw money at the problem, none of what they've purchased has, ultimately, gotten any better ... and that pretty much sums up where we are today ... what with Star Trek: Section 31 appearing like the next travesty to happen to the franchise many of us believed would take us into the future.
I can remember back in the days of message boards getting into some heated exchanges with a great many fans. You see, many of us had ideas that we thought might invigorate Trek: we could see throughout Voyager's run and well into Star Trek: Enterprise that the I.P. was struggling; and each of us had different takes on why it had fallen into such disrepute. For me, it just didn't have compelling characters -- certainly not after The Next Generation -- and there was no significant impetus to follow anyone into the Final Frontier in any other iteration. (Don't get me wrong: I liked a lot of the players on Deep Space Nine, but I never felt it congealed the way it should have.) A good franchise creates characters you want to stay with, and that just wasn't happening ... but a few of us had a suggestion.
What I promoted way back then was that Paramount kinda/sorta recraft the TV universe around The Next Generation. These characters had proven their popularity with fandom; and these stars could be put to good use if they were now somewhat broken up and re-assigned to Deep Space Nine and Voyager (for all intents and purposes). Mind you: there was plenty of opportunity for crossovers (Voyager would have to be back home in the Alpha Quadrant, yes, in order for this to work) if these shows were to continue beyond their televised format, and that's what I wanted. I wanted some TNG telefilms. I wanted some DS9 telefilms. I wanted some Voyager telefilms. But what was missing would be key characters, and I thought that could happen if, say, Picard moved along, Riker moved along, and others moved along into these other spinoffs.
Now, I'm not gonna re-litigate all of what I thought could've been a winning formula today. That's not the purpose that I came here, frankly, so you can rest easy with this being my only look back into the past. My point is that -- interestingly enough -- that idea many of us thought could help Trek into the future -- namely, the telefilm-style product -- is finally finding life a few decades after some of us in fandom felt it was a formula worth exploring. Granted, Section 31 -- in its current shape -- doesn't look like a recipe for success, but that might be owed to the fact that Kurtzman and his company really don't look all that interested in making Trek for fans as much as they do making money for themselves.
As always, thanks for reading ... thanks for sharing ... thanks for being a fan ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
In short: Ugh.
Reviews have come in over the Information Superhighway based entirely on the fact that the feature's actual premiere was two days ago. A great many entertainment and fan sites are already piling on what looks like yet one more unmitigated cinematic disaster to the once revered Roddenberry legacy. I've no desire to do that: mind you, I'm no fan of anything that's come out since Trek moved behind the pay wall, but I've not seen enough of it to feel my voice on those matters would be any more authentic than someone not watching. I can say -- of what I've watched -- only Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' first season came close to being entertaining ... but, as I said, I'll leave that for what it is.
Because I do like to talk about entertainment more from a historical perspective, I do have something I'd like to put out there this morning.
You see, a student of history will tell you that Paramount has long seen Star Trek as a Golden Goose when it comes to truly cracking some amazing financial rewards. All the way back in the mid-1970's, in fact, the studio believed they could use the continuing adventures of the Starship Enterprise to launch their own network. Indeed, Star Trek: Phase Two was originally scheduled to be the 'next generation' of adventure; and this was actively on the drawing boards back in the 70's.
What happened?
Well, a little something-something called Star Wars truly changed the face of entertainment as we know it. George Lucas' space western showed that audiences were willing to go boldly where no one had gone before on the silver screen, and Phase Two went through a few other phases before eventually churning out 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I don't talk about that much in this space because -- sigh -- so many Trekkies, Trekkers, and general Trek enthusiasts don't think it was that great of an experience (I disagree, as I still fervently love the production), so I won't go more into that. All I'm really doing here is trying to set a bit of context, so deal with it.
In the mid 1980's, Trek was increasingly popular, so Paramount decided that perhaps going back to television would be a good idea. Instead of pushing their own brand-new network, it was ultimately decided that they'd pursue TV syndication as a way of honoring those smaller broadcast outlets that truly were with Trek from the beginning (once the original show was cancelled, you found it all over the dial on such stations). Star Trek: The Next Generation was born, and there we are.
But Paramount couldn't give up that idea of having their own television network; and in the 1990's they finally put their money where their mouth was -- Star Trek: Voyager wasn't exactly a barn-burner (so far as I'm concerned), but it was interesting occasionally to see just how those Federation values might work in a distant part of the universe where morality was a bit different. Personally, I thought it failed to achieve anything worthwhile -- in fact, I've often suggested that Syfy's Farscape is the show Voyager should've been -- but, again, the suits knew what they wanted. Unsurprisingly, UPN -- that beloved network they so long sought -- died perhaps not even a decade later, ultimately disappearing from the broadcast landscape.
For all intents and purposes, Paramount+ -- in my humble opinion -- eventually emerged to pick up that baton and run with it. The studio contracted Robert Kurtzman to bring Trek both into the future and behind a paywall as beancounters once more believed those dollar signs they dreamed about could be achieved. While the suits have continued to throw money at the problem, none of what they've purchased has, ultimately, gotten any better ... and that pretty much sums up where we are today ... what with Star Trek: Section 31 appearing like the next travesty to happen to the franchise many of us believed would take us into the future.
I can remember back in the days of message boards getting into some heated exchanges with a great many fans. You see, many of us had ideas that we thought might invigorate Trek: we could see throughout Voyager's run and well into Star Trek: Enterprise that the I.P. was struggling; and each of us had different takes on why it had fallen into such disrepute. For me, it just didn't have compelling characters -- certainly not after The Next Generation -- and there was no significant impetus to follow anyone into the Final Frontier in any other iteration. (Don't get me wrong: I liked a lot of the players on Deep Space Nine, but I never felt it congealed the way it should have.) A good franchise creates characters you want to stay with, and that just wasn't happening ... but a few of us had a suggestion.
What I promoted way back then was that Paramount kinda/sorta recraft the TV universe around The Next Generation. These characters had proven their popularity with fandom; and these stars could be put to good use if they were now somewhat broken up and re-assigned to Deep Space Nine and Voyager (for all intents and purposes). Mind you: there was plenty of opportunity for crossovers (Voyager would have to be back home in the Alpha Quadrant, yes, in order for this to work) if these shows were to continue beyond their televised format, and that's what I wanted. I wanted some TNG telefilms. I wanted some DS9 telefilms. I wanted some Voyager telefilms. But what was missing would be key characters, and I thought that could happen if, say, Picard moved along, Riker moved along, and others moved along into these other spinoffs.
Now, I'm not gonna re-litigate all of what I thought could've been a winning formula today. That's not the purpose that I came here, frankly, so you can rest easy with this being my only look back into the past. My point is that -- interestingly enough -- that idea many of us thought could help Trek into the future -- namely, the telefilm-style product -- is finally finding life a few decades after some of us in fandom felt it was a formula worth exploring. Granted, Section 31 -- in its current shape -- doesn't look like a recipe for success, but that might be owed to the fact that Kurtzman and his company really don't look all that interested in making Trek for fans as much as they do making money for themselves.
As always, thanks for reading ... thanks for sharing ... thanks for being a fan ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
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