Pardon me if you've heard this rant.
Over the past two days, I've been inundated with press accounts from a variety of outlets regarding this potential "new Star Trek" project from long-time Trek contributor Nicholas Meyer, the filmmaking genius who contributed to the best films from the original crew. For the uninformed, this largely involves Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. These so-called new reports discusses the fact that Meyer has recently pitched a new project to Paramount for a Trek film, maybe a Trek series, or maybe a bit of both that would blend together. These articles handle this as though Meyer's possible involvement is an all-new development ... but the truth in that respect couldn't be further from the reality.
All one has to do is google Meyer's past offerings with Paramount, and you'll find that he's been active in several notices over the past decade if not longer. I've read articles that linked him to efforts to resusitate Star Trek after TV's Star Trek: Enterprise demise. There are articles out there linking him to efforts during the debacle that was the JJ Abrams' incarnation of Trek. And, yes, you can do just a little bit of leg work and find that Meyer's name was dropped regarding the development of programming for said Trek on their not-all-that-old subscriber streaming service. So Meyer's ideas for Star Trek are far from new ... so why is this being dribbled in the press yet again?
Call me cynical, if you will, but I can't help but wonder if this reportage is little more than Paramount's press campaign to try to woo old Treksters like myself back to the franchise.
Paramount doesn't really want to discuss streaming Star Trek successes or failures in any practical means. Star Trek: Discovery hasn't exactly been the bombshell that I suspect executives believed it would be; and (ahem) Star Trek: Lower Decks certainly didn't bring fans clamoring for more as its animated sensibilities would probably attract more viewers from Cartoon Network than it would Trek purists. Star Trek: Picard -- in my opinion -- was hot garbage that tried to trample over a franchise's legacy in favor of delivering blue ink (aka curse words) to a franchise that was at one time invested in big ideas. Sadly, what many of us knew as being Trek died a long time ago, but that won't stop Paramount from slapping the label on something new and different for the sake of being new and different.
So ... how do you bring back some of those tried-and-true Trek enthusiasts?
Why, you drop the name of someone who has some street cred, and you hope for the best, of course!
Yes, I like my Star Trek being allegorical and relevant. What Paramount is dishing out today is best served cold as its creative staff appears enamored with cancel culture and the ever-expanding LGBT movement. I'm not saying that there aren't stories to be told from those corners of existence; to the contrary, there are ... I just wish we had relatable characters telling them. STD's crew? Meh. In the eyes of the current writing staff, I suspect they can't figure out how Starfleet made it as far as it did without the guidance of Michael Burnham.
Notice the name: Burnham.
Burn ... as in insult.
Ham ... as in 'hammy' acting. Think William Shatner.
The character's name is an insult hurled back at classic Trek.
That's the level of intelligent discourse these writers offer any viewership.
So, yes, I wouldn't put it past some Paramount suit to try to confuse the disaffected amongst us to think that the next project to roll down the pike (pun intended) might just be something from Nicholas Meyer.
They're just that stupid.
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
Over the past two days, I've been inundated with press accounts from a variety of outlets regarding this potential "new Star Trek" project from long-time Trek contributor Nicholas Meyer, the filmmaking genius who contributed to the best films from the original crew. For the uninformed, this largely involves Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. These so-called new reports discusses the fact that Meyer has recently pitched a new project to Paramount for a Trek film, maybe a Trek series, or maybe a bit of both that would blend together. These articles handle this as though Meyer's possible involvement is an all-new development ... but the truth in that respect couldn't be further from the reality.
All one has to do is google Meyer's past offerings with Paramount, and you'll find that he's been active in several notices over the past decade if not longer. I've read articles that linked him to efforts to resusitate Star Trek after TV's Star Trek: Enterprise demise. There are articles out there linking him to efforts during the debacle that was the JJ Abrams' incarnation of Trek. And, yes, you can do just a little bit of leg work and find that Meyer's name was dropped regarding the development of programming for said Trek on their not-all-that-old subscriber streaming service. So Meyer's ideas for Star Trek are far from new ... so why is this being dribbled in the press yet again?
Call me cynical, if you will, but I can't help but wonder if this reportage is little more than Paramount's press campaign to try to woo old Treksters like myself back to the franchise.
Paramount doesn't really want to discuss streaming Star Trek successes or failures in any practical means. Star Trek: Discovery hasn't exactly been the bombshell that I suspect executives believed it would be; and (ahem) Star Trek: Lower Decks certainly didn't bring fans clamoring for more as its animated sensibilities would probably attract more viewers from Cartoon Network than it would Trek purists. Star Trek: Picard -- in my opinion -- was hot garbage that tried to trample over a franchise's legacy in favor of delivering blue ink (aka curse words) to a franchise that was at one time invested in big ideas. Sadly, what many of us knew as being Trek died a long time ago, but that won't stop Paramount from slapping the label on something new and different for the sake of being new and different.
So ... how do you bring back some of those tried-and-true Trek enthusiasts?
Why, you drop the name of someone who has some street cred, and you hope for the best, of course!
Yes, I like my Star Trek being allegorical and relevant. What Paramount is dishing out today is best served cold as its creative staff appears enamored with cancel culture and the ever-expanding LGBT movement. I'm not saying that there aren't stories to be told from those corners of existence; to the contrary, there are ... I just wish we had relatable characters telling them. STD's crew? Meh. In the eyes of the current writing staff, I suspect they can't figure out how Starfleet made it as far as it did without the guidance of Michael Burnham.
Notice the name: Burnham.
Burn ... as in insult.
Ham ... as in 'hammy' acting. Think William Shatner.
The character's name is an insult hurled back at classic Trek.
That's the level of intelligent discourse these writers offer any viewership.
So, yes, I wouldn't put it past some Paramount suit to try to confuse the disaffected amongst us to think that the next project to roll down the pike (pun intended) might just be something from Nicholas Meyer.
They're just that stupid.
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
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