Topic: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI  (Read 4149 times)

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Offline Rat Boy

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Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« on: February 23, 2005, 10:49:22 am »
From Trek Web


Don't expect much from this.  Paramount's just waiting for his contract to expire before they move on anything Trek-related, and this screams of a "last-gasp" attempt by him before then.


"Chaos Theory, Part II" now available.

Offline GDA-S'Cipio

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2005, 10:54:18 am »


It's worth noting that NEW copies of OP are for sale at 10 dollars each on that page.  (Used copies for 4 dollars)

Also, new copies of SFC1 are for sale at 20 dollars each.

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Offline GDA-S'Cipio

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2005, 12:56:01 pm »
Quote
"Each time we started something else, we were competing against the previous shows, so as the number started to accumulate, we started to see franchise fatigue," glums Rick Berman. "You could see it with the performance of the last film, which was a wonderful movie. You can only squeeze so many eggs out of a golden goose."

OK, there is your main problem with latter-day Trek right there:  Berman doesn't recognize a real stinker when he sees it on the screen.

-S'Cipio
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."  - James Madison (chief author of the Constitution)

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Offline Cyberkada

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2005, 04:28:56 pm »
I'm trying this via google to see if I can access the groups, since
I've been offline since AOL stopped carrying newsgroups.

I don't normally do this...in fact, I don't think I've ever done this
in any group before, because I've always kind of waited to make sure it
was worth doing, and that it would make a difference.

I'm sending this to both the B5 folks reading this and any Trek fans
looking on.

Bryce Zabel (recently the head of the Television Academy and
creator/executive producer of Dark Skies) and I share one thing in
common. We are both long-time Trek fans, from the earliest days, who
felt that the later iterations were not up to the standards set by the
original series. (I'm exempting TNG because that one worked nicely,
and was in many ways the truest to the original series because Gene was
still around to shepherd its creation and execution.)

Over time, Trek was treated like a porsche that's kept in the garage
all the time, for fear of scratching the finish. The stories were, for
the most part, safe, more about technology than what William Faulkner
described as "the human heart in conflict with itself." Yes, there
were always exceptions, but in general that trend became more and more
apparent with the passage of years. Which was why so often I came down
on the later stories, which I did openly, because I didn't feel they
lined up with what Trek was created to be. I don't apologize for it,
because that was what I felt as a fan of Trek. That's why I had Majel
appear on B5, to send a message: that I believe in what Gene created.

Because left to its own devices, allowed to go as far as it could,
telling the same kind of challenging stories Trek was always known for,
it could blow the doors off science fiction television. Think of it
for a moment, a series with a forty year solid name, guaranteed
markets...can you think of a better time when you take chances and can
tell daring, imaginative, challenging stories? Why play it safe?

When Enterprise went down, those involved shrugged and wrote it off to
"franchise fatigue," their phrase, not mine.

I don't believe that for a second. Neither does Bryce. There's a
tremendous hunger for Trek out there. It just has to be Trek done
*right*.

Last year, Bryce and I sat down and, on our own, out of a sheer love of
Trek as it was and should be, wrote a series bible/treatment for a
return to the roots of Trek. To re-boot the Trek universe.
Understand: writer/producers in TV just don't do that sort of thing on
their own, everybody always insists on doing it for vast sums of money.
We did it entirely on our own, setting aside other, paying deadlines
out of our passion for the series. We set out a full five-year arc.

But when it came time to bring it to Paramount, despite my track record
and Bryce's enormous and skillful record as a writer/producer, the
effort stalled out because of "political considerations," which was
explained to us as not wishing to offend the powers that be.

So on behalf of myself and Bryce, I'm taking the unusual step of going
right to the source...right to you guys, fueled in part by a number of
recent articles and polls, including one at www.scifi.com/scifiwire in
which nearly 18,000 fans voted their preference for a new Trek series,
and 48% of that figure called for a jms take on Trek. (The other
choices polled at about 18% or thereabouts.)

See, if somebody doesn't like a story, doesn't want to buy it, that's
all well and good, that's terrific, that's the way it's supposed to be.
But when "political considerations" are the basis...that just doesn't
parse.

So here's the deal, folks. If you want to see a new Trek series that's
true to Gene's original creation, helmed by myself and Bryce, with
challenging stories, contemporary themes, solid extrapolation, and the
infusion of some of our best and brightest SF prose writers, then you
need to let the folks at Paramount know that. If the 48% of the 18,000
folks who voted at scifi.com sent those sentiments to
Paramount...there'd be a new series in the works tomorrow.

I don't need the work, I have plenty of stuff on my plate through 2007
in TV, film and comics, so that's not an issue. But I'd set it all
aside for one shot at doing Trek right, and I know Bryce feels the
same.

If you want this to happen...it's up to the Trek and B5 fans to make it
so.

The rest I leave to the quiet turning of your considered conscience.

J. Michael Straczynski

http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17286
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Offline KBF-Crim

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2005, 05:11:09 pm »
Wow....pretty damn straight forward. :)

Offline Captain Spadaro

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2005, 05:34:15 pm »
Quote
"Each time we started something else, we were competing against the previous shows, so as the number started to accumulate, we started to see franchise fatigue," glums Rick Berman. "You could see it with the performance of the last film, which was a wonderful movie. You can only squeeze so many eggs out of a golden goose."

OK, there is your main problem with latter-day Trek right there:  Berman doesn't recognize a real stinker when he sees it on the screen.

-S'Cipio

Scipio_66, I strongly Disagree.  Nemesis WAS a good movie, and Enterprise was just starting to find its footing when Viacom (or whoever owns the franchise) canned it.  TNG had some problems when it started, and look how it turned out.

Edited for content. Name calling is against the TOS.

Carry on.

Stephen
« Last Edit: February 23, 2005, 05:40:47 pm by Stephen »
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Offline Captain Pierce

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2005, 05:58:36 pm »
JMS later took that back, though...  his sources at Paramount apparently have told him that Paramount is committed to at least two years off.  Conveniently, that would have it coming back in 2007, at which point Joe's plate should be empty...  ;)
Trekmods SFC/BC/Nexus forum

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Offline KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2005, 09:06:08 pm »
Nemesis wasn't bad, although it could have been much better. It was an even-numbered ST movie, so it should have been better. ;D

As for Enterprise, from what little of it that I have seen over the last few months, it actually has gotten better with Manny Coto at the helm. It's actually too bad it's being cancelled now, I could have actually gotten into it if it had continued to be as good as it has been this last season.

Personally, though, I would love to see JMS's take on Trek. B5 was probably THE best sci-fi series made, in my opinion, and I would love to see what the guy behind that kind of work could do to revitalize the Trek universe and fanbase. Heck, you'd have some people who were B5 fans but not Trek fans(if such people exist, heh) watching it just because it's a JMS project. He's that good. Granted, LotR was not good, but that was an aberration IMO.
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Offline GDA-S'Cipio

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2005, 10:00:29 pm »

Scipio_66, I strongly Disagree.  Nemesis WAS a good movie, and Enterprise was just starting to find its footing when Viacom (or whoever owns the franchise) canned it.  TNG had some problems when it started, and look how it turned out.


I agree with you about Enterprise in that I do think it was picking up speed.  This season certainly is better than any of the previous ones.  I'd have liked to see it stick around for another year to see if it could keep improving.

We'll just have to disagree on Nemesis.  I thought it was a very bad movie, the weakest of any of the Trek films.  Tastes differ, of course, but I would much rather sit through another running of ST V than of Nemesis.  I guess we can discuss the pros and the cons of the movie here, if you have interest, or we can go to another thread to avoid hijacking this one. 

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Offline Dash Jones

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #9 on: February 24, 2005, 05:17:09 am »
I thought Nemesis was a rather good film, and much better than 1 or 5 and Insurrection.  IMO.

I also think this season of Enterprise has thus far been far better than any of the others...there actually have been some episodes that actually were interesting for once.
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Offline Cyberkada

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #10 on: February 25, 2005, 04:19:51 pm »
JMS later took that back, though...  his sources at Paramount apparently have told him that Paramount is committed to at least two years off.  Conveniently, that would have it coming back in 2007, at which point Joe's plate should be empty...  ;)

I think that will be the case without JMS publically saying it.

Or maybe a new B5 series or Spider-Man series?
 
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Offline Don Karnage

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2005, 10:07:34 am »
rick berman should ask george lucas help in wrighting the new startrek movie, at least it will be bether that the 2 last startrek movies made.   ;D

Offline Cyberkada

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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2005, 01:27:50 pm »
Maybe a Star Trek II series?  I liked the movie trek era the best.
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Re: Berman announces new writer for Star Trek XI
« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2005, 12:36:51 am »
Nemesis wasn't bad, although it could have been much better. It was an even-numbered ST movie, so it should have been better. ;D

As for Enterprise, from what little of it that I have seen over the last few months, it actually has gotten better with Manny Coto at the helm. It's actually too bad it's being cancelled now, I could have actually gotten into it if it had continued to be as good as it has been this last season.

Personally, though, I would love to see JMS's take on Trek. B5 was probably THE best sci-fi series made, in my opinion, and I would love to see what the guy behind that kind of work could do to revitalize the Trek universe and fanbase. Heck, you'd have some people who were B5 fans but not Trek fans(if such people exist, heh) watching it just because it's a JMS project. He's that good. Granted, LotR was not good, but that was an aberration IMO.

  :goodpost: I really can't add more than this.