Trek Fans Unite To Waste Money
Okay, this one will probably get me some hate mail, but it need said. TrekUnited.com is trying to raise the money from fans to fund a fifth season of Star Trek: Enterprise. They actually already have almost $30,000 according to their meter, but they would need something like 100 times that figure for a whole season of Enterprise.
What a freaking waste of money! Can we look at this rationally for a moment people. Enterprise is ending because people didn’t watch it. Why didn’t they watch it? Because it sucked! Giving it a fifth season won’t miraculously make it suck less. Why on earth should we waste millions of dollars to produce another season of a sub-par Star Trek spin-off?
People have been saying for years now (about 10 I think) that its probably time to just rest Trek for a little while. Let memories fade a little, come up with some genuinely fresh ideas. Finally Paramount seems to be coming to its senses and looking to do that, and you want to waste millions dragging this out for another year. If you have money you can afford to donate there are several thousand better causes than this.
The website behind this has a flowery speech about how legends never die. Well tv shows certainly don’t. The end of Enterprise will not be the end of Star Trek. We all know that, so lets not get our panties in a bunch.
The truth is that Trek has been getting weaker, more watered down and less popular for years now. It needs a break. The series needs to recharge and the general public needs a break. You know its going to come back eventually and really can’t you live even a couple of years without a new Trek episode?
Think before you waste your money.
Eoghann Irving is amongst other things the creator and Editor of Solar Flare. He has a life long interest in all forms of science fiction and fantasy and a pressing need to share this interest with anyone who will listen. Find out more at his personal website eoghann.com..
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
Dan
The first two seasons definitely sucked. In fact, if you look at Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager, the first 2 seasons of that sucked too. The third season of Enterprise finally started to pick up, and the fourth season (so far) has been phenomenal. So, let’s set aside for a moment, the argument that the show should end because “it sucks.”
This is about much more than that. Star Trek is one of the last, inherently “good” shows left on television. The values it promotes are sorely lacking on today’s “how dirty can you get” TV culture. The show is one of the few places someone can go now for quality entertainment with a positive message. Surely that is worth saving.
Additionally, the network itself is partly to blame for the show’s poor ratings. There is no publicity, the schedule of new shows is sporadic, and Paramount vehemently cracks down on fans trying to support the show by making fun websites and blogs.
True, viewers may have been pushed away by the “crappy” episodes of the first 2 seasons - but now the gauntlet has been thrown, and fans are desperately trying to send the message that the show is actually WORTH saving now.
The money being donated to the cause is not intended to be on par with donating to the tsunami effort. It is meant as a moral statement. It is a way of fans putting their money where their mouths are. For you to criticize this effort by basing your entire argument based on the feeling that the show “sucks” is just plain bad commentary.
Feb 21st, 2005
Eoghann
But the point is that most of the fans don’t think the show is worth saving. Enterprise is the least popular Star Trek show ever. Even less popular than Voyager which wasn’t exactly popular itself.
I was very careful not to suggest some cause like the Tusnami effort as an alternative because its not about the fact there are better causes for the money to be spent on. Its about the fact that the money would be wasted.
You get the $35 million and what happens. You end up with the same network making the same decisions. The same producers making the same decisions and the more of the same problems.
Feb 21st, 2005
Sci Fi Ranter Girl
The have 3 million now! If it doesn’t pan out they should give the money to J. Michael Straczynski to save “Memory of Shadows”.
Mar 2nd, 2005
William
I donated money to help tsunami victims, and I’m donating money to save a show I really enjoy
watching once a week. Perhaps the ratings were done because they stuck it on UPN at 8 pm eastern.
I have to take partial responsiability for the poor ratings however because although I watched
a great deal of episodes on UPN, I used the internet to catch about 30% of the episodes that I
missed from time to time. Star Trek is to me one of the only quality sci fi shows on the air and
I will work with TrekUnited.com to try to keep it on the air for another year.
Mar 17th, 2005
sui.generis
For those who are interested, TU now has an unofficial blog to keep people up to date. http://www.grangeonline.co.uk/tu/
The series needs to recharge and the general public needs a break.
Bah! Look at the ratings, they’ve already had a break. =v)
Mar 19th, 2005
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