Wert's Star Trek: The Next Generation rewatch (now in added HD!)

[Jaxom 1974]

I remember that article. A good read. I've be in favor of the CW option myself.

Show runner is the key though. What's Manny Coto doing these days?

[RumHam]

io9 had an interesting article on what to do with the franchise going forwards. They identify the rights problem between Paramount and CBS, with Paramount having film and TV production rights but CBS the broadcast and merchandising. The two companies are willing to work together, as shown by the TNG remasters, so it just depends on finding the right venue for the new show. io9 suggests Showtime (owned by CBS), which seems reasonable, but throws a bit of a curveball by also suggesting the CW. They point out that the CW is the successor station - kind of - to UPN (where Enterprise and Voyager aired) and a new Star Trek show could be a prestige project for the channel to increase its audience and kudos, a bit like BSG (and hopefully The Expanse) on SyFy.

Just saw this on google news:

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a620828/star-trek-the-cws-president-would-hope-to-have-new-tv-series.html#~p1awcBv1Egyf3s

"As a life-long Star Trek fan, I would hope to have Star Trek at The CW," Pedowitz told press at the TCA winter press tour. "[but] I have heard no discussion about it going out as a TV series at all."

I remember that article. A good read. I've be in favor of the CW option myself.

Show runner is the key though. What's Manny Coto doing these days?

I know Enterprise got better towards the end, but I can't see them bringing back anyone who worked on that pile of shit. When you look at what Coto has been doing since, the last few seasons of Dexter and 24, it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

[Werthead]

706: Phantasms

Data has some crazy-weird nightmares in which Crusher drinks Riker's brain, the crew carve up Troi with knives (it's okay, she's made of cake) and miners attack Data for no reason. It turns out that parasites from another dimension are eating the crew. No-one seems fazed by this. Later, Data's dreams provide a clue allowing the crew to remove the creatures and everything is fine. Data stabbing Troi with a knife is glossed over because his dreams were making him crazy.

A weird episode that is weird for the sake of being weird, but then the weirdness is explained. The weirdness is actually amusing, and Brent Spiner does some amusing (if not entirely logical given Data's nature) comedy routines in this episode, such as his unnecessary preparation for bed and his pleas to Worf on how to take care of Spot. Picard also has a funny subplot in which he glumly has to accept an invitation to a formal annual Starfleet dinner as he's run out of excuses not to attend, but then circumstances given the excuse he needs. However, the episode will mostly go down in history for this visual gag. An oddball, but not too offensive, episode.

707: Dark Page

Lwaxana Troi comes on board to help communicate with a race of telepaths with no vocal language at all. Shit goes down and Troi discovers an old family secret that has been held for decades without anyone finding out. Even though this is impossible, and there was no reason for it to be kept secret in the first place.

Hey, Kirsten Dunst is in this episode and she's like 12 years old. Vaguely diverting trivia. The episode itself? A complete non-starter. It turns out that Troi had an older sister who died in a weirdly non-specific manner (she either drowned in a two-foot-deep creek or was mauled to death by a terrier, the episode doesn't really clarify) and everyone was so upset that none of Troi's family or friends ever discussed or even thought about it (Betazeds being telepaths) in the following 30-odd years. The premise is so implausible that even Majel Barret - a very solid actress in emotional areas - can't believe or sell it, and Troi herself is almost completely unfazed by the revelation.

The reasons for the episode's ineptness are that it was a "Smash glass in an emergency to produce" standby script in case the show ever ran out of material and had been in development for years, with so many writers taking a go at it that any energy the story might have once had is long since gone. Not terrible, but deeply mediocre.

What's Manny Coto doing these days?

He just came off the executive producer slot on both Dexter and 24. He's got quite a lot of clout now, and would be a good fit for a new Star Trek show. It just depends if he'd be justed as having too much baggage from working on Enterprise, even if he was credited with helping turn the show around. However, Ron Moore and Bryan Fuller are higher-profile and would have more clout in making it happen.

[Jaxom 1974]

Does Coto have baggage from his Enterprise run? I've always thought his season was lauded as turning the show around, though it was a little too late to save it. I really would have liked to see him take on another season back then.

[Werthead]

I think it's a case that people in Hollywood would note the critical acclaim,but also note the fact that the ratings in Season 4 tanked to less than half of what the show had when it started. It's also likely that they'd want more of a fresh start, which would also likely rule out Moore and maybe Fuller (although Fuller was never a senior producer), though the clout of the latter two can't be underestimated.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Always found Phantasms amusing. Something about Worf's delivery of the line "it is a cellular peptide cake" gets me every time. :lol:

Does Coto have baggage from his Enterprise run? I've always thought his season was lauded as turning the show around, though it was a little too late to save it. I really would have liked to see him take on another season back then.

Yeah, I don't see that being a huge issue. However, given the choice I would love to see Ron Moore helm the next series.

I think it's a case that people in Hollywood would note the critical acclaim,but also note the fact that the ratings in Season 4 tanked to less than half of what the show had when it started. It's also likely that they'd want more of a fresh start, which would also likely rule out Moore and maybe Fuller (although Fuller was never a senior producer), though the clout of the latter two can't be underestimated.

I think the argument could be made that interest in Enterprise (and Trek in general) had fizzled to the point where nothing could have saved the show or substantially improved ratings.

[Bronn Stone]

Always found Phantasms amusing. Something about Worf's delivery of the line "it is a cellular peptide cake" gets me every time. :lol:

The best Worf quote in a terrible episode remains "I am NOT a Merry Man!"

[drawkcabi]

Just saw this on google news:

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a620828/star-trek-the-cws-president-would-hope-to-have-new-tv-series.html#~p1awcBv1Egyf3s

I know Enterprise got better towards the end, but I can't see them bringing back anyone who worked on that pile of shit. When you look at what Coto has been doing since, the last few seasons of Dexter and 24, it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

He just came off the executive producer slot on both Dexter and 24. He's got quite a lot of clout now, and would be a good fit for a new Star Trek show. It just depends if he'd be justed as having too much baggage from working on Enterprise, even if he was credited with helping turn the show around. However, Ron Moore and Bryan Fuller are higher-profile and would have more clout in making it happen.

JMS has expressed interest in doing Star Trek in the past. Maybe he's been burned by that franchise too much though and just wants to work on rebooting B5.

But I couldn't think of a better team for a new Trek series than Ron Moore and JMS as producers and Coto as writer and script adviser and producer, the Reeves Stevens and Peter David as script writers, maybe Ellison as an advisor too. Kind of like a Trek series dream team...if they all didn't try kill each other while trying to do it.

[Bronn Stone]

JMS works with others like kerosene works with cigars.

[Jaxom 1974]

Not sure I'd want JMS near Trek...

[Jon AS]

When thinking of JMS doing Star Trek, all I can think of is Ivanova's outburst in the B5 episode with the gift shop: "This isn't some deep space franchise, this place means something!"

[drawkcabi]

Not sure I'd want JMS near Trek...

Only if he was "in the zone"

When thinking of JMS doing Star Trek, all I can think of is Ivanova's outburst in the B5 episode with the gift shop: "This isn't some deep space franchise, this place means something!"

I think of Ivanova wishing Sheridan luck boldly going where everyone has gone before...

[Werthead]

JMS presented the idea of a reboot of TOS back in 2001 or thereabouts, along with Bryce Zabel (who created the excellent and underwatched Dark Skies). Paramount weren't too keen. I get the impression that JMS's interest in doing something in the TNG-and-later version of the unvierse is non-existent.

Ira Behr would be a good choice. He was the showrunner for most of DS9's run and easily made it the best show in the franchise. He seems to be enjoying being more of a writer now than a producer, so he might not be up for it,

I think Moore would be good but I also think he'd try to grimdark Trek up a bit, BSG style. That's completely the wrong tack for Trek. You can have a less beige version than the other series could be at times, but at it's core Trek is more optimistic than some of the 'grittier' things we've seen recently. That's something they need to do well, and incidentally one of the few things that I think the Abramsverse does reasonably well.

[drawkcabi]

I agree with you Wert.

Maybe if it was Moore and Coto together as show runners it would be a good team, if they could get along. Coto keeping the series true to the heart of Trek and Moore giving it enough grit for a contemporary series and hopefully creating a nice plot arc.

[Jaxom 1974]

The whole grimdark teem drives me crazy.

That being said, Trek doesn't need to go all dark, but it needs to ratchet up the political aspect of the show along with the other stuff.

[Werthead]

708: Attached

Picard and Crusher are captured by xenophobic aliens known as the Prytt and manage to escape. However, the Prytt have bonded them together with telepathic implants that allow them to experience each other's thoughts, leading to romantic tension. Meanwhile, Riker enlists the Prytt's enemies, the Kes (who want to join the Federation), for aid but discovers that the Kes are paranoid lunatics. Comedy ensues.

A throwaway episode in a stronger season but which works pretty well here. Picard and Crusher's semi-relationship was forgotten about six seasons back, so it's a bit odd to revisit here. However, Ron Moore and several other producers felt that they wanted to to use the advantage of being in the final season to change and shake things and relationships up a bit more. It's all a bit timid - the relationship isn't even touched upon again until the series finale - but by the standards of TNG and TV in 1994 it feels like a modest attempt to shake things up. The scenes between Riker and the Kes ambassador are excellent, with Riker's growing exasperation with the aliens' paranoia being superbly played. Frakes sells the line "Take all this junk with you," as he throws off the ship with impressive conviction.

709: Force of Nature

The Enterprise goes looking for a missing Federation ship in a narrow corridor of space buffeted by subspace disturbances. They are attacked by the Ferengi and engage in random other stuff before discovering that warp travel in areas such as this is highly dangerous, and that all interstellar vessels should impose a speed limit of Warp 5. This is then almost never mentioned again.

A shaky episode, with the environmental concerns being shoehorned in. Even worse, the main storyline is very slight so an additional subplot revolving around Data, LaForge and Spot the Cat (now mysteriously female) is added which takes up way too much time. Added to some indifferent guest stars and the fact that the 'gamechanging' ending is forgotten about within a few weeks, and this makes for a very mediocre episode.

710: Inheritance

The Enterprise lends aid to a planet on the edge of catastrophe as its core solidifies. One of the scientists working to save the planet turns out to be Dr. Soong's ex-wife, and after some doubts Data starts to bond with her as the nearest thing he has to a mother. Low-tension shenanigans ensue.

An odd episode, as relationship stories are hard to tell when only one person in the relationship has feelings. Datalore and Brothers got around that problem but Inheritance doesn't. With Data not being able to give an emotional response to his 'mother's arrival, the episode falls really flat. The drilling stuff on the planet is actually more interesting, but is relegated to a subplot. The episode is intriguing for (subtly) setting up the existence of B4 in Nemesis, just as the following episode sets up the Abramsverse (kind of).

[Jaxom 1974]

Attached and Inheritance really take up the torch in the Expanded Universe. With some good and bad effects.

[Aemon Stark]

I think Force of Nature has essentially no redeeming features. It's slow, preachy, and nonsensical, with typically over-earnest guest stars playing flat, poorly characterized roles. And it has that stupid warp speed limit that they more or less immediately violate and then forget about.

[Durckad]

Attached is a pretty good episode, the best of the batch so far (though I quite like Gambit, problems and all). I recall nothing about Force of Nature. I don't even know if I've ever seen the whole episode. Inheritance is okay, not terrible but not that memorable either.

Season 7 continues its streak of just... being there.

[Werthead]

711: Parallels

Worf returns to the Enterprise but soon notices the universe shifting and changing around him, first in small ways and then in more noticeable ones, with his son disappearing and instead him being married to Counsellor Troi in a universe where the Bajorans are hostile enemies of the Federation. Data soon discovers that Worf is transitioning between parallel universes and the crew have to find a way of getting him back home.

One of those rarities, a Brannon Braga time travel script that doesn't suck. Michael Dorn wasn't really tested acting-wise by a lot of TNG, especially after the ongoing Klingon/Romulan stuff faded into the background after Season 5, but this episode puts him through his paces and sets up some good ideas. The hints of other realities in which The Best of Both Worlds ended very differently, with huge ramifications for the Federation, is fascinating. There's also some very funny elements, like Wesley just being there on the bridge in the alternate reality with no real discussion of it, and lines like, "We are receiving 285,000 hails." Strongest episode of the season so far.

Oh, trivia. This is the episode that Orci and Kurzman (spit!) used to justify the existence of the Abramsverse for the new movies.

712: The Pegasus

Lost's John Locke comes aboard the Enterprise with a secret mission: to recover a lost Federation starship and the cutting-edge scientific experiment it was carrying. Riker, who served under Admiral Space Locke, is riven by hitherto unhinted-at angst over some shit that went down. Events culminate in the Enterprise being trapped inside an asteroid by a prowling Romulan warbird.

Another pretty good episode, sold by a good guest performance by Terry O'Quinn and a good exploration of the Riker/Picard relationship when Riker is ordered to lie to his captain. Although the lack of consequence for Riker's 'crimes' is irritating, the episode is further enhanced by a very good performance by Michael Mack as Picard's Romulan counterpart who is an exceptionally polite antagonist. This is also the first episode in a while where the HD remastering looks absolutely mind-blowing: the shots of the Enterprise inside the asteroid are absolutely fantastic and show the superiority of model work to CGI.