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JMS Speaks out About Star Trek

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  • JMS Speaks out About Star Trek

    From the RASTB5M newsgroup:

    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

  • #2
    Paramount Studios
    5555 Melrose Avenue
    Hollywood, CA 90038


    Jan
    "As empathy spreads, civilization spreads. As empathy contracts, civilization contracts...as we're seeing now.

    Comment


    • #3
      You'll have to pardon my French, but I think some of what JMS said is full of fucking shit. I see that he admitted there were exceptions, but to compare "later stories" DS9 with "later stories" Voyager is just beyond belief.

      DS9 was unlike any other Trek show. It didn't have recycled stories from Braga. It dealt with a politically incorrect topic called war. People died. People stayed dead. People were crippled.

      I am not saying that DS9 was comparable to B5, because it isn't , but to me it blows away all other Trek. I just finished watching Catspaw from The Original Series. On its best day, some of the best TOS may compare with the best DS9.

      What people are saying when they claim TOS was the best is that the "messages" in the stories were good. The analogies were good. In terms of acting and production and story, there is just no comparison.

      Now, if JMS did Trek, that'd be great. But they don't "need" him. Anyone who can write good stories can write a good Trek series. The bottom line is that suits won't let them. So does Trek need JMS? Not specifically. They need a good writer and they need suits to give them the green light. Without the green light, you don't have crap.
      Recently, there was a reckoning. It occurred on November 4, 2014 across the United States. Voters, recognizing the failures of the current leadership and fearing their unchecked abuses of power, elected another party as the new majority. This is a first step toward preventing more damage and undoing some of the damage already done. Hopefully, this is as much as will be required.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Z'ha'dumDweller
        Now, if JMS did Trek, that'd be great. But they don't "need" him. Anyone who can write good stories can write a good Trek series. The bottom line is that suits won't let them. So does Trek need JMS? Not specifically. They need a good writer and they need suits to give them the green light. Without the green light, you don't have crap.
        Were they to have JMS involved, though, they'd pretty much have to know going in that there'd be risks taken and general, regular shaking up of the nice, safe universe. Best of all, no reset button (which I understand that DS9 did less of in later years).

        I did some digging around and found better info for Paramount. I think the best target would be:


        Dave Stapf, President
        Paramount TV Productions
        555 Melrose, Administration Building, Suite 240
        Los Angeles, CA 90038

        Jan
        "As empathy spreads, civilization spreads. As empathy contracts, civilization contracts...as we're seeing now.

        Comment


        • #5
          << Best of all, no reset button (which I understand that DS9 did less of in later years).>>

          What do you mean? Reset button?
          Recently, there was a reckoning. It occurred on November 4, 2014 across the United States. Voters, recognizing the failures of the current leadership and fearing their unchecked abuses of power, elected another party as the new majority. This is a first step toward preventing more damage and undoing some of the damage already done. Hopefully, this is as much as will be required.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Z'ha'dumDweller
            << Best of all, no reset button (which I understand that DS9 did less of in later years).>>

            What do you mean? Reset button?
            One of the issues I've *always* had with Trek is that no matter how traumatic or potentially life-changing something was in an episode, the universe 'reset' itself by the next episode and there was never much in the way of change or growth in the characters. It's annoyed me since Spock used the mind meld to make Kirk forget one of his lady-loves.

            Jan
            "As empathy spreads, civilization spreads. As empathy contracts, civilization contracts...as we're seeing now.

            Comment


            • #7
              DS9 never really did that with characters that mattered from the start, especially Sisko. Dax, yes, but her character was so pointless that it didn't matter. I own every season of DS9 save for 7 and I always skip her eps.

              I think the thing with DS9 was that once they kind of eased into an arc, they could start doing more and more continuity.

              I really liked Bashir from the beginning. He was this lonely guy who was good looking and smart, but just couldn't land a woman. Well, at least one that he wanted. He reminded me of myself at the time. He was one of the characters to truly grow throughout the series. His friendship with Chief O'Brien was interesting, as the chief was this married man with kids and Bashir wanted that so bad, but O'Brien wanted to go back to the younger years in some ways. Interesting character dynamics there.

              But yeah, despite some good eps, TNG just killed me with their utter and complete lack of continuity save for a few points, such as the Picard/Borg thing.
              Recently, there was a reckoning. It occurred on November 4, 2014 across the United States. Voters, recognizing the failures of the current leadership and fearing their unchecked abuses of power, elected another party as the new majority. This is a first step toward preventing more damage and undoing some of the damage already done. Hopefully, this is as much as will be required.

              Comment


              • #8
                I need to give DS9 another try one of these days when I've got disposable income. I didn't warm to any of the characters right off and got involved with B5 shortly after where I *did* like the characters right away. Except Ivanova...took a while to warm to her.

                Jan
                "As empathy spreads, civilization spreads. As empathy contracts, civilization contracts...as we're seeing now.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Never mind...

                  Another post from JMS:


                  Actually...belay everything I just said.

                  In the 24 hours between the time I composed the prior note, and sent
                  it, and it made its way through the moderation software, two things
                  happened:

                  1) I heard from a trusted source that Paramount is giving the Trek TV
                  world a rest for maybe one to two years, depending on circumstances, no
                  matter who would come along to run it. So it's not right to have folks
                  putting in time doing something that ultimately would be pointless, I
                  don't think that's a proper use of anybody's time.

                  2) At the same time as the above, an offer came in to run a new TV
                  series for fall of '06, and since there's no way anything Trek can
                  happen in the interim, I've said yes (now we have to negotiate the
                  deal, but that should be fairly straightforward).

                  So on two counts, the whole thing is kind of moot.

                  We can reconvene a year or two down the road to see where this takes
                  us, but in the interim...my apologies for waking everybody up in the
                  middle of the night.

                  As you were.

                  Thanks and with great chagrinedness --

                  jms
                  "As empathy spreads, civilization spreads. As empathy contracts, civilization contracts...as we're seeing now.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    JMS doing t.v.

                    Happy Dance!!!!
                    I had the dagger in my hand! And he has the indecency to start dying on his own.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Thank goodness no ST for a while.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Heh. Was a fun and thrilling crusade for the all of 10 seconds it lasted between reading the first post and the second.

                        Ah well.
                        Radhil Trebors
                        Persona Under Construction

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Radhil
                          Heh. Was a fun and thrilling crusade for the all of 10 seconds it lasted between reading the first post and the second.

                          Ah well.
                          Indeed. And whatever jms says about DS9(which I didn't like either by the way) : would anyone have any objection to him trying to reinvent StarTrek?????

                          He might even get Harlan Ellison involved again and we'd be right back at 'The City on the Edge of Forever"... Hmmmmmmmm...

                          And I do believe he also already knows this Walter Koenig-guy.
                          "En wat als tijd de helft van echtheid was, was alles dan dubbelsnel verbaal?"

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Towelmaster
                            Indeed. And whatever jms says about DS9(which I didn't like either by the way) : would anyone have any objection to him trying to reinvent StarTrek?????
                            There were "political considerations" involved in the decision. IMO you can take that to mean Paramount didn't want to piss off Berman. It doesn't sound like the suits had any other problem.

                            Taking out the obvious similarities between DS9 and B5 (which we know were "borrowed" from B5) what was it that you didn't like about it? I agree with what Z'ha'dum Dweller said in another thread, it was the most real Trek show with decisions and cosequences impacting not just the episode but the entire season.

                            Surely there is room to like both B5 and D9.
                            ---
                            Co-host of The Second Time Around podcast
                            www.benedictfamily.org/podcast

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Ain't he a stinker!

                              Oi!

                              What a rollercoaster.

                              I should have been prepared, knowing that reality in Hollywood is an ever-changing affair.

                              But despite the rug pulling out from under our feet that we just experienced, I am heartened that people like jms and his compatriot are out there who care about a particular genre like Trek.

                              I have been a fan of Trek almost as much as B5 (except Voyager), even more so if you consider that the former has been a part of my life for over 30 years.

                              In a year or two, I will be eager to help in any way possible to see great minds take over the reigns of the Great Bird, as it should have been 10 years ago.

                              Qapla manages

                              Comment

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