From: "Marvin Long, Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Ahhh...I had the 1701 ERTL model for a long time - I still have a die-cast TOS Enterprise that shoots little yellow round photon torpedos and has a detachable shuttle. I bought it from Sears in the seventies with a $20 bill I found lying on the ground in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.
Any idea how much it is worth now? ;-)
I've wondered if putting a truly accomplished actor like Patrick Stewart at the helm ruined things in this regard. Gravitas tends to kill familiarity, and it seems to me that as long as the commanding officer's prime requisite is the ability to project an air of august wisdom and authority - which Avery Brooks and Kate Mulgrew tried to re-create, I think - the surrounding characters are likely to fade into the background.
That is the first thing that struck me as odd in "Enterprise". Capt. Archer also follows this "style" of command. The way I see it, Archer is presented or interpreted as a man who is worried and a tad insecure about the outcome of his mission. He didn't seem to me, at least on last week's episode, to have that air of "self-confidence" that Kirk had down to a science. True, that's Kirk's patented bravado, but it makes for refreshing "Star Trek". :)
Lots of TNG fans like to point out what a better actor Stewart is compared to Shatner - but I've never heard anyone argue that Picard/Crusher/X (X being Riker or Data or Troi or Worf or ..?) made a better core ensemble than Kirk/Spock/McCoy.
Ensemble cast is not one of TNG's characteristics, unfortunately. However, there may be an even stronger, ulterior motive against creating the same type of environment amongst the TNG characters...
I remember reading that Rodenberry specifically dictated against creating an atmosphere that would possibly breed another "Kirk/Spock/McCoy" three-headed monster. Deep down, Rodenberry resented the power Shatner and Nimoy had over the episodes, etc. It's in their contract!! Paramount cannot do anything to the characters of Kirk and Spock without the approval of the actors who portray them. Not even printing a picture to which they object.
Picard is by contrast an aristocrat, isolated not just by rank but by manners and breeding from the relative commoners beneath him.
Well, he didn't even play poker with his staff until the last episode of the show. That gives you an idea of how isolated he was. :)
I tend to think of TOS as being (mostly) good SF that happened to be on TV; by contrast, I think of TNG as being (mostly) good TV that happened to incorporate a certain amount of SF - hence its longevity but also its recurring bouts of fluffiness.
A very interesting interpretation. I have to add that one to my repertoire. :)
JJ
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