First of all, Jos�, I've been referring to you as JJ and realized I haven't asked; do you prefer JJ or Jos� or something else?
Jos� or something else will do. :) I use JJ for emails because it's short, and so do most of my work colleagues, so I'll choose JJ for my "Brin-L" incarnation. (My middle name is Julian).
Earth:Final Conflict may have started with a direct connection to Gene, but I doubt he would have liked how it turned out in the end. Probably most of the first season would have been ok, but after that, it took a serious left turn. Then a serious right turn. Then a journey through some seriously twisty mountain mountain roads. Not many shows can claim such a revolving door cast and revolving door premise.
I enjoyed E:FC a lot during the first season. At the time of its' release, as well as with the release of Andromeda, I was thrilled for having productions based upon Gene's old scripts on tv. But you are absolutely correct. They screwed up the show in my view as well.
During the 70's, Gene worked on a large number of projects, trying to repeat the success of TOS. All to no avail. More and more, he found himself turning his appearances at conventions as his major source of income. Increasing his income, also, was the reason why his name is listed in the credits of writing the TOS series them. He stuck the "lyrics" to the music of Courage without Courage's approval. But as you pointed out earlier, who can blame him? After all, this was his livelihood, and Paramount has made millions with Trek that Rodenberry nor his estate will never see a penny from.
One of my favorite GR productions is "Questor Tapes". Data was a rework of Questor, with the android being looking for his creator and all that. But then again, Vejur from ST:TMP channels Questor extremely well on this respect. That is one thing that I notice re Gene's work: he is fond of "recycling" his themes.
I'm surprised at the fact that none of Gene's original pilots from the 70's haven't turned up on video somewhere. I'd like to see everything he left behind. <g> From what I understand Gene left quite a good number of never produced scripts as well. I'm sure his widow and son will eventually continue raiding his archives for more and more show premises. But my guess is, without the clout of Gene to get them started and breathe life into them, they may run the fate of E:FC.
Andromeda has enjoyed a decent run, though. When I first saw it, I was afraid it wouldn't last more than a handful of episodes. One of Adromeda's strong points, IMHO, is the casting. Capt. Hunt is played in a very believable fashion and he even displays a lot more bravado than, say, Sisko. I must confess, I've been tempted to buy the DVD collection of episodes. Of course, the tone of Andromeda is radically different from DS9. Gene, as you know, was a fan of episodic Sci-Fi and westerns, so his shows tend to look a little superficial in that respect. There is a lot more action in Andromeda than in, say, DS9. But again, they are totally different shows.
The main character in the first two movies was named Dylan Hunt, just like in Andromeda.
That's very interesting to know!! I didn't know that particular bit of trivia. I guess the name really stuck in his head. Thanks for the info on Genesis II. I've never had a chance to see that one either. I've read a couple of his pilots, and a number of discussions on the scripts and stories he left behind on the myriad of authorized and unauthorized bios which followed Gene's death.
In Cisco, we get a conflicted, troubled commanding officer played very conflicted, very troubled, and very commandingly by Avery Brooks.
My problem with the cast of DS9 is that I couldn't find any of the characters of the show strong enough like, say, a Picard or a Kirk. Or like a McCoy or a Spock or even a Riker. Trek shows need a strong anchors that an audience can really sink their teeth into. Sisko isn't outlined as a very strong lead; he sounds like a troubled leader, yes, but troubled leaders don't hold hit shows together. In some situations, he has edges of a rather reluctant hero to his personality.
My big objection with Sisko: the way his character was "finished" at the end of the show. It seems Trek shows have a hard time finding a "final episode" or a "grand-finale". Voyager's finale, however, was interesting to watch. My only quibble there: the tired clich�' of time-travel in Trek. But hey, it was a better ending than DS9's (or than the death of Kirk in Generations).
I can't imagine anyone playing Kira or Jadzia other than the people who played them.
The show really scored low for me when Jadzia was replaced, btw. That may have been a major blow for the show's popularity.
Dr. Bashir was a little weak IMO, but then the character was also written that way to some extent.
Then why have it there in the first place? Gene eliminated Tasha Yar after the first season for the same reason. True, the actress who plays her found ways to bring the character back somehow.
Gul Dukat and Garak are two of my all-time favorite ST characters, and brilliantly played.
YES!!! A big nod from my part there. Gul Dukat makes an excellent Cardassian, and the one against which all other Cardassian villains are judged against, and often found lacking. He adds a great "sneaky" type of villainy to his performance. I like the fact that Garak had a bit of a dark past, and somehow found a way to "enjoy" being the unknown tailor while it lasted.
Another favorite of mine, which met an untimely demise in DS9: Gowron!! That actor pulled an excellent performance bringing him to life. Now that I think about it, both Gowron and GulDukat prove that the casting in TNG was really good. After all, they are crossovers from TNG. Now, if the casting of DS9 was *that* good, IMHO...
The only characters I found really annoying were Nog and Rom, and they were *supposed* to be annoying.
Which reminds me, I remember reading in Starlog that one of the producers of ST:TNG referred to the Ferengi as one of their "biggest mistakes". At the beginning of the first season, and like I mention in the Trek Bible message elsewhere in the list <g>, Gene totally banned any references to TOS and its' crew. Notice how, in the "Naked Now", Picard refers to Kirk as "one starship captain James T. Kirk". As if they didn't know him. Somehow, that changed eventually. <g>
The Ferengi were Gene's idea of the "new" Klingons. It has been commented also that the psychological makeover of the Ferengi involved a lot of Gene's outlandish ideas regarding women. According to both biographers and production assistants, Gene was prone to bouts of a sex addiction which permeated his view of the opposite sex in most of his work. This was reflected in earlier years through Kirk's legendary testosterone and the tendency of TOS to show women as scantily clad as possible, as we all noticed.
Agreed, this thread rocks! However, I told my wife that I thought we should give ST5 another try, and she replied "no It Never Happened YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" and then threatened to make me build my own doghouse in the backyard to live in :-) I *think* she was kidding, but I'm not certain...I'm sorry to hear that! My ex was totally fond of TNG, DS9, Voyager and TOS. She was also totally fond of making fun of Kirk all the time.
I haven't mentioned this, but going back to the "movie soundtrack" theme of the original thread who spawned this one, I think that the soundtrack for Trek5 is rather good. A 3 out of 5 "stars" for me.
For starters, it marks the return of Goldsmith to the franchise. Not only he reprises his version of the TMP march, which is one of my all time favorites. He also gives really good doses of his equally famous Klingon theme. His themes "A Busy Good" and "Let's Get Out of Here" are favorites constantly performed in Trek tribute concerts by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. I have their CD compilations, btw, and they do justice to all the Trek film favorite scores.
I've always believed the march of ST:TMP was recycled for ST5 as a direct response to Gene's decision to "adopt it" for TNG. It's Shatner's way of saying "this belongs in *our* Trek".
Hope u get to see ST5 sometime soon!! Come for the music, stay for Kirk arguing with God. :)
Cheers, JJ
Reggie Bautista Kobayashi Maru
HEY!! Now that you mention this (and I was wondering when any of the Marus was going to use "Kobayashi" as their sig), do you happen to know if the term Kobayashi Maru has any meaning in the real world?
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