A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Quora, member Nathan William asks: Is the term "Trekkie" ever used in any of the Star Trek movies or TV series? My reply: No. The term “Trekkie” (or “Trekker”) only refers to fans of the  Star Trek  franchise. Incidentally, there were two in-universe references to the franchise title; both occurred in iterations of  Star Trek: The Next Generation In the episode  All Good Things…,  the god-like entity known as Q and Captain Jean-Luc Picard have the following exchange: Picard:  We are what we are, and we're doing the best we can. It is not for you to set the standards by which we should be judged! Q : Oh, but it is, and we have. Time may be eternal, Captain, but our patience is not. It's time to put an end to your  trek through the stars , make room for other more worthy species. And in 1996’s  Star Trek: First Contact: Cmdr. William Riker : It is one of the pivotal moments in human history, Doctor. You get to make first contact with an alien

Why is  Star Trek: The Animated Series  not often spoken of or given the same recognition as the other  Star Trek  shows? Star Trek: The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek,  as it was officially marketed, has a complex history as to its canonicity within the  Star Trek  franchise. When it was created in the mid-1970s, most of the people involved in its creation treated the series as a continuation of  Star Trek: The Original Series. (TOS).  After all, it was created and executive produced by Gene Roddenberry, it featured the voices of  most  of the main cast members (including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley) except Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov), who wasn’t hired due to budget issues. (Koenig  did  participate on the writing end; he penned the script for  The Infinite Vulcan. )  Most of the scripts were written by men and women who had written episodes for the live-action  Star Trek,  and some of the stories were adaptations of telepl

Before I tell you how I feel about Patrick Stewart’s return to  Star Trek  in a CBS Access series about which little is known, let’s get our showbiz terminology straight. First, let’s stop referring to “reboots” in cases where it is not necessary. For instance,  Star Trek: Picard  (for lack of a better name) is  not  a reboot; it’s a sequel to, and a continuation of,  Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Based on what little information CBS (the owner of the  Star Trek  franchise’s television half; Paramount Pictures handles the features) has released, the new show starring Stewart in his TNG role is set 25 years after the events of  Star Trek: Nemesis. A “reboot” would be a totally different animal. It would involve a re-telling of  Star Trek: The Next Generation  with an all-new cast and would be presented as either a “hard” reboot (the 1987–2002 series and features  never  happened, thus allowing CBS to recast every role, including Picard’s), or a “soft” reboot, in which the eve

I think the main reason for so many remakes and “reboots” is simple: economics. The movie industry - or “Hollywood” - is not an altruistic community of artists who seek to entertain and/or enlighten us  just for the sake of it.  It’s a business, and its primary goal is to make a profit by producing a product that is intended to entertain or enlighten us, the consumers. The artists themselves may have some artistic impulse to create, of course, but “Hollywood” really means  the studios,  which are run by business people. Superman: The Movie  is a classic….did it need a reboot? Now, studio executives are extremely risk-adverse when it comes to making movies. Financing a film project is almost like gambling; the suits at 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal, and Sony don’t have a money-printing machine in their basements, so they prefer to play it safe and go with tried-and-true concepts instead of taking a leap of faith and financing an original script based on an ori

  Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition (2001) Directed by Robert Wise Written by Harold Livingston, based on a story by Alan Dean Foster Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Stephen Collins, Persis Khambatta In December of 1979, more than a decade after NBC canceled Gene Roddenberry’s now-classic Star Trek television series, the crew of the Starship  Enterprise  set forth on its first big screen adventure, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. When a powerful living machine destroys three Klingon battle cruisers on the edge of the Neutral Zone and takes a direct course for Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) returns to the recently refit USS  Enterprise.  Along with his reluctant first officer, Commander Will Decker (Stephen Collins) and the veteran officers who served with him during the  Enterprise’s  legendary five-year mission (Leonard Nimoy, DeForest

“Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season One” In the fall of 1986, following the success of “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”,  Paramount Pictures’ television division convinced  Gene Roddenberry to create a new Star Trek series. Roddenberry agreed after the studio agreed to give him creative control of the series, a condition he set because Paramount had placed Harve Bennett in charge of the post-”Star Trek: The Motion Picture” feature films several years before. The veteran “Star Trek” creator  reunited most of the Original Series’ brain trust, including D.C. Fontana, Robert H. Justman, Edward Milkis, and David Gerrold, and came up with a new concept built on the foundation of the 1966-1969 TV series and its movie spin-offs and yet stood on its own storytelling merits.     The new show was set almost 100 years after Captain James T. Kirk’s original five-year mission and featured a new Starship Enterprise. Given the Starfleet registry number NCC-1701-D, the   Galaxy- cla