Star Trek: Rick Berman has Left the Building

This video was shot at a convention in England, on stage is Marina Sirtis, Garret Wong, and Robin Curtis. After being asked what the future of Star Trek is on TV, Garret gives a possibly too honest answer:

Rick Berman not welcome at Paramount?

…this also ties to another article I recently spotted:

Paramount To Longtime Trek Fans: Screw You

“This is not just another Trek movie but instead a total reboot, we will see things that are similar to what is known in the Trek Universe but we will not be held to every aspect of the last 40 years. We are going to introduce Star Trek to a whole new generation and many more generations to come. We have total faith that J.J. and company will take Trek to a whole new level. Trek has been going downhill for the last 10 years and if we expect it to be around 20 years from now we will have to take some bold steps that might be controversial at first but we are sure to bring new fans to the dying franchise.”

…and of course all the old die hard fans are in a huff! But I see this as good news as it means that Paramount is willing to invest in the show. Also while I loved Enterprise and Deep Space Nine, shows like Voyager were real duds. The franchise has been run into the ground, and needs either a rest or some re-invention.

I’ve also been very excted about a recent interview with J.J. Abrams in which he talks about Star Trek and Lost. The guy grew up on shows like the Twilight Zone and goes on to state that he loves “Smart Television”. Pay attention geek fans, this might translate into some good writing for the show which is what made it good in the first place.

The previous Berman shows all fit into the same casting (hey it’s the sexy borg and/or vulcan chick!) and dull soap opera patterns after a while. For me the low point was when they had “The Rock” as a guest star on an episode playing a (you guessed it) professional fighter! Also the last four movies that Berman worked on (Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis) were poor to average at best. In fact Nemesis was soooo bad I had to apologize to the person I took to the film, even though I paid for the tickets! In fact the only thing I can remember about the film was this bad dune buggy chase scene, it’s like Berman was tired of spce ships so he wanted to do a car chase scene or something.

Anyway the series needs a rest for a few years or some new blood. I’d say that we give J.J. Abrams a chance and see what he can do with the show.