Rick Berman on Star Trek Fans and New Star Trek TV Series

[heisenberg]

Knowing what you know now, if you had the chance to do Star Trek all over again, what would have done differently to keep the franchise alive during your tenure? Berman: If I had to do it all over again, I think I probably would have paid more attention to the fans than I did. Not that I ignored the fans, but I was very, very busy and I was not really one of the people who kept abreast of how the fans were feeling about things. I think if I had to look back at one thing I wish I had done differently, it probably would have been that.

You are no longer associated with Paramount, CBS or Star Trek, but do you think there will ever be features or telemovies to wrap up or catch up with the TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise stories and characters?
Berman: My guess is probably there will not be. I certainly think that J.J. Abrams will continue making films with the characters that he has reconceived, in a sense, from the Original Series. And I would not be surprised if he and his writers end up being involved in a new series at some point. I can’t imagine that there won’t be a new series on television. But I don’t believe that new series will be a continuation or tying up of loose ends of Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager or Enterprise.

If there is another Trek series one day, what direction do you think it should go?
Berman: I don’t know. I wish them luck. But I don’t have a clue. We dealt with three series in the 24th century and one series in the 22nd century. It’s anybody’s guess where someone might go. Will the go further into the future? Will they do another type of prequel? Will they continue in an alternate reality that can take anything that has existed before and give it a bit of a twist? I have no idea where they’re going to go or when they’re going to do it, but I wish them well.

http://trekweb.com/articles/2011/03...r-Trek-Fans-and-New-Star-Trek-TV-Series.shtml

 

[Tropicana]

So now he wishes he paid more attention to the fans, wow! Too little, too late. During the ENT days, he was oh so happy to ignore fans' concerns and did his little things with no regard to consequences, thinking he knows best. So now, he wishes he listened to fans more. Always have to learn lessons the hard way them boys, hmmm.....

I wonder would this be Wright in a few years time.

 

[PegDIG2004]

How did the producers of Stargate not learn anything from the Enterprise disaster?

 

[Overmind One]

So now he wishes he paid more attention to the fans, wow! Too little, too late. During the ENT days, he was oh so happy to ignore fans' concerns and did his little things with no regard to consequences, thinking he knows best. So now, he wishes he listened to fans more. Always have to learn lessons the hard way them boys, hmmm.....

I wonder would this be Wright in a few years time.

Like I said elsewhere in these forums, the Trek franchise is basically a slave to Trek fans. Paramount knows this and they have been VERY loyal to the fanbase. They actually allow the canon and the tech to be corrected by fans who point out inconsistencies.The Trek canon is actually WRITTEN down in several Wikis and in books. No way out of it. They dont get to just change stuff to suit them. If they do, they are punished severely at the box office or on the small screen. Berman "pulled an SGU" with Enterprise and it failed. It started failing its first season, and Paramount responded to fans by adding Star trek to the name, and changing the characters a bit as well as the tech. But it was too late.

 

[Tropicana]

Well since ENT did come way before SGU, one should say, Wright "pulled an ENT" with SGU.

 

[Joelist]

Which makes what Abrams accomplished with ST09 all the more impressive.

His plot device where Nero caused an alternate universe to be created by changing the past at Kirk's birth gave him a way to push the reset button (which was badly needed) whilst keeping the fans happy by maintaining the integrity of existing canon.

 

[heisenberg]

So now he wishes he paid more attention to the fans, wow! Too little, too late. During the ENT days, he was oh so happy to ignore fans' concerns and did his little things with no regard to consequences, thinking he knows best. So now, he wishes he listened to fans more. Always have to learn lessons the hard way them boys, hmmm.....

I wonder would this be Wright in a few years time.

To be fair, star trek enterprise wasn't as bad as fans made it out to be. Also, it's not as bad as SGU not now,not ever! I watched it and at first it was a little slow at first but season 2-4 were awesome! I would call it star trek from an "alternative universe". Lets be honest here, star trek ENT did survive 2 more seasons than SGU .

I admit the timeline was screwed but I would consider enterprise as being from a different alternate universe.

 

[PegDIG2004]

To be fair, star trek enterprise wasn't as bad as fans made it out to be. Also, it's not as bad as SGU not now,not ever! I watched it and at first it was a little slow at first but season 2-4 were awesome! I would call it star trek from an "alternative universe". Lets be honest here, star trek ENT did survive 2 more seasons than SGU .

I admit the timeline was screwed but I would consider enterprise as being from a different alternate universe.

I think Enterprise was terrible. I hated it. I really tried to watch it because I love Star Trek. But I ultimately had to abandon it and was not at all surprised when it was cancelled. But I would feel much better about it if it was officially designated as being in an alternate universe. I think that's a great idea.

 

[heisenberg]

I think Enterprise was terrible. I hated it. I really tried to watch it because I love Star Trek. But I ultimately had to abandon it and was not at all surprised when it was cancelled. But I would feel much better about it if it was officially designated as being in an alternate universe. I think that's a great idea.

At which point in the series did you give up? Season/episode?

 

[Gatefan1976]

I think Enterprise was terrible. I hated it. I really tried to watch it because I love Star Trek. But I ultimately had to abandon it and was not at all surprised when it was cancelled. But I would feel much better about it if it was officially designated as being in an alternate universe. I think that's a great idea.

It's amazing what your mind will "buy" with the addition of a few little words (or a semi believable explanation) isn't it

 

[PegDIG2004]

At which point in the series did you give up? Season/episode?

It's been so long I'd forgotten. I just looked up a list of the episodes and I apparently gave up after seeing the beginning of season 2. I remember watching an episode here and there to see if I was missing something after that point, but never got back into it. And I've seen the very last episode.

 

[PegDIG2004]

It's amazing what your mind will "buy" with the addition of a few little words (or a semi believable explanation) isn't it

How true! I would also be much happier if SGU was deemed officially in an alternate universe.

 

[Tropicana]

Also, it's not as bad as SGU not now,not ever!

Amen to that! If you asked me 6 years ago if there was going to be a series where things were going to get worst than ENT, I would say - NO WAY!

First they screwed up whole Trek timeline
Then TPTW were saying, they wanted to attract younger generation of fans (heard it all before Wright & CO.)
Then they added "Star Trek" to the title when they couldn't get the younger generation to watch it so started to get the veterans to watch it
Then B&B just wouldn't listen to fans' concerns, treating them as garbage
Then they thought they will add a war in to shore up the numbers since it worked for DS9 (which ultimately failed)
Then you got some fanatic group that think they know what is best for ST even though they knew nothing at all - they kept saying how without ENT, there is no way another series or film could ever be produced (again heard it all before).

When I think back about ENT and the whole sch-bang, the one clip that comes to mind is from a SG-1 episode when the Asgard asked for SG-1's help to deal with the Replicators that has somehow, accelerated the time dilation device in a temporal spacial bubble - when Carter tells O'Neill that they cannot name the X-303 (at the time) "Enterprise" but then suggested "Prometheus". (It's (6x11) "Prometheus" [Part 1 of 2])

Why?

Cos 1) that episode was shown around the time the first ENT cancellation threat was given and 2) I remember telling people how the TPTW for SG-1 listened to fans unlike B&B. Who knew 6 years from now, we would be dealing with the same problem here.