LDC_20011116-1400
LDC_20011116-1400
1S201: it was not a common thing to make any book
based on a TV show .
2S201: It was it was considered very low profile , you
might maybe do one or two from a show that had been very
successful , and then they'd never be reprinted .
3S202: Right .
4S201: ^Star ^Trek turned the whole thing around . Now
you can barely do any kind of TV show without a book coming
out within a couple of months ,
5S202: %Huh .
6S201: because that just went on and it went on and on
and on , even after the show was off the air .
7S201: The less of it there was for people to watch ,
the more they wanted to read it .
8S202: Uhhuh .
9S202: That's interesting .
10S202: So now there is no there is n- no series on the
air . Right ?
11S201: %Ah yes , a lot of people would prefer that
there were no series on the air , but
12S200:
13S200:
14S201: there is one on called ^Enterprise , which is a
kind of a prequel , set a hundred years before the original
.
15S202: %Oh good .
16S202: Okay is that new th- this season ?
17S201: Yeah , and so far a lot of people are not very
happy with it . They don't feel it's well written , that the
characters have taken off , which i would agree with .
18S200: Yes .
19S201: They're getting there bit by little bit , but
it's taking forever .
20S202: Is it ?
21S202: Is that supposed to be the first ^Enterprise
the fir- like the
22S201: This is supposed to be before the first
^Enterprise , the one that we always were told were the
original , we're now told , was named after this one .
23S200: Yes .
24S202: right .
25S202: %Oh . So what is it ? NCC what ?
26S201: That's one thing some people don't like . It's
like messing with history .
27S200:
28S200: Right .
29S202: NCC seventeen O one m- minus one ? What is it
?
30S200: %Uh .
31S201: Right . This this is like , NX zero one , NX
being the prefix for experimental ships .
32S202: Okay , yeah .
33S200: Right .
34S201: This is supposed to be even before before
there's a ^Federation , before Earth is allied with anybody
else in the universe .
35S202: Okay .
36S202: So it kind of goes against things that have
already been published and sort of set down as part of
the
37S201: Yeah . Yeah .
38S200: ^Cannon .
39S202: Yeah .
40S200: But
41S200: but again w- mid- there were pictures of of the
previous ^Enterprises in the first movie or previous ships in
the first so .
42S201: Yeah .
43S201: This one doesn't happen to look anything like
the one they showed there ,
44S200: Right .
45S201: but that's okay , because that one looked more
like a screwdriver than anything else .
46S200: Right .
47S200: So it's %ah you know it's
48S200: %um and
49S202: Does it have a warp drive ? Wha- wha- wha- wha-
what
50S200: dist-
51S200: no d- they had they don't have
52S200: %Uh I mean obviously you can get to nept- .
right .
53S201: They have an earlier version .
54S200: But it's not like again it's it's so p- m- it's
like about a hundred years before ^Kirk .
55S201: A hundred and fifteen .
56S200: Right
57S200: Okay a hundred a hundred and fifteen .
58S201: Picky , picky , picky .
59S200: And %um
60S200: you know so
61S200: obviously it's a lot more
62S200: primitive .
63S200: And %um ,
64S200: you know s- and %uh some would say the
characters are a lot more primitive also . But
65S200: but from what I understand from you know the
daily ^Daily ^News ,
66S200: much more successful than
67S200: ^Voyager was .
68S202: %Hm .
69S200: It's like as far as in relation to other shows
,
70S200: It's like fiftyfourth which for UPN is
outstanding .
71S200: So .
72S201: But its number of viewers is actually lower
than ^Voyager's .
73S200: Right . But
74S200: but again well if if if what your business
is
75S200: is
76S200: to have whatever viewers are out there , it's
still
77S201: Mhm .
78S200: going to be considered a success .
79S202: Wait so how if it has less viewers how does it
have a higher
80S201: Right .
81S202: rating . I'm confused .
82S201: That , basically , because so many other shows
are doing even worse .
83S200: Because it
84S202: %Oh okay .
85S201: It's like back in the sixties the original
^Star ^Trek was considered a failure ,
86S201: by getting less than a third of the total
potential audience .
87S200:
88S201: But today with seven commercial networks and
all the cable stations and V- VCR's and home computers ,
89S202: Right .
90S200: In the Internet .
91S201: getting a mere less than six percent of the
audience is considered enough to make ^Enterprise a success
for a small network .
92S200: Y-
93S200: And a another thing you need to realize is
that
94S200: u- UPN n- WB and UPN especially .
95S200: Especially UPN . If you've noticed they you
know there's been a lot of parodies about
96S200: just about every single show on UPN being a
black show .
97S200: But the reason for that
98S200: is because the only affiliates they have are in
urban areas . So
99S200: you might not get you know nation wide but they
don't have affiliates nation wide anyway .
100S200: So if you can get a certain percentage and a
certain demographic for you know I mean it %uh
101S202: %Hm .
102S200: i- if you if your a drying a you know a a
103S200: %eh %uh it's especially like let's say for
104S200: An %uh ^Bernie ^Mac is on ^Fox let's say he was
on UPN
105S200: and you you draw a certain of that demographic
because the advertisers then are going to be catering to that
audience . So they don't care if
106S200: someone in ^Alabama isn't watching the show .
So
107S200: the standards are real you know the the the
standards for success , it's not that the
108S200: that they're just lower but it's just a d- you
know they quantify it differently .
109S202: Mhm .
110S200: And %um so the way it is is %um
111S200: I and and from what I understand at least you
know
112S200: the the previous ^Trek show was such so hated
.
113S200: I think some p- people are giving the show a
chance just because it it at least seems
114S200: decent . It's not
115S200: terrible . It's not great , but it's not
116S202: Mhm .
117S200: you know some gr- you know it's stuff that
would make you groan , or pull your hair out .
118S202: So ^Voyager you were saying was
119S201: Well maybe not you .
120S200: Well well well from some of the mo- lot of the
people that I have talked to also .
121S201: Mhm .
122S200: But I mean myself I just i- at least it seems
like it's a
123S200: d- they have soli- you know some solid stories
. There's some
124S200: But y- you have to take in account for the
writers . It's still the same writers , so it's again it's
not going to be great ,
125S200: but at least you know they have a known
quantity with ^Scott ^Bakula ,
126S200: who a lot of people d- liked from ^Quantum
^Leap .
127S200: And they have you know another
128S200: you know hot chick playing one of the
characters , which you know draws the people .
129S202: Mhm .
130S201: I
131S200: You know so it's it's a different it's just a
different
132S202: %Um .
133S200: thing . But I mean it I I again I think people
are giving it s- so much more slack because they expected it
to be so bad
134S200: that
135S200: you know it's almost like what do you expected
it to be so good
136S200: when you first see it it's disappointing .
137S201: Also backlash effect .
138S201: Each time there's a new series , you get a
whole bunch of people
139S201: who hate it by contrast with the one before ,
who therefore give the next one after it , more of a shot
.
140S200: Correct .
141S200: Correct .
142S201: Figuring well , it's got to be better than the
last one . Even if it turns out that it isn't , there's that
hopefulness at the beginning . %Uh .
143S200: Right .
144S200: Right .
145S202: So how do you two how do you two rate the the
the all of the different series wha- wh- in terms of ^Next
^Generation , the original ? Do you guys agree on the
146S200: Well he could go he could go first then .
147S201: Quality or ratings , which is not the same
thing .
148S202: Yeah , well quality and your %ah and your
personal evaluation of it ?
149S200:
150S201: Personally , I would put ^Deep ^Space ^Nine
first . The most complex characters , the most complex
ongoing plot elements .
151S201: The unpredictability factor .
152S201: With every other ^Star ^Trek show , basically ,
the characters are at the same place in their lives at the
end that they were at the beginning .
153S201: With ^Deep ^Space ^Nine there is not a single
continuing character who is the same at the end as he or she
was in the beginning .
154S202: %Hm .
155S201: Everybody changes . Everybody grows . Some
people die . Some people marry . Anything can happen .
156S201: Which is what dr- draws me to a a show . If
you're going to watch the same thing week after week , I
don't want it to be the same thing . I want to see it develop
.
157S202: %Hm .
158S201: Even though there is that comfort zone of ,
yeah , it's ^Star ^Trek , you know , we grew up with this
.
159S202: %Hm right .
160S201: I've grown up , so I I like to see it grow up
too .
161S200: %Hm
162S200: well what %huh the others ? Right .
163S201: As opposed to say , throw up , as in ^Voyager
.
164S200: And and the others .
165S201: %Uh , I would guess next ^Original ,
166S201: then ^Next ^Generation .
167S201: To date , I would still even put the last
season of ^Voyager ahead of ^Enterprise , but it's still new
and developing .
168S201: The f- the last two episodes have been
noticeably better , because they're the first ones the
producers neither wrote nor plotted .
169S200:
170S201: If we can possibly just , say , shoot them ,
the show might actually get quite good .
171S200:
172S200:
173S200: ^Deep ^Space ^Nine at the top . Also which
again is ironic because it was
174S200: you know it's suppo- i- it's been known as
probably the least loved because it was so different .
175S200: That it i- wa- you know as if like every single
person in
176S200: that's exploring space that's in space in this
ti- in tha- this time period in the ^Federation
177S200: is always going to be on a star ship .
178S200: Like there were other things . Where were they
coming from ? How are they developing ? Was
179S200: You know it was all within
180S200: i- in a way the same place , but as ^Jeff said
the characters just about episode by episode . Whatever
happened in
181S200: one episode to some extent would have , %ah not
that it's a soap opera , but to some extent would have a
182S200: %um impact , or you know matter
183S200: for the next episode w- or two down the line
.
184S200: in in a show like ^Next ^Gen or in some of the
others
185S200: like he s- it would be like , okay yeah w- w-
we
186S200: did away with this threat , and now everyone is
still acting the same , and now they encounter the next
187S200: conflict . But it would just you just didn't
get the feeling that the characters really gre- They grew to
an extend obviously but
188S200: again there wasn't that complexity . And you
know you had some peop- where
189S202: Mhm .
190S200: you had d- d- the enemy who became the ally ,
who became the enemy , who became the ally .
191S200: It was just really well done , and it made
sense , and it was believable .
192S200: %Um for second . %Um and I think ^Avery ^Brooks
you know did a fantastic job as I feel the acting quality was
probably the best as well . %Um
193S200:
194S200: it it it it's tough . I would
195S200: na- not to cop out but I would just put it a
tie because with
196S200: the original , and ^Next ^Gen
197S200: for the simple reason that you know one
couldn't exist without the other . The other was a little bit
more polished .
198S200: But %um
199S200: you know some of the ideas in the former show
were a little bit more complex , but that's not to say
that
200S202: %Hm .
201S200: you know some that they did especially ones
they finally got
202S200: you know their groove on supposedly after the
first couple of years .
203S200: ^Next ^Gen stories were some you know
204S200: were at least you know were good as well .
%Um
205S200:
206S200: I I aga- again I I'm not a quite
207S200: as harsh about ^Enterprise except for
208S200: the opening theme song which everyone agrees
sucks .