# Can this Franchise Be Saved?, or Who should take over Star TreK **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234 "2013-07-11T17:02:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/21 "2013-07-11T22:39:15Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Seems to me the franchise HAS been saved! Thanks to Abrams, Star Trek is no longer the joke it was after _ **Insurrection.** _ > > At this point, just hire a good writer and a director who’s a competent storyteller, and things should be fine. Actually the idiots who took over after Roddenberry died were also of the “well, I never actually watched it or cared about it, but its just a show so what” variety. Abrams didn’t kill the franchise, but the corpse looks like it is moving from a shot of money, not because it is really alive. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/22 "2013-07-11T22:45:08Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > I thought it was that he had pointy ears, can be played by an actor with caterpillar brows, and can have an interspecies/interracial relationship with The Only Woman On Board The Goddamned Ship. (I know, I know.) My girlfriend in high school, at the time of the first run of TOS, was quite into Spock. The appeal of Spock in those early days was that he was unobtainable. His affairs, such as they were, were strictly limited and due to special circumstances - just enough to dangle the bait, as it were. Whereas the Abrams Spock says “Vulcan is dead, no need to be logical, let’s screw, babe.” Next film we’ll probably see Kirk and Spock in a run down apartment drinking beer and playing video games all day. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/23 "2013-07-11T22:52:34Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Next film we’ll probably see Kirk and Spock in a run down apartment drinking beer and playing video games all day. Certainly likely if Edgar Wright directs! Actually, more likely Scotty and Bones (mysteriously played by Nick Frost), but never mind… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/24 "2013-07-11T22:56:49Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Yeah, it’s just a different type of joke-the brainless action movie. I’ve actually heard people say that when I point out plot holes. “It’s just an action movie. Stop taking it so seriously.” How about “Plot holes are a Star Trek tradition.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/25 "2013-07-11T23:51:52Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I think what’s being asked for is a Star Trek that is fun and exciting like Abrams’ ST, but not stupid and character-distorting like the Abrams ST. I’m not upset about character-distortion, but stupid will always ruin a movie for me. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/26 "2013-07-12T05:51:06Z")
I can’t believe I’m the first one to suggest: Joss Whedon? ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/27 "2013-07-12T16:07:49Z")
I’m so-so on Whedon. I think too often he’ll sacrifice character to be able to make clever quips. Fun, but kind of fourth wall breaking. Of course, I could be convinced to change my mind if he pulls a random kill-off-a-major-character-suddenly event with Kirk. THAT would make for interesting times. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/28 "2013-07-12T16:09:13Z")
They already killed Kirk. He got better. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/29 "2013-07-12T16:17:17Z")
Oh yeah, forgot we have super serum now. Guess we’ll have to explode him or something to make the next one take. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/30 "2013-07-12T19:07:32Z")
> [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > I’m so-so on Whedon. I think too often he’ll sacrifice character to be able to make clever quips. Fun, but kind of fourth wall breaking. Of course, I could be convinced to change my mind if he pulls a random kill-off-a-major-character-suddenly event with Kirk. THAT would make for interesting times. It won’t be Kirk; he’s already been dead once. ETA: or Spock. Whedon doesn’t go for killing the obvious main character. Too obvious. (E.g. Kirk, Malcolm Reynolds, Buffy, Willow, Xander.) He also never kills the character people are griping about (e.g. 'Kennedy" from Buffy Season 7.) No, no. He goes for the pain. He’d kill off Uhura. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/31 "2013-07-12T20:03:04Z")
Kirk has died a couple of times, at least. Came back. Spock died. Came back. Data died. Now is B4. Picard died. Q’s fault. Came back. Tasha died. In at least one reality, Troi died. I’m sure there are others (not just redshirts) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/32 "2013-07-12T20:04:10Z")
Harry Kim died, too. Replaced. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/33 "2013-07-12T20:31:54Z")
Simon Pegg was the worst thing about the last two Star Treks, in my opinion. Partnered with Edgar Wright in a comedy, fine. But “It’s funny because it’s Simon Pegg” doesn’t quite work for me. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/34 "2013-07-12T20:49:28Z")
I see no reason whatsoever to replace JJ Abrams. And I highly doubt they will want to replace him, given the financial and critical success of his first two films. If he wants it, he’ll have Star Trek AND Star Wars and the only one to say no will be him. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/35 "2013-07-12T21:18:27Z")
The last Star Trek film was Star Trek Nemesis. Rather a weak film I admit. Maybe someone new should take it over. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/36 "2013-07-12T22:04:40Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Whedon doesn’t go for killing the obvious main character. Too obvious. (E.g. Kirk, Malcolm Reynolds, Buffy, Willow, Xander.) He also never kills the character people are griping about (e.g. 'Kennedy" from Buffy Season 7.) No, no. He goes for the pain. Buffy died at least twice… ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/37 "2013-07-12T22:20:45Z")
I know the OP is talking about the movies, but I really think a new tv show is in order. In my humble opinion, it should have a show runner that is willing to let other writers have their way. To me, the perfect Trek show would be a showcase of the best sci-fi authors out there. Kind of like how the Twilight Zone used to do it. Obviously, TOS did that to an extent, but I’d like to see a real open collaboration with genre writers, with someone in charge of continuity, just in case Neil Gamen goes off the rails. TOS was at its best when they mined the ideas of actual genre writers. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/38 "2013-07-13T01:30:58Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Kirk has died a couple of times, at least. Came back. > > Spock died. Came back. > > Data died. Now is B4. > > Picard died. Q’s fault. Came back. > > Tasha died. > > In at least one reality, Troi died. > > I’m sure there are others (not just redshirts) > [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Harry Kim died, too. Replaced. A time-duplicated O’Brien died. Same for Picard, now that I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/39 "2013-07-13T01:38:37Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > A time-duplicated O’Brien died. Cite? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234/40 "2013-07-13T02:13:13Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Cite? > 🙂 I don’t recall the episode title offhand. Deep Space 9 was being orbited by a cloaked Romulan cruiser and there was some technobabble “chroniton wave” thing… the result being the station hosted _two_ O’Briens, one of which was from several hours in the future or something. One of them ended up dead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-franchise-be-saved-or-who-should-take-over-star-trek/663234.md?page=3)