A Significant Lack of Trek

I miss Star Trek. I was looking for a show to replace my sci-fi craving but couldn't seem to find any. I googled and came up with a list of the top 50 sci-fi shows of all time and was surprised that Star Trek: The Next Generation wasn't number one. Perhaps because a lot of votes for that list came from the original Star Trek fans.

But comparing the Shatner star trek to TNG is like comparing Adam West's Batman with the Michael Keaton's version. The first is more of a comedic fantasy feel, but the latter has a realism to it, you'ld know that it could be possible in real life.

Now, now, before you jump to the impossibility of warp theory, food replication, and transporters, try to look at modern day inventions that no doubt have some influence because of Star Trek TNG. Data is probably the ultimate aspiration of modern day inventors of robots and artificial intelligence. The computer camera which allows video communications and transmission remind me of Captain Picard saying "Onscreen" everytime they are hailed by a starship. And PDA's are not far from PADDs and Tricorders. I saw a "holographic" soccer ball being kicked around in a mall about a month ago and perhaprs soon, holodecks can become a reality.

These inventions are just a part of what I miss about Star Trek. I wish a new Star Trek show could replace the TNG cast, but rarely can one find a balanced and intriguing crew. I can't really say I know the Shatner-Spock team since I've watched very few episodes of the original series. Sisko's team had too many aliens while Bacula's team had too few. I guess the team that come's second to Picard's team is Janeway's crew.  Too bad, a Star Trek series has a maximum of 7 seasons. I really wonder why the people behind Trek can't come up with a good replacement. This drought has allowed shows like Battlestar Gallactica and Firefly to replace the void. Not that I have anything against those shows, they too have their own merits, but if any Sci-fi TV series should reign the airwaves, it should be a Star Trek show.

You'ld think that with the more advanced special effects we have these days, it would be easier to create a show like this, with stranger less humanoid looking aliens, cooler looking starships, and more advanced technology ... have people finally run out of ideas for what tomorrow's world might look like? Then perhaps the universe isn't so unexplorable as it seems. Writers have exhausted all possibilities of time travel, alternate realities, and human interaction and exploration that there appears to be no stories left to tell. Have we as audiences become so difficult to please?

So until then, I will have to settle for Star Trek: TNG, DS9, and Voyager re-runs. I may even try Battlestar Gallactica if I exhaust those. I don't really think going back to the original series for the 2008 movie will inspire audiences to clamor for more Trek. Going back to the past was the idea behind Enterprise, something counter-intuitive to a franchise that's supposed to challenge people to think about the future. And that is where people want to go because the unknown ideas of the future are what we really explore when we go where no one has gone before.