SHOULD CLASSIC TREK CALL IT A DAY? ญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญ by Simon Plumbe ญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญ With each new Trek film, the press seem to be getting increasingly harsher in their comments towards the original series cast, most of which seem to concentrate on their ages. With six films under their belts, the last of which is generally considered as being one of the best, is it time to consider calling it a day and handing over the movie reigns to The Next Generation? There are a number of fans who are NOT looking forward to the release of a seventh Classic Trek movie. Many now feel that it would have been better to stop at Trek VI and end on a high note. However, was Trek VI really all that good? When I reviewed Star Trek VI in the last issue, as did most other people, I praised the film highly, and I even went as far as saying that I thought that Star Trek VI was the BEST of all the Trek movies. However, looking at the film after all the hype and publicity has died down, I can honestly say that my opinion of the film has changed somewhat. Now, I still think that Trek VI is a good movie, but after seeing the film 15 times in the cinema, I can honestly say that it doesn't really stand up to continual watching. Whereas many of the Trek films improve the more times you see it, Trek VI seems to have had the opposite effect. I can't quite place my finger on it, but I am beginning to dislike the "new- look" Enterprise and the overall "dark" theme of the film - this may be fine for Batman, but I don't really think it fits in with the Trek mythos. I still enjoy watching the film, it's just that others in the series are far closer to the spirit of Classic Trek. Kirk's hatred of the Klingons, for example, was drastically over-played. Granted, they killed David, but even so he tried to save the life of Kruge not long after. Is this the action of a man who HATES Klingons so violently that he would rather see the entire race die than offer assistance? That aside, as far as the seventh movie is concerned, it's obvious that Paramount are out to get as much money as possibly from the show while the cast are still alive. Not being cruel, but does anyone HONESTLY believe that De and Jimmy will be with us in five years time? Neither of them are young men (they are both in their 70s) and they have had a few health problems in recent years. Obviously, as a Trek fan I don't want to see any of the cast die, but it IS inevitable. I have no objections to more movies being made with the original cast as long as it's a GOOD story. It's all too easy for Paramount to accept the first script that comes along, no matter whether it is "real" Trek or not, just so they can make a quick buck. There was talk at one point that the seventh film would be a Classic/TNG crossover. Now this, I would NOT look forward to. However good the story may be, any film, or episode for that matter, that sees two Trek eras meeting is written purely for commercial value. Just look at the hype that surrounded "Unification", which, for me, was a rather bland episode. In the UK it was released on video to rent (something that hadn't been done with TNG since the disasterous rental figures for Season 1), and it was released almost simultaneously as a novel. As far as I am aware, Unification received higher viewing figures than many episodes from Season 5 just because of the appearance of Spock. No doubt the Season 6 Scotty episode, "Relics", was produced for exactly the same reasons. Now as far as a Classic/TNG movie is concerned, I don't really see that it could be a viable proposition for Paramount without spending far more than they have with any of the other movies or without making a compromise somewhere. Just imagine the problems - instead of trying to give 7 characters something to do in a 2 hour film, you now have the problem of ensuring that 15 characters have something meaningful to do! Without compromising the story for the sake of the cast, any team-up film would need to be signficantly longer than any of the previous films, and I would think that anything less than 3 hours would be an insult. Now being honest though, how many average cinema goers are going to be willing to sit through a 3 hour sci-fi movie?! Alternatively, the other option open to Paramount would be to make the story a two-parter spread over the seventh and eighth movies - this would give the writers plenty of on-screen time for ALL of the characters. This solution would also reduce the production costs if both parts were filmed at the same time. Also, the film would need a budget of near epic proportions (or at least where Trek is concerned!). Star Trek VI was the CHEAPEST of all the movies so far, and that cost a staggering $25 million to make. Now if you take that amount, and then consider that there are another 8 major actors to pay (and both Patrick and Brent would be able to command 7 figure pay cheques quite easily, as no doubt, would LeVar and Whoopi). As well as that, filming would obviously take a lot longer as the sets would have to be re-built half way through filming (Paramount use the same sets for TNG and the movies, with the sets being re-dressed to disguise them) and all of this would add to the cost. Finally, all of the models for the shows would, ideally, need to be re- built to the same scale as each other (to give an example of how much this would cost, the Enterprise from Trek VI cost $800,000 alone!). Obviously, if you add all this up, you are talking about producing a film with little or no change left from $50 million. Taking all those factors into consideration, a team-up film is highly improbable so any future films are more than likely going to feature one crew or another. It's just a question of which cast will appear in Star Trek VII. Classic Trek WILL come to an end in the near future. Granted, there will still be the comics and novels, but as far as "official" Trek material, I don't really think we'll see anything after Trek VII, and I for one will be sad to see it end. However, if it DOES have to end, why not go out on a REALLY high note and give us the best Trek film ever! However, the saga doesn't have to end there as one possibility open is to continue the series with Sulu at the helm of the Excelsior, and maybe see Chekov assigned as his First Officer, but that's another story altogether...