Sirtis critical of direction for Star Trek XI
Monday, July 31, 2006
In a live chat with fans on her official site, Marina Sirtis (Troi from ST: TNG) didnt seem too happy with the direction Paramount is taking for Star Trek XI. "I agree with you all about the pre-quel, Gene Roddenberry always said that Star trek should go forward" she replied to the sentiments that the next Trek film should be set after Star Trek Nemesis, despite it's dissapointing box office. Her fans seem to want the new Trek film to focus on 'the Rikers' aboard the the Starship Titan. Star Trek Nemesis established that Sirtis' character Troi and Jonathan Frakes' character Will Riker were married and went off to have their own adventures on the Starship Titan. The Titan has become the basis for a series of popular Star Trek books.More letter writing campaigns?
Many of her fans discussed sending protests to Paramount executives regarding the new film (seemingly a perennial Trekkie tradition). Sirtis let them know her view of the executives: "I just dont think anyone at Paramount gets Star Trek anymore", going on to say "they are killing Trek. They're trying to reach a new 'Lost' audience....they just dont get it". She went on to suggest that after the exectives 'killed' Star Trek that Euegene 'Rod' Roddenberry (who recently told a panel at Comic Con that he knows almost nothing about film making, scifi or Hollywood) should buy the franchise back. Siritis didn't stop with the new Trek film, she also took the time out to take a swipe at the last Trek TV show "Enterprise was NOT Trek. Just had so called Vulcans thrown in for seasoning to call it Trek". One has to wonder if she let the executives at Paramount know her views of their show when she agreed to appear in the series finale of Enterprise last year. Well work is work, she had this to say about reprising a role in another scifi franchise: "I would reprise my role in Stargate in a nano second, but they've not asked me...maybe you could all write them angry letters demanding I should be back on the show".
Perhaps her most telling statement was "if I'd have invented Star Trek, I'd still be on it"
(full transcript of chat), via Trekweb
posted by Tony P @ 10:44 AM,
8 Comments:
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At 1:31 PM,
said...
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Paramount lost faith in TNG and any possible post-Nemesis storylines. Yet Sirtis is clearly upset she won't be getting any calls to play in another Star Trek feature film. She had her run.
"I agree with you all about the prequel, Gene Roddenberry always said that Star trek should go forward"
I strongly believe that statement to be largely exaggerated. -
At 1:46 PM,
Tony P said...
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one must wonder what she would be saying if she had got a call from JJ Abrams to appear in the film.
RE: Roddenberry's 'forward' comment
perhaps she is taking this too literally, and to be honest, although Gene created the franchise, the more he got involved in any given film the worse they tended to be. After TMP his role was greatly diminished...only to resurface again after the classic II,III,IV trilogy...and help make what is widely regarded as the worst Trek film ever...Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. -
At 5:15 PM,
said...
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Sounds like somebody is just bitter that her career has slowed a bit. This is the exact same spin George Takei used a few years ago when he thought the public was calmoring for a "Captain Sulu" series or movie.
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At 3:35 AM,
said...
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Sirtis is spewing envy and bitterness. She has no career whatsoever except for ST, and she's simply unhappy that Troi is being re-inflated one more time. Her comment about ST:Enterprise is nonsense. It was an excellent series and deserves to stand with all of the others. It simply suffered from the same Trek fatigue that killed Nemesis. Nemesis, although not one of the better films, was far superior to abominations such as I, V, and IX. It deserved a better fate.
And, all this hero worship for Roddenberry is getting ridiculous. He should be commended for his vision and for inventing ST, but he was also responsible for more than his share of totally BAD episodes, in TOS, NG, and the films. It's time to move-on from his philosophy and introduce darker themes and more conflicted characters. DS9 and Ent tried to do this and were condemned for it. I say "bravo" - keep it up. -
At 10:00 AM,
said...
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Actually, I would enjoy a series or movie about Riker's Titan.
But I think the direction Paramount is going for Trek XI sounds promising. With good writing and creative directing, a return to Trek's roots could perhaps re-energize the franchise.
"Forward" doesn't have to mean "every new series or movie set in chronological order with the previous series or movie." With Trek XI, maybe backward in time is forward.
Plus, it capitalizes on the whole nostalgia bit. Kirk and Spock have such cultural iconicity (is that a word?) that "mild fans" or even just the curious could be drawn to see the movie. Riker and Troi don't have that kind of appeal. Lots of people say "Live long and prosper," but who calls their boyfriend "Imzadi"? -
At 10:23 AM,
said...
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Gene Roddenberry always said that Star Trek should go forward
Right.... That's why he recycled The Cage into the The Menagerie?
Sorry but I'm not one the fans who worships Roddenberry. Even during TOS GR was only one of the people responsible - Justman and Solow and the other writers don't get enough credit.
I'd love to see a prequel if it follows established canon. That was my big disappointment with Enterprise - in ran rough-shod over TOS instead of exploring what we already knew.*
*except for Through a Mirror, Darkly and a few other fun homage episodes. -
At 5:33 PM,
said...
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I agree, Roddenberry should definitly have credit for inventing Trek, but let's face it---you can't create a show around the glorified image of one man. Any trek in the future should be based on someone's personal creative vision. Period. That's why DS9 was so great. Sure Roddenberry wouldn't have made it. But so what! It was awesome because Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D Moore had a personal vision!
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At 5:41 PM,
Tony P said...
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as you can see in my Roddenberry v Meyers editorial, I agree.
Gene deserves credit for creating the series, but he was not right 100% of the time and is not 100% responsible for the quality and durability of Trek. This is especially true of the films.
During his lifetime the first 5 films were made. most would agree that II, III, IV are the best of the first 5 films. it isnt a coincidence that those are the only ones he had nothing to do with. It seems that when he got involved with the films they got worse not better.
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