According to Tim Brazeal, President and co-founder of Trek United, the official site for STAR TREK, Star Trek.com, will be shutting down after December 31st of this year.
This news came as a shock to many Star Trek fans, yours truly included. The granddaddy of all Star Trek sites was considered a mainstay and is the official source for everything Trek.
Many websites dedicated to Star Trek have suffered of late with the cancelling of STAR TREK: Enterprise and nothing definite on the horizon in the Star Trek universe. But many believed StarTrek.com was strong enough for Paramount to keep it going until the next franchise installment. I was one of those who believed this as well.
Upon getting the news Brazeal immediately contacted Eugene ‘Rod’ Roddenberry to enlist the help of his family and the Roddenberry name in staving off the demise of the site. This too came as a shock to many due to the sometime less than good reporte’ between Trek United and StarTrek.com members.
As a personal friend of Tim’s I can tell you that was never his attitude, nor of his staff over at Trek United, and this effort on his part to save the site is evidence of that. But problems did arise between certain members in each camp. The offical stance of the owner’s of both sites was, “The more Trek enthusiasts the better.”
Mr. Roddenberry stated that if their was any way possible that he would love to help. He stated that he could manage the site and domain to help keep StarTrek.com alive. Roddenberry, a strong supporter of his father’s creation, has the power of the fans behind him and also has the strong support of Trek United and its members.
According to Brazeal, Rod is submitting a proposal to Paramount Pictures sometimes within the next two weeks to see if Paramount will indeed work with the Roddenberry family and fans to keep the icon going.
I’ve gone on record on many other SF forums, on my own site, and Trek United itself with what I’m about to say. Being vilified for having this point of view is nothing new to me, and I’m bracing for a new barrage of nonsense that’s going to come after I post this…
Give Trek a rest. Let it go. If Paramount wants to close down the Star Trek website as a means of letting us build up our appetite when reboot or continue with the franchise where it left off with Star Trek: Nemesis or ENTERPRISE, or if they want to close it down because there’s nothing there to promote anymore and it’s no longer economically feasible to host the site anymore, then they should continue with their plans and shut down the website.
The past 18 years or so have been like gorging ourselves on a buffet of books, movies, DVD’s and so-on. It’s not special anymore. Before The Next Generation – a new Star Trek movie was a huge thing. Now, it’s just another movie among an already saturated franchise.
Paramount should take the people who have been working on Star Trek – from the FX and make-up artists, to the set designers and builders, to the crafts people and writers… and work on a new series about Space Travel and Exploration outside of The Trek Cannon and universe. Give the “Next Gene Roddenbery†who’s both creative and hungry to start something unique, similar to the opportunity another studio gave J. Michael Straczynski.
If Paramount doesn’t do this, then another studio like Warner Brothers or Universal should. People might not be hungry for Trek anymore, but as the success of other shows have proven, people are hungry for QUALITY Science Fiction.
Give it a rest – let the fans go hungry for Trek for a while – bring the site and the franchise back up when there’s something new and substantial to offer.
Eric Renderking Fisk
The Fedora Chronicles
http://fedorachronicles.com
There is some truth to the adage, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” But that only works with those truly in love. For the simply infactuated absence makes the heart forgetful.
Sometime, in order to turn infatuation into love, more exposure to the interest is needed —- as long as that exposure is quality time spent together. That is what TREK needs at this time, not absence, but QUALITY.
True STAR TREK lovers will always be there, eager and ready to receive it back no matter how long the lapse, but those on the fringe and the young, future fans are who need to fall in love with it and if it isn’t here in quality programming that will never happen.
While I can appreciate and even agree with some of your comments, I strongly feel what is needed in the STAR TREK universe is not absence but good, innovative quality ideas that can capture a newer, younger and more savvy viewing audience.
I’m hoping the next installment, regardless of when it arrives, will have all those much needed elements. If not, then regarless of the amount of downtime it will fail to capture the hearts and minds of the audience. A long absence is no garantee of quality. Just ask Lucas – lest we forget Episodes I & II.
I see no reason to drop the website, even with no new Trek. Obviously Paramount won’t drop the domain, so what’s the point? If they think this is some cool marketing ploy to bring it back in a year or two even better, I think that’s a lame excuse. Folks use the net for looking things up. Don’t they want to let people quickly search for a certain episode or character in their archives when watching their DVD’s? This isn’t going to stop the fan sites anyway. So folks will be using other places to get their “Trek” info. I’m still doubtful it will shut down for any real length of time.
I wish people that do not want to watch star trek would shut up and let people that want it back to express there dismay at paramount you know the fans put alot of money or revenue in there pockets they just let us down the true fan by making up our minds for us. instead of cutting us off. it;s very tacky to take someones money and then just spit in our face.the true fan is not tried of Star Trek we just want quality. only thing we need is a new direction to rekindle the excitment of star trek they have plenty of old Star Trek money to do this yes i agree don’t make Star Trek to make Star Trek make it for the origial purpose of Star Trek for the excitement. all good things do not have to come to and end it just has to continue to make a difference. Star Trek Lives
Oh, wow, I remember when this happened. It’s funny how it’s portrayed as having been a huge shock to the Trek community, when it truth most of us just thought, “Yeah, right.”