The instant UPN cancelled the low-rated STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, the fans immediately began mounting the inevitable campaign to save the show. They’ve raised $35,000 so far and took out a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times. Their goal is to either get the series renewed… or raise the $35 million it will cost to make this dream come true:
I want you to sit down in front of your TV this October. To hear the
rising sounds of instruments beginning to play in harmony. To see the
vibrant colours of scenery fade into life. I want you all to see Enterprise‘s fifth season explode on to your TV screens in a magnificent blaze of sound and passion signifying everything.
Everything? They must have asked the folks at the Colonial Fan Force for help writing up their call-to-arms.
However, there are at least a couple people associated with the campaign who have dipped their toes in the real world: as part of their plans for a Feb. 25th rally outside the Paramount gates, the folks at SaveEnterprise.com are asking Trekkers to leave their Spock ears at home.
Although we think that coming in dress would be great, We also
think this would stereotype us all as "Hardcore" Trekkers and
would hurt more than help. Please wear your daily wear.
The frightening thing is, for some people the Star Trek uniform is their daily wear, like that nutcake who wore her Federation garb, complete with phaser and tricorder, to jury duty (and who still wears her halloween get-up in her day job at — where else?– Kinkos). The folks at Zap2it have another take on it:
People willing to donate $10,000 of their hard-earned money (mostly refundable
if they don’t reach their goals or Paramount shuns their overtures) for a
low-rated series don’t look desperate but, apparently, those same people in
costumes do.
They want to raise $35 million for a fifth season of a crappy TV show… and Trekkers wonder why people ridicule them.
Okay, I’ll tell them.
It was one thing when they were fighting to renew, and then resurrect, the original STAR TREK back in the 60s. It was a campaign that made sense, that people could get behind.
Wake up, Trekkers. It’s not 1969 anymore. You won that battle. STAR TREK isn’t the under-appreciated TV series that was treated so unfairly… it’s a multi-billion dollar industry.
It’s hard to work up any sympathy for your cause, or share your righteous
fury, when there’s so much STAR TREK out there. There have been five STAR TREK TV series, hundreds of novels, a dozen
movies… enough already. There have been 500 episodes of the show. There’s plenty of Star Trek out there. Too much, in fact. And now you want people to get all worked up over the fact that the fifth series is being canceled after their fourth season?
What the hell is the matter with you people?
It’s more obvious now, than ever, that Trekkers have absolutely no perspective. With so many worthy causes out there needing our time, money and attention, seeing people going to all this effort for a fifth season of a TV show in franchise that has already been milked to death for billions of consumer dollars is beyond pathetic, embarassing, and moronic…
It’s wrong.
I am reminded of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s visit to the nerds camped out for the new Star Wars movie. Classic stuff and pure hilarity.
These people are not only pathetic, but more than a little creepy as well.
What I wonder is, even if they do raise the money, are the show-runners really going to sell to them? I admit, I don’t really know how this stuff works, but I would imagine that the professionals who make the show would be at least a little wary of handing themselves over to an organization of people obsessed enough to put up that much money into what is apparently a bad investment (in the sense of, if it was making money, it would still be on the air). Could this really happen?
Does this really surprise you, Lee? It seems to me that every show that gets canceled gets it’s efforts to save it. Every single show seems to have some campaign. And in this internet age, it makes it easier to organize those efforts. Gross Pointe had an organized effort, and it was a teen soap satire. Of course, Buffy and Angel also had major efforts to save them. Worked once for Buffy.
And that’s just it. Everytime it works and a show is renewed or jumps to a new network, fans of every show take notice. Suddenly, they have proof that their efforts can pay off.
So don’t just blame the fans. Blame the execs who decide to take a show and put it on their network after it’s been canceled by it’s home network. If fans lost everytime they tried this, they would learn to give up. But if there’s a 1% chance, then it’ll be worth it in their minds.
Of course, the fans are the majority of the problem.
Daisy,
The fans aren’t going to raise $35 million. But, for argument’s sake, lets say they did. The fans don’t own the rights to the show… Paramount does. The studio would have to decide to do another season…and a network would have to decide to air it (or distribute it on DVD). There are a lot of other costs and considerations besides simply raising the money to produce the show.
How is it these people always have so much time, energy, and money to waste on such things? Geez-us. Do something worthwhile with all that you have.
Lee,
Thanks for the response. I kind of guessed there would be something like that- it does seem like there would be more involved in putting on a tv show than just slapping down some money.
You are boring and predictable.