Day: April 25, 2006

…since he was the one who, years ago, heavily pushed the notion that the correct direction for “Star Trek” was to go retro and focus on Kirk, Spock et al in their Academy days. This notion was reviled by most fans that I know of, contending that there was no point in taking “the franchise” backwards. Star Trek, like a shark, must constantly be moving forward or it dies. And furthermore, what remote interest was there in watching the adventures of our heroes as teens? It seemed a pathetic and obvious ploy to court teen viewers rather than accommodate the interests of long time fans.

And now it’s years later.

And “Enterprise” took the franchise backwards and knocked it off the air.

And the success of “Smallville” plus other teen-oriented dramas must have registered on Paramount.

And thus do we boldly go backwards. Well…forwards, I guess, since it’s moving forward from “Enterprise.”

Of course, whether this actually makes it to the big screen, JJ Abrams or no, remains debatable. After all, quite a few Superman films by various big-name individuals crashed and burned before the upcoming installment got off the ground (no pun intended.) But if it does make it to screen, Harve Bennett–who was mentioned nowhere in the “Variety” article–is going to have to be wondering why he had to be so darned ahead of his time, in his concept if not his execution (Bob Greenberger swears Bennett’s script was terrible. Then again, who knows? By the dwindling standards of many of today’s moviegoers, it might have been a smash.)

PAD

It always takes me a day or so to get geared up after returning from a convention. In this instance, I’m back from ShowMeCon in St. Louis, which I attended along with Ariel. The folks who ran the convention were uniformly friendly and helpful, and escorted Ariel and I out to see the Bowling Hall of Fame (which was really cool.)

Also in attendance at the convention was Noel Neill, best known as Lois Lane from the original Superman movie serials and TV series.

Not in attendance, sadly enough, were fans. It wasn’t expected to be a huge convention in any event–predicted attendance was between 300 and 500. But it seemed to me as if there were less than 150 people. Has anyone been noticing a general drop in attendance at conventions, or is it only the ones where I’m guest of honor?

PAD