Goddamn it, can't they just leave STAR TREK alone? If G4 hates the show so much, why bother to air it?
I just caught a few minutes of STAR TREK 2.0, as the network calls it, on the G4 network. What they are doing is running STAR TREK reruns, but shrunken to postage-stamp size, and around the borders they're surrounding the image with...what exactly, I don't know. There's real time chat, which is displayed below the show, even though no one is chatting, and they just run the same comments over and over. On top is a "Pop-Up" type of caption that is frustratingly simplistic and apparently written by imbeciles. I swear to you that one read, "Sally Kellerman made her TV debut on The Outer Limits and she went on to appear in films and continues to work to this day." Also, the name "Mitchell" was misspelled "Micthell." Is that how G4 staffers write or is that how illiterate they believe their audience is?
The left border is taken up by the same dozen Trek Facts over and over that lists such witty items as the number of Torn Kirk Shirts, Spock Says "Illogical", and Uhura Touches Earpiece. On the right is the Spock Market. I have no idea what it is, but details are on G4's Web site.
Seriously, I don't know who the audience is for STAR TREK 2.0. If you're a TREK fan, you absolutely don't want to see the show surrounded with all this clutter and unnecessary sound effects. Hell, the image isn't even very good; the skin tones were purple-ish. And if you aren't inclined to watch STAR TREK, why would the chat room and Trek Facts elements entice you to try it? G4's programming decision makes no sense to me. The network clearly either doesn't like the show or has no faith in its ability to draw an audience, despite the fact that it's probably the most popular television series in the world.
The episode airing was "Where No Man Has Gone Before," which is the hour that sold the series to NBC and is so good that I was able to sit through about ten minutes of it. It holds up extremely well and Shatner is terrific in the climax, handling the action and dramatics like an expert series lead. The big fight at the end is marred by obvious stunt doubles, but that wasn't unusual for TREK, which oddly had trouble finding stuntmen that resembled its actors.
Don't watch the episode on G4 though. I'll stick to my DVDs.
Posted by Marty
at 11:10 PM CDT
