SWG Tales

This will interest our Trekkers at least. Another thread even has me hyped up about a Star Trek MMORPG set sometime after TNG (The Next Generation Series).

However, given expected release dates (even if they are T.B.A.) I was struck a little oddly with what to expect in 2007. We have tentively a game set in Star Trek's future being released at the same time a movie might be comming out.

What's the odd part? It looks like Star Trek XI might not be anything we recognize now. Link below:

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/050310b.php

Rumors had speculated of something like a Doctor Who 'The 5 Doctors' (back when there were only 5) setting in which it would revolve around some of Trek's Captains future and past. Even to continuing on with TNG crew to explore more about B4. But the above link suggests we're going to see yet another Prequel movie. I guess it's the latest craze for Hollywood since about the mid 80's. At least, I think that's about when the sequel/prequel craze was starting to come about.

My Film History teacher used the corporate explanation to us that if it worked once; it'll work again. I guess this works forwards and backwards with franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars. In this case, along a parallel with a game release and movie in the same year for Trek.

The one frustrating thing about the Trek mythos is that it's "canon" is about as set as the origin of the Egyptian pyramids. It's all over the place. While it's forgivable to an extent since there have been so many media over 40 years (all 6 series, hundreds of books from all those series, the movies and their related books, so on) still it's a blind leap trying to figure out what events should/would be depicted given a time period.

For example, as the Dark Horizons link mentions, ST11 will be set "160 odd years" before Kirk's birth. That would put the setting in the late 2000's (about 2075). The one thing that all current sources agree on is that this time is long before the formation of the Federation and Starfleet by about 60-70 years. That time even pre-dates the Enterprise series by about 40-50 years...

BUT, as we've seen with previous movies, First Contact & Nemesis, Paramount can and will take a free hand throwing all previous "canon" out the window. The history behind Nemesis in particular rankles me because it totally refutes a GREAT story about the development of the Romulan Empire. Underused in the films as it was, the Romulans could have been a strong foundation for a resurgence of the franchise. But they covered that door with big mason bricks.

So, if ST11 is set in the mentioned timeline, look forward to more canonical contortions for Star Trek fans.

{For an outstanding read on the history of the Vulcan & Romulan split and the development of the Romulan Empire, find this: The Romulan Way. You'll see how much better the movie Nemesis and the series Enterprise could have been.}

For me a dream choice if they wanted to go a different direction would have been to have Peter David do the screenplay and do a New Frontier movie. That way they could introduce a mostly new and younger cast but still have ties to all things STOS, STNG, and DS9. I love the New Frontier series and would love to have seen those characters turned into something for the small or large screen.


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