Newsgroup: it.fan.startrek
Titolo: Trek Report: Fan Delusion 101

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/588/588630p1.html
Enterprise Fans Run Ad, Get Response:
As reported last week, fans of Enterprise ran an ad this past Tuesday in
the Los Angeles Times trying to solicit support to save the series.  The
ad, which can be read here, calls for fans to clip out a part of the ad and
mail it to Paramount.  Another coupon in the ad is for fans to send to the
US cable network Sci Fi Channel, which the ad calls "its logical home." 
Representatives at Sci Fi Channel have repeatedly stated that they have no
interest in Enterprise, which hasn't stopped fans from barraging the home
of Galactica and Stargate with mail, email and faxes to try and change
their mind.   Meanwhile, lest you think everyone wants to see the show get
a new lease on life, the folks over at KillEnterprise have been sending
mail to Paramount thanking them for killing the series. 
Citing a disregard for Trek canon, the group is part of a section of Trek
fandom that never warmed up to the idea of a prequel series.  The same
group of people (although not specifically the KillEnterprise site itself)
have also derided the attempts this season to bring the series more in line
with Trek history, calling the attempts "continuity porn."
Despite the efforts of two sites dedicated to the continuation of the
series, it seems that the KillEnterprise group will get their wish. 
Reports from the network indicate that they will not be swayed and the
series will end with only four seasons in the can and a few episodes shy of
the 100 mark.
Opinion – Easy Fandom Financing With NO Credit Check!
Some of the fans who want to see Enterprise saved have floated the idea
that donations by fans could be used to produce a fifth season.  I don't
want to burst anyone's bubble but the estimated budget per episode this
season (which had to cut its budget to the bone from last season just to
get the fourth season pickup from UPN) is around $1.6 million dollars. 
That's per episode, folks.  That's a lot of Trek fans eating a lot of Top
Ramen noodles for every meal until they're on Social Security, then still
eating them because Social Security will be bankrupt by then, anyway.
Another scenario (noted above) is to try and get the cable network Sci Fi
Channel to pick up the show.  Again, not wanting to be the messenger of bad
news I hate to tell you that Sci Fi doesn't want it.  The network is
currently trying to burn off the rest the plays they have left on ST-TOS
and their Friday night block is full up and doing very well in the ratings,
thank you very much Mrs. McGillicuddy.  The series would have to be done
for a lot less than the current budget (that pesky $1.6 million times 22
keeps coming up as a major sticking point).  Sci Fi cancelled Farscape, a
series that had huge fan support even if the ratings didn't quite match the
fan's fervor.  Enterprise would almost certainly do better than Farscape
but there would be a drop off from the network numbers, numbers that have
been less than exciting since the first season.
The series isn't faring as poorly as some of UPN's "successes" – the teen
sleuth series Veronica Mars and the rapidly sinking Taye Diggs dramedy
Kevin Hill are both getting lower ratings than Enterprise, so why aren't
their heads on the block as well?  To put it simply, it all comes back to
the money.  UPN as a network can't just run a series for free, even if that
series is produced by its parent company, Paramount.  Every network has to
pay a licensing fee for the rights to run a series.  That license fee is
based on a number of factors that include guarantees for minimum ratings,
the per episode budget and some other factors, including an established
franchise.  You add all of these things together and it means that
Enterprise commands a higher licensing fee than either Veronica Mars or
Kevin Hill.  So, while both of those series may not be pulling in the
ratings Enterprise is, they're hitting their target ratings and are a lot
cheaper to keep on the schedule. Enterprise has failed to hit its target
ratings every season and, to be completely honest, if it weren't a Star
Trek series, would probably have been canned by the end of the first season.
So, I hear you ask, how do we keep the series in production?  Well,
Paramount already cut the license fee UPN pays for the series almost in
half from last season according to various industry reports.  That license
would have to go down even further for another network or cable channel to
want to get involved.  This would mean that Paramount would have to find
some way to make drastic cuts into the budget.  If you take a look at the
end credits, you'll see some names that have worked on Trek series for 18
years.  Like anyone that has worked for the same company for almost two
decades, they have received well deserved raises from year to year.  If you
want to cut the budget, that's where it's going to have to come from. 
The production would then have to be moved out of Hollywood to either
Vancouver or a US site like New Orleans, both cities that have very
attractive tax incentives for television and film production.  It would be
the first time since ST-TOS that a Trek production wouldn't have the top of
the line production values, which might not be such a bad thing.  The
original Star Trek constantly had to struggle to make the series come in on
a very meager budget every week which forced a lot of creative thinking. 
Enterprise might benefit from that kind of daily adrenaline rush to come in
on the average budget of a PBS series,  When you couple that concept with
the direction the series has taken this season, the possibilities become
very attractive.
The risks are that you make a series that doesn't live up to the fan's
expectations, production-wise.  Trek fans are, frankly, spoiled.  This is
the first time they've had to face a season without new Star Trek for a
long time.  For some fans, they can't remember a time when a Trek series
wasn't in production.  I don't know how many Trek fans I've talked to over
the years that told me they couldn't stand to watch Babylon 5; not because
it didn't interest them but because they thought it looked too "cheap."  As
a longtime Doctor Who fan and former contributor to the series, I learned
how to look past budget years ago.  If Trek fans want to keep Enterprise
alive, they may just have to make that deal with Devil and accept substance
over style.
Which brings me to my next point – bring in more people that know how to
write Trek.  Re-instate the fan submission program that was stopped at the
beginning of Enterprise.  Go to the science fiction community the way Gene
Roddenberry did and get real science fiction authors to at least come up
with the stories.  They may not be able to do script format but that's what
the Script Editor is there for.  Aside from the creative boost, most of
these authors won't be Writer's Guild of America members yet and can be
offered the Guild minimum for scripts (which, I might add, isn't too shabby
for those of us who don't live in L.A.).
With the budget effectively slashed to the marrow, Paramount could easily
sell a fifth season to first run syndication.  Enterprise's first four
seasons have already been sold to local station for weekend runs starting
this fall.  The series may not have hit its target ratings for UPN but the
local stations couldn't wait to get their hands on it, indicating that they
must think their advertising sales people can make money selling ads in the
show.
The possibility of bringing the series back isn't a completely lost cause
but the efforts of the fans would carry a lot more weight if they
approached it from a realistic standpoint and made these suggestions to
Paramount themselves.
Trek Animated Series Moved Back?
The Digital Bits is reporting that the DVD release of Star Trek: The
Animated Series has possibly been moved to 2006.  It had been rumored that
the set would be arriving before the release of the Star Trek: Enterprise
DVD sets but now looks to be the last of the Trek television series to hit
DVD.
Star Trek: the Animated Series relied on many of the writing talents that
contributed to the original series, including D.C. Fontana and David
Gerrold, who contributed a sequel to the popular Trouble with Tribbles
episode from the original series.  A direct continuation of the original
series, ST:TAS featured the voices of the original cast.  With a tight
budget and at least two of the principal actors recording their lines in
remote locations (William Shatner used to record his lines in his trailer
while between takes of movies), many guest characters wound up being voiced
by the James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei.  The series also
did something that the original couldn't afford – alien crewmembers.
The series has previously been available on VHS videotape and laser disc. 
No word on what possible extras, if any, will be included.
Former Trek Cast in Unfamiliar Places:
If working on a Star Trek series does anything for you, it seems to put you
in line for directing jobs.  LaVar Burton and Jonathan Frakes both directed
episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and went on to not only direct
episodes of other Trek series but have managed to work outside the
franchise and the genre.  Roxanne Dawson, who played the half Klingon Chief
Engineer B'lanna Torres in Star Trek: Voyager, will have her directorial
hands all over NBC's highly promoted Third Watch / Medical Investigation
crossover on Friday night, Feb. 18th. 
Also from the "where are they now file" – Patrick Stewart told BBC Live5
radio that he expected to receive the script to X-Men 3 "any day now."  The
production has been rumored to focus on the Dark Phoenix storyline from the
comics but Stewart to the audience he couldn't reveal what he knew of the
script's plot.  You can listen to the whole interview here.  Patrick
Stewart, or at least his very distinctive voice, is also in the Hayao
Miyazaki anime classic, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, finally hitting
DVD in an uncut form in the US.
Stewart's third X-Men film has been having its share of problems, thanks to
former franchise director Bryan Singer and his Superman film over at Warner
Brothers.  Like an NFL coach that switches teams, Singer has been trying to
bring some of his X-Men stars with him like James Marsden (aka Cyclops) and
Famke Jannsen (aka Jean Grey / Phoenix).
Enterprise's The Aenar Racks Up Highest Rating This Year:
Enterprise is crawling out of its ratings cellar but it appears the rise in
viewers is too little, too late.  The Aenar, the third part of the Romulan
arc, was seen by 3.17 million people, third highest rating for the season. 
While some sources at UPN have indicated that they may re-think
cancellation if they see a drastic surge in the ratings, the series is
still having trouble beating its competition over at the Sci Fi Channel but
is now within an arm's reach of the Sci Fi Friday programming block.
-- 
Jolan Tru, Filippo "Hytok" Simone: l'oracolo sampdoriano di Sunnydale
La Casa degli Elfi - 
http://www.freewebtown.com/lacasadeglielfi/
Enclave del Dominio - S.N.S. Despiser - 
http://ildominio.altervista.org/
Commissione Voyager - 
http://www.voyageritalia.com/


http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/588/588630p1.html
Certo che c'è una differenza abissale tra il discorso di R. D. Moore e
quelli che spendono soldi per scrivere alla Paramount per chiedere di
cancellare o mantenere in onda Enterprise. La differenza tra essere un
adulto e un bambinone cresciuto.
-- 
"L'Italia è un interessante esempio di avanguardia teatrale" (Gore Vidal)
Per rispondermi, ricordati di togliere il nome del poeta.