Strange New World: No 'Star Trek'
By Orson Scott Card, author of "Ender's Shadow" (Tor Books, 2000) and "Ender's Game" (Tor Books, 1994). His most recent book is "Shadow of the Giant" (Tor Books, 2005).
ST:TOS was cheesy, no doubt about it. But most TV at the time was (as Orson Scott Card concedes in his rant). The 'Trek' franchise did grow to tell other stories (which Card also admits were better). Ultimately, to read one (living) science fiction writer slamming another (dead) science fiction creator reeks of sour grapes.
At least he's a "Lost" fan:
By Orson Scott Card, author of "Ender's Shadow" (Tor Books, 2000) and "Ender's Game" (Tor Books, 1994). His most recent book is "Shadow of the Giant" (Tor Books, 2005).
So they've gone and killed "Star Trek." And it's about time... The original "Star Trek," created by Gene Roddenberry, was, with a few exceptions, bad in every way that a science fiction television show could be bad... As science fiction, the series was trapped in the 1930s — a throwback to spaceship adventure stories with little regard for science or deeper ideas. It was sci-fi as seen by Hollywood: all spectacle, no substance...
Why did it last so long? Here's what I think: Most people weren't reading all that brilliant science fiction. Most people weren't reading at all. So when they saw "Star Trek," primitive as it was, it was their first glimpse of science fiction. It was grade school for those who had let the whole science fiction revolution pass them by.
Why did it last so long? Here's what I think: Most people weren't reading all that brilliant science fiction. Most people weren't reading at all. So when they saw "Star Trek," primitive as it was, it was their first glimpse of science fiction. It was grade school for those who had let the whole science fiction revolution pass them by.
At least he's a "Lost" fan:
Now we finally have first-rate science fiction film and television that are every bit as good as anything going on in print... Jeffrey Lieber, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof have created "Lost," the finest television science fiction series of all time … so far.
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