MONDO EXTRAS

I'm glad to see that my cynicism as a consummate television watcher and bileful critic has not ruined me for the simple pleasures of amazing visual effects, good strong acting, and movie popcorn (but what the hell did they do with that fake butter I loved so much?). But the recapper in me did get her hackles up when Picard sits B-4 down to discuss his late brother. Picard says, "He embraced change because he wanted to be better than he was," which struck me as Berman forcibly trying to speak directly to the Enterprise viewing audience through the mouthpiece of the revered Jean-Luc Picard. See, I don't have a problem with change, and I fully espouse the idea of making each new thing better than the last, but I am just not seeing that in the torpid storylines filled with soporific dialogue they keep cranking out every Wednesday night.

You can only get better if the change you're aiming at is an improvement on what has gone before. We are not seeing that with the new series, and if they're really serious about saving this thirty-four-year-old franchise, I suggest it's high time Rick Berman and Brannon Braga take their ego-blown heads out of their corpulent Executive Suite asses and start listening to what their fans want. Consider this, Bermaga: it was the fans whose unflagging interest in a failed series turned it into the behemoth meal ticket it is today, and as we can see by Enterprise's ebbing ratings, it will be the fans who take it all away.

That said, do I think this should be the last Star Trek movie? Hell, no! With each new movie, with each new series, more generations get indoctrinated into the rich, complicated, and thoroughly entertaining Trek history, and that is as it should be.