Off the Cuff – #20 – Star Trek Revisited
Mar 08Off the Cuff – Edition 20
By Eric BarrettComics, Cartoons, and all things related
*Wow.
Wow. That’s really all I can say. If you’ll remember, a few weeks ago I wrote about Star Trek Enterprise and it’s cancellation. At that time Paramount seemed ready to tuck the Star Trek license away for “future use.” And I didn’t really think there was anything that could be done to save Enterprise.
Well I may have been wrong. Star Trek fans, showing their dogged loyalty have managed to generate over $3 million in money to “pay” for a fifth season. This has to be unprecedented. The sum was primarily donated by 3 anonymous givers from the aerospace industry.
Unfortunately I have yet to read anything from Paramount regarding this, and I still think Enterprise will get canned. But we may be a little closer to our goal of saving Enterprise.
Let’s hope so.
*Another article about this story. This time it’s reached all the way across the Atlantic to the BBC. Maybe there is some hope. Cross your fingers everyone.
*One of the things that bothered me about Dragon Ball GT is Maj Uub. At the end of DBZ, Goku decided to train Maj Uub as a way to ensure Earth has a protector should 
anything ever happen to Goku. Yet in Dragon Ball GT Maj Uub’s a complete non-factor. What good is a world protector who is so “weak” that the next time a threat occurs he only shows up for cameos? I think they missed out on a great opportunity to work in a new character. After all, what’s the point of Goku training Uub if he’ll never be strong enough to take over?
*Obviously the answer is, poor story telling.
*A few months back Cartoon Network changed its commercial breaks. They went from one long break to three to four small breaks. Well, shows just aren’t designed to be interrupted every few minutes. It completely disrupts the storytelling and flow of the show. And some of the breaks come during important dialogue or action. I understand the need for advertising, but this just ruins the episode and makes me want to watch it on DVD, where there are NO commercials. Not only that, it’s annoying!
*“The Greatest Story Never Told”: I talked about this episode last time and mentioned what a great story it was (ha ha). (For those of you needing a reminder, Booster Gold saves the world from a dangerous black hole, and no one but one scientist knows it.) Something I didn’t notice before was why the scientists were doing research on the black hole – they were concerned about global warming! So let’s see here…global warming, Destruction of the Known Universe, global warming, Destruction of the Known Universe…hmmmmm, let me get back to you on this one.
*Elektra is going to be released on DVD on April 5th – that didn’t take long.
*If you’ve been following this column the last few weeks (or even just today) you’ll realize that I’m very disappointed that UPN cancelled Star Trek Enterprise. Well I share a similar concern for Justice League Unlimited – a show that also went from bad to good.
Luckily it looks like I don’t have much to worry about – Cartoon Network has ordered 23 more episodes of Justice League Unlimited. At least I have one more season to enjoy it!
*One thing I’ve never understood is how TV executives schedule TV programs. They seem to want to target timeslots that other, already popular, shows have. I suppose the idea is to put your best against their best – a philosophy I can respect. But is that really a good idea?
For instance, WB is moving The Batman from a 10:30 timeslot 
to an 11:30 timeslot. This will run Batman against Fox’s Shaman King. Both are very good shows, and now I have to decide which one to watch. Wouldn’t it have been better to move The Batman to a timeslot that wasn’t against Shaman King? I have a hard time believing The Batman is losing to F-zero on Fox.
The same thing holds true for Enterprise. They were facing a decline of viewership so they moved it from Wednesday night (a bad night to begin with in my opinion) to Friday. But they put it up against a science fiction show with an already existing cult following. Enterprise was simply not going to pull people away from StarGate. UPN somehow thought this was a good idea?
I don’t get it.
*A little bad news before I sign off (and when you hear it, you’ll know just how ‘little’ it is). I may not be able to make next week’s installment of Off the Cuff. I’ll be traveling and I’m not sure if I’ll have time to write it. So this may be your only dose for a whole two weeks. See? It’s hardly bad news at all – and to some it might even be good news!
*Well, maybe one more item. I just wanted to point out that if you’re a comic book fan and you aren’t reading Craig Reade’s weekly checklist of comics, you’re missing out. It’s about the only way I actually keep up with what comic books are out and when. So either sign up for it in its newsletter format, or check it out here at Still on the Shelf!
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