In less than 10 days, that's it. No more Star Trek to review on a daily basis. Enterprise has less than 10 episodes left and then... what? It's a question that's been hounding me for weeks, often in the guise of fellow bloggers prodding and poking me for an answer (much appreciated). It's been my 100% guaranteed daily content for almost two years, and now I face the possibility of having to come up with new material or - gasp! - missing a day here and there.
Some would have me try my hand at other cult series. The problem I foresee is that no series really has Trek's sheer bulk of material. Time Tunnel is over in 30 episodes, and then I have to start scratching my head all over again. For a while I though Babylon 5 would be an interesting substitute - similar in content and with a lot of episodes to cover - and it's not completely off the table. I'd like to do Doctor Who as some have requested, but I'm not comfortable with that until I have access to the entire classic series, which I certainly am not.
So what IS the plan? Well, one of the things I'm a little loath to do is lose Trek's numbering. It's been a mark of how long Siskoid's Blog of Geekery has lasted and I'd be sorry to see it go after #726. Or is that infuriatingly indulgent? The only way to keep it going I see is to start reviewing non-canon Trek material. GiT Corp has just come out with a DVD featuring all the Star Trek comics since the Gold Key days, and I have a ton of trashy Star Trek novels picked up mostly in thrift stores over the years...
So one possibility, and it's the one I propose, is to do a comic book each day Monday through Saturday, and a novel (or even a non-fiction book, collection of short stories, etc. I'm not fussy) on Sunday. I can do the comics in order of publication, but the novels will be all over the place, depending on which I've already read (mostly the TNG ones), etc. Of course, I'll have to figure out how to review these other media. "Rewatchability" no longer applies, for example. Certainly, I'll have to cover the plots a little more, since people cannot be assumed to have read them, and it'd be fun to see how they contradict canon information. And of course, we'll need pretty pictures from the comics.
Even if I skip movie adaptations, that should last me, oh, until Kirk takes command of the Enterprise for real! So how about it? Poll in the sidebar.
Some would have me try my hand at other cult series. The problem I foresee is that no series really has Trek's sheer bulk of material. Time Tunnel is over in 30 episodes, and then I have to start scratching my head all over again. For a while I though Babylon 5 would be an interesting substitute - similar in content and with a lot of episodes to cover - and it's not completely off the table. I'd like to do Doctor Who as some have requested, but I'm not comfortable with that until I have access to the entire classic series, which I certainly am not.
So what IS the plan? Well, one of the things I'm a little loath to do is lose Trek's numbering. It's been a mark of how long Siskoid's Blog of Geekery has lasted and I'd be sorry to see it go after #726. Or is that infuriatingly indulgent? The only way to keep it going I see is to start reviewing non-canon Trek material. GiT Corp has just come out with a DVD featuring all the Star Trek comics since the Gold Key days, and I have a ton of trashy Star Trek novels picked up mostly in thrift stores over the years...
So one possibility, and it's the one I propose, is to do a comic book each day Monday through Saturday, and a novel (or even a non-fiction book, collection of short stories, etc. I'm not fussy) on Sunday. I can do the comics in order of publication, but the novels will be all over the place, depending on which I've already read (mostly the TNG ones), etc. Of course, I'll have to figure out how to review these other media. "Rewatchability" no longer applies, for example. Certainly, I'll have to cover the plots a little more, since people cannot be assumed to have read them, and it'd be fun to see how they contradict canon information. And of course, we'll need pretty pictures from the comics. Even if I skip movie adaptations, that should last me, oh, until Kirk takes command of the Enterprise for real! So how about it? Poll in the sidebar.
Comments
I was kinda hoping that you'd review the novels in order too, but that's a very minor quibble. Though if you did that, you'd have to start with the craptacular Mission to Horatius and work your way through the Bantam novels without eating a bullet. On second thought, I like your way better.
Basically, I'll try to read (or quick-read) a new book every now and then, while using the still pretty important backlog of previously read novels. all of which I seem to have annotated with their position in the canon (in between such and such an episode - NERD!).
And New Beginnings...well, part of the fun of this blog has been seeing how your viewing of the shows meshes (or not) with my memories so I'll be sad to lose that if you boldy go to places I haven't been (the novels and comics) but I assume your reviews will remain a fun and interesting to read and that should be enough keep me on board. :)
And, who knows, maybe I'll even be inspired to seek out new media and new novelisations... :)
Doing comics will also significantly increase the comics content on the blog, which is already too high for my mission statement.
In other words, I'm still torn.
Thanks for the kind words either way!
Firefly is right out. Sorry. Don't even try. (Nothing against it, I've just never watched, nor does it have the "meat" I need to fuel the blog for years.)
Moving towards non-canon stuff opens up the possibility of more tv-oriented posting though, so you might find your suggestions given a shot!
If nothing else, there's got to be around 300 episodes out there.
Though you may have the access issue with that as well. Or you may simply not like it :)
Which is my long-winded way of saying that coming along for the ride as you delve into more Trek, 99% of which, I'll hazard a guess, I've never experienced before, sounds good to me, at least. Especially if you can't find another TV series that meets your criteria.
Your TV content might go down, but your Star Trek content will remain high.
PS Thanks and kudos for all the Trek episode reviews; I've found your comments to be some of the most insightful on the ol' interweb and while our tastes regarding what we like/don't like in a given episode tends to be similar, you've definitely made me both appreciate and criticize things I never had before.
Also, my hat remains firmly off to you and your ability to provide daily content. It's an inspiration to geeky bloggers everywhere!
And just to throw in another idea: Because they're "kinda sorta" ST canon.. how about the cartoon series? Yeah, access is a problem, but I'm pretty sure they're available out there somewhere.. torrent sites and such.
Basically, like everyone else around here.. I just don't want it to end. S'too good.
I'm like you, in the sense that those stories can't be reviewed in the same way. I was thinking more along the lines of "indexing" style entries. Still working on it but,
Title/authors/publication notes
Plot
Stardate (where it fits in continuity)
Continuity porn (what elements are re-used from the series and how)
Contradictions (where canon contradicted the story or vice-versa)
Good episode? (would it have worked on tv?)
And of course Review (relatively short, depending)
Comics could also have some kind of Panel of the Day to make fun of.
Also, remember there's a bit of audio-only Trek pseudepigrapha out there, from children's record albums to the Q/Spock debates...
I'd second the suggestion of the Stargate family as a TV-based project alternative. It's the only genre show with anywhere near as big a library other than Dr Who, and better-organized than that. (Well, there's also Dark Shadows, but I wouldn't wish that fate upon anyone...)
For shorter-run shows, I'd say Blake's 7, but they still haven't given us a US DVD release on that one, so not yet...
If I WERE to review Who and its spin-offs, it would have to be all over the map, based on what's been released rather than the actual timeline.
I did find a Star Trek guide online somewhere that tries to put all the medias into a timeline.
I say either X-Files or Stargate. X-Files gives you nine and a half seasons if you include The Lone Gunmen spinoff, plus two movies. Stargate gives you the feature film, ten seasons of SG-1 plus two direct-to-video movies and countings, five seasons of Atlantis, and the non-canonical Infinity cartoon.
My vote's for Stargate, though, mostly because I'm working my way through season 5 for the first time, and it'd be interesting to see where our opinions differ.
I wouldn't commit to buying more than a dozen seasons sight unseen, of course, but you ought to give it a shot sometime.
If I've kept away, it's mostly because it's based on what I find to be a pretty bad movie.
And then a friend sat me down and made me watch a few episodes of the show, and it grew on me. The pilot borrows heavily from the movie, but by the end, a new and improved status quo is in place.
Having not watched the movie since it first came out, I was able to follow the pilot without any problems.
To verify that I am not just some loony Stargate enthusiast that wants you to support MGM, my favorite Star Trek is DS9 and I also happen to metaphorically spit on Voyager when discussing it too
babylon 5 maybe? I preferred it to ST TNG and Voyager but I found it--well, a bit too operatic sometimes.
Having read some of the comments though, I'd like to change my vote to The X-Files.
I once swore never to touch media tie-in novels, but broke down when it came to the DS9 continuation novels, which I actually quite enjoyed. If you do any ST novels, I'd say do a sampling to start with, rather than committing yourself to covering a huge mass of series in order, and just do post-series continuation stuff, avoiding the pointless ones that take place "between episodes."
From a purely selfish perspective, I'd love to see you plow through the Highlander movies and show (as well as one spin off). It'd at least get you through a quarter of a year and I'm betting the film reviews would be a hoot.
I hate to speak against another commenter's suggestion but for god's sake please, no Highlander.