Inspired by a Star Trek fanficrant post...

[selenay]

http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/8227664.html

This was the post. Hmmm.

Now, the OP does make one or two good points if you try to remove the sense of entitlement from them, but really...

The fascinating stuff happened in the comments, which were equally split between "Word!" and "Er, what the hell are you on?" and it's easy to see that there is already a pretty big schism in the fandom. The point that a lot of people were making about the movie-verse being an AU from TOS is what struck me.

It's something that I've been trying to figure out and think through for the last week. When we got new Doctor Who it was very definitely a continuation of what had gone before. It's useful to have some knowledge of the old episodes if you're going to write for New Who just so that you aren't getting canon stuff wrong given that everyone acknowledges that continuation element. That doesn't mean having to have watched every episode (I haven't and I consider myself an old school fan) but knowing how the internal rules of the universe work is a must and having a reference point for critical things is helpful. I know that there was the big divide between old fans and new with lots of people straddling the fence of both and plenty finding the old stuff through their love of the new. That's been a big part of the fun of new Doctor Who. At no stage, though, has it even been suggested that new Doctor Who is a separate universe from old Doctor Who.

With Star Trek, it's different. You know how I felt when I read that post? Like I was back in some of the Eastercon debates where long-time fans were mourning the death of fannishness due to all these awful new young people coming in. That was not something I liked but it does give me a picture of what Star Trek fandom is like.

Yes, it would be nice to think that people will be rediscovering the original series through the new movie, but having thought about it carefully I don't think that it's essential. No, not even for fanfic writers. The movie creates an AU and things are going to develop differently from now on. This Enterprise crew started out differently, will probably have different adventures due to the timeline changes and won't be following the same path as the original series.

To me that means movie-based fanfic is going to have a different interpretation of the characters than original series fic and that's the way it should be. If anything, I'd probably get quite annoyed if a fic supposedly based on the movie-verse used original series characterisation as a base because Shatner et al. aren't the same as Pine et al.

And as with Doctor Who, I don't think it's necessary to watch every episode of the original series before diving in to write new movie fanfic. Seriously, some episodes shouldn't be watched even if you want to write original series fic. The 20s gangster world sticks out in my mind. I do think that it's useful to know some of the facts about the Star Trek universe, its history and cultures. This is particularly true for anyone writing Spock. It might be helpful to know about major future events that fans are familiar with but equally some of those events may no longer be relevant. Actually, it might be interesting to see how some of the original series plots would play out in this AU.

I don't think this is entirely about old versus new fans, but more about some old fans not understanding how the AU-ness of the movie can impact interpretation. I am hoping that the poster in fanficrants isn't representative of most old school Trek fans, but I have a suspicion that there are going to be a fair few out there with the same attitude.

To me this means that, however carefully people mark their fics as TOS or XI-based, there are going to be a few people out there who will send nasty notes because they don't want to acknowledge the AU thing. That will make me sad because there are going to be some excellent fics out there that do a wonderful job of working out how the new universe will differ, extrapolating forward and building some amazing ideas and they will still get hit by people complaining that they got things wrong because it doesn't match up perfectly with the original series.

I'm thinking of a new tag-line for this stuff:

Star Trek XI: New universe, new rules. Deal with it.

Comments

[sineala.livejournal.com]

Seriously, some episodes shouldn't be watched even if you want to write original series fic. The 20s gangster world sticks out in my mind.

...am I the only one who likes "A Piece of the Action?" Sigh. It has Fizzbin!

There were people on kirkspock the other day calling to restrict it to TOS canon only and make a new comm for XI canon. I think that's a bit extreme, but on the other hand, I do hope people will watch the rest of Trek too, you know? I don't think you can get a complete picture of how the internal rules of the universe, as you said, work just from the new movie, and I know it's an AU but it can't have all changed.

*is currently trying to figure out what the heck it means that they all seem to know what Romulans look like, when they really really shouldn't*

[selenay]

...am I the only one who likes "A Piece of the Action?"

No comment?

I do hope people will watch the rest of Trek too, you know?

I hope that people will as well, just for the richness that it adds to your understanding of everything. If anything, to write a good post-XI fic that has actual plot it's good to know what happened originally so that you can extrapolate what will stay the same and what will change in this AU.

I don't think that it's essential in quite the same way that the OP does, but I would still prefer to read fic that has that base to work from.

when they really really shouldn't*

AU! *hand waves*

[fahrenheit-f430.livejournal.com]

To all that you have said: word.

To all that the OP has said: bitterness and salience do not make a good cocktail.

Star Trek XI: New universe, new rules. Deal with it.

I was thinking more 'Star Trek XI: we still do time travel by black hole and you're worried about the quality of the PORN?!'

[selenay]

Heh, you raise a good point :-)

Although, at least they didn't slingshot around the sun. I was expecting that to be the way we got the re-set button at the end :-D

[fahrenheit-f430.livejournal.com]

There's only one man who can stop Nero...

*dramatic music*

One man seated between the Last Survivor (and his crew) of Romulus and a flawless plan to rain merry hell on the Hotass Vulcan responsible...

*MOAR dramatic music*

And that man is... *thumpitty-thumpitty-thump dramatic music* Professor Stephen Hawking!

I'm a cynical soul. With the amount of money invested there had to be sequel potential - building a reset button into the script then would be pointless. :-D

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that post is getting the rake over treatment at fandom_wank. It's amusing, I must admit, and I sortave get her point*. I can sortave understand the meeting/clashing of different culture. My biggest passion in Star Trek was DS9, Dr Bashir. I never got into the original series online.

But...I wasn't that interested in the latest film, so, *shrug* I really can't get passionately into the arguments, from either side.

Also, I think the OP is much younger then me. So that cracked me up.

*but still think she sounds like a nutter

[selenay]

that post is getting the rake over treatment at fandom_wank

I figured it would get over there. She has a few good points, but an awful lot of arrogance and a huge sense of fannish entitlement overwhelm the odd good points.

I couldn't get a feel for her age. Something about her post made me think she's older, but then that's probably because I assume that anyone who is that passionate about the original series must be older than me. Erroneous assumption, methinks!

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

I couldn't get a feel for her age.

I think she might be a he, from what I've read in other places, but I'm not sure for certain. But I do know he/she is 7 years younger then me, I went to look at the profile page earlier on - but now the age has been taken down.

I always assume anyone online is female, American and in their early twenties, unless told otherwise ;)