Star Trek has turned a lot of people into writers over the years. I count myself as one of the converted. I grew up watching Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and as a little kid I distinctly remember wanting to be Wesley Crusher (see...not everyone hated the character, and look how cool Wil Wheaton turned out to be?). My favorite tea became Earl Grey (hot). As I got older, my fan impulse morphed into an awareness that someone was writing these really cool stories that were both wildly imaginative and totally relevant to the world around us. Seemed like a cool way to make a living.
The Trek franchise has inspired and enabled the careers of multiple generations of writers, and it has one of the best fandoms in the history of...fandomage. Tomorrow (Monday Dec 10), contributors to all the Trek incarnations are marching with the fans at Paramount. The guild printed up some cool shirts for the occasion (pictured above). And if you're not in LA, or if you can't make it to the picket, StrikeSwag.com is selling a limited number of them with the proceeds going to the Support Fund.
The (non-inclusive) list of rumored attendees for tomorrow includes (this list is blatantly culled from TrekMovie.com): Ron Moore, Ira Steven Behr, Harlan Ellison, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman, Bradley Weddle, David Thompson, David Goodman, Chris Black, Bradley Thompson, David Gerrold, Ken Lazebnik, Jane Espenson, Mike Sussman, Anthony Montgomery, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Walter Koenig, Armin Shimerman, Chase Masterson, Gary Graham and Vaughan Armstrong (with his band).
The check in spot is the Windsor Gate. The event runs from 11-3 on Monday at Paramount Pictures at 5555 Melrose in Hollywood.
12/09/2007
Monday is Trek Day
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9 comments:
I know this isn't quite relevant here but I wasn't sure where to ask. Is the content at indecision2008.com scab work? It would be important to know this if prominent progressive blogs are advertising for it.
Like the wobblies say, solidarity gets the goods.
Dude, I checked out the shirt at strikeswag.com, and the back of it has the Spock quote "Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". Not only one of the best quotes of all time, but that sums up the strike in one sentence.
Harlan Ellison at a TREK-related event?
Now that's devotion to the cause, people.
"It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want." - Spock
Kinda 'propriate, yes?
IF YOU GUYS HAVE THAT MUCH KID IN YOU, GO TO MY PRAYNHIPPIE BLOGGER,HERE, AS I SUGGEST AN UNWRAPPED EMERGENCY TOY DRIVE THAT "WOULD ONLY GO TO KIDS AND TWEEN,AND TEENS OF STRIKER SUPPORTERS".
THEY WANT THE WRITERS TO WORK FOR NO BENEFIT. THE REST OF YOU ARE NEXT,MAKE NO MISTAKE.
Wish I could be there.
This fan of the original series for whom FIAWOL -- that's 'fandom is a way of life'-- changed to FIAGDH 'fandom is a G-D hobby' sometime around the time I went off to college would come out of 'fan retirement' to shake Harlan's hand, hug Walter Koenig, and crack a joke with David Gerrold.
Go get 'em guys & gals!
For the common good, I call for a series of “Dark Days” (i.e. turn the lights off at all the studios, stop work in all the offices, stop equipment from being delivered, stop props from being returned).
The only way to break the resolve of the AMPTP is to act as a collective, to deliver a swift deft blow that knocks them to their knees, and then follow up with a blow to the head. The WGA says that they have struck, but without the support of all guilds, unions, non-union labor, vendors, and the viewing public the WGA’s action isn’t even a slap on the AMPTP’s fat overfed chubby face.
Some have asked the DGA to stand down from negotiating until the WGA has completed their talks. I say enough with talk. The AMPTP’s plays by the rules set down by Machiavelli and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. They don’t negotiate. They go into battle to decimate their foe. Even archangels are fierce in battle. You can’t talk a bully out of beating the shit out of you. Sometime the smallest have to band together to defeat the giants in their path. To win a war you must cut then off the enemy off at their knees, crush them, do not allow them to retreat and reform to attack again.
SAG, the DGA, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 80, Local 600, etc, have to act as one. Without solidarity the WGA will fail and everyone will suffer through their hopeless fight.
It’s not a coincidence that this strike comes at a time when our country faces great economic strife. People are already losing their homes. Months ago an article in The Wall Street Journal foretold of foreclosures, 4.4 million foreclosures due to the sub prime loan market. Banks are writing off billions of dollars. People are already financially overextended. People are already losing their jobs. The dollar is plunging. America is on the brink of a recession.
Of course, Big Business knows that the best way to leverage themselves against their workforce is to keep them just above starvation levels, to keep them so concerned about feeding their family, keeping a roof over their heads. When the workers have to struggle to survive then they don’t care about anything else.
So a protracted strike is not in the best interest of anyone. Reality TV will be used to fill the gaps, carpet baggers will become robber land barons, the film industry will see a surge in theaters goers, DVD rentals will increase. This will all lend aid to the AMPTP’s conifers and cause. If the community of artist and workers in the entertainment industry do not pull together as one, they can not expect to accomplish their goals. I say to everyone, stop being so self-centered and self-serving. We all want to work and take care of our families. We all want the good life.
The police call it the blue flu. I say sacrifice one day a week of your pay, which after taxes for the average BTL worker is only a few hundred dollars less a week. But if the strike is a protracted one, who gets hurt most, the BTL worker. Who loses their home, the BTL worker, who doesn’t have massive savings, the BTL worker, that’s who.
As a BTL worker, I say that we all should in unison turn off the lights once a week. Every week until this matter is settled, everyone in the industry should call in sick, take the day off, not go to work, not deliver the services or products. If we turn off the lights once a week and knock the wind out of the AMPTP’s inflated sails, if we all look at the reality of this situation and the long term devastation that this WGA strike will deliver, we should all see the logic in deft, decisive, unified action.
I call for rotating “Dark Days”. I call for the collective to act and be heard. Otherwise, it’s ever man, woman, or child for themselves, then chaos will rule and the AMPTP will prosper.
I don’t call for anyone person to sacrifice alone. I call for unified, organized actions, before the BTL worker, the people who really make the movies and televisions shows are devastated by the pride and principles of the AMPTP and the WGA.
I do not intend this to be rumor mongering, as I have not a shred of evidence one way or another, but I find it highly suspicious that a scant four days after startrek.com posts extensive articles, video, and lists of participants in the Trek Day Strike supporting the Writers' Guild of America, the entire creative team behind the web site is summarily fired, without prior notice. (Go to the web site and see for yourself, there's a farewell message right there.) Regardless of whether there was any connection with the ongoing WGA strike (which I thoroughly support), this action on the part of CBS Studios, which owns and operates startrek.com, simply makes me want to avoid purchasing any Star Trek videos or merchandise until the strike is over, and perhaps beyond that point as well. CBS' actions are shameful and cruel, and my sympathies go to everyone who has lost their jobs before Christmas.
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