This makes no sense...

[lance_sibley]

There's a new Trek film coming out in a year, and CBS decides to "restructure" their web team and eliminate the department that oversees STARTREK.COM?

WTF?

Well, so much for my contacts there helping to promote Polaris. :(

Comments

[kairi-kiss.livejournal.com]

i thought that st dot com was outsourced a while ago and was just 'property' of CBS but that they did not plan to get rid of it or something, i cant remember what the email i got last time they 'restructored' said....


well i have a suspicion that the PTB wish to kill Trek, cause they are tired of us and it and everything

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I think I must have heard about this before, because when I just went to send an email to the content producer (kradical introduced us at Dragon*Con, but it turned out he remembered me from a panel at the 2006 Worldcon), a similar subject line popped up, suggesting that I'd sent a similar email before. However, a search of my Sent folder failed to find it.

And yeah, I know that CBS and Paramount are probably a little tired of Trek fans in general, but OTOH, they're spending $135 million on the new movie...

[kairi-kiss.livejournal.com]

its a freaking condendrum thats what it is, and yes i know that there was some fear, and discussion on the topic of startrek.com before, cause i was following it rather closely, but i dont know if i still have the emails, sigh

what a pair we are eh???

Still i think the uproar of trying to ditch the site would be disasterous?

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

what a pair we are eh???

Not just us. ;) I found out about it from a thread at TrekBBS.

Still i think the uproar of trying to ditch the site would be disasterous?

It's hard to say. There's a significant portion of Trek fandom that has become rather cynical and will look at this as CBS just trying to kill the franchise. They'll just roll their eyes and go on. Others will be more "the sky is falling!!!" about it.

Perhaps briankit is right (see below), and they just want to bring in a new team. I can't see them completely ditching the site altogether - just having the name of the site would probably be quite valuable in itself.

Come to think of it, though, I do miss one thing from the last restructure - they used to have a Trek encyclopedia tied into it, where you could look up names, places, etc. I think they got rid of that a few years ago. I always found that useful when I was researching panel topics. Maybe they'll turn the site into something like that (he said hopefully).

[kairi-kiss.livejournal.com]

yes, briankit has a point,

i have enjoyed our convo, but i think i am on kid duty tomorrow, so i am going to go to bed now, Hugs dear, talk to you soon,

oh and brian, nice LJ home btw, i like to see the doctor is in

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

they used to have a Trek encyclopedia tied into it, where you could look up names, places, etc. I think they got rid of that a few years ago. I always found that useful when I was researching panel topics.

I'm no encyclopedia, but my brain is filled with random bits of Trek trivia. Feel free to ask me stuff if you get stuck on some minor Trek detail.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

I have a pretty good memory (particularly for TOS) and some good reference books, but sometimes they just don't have what one is looking for.

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

Feel free to ask me anything you can't find. I will probably know it, or be able to find out; I have pretty good Google Fu.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

That could be it, though having met a couple of the people who worked on it (Sandy Stone and Larry Nemecek), I know they're both quite passionate about Star Trek and about the work they've done for fans. It just seems to me that CBS might be shooting themselves in the foot.

Unless JJ Abrams specifically wants his own people? I know that the screenwriters for the new film are pretty big fans too.

[crusherdisciple.livejournal.com]

I figured it was just CBS's asshat reaction to the writer's strike.

Wait- doesn't Viacom own CBS? Then the writers for startrek.com would probably be part of the freelancers that were striking.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Yes, Viacom owns CBS, but the movie division is still separate. I'm not sure where the website falls, though, since it includes elements from both sides.

The latest news is that apparently TPTB want to move their online content department up to the Bay Area. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me... you produce all of your entertainment products in Los Angeles, so you move a significant portion of your publicity engine to San Francisco?

But you could be right about it having to do with the strike. I don't know how many of the people working on the site are striking WGA members (Larry Nemecek might be, as he has a VOY writing credit). Or perhaps Paramount is trying to demonstrate that they don't make any money from online streaming by getting rid of the people who actually make said streaming possible. (Nose, cut, spite, face.)

[jj79.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have my issues with CBS/Paramount/whoever else on their handling of the franchise. However, I find it completely wack-a-doo to think ST.com is gone forever. They've got something going on behind the scenes, as has been mentioned here already. Either ST.com is being folded into the department which works on their other sites or a new team is being brought on board.

With marquee names attached to the new movie, the budget and the inevitable hype machine which will barrel at us in 2008, I don't believe for a second its gone permanently. StarTrek.com could be the site name for the new movie and the entire thing is going to take on a JJ Abrams feel. (Either way, I am available to work on it. :D )

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have my issues with CBS/Paramount/whoever else on their handling of the franchise. However, I find it completely wack-a-doo to think ST.com is gone forever. They've got something going on behind the scenes, as has been mentioned here already. Either ST.com is being folded into the department which works on their other sites or a new team is being brought on board.

It could be either, though I saw somewhere tonight that Viacom are moving their Internet content department up to the San Francisco area. (If that were the case, however, why wouldn't they ask their existing employees if they'd like to move or telecommute?)

With marquee names attached to the new movie, the budget and the inevitable hype machine which will barrel at us in 2008, I don't believe for a second its gone permanently.

That's exactly what I was getting at in my comment to kairi_kiss above. You don't spend $135 million on a movie and then kill one of your major promotional streams.

StarTrek.com could be the site name for the new movie and the entire thing is going to take on a JJ Abrams feel.

Hm, I hadn't thought of that angle. Though they could just keep the existing content "behind" the new site, and just add a link somewhere to allow users to continue through to the old content.

(Either way, I am available to work on it. :D )

So am I. I wonder if they program in C#, PHP, raw HTML or something else. I can do any of those. :)