Poll: Do Westward readers like Star Trek?

Posted: Sunday, August 21, 2011 trek_westward.gifWestward owes quite a bit in concept to the classic sci-fi series Star Trek. It's a little known fact that the premise that developed into the Westward comic strip began nearly ten years ago as a Star Trek fanfiction project! That being the case, I've always assumed that, even though the story deviates widely from its roots, Westward's readership would largely be made up of Trek fans—but is that really the case? Let's put it to the test! -e
Are you a Trekker?
  • (50)
  • (22)
  • (1)

Archive:

  • February 20, 2013 From the Author: Westward: Volume One
  • July 22, 2012 From the Author: The Challenge
  • June 14, 2012 From the Author: Westward Book + Reviews
  • March 25, 2012 Inspiration: Relics of the World's Fair
  • March 19, 2012 Poll: How Often Do You Read Westward?
  • March 15, 2012 Inspiration: Telecommunications Services for the 1990's
  • March 03, 2012 Inspiration: The Millionare - Soviet Cartoon, 1963
  • February 26, 2012 Poll: What is the Source of the Signal?
  • January 27, 2012 From the Author: Look! Up in the sky!
  • January 08, 2012 Inspiration: New York World's Fair: IBM Pavilion
  • December 27, 2011 From the Author: Goggles!
  • December 18, 2011 Inspiration: New York World's Fair: Festival of Gas
  • December 06, 2011 Westward Development: Westward Concept Art
  • December 03, 2011 Fan Art: A Cubicled Thorblaxian
  • November 23, 2011 Westward Development: There's Something About Alice
  • August 21, 2011 Poll: Do Westward readers like Star Trek?
  • June 24, 2011 Poll: Will there be zombies in Episode Three?
  • June 18, 2011 From the Author: Video Trailer for Westward: Weight of Ages
  • June 12, 2011 Poll: Is Francis Carter a good captain?
  • January 01, 2011 From the Author: Video Trailer for Westward: Epiphany
  • December 25, 2010 From the Author: Westward: Year One
  • November 04, 2010 From the Author: Welcome to Westward
  • July 26, 2010 From the Author: Westward Discussion Forum
  • July 06, 2010 From the Author: Westward Year .5
  • July 05, 2010 Fan Art: Guest Artwork by Robert Lopez
  • July 04, 2010 Fan Art: Guest Artwork by Steve Thompson
  • June 30, 2010 From the Author: Weight of Ages: Introduction
  • June 16, 2010 From the Author: Epiphany and Beyond
  • May 30, 2010 From the Author: Website Changes
  • 7 Comments:

    This is a fun poll. I think Westward's roots definitely show, and in a good way, but I enjoy this comic quite a bit more than I enjoy Trek. :P I used to be a very big Star Trek fan years ago, but I gradually watched it less and less, until these days, I am forced to choose option #2 above. Still, I have some fond memories of my trekkie days, and heck, if they made a new series, I know I'd give it a try.

    I like how there's an option for "I know of Star Trek," but no option at all for people who don't know anything about it -- which makes perfect sense, considering it's become a fundamental part of our pop culture heritage. There probably isn't anyone alive in the Western world who doesn't have at least *some* vague idea of what Star Trek is all about.

    The last option is hilarious. :P The U.S.S. Westward there is very nice.

    Since this is an excuse to talk about my personal opinions about Star Trek, my favourite series was DS9 because of the awesome character interaction -- and in some ways it feels like it's really the closest to Westward in tone, despite the differences. There's also some episodes of the Original Series I love, especially A Taste of Armageddon, about the simulated, yet still deadly, interplanetary war. The Next Generation was once my favourite because it seemed to best embody the theme of exploration, but nowadays it just seems a bit too dry to me, the setting and characters a bit too neat and tidy. Voyager had its moments, and I still absolutely love the Doctor, but it wasn't a great show on the whole; and I thought Enterprise was just awful. I always think of the 2009 Trek film as "Galaxy Quest II".
    I almost forgot to ask -- what does M - AC stand for? For that matter, what did NCC stand for? :P
    We actually have very similar opinions when it comes to Trek, Meh.Aloe! DS9 is also my favorite, since as you can see, I'm big on character development. That's the main reason why I'm not a real fan of Voyager—although I am actually giving it another chance now that it's on Netflix.

    TNG, for all its flaws, has left perhaps the deepest impression on me. The ideals it carried, the beautiful design of the Enterprise-D, and the sense of familial comfort within it will always hold a special place for me. Certain elements of TNG, along with The Motion Picture and The Cage are, I think, the closest Trek got to what Roddenberry had in mind.

    Speaking of the pilot episode, the original fanfiction that sparked Westward was an homage to The Cage. I was particularly struck by the fact that the universe and details presented in that episode were markedly different from elements that would later be associated with Trek canon. Westward was a project in which I sought to compile those details and extrapolate them into a distinct Trek universe, as if The Cage had successfully launched the series.

    The M-AC on the hull stood for "Mercury-Albatross Class." One thing that has always bothered me is the ridiculous convention of beginning all non-experimental starship IDs with "NCC." What does it stand for? Why would all starships have the same prefix? So I pulled a bit out of later Trek canon and postulated that the Enterprise's ID prefix stood for something like, "New Constitution Class." From there, I supposed that starships of other classes would have other prefixes.

    ...because that, apparently, is the sort of thing I think about.
    I rather like that way of thinking. I never really "got" fan-fiction, so to speak, but the idea of taking some early iteration of a universe that underwent continuity drift, and trying to refine it and expand on it to recapture elements or an atmosphere later lost or glossed over, strikes me as appealing.

    It's also interesting to learn more about the origins of Westward's old-fashioned feel. :P

    I think I'd like to make some fan-fiction of that sort for Stargate SG-1, which was a great show right up until it ended with season 8. After which, of course, they sadly didn't make any new seasons or sequels. EVER.
    Yeah, the thing about most fanfiction (in my snobbish and overly general opinion) is that it rehashes the writer's love of the source material without significantly expanding upon it. That way lies madness for me; I have too many of my own ideas. For me, The Cage, by itself, provided a tantalizing set of clues without too much restrictive framework.

    I've always liked Stargate's basic premise of ancient alien influence and technology. I never got very far watching the show, though, because I was too annoyed with all the military trappings.
    I don't like Star Trek because of boring uniforms and silly 'TV-episode plots'. ("Q" must be the lamest plot element ever.) For me it's Star Wars all the way, because I really like the mix of high tech with low tech/wilderness. But I wouldn't let my loathing of Star Trek give me second thoughts about Westward, so I had to pick the second option instead of the third.
    Thanks for the clarification, Gillsing! I used to be a big Star Wars fan, and still think that, aesthetically speaking, the lightsaber is probably the best scifi prop ever. One of my fondest memories in scifi fiction actually comes from "I, Jedi," when Corran Horn makes himself a lightsaber out of a speederbike handle. I geeked out for days.
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