Space flight industry contribute $3,000,000 to Save Star Trek Enterprise

On Wed, 2 Mar 2005 23:10:59 -0800, Brian Burger
wrote:

Three million US for a freakin' TV show?

I liked Next Gen & DS9, couldn't get into Voyager or Enterprise. Just my
taste.

But it's JUST A TV SHOW - not worth 3mil of anyone's money.

And I *hope* Paul Allen is smart enough not to throw his money at a silly
TV show...

Just had to rant,

Brian

Ill rant back........

Imagination drives us.

It inspires us to try things never done before. We picture things
in our minds before we do it. We write about it, we make movies about
it. It doesnt matter if it is an ancient story teller around the fire
20,000 years ago or a modern digitally projected film today.


Someone had to dream and imagine treating disease first before it ever
happened. Imagine that...I want to stop people from dying. Think how
crazy that sounds to someone thousands of years ago. They just
accepted it. Someone had to imagine it and try.


Jule Verne wrote of traveling to the moon long before it happened.
Happen it did.

People had to imagine and write of powered flight long before it ever
happened. The world would be in a pretty poor position without flight.
Look at all those aircraft rushing to the aid of the tsunami victims.

Would you have ridiculed those who dreamed of powered flight?
Leonardo da Vinci ?
Drawing or writing silly tales of the future as nonsense?

We have imaginations for a *reason*.

It seperates us from all other species on earth.
We can imagine what we want to be.

If we can dream it, we can do it eventually.

Star Trek -Inspires- people. Not all, to most it is entertainment
and wasting time to others, but to some others..... *those* people
make a difference.

Yes Doctors, Astronauts, Engineers, Pilots, Computer designers, on and
on.

These people make the world better, because a fire
was started in their minds first. Because someone *imagined*
what the world could be like someday.

What if that spark of inspiration
happened to be a campy TV show called Star Trek
that was about just a little bit more then most shows?

Is it morally wrong to value this? to want this kind of
show and imaginings to continue?

Its not just Trek. Many things inspire people obviously.

Your argument would therefore have to be against
ALL things that fire peoples imaginations.

Imagination...... asking questions like "what If"?


Carl Sagan said "dreams are maps"
He asked who the "cartographers of human purpose" were.
"The visions we present to our children shape the future. It matters
what those visions are. "

Now maybe Im just a "trekkie" with a pilots certificate, but then
again, The Wright Flyer and SpaceShipOne was just a dream once too.


-----------------

The benefactors also added a statement explaining why they believe
this campaign deserves such a substantial contribution:

"We think Star Trek and especially its latest incarnation,
"Enterprise" is the kind of TV that should be aired more often. The
people responsible at Paramount think this is just a show and we want
to tell them, it is not. We are in the commercial space flight
industry and would like to testify that at least one out of two of all
the actual entrepreneurs involved in this industry has been inspired
by Star Trek; and we are not only good at watching TV sci-fi , we are
also good at writing checks, big checks. The people airing this kind
of TV have a responsibility; inspiration. Star Trek has inspired us,
and particularly Enterprise, with its superb theme song that tells so
much about our struggle to move space travel forward and closer to the
public, this inspiration is so self evident, that Virgin Galactic has
ordered a 5-sub orbital ship fleet from Scaled Composites, a 100
million dollar investment, and the first one being built is going to
be christened ‘VSS Enterprise.’ Now doesn’t that ring a bell in
Paramount’s ears? Now, canceling the series so bluntly, for the sake
of just ratings, tells very much about the kind of thinking going on
inside Paramount. If we thought the same way, Paul Allen would have
never funded the SpaceShipOne program. Sir Richard Branson would never
have funded Virgin Galactic and Space Adventures would never have put
two space tourists aboard the International Space Station. Instead, we
would all be at home watching Survivor or some other reality TV show.
Enterprise needs to be renewed, for the sake of fan loyalty, for being
quality TV, for bringing imagination and hope for a better future to
our homes, but over all that, for inspiring us so strongly that we
have fought all our adult lives to bring that future closer to our
children and to us."