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Star Trek, the original 1960's version, is perhaps the best sci-fi series ever aired. It featured scripts written by "real" sci-fi writers like Harlan Ellison, actors like William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy who played their parts so well they became typecast for decades, dramatic music, and special effects that were the best of their time. More than that, Star Trek featured Gene Roddenberry's vision of mankind's future, a future in which we had virtually overcome war, corruption, prejudice, sexism, racism, and practically every other human failing. It was a future that we'd like to be a part of. When I learned that G4 television had come up with something it was calling "Star Trek 2.0" based on the original series, I was intrigued. How could you improve on a classic? After watching just part of one episode, I came to realize that you couldn't... at least not the way G4 tried to do it. What G4 has done is cram the video into about two thirds of the screen. On top, they placed "Trek Facts" which provide little bits of trivia about the show and the episode. This, at least, is mildly interesting. On the left side of the screen they display a scrolling list of "Trek Stats" such as "Uhura touches earpiece" and "Red shirt deaths". These might be interesting if they started at zero during the first episode and increased as the events they portray happened during the episode(s). But they don't. On the right is some weird random thing they call the "Spock Market" which seems to have nothing to do with the show, either. Then, across the bottom of the screen is the ultimate eye candy for ADD sufferers watching the show... they display a question and let the people who visit the G4 web site submit answers and chat with each other. This chat is mostly inane in the bits I've seen on Trek 2.0. Worst of all, they shove a huge G4 TV logo in the bottom right. A lot of screen real estate is wasted for this crap, which doesn't improve the episode at all. Here's what it looks like:  The horror that is Star Trek 2.0 on G4 TV
I hope the ratings for Star Trek 2.0 are so low that they cancel the idea and stick with airing the show unmodified, as originally intended.
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