Lost in Space

The big news in geekdom is that JJ Abrams has been selected to direct the first of the new Star Wars movies.  I'm not sure what to think about this, largely because I have so little experience with Abrams.  Unfortunately didn't watch Lost.  I've been awful at predicting which TV shows will turn out to be good - I missed the first three seasons of The Simpsons assuming it to be a cheap excuse to sell T-shirts to immature kids.  And sure enough, with Lost, I assumed it to be a cheap attempt to cash in on the popularity of Survivor.  By the time I heard people talk about how weird it was, it was too weird to catch up with.  One day, I will lock myself in a room with the DVDs and see what I missed.

As for Abrams' Star Trek reboot, well, I honestly haven't gotten the courage up to watch it yet.  So I have no opinion of him worth mentioning.  All of which brings up my big reaction: Like so many nerds, I'm still trying to come to terms with the idea that both Star Trek/Wars will be controlled by the same person (and it's not me!)

I would have thought that if a single person were to grab control of Sci-Fi's two biggest franchises, it would have to be because that person was one of the following:

• A hugely wealthy person who bought said franchises as play things the way other billionaires buy sports teams.
• The biggest suck up of all time.
• A person who has shown unprecedented credentials in the area of producing mainstream science fiction.

He's successful, but not enough to qualify for the first.  If he were the second, I assume we'd have heard about it.  As for the third, yes he's been successful, with a popular TV show and movie under his bealt.  But he also has some missteps too.  It's a good record, but not the Spielbergian resume I would have expected.

To me, it's just another example of the concentration of creativity in mainstream entertainment.  People at the top of the industry get more creative outlets than they know what to do with, while everyone else struggles to get heard.