Came across this on The Trek BBS, posted by a guy aptly named "El Presidente":

This would have been an edit of my last post, but someone posted since then, and I figured it might be confusing, or missed if I didn't just make a new post. I'm sorry to the mods if this is against protocol… but I wanted the point to be clear.

Picture Star Trek as the Mona Lisa. Mock the comparison all you will, just don't miss the point.

If as DiVinci was painting, he had two people over his left shoulder screaming that he should make her smile, because it would be better that way, while someone else was over his left shoulder yelling that it would be better without… another person behing him wanting it to be more colorfull… someone sending a message by courier that it needs to have an outdoor motif… and then Mona Lisa herself insisting that he draw her from a certain angle… well…

Well…

Then it wouldn't be the Mona Lisa would it?

It would be a mix-mash, based on what someone else yelled, full of compromises… trying to figure out what MOST of the people wanted to see… while trying not to upset the other demographic at the same time.

The result would have been a white washed, hemogenized mess. It would have been boring. And it would have been like EVERYthing else that EVERYone else was doing.

When I say the Star Trek fans need to SHUT UP, and just let TPTB make a show… I mean that in the same spirit as I mean that DiVinci's friends/sponsor/patron needed to SHUT UP so that he could create ART.

You can have art… which is timeless, and which appeals to the ages…

Or…

You can have media… which has a street date, and appeals to the masses.

Your choice.

In context, he's referring to rebooting Star Trek, but I can see how this could apply to a lot of things.