When the Writer's Guild went on strike in November of 2007 the impact on television was immediate.  Shows with short lead times like late night talk shows couldn't get new episodes out.  Scripted television shows ended up with only half length seasons.  Most Americans probably thought we'd seen the last of the impact from the strike when it ended in February 2008 and then normal television resumed in the fall.  But sadly for all of us the effects on films took longer to hit us and the audience is paying for it now with a summer of half-baked films.

Due the how much longer films take to make as opposed to television the scripts that should have been getting polished and refined during the strike were ones the ones for this summer's line up of films.  The the strike started looming many films were greenlit and rushed through on scripts that weren't up to par yet.  In the case of Transformers 2 there have been reports that director Michael Bay spent the strike working out the action beats he wanted and then when the strike ended brought in the writers to try to make a script around what he had come up with.  Nearly every major "blockbuster" release of the summer has had notable rough edges if not huge gaping issues.  Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, Land of the Lost, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Angels and Demons are all strike pictures and all have met with tepid to scathing critical response and only Wolverine managing truly decent returns (of course that had the force of a successful franchise behind it).

It hasn't been all bad for the summer but the two serious breakthroughs so far are ones that managed to avoid strike issues.  Up being an animated film has a longer productions schedule than a live action film and had the script in place and finished before the strike kicked in.  Star Trek wasn't even planned as a summer film, it was scheduled and ready for release back in December of 2008.  It was moved to the summer schedule in an effort to have a strong and unrushed film as Paramount's summer tent pole.  Warner Bros. made a similar choice in moving Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince from its original November 2008 release date.

While we've ended up with a very "meh" summer line up for the most part this should be the last bruise that movie going audiences have to suffer from the Writer's strike.  Better luck next year.