Fuller: Bring 'Star Trek' Back To Television

TrekToday · September 17 2008, 10:10 PM

Bryan Fuller is ready to work on another Star Trek series and would like to see the franchise back on television.

As reported by MTV, Fuller, who wrote for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, feels that the time is right for the return of a Star Trek series to television. "I would love to do another 'Star Trek' series," said Fuller. "One where you could go back to the spirit and color of the original 'Star Trek,' because somehow, it got cold over the years. I love 'Next Generation,' but it's a little cooler and calmer than the ones from the '60s, which were so dynamic and passionate."

Currently working on Pushing Daisies, Fuller is impressed with J.J. Abram's version of Star Trek, especially the costumes. But he feels that Kirk, Spock and McCoy should remain in the movies. "You wouldn't have to be on the same ship or have the same characters as the original 'Star Trek,'" explained Fuller, "but you could be in the same timeline and universe. 'Star Trek' has to recreate itself. Otherwise, all the characters start to feel the same. You always have a captain, a doctor, a security officer, and you have the same arguments based on those perspectives. It starts to feel too familiar. So all those paradigms where it takes place on a starship have to be shaken up."

Fuller, a Star Trek fan himself, prefers Deep Space Nine of all the Star Trek incarnations. "'Deep Space Nine' was the best of the modern ones," he said, "because it was so emotionally complicated." Fuller was disappointed with Star Trek: Enterprise, saying, "'Enterprise' was the most sterile of all of them, when it should have been the most fun."

To read more, head to the article located here.

brian · September 17 2008, 10:35 PM

Amen.

To everything he said.

Starbreaker · September 17 2008, 10:44 PM

I want him to acknowledge that Friendship One sucked, and then I'll listen.

zenophite · September 17 2008, 10:53 PM

Yeah I agree with most of the points though I think enterprise was on track to be better than voyager at the end.

still I doubt the old writing team would be involved in any tv show and that is a good thing.

Lindley · September 17 2008, 11:20 PM

Star Trek could certainly do worse than to get Brian Fuller back.

Temis the Vorta · September 17 2008, 11:22 PM

Lindley wrote:

Star Trek could certainly do worse than to get Brian Fuller back.

Give Pushing Daisies four seasons or so - I love it, but it doesn't have a premise that can go on forever - and I agree.

Gaith · September 18 2008, 06:36 AM

Enterprise's mission of going back to basics was exactly what the franchise needed - but they screwed it up. So, we get Star Trek - going back to basics, again.

Provided the first one delivers financially and quality-wise, I say give the Abrams series a solid run - two or three movies at least - before going back to TV. By then, I think something radically different will be needed - perhaps a show set on a Klingon or other alien vessel, Starfleet Academy, A West Wing-style UFP show...

But let the new movies kick into gear before throwing a dozen cooks around the pot. It's not as though we don't have plenty of material to re-watch until then...

Tulin · September 18 2008, 06:50 AM

NO - it's still to early. The bad taste left in everybody's mouth from ENT is still there. I'd say wait until AT LEAST JJ's second ST film and then start looking at ideas. That would be getting onto about eight years since the last copy of a copy of a copy was cancelled and the public may actually be longing for some more.

They have to divorce it from the previous shows in some way - whether it be in a different time period, time line or alternate reality. Just as the movie series is rebooting, so should the tv universe.

MattJC · September 18 2008, 07:15 AM

[QUOTE=Tulin;2082885] The bad taste left in everybody's mouth from ENT is still there. [QUOTE]

Not everybody.
Enterprise didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Gep Malakai · September 18 2008, 10:32 AM

Temis the Vorta wrote:

Lindley wrote:

Star Trek could certainly do worse than to get Brian Fuller back.

Give Pushing Daisies four seasons or so - I love it, but it doesn't have a premise that can go on forever - and I agree.

Color me dense, but I was never even aware that Fuller was involved with Trek.

Pushing Daisies has been great, so why couldn't he save Voyager?

Pioneer · September 18 2008, 11:22 AM

The Next Generation was my favorite series but I must say that the stories and characters in Deep Space Nine were fuller and richer.

Admiral Bear · September 18 2008, 11:43 AM

See what the Abrams movie does first in terms of box office before even contemplating a new TV series, and then when you've contemplated it, wait another 5 years, and then another 5 years.

I just don't think there's any public appetite for new TV Trek outside a few thousand hard core geeks. As was said above, it's not as if there isn't a huge back catalogue of quality Star Trek for people to watch.

T'Cal · September 18 2008, 08:15 PM

brian wrote:

Amen.

To everything he said.

Ditto!

Pioneer wrote:

The Next Generation was my favorite series but I must say that the stories and characters in Deep Space Nine were fuller and richer.

Ditto again! The thing about DS9 that impressed me was that each main character had interesting relationships not only with the other main characters, but that they also had ones with so many semi-regulars. The Dominion War arc was well handled, too.

Samuel T. Cogley · September 18 2008, 09:05 PM

MattJC wrote:

Enterprise didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

If symptoms persist, consult a doctor.

Temis the Vorta · September 18 2008, 09:10 PM

Tulin wrote:

NO - it's still to early. The bad taste left in everybody's mouth from ENT is still there. I'd say wait until AT LEAST JJ's second ST film and then start looking at ideas. That would be getting onto about eight years since the last copy of a copy of a copy was cancelled and the public may actually be longing for some more.

They have to divorce it from the previous shows in some way - whether it be in a different time period, time line or alternate reality. Just as the movie series is rebooting, so should the tv universe.

ENT is effectively forgotten by the general public now - to the extent it ever entered public consciousness, which wasn't much. They can do a new TV series at any time without any serious baggage. For the vast majority of people, Star Trek doesn't mean much at all: Spock, Kirk, Enterprise. Other than that, it's a blank slate.

brian · September 18 2008, 09:12 PM

For the general public, there are only two Treks. The "old" one with Captain Kirk, and the "new" one with that bald British guy. All contemporary Treks blend into one for them.

TheInsideMan · September 18 2008, 09:22 PM

It shouldn't come back until both the fans and, more importantly, the general public, are hungry for it to come back.

Otherwise, the reaction of the public (and the media) is gonna be "What? Another one? How many times can you Boldly go?!? Have they fixed the shields yet or do they still go down to 20% when someone takes a piss? Do they even have toilets yet?"

A Trek TV series is gonna need more viewers than the hard-core fans out there to survive for more than 1 season. Just IMO.

MattJC · September 18 2008, 09:23 PM

Samuel T. Cogley wrote:

MattJC wrote:

Enterprise didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

If symptoms persist, consult a doctor.

I repeat.
Enterprise didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Temis the Vorta · September 18 2008, 09:29 PM

Gep Malakai wrote:

Temis the Vorta wrote:

Lindley wrote:

Star Trek could certainly do worse than to get Brian Fuller back.

Give Pushing Daisies four seasons or so - I love it, but it doesn't have a premise that can go on forever - and I agree.

Color me dense, but I was never even aware that Fuller was involved with Trek.

Pushing Daisies has been great, so why couldn't he save Voyager?

Not only that, but I'm pretty sure he was responsible for a lot of Heroes' first season humor and zing, which I sorely missed in S2. I suspect that was his contribution because Pushing Daisies is very witty and suddenly Heroes, not so much. Plus he wrote a lot of people's all-time favorite episode, "Company Man." So he can contribute a lot to any TV series. I guess he wasn't allowed to that with VOY or something.

Another mystery to me is how Thompson & Weddle could be so mediocre on DS9 - pretty much all the other regular writers were better - but on BSG, their stuff is among the best.

AntonyF · September 18 2008, 09:31 PM

I think there's a certain rose colored glasses impression of TOS, and Fuller has it. It's understandable... groundbreaking TV, truly inspiring and one of a kind, he probably watched it as a kid... it has a lot of feel good spirits.

The trouble is you can't inspire that way any more with sci-fi. And while I agree with him generally that it should be fun, not sterile, DS9 is best etc... I do think this constant longing for TOS isn't good.

The movies will get away with it, as they can have some nostalgia for a couple of hours. But a TV series needs to be something else entirely. It doesn't matter what timeline it's in.