Re-booting TNG For TV?

[thumbtack]

C.E. Evans wrote:

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the decision to do a movie reboot of TOS was made before Abrams was hired

True, if Rick Berman can be believed.

[BrownShatner]

Jingle Balrog wrote:

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I recently had the opportunity to look back at some of the early design concepts of TNG's Enterprise interior and bridge, and I got the sense the creators in '87 wanted the ship to be twice as large, less militaristic, much more "casual" in the sense that this was To be a ship with a mission of deep space exploration that would take its crew and families years away from earth. Those artist conceptions looked absolutely impossible to create back then. Perhaps they would serve now, however, as a starting point for a 25th Century Star Trek television show.

An old post, and perhaps others have made this point better...

TNG was really a product of it's time. USA and the USSR were making peace, the economy was strong, oil was cheap, and one could envision a future where the "Space UN" flys around in a hotel filled with children, and the captain was an distinguished older diplomat that could wait 30 seconds to say "shields up" when Romulans appeared.

Would this type of show resonate with the modern audience at all? Efforts to overlay terrorism and war themes onto TNG-era Trek were hamhanded, the antiseptic and verbose nature of the show never quite meshed with the chaos and grit going on around it. (Abrams made it work, but that was a pure action movie with shakycam, miniskirts, and combat boots.)

If they were to attempt such a thing, Riker would become a much larger character, as would Worf; while Crusher, Wesley, and Jordi would be much lesser roles. Also the aesthetics and dialog would be complete different. Now ask yourself if that's what you really want.

[Dr. Crusher]

BrownShatner wrote:

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TNG was really a product of it's time.

Would this type of show resonate with the modern audience at all?

I agree that it was a product of its time--absolutely. That may be another reason why the movies, with their increasingly darker themes, were not as well received as the series. In addition, the novels post-Nemesis have also been "darker," which has led to a varied response. I think a TNG relaunch would inevitably have to reflect its time, and there are many elements that may not resonate as well with today's audience.

[The Castellan]

BrownShatner wrote:

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An old post, and perhaps others have made this point better...

TNG was really a product of it's time. USA and the USSR were making peace, the economy was strong, oil was cheap, and one could envision a future where the "Space UN" flys around in a hotel filled with children, and the captain was an distinguished older diplomat that could wait 30 seconds to say "shields up" when Romulans appeared.

Would this type of show resonate with the modern audience at all? Efforts to overlay terrorism and war themes onto TNG-era Trek were hamhanded, the antiseptic and verbose nature of the show never quite meshed with the chaos and grit going on around it. (Abrams made it work, but that was a pure action movie with shakycam, miniskirts, and combat boots.)

If they were to attempt such a thing, Riker would become a much larger character, as would Worf; while Crusher, Wesley, and Jordi would be much lesser roles. Also the aesthetics and dialog would be complete different. Now ask yourself if that's what you really want.

Nothing that I want, that's for sure.

[RandyS]

ChristopherPike wrote:

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Meh. Hollywood is as creatively bankrupt, as this planet is financially. Morally too when I see kids rioting because they have no real role models, that worked long and hard to achieve in life. Rather than wanting it to happen overnight or hoping they'll be just plain lucky.

So let's get a 30 year old, pumped up Tom Hardy as Picard. Give him a bulldog for a pet. Have him work out with dumbells in the ready room and punch alien Ambassadors who've never heard of France.

It's about the level I expect from TV right now...

30 years old? Sorry. Hardy is too old for today's audience.

[C.E. Evans]

thumbtack wrote:

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True, if Rick Berman can be believed.

There was a regime change at Paramount in 2006, and Berman was considered part of the old regime.

[EmperorTiberius]

love like winter wrote:

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Since the JJ movies are a re-boot/re-telling of TOS...should the next TV series re-tell TNG? I think this could be a great idea and would support it.

TNG is tied with VOY as my favorite series' and I would love this...could it be F*'d up? Sure...but if it doesn't work...we could just ignore it.

If this was on the CW...it could work well since they are switching up their programming a bit and Mark Pedowitz said he likes remakes. Link.

Why can't he just be original and do something on his own instead of stealing Gene's ideas?

[Temis the Vorta]

I don't think a new Star Trek series needs to worry about being a product of our times or make reference to current events, which can be too limiting and run the risk of being obvious and clumsy.

There are timeless aspects to storytelling that always work. The idealistic hero, the implacable foe, the forbidden love, the character with divided loyalties, the anti-hero, the fish out of water...not that I'm advocating any or all of those, just pointing out that elements like that can always be assembled into a good story regardless of what's going on in the world.

The bigger issue for Star Trek is not what's going on in the world but what's going on in the TV business. There's no really good place for any sort of space opera now. SyFy is doing well with ghost-hunting reality shows, wrestling and cop shows that pay lip service to sf/f. A space opera would be more expensive to produce, and wouldn't necessarily get better ratings.

Broadcast is pretty hopeless now but there's reason to believe that ABC and NBC at least might be taking interesting risks next season. Cable seems friendly to sf/f, with some of the biggest hits (The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Game of Thrones) in that genre. There's a massive number of sf/f shows on broadcast and cable in development for next season but only one is a space opera by any definition. A few others include some alien angle, but are Earth-based.

[CaptainMatt]

I do not believe a TNG reboot would work. It could never be as it was, no matter who is at the proverbial helm. They should not try torecapture past glries quite so much, I mean, we already have TOS back from the dead as far as the films go, so why not stop there for the forseeable future. I also do not see any more original ideas out there working for another series. It's too soon at any rate, in my view, to do another series so close to when the last originally aired, and with the movies now basically the onscreen experience for fans to enjoy if they want to.

[Temis the Vorta]

CaptainMatt wrote:

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I also do not see any more original ideas out there working for another series. It's too soon at any rate, in my view, to do another series so close to when the last originally aired, and with the movies now basically the onscreen experience for fans to enjoy if they want to.

Are you kidding, all sorts of ideas could work. And how is it "too soon" to air another series? Show people something kick-ass and engaging, and you'll suddenly have a market for it. Since when do people not want to be entertained?

The real problem is that space opera in general is dead on TV, so that would be a huge disincentive to CBS taking a risk on Star Trek on TV. The entertainment business works on herd mentality, which is why we get more cop shows and remakes than there could possibly be demand for.

[CaptainMatt]

I take it you do not believe in franchise fatigue. We are therefore never going to agree on this matter, so I choose here and now to end my part in this conversation.

[Sindatur]

CaptainMatt wrote:

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I take it you do not believe in franchise fatigue. We are therefore never going to agree on this matter, so I choose here and now to end my part in this conversation.

Oh definitely, Manny Coto got screwed on Enterprise, he hit it out of the park most of his season, IMHO, but, the audience had already given up.

I think enough time has passed for people to sample a new version, but, if it doesn't deliver quickly, it'll likely be doomed. It's not likely it'll ever get 2 full seasons to meander and be mediocre again.

[Temis the Vorta]

CaptainMatt wrote:

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I take it you do not believe in franchise fatigue. We are therefore never going to agree on this matter, so I choose here and now to end my part in this conversation.

Oh no! I'm crushed.

Sindatur wrote:

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I think enough time has passed for people to sample a new version, but, if it doesn't deliver quickly, it'll likely be doomed. It's not likely it'll ever get 2 full seasons to meander and be mediocre again.

That's true of every TV show today. Either deliver fast, or get your ass cancelled. Yet plenty of shows manage to survive and even thrive.

This conversation is basically going around in circles. If Star Trek were the sort of thing to get good ratings, then it would succeed.

[xortex]

Well the Star Gate void is being filled by the great 'Untitled' thing of RH Wolfe. That should keep people in psyche wards and prisons calm for a good long time. er, and the people on these boards.

[Sindatur]

Vorta Claus wrote:

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Oh no! I'm crushed.

That's true of every TV show today. Either deliver fast, or get your ass cancelled. Yet plenty of shows manage to survive and even thrive.

This conversation is basically going around in circles. If Star Trek were the sort of thing to get good ratings, then it would succeed.

Oh, no doubt, I was merely pointing out, they luxury Trek had in the past of 2 full Seasons to grow an audience is no longer an option, so, a new one would need to come out of the Gate with a different approach.