Most here agree, the Vanguard series kicks @$$ and is probably one of the best series Trek Lit has to offer. I always wondered if it could make a good TV Series....yeah I know Kirk & Co have a few cameo appearances but as most know they portion could be edited out. The cost wouldn't be so much as it'd have actors and a lot of the sets would be studio/ship scenes and not too much on the planet. Even if it isn't a TV miniseries...it could be a direct to DVD series as well. For that matter, I surprised that the folks in charge don't try something like that. Even if they didn't pick up on Vanguard, they could use a whole new story idea......a whole new ship idea for a few episodes. Perhaps Star Trek is saturated with no series on the air to keep up the ratings, but you'd think even if ONE season of the show, you'd have people watching.. Your Thoughts??
Firstly, station/ship scenes tend to be the most expensive, hence all the cheaper 'planet based' sci-fi on TV at the moment. Secondly, I wouldn't want Vanguard adapted - it works brilliantly as novels and would change in a TV adaptation. Besides, I'd like something new. I'd love a new TV show or miniseries. I'd prefer a continuation of TNG/DS9, but its much more likely to be in the JJverse...
I think the best way for something like that to work is if HBO or one of the other cable networks did it, similar to the way Game of Thrones is being done. Free of FCC restrictions and commercial interuptions.
Agreed that Vanguard has long seemed to be Trek re-aimed at the HBO crowd. Same universe, same high ideals, same continuity, looser "Standards and Practices". I would definitely set it up that way. And if there's a way to leave Kirk and company out of the equation of adaptation without messing up the broad-strokes content, I'd do that too. Leave younger Carol in there, cast accordingly, if need be. But for the rest of it?
Is it possible? Could it be done if those in charge wanted it done? Sure. Is it likely? Not in the slightest. Much as I would love to see it, and be part of the adaptation process, I know there are far too many considerations — most of which begin and end with money — for it to ever have a chance at coming to fruition.
I don't think the Vanguard books could be made into a movie or show. Books to the screen adaptations don't usually work out and things would be changed anyway for the screen. It's better to just enjoy them as books!
Game of Thrones works on TV. So no reason Vanguard could not work as well. Heck, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy works on screen as well. So let's get going and do it.
I would love to see it, but it'll never happen. I would definitely want it done as a regular weekly series, it would lose to much of the depth that made it so great if they tried to do a movie or a miniseries.
I've long thought Vanguard would make for a perfect HBO series. The content and style seem like a perfect fit for the network. Do roughly a book a season and you can get your usual 7 to 8 season show. But it'll never happen. [/reverse psychology]
If it was turned into a HBO series wouldn't it be required to have a random sex scene everything 15 minutes where a male character takes a female character up the tradesman's entry or female characters randomly stand around half naked or are sexually abused. Might you see would get the first onscreen 'I need warp speed in two minutes or we are completely fucked!'.
I'm sure Vanguard could work as an HBO series. I'm sure that's true of plenty of media tie-in novels. But that doesn't mean there's a big enough market for it, or a desire to make it on the part of a production company.
Yeah, I'm sure Vanguard would make a great TV series, and it's cool that people are so enthusiastic about it, but a bit of a reality check here: With the possible exception of one or two Doctor Who novels, which were written by people who eventually ended up working on the actual TV show, tie-in novels never get adapted to film. That's just not the way things work. Sorry to be a party-pooper here, but this is a fairly common misconception. If I had a dime for every time a well-meaning neighbor or relative has asked me when my new Trek or CSI book was going to show up on their TV . . . .
There were also a couple of Batman: The Animated Series tie-in comics, the Holiday Special and Mad Love, which got adapted largely verbatim (with some cuts and minor revisions) into episodes of the revived series. However, they were both created by members of the show's own staff. Oh, yes, and one issue of Marvel's non-canonical Gargoyles tie-in comic was adapted into the episode "The Price." That's a very rare case where the creators adapted a story they didn't do themselves. Also, there's a case to be made that ST:TAS's "The Time Trap" may have been, shall we say, an unacknowledged adaptation of Gold Key's Trek comic "Museum at the End of Time" from the previous year. Either that or it's an incredible coincidence. (Then again, VGR's "The Void" was nearly the same story a third time.) Otherwise, the only Trek productions adapted from prose works have been based on original, non-Trek works, namely "The Slaver Weapon" and "Tin Man." (And technically "Arena," though there the similarity was accidental and they just bought the rights to Fredric Brown's story to avoid the risk of a lawsuit, and to be gracious since Gene Coon realized he might've been unconsciously remembering the story.)