How desperate are you for a new Trek TV series?

Well, let me put it this way:

Sexual favors may or may not be involved.

 

Be interesting to have a Stargazer series that included Picard, but he was mostly kept in the background.

A modern version of Lt. Leslie, usually seen but rarely heard.

 

I don't want any series that takes place in the past. Either we get situations where we know how they're going to turn out, or we have to bring in ridiculous time travel stuff.

 

Which tropes (besides the "bumpy-headed aliens" and technobabble) do you mean?

 

Reset button.

 

I completely agree. The future. For one thing, that was part of what made TOS such a draw in the first place--it was a future to the "now" of the 60s. That, and it was fundamentally optimistic.

I've hardly ever read any Star Trek books, preferring to enjoy Trek as visual/audio media and nothing else, but I assume some of the books are good, and some of them are set in the future? Maybe they could help flesh out the skeleton of an idea.

I wonder--would we still want to have our primary cast be Starfleet?

 

I would.

 

Was that a particular TNG problem?

 

Narrow view. And, no, it doesn't mean you have to do time travel stories.

And technically they're all set in the future.

 

Oh, yeah. I mean, no worse than TOS and VOY, but always pressed. But just think of, say, the episode "Genesis." Or "Inner Light." Or just about any episode where extreme things happen to people, and then it's all back to the way It was at the end of the hour.

Only DS9 really tried to escape the tyranny of the reset button, and while it wasn't wholly successful, it did pretty well I'd say.

 

I don't think I care anymore. Enterprise already didn't catch my interest. Not interested in prequels or reboots.

 

Lt. Ayala on Voyager essentially is a "modern day Leslie."

 

Anomaly of the week
Time travel paradoxes
Weird behavior disease that one person is immune to
Small crew on away mission arrives at the ship to find everybody disabled somehow
Holodeck malfunctions
AI rights
Characters possessed by energy beings

 

I don't think Trek can be viable on TV anymore. SciFi of any sort was always a niche market, but now Trek would have to be up against reality shows that cost nothing to produce. Having an expensive scripted show appealing to only a niche market would not work economically.

 

I don't know. Sure, reality shows are cheaper than almost any scripted drama, but it's not as though TV has abandoned dramas completely--and they're still throwing plenty of money at offbeat, expensive shows like Once Upon a Time, Black Sails, The Vikings, Penny Dreadful, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, The Americans, Sleepy Hollow, and Dracula . . . none of which are exactly standard-issue cop, lawyer, or medical dramas.

I mean, only a few years ago, a zombie series based on an indy comic book would have sounded about as "niche" as you could possibly get . . . .

 

Desperate? Not really desperate... But I do long to turn the TV on and see a new Star Trek series.


If it were me I'd follow in the steps of Doctor Who circa 2005, and integrate a bit of that with contemporary television standards.

You go out a hundred years from Nemesis, use cataclysm and disaster throughout the galaxy to reshape the entire backdrop. Have the Federation turned reclusive in that time, driven to protect their borders and not at all interested in going anywhere. Massive blow back from all the conflict and (implied) devastation.

Now you have a new group of people coming up as commanders, and the winds of change coming back. A new Enterprise is commissioned, with a new crew based off these changes. Some old dogs who believe that we shouldn't do anything but protect our own borders, and others who want to explore, and provide help to those in need beyond those perimeters much humbler perimeters of the Federation.

The first long-range, and dedicated deep-space exploration mission in eighty years. A mission to explore strange new worlds...

Oh, and the Enterprise? Not 1701. No Alphabet additions. It's just the first one built in a long time. Not ignoring what came before, but signifying this is a new beginning. Symbolizing a change of heart in the Federation that is brewing. An experiment to step back "out there" again.

(What about Enterprise-J? Forget about it, that's what. Think of it no differently than the alternate timeline D with old Riker. It never happened.)

Start from this point, you have a shaking up of every element of Trek. You don't even need to have seen any prior Trek to get into this new show. Also, you can have a fresh look to everything. Just as everything between TOS and TNG was redesigned, the same can be done here.

Storywise everything has been shaken up, so there are surprises to be found around every corner. Unlike prior Trek shows, this time you fuzz the edges of each episode. You have character motivations weaving in and out of events, and being effected by them across entire seasons/the series as a whole. It's less about building to a climax and more about living with characters as they come up against the challenges, and getting a sense that these experiences pile on and change them. Obviously you'll want big events and high stakes, but focusing on the human drama and exploring ideas like the best of TOS and TNG would be where I would cement the stories, with that modern flavor of things blending together over many episodes.

Thirteen episodes a season is a good idea to avoid atrophy and filler. Start up with an "event" though. Again, inspired by BSG, i'd start off with a miniseries/tv film with a larger budget that can establish a healthy set of environments for the show. For the run up to the shows premiere i'd have all the greatest classic episodes from all the series played in a marathon. A crash course of sorts. Again, not necessary, but I think it would be a great way to build hype, with each episode you could have sneak peaks of the new show, interviews with the writers and producers, talking about reflecting on where Trek was and where it will be.

Some elements of this concept are inspired by other pitches that have been made (Star Trek Final Frontier, and Star Trek Federation).

Indeed. Trek can work just fine on TV again. It just needs to be updated from stem to stern.

 

Although I know what you mean (and share your view), I can do this now.

Thank God for DVD's.

You can do this too, yes?

 

Any type of show can be viable on TV, as long as you manage to get the audience invested in the characters.

 

I was alright for a while but in the past 6 months after going through each series about twice now, I'm getting a little antsy for something new. I would prefer a continuation of the prime timeline or a concurant series within the 24th century