Why not go animated?

[Orphalesion]

Come on, who wouldn't watch THIS?

*Rises hand, second hand and one foot*

The shitty version of Klingons? The TOS bozos? An overly cartoony artstyle? Yeah, no interest here.

Again, an animated series could showand be anything and everything, so it's quite disheartening that so many people immediately jump to Trek's default mode of romancing its own past.

Let alone the designs are just ugly. Kelly wasn't a looker, but this version looks like a chimp and Sulu looks like a Gnome or Homestuck Troll.

Edit: God, each time I look at that picture it just gets uglier.... The hair would be another problem it's too photo-realistic, clashing with the cartoony bodies/faces and would be difficult to animate on a series budget. Especially if you waste a good chunk of the budget by getting Shatner, Takei, Nichols and Koenig to reprise their roles instead of (cheaper) professional voice actors who could voice more than one character.

 

[Phantom]

It would depend on the story. The Incredibles was done in that style, but it had an very well-written story.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I think it would be more accurate to say that the person who did those Star Trek interpretations specifically unabashedly copied Pixar's work to make that, which was the whole idea. That alone makes it unsuitable to use in an actual program, before we even get to the question of virtuosity, or more precisely the lack thereof. In short, it's purely derivative.

 

[Oerdin]

An animated tv show might get young folks watching.

 

[wulfio]

I don't think an animated version would work. And I think comparing Star Trek to Star Wars as apples and apples is a bit naive.

I love Star Trek. But Star Wars has permeated the zeitgeist of the last 40 years in a way that Star Trek hasn't come close to.

Star Wars is an infinitely more palatable IP to the general audience, and prospective audiences, than Star Trek. Sadly there is still a stigma attached to the franchise. We can't look at the success of clone wars, and rebels, and assume if Star Trek did that, it would be a given.

I personally think animated would be a failure. With a large chunk of the core fan base likely not catching on to an animated show(seeing as we're probably mostly in the 30-70 range). And prospective audiences being reluctant to hop on board. Those 2 elements make me think animated is a bad medium for Trek.

This is just my opinion anyway.

 

[Phantom]

Animation, unfortunately is a bad medium for ANY action/drama type program for the foreseeable future. Animation networks want psuedo-action comedies aimed for the 8-tween market.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

I'd be willing to keep an open mind, but I would be less enthusiastic. I watched Star Trek shows constantly as a kid, not cartoons, heh. Point being, my perspective is a bit skewed, I guess. I've never had a soft spot for animation. Also, I'm really big on actors, and acting, and VA work only goes so far to scratch that itch.

As I said, though, I'd try to remain open. I'm sure I'd be happy Trek is back on TV, at least.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

This is a great idea that I have never even considered before! While I didn't watch Clone Wars and don't watch Rebels, I've heard good things about both. It probably would have to be a Netflix series or something like that, but it could work out really well if the right people were involved.

I started watching Clone Wars with my son, thinking it would be an amusing kids show that would be less painful to endure than, say, Ninjago or or Spongebob Squarepants. I wound up liking it even better than the prequel films. Better characterization, more interesting plot lines, amusing dialog. Heavy with the usual "idiot ball" cliches, but still enjoyable overall.

I had similarly high hopes for Rebels, and it hasn't disappointed, especially with the recent cameo of Darth Vader, who casually orders a minor war crime in one scene and then just as casually whups everyone's ass in the next.

If it's done right, if it keeps to the style and tone of the Abrams movies and blends in enough of the old TOS charm without becoming hokey or fanwanky, it can be a thing of beauty.

Animation, unfortunately is a bad medium for ANY action/drama type program for the foreseeable future. Animation networks want psuedo-action comedies aimed for the 8-tween market.

Which is why an animated series based on TNG or Voyager would be an exercise in futility.

"Pseudo-action young-adult entertainment" is pretty much Abramsverse in a nutshell, so much so that almost ALL of the Trek novels based in the Abramsverse have been young adult titles.

And that, in hindsight, shouldn't be that surprising. TOS survived as well as it did in syndication because its original fans discovered it as children and teenagers and then stayed loyal to it as adults. If anything, Star Trek should return to its roots: speculative science fiction sophisticated enough for grownups but fun enough for kids.

I'd be willing to keep an open mind, but I would be less enthusiastic. I watched Star Trek shows constantly as a kid, not cartoons, heh. Point being, my perspective is a bit skewed, I guess. I've never had a soft spot for animation. Also, I'm really big on actors, and acting, and VA work only goes so far to scratch that itch.

As I said, though, I'd try to remain open. I'm sure I'd be happy Trek is back on TV, at least.

Hell, I grew up FOX Kids' Saturday morning lineup. X-Men, Spider Man, Iron Man, The Tick, Animaniacs when I was bored. Sometimes jumped channels over to CN when they had Robotech or Transformers. Even watched a couple episodes of TAS.

And people like me who grew up in the Anime Era remember treating movies like Akira and Ninja scroll like serious films and not as "kids show" productions that nobody else cared about. I remember once my dad asked me why they didn't bother making a live-action version of Ghost in the Shell and asking him "What the hell for?"

Animation has ALOT more potential than most people believe, especially if you have the right creative team and the right marketing. Star Trek has been missing out on this potential for a very, VERY long time.

 

[Phantom]

Animation has ALOT more potential than most people believe, especially if you have the right creative team and the right marketing.

I hate to sound like Dennis, but the unfortunate reality is: "Nope." Not in this market and not for the forseeable future. At least not for action/drama animation.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Animation has ALOT more potential than most people believe, especially if you have the right creative team and the right marketing.

I hate to sound like Dennis, but the unfortunate reality is: "Nope." Not in this market and not for the forseeable future. At least not for action/drama animation.

Depends on what market you're talking about. The broadcast market has little place for cartoons outside of primetime comedies and weekend morning educational shows. The cable market is dominated by three mega-corporations competing with one another for young kids (and their parents' dollars). The direct-to-video and online streaming markets, however, are where action/drama cartoons really thrive these days with a combination of feature-length movies and various shows running anywhere between 6-to-24 episodes long. A new Trek animated series may have to go that route like the way Warner Bros does with their animated movies based on DC Comics, releasing a couple of installments a year.

 

[Phantom]

^Yeah, but that would require risk-taking on the part of CBS, and Les doesn't like Trek in the first place. Otherwise they would have jumped at the chance when Abrams proposed his all-platform blitz with the franchise.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Animation has ALOT more potential than most people believe, especially if you have the right creative team and the right marketing.

I hate to sound like Dennis, but the unfortunate reality is: "Nope." Not in this market and not for the forseeable future. At least not for action/drama animation.

The producers of Clone Wars and Rebels would disagree. For that matter, so would the producers of Legend of Korra, the "miniseries" that was so popular with fans they brought it back for three more seasons. Or hell, tell that to the producers of every Transformers title ever broadcast.

The broadcast market is probably dead on arrival, sure, but animated productions have generally sidestepped them anyway. Cable networks and streaming services have plenty of room for those features and, at this point, entire generations of potential viewers who are accustomed to taking animated action/adventure shows seriously enough to enjoy them (with and without their kids).

 

[Crazy Eddie]

^Yeah, but that would require risk-taking on the part of CBS, and Les doesn't like Trek in the first place. Otherwise they would have jumped at the chance when Abrams proposed his all-platform blitz with the franchise.

True as that is, I suspect that the license agreement wouldn't actually give CBS control over a new production that isn't meant for broadcast television. A straight-to-dvd or straight-to-stream production would probably fall within Paramount's purview just like STXI and STID; a miniseries on Cartoon Network or SyFy probably would as well, in the same sense that Paramount has the ability to authorize broadcasts of both of those movies on cable networks.

 

[C.E. Evans]

^Yeah, but that would require risk-taking on the part of CBS, and Les doesn't like Trek in the first place.

Both statements are incorrect. CBS does take risks, but they've been successful in not taking expensive risks that cater to a niche audience. They're actually taking a very big gamble with the upcoming Supergirl, which isn't a cheap series to make at all.

And Les Moonves doesn't dislike Trek, he dislikes expensive TV shows in general that doesn't bring in very good ratings. If Trek could always deliver the same kind of ratings that TNG did back in the day, there would be a new Trek series on the air right now.

Otherwise they would have jumped at the chance when Abrams proposed his all-platform blitz with the franchise.

I believe that was more of a case of some people forgetting or not knowing that the franchise wasn't really theirs to do with as they pleased, and when they couldn't have things their way, they packed up and went home.

...I suspect that the license agreement wouldn't actually give CBS control over a new production that isn't meant for broadcast television. A straight-to-dvd or straight-to-stream production would probably fall within Paramount's purview just like STXI and STID; a miniseries on Cartoon Network or SyFy probably would as well, in the same sense that Paramount has the ability to authorize broadcasts of both of those movies on cable networks.

All Paramount has a license (from CBS) to produce and distribute Star Trek movies. That license doesn't extend beyond their own productions. What muddles things is that CBS hires Paramount to package and distribute their various shows for home video.

 

[Phantom]

Animation has ALOT more potential than most people believe, especially if you have the right creative team and the right marketing.

I hate to sound like Dennis, but the unfortunate reality is: "Nope." Not in this market and not for the forseeable future. At least not for action/drama animation.

The producers of Clone Wars and Rebels would disagree.

Star Wars is Star Wars dude. It's a virtual auto-sell. And even then I'd point out that Disney is airing Rebels "in house", not broadcast or 3rd party cable.

For that matter, so would the producers of Legend of Korra, the "miniseries" that was so popular with fans they brought it back for three more seasons. Or hell, tell that to the producers of every Transformers title ever broadcast.

The broadcast market is probably dead on arrival, sure, but animated productions have generally sidestepped them anyway. Cable networks and streaming services have plenty of room for those features and, at this point, entire generations of potential viewers who are accustomed to taking animated action/adventure shows seriously enough to enjoy them (with and without their kids).

I'll see your Korra and Transformers and raise you a Young Justice, Green Lantern Corps, Aveners EMH, Wolverine & the X-Men, etc.

^Yeah, but that would require risk-taking on the part of CBS, and Les doesn't like Trek in the first place.

Both statements are incorrect. CBS does take risks, but they've been successful in not taking expensive risks that cater to a niche audience. They're actually taking a very big gamble with the upcoming Supergirl, which isn't a cheap series to make at all.

A move that caught everyone off guard as it's so a-typical for CBS.

And Les Moonves doesn't dislike Trek, he dislikes expensive TV shows in general that doesn't bring in very good ratings. If Trek could always deliver the same kind of ratings that TNG did back in the day, there would be a new Trek series on the air right now.

http://www.trektoday.com/news/280206_01.shtml (citing an article on Sci Fi Pulse, but that link is dead).

Otherwise they would have jumped at the chance when Abrams proposed his all-platform blitz with the franchise.

I believe that was more of a case of some people forgetting or not knowing that the franchise wasn't really theirs to do with as they pleased, and when they couldn't have things their way, they packed up and went home.

Showcasing CBS' unwillingness to take a risk and Les' general dislike of Trek.

 

[Phantom]

meant to add to above...fixing

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Star Wars is Star Wars dude. It's a virtual auto-sell.

That's no more true of Star Wars than Trek. They actually have a long history of tie-in products that flopped due to poor execution and/or quality (videogames being the worst offenders).

NEITHER of the animated series would have survived long on the air if they didn't manage to keep their fans engaged and entertained. We know this because OTHER attempts at animated SW titles tried this in the past and failed.

Besides which, Star Trek ALREADY aired an animated series once in the past that was, for its time, relatively successful. Things have only IMPROVED for that market since the 1970s.

I'll see your Korra and Transformers and raise you a Young Justice, Green Lantern Corps, Aveners EMH, Wolverine & the X-Men, etc.

All good examples, since all of them except for Wolverine and the X-Men DESERVED to fail (and the latter I have no recollection of it ever being on TV; I'd just assumed it went straight to DVD). OTOH, Avengers is still running as far as I know, despite the fact that it too doesn't really deserve to. And still, ALL of the titles you just listed are available through streaming services like Netflix and Hulu where kids don't have to try and squeeze cartoon watching into their school/afterschool/weekend schedule.

Hence the point: an animated Star Trek series is definitely going to get yanked if it sucks. But it's not going to fail purely by virtue of it being an animated young-adult series: those can and do succeed if they get viewers engaged.

 

[C.E. Evans]

http://www.trektoday.com/news/280206_01.shtml (citing an article on Sci Fi Pulse, but that link is dead).

That article was nothing more than a gossip piece (to put it kindly) from Rick Berman's former production assistant after the initial proposal for Star Trek XI--set after ENT but before TOS--was aborted. He admitted halfway though it that he really wasn't in the know and had no idea what the future held for Trek, but that didn't stop him from guessing as well as magically reading other people's minds.

Otherwise they would have jumped at the chance when Abrams proposed his all-platform blitz with the franchise.

I believe that was more of a case of some people forgetting or not knowing that the franchise wasn't really theirs to do with as they pleased, and when they couldn't have things their way, they packed up and went home.

Showcasing CBS' unwillingness to take a risk and Les' general dislike of Trek.

It doesn't showcase that at all. It was just something that didn't work out. Happens all the time. For every project that are given the green light, dozens of others aren't.

For that matter, so would the producers of Legend of Korra, the "miniseries" that was so popular with fans they brought it back for three more seasons. Or hell, tell that to the producers of every Transformers title ever broadcast.

The broadcast market is probably dead on arrival, sure, but animated productions have generally sidestepped them anyway. Cable networks and streaming services have plenty of room for those features and, at this point, entire generations of potential viewers who are accustomed to taking animated action/adventure shows seriously enough to enjoy them (with and without their kids).

I'll see your Korra and Transformers and raise you a Young Justice, Green Lantern Corps, Aveners EMH, Wolverine & the X-Men, etc.

The first two were canned due to being productions dependent on toy sales that never took off*, the third was retooled & relaunched to bring it closer in line with another series, and the last one was a victim of internal issues with Marvel/Disney.


*It happened to many of the syndicated action cartoons of the '80s too (very few made it past a first season).

 

[Phantom]

Star Wars is Star Wars dude. It's a virtual auto-sell.

That's no more true of Star Wars than Trek. They actually have a long history of tie-in products that flopped due to poor execution and/or quality (videogames being the worst offenders).

NEITHER of the animated series would have survived long on the air if they didn't manage to keep their fans engaged and entertained. We know this because OTHER attempts at animated SW titles tried this in the past and failed.

Which in no way damaged the receptivity to trying again. SW as a brand is much stronger than Trek and has been at least as far back as Empire.

Besides which, Star Trek ALREADY aired an animated series once in the past that was, for its time, relatively successful. Things have only IMPROVED for that market since the 1970s.

Uh, no. That market is gone. We don't have Saturday cartoons like that any more. We have some cable channels that run cartoons, but they're different types of cartoons for the most part.

I'll see your Korra and Transformers and raise you a Young Justice, Green Lantern Corps, Aveners EMH, Wolverine & the X-Men, etc.

All good examples, since all of them except for Wolverine and the X-Men DESERVED to fail (and the latter I have no recollection of it ever being on TV; I'd just assumed it went straight to DVD). [/quote]

Young Justice and GLC did not "fail". They had strong ratings and a loyal fanbase. CN canned them for budgetary reasons related to the "merch" market (not enough toys sold). EMH was taken down because the decision was made to retool into the current format. Spectacular Spider-Man fell victim to the rights issues between Sony and Marvel, plus a focus change in Marvel's over-all strategy, not for any failing in terms of quality or viewership.

W&TXM was in mid-pre-production when the financing fell through at the last minute (and after that Disney was in charge and the 'new direction' mandate was emplaced.

Action/drama cartoons have fallen victim to an obsession by the studios with the 8-tween boy market. They will even sacrifice good broad ratings in the name of a few more points of young boy demo.

Paul Dini ran straight into this problem on another show as he describes here:

http://io9.com/paul-dini-superhero-cartoon-execs-dont-want-largely-f-1483758317

Compare EMH with AA and Speccy Spidey with Ultimate Spidey and you can clearly see the "Dini effect" at work with the more juvenile style and focus.

And still, ALL of the titles you just listed are available through streaming services like Netflix and Hulu where kids don't have to try and squeeze cartoon watching into their school/afterschool/weekend schedule.

You'll note that they're not making NEW eps of those shows. They're making "zany boy humor" action/comedies now.

I don't want to see an animated Trek that is reduced to pratfalls and laugh lines just to get made.

Hence the point: an animated Star Trek series is definitely going to get yanked if it sucks. But it's not going to fail purely by virtue of it being an animated young-adult series: those can and do succeed if they get viewers engaged.

All those shows that got yanked had viewers engaged. So engaged in the cases of YJ and GLC that they fought a strong letter/petition campaign to try to get the decision reversed.

But those decisions are made by the bean-counters in marketing now, not the creative offices.

 

[Cartoonist]

I'd watch it if it were canonical with either the Prime or JJ universe, but I'd prefer live action.