Trek Returning to TV in 2017!

[RunawayStarShip]

It seems a tad early for pessimism, perhaps? Aside from TMP and TVH, all Star Trek movies have leaned heavily toward action/adventure, and there's still some action in both TMP and TVH anyway. There are pressures on making a self-contained two-hour movie expected to earn hundreds of millions of dollars that don't exist for a TV series.

When we remember the series fondly over many of the movies, one also has to remember that there are hundreds of tries from the series whereas the movies are just gearing up for their 13th try... plus it's easier to forget about the stuff we don't like when there's hundreds of other episodes. The continuity that has given us stuff like the aforementioned "The Doomsday Machine"/"City on the Edge of Forever"/"The Best of Both Worlds"/"The Measure of a Man"/etc. has also given us stuff like "Code of Honor"/"Sub Rosa"/"Threshold"/etc.

There have been a total of two stories told in the Abramsverse. Both stories have gone in very different storytelling directions. If this new series takes place in that continuity (and it might simply be yet another parallel universe as far as we know), there's going to be about 13 chances to hit it out of the park. Even if all we get is just one great new episode of Star Trek, that's one more than we thought we were ever going to get just one day ago.

Also, I'm sure that the episodes will be available in the U.S. other than CBS All-Access after some waiting period (probably 6 months to a year?). Being in Canada, though, I have to wonder when and where it'll premiere.

 

[Misfit Toy]

Whatever happened to giving a new show the benefit of the doubt instead of immediately fretting about what might happen if it flopped?

Warning for naivete. Rainbows and unicorns to PM.

 

[ItIsGreen]

Interesting. Will we finally see Wil Wheaton as captain Wesley Crusher?

-"But, Admiral Picard..."

-"Shut up, Wesley!"

 

[Aragorn]

Interesting. Will we finally see Wil Wheaton as captain Wesley Crusher?

And Commander Neelix as his first officer.

Plus new characters Chief Engineer Screech and Doctor Urkel.

 

[Greg Cox]

Thats amazing - and it also shows Trek did indeed concern itself with realism and believably - maybe not to the point of being hard science, but certainly in a dramatic context, things had to follow on from things logically.

I'd argue though that they threw realism out the airlock almost day one.

Don't be silly. Nothing screams realistic space exploration like a green-skinned belly dancer.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I guess I'd describe myself as cautiously excited. I'm not a fan of NuTrek. I don't hate it; I just concluded after watching the first one twice that I didn't like it enough to bother with the rest. But I'll happily give any new Trek series a chance!

It is perfectly possible to make a Star Trek that combines the action the newer fans like and the intelligence us older guard appreciate. The two are not mutually exclusive...

Indeed!

How is streaming different from HBO? Both are subscription services.

Big difference. One requires that you have Internet service; the other requires that you have cable TV. Not everyone has both. What little "television" I watch, I watch on my computer via Netflix or my own DVDs. I've never had cable and haven't owned a TV in years.

I'm obviously fine with the show being streamed. I'd just prefer that it be available on Netflix.

 

[Greg Cox]

Really. I could use Wednesday's Powerball numbers!

People are just afraid that if this turns out to be another flop, it will mean the death of Star Trek for another 20 years. Can you blame them? They want this to be right.

But what is "right" when you have numerous people here who have a "I'm the only person who knows what true Star Trek is and everyone else has it wrong" mentality?

Some of the comments here remind me of the guy who used to post endlessly against the first Abrams movie years before it came out, and in response to the box office success of the 2009 movie, he actually stated that he wanted his Star Trek to be a money-losing endeavor that not that many people watch.

I can believe it. Sadly, there are some fans who think that "popular" and "accessible" are dirty words, and who really don't want to share STAR TREK with "the masses."

 

[Jedi_Master]

I am curious how anyone knows the new series will be all the things they hate and if they are willing to share their time travelling secrets with me.

Really. I could use Wednesday's Powerball numbers!

People are just afraid that if this turns out to be another flop, it will mean the death of Star Trek for another 20 years. Can you blame them? They want this to be right.

Nope. Those "people" want the new Star Trek to be made to their exacting standards and continually redefine "success" until it no longer describes any iteration of Trek that they don't like.

 

[Nascence]

I am NOT paying ANOTHER subscription service, ESPECIALLY CBS ( greedy fracks!) to watch a new Star Trek series.
And if Kurtzman and Lidelof are doing this, it's going to be a spin-off of the fracked up JJ Trek Verse.
JJ really ruined new Trek and new Trek movies for me.
CBS not airing this on their regular primetime network schedule I think is going to spell early cancellation of this new series.
I am sure I am NOT going to be the only Trek fan who is not going to shell out cash to a greedy nework to watch a franchise I am sure they are STILL making money on.
They have already lost one paid viewership before this even airs! I am sure there will be a LOT more fans in the NO pay for new Trek series category.

 

[Kor]

I'm as much of a die-hard TOS purist as the next guy. I've loved TOS since I was four or five years old.

As I see it, the Abrams movies brought back a sense of humanity, as well as fun and excitement (!) to Trek, and made me actually care about the franchise again.
Even during it's most dismal hours, TOS was fun, something that I can't say about huge swaths of the spin-offs.

I like the way the JJverse takes familiar and beloved tropes and turns them sideways, as well as taking years of self-referential and increasingly boring bloat, and throwing it completely out the window!

I prefer the way real-world issues have been addressed in Abrams' Trek movies, over the self-righteous, preachy, holier-than-thou treatment they would have received in TNG.

I hope this TV series continues in the universe established in these new movies instead of going back to the tired old 24th century "prime" universe. At the same time, I hope that social issues, as well as exploration of scientific ideas, get a little deeper treatment than they received in the movies. A continuing TV series will hopefully allow for things like that.

Oh yeah, and if we are comparing this to LOTR and the MCU... well, there has been some criticism that those movies aren't faithful to the source material.

Kor

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm a confirmed Luddite and technophobe who doesn't get this "streaming" stuff at all, but I guess I'll have to learn how it works.

Good thing I have until 2017 to figure it out.

 

[Jedi_Master]

I'm a confirmed Luddite and technophobe who doesn't get this "streaming" stuff at all, but I guess I'll have to learn how it works.

Good thing I have until 2017 to figure it out.

It's not hard. Just open your computer and pour all your money into it.

Repeat monthly.

 

[calamity_si]

Well, I'll throw my two cents in here for what it's worth - I'm dead exited about this. I mean come on people, it's what we've been waiting 10 years for! A NEW STAR TREK SERIES!!! I'll save my pessimism for later. For now, I'm savouring this moment. The world is good again peeps, the Trek is back in town!!

 

[Tora Ziyal]

^ A confirmed Luddite and technophobe who not only posts on a Trek forum, but also writes Trek. Riiight...

(Yikes, this thread is moving too fast for me! This was obviously for you, Greg Cox!"

 

[Tim Thomason]

I know it says the first episode will premiere on CBS in January 2017, but I really hope at least a workprint or something will be showcased at the 2016 convention in August.

Ideally, I'd have it premiere on September 8th as a sneak peek/reunion special on prime time television.

 

[JD]

Wow, I didn't expect to get news like this until at least after Star Trek Beyond.
I really enjoyed the Abrams movies, so I don't have a problem with Kurtzman being involved, and would be happy if this is in the Abramsverse. The only thing that would have made me happier would be if Bryan Fuller was showrunner.
I am annoyed that it's going to be on CBS All Access though. I already pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime's streaming services and I'd rather not pay for another one where all I already get all but one of the new shows on TV for no extra fee.

 

[Greg Cox]

^ A confirmed Luddite and technophobe who not only posts on a Trek forum, but also writes Trek. Riiight...

(Yikes, this thread is moving too fast for me! This was obviously for you, Greg Cox!"

Would you believe me if I told you that I don't own a smartphone, have never texted in my life, that my TV set is at least 16 years old and still attached to a VCR player, that I've never read an ebook, or downloaded a movie from the internet?

Trust me, I'm much better at fake technology than real technology.

But, yes, I will adapt to new tech when I have to, like with email and electronic editing. It's just that I'm basically the opposite of an early adopter . . . . I'm usually a few years behind most of my friends and colleagues.

And getting back OT: a new STAR TREK show may be exactly the push I need to make me take the plunge in the scary world of "streaming" television . ...

 

[MacLeod]

Well I'm not suprised that ST will return to TV, after all DW eventually returned to TV after virtually a 16 year hiatus. And with the 50h Anniversary September next year CBS is no doubt trying to use that to build excitement for the show.

So how long has the show been in development if it's already in development?

Is a year enough development time, if it's not already in development?

 

[wulfio]

is CBS even allowed to create a show in the abramsverse? That company doesn't seem like they'd be willing to give points to Paramount just to set it in the abramsverse.

 

[calamity_si]

So all you JJ haters out there can relax. The new series apparently won't be related to the current movie franchise.

http://www.wired.com/2015/11/new-star-trek-series-movies/