Star Trek 2017 will not be set in the JJ-Verse

[Campe]

Here is one reason I think it might be in the prime-timeline:

The release date.

It's 2017.

It would be much smarter to bring out a new series in 2016, for it's 50th anniversary. So why put it in 2017? I got the sense the reboot was originally planed as an entire new continuity, with new shows set in it and all of it. 2016 is the third installement of the reboot movies in cinema. There was probably a contract, that if they were to produce a new series in the timeframe of the 3 abrams movies, bad robot needed to be involved. Instead. A 4th movie is already announced, but as you saw, all contracts needed to be re-negotiated (that's why it was announced so ig that Pine and Quinto would appear in the new movies). It's likely CBS will wait until 2017 to be allowed to make the series without bad robot, but put it as soon as possible (january) for general audiences to still rember the big anniversary.

I don't know why the release date would make one bit of difference in what you say. What makes you think that BR needs to be involved in anything having to do with Star Trek? CBS *owns* the trademarks, the characters, all of it. CBS licensing is responsible for what little JJ merchandise there is out there: comics, toys, replicas, etc. So why would CBS doing a TV series be any kind of different?

Other thoughts:
- Seriously, bad robot is not involved. Which means, JJ abrams is not involved. And those are the guys that have the rights to the JJverse

No. Paramount owns the copyright to the films themselves. BR owns none of it. But again, CBS owns the characters, the trademarks, etc.

- There are practical reasons to put it in the new timeline, namely:
i) the JJverse spaceships are much to big. They need giant sets, and props (like shuttles/torpedoes) are enormeous. The old continuity is much more television-conform

Ah, the wonders of green-screen sets and CGI in those cases.

ii) Kurtzman seems to be the only one involved from the JJ-crew. And he's the guy already working for CBS. So for CBS it would be a smart move to put him in charge of a new series, that would look and feel like the reboot, without being officially part of it and the need to negotiate with Paramount over license fees

Again, CBS owns the trademarks, the characters, etc. Also, the blu-rays of the new movies? They are produced by CBS and Paramount.

iii) There's a fourth movie planned. Which means a new television series would need to be heavily synchronized with the movie staff, to not contradict themselves. If it's all under one parent company (like Marvel over different mediums) it would be possibly. But the series is produced by Kurtzmann's own production company. The only alternative would be to put the series in the JJverse in tha past (which would be a prequel, unlikely), or in the far future a la TNG. And then there would be no benefit to put it in the same continuity and be heavily bound by events of upcoming movies

I don't think that's the only alternative. The fourth movie also isn't due out for another four years. Plus, may I remind you that DS9 and Voyager were synchronous with three of the Next Gen films? And they did just fine.

iv) The JJverse offers nothing new: warp drive, shields, beaming, klingons, vulcans, phaser are the same in both continuitys. The only addition of the JJverse canon-wise are stupid things like "transwarp-beaming"

Your point?

v) The JJverse is not long-time sustainable. It's basis are Kirk and Spock. Maybe after the 4th there's a 5th movie. But after that, they need to either re-cast or re-boot again (because they will NEVER EVER make a summer blockbuster with a new crew originally from television). So why set it in the new verse when nobody know how it will end, and you have all creative freedom to go on in the old?

Then they reboot. How many Sherlock Holmes have they had? How many James Bonds? How many Supermen? Spidermen? Batmen? That does not worry me in the slightest.

So, all in all:
I hope it's not set in the JJverse. What will happen instead?

It will look like it's set in the JJverse. In the first few seasons, they will probably leave all possibilities open. It will be set on new worlds, and neither Vulcan nor Romulus will be mentioned specifically. That means: It won't be a sequel to the TNG-timeline either. No mentioning of the Dominion War and stuff apart from side remarks. Although it is possible to have guest appereances by old actors, like Patrick Steward or Jery Ryan. But don't expect them until the series stands firmly on it's own foot.

All in all: Probably, hopefully, set in the prime timeline. But it will resemble the prime-timeline as much as TNG resembled TOS.

I think it is highly unlikely that they will return to the Prime Universe. Why? Because there is over 700 hours of constraining canon to consider. Setting it ahead another century or two does nothing except give more excuses for technobabble galore.

What do I want? I would prefer to see a completely new universe. I'm serious. Let the films have the JJverse. That's fine. But let's not have any constraints. They shouldn't be beholden to the idea that the Romulans didn't have cloaking devices or that they only had subspace radio during the Romulan War. That's crazy! Going back to the Prime Universe is looking back. Star Trek is about looking forward. And if it is set in the JJverse, that's fine. But I would prefer something new. If it's set in the Prime Universe? I don't know that I would be interested.

 

[Squiggy]

It's also pretty funny that biker-gang Klingons are totally cool and legit but transwarp-beaming is stupid.

 

[Franklin]

Set it in the Abrams universe in the year 2364. Worked once.

 

[SurvivorJoe]

As much as I would love for the new series to be a follow-up to TV Trek from the '80s-'00s (that was really my prime-era of growing up with Trek - "TNG" started when I was in elementary school, and I was in college by the time "Voyager" ended. Could never get into "Enterprise" though) I personally just cannot see them going back to that timeline at this point. Again, I'd LOVE if they did, but it just seems unlikely to me.

I think the most obvious scenario is going to be a new ship with new characters, set in the JJ-verse, but removed from any of the events happening in the films. Depending on what happens in "Beyond", maybe there will be a throwaway line here or there (like when "First Contact" was out and we got the episode of DS9 where Sisko mentions the recent Borg attack) but that'll be it.

 

[Seven of Five]

Firstly, Star Trek 2017 sounds like some sort of futuristic-sounding animated offshoot of a 60s programme.

Secondly, I really don't think it will be set in the Prime universe. I remember vividly wanting a post-DS9/VOY series set 50-100 years after the Dominion War back when series 5 rumours turned into ENT. I still do a little bit, but the franchise should move forward.

I'd be happy with a continuation of the new JJ universe, or perhaps even a different alternate timeline in the same vein of his reboot? Perhaps a clean slate entirely would be wise?

 

[Rahul]

...

...

So your point is... you don't believe in licensing?


You know Spiderman, F4 and the X-Men tecnically belong to Marvel, but they aren't allowed to make films of those, because they licensed them away? At least not without heavy negotiating and contracting (see: Marvel/Sony Spiderman-Deal)

The JJverse belongs (at least partially) to Paramount. Period. Every toy, every mentioning of the JJverse of any kind needs to be licensed.

Sure, it is possible CBS made a deal with Paramount about it. But why? If they could use the 'existing' Star Trek and tweak it enough to make it modern.

The new series will definetely try to pander to the fans of the old and the new continuity, with more emphasis on the new fans. Which means stylistically, in terms of pacing, character development and design aesthetics it will probably be closer to the JJverse. But I doubt it will *officially* be set in it. Which leads to a (possibly veeeery) broad strokes continuation of the prime timeline.

 

[Rahul]

It's also pretty funny that biker-gang Klingons are totally cool and legit but transwarp-beaming is stupid.

Biker-gang Klingons are a lot more palpable than space-viking Klingons though.



The point being: Those changes are purely cosmetical. The new series will have new design aesthetics, no matter what. Important is that the general storytelling rules (like no beaming through shields, warp vs. impulse drive etc.) are identical in both timelines. But they are a bit clearer defined in the prime-timeline, while the JJverse plays a bit fast and loose with them (e.g. transwarp-beaming, the size of starships, the time needed to travel from one planet to another). Which means, tecnically, the JJverse is already a bit more complicated to tell new storys in, because it has less internal consistency, and thus it's harder to explain to the audience when the characters actually are in danger, and when they could simply 'beam out'.


(Yeah, the prime-timeline has lots of continuity-gaffes, too. But they were called out at this by the audience. In the JJverse it's not always clear what's a plothole (for example Khan beaming from Earth to Kronos), or if it's the new 'rules' of the universe.

An example: Our heroes are captured by a bunch of primitive natives on a planet, while the Enterprise is light-years away. Are our heroes in danger? In the old continuity: definitely yes. In the JJverse: who knows? Depends on whether transwarp-beaming was a one-off writing cheat or if it's the new general rule. As a result, the writers would need precious screen-time to drop more exposition and explain those differences, meaning more technobabble and less drama. As a result I'm going to assume the JJverse operates under the same laws as the old continuity, until explicitely told otherwise)


All in all: The only real difference between both timelines is production design. And that will be radically different in the new series no matter what. So there is no real need to set it in either universe at the moment. But making the prime-timeline (or at least, a continuity reasonable close to the old timeline) the most plausible option. At least in my opinion...

 

[Campe]

You know Spiderman, F4 and the X-Men tecnically belong to Marvel, but they aren't allowed to make films of those, because they licensed them away? At least not without heavy negotiating and contracting (see: Marvel/Sony Spiderman-Deal)

That's true. But, Fox, Marvel and Sony aren't owned by the same parent company. You do know that CBS and Paramount (through Viacom) are actually are owned by the same company, National Amusements?

You serve the same corporate master, makes things a little easier to get legal deals done on that level, if that's what the big boss wants.

 

[martok2112]

What's going to really be funny is if some asshat prankster at StarTrek.com posted this report as nothing more than clickbait to watch Star Trek fans at first discuss, then postulate, and then start arguing.

I'd have to say, shameful as it would be, (and unliikely as it is) it'd be awfully funny.

 

[Rahul]

You know Spiderman, F4 and the X-Men tecnically belong to Marvel, but they aren't allowed to make films of those, because they licensed them away? At least not without heavy negotiating and contracting (see: Marvel/Sony Spiderman-Deal)

That's true. But, Fox, Marvel and Sony aren't owned by the same parent company. You do know that CBS and Paramount (through Viacom) are actually are owned by the same company, National Amusements?

You serve the same corporate master, makes things a little easier to get legal deals done on that level, if that's what the big boss wants.

That would make juggling licence-fees and such indeed a lot easier.

It still remains that creative control would be a logistical nightmare, though. Paramount has turned Star Trek into a summer blockbuster franchise. They will NEVER bound themselves to a tiny tv-show. And for CBS, Star Trek 2017 would be the forerunner for their streaming service. They wouldn't like their flagship show to play second fiddle to a movie franchise the way Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D did.

In my personal conclusion, this would lend itself more to a Arrow/Flash vs. Man of Steel/Batman-verse situation, with two similar but different continuities, instead of a MARVEL single shared universe-situation. Simply for the fact that there is no singular Kevin Feige-like person watching over and controlling all of Star Trek.

 

[Campe]

The TV and film divisions at Marvel now are in the hands of different branches of the Disney family. So it's not unheard of. And we're not talking multiple movies per year. We're taking one movie every 3-5 years. What would that take? Paramount giving CBS the script early and them working around it. Wouldn't be that difficult.

But again, time will tell!

 

[Trek4Ever]

I really hope this turns out to be true. Putting aside my feelings about NuTrek I do miss the original timeline.

 

[Kor]

Since the current Trek cash cow is based on the JJTrek universe, I would think the CBS execs would want to make the series somehow related to it.

Personally, I got tired of the 24th century a long time ago. I hope we don't have to go back there.

Kor

 

[timtonruben359]

IMO the press release yesterday basically stated that show will not be connected to the JJ-Verse. Forbes magazine had an article a couple months back basically stating that CBS Television doesn't have the rights to use the JJ-Verse universe on the small screen because Paramount (viacom) owns the rights to movie franchise.

One of the arguments for a show set in the Prime Universe is that by 2017, CBS All Access will be the exclusive source for all Star Trek content (I'm not sure about TNG HD though) so having a show in the Prime Universe might encourage more casual viewers to check the old shows out.

That being said, I think the smartest thing to do would to be set the show in another alternate timeline so writers can perhaps refer back to some events in trek history, but not be bound by the huge continuity.

 

[Trekkin]

I imagine all the dealings between Paramount and CBS would be contacted. Without seeing those, we can have no idea what the particulars are. What makes contracts appealing to most people is that you can very the terms to suit your situation (within some constraints), so Marvel's various dealings don't mean much in this instance.

I reckon they'll just take the same approach as they did with TNG. Sure it's connected to the movies, just not directly and in any impactful way. Anyone can start watching.

 

[drt]

The thing is even if they say it's the Prime universe, it will be made by a completely different production than managed Star Trek from for the majority of its existence (i.e. 1988-2005), so will look and feel so different that we'd just be subjected to endless complaints of PUINO. As such, seems like it would be better to just start over.

 

[Tim Walker]

I doubt that The Powers That Be care about timelines, as such. They will probably do what seems expedient for the sake of the bottom line.

 

[Squiggy]

IMO the press release yesterday basically stated that show will not be connected to the JJ-Verse.

No. It said it wasn't connected to the movie.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

The press release said what it said. Nothing more, nothing less. It said it isn't connected to Beyond, that's all. Worth saying in any light, I think, since that film is right around the corner.

 

[Kelso]

I don't care which imaginary future it's set in.

But it would seem like a waste not to use all of the feature quality sets, props, costumes, and CGI models if they have access to them.