Rumor: the show takes place between TOS movies and TNG

[AviTrek]

Enterprise general failure was because of the forced temporal cold war. They didn't have the guts to do a real prequel they needed a reset button there, so they have an excuse to whatever they did. Just look how awesome the characters have become during the shows 3rd and especially 4th season. In the right hands the shows 4th season showed how awesome could have been the series.

Enterprise's failure was due to lazy writing and the public's boredom with it. Throw in a difference of opinion on why the show was a prequel(studio wanted a show with no baggage that was accessible to all viewers and fanboys expected it to explain everything they saw in later shows) and you had a disaster waiting to happen.

The only thing the 4th season showed was that some fanwank could excite the few fanboys left watching the show.

 

[Shalashaska]

"A TV prequel to the Hannibal Lecter films is too restricted and is obviously just a cheap cashgrab!"

There's seventy years of story and new characters to portray in this series.

 

[E-DUB]

I approve of the timeframe choice. Hope they get the rest right.

 

[JD]

Enterprise general failure was because of the forced temporal cold war. They didn't have the guts to do a real prequel they needed a reset button there, so they have an excuse to whatever they did. Just look how awesome the characters have become during the shows 3rd and especially 4th season. In the right hands the shows 4th season showed how awesome could have been the series.

The problem with the Temporal Cold War is that it was forced on the writers. They didn't even want to do it, but the network or Paramount insisted they needed something from farther in the future. At least that was what I've read.

 

[Greg Cox]

I approve of the timeframe choice. Hope they get the rest right.

If, in fact, there's any truth to the rumor about the time-frame choice.

This has yet to be confirmed.

 

[cultcross]

Enterprise general failure was because of the forced temporal cold war. They didn't have the guts to do a real prequel they needed a reset button there, so they have an excuse to whatever they did. Just look how awesome the characters have become during the shows 3rd and especially 4th season. In the right hands the shows 4th season showed how awesome could have been the series.

Well, I have pretty much the exact opposite opinion but share the conclusion that ENT was a failure!
I would say the Temporal Cold War was the closest thing to an original idea the show had, and they should have run with that, and maxed the show about something unique. Instead as the show was 'revamped' it turned into increasingly desperate continuity porn (why do the Klingons have smooth heads? What happened to the Defiant? Whatever happened to the Mirror Universe? Blah blah boring blah) and stuttered into cancellation.

If, and I maintain its a big 'if', the news show is a prequel to an existing property, it will have to come up with something original and really run with it. If it's just more 'this is how Picard became bald', 'this is how O'Brien ended up in the Cardassian Wars' shit, it will struggle.

 

[cultcross]

Bale's Batman was not around the same time as Affleck's.

But he was around at the same time as different batman interpretations on TV, in comics, in video games, in cartoons, etc. Two different media can sustain different interpretations of the same property simultaneously. Heck, Star Trek has done that before - the TOS Movies ran while TNG was simultaneously on the air, and nobody got confused by the totally different cast, ship and storylines.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Also, I love how he interprets the words "seasonal anthology" to mean that each season the show will be set in a different era. That's not how TV shows work, Devin. You don't keep a casual audience's interest by changing characters and settings every 13 episodes. Not to mention how expensive things would be if you have to build new sets every season for different time periods.

Normally, I would agree with this, but American Horror Story seems to have embraced this very paradigm with their stories and it has worked quite well for them, so...

In any case, if it IS set between TUC and TNG, I'm even more intrigued. We could conceivably see the next big Fed/Klingon war that eventually leads to final peace, including the Battle of Narendra III and the Enterprise-C. Maybe some more stuff with the Tholians & Gorn that were merely alluded to in TNG that happened during that time. Or perhaps show the rise of the Cardassians as a major power in the quadrant (Fed/Cardie war) and more backstory on the occupation of Bajor? The mysterious disappearance of the Romulans in galactic events (due to the Borg or other external influences)? Lots of possibilities with this one. Consider me all-in.

 

[mos6507]

The beauty of the idea is it addresses the problem of not being able to please all Trek fans all the time. Sure, some people will groan at the idea of it being post-TUC, but if they just sit tight until the next season then maybe they'll shift to post-Nemesis or even nuTrek continuity for all we know. The only other way to operate this way would be to launch a bunch of series running in parallel. This way they can achieve that same effect, just producing one kind of Trek series at a time, all under a single anthology banner. I really can't think of any other idea that could mollify the fanbase, considering how diverse our desires are.

So regardless of the odds of this rumor being true or not, it's still a brilliant idea. I think some people are resisting it because they are greedy--i.e. they want their flavor of Trek and only their flavor to take center stage.

 

[jaime]

Yep. Pretty sure this is nothing but more bullshit in a long line of bullshit that we'll be hearing of for the next three months or so, until CBS actually becomes the one to give information about the show.

Also, I love how he interprets the words "seasonal anthology" to mean that each season the show will be set in a different era. That's not how TV shows work, Devin. You don't keep a casual audience's interest by changing characters and settings every 13 episodes. Not to mention how expensive things would be if you have to build new sets every season for different time periods.

Doesn't American Horror Story do exactly that?

This is the best possible outcome....if true.

Edit: late to party and I see others said the same.

 

[Mr Awe]

Aw, why so sensitive? Anyway, I don't think anyone was "sure" or calling alternate suggestions "absurd". It seems commercially logical to set the series in the same universe as the recent successful movies, and saying "NOOOOO! It has to be Prime! Prime or nothing!" is not a serious counter-argument.
There may well be logical reasons to go with Prime, but "I want" is not one of them.

Not being sensitive, just pointing out the humor in the situation if the rumor happens to be true is all!

There were a few people who did their best informing everyone that thinking the series would be set in the Prime universe is absurd! It's fair enough to think one way or another but not knock someone else's opinion. I happen to not care much either way myself. It's the stories that count.

But, I was just pointing out the potential humor!

Mr Awe

 

[The Lensman]

I'll believe it's set in the Prime Universe when I see it. There's 700 hours worth of baggage and continuity headaches for the writers and I find it hard to believe they wouldn't just set it in a universe that has only 6 hours of universe shown. Much more freedom and much easier to write in the movie universe. Or a brand new universe.

Plus after watching the so called "Prime Universe" for 45 years, I couldn't care less if I ever saw anything else set in it. YMMV.

 

[JaxsBrokenHeart]

The Trek universe, even the prime one, strikes me as so vast that one could easily do stories without tripping over or worrying about continuity that much. Heck, other than a few token mentions in TUC, the Beta Quadrant has barely been touched by any ST show, just to name one example.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

As I mentioned in another thread over a month ago where I mentioned a NY Times article from March 11:

“You’re never going to get Jessica Lange or John Travolta or Kathy Bates to sign on the dotted line to give you seven years of their life doing the same character,” he said. “I don’t think that they’re interested in that. By doing these one-year talent deals, you’re allowing talent that wasn’t interested in television before to become part of it. Like Matthew McConaughey on ‘True Detective.’ ”

Anthology TV Can Draw Higher-Level Actors, FX Executive Says

Imagine if Trek 2017 series were an anthology series. Every season had a different ship and a different crew with 4 big name stars on the crew.

And now it looks like this may be what will happen. I'm okay with not the same crew and show for 7 seasons but I would like characters to come back down the road for a 3-episode arc.

 

[RunawayStarShip]

If true, I can understand why CBS would do it this way. It potentially increases interest in its older series (which are all basically depreciating assets if otherwise left untouched) while simultaneously keeping its distance. It also allows them to change course at any time if things don't seem to be working out ("Season One: The Lost Era"... "Season Two: Aftermath of Vulcan's Destruction!")... or stay the course if they hit a home run ("Season One: The Lost Era"... "Season Two: Stargazer"). It appeases some fans who did not like abandoning the previous continuity while not really mattering a whole lot to newcomers (unless, as aforementioned, it increases interest in the older series).

Regardless, the show will either succeed or fail based on its own merits, not based on what universe it's set in.

 

[Terok Nor]

Didn't Gene Roddenberry say that space is so vast there's no end to the stories they can do? I find it hard to buy into the idea they've already run out of ideas after 700 episodes. As said above the Beta Quadrant has barely been touched and that's just one example and a pretty big one considering it's home to the Klingon Empire. Not much of the Gamma Quadrant was explored either because of the Dominion and if the Borg are out of the way for good the Delta Quadrant may be a very different place in their absence. I think the Alpha Quadrant has been explored enough for now but there's plenty of space to still explore elsewhere. My worst fear is it being set in the JJVerse and having to watch remakes of old episodes and reintroductions of races we're already familiar with as if it's the first time they've encountered the Federation.

 

[Mudd]

There's seventy years of story and new characters to portray in this series.

No there's not. There's only whatever the writers can make up.

"A TV prequel to the Hannibal Lecter films is too restricted and is obviously just a cheap cashgrab!"

Hannibal limped along for 39 episodes before NBC cancelled it for low ratings.

 

[captainkirk]

The beauty of the idea is it addresses the problem of not being able to please all Trek fans all the time. Sure, some people will groan at the idea of it being post-TUC, but if they just sit tight until the next season then maybe they'll shift to post-Nemesis or even nuTrek continuity for all we know.

Assuming the rumor is true, could that be why they have someone representing all Trek eras on the show?The problem though is that it would probably be even more confusing to new fans.

Something that occurred to me about this rumor is that at this early stage in the show's development, would there really be enough people to leak this information? Faraci claimed to have about four sources, but I'm guessing they weren't Kurtzman, Fuller, Meyer, and Roddenberry. So do that many lower down leak-happy people really know the details of a series that's in very early development?

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

I wouldn't mind a new Trek series set during the lost era, but it would be rather difficult to make it work and a anthology show would be rather expensive.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

But he was around at the same time as different batman interpretations on TV, in comics, in video games, in cartoons, etc. Two different media can sustain different interpretations of the same property simultaneously. Heck, Star Trek has done that before - the TOS Movies ran while TNG was simultaneously on the air, and nobody got confused by the totally different cast, ship and storylines.

If you mean Gotham, they dont conflict with one another, one is set during his childhood, one as a adult. The comics are read by a niche group that the vast majority of people will never see.

The TOS movies ran at the same time but they were part of the same continuity, they didnt contradict each other. They were obviously different crews at different times.