Alex Kurtzman Gets New Deal With CBS, Will Expand 'Star Trek' TV

[Lawrence B]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/l...os-will-expand-star-trek-tv-franchise-1104232

"Under the new pact, Kurtzman will serve as the show's lone showrunner after taking over Star Trek: Discovery from Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg, who were recently fired from the series. Kurtzman will also expand the Star Trek franchise for the small screen, developing new series, miniseries and other content, including animation."

 

[eschaton]

There's a lot to chew on here. Including teasers of a new Stewart-led series (a post VOY Picard?), miniseries (whatever Nicholas Meyer has been working on) and a potential animated series.

Edit: IO9 says five series, though it only counts off four.

1. Teen-oriented starfleed academy show
2. Confidential short-run show (may be TNG reunion show)
3. Khan-based miniseries likely written by Nicholas Meyer
4. Animated series with confidential plot

 

[Tuskin38]

other then Nimoy, Patrick always seemed the most, enthused about Star Trek. I could see him coming back if he feels it's right.

 

[XCV330]

I like the idea of an animated series.

 

[Krandor]

I'd love to see stewart come back. As he showed in Logan he still has the acting chops to pull most anything off.

 

[Jadeb]

That certainly recasts the discussion about the viability of a post-TOS show.

It kinda makes me feel sorry for the fired showrunners. What timing for this announcement.

I'm not surprised we're getting more Trek content, but I was hoping there would be variety in terms of the people in charge of it. Almost like an anthology/auteur approach to the franchise.

 

[Wowbagger]

Law of averages dictates that at least one of these will be good, and Kurtzman can't be everywhere at once. So this is good news.

 

[eschaton]

I'm not surprised we're getting more Trek content, but I was hoping there would be variety in terms of the people in charge of it. Almost like an anthology/auteur approach to the franchise.

With so many projects in the works, Kurtzman is clearly going to be the "Berman" of this generation. IMHO this is a good thing, because the product varied wildly between TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT (okay, okay, not so much the latter).

 

[Wowbagger]

^ Right. The Berman era gave a lot of space to individual showrunners to do good and bad things, while Berman handled the money and made sure the show had top production values.

It was a good system, and it would be nice for it to be resumed along the same lines.

 

[cultcross]

Agreed, multiple producers running different elements of the franchise under one general Captain, could provide a good variety of content with different approaches and appealing to different audiences. Sounds positive to me.

 

[Lord Garth]

So see? Those of us who want the 23rd Century have our show, and those of you who want the 24th Century have yours. This is what I call win-win.

It doesn't have to be one-or-the-other. And now CBS All Access will be able to pad out the year and keep people from cancelling their subscriptions between seasons.

 

[lawman]

Yoiks. That's a big deal. And it obviously indicates that DSC is seen as a financial success, BTS troubles notwithstanding.

(And it sheds new light on the context of the Berg/Harberts story, since obviously these things didn't happen in isolation, and the contract negotations obviously didn't just take place in the last week. It's easy enough to imagine that Kurtzman taking over as sole showrunner was a bargaining point in the new contract. One has to wonder what kind of maneuvering Kurtzman has been doing behind the scenes.)

The quote from the CBS exec is interesting... “His talent, taste and ability to shepherd a successful project is unparalleled." I suppose we can grant him that last one. But the first two are a lot more contestable, and one outta three really isn't that great.

As for other Trek projects in the pipeline... this is the first I've heard of a new Patrick Stewart project (and I can only assume that the THR article is misusing the word "reboot" when it refers to it). That's a surprise... although I'm not sure whether it's one worth feeling optimistic about.

The exclusivity of the deal does fit, at least, with what I've read about networks these days preferring to run material produced by in-house studios rather than outsiders. Unfortunately that trend works against a lot of cool shows (e.g., NBC's Timeless, currently "on the bubble") that are produced by studios not affiliated with the network.

Anyway, for better or worse, it certainly does nothing to change the longstanding perception that if you're a writer, almost the only path to Real Money lies through Hollywood...

 

[Pure Antiproton]

First I’ve heard of most of these ideas but yes please, more new Star Trek!

 

[DS9-31]

This must fake news.
Everyone knows that the studio is only interested in making TOS era content for casual fans.

 

[eschaton]

As for other Trek projects in the pipeline... this is the first I've heard of a new Patrick Stewart project (and I can only assume that the THR article is misusing the word "reboot" when it refers to it). That's a surprise... although I'm not sure whether it's one worth feeling optimistic about.

It strikes me that it could be, in a way, Picard's swan song, since it seems to be miniseries length. I hope it's not just some TNG nostalgia trip, checking up with where everyone (including potentially a good deal of DS9 and VOY characters) is now. It would potentially provide a lot of hooks for new 24th century content however.

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

Right now Trek exists in three eras (in universe):

• 22nd Century - Archer's era
• 23rd Century - Kirk's era
• 24th Century - Picard's era

So one logical place for a new series to be set has always been the 25th century - the next next generation. But although we fans know Star Trek is a big enough setting to have brand new crews, it seems like the studios think of Star Trek in terms of TOS being a core property around which other things are spun off.

• 22nd Century - Archer's era
• - Enterprise
• 23rd Century - Kirk's era
• - Discovery
• - The Original Series
• - The Animated Series
• - STAR TREK: Phase Two (CGI series)
• 24th Century - Picard's era
• - The Next Generation
• - Deep Space Nine
• - Voyager
• 25th Century
• - STAR TREK: The New Adventures
• - STAR TREK: Challenger/Pioneer

If that's the case, an animated CGI series covering Kirk's lost 5-mission on the Motion Picture refit would make perfect sense - no need for Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley.

But I'm worried about this trend of making things that are really closely linked to the existing shows - like a Khan spinoff could be the exact sort of uneccecary fanwank other franchises churn out if handled poorly - and a Picard return could likewise be awful (optimistically it's retired Picard going on an archaeological adventure for 50 episodes - but knowing Hollywood it would be "let's trot out the Borg, ruin them further"). So a super expanded list could end up looking more like this - and if it was a perfect world and they were handled well, I wouldn't mind:

• 21st Century
• - STAR TREK: Year One
• 22nd Century - Archer's era
• - STAR TREK: The Kzin War
• - Enterprise
• - STAR TREK: The Romulan War
• 23rd Century - Kirk's era
• - Discovery
• - The Original Series
• - The Animated Series
• - STAR TREK: Phase Two (CGI series)
• - STAR TREK: Khan's Inferno
• 24th Century - Picard's era
• - The Next Generation
• - Deep Space Nine
• - Voyager
• - STAR TREK: Immemorial (Picard the Archaeologist)
• - STAR TREK: Klingon Defence Force
• 25th Century
• - STAR TREK: The New Adventures
• - STAR TREK: Challenger/Pioneer

They could expand in any direction in the 25th Century - have the Dominion return with Odo as it's emissary - be challenged by hereto unknown civilizations, even from beyond the galaxy. But I think it would be a good idea to have an optimistic core show to re-establish the brand before doing anything crazy - and space should feel like a marvel again.

I really don't know if Alex Kurtzman or Akiva Goldsman is the right person for this, it's beginning to look like Seth MacFarlane might have been a good choice for the 25th century optimistic core show, but if they dish it out to like three different teams that could be great.

 

[Gepard]

may be TNG reunion show

I'm actually, legitimately, excited about this one.

The rest are wait and see. I continue to be skeptical of Kurtzman.

 

[Scargate]

My initial reaction - what?! Given the current quality of Discovery, and this seeming almost like an undeserved reward to someone who has been apart of it for a while. But that's an admittedly stupid reaction. More Trek is good news. Maybe this new deal signals that the previous showrunners were pushed out by Kurtzman, and maybe he will usher in better quality for the second half of Discovery S2, and whatever mix of new shows does get the green light out of the bunch.

I'm here for what was mentioned, even if it's not a new series like DS9 or VOY with a new crew set post-VOY. That would be the dream.

Quantico's first half of its first season had its moments for me. I imagine that's the take the Academy show might take. Two limited series that have a beginning, middle, and end could also be interesting. Though Heroes s1 was supposed to replace all those characters and move in a new direction for s2 and that never happened. So who knows. But with it being limited, you'd think it'd be a one and done season. An animated series could do the Kirk storyline again if they really want to keep in that direction.

Not sure how to feel about a Patrick Stewart show. He is pushing 80 years old. But I'd love to see us revisit that time period, that world, and that character. Would it be centered on his life as an Admiral? Anything to breathe life back into this time period with the prospect of more to come in the future is incredible and unexpected news.

 

[DS9-31]

I've seen that "Teen-oriented starfleet academy show" idea posted around the interwebz coming from fans. Whether it was Red Squad or the Wesley-centric, episodes, I always enjoyed the brief glimpse we got of academy life.

 

[Jadeb]

So see? Those of us who want the 23rd Century have our show, and those of you who want the 24th Century have yours. This is what I call win-win.

It doesn't have to be one-or-the-other. And now CBS All Access will be able to pad out the year and keep people from cancelling their subscriptions between seasons.

I bet the subscription dropoff after Discovery ended was something to see. I have to think it's in their best interests to get these shows up and running ASAP.