TV show producers should give us a new exciting space opera universe!

I think we are in a golden age of space TV! We have The Expanse, Orville, and Star Trek Discovery along with an upcoming Star Wars show!

I am tired of Klingons and Vulcans! While I enjoyed Star Trek Discovery I would like something less serious and more optimistic! I think the Expanse is good but can be dark and gritty and before you recommend the Orville I say I would prefer my space heroes to go into battle with badass power armor not brightly colored pajamas!. Netflix Lost in Space is of decent quality but I want something with space battles, cool looking aliens, and traveling to different planets as well as a lovable spaceship crew!

Does everything have to be dark and gritty?

Shouldn't the success of Guardians of the Galaxy have knocked sense into TV show producers?

Is it time we get an new exciting space opera universe?

 

I thought the 90's to early 2000's was the golden age of space opera. TNG,DS9,Voyager,Babylon 5,Farscape,Stargate,Stargate_Atlantis,Battlestar Galatica,FIrefly,Space Above and Beyond. I say things are abit better than we had in the not so recent past. Seems like we had a big missing gap between the end of "Battlestar Galatica and to what we have today. Only question is can they compete with comic book shows.

Jason

 

But that would mean being creative.

I agree I want a new space opera universe that can find a balance between dark and dramatic and light and fun. You don't have to pick one or the other.

 

Would love to see a reboot of Andromeda. If I was in charge, and had access to unlimited funding, I would get Robert Hewitt Wolfe back as show-runner and let him do the series the way he wanted to (instead of what happened to it after he left the series in season 2). With the right creative control and a better budget, I think this could have been a classic series.

 

It's not TV show producers. It's the people who pay the TV show producers. The people who pay to build the sets and the actors.

Space Opera is expensive to produce. It needs the eyeballs to watch it. An event like Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't mean those millions and millions of people will tune in week in and week out. The Expanse is great, but, how many people watch it?

Space battles, aliens, they aint cheap to do.

 

I agree it isn't cheap but it's got to at least be cheaper than it was in the 90's. When you see some of the stuff done on even CW comic book shows I got to think that making a space opera work must be easier to do today than it was back then in the 90's. Only question is the appeal. I know I predicted when "Star Wars" returned that we would see a rise in space opera and I think that could happen. With the big issue though is can they compete against comic book stuff or fantasy.

Jason

 

I'd settle for an explanation for the fifth season.

 

I think the atmosphere is ripe for another successful space opera so long as it has great characters and hits the right adventure and drama notes.

 

Well we got the upcoming "Star Wars" show. Also with they way things are rebooted or remade I suspect a third version of "Battlestar Galatica" again. PLus you got to assume "Stargate" will be back at some point. I do wonder about "Farscape." and "Babylon 5." Also now that the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises can't seem to work at the movies anymore I suspect we will see tv shows built around them at some point. I think they might have worn out their welcome on the bigscreen.

Jason

 

I wrote one some years ago. Completely original. I'd consider releasing it for production if somebody would bury me under several tons of money and whatever studio produces it would garantee me complete creative control.

 

I'm picturing the "I'm Spartacus" scene here.

"I wrote a space opera!"
"No, I wrote a space opera!"

Seriously though, I drew a space opera web comic that could easily be adapted for a scifi series, and if only the studios would fund it and guarantee me creative control I'm sure it'd be a hit!

 

No, I actually wrote a space opera also. Just need a backer. And creative control. And the right to kill unruly slaves--err employees.

Yeah....

Employees.......

 

There are a ton of space opera properties out there, in books and comics. Some that are well regarded... (There is an upcoming adaptation for TV of Asimov's Foundation series.)

It's not lack of available ideas. It's the money and the return.

 

I mean, there's a big difference between penning a script and actually translating it into a produceable, marketable product. I think a high percentage of the sort of folks who would be posting on this board at some point wrote a story in their genre of choice. I don't know what level of training you have and whether or not you possess the skills to know how to translate the ideas in your head into something actionable, or if you have industry experience I'm unaware of.

But it takes more than having a good story and penning it to paper (Or typing it to word processor). There's all the effort it takes to work with your producers, directors, cinematographers and actors, within your budget, then all the work researching how your ideas are actually being received and making adjustments when necessary.

I could take the story from my webcomic, take some sort of screenwriting class and get a decent pilot script in. But that's the easiest part of the process for creative types.

If you do have professional experience in the industry, my apologies for assuming you didn't.

 

Exactly. There are plenty of great books and comics out there to adapt. It's just that many are optioned but few are filmed. THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT, for example, has been optioned, on and off, for decades now. And ENDER'S GAME was stuck in Development Hell for years before finally making it to the screen--with mixed results.

See also RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA, THE STARS OUR DESTINATION, RINGWORLD, etc.

 

Stainless Steel Rat would make a fantastic tv show. A film would be a waste of all of that source material.

Rama and Ringworld would make good movies or limited series. Of course, personally, they feel of the same. A big mystery object in space.

I would love it if someone looked at Cordwainer Smith’s work as a source. But, the lack of name recognition would hurt its chances.

But, god damn, why not Buck Rogers? I want my new darker version of Dr. Theopolis in my grim and gritty remake.

 

My understanding is that BUCK ROGERS is tied up in litigation at the moment, revolving around the issue of whether or not he is in public domain by now since he first appeared (in print) way back in 1928. I suspect people are holding off until the courts make their ruling.

 

Oh, yeah, that does sound sort of familiar.

Of course, all the stuff I want... Dr. Theopolis, Twiki (YES, dammit, I want Twiki), the Starfighter design, are probably all owned by Universal.

 

Yep. Anything created specifically for the 1980s show would not be in public domain.

 

http://i.imgur.com/bzulraj.jpg

Twiki is hella awesome.