Animated Trek series coming to Nickelodeon

[Christopher]

Another interesting question, should this cartoon adhere to or just ditch past continuity, in order to appeal to a younger audience?

One has to keep in mind, that kids today wouldn't know about some of the stuff we grew up with when Star Trek when it was really popular, like the TNG Borg stories or the Klingon/Romulan drama stories, the Khan vs. Kirk struggle, etc.

I'd be fine with it being in a separate continuity, but that's not the only way to avoid confusing people. Two things can be in the same reality but still work as distinct, standalone stories. All you have to do is not let continuity porn drive your show the way Discovery too often does. I mean, TNG in its early seasons tried to avoid TOS references as much as possible, outside of "The Naked Now." It was in the same universe (more or less), but it told its own stories rather than constantly referring back to old continuity.

 

[The Overlord]

I'd be fine with it being in a separate continuity, but that's not the only way to avoid confusing people. Two things can be in the same reality but still work as distinct, standalone stories. All you have to do is not let continuity porn drive your show the way Discovery too often does. I mean, TNG in its early seasons tried to avoid TOS references as much as possible, outside of "The Naked Now." It was in the same universe (more or less), but it told its own stories rather than constantly referring back to old continuity.

Well, that is why I suggested both a hard reboot and soft reboot, where you just have a different ship and do not make references to the past works.

But if they do an ''Ultimate Universe'' version of Star Trek, it would have to have its own continuity. When say Spider-Man or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles get new cartoons, they take the approach of merging different characters and concepts from different works and eras put it all into one show, kinda like the greatest hits version of the franchise. The 2012 TMNT cartoon took elements from the 87 cartoon and the Mirage comics and blended them together, along with some new stuff. New Spider-Man cartoons will blend characters first introduced in the 60s with characters from the 80s, 90s or later and change them up to introduce them all at the same time, in the same show. Now Star Wars Clone Wars and Rebels were in continuity with the movies, but Star Wars at the time only had 6 movies as canon to refer to, not hundreds of hours of TV.

Like I said kids today may not know about the older Star Trek, so stuff like Khan and the Borg would be new to them. I am not suggesting they retell old stories, I would rather they avoid the Force Awakens Problem of just rehashing old plots, but I could see them take the most iconic elements of Star Trek, put a new spin on it and present it to a younger generation.

 

[Donker]

The Star Wars animated series are canonical, therefore it's possible for an animated kids' series to be canonical within a live-action universe.

While that is true, most of those series are aimed not a child audience, but a YA audience with Clone Wars especially in it's later seasons taking "Young Adult" to basically mean 18-25 year olds. The thing with this Trek series is that from what we have gleaned, it really does seem like a CG show for like 6 year olds, it will probably be comedy as well, which means I find very highly unlikely we will get a series that is considered canon by the fandom.

 

[Christopher]

While that is true, most of those series are aimed not a child audience, but a YA audience with Clone Wars especially in it's later seasons taking "Young Adult" to basically mean 18-25 year olds.

Resistance is aimed younger than the previous couple of series. And "young adult" as a genre label means material aimed at people aged 12 to 18. Teenagers usually wish to think of themselves as young adults, so it's good marketing to use that label for things aimed at them.

Honestly, though, I don't get why adult fans are so worried about whether a Trek kids' show will appeal to them. We adult fans already have a ton of Trek shows aimed at us -- we shouldn't be so damn egocentric all the time. The franchise is huge enough that we have no business begrudging the existence of a single show aimed at someone other than us. If it appeals to children, if it gets them interested in Trek and keeps the franchise viable for a new generation, that's great, whether you or I like the show or not.

The thing with this Trek series is that from what we have gleaned, it really does seem like a CG show for like 6 year olds, it will probably be comedy as well, which means I find very highly unlikely we will get a series that is considered canon by the fandom.

Canon is not a matter of fan opinion. The word is used to refer to the core body of work in a fictional franchise from its original creators or owners, as opposed to derivative works by outside creators. It is not something that anyone decides is the case, any more than you can decide whether something is land or water. It is merely a label to describe what something intrinsically is. Whether this show is canonical or not depends on whether the creators of other Trek shows choose to acknowledge it as part of the same whole or to treat it as something separate.

Personally I think it would be a good idea to make it something separate, a fresh reinterpretation; I think Trek is way overdue for that kind of reinvention. But how its continuity relates to other productions is for the creators of those productions to decide, not for the audience to decide. The spectators of a game don't get to call the plays.

 

[Stibbons]

My Little Pony ~ Friendship is Magic was supposed to be a kids show, look what happened there. In fairness it was well made, funny, quirky and cute. Maybe this new series will also have John De Lancie in it.

My Little Trekkie?

No, perhaps not...

 

[ITDUDE]

But will it be Č̨̤̗̜̫͈̙̰͐̊̒̐̋͗̊̅̇a̢̲̤͇̘̠̝̮̦̔͗̊̈́͑̀̑͊̇͘ͅǹ̨͉̞̞̬̝͍͙̯͛̈͐̍͋̎̉̅͝ͅȍ͈̗͙̘̠̺̣͙͓̺̒̏̀̈́̆̂̆̂͘ṅ̰̯̝͚̱̻̘̝̯̥̀̿̉̀͊̓̎̈́͗?

I am stealing this for my sig!

 

[Caretaker]

https://www.tvguide.com/news/nickelodeon-animated-star-trek-series/

A few details have popped up about the Nickelodeon animated series.

• The currently untitled series follows a group of "lawless teens who discover a derelict Starfleet ship and use it to search for adventure, meaning, and salvation," per the show's official description.

• It is being developed by the Hageman brothers (Kevin and Dan) who have worked on Ninjango, Hotel Transylvania and The Lego Movie

Let the speculation continue

 

[F. King Daniel]

It would be kinda funny if the derelict ship was the USS Discovery, during the 10,000 years she's abandoned as per "Calypso"

 

[The Butter Phantom]

Could this show be set in the 33rd Century as well?

 

[DS9ers]

https://www.tvguide.com/news/nickelodeon-animated-star-trek-series/

A few details have popped up about the Nickelodeon animated series.

• It is being developed by the Hageman brothers (Kevin and Dan) who have worked on Ninjango, Hotel Transylvania and The Lego Movie

Let the speculation continue

They also were writers on Trollhunters. I am excited to see what they do with Star Trek!

 

[Christopher]

It would be kinda funny if the derelict ship was the USS Discovery, during the 10,000 years she's abandoned as per "Calypso"

That was actually my first thought. My second is that it sounds kind of like Andromeda without Dylan Hunt. Either way, the "lawless" and "derelict" bits do suggest we might be seeing a post-Federation future, but we could be reading into that.

 

[urbandk]

I hope they leave the time/place ambiguous, perhaps make the teens not human?

 

[Danlav05]

So Savage and Schwartz's Starleet Academy and Nick Meyer's Khan series are the only two of the 'leaked' ideas we haven't heard official word of.

 

[Tuskin38]

And a startrek.com article

https://ca.startrek.com/news/star-trek-nickelodeon-animation

 

[Christopher]

And a startrek.com article

https://ca.startrek.com/news/star-trek-nickelodeon-animation

Is it just my browser, or is that article in a really bizarre font?

 

[The Butter Phantom]

So Savage and Schwartz's Starleet Academy and Nick Meyer's Khan series are the only two of the 'leaked' ideas we haven't heard official word of.

Starfleet Academy is the only 1 of those I see happening, once the creators are a little bit more free to do it. There's no rush.

 

[publiusr]

Either way, the "lawless" and "derelict" bits do suggest we might be seeing a post-Federation future.

That was the idea behind a previous animated attempt, where Warp drive as made difficult. I remember Nick showing TAS a decade or three back.

 

[seigezunt]

B-But a guy in a helmet told me that the franchise is days away from being cancelled.

 

[Thefallguy]

B-But a guy in a helmet told me that the franchise is days away from being cancelled.

A hat made out of tin foil doesn’t qualify as a helmet...

 

[C.E. Evans]

Color me intrigued.

I'm sure the teens will be a mix of humans and non-humans, but the "derelict Starfleet ship" could be anything, including a vessel that was abandoned during a battle and was believed to be lost (like the Stargazer) or a long-ago decommissioned and partially cannibalized one that was sitting in a starship graveyard until the kids came across it.