Should a Pike show take the Orville approach?

[Mudd]

The Orville may or may not be a "wankfest," but most modern Trek is pretty damn limp. Real performance issues.

 

[MrPointy]

I've always really liked the idea of the Pike series mimicking the structure of BBC's Sherlock. Movie-length episodes that are designed as standalone, but lead to a final episode that ties together some kind of overarching plot that was present in them.

 

[Kzinti]

you mean being a ripoff of TNG and making stupid family guy ''jokes'' yeah that's gonna be a big no from me

 

[Borgminister]

I think as far as the "big 3" cast, they would have a winner already. It'll all be in the setting and writing, since production and direction values are already top notch.

 

[Uhura's Song]

I prefer episodic to these constant end of the Federation/Universe stuff. I do not mind threads carrying over from episode to episode, but that should mostly be side dishes. Not the main story.

And yes, solicit stories from professional sci-fi writers.

The whole point of having multiple shows is to appeal to different parts of fandom. Make an episodic, exploration based show. Pike, Number One, and Spock. Throw in an Andorian or Telurite (am I spelling that right?). Go.

 

[Imaus]

Semi-Arc based seems to be the way to go. Just scooting around, stamping out brush fires, offering solutions to problems that are holding a world back or ripping it apart. Maybe Pike is on a tighter leash than Kirk right after the war, so maybe we see a lot more Federation influence and workings.

If the show needs a conflict - the Sheliak comes to mind. Pike can wrangle with that; maybe deal with carbon-based lifeform planets and Federation colonies in their way. A few big battles here and there; but nothing so drastic as we've seen in the rest of NuTrek.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'd enjoy a series that went back to the episodic exploration style of storytelling, but I wouldn't want it to be quite as light and silly as Orville.

 

[Mudd]

Do you feel your TIN MAN script may have been ''soothed'' or ''de-conflicted'' when it became part of TNG, or did it more or less fit their requested formula?

They shot it amazingly close to the submitted spec script. They changed the opening and closing scenes more than anything else, primarily because we had a running thing about their observing a "stellar nursery" when the Hood contacted them, and I believe they'd used something similar a few episodes previous to buying our script.

 

[Paul755]

I always find it funny to see people react so negatively to the Orville.

I'd enjoy a series that went back to the episodic exploration style of storytelling, but I wouldn't want it to be quite as light and silly as Orville.

I hope it is a “lighter” show, given how “heavy” Discovery and Picard have been. Maybe not as silly as the Orville like you say but lighter for sure.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

I always find it funny to see people react so negatively to the Orville.

How should people react to knockoffs in the age of prestige television?

 

[Jayson1]

How should people react to knockoffs in the age of prestige television?

Prestige television has slowly been fading, not away, but back into smaller numbers. The rest has been filled by social conscious deconstruction projects for youngsters, recycled reboots and cult hits that are here and gone in a flash. Not as bad as things were in the 80's but their has been a lull lately. For Prestige television to get back to where it was in the early to mid 2000's you need more serious drama's for adults and sophisticated comedies also for adults.

Also less comic book, fantasy and teen girl adventure stuff. A huge chunk of this stuff has become disposable. Keep the high quality stuff from those genre's and add more stories about real life. More Better Call Saul, Insecure, Atlanta, Better Things,How to Become a God in South Florida, Curb you Euthasium, Billions etc. Not every show has to be about action.

Jason

 

[Boris Skrbic]

The genre doesn’t matter. With something like Better Call Saul, you’re watching one shot after another and you can see the writers trying to make each one count, avoiding every obvious move they could think of. If you start to think an arc will go in one direction, it goes in a different one. And they don’t need to reimagine a thing: we know where the pieces will fall a few years later in the timeline, but until then this boat will be steered there precisely in a series of unexpected microsteps.

 

[Jayson1]

The genre doesn’t matter. With something like Better Call Saul, you’re watching one shot after another and you can see the writers trying to make each one count, avoiding every obvious move they could think of. If you start to think an arc will go in one direction, it goes in a different one. And they don’t need to reimagine a thing: we know where the pieces will fall a few years later in the timeline, but until then this boat will be steered there precisely in a series of unexpected microsteps.

I was thinking more about stuff that capture everyday life and simply explores people living their lives as opposed to going on missions or having to beat a bad guy or kick someones ass. Basically stuff with unrealistic jeopardy. I like seeing characters basically just hangout or sometimes go do some normal job we all do and have the same worries we have like bills and maybe a family member who is a asshole to you or they are in trouble or your in trouble and they have issues as well. Makes me remind me of how much I miss Baskets and Treme.


Jason

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I always find it funny to see people react so negatively to the Orville.



I hope it is a “lighter” show, given how “heavy” Discovery and Picard have been. Maybe not as silly as the Orville like you say but lighter for sure.

TOS/TNG/Voy level lightness is fine.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

Better Call Saul is “light” or “dark” as required, without looking at either as an artificial property to be spray-painted all over a show.

 

[Tim Walker]

Nothing remotely like ENT's first two seasons is a workable strategy for any show.

Perhaps something like the 4th, with several 2 and 3-part stories? That way we can do TOS-style, but afford more depth.

Mixed with the occasional stand alone, this strategy can work well for Trek.

Different stories may require different lengths.

Babylon 5 encountered a problem with the long arc. The series was supposed to have an arc stretched over five seasons. When there were indications that the fifth season would be canceled, that fifth season was, in effect, crammed into the fourth season. When the show went onto a fifth season, it was incoherent, though there were a few decent stand alones.

 

[jmidnight_99]

I prefer episodic to these constant end of the Federation/Universe stuff. I do not mind threads carrying over from episode to episode, but that should mostly be side dishes. Not the main story.

And yes, solicit stories from professional sci-fi writers.

The whole point of having multiple shows is to appeal to different parts of fandom. Make an episodic, exploration based show. Pike, Number One, and Spock. Throw in an Andorian or Telurite (am I spelling that right?). Go.

I just posted somewhere on this blog an excerpt from an interview with Brannon Braga. He is part of the production team often "blamed" (if that's the right word) for the storytelling in Voyager. Some fans expected a less episodic series... some say "year of Hell" should have lasted a whole season, for example. Braga goes on to say Ronald Moore favored this, but the studio said no. The studio wanted a virtual reset button at the end of each show.

Well, I surely didn't want "Year of Hell" to last a year. It was a great story, but dragging it on for 20 episodes... well I don't think so.

Series these days have some sort of crappy formula for serialized story telling... Start a serialized plot, the first couple of episodes of the season deal with that plot, then several episodes don't... around sweeps time a couple more episodes deal with that plot, then several episodes don't, then the last couple of episodes at the end of the season do, that inevitably lead to the cliff hanger.

I HATE this. Maybe these shows do need a serialized plot thread one in a while.. but if you're going to do what I just described above, I'd rather the episodic plots. In fact, I prefer them most of the time.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I just posted somewhere on this blog an excerpt from an interview with Brannon Braga. He is part of the production team often "blamed" (if that's the right word) for the storytelling in Voyager. Some fans expected a less episodic series... some say "year of Hell" should have lasted a whole season, for example. Braga goes on to say Ronald Moore favored this, but the studio said no. The studio wanted a virtual reset button at the end of each show.

Well, I surely didn't want "Year of Hell" to last a year. It was a great story, but dragging it on for 20 episodes... well I don't think so.

Series these days have some sort of crappy formula for serialized story telling... Start a serialized plot, the first couple of episodes of the season deal with that plot, then several episodes don't... around sweeps time a couple more episodes deal with that plot, then several episodes don't, then the last couple of episodes at the end of the season do, that inevitably lead to the cliff hanger.

I HATE this. Maybe these shows do need a serialized plot thread one in a while.. but if you're going to do what I just described above, I'd rather the episodic plots. In fact, I prefer them most of the time.

Somebody shares the same disdain for serialized story arcs (or at least, their misuse) in this segment of a longer video.

 

[Mudd]

If this not-very-likely Pike show resembled The Orville more than the other current Trek shows it would be head and shoulders above any Trek CBS is emitting these days.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

A friend of mine shared a story on Facebook that they confirmed today they are doing a Pike series. Is that correct?!