News Exclusive: Scott Bakula Eyeing Star Trek Return In President Archer Series Pitch From ‘Enterprise’ Producer

[Dukhat]

Skydance aims to bring Paramount back to a point where it can make money. They also see Star Trek as a franchise that could probably put in $100 million and make $400-500 million, making them profitable.

Then making a movie or TV show about the Romulan war or more ENT would be the worst thing they could possibly do, because only a certain percentage of people on the TrekBBS give a shit about that, and mistakenly believe that casual moviegoers and tv watchers care about it as much as they do. That’s not how you make 500 million dollars.

 

[oktay]

Then making a movie or TV show about the Romulan war or more ENT would be the worst thing they could possibly do, because only a certain percentage of people on the TrekBBS give a shit about that, and mistakenly believe that casual moviegoers and tv watchers care about it as much as they do. That’s not how you make 500 million dollars.

I thought you were arguing about why they wanted to bring Star Trek back to the big screen and made that comment.

 

[Dukhat]

I thought you were arguing about why they wanted to bring Star Trek back to the big screen and made that comment.

No, I was pointing out that it makes no sense for Skydance to make either a new Kelvin film or a tv show about Archer post-ENT (or a Romulan war movie that only 1% of Star Trek fans care about), because that’s not how you get new viewers.

 

[Tomalak]

Hollywood is all about remakes, reboots or sequels. So another Kelvin film isn't the worst idea, with the obvious caveat that the last one lost money.

Probably why the most active film project was the 'Origins' script - a reboot/sequel/prequel.

Maybe Skydance will bin it and start again.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

@Dukhat If they want to mention the war, set the TV show a short time after - maybe make one of the main characters a veteran of the war, or the ship a refitted surviving craft. Incorporate it into the show, just don't make it the sole focus.

 

[Visitor1982]

No, I was pointing out that it makes no sense for Skydance to make either a new Kelvin film or a tv show about Archer post-ENT (or a Romulan war movie that only 1% of Star Trek fans care about), because that’s not how you get new viewers.

What nonsense is that. Scott Bakula is not just some actor. A political show about the Birth of the Federation could very well attract new viewers. You don't know what will or won't.

 

[Danja]

A political show about the Birth of the Federation could very well attract new viewers.

They're trying to launch a feature film about the Birth of the Federation.

 

[Dukhat]

What nonsense is that. Scott Bakula is not just some actor. A political show about the Birth of the Federation could very well attract new viewers. You don't know what will or won't.

He was an actor who absolutely sucked in ENT, a show that hardly anybody watched and was prematurely cancelled. So naturally, Skydance should make a new show about him.

They're trying to launch a feature film about the Birth of the Federation.

No they’re not. Production was supposed to start for that in December 2024. It’s now August 2025 and absolutely nothing has been done. And that was before the merger.

 

[137th Gebirg]

This has all happened before. This will all happen again.

 

[XCV330]

They need a lower budget series or two that will help keep people subscribing. If Bakula pitches something like that, and since he's had a proven record with NCIS, they might be more receptive than some of the other vanity-driven pitches. I don't think Bakula is particularly obsessed with his character, but he isn't ready to retire yet, clearly, and he could turn something like this into a decent 3-to-5 year show. What it doesn't need is a Discovery/SNW style budget.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Didn't I read somewhere (MANY years ago) that including Bakula in a Trek production pulled in a huge swath of Quantum Leap folks that probably never would have watched anything Trek otherwise? Could it be possible to tap into that fanbase again? Especially with the (relatively) newer NCIS angle to add to that? Any old prequel/sequel idea may fall flat, but his presence to a new Trek project might actually provide for a similar anomalous, albeit positive, effect. It might really make some good business sense to pursue this idea.

 

[Dukhat]

Didn't I read somewhere (MANY years ago) that including Bakula in a Trek production pulled in a huge swath of Quantum Leap folks that probably never would have watched anything Trek otherwise? Could it be possible to tap into that fanbase again? Especially with the (relatively) newer NCIS angle to add to that? Any old prequel/sequel idea may fall flat, but his presence to a new Trek project might actually provide for a similar anomalous, albeit positive, effect. It might really make some good business sense to pursue this idea.

I would think that if that were the case, then the Quantum Leap sequel series would have been a huge success. But it wasn't, and got cancelled. And that was a network show that people didn't need to pay for.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Did it have Bakula?

 

[Dukhat]

Did it have Bakula?

No. But it presumably had the Quantum Leap fanbase that I'm assuming were looking forward to Bakula making an appearance.

 

[Danja]

Didn't I read somewhere (MANY years ago) that including Bakula in a Trek production pulled in a huge swath of Quantum Leap folks that probably never would have watched anything Trek otherwise? Could it be possible to tap into that fanbase again?

Dean Stockwell is gone.

There's no pulling in the QL fanbase.

 

[Visitor1982]

He was an actor who absolutely sucked in ENT, a show that hardly anybody watched and was prematurely cancelled. So naturally, Skydance should make a new show about him.



No they’re not. Production was supposed to start for that in December 2024. It’s now August 2025 and absolutely nothing has been done. And that was before the merger.

The reason Enterprise being cancelled after season 4 had very little, if anything, to do with the acting or the setting. It had to do with the WRITING.

 

[Yistaan]

Then making a movie or TV show about the Romulan war or more ENT would be the worst thing they could possibly do, because only a certain percentage of people on the TrekBBS give a shit about that, and mistakenly believe that casual moviegoers and tv watchers care about it as much as they do. That’s not how you make 500 million dollars.

Strangely enough SW fans circa 2008 said the same thing about Filoni's Clone Wars movie and tv show (and indeed the theatrical movie was a flop), ESPECIALLY as Legends (which was considered canon at the time) and Tartakovsky's tv show (which was ALSO considered canon at the time as no one remotely thought that Lucasfilm would one day declare even filmed works as non-canon) had already seemingly said everything there was about the Clone Wars. As it was the show ended up going for 7 seasons and was widely acclaimed.

If they do the Romulan war as an animated show, it might work.

I'm not sure a President Archer show is going to get anywhere close to the themes of Andor. Andor is very much a parable reflecting our world regarding totalitarian governments. Unless Archer is going to be a corrupt dictator or something, I'm not sure there's much story there, much less anything that can tread the same ground that Andor did.

 

[Dukhat]

The reason Enterprise being cancelled after season 4 had very little, if anything, to do with the acting or the setting. It had to do with the WRITING.

Yes. Archer's character was written poorly. And no amount of good acting on Bakula's part would fix that.

 

[137th Gebirg]

No. But it presumably had the Quantum Leap fanbase that I'm assuming were looking forward to Bakula making an appearance.

Then that's is why it failed. People wanted to see Bakula more than the notional concept of the what show was supposed to be. I never watched it, so I have no idea if he ever actually showed up in it or not, but if he did, I could bet my next paycheck that one episode probably had the best ratings of the whole series. That's why reboots are so insanely risky. Will you "capture lightning in a bottle" and build something new that can stand on its own, like how they compared TOS to TNG, or will it fail epically and fall on its face?

Same thing happened in TNG, DS9, etc. When legacy characters showed up, ratings were relatively high for those given episodes. I particularly remember DS9's "Blood Oath" and "Trials and Tribble-ations" being ratings juggernauts compared to other episodes, which were generally lackluster from a ratings POV (despite how well they may have been written and acted). It's a proven formula that people seem to forget about.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yes. Archer's character was written poorly. And no amount of good acting on Bakula's part would fix that.

Manny Coto was already finding his stride with the writing and the actors. Had they been given a 5th season, I think it would have gone out in a more satisfying way and maybe even had gotten a full 7 seasons. Sadly, we'll never know. This might be an opportunity to rectify that.