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

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.
He was getting more out of the actors, too., but that had already started. Bakula from "The Expanse" on is doing much better. It's like he finally had a reason to get interested in his character.
 
It occurs to me that Coto might have even been facing a kind of passive-aggressive petty sabotage from the original showrunners, being demonstrably jealous of his ability to finally kick things into high gear after 3 seasons under their (mis-)management. I still shudder at the cringeworthy bitter and petty ego-fueled screed Berman gave during an interview about "This is not the Manny Coto show!" Well, yes, Mr. Berman, that's exactly what it became after you and Braga screwed it all up for everyone. Even if they did get a 5th season, it probably would have been torpedoed after that.
 
If they do the Romulan war as an animated show, it might work.

The problem isn't the format. The problem is that anyone who actually has an interest in seeing the Romulan War will have a preconceived notion based on 50+ years of Star Trek as to how the war happened. And whatever they make will invariably not live up to those expectations.

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.

I don't believe Bakula was involved in the production at all. And reboots can either be great (i.e. nuBSG), or be a death knell. But there's really no way to tell until it happens.

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.

Maybe, but I simply don't have faith that nuTrek will make anything better, if PIC season 3 was any indication.
 
FWIW I imagine that Bakula did bring some name recognition to Enterprise back in 2001 - they pointedly brought Dean Stockwell in for a guest spot too. But Quantum Leap was less than ten years old at that point and in heavy reruns. It's now over thirty years old, so has much less residual relevance.

I'm not sure if the NCIS connection would be a plus for Paramount. I imagine the audience skews older, and they want to attract younger viewers.

A tallky, political show does not fit in the current pattern. Maybe Skydance will have different ideas.
 
FWIW I imagine that Bakula did bring some name recognition to Enterprise back in 2001 - they pointedly brought Dean Stockwell in for a guest spot too.

But I'm not sure if the NCIS connection would be a plus for Paramount. I imagine the audience skews older, and they want to attract younger viewers.

A tallky, political show does not fit in the current pattern. Maybe Skydance will have different ideas.
This is why I have a hard time believing that Colbert was canceled for low ratings. We have them churning out NCIS and its needless spinoffs, but Colbert suddenly gets dropped?
 
He was an actor who absolutely sucked in ENT,
Bakula did not suck. He was miswritten.
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.
The show can take inspiration from all of the US Presidents and events from their respective terms to characterize Archer and the era. I expect nothing less, tbh.

Maybe it intends to focus on Planetarist movements from Federation member worlds to achieve it's Andor themes? In other words, Terra Prime, but with teeth and some of them with rubber foreheads.

If it’s like TOS though, I wonder if the original allegory that Klingons and Romulans represent still applies?
The problem isn't the format. The problem is that anyone who actually has an interest in seeing the Romulan War will have a preconceived notion based on 50+ years of Star Trek as to how the war happened. And whatever they make will invariably not live up to those expectations.
What preconcieved notion?

The one from TOS, where primitive vessels with primitive atomic weapons fought with no quarter, no captives and no ship-to-ship visual communication. And treaty negotiation occured over subspace radio, and Romulans are remembered as warlike, cruel and treacherous.

That was later reframed by TNG where the Battle of Cheron was a humiliation that still stung the Romulans over 200 years later.

That was later reframed by DS9 as a conflict where civilians were targeted and the Romulans did not care about the conventions of war i.e. the Geneva Convention and the Geneva Protocol.

That was later reframed by VOY as an era where United Earth still used money, meaning financing the war might have been an issue (huh, sounds familiar).

That was later reframed by ENT where the Romulans had cloaks and telepathically controlled drone ships that could mimic any starship design, and Earth was part of a Coalition of Planets. And while the conflict was simply between Earth forces and Romulans forces in the beginning, it was a Human/Vulcan/Andorian/Tellarite alliance that won the war. And that in the prelude to the war, the Vulcan leadership were under the influence of deep cover Romulan operatives working towards reunification.

That was later reframed by ST’09 where all three Romulan dialects are indistinguishable from Vulcan, which calls back to something the comm officers of the ENT era - including Hoshi - should have noticed. And T’Pol, a former Ministry of Security operative, was the one that did the translating for Romulan first contact.

That was later reframed in BEY as a conflict that MACOs fought in and not all of them were happy with the post-war peace.

That was reframed in DIS with the 2155 Geneva Protocol barring bioweapons prior to the war.

That was reframed by PIC with the Qowat Milat existing, meaning they were an important faction on Romulus along with the Tal Shiar, the Romulan Navy, the War Plans Council, the Continuing Committee and the Romulan Senate. And the creation of the Mariposas Medical Movement, which existed for 400 years, had therefore to be active during the Romulan War period.

That was later reframed by the season one finale of SNW which left the door open to Earth’s side not being entirely innocent in the conflict.

I’m legitimately not sure what preconcieved notion you think the audience is going to have about the conflict, since the preconcieved notion is always evolving. And that's not even considering the Archer show, which could yet again reframe events.
 
The show can take inspiration from all of the US Presidents and events from their respective terms to characterize Archer and the era. I expect nothing less, tbh.

Maybe it intends to focus on Planetarist movements from Federation member worlds to achieve it's Andor themes? In other words, Terra Prime, but with teeth and some of them with rubber foreheads.

If it’s like TOS though, I wonder if the original allegory that Klingons and Romulans represent still applies?
Discovery has confirmed that the Fed had zip to do with the Klingons between Enterprise and Disco's Klingon War. Same for the Romulans as established by TOS (although Archer's administration will have to deal with the aftermath of the Romulan war, the Romulans themselves will be hiding behind the neutral zone, so not much of a story). If they need troublemakers for President Archer's administration, they'll have to be newcomers that will either need an explanation why we never heard from them again (Xindi, Suliban) or are a clumsy fit (Gorn). At best case they'll just have Archer warring with the Xindi and Suliban, which will just be a political retread of Enterprise.
 
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.

Enterprise was not a commercial success, as others have pointed out, and it ended twenty years ago. Quantum Leap was a bigger deal, but that ended more than thirty years ago. A new Star Trek can't just rely on people old enough to have watched those shows. (I'm 62, I can say that.) (Though it amazes me that I can say I'm 62. Or do I mean horrifies instead of amazes?)

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.

I disagree. I think Enterprise had, overall, the weakest set of regulars, very much including Bakula. The problems with Archer weren't only down to the writing. Meanwhile, not everyone disliked the writing in season 4:

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.

Finding his stride includes writing that gawdawful Orion women episode. As showrunner, he thought all that augment/Brent Spiner/Klingon bump fanwank was a good idea. Personally, I'm okay with the fact that he didn't get another season, just as I'm hopeful that Terry Matalas will make a good career for himself in the MCU and leave Star Trek in his dust. I think another season or two of Prodigy would make a lot more sense than more Archer at this point. These may not be popular opinions, but they're the ones I've got.
 
Bakula did not suck. He was miswritten.

The show can take inspiration from all of the US Presidents and events from their respective terms to characterize Archer and the era. I expect nothing less, tbh.

Maybe it intends to focus on Planetarist movements from Federation member worlds to achieve it's Andor themes? In other words, Terra Prime, but with teeth and some of them with rubber foreheads.

If it’s like TOS though, I wonder if the original allegory that Klingons and Romulans represent still applies?

What preconcieved notion?

The one from TOS, where primitive vessels with primitive atomic weapons fought with no quarter, no captives and no ship-to-ship visual communication. And treaty negotiation occured over subspace radio, and Romulans are remembered as warlike, cruel and treacherous.

That was later reframed by TNG where the Battle of Cheron was a humiliation that still stung the Romulans over 200 years later.

That was later reframed by DS9 as a conflict where civilians were targeted and the Romulans did not care about the conventions of war i.e. the Geneva Convention and the Geneva Protocol.

That was later reframed by VOY as an era where United Earth still used money, meaning financing the war might have been an issue (huh, sounds familiar).

That was later reframed by ENT where the Romulans had cloaks and telepathically controlled drone ships that could mimic any starship design, and Earth was part of a Coalition of Planets. And while the conflict was simply between Earth forces and Romulans forces in the beginning, it was a Human/Vulcan/Andorian/Tellarite alliance that won the war. And that in the prelude to the war, the Vulcan leadership were under the influence of deep cover Romulan operatives working towards reunification.

That was later reframed by ST’09 where all three Romulan dialects are indistinguishable from Vulcan, which calls back to something the comm officers of the ENT era - including Hoshi - should have noticed. And T’Pol, a former Ministry of Security operative, was the one that did the translating for Romulan first contact.

That was later reframed in BEY as a conflict that MACOs fought in and not all of them were happy with the post-war peace.

That was reframed in DIS with the 2155 Geneva Protocol barring bioweapons prior to the war.

That was reframed by PIC with the Qowat Milat existing, meaning they were an important faction on Romulus along with the Tal Shiar, the Romulan Navy, the War Plans Council, the Continuing Committee and the Romulan Senate. And the creation of the Mariposas Medical Movement, which existed for 400 years, had therefore to be active during the Romulan War period.

That was later reframed by the season one finale of SNW which left the door open to Earth’s side not being entirely innocent in the conflict.

I’m legitimately not sure what preconcieved notion you think the audience is going to have about the conflict, since the preconcieved notion is always evolving. And that's not even considering the Archer show, which could yet again reframe events.

That’s a lot of writing just to confirm that a Romulan War show or film will not be like how anyone has envisioned it in their minds for the last 50 years.
 
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@Dukhat If they want to mention the war,
don%27t-mention-the-war-fawlty-towers.gif
 
Finding his stride includes writing that gawdawful Orion women episode.

Thank goodness Lower Decks gave the Orion women brains.

As showrunner, he thought all that augment/Brent Spiner/Klingon bump fanwank was a good idea. Personally, I'm okay with the fact that he didn't get another season, just as I'm hopeful that Terry Matalas will make a good career for himself in the MCU and leave Star Trek in his dust.

I've no objection to Terry coming back (so long as he's not left to his own devices).
 
I could've done without the S3 TNG reunion, tyvm. :rolleyes:

I've never been that big of a TNG fan. I could only get halfway through S1 before they became insufferable. :shifty:
TNG's sweet spot was seasons 4 through 6. It's a very different show than season 1.
 
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