How else is an insulated antisocial nerd to be?
I was sure Ive read this yet I could be mistaken, after all every two sentence quote is mired in hundreds of paragraphs of opinion so it could be twisted into something it isnt.
News Exclusive: Scott Bakula Eyeing Star Trek Return In President Archer Series Pitch From ‘Enterprise’ Producer
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
- Start date
A few new ideas from Sussman here.
If all of Archer’s children are adults at the start of the show, then the timeline implies that the mother to at least one of Archer’s children might be Becky (seen in a deleted scene cut from the ENT S2 finale). Maybe United can finally develop that idea – maybe Archer was not aware, as I cannot believe that Archer would be an absentee father, nor can I imagine him being told to stay away. The other two children may have been born during the Romulan War. The youngest might have been born during the early days of the Federation. Maybe one of them takes an interest in singing, after seeing Archer take on singing therapy in the aftermath of the Romulan War.
Guest stars from ENT
There are a few to look into. There’s Clancy Brown’s character Zobral, with a follow-up to find out whether he won, or he’s been captured and put on trial. A return of the three Orion sisters, without Harrad-Sar, and maybe working with Malurians this time. And Admiral Valdore as a frenemy, after faking his death in the Romulan War. United does not need to follow up on everything from ENT; the focus should be on new stories. But some follow-ups are more important than others, and make sense within continuity.
As for the main ENT cast as guest characters, it’s okay as long as they are doing something new in their lives.
Phlox could appear as a surgeon general. We definitely need a payoff of visiting Denobula after their development on ENT, and would provide an opportunity to explore meeting other members of Phlox’s family.
Mayweather could appear as a Merchant Marine enforcing Federation law with Corporal McKenzie. I’d imagine freighter issues would be of interest to Archer, due to his brief interest in freighter life prior to Starfleet, so Mayweather would provide an opportunity to explore that. Though he should clash with Archer in regard of how he leaned on T’Pol’s knowledge more than his own in ENT. I would say he should be the only one who would not want to be involved in Archer’s cabinet in any capacity.
Reed as heading up secret service? No, I agree with Sussman on that (and it’s more believable that Shran would get that role and staff it with Andorians). I get it, Reed’s background in ship security and Section 31. But instead, Reed should be heading up a starbase on Andoria as a rear admiral, or have succeeded Archer’s as Ambassador to Andoria. Starfleet intelligence could run through both postings, and Reed could be keeping an eye on developments on Valakis from “Dear Doctor”, since that planet is in the Andorian sector. On a personal level, I see him adopting the daughter of Crewman Fuller’s (the guy killed by the pirates in “Anomaly”), who could be in Starfleet but also at odds with the Reed family’s past association with Colonel Green and Optimum, and just show how his life has evolved.
Trip should be undercover somewhere, and also have a new identity altogether, such as Stillwell (who was mentioned in TATV, but never seen, leaving his identity open to interpretation). He should share a daughter with T’Pol named T’rip (named after Lizzy Tucker and baby Elizabeth). IMHC, he also has a child with the First Monarch Kaitaama from “Precious Cargo”. Maybe even have a flashback of him and Archer as part of the Franklin crew while breaking the Warp 4 barrier.
T’Pol as the Federation’s first ever ambassador at-large, as well as the estranged First Lady and mother of archer’s youngest children? Yes, I could buy that (note: Sussman did once float an idea with Archer as the first Federation President and T’Pol as his wife & First Lady for “Twilight”, so I’m not wish listing something for the show or taking sides in a shipping war. Just exploring an idea). Especially since any appearance of T’Pol should be a big f’ing deal anyways. If they keep the S5 idea of T’Pol being revealed to be half-Romulan, then that would mean that Archer’s father-in-law is a Romulan, and his child with T’Pol would be quarter Romulan (just like Trip and T’Pol’s daughter would be a quarter Romulan). Archer protecting this child would be a part of his character, and he would not joining in on anti-Romulan sentiments. Maybe that’s a factor as to why the Federation capital is currently on Babel – such sentiments still remain on Earth, and are worse than anything seen during ENT.
The only returning characters from ENT that make sense of being part of the main cast full time are Shran and Hoshi. And in Hoshi’s case, it should be a build up. IMPO, Hoshi should be famous in her own right – there’s no reason she’s not a celebrity on a 22nd century dancing show or on the celebrity edition of the 22nd century version of the Amazing Race, and not making her rounds on the talk show circuit. And she should be having her own adventures outside of Starfleet, either relic hunting or embedded in a pre-warp civilization learning their culture and language. While a guest appearing as press secretary makes sense as a one off, I hope Sussman and whoever else writes the show realize that she’s beyond that role, and leave that role to a Trill or Betazoid character, or a Rigelian or a Tellarite character to explore those cultures. She should be the communication director (I disagree with Sussman here) or the chief of staff after a cabinet shuffle. And as Archer’s closet friend, since it predates ENT, she should be a ride-or-die type of friend.
With the Suliban, maybe bring back Narra from “Detained”, now older and trying to shut down the Tandaran detention facilities. And she finds herself in conflict with the Federation because of the role the Tandarans played in the Romulan war in detaining and interrogating various Romulan proxies (maybe some of those proxies infiltrated the MACOs?) on the Federation’s behalf. And Narra isn’t without sympathies to the Federation position (because of familiarities of horrors and Suliban mistreatment during the Romulan war), it just a matter of ethics. Maybe the request is bad timing because Archer is focused on trying to shut down Canamar.
With the Xindi, United should focus on the female side this time – Commander Dolim did have a daughter and Degra did have a wife and children, and neither were seen onscreen. Also, maybe the Xindi are prolific in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers and trying to help break the warp 8 barrier, as Xindi vortex technology isn’t compatible with Federation tech and such experiments have resulted in a lot of lost Starfleet starships, including Columbia. Placing the Xindi in that role could also explain the origins of Cetacean Ops.
And while not mentioned as a potential enemy to ally, they should bring in Alice Eve to play Paxton’s daughter who renounces the Terra Prime philosophy, and is more in favour of Starfleet than her father. And can represent a biological connection between the Paxtons and the Marcus family.
I agree about Future Guy and time travel. If the show ever gets greenlit and is fortunate enough to get a fifth season, do that stuff then. They can bring in Future Guy and Daniels and even Ducane and Young Guinan from PIC S2. Maybe a follow up to “Future Tense” and go all out on it. For now, keep it grounded since that’s what everyone wants and expects from the show.
I had a thought – maybe Wrigley’s Pleasure Planet could host the equivalent of Martha’s Vineyard or Camp David as a retreat for the Federation President. Then we could finally see that planet.
Scott Bakula is 71 and Jonathan Archer was born in 2112. Assuming they make the ages match, that would put the President Archer show circa 2183, which is consistent with what was established in In a Mirror Darkly as Archer's presidential term (2179-2187).
Sarek was born in 2165 and would be approximately 18 at the time. Perhaps they could establish some sort of internship for him where he gains his first experience in diplomacy during the Archer administration.
Sarek was born in 2165 and would be approximately 18 at the time. Perhaps they could establish some sort of internship for him where he gains his first experience in diplomacy during the Archer administration.
Almost an entire generation has passed since it aired.
There's an entire generation of people who have never seen it.
More memberberries.
That sounds absolutely awful as a premise for a new Star Trek show. Even the memberberries don’t know why anybody would care about any of that.
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This from the most ardent supporter of Legacy on the board? Ok.More memberberries.
This from the most ardent supporter of Legacy on the board? Ok.
At least mine date from three years ago.
Did we ever really hear a good pitch for Legacy beyond Captain Seven and a crew of nepo-officers out having adventures, plus surly Holographic Engineer Shaw?
Fans of Star Trek…Trekkies if you will. Plus don’t discount hate watching. It is very much alive and well. Just read some episode threads for SNW.
I’d love this too. But ideally a series set 75 years or so AFTER Picard S3 with a new crew on yet another new Enterprise with little to no direct connection to the previous series (Picard S3) would be best.
And would be three times as expensive to produce.At least mine date from three years ago.
Spared no expense.
Never stated otherwise.
Sussman himself said that Paramount politely shoved him out the door.
"which isn't a show, by the way, It is not in development with Paramount (...) It was a pitch that was passed on. Thank you, but no thank you."
Rereading my quotes, I realize that I'm coming across as overly and unnecessarily harsh in my responses. I apologize if I'm giving you that impression.
With that said, I'm kind of confused as to why he thinks they would want to proceed with this now.
UPN ditched their version of Star Trek to go toward gaining a larger portion of female viewers ... and where are they now.
(and programing wrestling to fill Trek's slot, also proved that it wasn't enough)
There is an audience out there for that kind of entertainment, but it's never going to be sizeable enough to bring in the kind of viewers that makes gobs of money in this day & age of streaming.
Skydance now has control of a niche IP that after 50+ years can still bring in enough viewers to be profitable IF They can keep the cost of productions reasonable and make a fairly decent product.
Going with the Archer project IMO will bring in more eyeballs rather than Seven of Nine, just because using her will still carry the stigma of the cat-suited character.
(which was geared toward male eyeballs, not female)
Enterprise was a failure. It flopped after four seasons.
No one watched Archer the first time. Why bring back seventy-year-old Scott Bakula?
Does P+ want yet ANOTHER leading man who needs a nap in the afternoon?
Seven is NOT going to be wearing the catsuit (she hasn't worn it in twenty-five years).
Because he's got a viable track record of leading multiple successful television series before and since Enterprise and has been nominated and won multiple awards for his roles.
ENTERPRISE was cancelled mainly because UPN told CBS/Paramount that they wanted to go in a different direction and didn't want the show anymore.Enterprise was a failure. It flopped after four seasons.
No one watched Archer the first time. Why bring back seventy-year-old Scott Bakula?
Does P+ want yet ANOTHER leading man who needs a nap in the afternoon?
Seven is NOT going to be wearing the catsuit (she hasn't worn it in twenty-five years).
The CEO of CBS wasn't a Trek/Sci-Fi fan and pretty much indicated that it was stupid waste of money anyway, so he cut it.
The fact that the ratings were dropping off was just the excuse that was used.
All the Trek shows ratings dropped off as the seasons progressed, so that wasn't anything that wasn't already calculated into the production from the get go.
Also, many of UPN's shows were rating disasters, mainly because the local UPN stations were constantly preempting them for local sports and live entertainment specials.
Doesn't matter what Jeri Ryan wore in the Picard series, she was mainly brought back as the eye-candy that the character was designed for to begin with.
The fact that she fought to give the character more gravitas, didn't change that.
Patrick Stewart was hitting his 80's when that series started, Bakula is in his early 70's.
Not sure how you can make a statement like that and not seem moronic.
smh
We get it, you are a TNG/Voyager fan, but dissing the other shows won't get you what you want, nor will it make you any friends around here.
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I’d say a considerable amount of the blame for ENT’s failure lay in how B&B handled the show, both in writing and production. What worked in the 80’s and 90’s didn’t really work as well in the 00’s. It was just starting to get its stride when Manny Coto took over, but by that point the ratings had already sealed its fate. So wish it had gotten a 5th season. I really think Coto would have had it go out with a bang instead of that abomination of a “valentine to the fans” finale that we got. Talk about getting bent over a bar stool… 
"united" doesn't have to be outstanding or grab major numbers, it just has to be cheap and be a placeholder. it's easier for Paramount to take a risk on something like that. its decent odds.
In honesty, the more I hear about this pitch, the more expensive it's starting to sound.
The most recent Sci-Finatics video on the subject discussed the depiction of the attack on Salem Station 4, which is a big historical event in the Trek universe (that I really couldn't remember, but was mentioned several times in the Berman era).
Political meetings and long negotiations on Babel was one thing, but to fully realise Sussman's pitch may not be as cheap as first assumed. It's tough to cost these things when they're just a idea, anyway.
The most recent Sci-Finatics video on the subject discussed the depiction of the attack on Salem Station 4, which is a big historical event in the Trek universe (that I really couldn't remember, but was mentioned several times in the Berman era).
Political meetings and long negotiations on Babel was one thing, but to fully realise Sussman's pitch may not be as cheap as first assumed. It's tough to cost these things when they're just a idea, anyway.
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