In a way, I agree, but tying the JJ universe to the 'prime' universe was a mistake IMO. They should've just gone full on reboot.
So what would you like CBS to do with a new Star Trek TV show?
- Thread starter GhostFaceSaint
- Start date
I never said it would be : /
My position is it should be a Kirk / Spock TV show or else the whole reboot was pointless.
Except Abrams and Bad Robot currently have a production deal with WB for TV. Not that CBS couldn't work something out, but it would be more difficult.
They'd probably just get his blessing so they don't end up looking bad if the whole thing flops. Just because Abrams has other hit shows and did a good job with Trek in the movies doesn't mean that he couldn't have a big fat failure with Trek on TV, or that he'd even be interested in doing a show. His blessing would be more for ass-covering insurance for the people who put their necks on the line to go that far outside CBS's usual area of expertise.
I know this will never happen, but I'd like to see, say, the top 5 best TOS episodes be remade with the new cast. A sort of mini-series if you will. I'm more curious than anything to see how some of the events of TOS would play out for the new crew.
Theres probably a million and a half things to keep that from ever happening but I can dream can't I?
Theres probably a million and a half things to keep that from ever happening but I can dream can't I?
If there is going to be a new Trek, I'd like to see a series that aims for five years, not seven. Let's have a bit more urgency and really get down to business from season 1, instead of waiting for a couple of years before things truly start to happen.
Urgency for what? What things start to happen? If you mean that you don't want the show to take time to find its legs, sure that's obvious, but it's also not something that you can snap your fingers and make happen. A show can get lucky and hit it's stride from day 1(TOS and West Wing come to mind) or a show can take a couple years to find its groove(TNG). But all of that has more to do with quality writers and luck then a mandated direction.
Well I don't know, but I'd like to think the writers would!
Are you taking as a given that a new show will be heavily serialized? You may want that and think it's needed, but others disagree. Either way there is no indication which way the show will go. And unless you're dealing with a serialized show then things happen in episode one just as much as episode 60 and episode x. The episode number and total count have no bearing on when things happen. And even in serialized show things can happen just as much in episode 1 as any other episode.
In the end it comes down to good writing not a magic episode number, so I still don't see your point about wanting "things to happen."
I know alot of people will disagree, but I think the next Star Trek show should be made for cable. The business model for cable allows for niche programming to thrive, and the traditional networks are struggling as generalists in an increasing specialist world. This is the primary reason we see so much reality TV, it appeals to the lowest common denominator (and its cheap).
Whatever the subject matter of the next Trek series, the most important thing would be for it to find a home where it can thrive.
And while its certainly true that JJ Abrams' Star Trek has revived the brand in the public consciousness, I don't know if box office dollars will translate into TV ratings. Its one thing for the average non-Trekkie to go see the new Trek film every two or so years (or watch it at home) and its quite another for them to tune in week in and week out in the large numbers necessary to keep Trek viable on network TV.
So there then next question is where on cable would be a good home for Trek. The natural choice would be the Sci-Fi Channel (sorry, SyFy). I know they have a bad rep around here, and I too have been disappointed with their development and programming in the last few years, but I would imagine a new, first run Trek show would instantly be the crown jewel of their schedule.
Whatever the subject matter of the next Trek series, the most important thing would be for it to find a home where it can thrive.
And while its certainly true that JJ Abrams' Star Trek has revived the brand in the public consciousness, I don't know if box office dollars will translate into TV ratings. Its one thing for the average non-Trekkie to go see the new Trek film every two or so years (or watch it at home) and its quite another for them to tune in week in and week out in the large numbers necessary to keep Trek viable on network TV.
So there then next question is where on cable would be a good home for Trek. The natural choice would be the Sci-Fi Channel (sorry, SyFy). I know they have a bad rep around here, and I too have been disappointed with their development and programming in the last few years, but I would imagine a new, first run Trek show would instantly be the crown jewel of their schedule.
I'm pretty sure someone used a similar argument to put TNG in syndication. I have no problem putting a new show on basic cable.
SyFy needs to quit wasting time with Pro-Wrestling and Ghost Hunting Bullshit before anyone takes them seriously again. Airing the classic Doctor Who series would go a long way towards repairing their image with genre fans.
I think the best route for a new ST show would be to recast the characters, and set it just after Kirk takes command of Enterprise in the latest film and before the next film. As noted, most of the cast are primarily film actors, so most would be reluctant to be tied to a TV series. So recasting the main characters would be necessary. Call it Star Trek: Tne New Adventures, or something like that.
Now, the ST geek in me would love to see a real prequel, with a young Captain Pike as the star of the show, with his first major command, wearing the uniforms seen on the Kelvin. Since the nuTrek universe has established their Enterprise as a brand-new ship, Pike needs a different ship. As an homage to the baseball team on Cestus III in DSN, the Pike City Pioneers, I'd call the ship the U.S.S. Pioneer. I'd call the show Star Trek: Captain Pike's Pioneers, like in the ep Return of the Archons where they called that starship's crew Archons. They get that nickname not just because that's the name of the ship but because they're entering an unexplored region of space, one which the Romulans and Klingons contest, as well.
I'd also make this new show a throwback to TOS in this way: Just have the troika of Pike, his first officer/science officer, and chief medical officer. To complete the geek factor without being too obvious, make Pike's first officer a full Vulcan -- I don't think they established Spock as the first Vulcan in Starfleet in the latest flick, so why not? Hell, even call him Sonak as an homage to the character in ST:TMP. I also envision the emotional doctor as an Andorian who isn't too fond of Vulcans, and I'd make the doctor a female.
I'd then have rotating crew members -- no permanent chief engineer, helmsman, navigator, or communications officer. Those could be guest star roles, with the potential for those roles to be controversial characters. They could show the center seat occupied by different people, so it'd be like the modern-day navy with officers of the deck standing watches.
If they do decide to cast those roles permanently, I'd like to see a Tellarite engineer, a swashbuckling female helm officer or navigator, a studious, greenhorn male or female helm officer or navigator, and an alien communications officer -- hell, give him the look of Balok as an homage to the ep The Corbomite Maneuver.
Oh, and for crying out loud, no remakes of old eps! There are plenty of stories that should see the light of day in a new ST series. We have the older eps. Remakes of old eps is not boldly going where no one has gone before!
I'm sure if they decide to do another series, it will be different from anything any of us suggest, though!
Red Ranger
Now, the ST geek in me would love to see a real prequel, with a young Captain Pike as the star of the show, with his first major command, wearing the uniforms seen on the Kelvin. Since the nuTrek universe has established their Enterprise as a brand-new ship, Pike needs a different ship. As an homage to the baseball team on Cestus III in DSN, the Pike City Pioneers, I'd call the ship the U.S.S. Pioneer. I'd call the show Star Trek: Captain Pike's Pioneers, like in the ep Return of the Archons where they called that starship's crew Archons. They get that nickname not just because that's the name of the ship but because they're entering an unexplored region of space, one which the Romulans and Klingons contest, as well.
I'd also make this new show a throwback to TOS in this way: Just have the troika of Pike, his first officer/science officer, and chief medical officer. To complete the geek factor without being too obvious, make Pike's first officer a full Vulcan -- I don't think they established Spock as the first Vulcan in Starfleet in the latest flick, so why not? Hell, even call him Sonak as an homage to the character in ST:TMP. I also envision the emotional doctor as an Andorian who isn't too fond of Vulcans, and I'd make the doctor a female.
I'd then have rotating crew members -- no permanent chief engineer, helmsman, navigator, or communications officer. Those could be guest star roles, with the potential for those roles to be controversial characters. They could show the center seat occupied by different people, so it'd be like the modern-day navy with officers of the deck standing watches.
If they do decide to cast those roles permanently, I'd like to see a Tellarite engineer, a swashbuckling female helm officer or navigator, a studious, greenhorn male or female helm officer or navigator, and an alien communications officer -- hell, give him the look of Balok as an homage to the ep The Corbomite Maneuver.
Oh, and for crying out loud, no remakes of old eps! There are plenty of stories that should see the light of day in a new ST series. We have the older eps. Remakes of old eps is not boldly going where no one has gone before!
I'm sure if they decide to do another series, it will be different from anything any of us suggest, though!
Red Ranger
The problem is the business model of Star Trek does not allow for a niche audience. Michael Taylor said Virtuality can't survive on a cable budget without international partners. How is Star Trek going to look even more alien and survive on a cable budget? The only way I see Star Trek working on cable is if it goes the Sanctuary route of everything being green screens.
I think a business model could be devised that would support a high-quality basic cable Star Trek. While an untested property such as Virtuality may have trouble finding international partners, a brand name like Star Trek would be able to do so with little problem. It is one of the highest grossing entertainment franchises of all time and as earlier posters have pointed out its profile has certainly be raised this year.
Of greater concern is that Star Trek generally doesn't give much opportunity for product placement within the show due to its nature. From my experience, that revenue stream is becoming more and more critical in regards to series pattern budgets.
Still, if a deal can be struck that makes money for everyone involved, then you can bet it will happen.
This is not as difficult as one would think. During Voyager, there could have been a rather easy product placement by having Janeway prefer a specific coffee brand/blend.
There's bound to be something else that someone can incorporate into the show. Let's say that Kirk has a modern 23rd Century (or classic 21st Century) Corvette back home in Iowa. Or, perhaps Chekov likes to collect ancient video games from Nintendo, Microsoft, et al. This is where the imagination part of the writing process comes in, people.
I had another thought about how they could position a ST show using the classic characters without overlapping the new movies. My idea above was to set the series a short time after the latest one. Perhaps what's needed is moving the time frame up maybe 5 years or more. As in TMP, we start the show with Enterprise having undergone an extensive refit, with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, et al., ready for a new mission of exploration. This means that we'd pick up on the characters after they've worked with each other awhile and now know each other fairly well. This would make recasting a bit "easier" to swallow as the characters have aged a bit. It would kind of be like what Phase Two was supposed to be, minus Ilia, Decker, and Xon/Sonak. Those characters could be guest stars, of course, even though that might be covering old ground. But since we only found out a little about Ilia and nothing about Sonak, they would be fresh characters. Still would love to see a regular Andorian character, though, as security chief, or maybe helm officer, and give Sulu, not Chekov, a promotion to lt. cmdr. and security chief (homage to Mirror, Mirror). -- RR
I personally would want them to do a Post DS9/VOY show. I've heard the arguments of the universe being to hard to write a story. It didn't really seem much of a problem for the writers of DS9 when they were doing it. The premise of ENT was very good. They could have made a very successful and engaging show but they failed.
I can see how a show set in a Post Dominion war Federation can succeed but then again I can see how it can fail. It all depends on the writers for me.
I think in the end that it depends on what kind of writers you have not where the story is set.
Edit: I just read a bit of what Bryan Fuller wanted to do in a new show. My only conclusion is that the show is going to fail. Really hard. He's living in nostalgia. A camp 60s show doesn't translate well here in the 2000s.
I can see how a show set in a Post Dominion war Federation can succeed but then again I can see how it can fail. It all depends on the writers for me.
I think in the end that it depends on what kind of writers you have not where the story is set.
Edit: I just read a bit of what Bryan Fuller wanted to do in a new show. My only conclusion is that the show is going to fail. Really hard. He's living in nostalgia. A camp 60s show doesn't translate well here in the 2000s.
RobertScorpio
Pariah
I want CBS to keep its fingers OFF of star trek, and let it exist as movies only. the glut of TREK is what ruined it, I think, and just gave the impression that the movies were just two hour episodes with B actors, if that..and they were...
TREK is now a big time movie powerhouse..if fans cant get their TV fix with over 600 hours of TV already in the can, then too bad..
Rob
TREK is now a big time movie powerhouse..if fans cant get their TV fix with over 600 hours of TV already in the can, then too bad..
Rob
