Star Trek Anthology

[Lighthammer]

I keep asking myself this question:

Why hasn't there been a Star Trek Anthology yet?

There's *A LOT* of stuff to explore in the Star Trek Universe as it stands. There's a lot of old stories that could be touched on and frankly, with the magic of CGI, there's a lot that can be explored.

A Star Trek Anthology would most certainly be a good way to test the waters for new series and determine what series might actually end up with a strong enough backing to REALLY have a good series.

As it stands though, there's so many things that could be explored:

• An episode based on the Starfleet Academy.
• An episode based on something Klingon.
• An episode that goes back and follows the various other Enterprises.
• An episode that follows Sulu on the Excessior.
• An episode that touches on what happened to Sisko.
• An episode that celebrates Bajour's induction into Starfleet.

I'd imagine that the format for these episodes could range beteen 2-4 episodes depending on the story and start off with a 13 episode season and see how it fairs.

There's FAR too many things that could be touched on that will generate ratings.

I dont know why it seems like no one has really pushed this idea yet. I think its a win, win situation all around.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

I think it's a lose-lose situation, unfortunately. There are plenty of big-time Star Trek fans; merchandise sales continue to prove this. Yet when it comes to the television industry, you're talking about selling a niche concept to a network by means of jumping back and forth all over the place, confusing the hell out of the uninitiated due to a lack of cohesive, forward-geared structure. By the end of the ninth episode, only the most dedicated of fans would be tuning in, and the show would be cancelled in short order.

 

[DonIago]

It would also be more expensive than a series that wasn't jumping around, at least initially. More actors, more sets, etc.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

That too. I didn't even bother to mention that because a ratings failure by concept is the worst thing possible.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Why hasn't there been a Star Trek Anthology yet?

This question comes up regularly around here. Answers:

How many anthologies are there on TV now? I can't think of a single one. Combine that with space opera - also a rare bird - and that should tell you something about the marketability of each format, never mind combining them and making it all the less marketable.

My hunch is that anthologies are unmarketable because audiences watch shows largely for characters they like, and if you don't show their favorite character every week, you risk losing them. Space opera is just plain expensive and off-putting for a large proportion of the audience.

To get Star Trek back on TV means that it's got one deadly strike against it - space opera. So it needs to have every other strike for it. Give it all the advantages any show can have: give the audience relatable characters and push them front and center every week without fail.

Use the high profile of JJ Abrams' movies as much as humanly possible - you can't get the same characters on TV, but you can get the same backstory, era, aesthetics, etc. Drop names. Coax some of the movie actors into the TV show as much as you can. Piggyback the movie and TV marketing so that fans of the movies feel like they should at least check out the TV show.

TV can't ever have the budget of a movie to rely on slam-bang action and SFX for its appeal. That means there's no place to hide - the writing really has to carry the show. No more recycling old TNG scripts.

And if all possible, for the love of God and all that is holy, put it on cable! Broadcast is the domain of CSI's, L&O's, anodyne family sitcoms and reality crap. Space opera by definition much be on cable. For the CBS family, that means Showtime. Well, HBO is delving into genre with Game of Thrones and that Trent Reznor thing, so it's time Showtime stepped up.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Is that Trent Reznor thing finally going forward? I was actually interested in it. I loved the album it's based on.

 

[Jack Bauer]

When was the last truely successful anthology series? It's been a long time since there's been one. It seems to be a dead genre.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Is that Trent Reznor thing finally going forward? I was actually interested in it. I loved the album it's based on.

Yes! There was recent news on it.

The Nine Inch Nails frontman is bringing his apocalyptic 2007 sci-fi concept album to the small screen as an HBO miniseries. Warning: It won't be feel-good TV.

More than two years ago, Trent Reznor dropped the news that he was in early talks with HBO to adapt Year Zero—which had already been turned into an alternate reality game—and now it seems like things are moving along at a pretty decent pace. BBC Worldwide Productions has come aboard as the studio, and Carnivale's Daniel Knauf is writing the pilot.

Of course it could still vanish along the way. So many interesting-sounding projects do.

 

[Lighthammer]

First off, I'd like to suggest that Star Trek is one of the few series that has, well, 5 series to draw from. It's not like there aren't loose ends all over the place that people want to hear about.

I'll concede that I think an anthology for Star Trek would have been MUCH more popular in the wake of Voyager or Insurrection, but I think there's still enough Trekies that would LOVE to see stories with small finishers from old ones.

Moreover, technology has evolved to such that Set Design can be a very minimal cost if done right. Anyone remember Sanctuary? You know, the series that toted all green room effects? If a series like this was done, I think that would frankly be the only cost effective way to do it instead of building a gazlion sets.

In terms of success of anthologies, I think the one BIG success story we've had in the adult genre has been The Twilight Zone (both recent and old version).

Star Trek is certainly in a unique position with this though because we KNOW they would be bringing back characters to finish stories that we want to see.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Of course it could still vanish along the way. So many interesting-sounding projects do.

Wow, that's very nifty. I hope it goes through. I'd totally given up on that project.

 

[AviTrek]

First off, I'd like to suggest that Star Trek is one of the few series that has, well, 5 series to draw from. It's not like there aren't loose ends all over the place that people want to hear about.

I'll concede that I think an anthology for Star Trek would have been MUCH more popular in the wake of Voyager or Insurrection, but I think there's still enough Trekies that would LOVE to see stories with small finishers from old ones.

Moreover, technology has evolved to such that Set Design can be a very minimal cost if done right. Anyone remember Sanctuary? You know, the series that toted all green room effects? If a series like this was done, I think that would frankly be the only cost effective way to do it instead of building a gazlion sets.

In terms of success of anthologies, I think the one BIG success story we've had in the adult genre has been The Twilight Zone (both recent and old version).

Star Trek is certainly in a unique position with this though because we KNOW they would be bringing back characters to finish stories that we want to see.

Sanctuary looks like it is all CGI. Try and pull that on broadcast TV and it would flop even harder.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I'll concede that I think an anthology for Star Trek would have been MUCH more popular in the wake of Voyager or Insurrection,

Honestly, it wouldn't have been popular enough to survive then. You're talking about a series with two unpopular formats combined, during the same years that saw both ENT and Nemesis flop and flop hard. Sure, those both had quality issues but I'm not sure anything of better quality would have done all that much better.

Getting Star Trek back on TV is a difficult proposition that requires a very calculated and cold-blooded approach to creating the most favorable conditions possible.

Moreover, technology has evolved to such that Set Design can be a very minimal cost if done right. Anyone remember Sanctuary?

Unless Sanctuary's aesthetics have improved a whole hell of a lot since I bailed on it, I don't want to see that approach applied to a premium franchise like Star Trek. I'm sure Sanctuary is done on the cheap because it looks like it is; that's one reason I couldn't tolerate watching it. That's fine for a cheapo Skiffy series, but thinking that Star Trek could be dragged down to that level is just depressing.

In terms of success of anthologies, I think the one BIG success story we've had in the adult genre has been The Twilight Zone (both recent and old version).

The recent Twilight Zone lasted one year and ended 7 years ago. That's not recent by Hollywood standards or successful by anyone's standards.

Star Trek is certainly in a unique position with this though because we KNOW they would be bringing back characters to finish stories that we want to see.

How is that different from every show on TV now, which shows the same characters every week? If a viewer's favorite character is missing two weeks in a row, or maybe even one week, you stand a chance of losing that viewer. People have zero patience for TV shows anymore. Why take the chance?

 

[Sigh]

• An episode based on the Starfleet Academy.

I think we all know where a series based on the academy would go... Trek Teens With Problems! Sorry, I will veto any idea that centers around this unless given some interesting background. Odd because I have a cache in my brain of certain teen dramas that I do have respect for... but adding Trek into the mix just feels disrespectful.

Which makes me stop and go 'why must Trek canon be respected' when so many of the series were way out in left field at the time... So... there's hope for that gem in the rough if someone were to really give it the careful attention it would need to be something other than the Scooby gang in space.

 

[zar]

In terms of success of anthologies, I think the one BIG success story we've had in the adult genre has been The Twilight Zone (both recent and old version).

The recent Twilight Zone lasted one year and ended 7 years ago. That's not recent by Hollywood standards or successful by anyone's standards.

What was wrong with Outer Limits then? It had 7 years.

 

[BillJ]

It's not like there aren't loose ends all over the place that people want to hear about.

There aren't enough people out there that care about Trek loose ends to sustain an anthology series.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

In terms of success of anthologies, I think the one BIG success story we've had in the adult genre has been The Twilight Zone (both recent and old version).

The recent Twilight Zone lasted one year and ended 7 years ago. That's not recent by Hollywood standards or successful by anyone's standards.

What was wrong with Outer Limits then? It had 7 years.

It's a 90's series and it was syndicated. I think. Wasn't it? That sort of stuff doesn't really work as well anymore.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

CGI models

There's a lot of old stories that could be touched on and frankly, with the magic of CGI, there's a lot that can be explored.

Proman911 are you proposing that CGI models be created for exteriors of buildings/planets during the wide shots before moving to soundstages with physically built sets for the actors to shoot the scenes on or are you suggesting a virtual set type of show where the actors would entirely be shot on green-screen except for anything they phyically touch?

I touched on that with a similar idea to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) in the
Poll: A Star trek CGI series thread.

The cost for CGI may have been reduced but many models would have to be created if it were to be a virtual set type of show and the amount of compositing would be very high for a weekly TV series.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The recent Twilight Zone lasted one year and ended 7 years ago. That's not recent by Hollywood standards or successful by anyone's standards.

What was wrong with Outer Limits then? It had 7 years.

It's a 90's series and it was syndicated. I think. Wasn't it? That sort of stuff doesn't really work as well anymore.

If anthologies work, there would be anthologies on TV now. That format has died. The 90s may as well be a billion years ago. TV has changed immensely since then, and the rate of change keeps accellerating. Even "normal" shows like cop shows and lawyer shows are struggling to survive on network TV nowadays.

 

[scifib5st]

Look at all the scrips that have been recycled for CSI _______ . I guess when they run out of cities they will turn to CSI STAR TREK. Then again there is always 'CHUCK'
they do some time travel episodes. The science of Star Trek has been absorbed by other TV shows I guess.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

CSI is police procedural, a popular and durable format. That has nothing at all to do with anthology, a dead format on TV.

Other shows don't have to get sci fi ideas from Star Trek, since I've never once been able to identify a sci fi idea pioneered by Star Trek; all the ideas were invented by someone else (usually by print sci fi, which is the generator of ideas that are co-opted later by movies and TV).

Chuck has nothing whatever to do with this thread and is hardly an example of a successful show. It's an example of a show that's spent its entire existence hanging on by its fingernails, and lucky to be on a pathetic network too desperate to cancel it. If it were on CBS, it wouldn't have lasted more than a few eps and most likely would never have been aired to begin with.