Yes.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be outside standing on the ledge...
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be outside standing on the ledge...
Is Star Trek "done"
- Thread starter Infern0
- Start date
Paramount has nothing to do with what CBS wants or does not want to do. If Moonves wanted to produce a new Trek show tomorrow, Paramount would have no say in the matter.
However, I don't think we'll be having a new Trek series anytime soon (i.e. within the next five to ten years), simply because it's far easier and cost-effective to produce ratings-friendly crap like reality-tv shows and CSI-type series. A Trek series would cost the same as ten reality shows, and wouldn't get anywhere near the ratings.
Now, with all that said, I still do believe Trek will return to the small screen someday, if only because Hollywood always remakes things, to various degrees of success.
I agree with Dukhat, with TV audiences getting more and more fragmented, its to hard see how TV Trek can survive. All the emphasis is on reality shows that are cheap enough to survive with a small audience. Scifi by its nature is one of the most expensive scripted programs and it had trouble surviving in the old TV environment. It does not look good at all.
If a new series were to come out in the near future I would be ecstatic. There is nothing that I want more from TV is new Trek. Personally, I am not going to be picky. I would be happy with anything that would come out. I am a bif enough fan that anything with a Star Trek label on it makes me giddy.
I am not totally in agreement that a new Star Trek series would have trouble surviving. Look at how popular the new Battelstar Galactica was and the shows on the Syfy channel don't seem to be doing to bad. I believe on cable the show would be popular enough to where there would be a big enough audience.
if it forces them to put story and characters first that way, then yes.
a lot of great sci-fi shows didn't need big budgets. Classic Doctor Who, for example.
I agree totally that if we ever get to revisit the 'prime' universe, this will be how it's done. If nothing else, it would circumvent all of Brent Spiner's complaints that he's got too old to play Data: voice-over work doesn't require makeup, and (in theory) any potential animated series could take place at any time during the TNG era. It could be post-Voyager, or it could be set aboard the NCC-1701-D during the actual TNG television run, without making any great difference to the scheme of things. As long as the animation team were true to the 'look' of the TNG series (in the same way that TAS was, for the most part, true to the look and feel of TOS).
I agree that a definitive live-action version of Trek set in the 'prime' universe seems unlikely at this stage, although there are always possibilities.
I agree totally that if we ever get to revisit the 'prime' universe, this will be how it's done. If nothing else, it would circumvent all of Brent Spiner's complaints that he's got too old to play Data: voice-over work doesn't require makeup, and (in theory) any potential animated series could take place at any time during the TNG era. It could be post-Voyager, or it could be set aboard the NCC-1701-D during the actual TNG television run, without making any great difference to the scheme of things. As long as the animation team were true to the 'look' of the TNG series (in the same way that TAS was, for the most part, true to the look and feel of TOS).
I agree that a definitive live-action version of Trek set in the 'prime' universe seems unlikely at this stage, although there are always possibilities.
I actually would prefer a all new cast to be honest, set it in the 2380's with a new crew, you can have some cameos or cross overs, maybe even one cast member from a former show as a member of the ensemble, but i dont want a relaunch of TNG
I'd definately watch that series!
As with above, that is what I'd like to see as well. Set just after DS9/around NEM, where they are picking up the pieces of the war.
An all new crew, new ship (though not necessarily straight out of the fleet yards, a bit of age would be good to see), and a new mission, with some of the other cast members doing the very occassional cameo.
As for the Poll, I went with a slim chance. Though I would love to see new Trek on TV, and with a new creative team behind it, there is still plenty of stories to tell, I do doubt that it'll happen.
You can bet your bottom dollar that powers higher up have a very strong opinion on such things, and while they may operate separately there would be discussions about Trek if something were to happen.
Powers be higher up see the money that is made by the new movie, and would not like that jeopardised.
This is actually my hope. I'd want something set even farther in the future than VOY, maybe the 25th or 26th Century. That way it honestly doesn't even matter if it's in the Prime Universe or not. By then, so many things could have changed that the whole landscape of the galaxy will look different anyway.
Yes, but even with that, Star Trek is still better off now than it was then. We have monthly novels, comic books, DVD's of all five shows and the 11 (so far) films, video games, etc. When TAS was on....TAS was on, and TOS was in reruns.
That's it.
I read something not too long ago, that it's theorized that it's likely that after the second movie proves itself, plans would start to gel for a Series to premiere shortly after the 3rd movie comes out, so the Series wouldn't compete with the Movie Franchise, but, it could ride on the success of the Trilogy. Sounds very reasonable to me, and I think it's probably the most likely scenario
I'm not sure where you got this idea from, but that's totally not the case.
Paramount Pictures and CBS Television have absolutely nothing to do with each other, apart from one company owning the rights to produce Trek films, while the other company owns the television rights. Even if producing a TV series would detract from movie viewership (which it wouldn't), Paramount has no authority to ask CBS to not do Trek on TV. Additionally, CBS didn't make a dime from the financial success of Abrams's movie. It's the same as if, say, NBC produced a sci-fi series about a crew of a starship. Do you honestly see the "higher powers" at NBC asking the higher powers at CBS to please not produce a Trek series because it might interfere with the ratings for their show?
It was probably a rumor that had no basis in reality. With that said, I would agree that that would be a good idea.
Actually, I'm pretty sure CBS owns Trek and collects a fee and a percentage of profits from Paramount for the right to make films based on Star Trek.
The Abramsverse may very well be the future direction of the franchise. More likely, it will be hard to tell. There will be more filmed Star Trek and it won't all be in the movie theaters.
There will be TV series in the future. The only question mark there is how you define TV. The way the TV business is developing, there will be room for all sorts of things. A globally successful long-running franchise with millions of fans can certainly find its place in such a burgeoning landscape.
One real possibility is a series developed by Netflix. CBS has started cozying up to Netflix, talking about reviving Jericho with them, which is striking because many studios are downright hostile to Netflix, seeing them as business-killing competition.
But Les Moonves seems to view Netflix as complementary to CBS' business, and I think he's right. There's no place for a space opera series on CBS, and Showtime and the CW seem like poor fits as well, but a niche show with a loyal, rambunctuous and internet-savvy fanbase is perfect for Netflix. Now all they need to do is make the budget work.
There will be TV series in the future. The only question mark there is how you define TV. The way the TV business is developing, there will be room for all sorts of things. A globally successful long-running franchise with millions of fans can certainly find its place in such a burgeoning landscape.
One real possibility is a series developed by Netflix. CBS has started cozying up to Netflix, talking about reviving Jericho with them, which is striking because many studios are downright hostile to Netflix, seeing them as business-killing competition.
But Les Moonves seems to view Netflix as complementary to CBS' business, and I think he's right. There's no place for a space opera series on CBS, and Showtime and the CW seem like poor fits as well, but a niche show with a loyal, rambunctuous and internet-savvy fanbase is perfect for Netflix. Now all they need to do is make the budget work.
Yes, the Star Trek continuity that ran from TOS through Star Trek: Enterprise is done.
However, the Abramsverse is based on that continuity.
Likewise when an new Trek series is produced it will doubtless also be based on the original continuity, with whatever innovations the next producers decide to incorporate into their series. There will almost certainly be at least the same attempt as Abrams has made to patch the new version to the older versions, but there's never again going to be obeisance to attempting to merge them together seamlessly.
Whether the "new TV Star Trek" will resemble Abrams's movies more than oldTrek or stick closer to oldTrek is really impossible to predict.
No. No one does.
However, the Abramsverse is based on that continuity.
Likewise when an new Trek series is produced it will doubtless also be based on the original continuity, with whatever innovations the next producers decide to incorporate into their series. There will almost certainly be at least the same attempt as Abrams has made to patch the new version to the older versions, but there's never again going to be obeisance to attempting to merge them together seamlessly.
Whether the "new TV Star Trek" will resemble Abrams's movies more than oldTrek or stick closer to oldTrek is really impossible to predict.
No. No one does.
That sounds like the right timing. Bryan Fuller and Seth McFarlane have both expressed interest in reviving a Star Trek series.
As for the budget, CBS might roll the dice and give the show a healthy budget. They've got the money to take big risks with emerging media (even if they show no inclination to take risks with CBS's lineup). Also, keep in mind that Netflix is subscription based, which probably makes it more similar to pay cable than free ad-supported TV - they can attract smaller audiences and yet have a budget equivalent to something with a bigger audience on network TV.
Or, there may be ways to creatively construct a series that doesn't require a huge budget. Since this won't be on network TV, the assumptions that underlined previous series won't necessarily be there - that there needs to be a cast of about seven crew members on a starship, going boldly all the time. Maybe it's based on a planet that gets occasional visits from a Federation starship. Maybe it has a strong focus on a single character, and a relatively small cast.
Put it all together and you get this scenario: a CBS/Netflix series that appears around the time the third movie launches, with Fuller or someone with similar clout and reputation as showrunner. Subject matter and approach TBD, but don't expect it to necessarily have the same format or tone as previous series. And don't assume "it will suck" because they're stuck on a planet for budgetary reasons. There are all sorts of approaches that could work, and not necessarily blow the budget.
Yes, you're probably right about that; my mistake. However, it still has nothing to do with whether CBS wants to make a new series or not, while Paramount is making the films.
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