Set on an alien planet wouldn't be bad. That was the other alternative for DS9 - er, Plan 9 from outer space, or whatever, you know between two warring powers and factions again. I guess that is the same thing. It really has to have a new original crazy metaphysical off the wall premise, like Space 1999 had even. Nobody cared how unlikely that really was in the long run. Like if a race of unseen aliens are really living on Earth or another planet and they start attacking us and it turns out that we are the invaders. some kind of twist turned on it's head.
Earth based Trek show
- Thread starter theARE
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My general point was more that Star Trek is now something bigger than its name, it's a universe with infinite ways stories can be told in it, and not just travel among the stars. It's perfectly legit to say that a Star Trek series based on Earth is something you personally wouldn't be interested in, but its silly to say that its not Star Trek or wouldn't be worthy of Star Trek if it was based on Earth. I personally would be very interested to watch Star Trek: Office of the President, as a political and cultural exploration of how something so massively diverse as the Federation operates.
But it is silly and can only serve to piss off a portion of your audience with the bait-and-switch tactic. Part of Trek's problem was it went to far away from its base concept. I think many folks tuned out of DS9 when they found out they were going to be in one place instead of exploring week-to-week and never came back to the franchise.
Alien Empire HQ'd on Earth as a weekly sci-fi series, I'd probably watch. Star Trek: Office of the President, I wouldn't even give it a second thought and neither would most of the general viewers out there.
Why tie yourself down to seven hundred episodes of continuity and expectations when you can start fresh with a concept?
I just see it the other way, the Federation has such a rich and complex history and foundation, there's so much interesting things worth exploring there. You're not tying yourself down at all.
As far as not personally being interested, if it's not your thing fine, but if people want to write something off because it's not what they were expecting (i.e., i'd be interested in this concept if it didn't have the words Star Trek in front of it) that's just sad because who knows what you're missing out on. Say what you want about where DS9 fits into the bigger ST picture, but it was a good show and at times a great show. People who skipped it simply because it was different than what had come before missed out on some great stuff. It would have been really sad if the show had never been made because someone said this isn't what we expect from Star Trek
As far as not personally being interested, if it's not your thing fine, but if people want to write something off because it's not what they were expecting (i.e., i'd be interested in this concept if it didn't have the words Star Trek in front of it) that's just sad because who knows what you're missing out on. Say what you want about where DS9 fits into the bigger ST picture, but it was a good show and at times a great show. People who skipped it simply because it was different than what had come before missed out on some great stuff. It would have been really sad if the show had never been made because someone said this isn't what we expect from Star Trek
Deep Space Nine pushed the boundary then had to be reigned back in because of falling ratings, the reasons we got Worf, the Defiant and the Dominion War.
The reasons behind a Earth-based show not working are pretty obvious. We know everybody. We know the Romulans, we know the Klingons, we know the Cardassians, we know the Vulcans, we know the Breen and so on and so on. For an Earth based show this knowledge would be poison, there'd be little in the way of learning new cultures. You place a show in a new universe and everything is on the table as far as what you can do. That's why a new show with this concept would interest someone like me vs. just making it another Trek spin-off.
Star Trek is an incredible format for storytelling but it is fifty-years old and I've been a fan since 1975. So I'm more than content to allow Trek to thrive on the big screen and let a fresh face with a clean slate attempt to woo me on the small screen.
As in all things, your mileage may vary.
Exactamundo!
No, it doesn't, and there isn't. The so-called "Star Trek universe" is conceptually shallow regarding politics, economics, culture and history. There is more real variety of thought, behavior and experience within four blocks of my front door than in the entire half-century of storytelling that comprises Trek.
What was brilliant about the original series was letting the audience identify with human beings who by necessity represented a fairly narrow slice of humanity - a group of young military officers, far from home, bound by traditions of service and rank that were familiar to the viewer - and keep most of humanity and the universe off-stage. The creatures and situations they encountered came across as appropriately strange by contrast, and the viewer got to fill in the missing details of that world and era through the use of their own imaginations.
Virtually every attempt by writers and producers to fill in those gaps over the decades has resulted in debate and disagreement among fans.
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Ah but do we really? We got to know the Andorians much better during Enterprise than we did in any other Trek shows.
We've seen very little of the other species that make up the Federation there is a lot of stuff we dont know, lots of alliances, old grudges, species who have had disagreements in the past.
It's potentially a very rich canvas to tell intriguing stories.
Said pretty much the same thing. Put some dudes on a spaceship and send them on their way.
An Earth based show with guys stood around chatting about the Federation, politics, diplomacy etc sounds like literally the dullest thing in the world.
As if kids would ever watch something like that.
That's a given since the next series will be on cable or streaming where the DS9 style is already expected - serialized, dark & gritty etc - it'll probably be even more so than DS9 ever was.
What Star Trek means now to most people is the stuff JJ Abrams is doing with it. Which involves a lot of scenes on Earth as long as there is action, danger and colorful aliens.
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Everyone knows about old Star Trek too so that's not very true.
It's a foundation and that comparison is true for every story.
You ask the average person who enjoyed the last movie the name of it's producer, and they likely couldn't give you Abrams name to save their own lives.
Star Trek in no way is "the stuff JJ Abrams makes." Not in most people's minds.
You ask the average person who enjoyed the last movie the name of it's producer, and they likely couldn't give you Abrams name to save their own lives.
Star Trek in no way is "the stuff JJ Abrams makes." Not in most people's minds.
If you ask the average person, Star Trek is the sci fi action movie they saw a couple years ago with Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, and Zach Quinto. They may not think JJ Abrams, but they are not thinking about Berman Trek either.
Newsflash: Everyone knows Star Trek. Not everyone knows the latest explosion movies.
T'Girl, I think he meant to refer to current Trek in a roundabout way. Not to JJ Abrams.
T'Girl, I think he meant to refer to current Trek in a roundabout way. Not to JJ Abrams.
Everyone? No, I don't think so. Some of those "latest explosion movies" are pretty popular. So it's possible that a large segment of "everyone" saw them. A segment larger than "knows" Star Trek.
The Earth-based Star Trek I want to see is a Starfleet Academy TV series. Trek meets Smallville. It could be a lot of fun - life on future-Earth, training missions in starships and to other worlds, cool alien exchange students and lots of teen/twentysomething angst.
Perfect show for CW
Ugh.
I'd rather there'd be no Trek on TV than following a storyline where T'Whothehellcares is worrying whether to carry her Horta fetus to term or not.
All the while the fetus is burning a message into her abdomen "NO HURT I"
Maybe the Academy can have a Glee club and sing a catchy ancient tune during each weeks episode?
Newsflash: other way around. People are interested in the latest explosion movies. Star Trek? Not so much.
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