why is there no more talk of a new star trek tv series?

[Dream]

Funny, I fear the inverse, branding, "let's call it Trek and it will sell".

Luckily that doesn't seem like the case with CBS. Otherwise we would have had a Trek show immediately after the success of ST09.

 

[The Overlord]

They need to trend carefully with the next Trek show. If it flops, Trek will really be completely dead on tv for the next twenty years.

We can't have another terrible series like VOY or ENT.

The "It will make money just because it is Trek" mentality needs to DIE.

That is true, Star Trek will have to compete with TV's landscape not the one from the 60s, 80s or 90s.

In today's TV landscape, competition is fierce, we are in a golden age of television, with cable channels providing all sorts of quality shows, I would say we have more quality shows in the last decade then ever before in the history television. Star Trek has to step up its game to be competitive in today's TV market. At a minimum a Star Trek show will need an ongoing story, rather then being episodic series and it will need a better handle on characterization then something like Voyager or ENT.

The thing is, there is far more options to getting something to air now, then in the past, even if you couldn't get a cable company to support, you could show it on Amazon or Netflix.

 

[DCR]

They need to trend carefully with the next Trek show. If it flops, Trek will really be completely dead on tv for the next twenty years.

We can't have another terrible series like VOY or ENT.

The "It will make money just because it is Trek" mentality needs to DIE.

I don't think anyone really believes the "it will make money just because it is Trek" meme anymore. Still, that doesn't mean the name isn't a benefit.

Anyone who looks at the movies produced in the last decade or so will see a ton of reboots and remakes. They're everywhere. One reason for this is that while they don't know whether a given remake will make money, they do know that the basic idea is one that can make money because it has in the past.

It's the same with Trek vs. a completely new franchise: failure can be blamed on bad execution rather than a bad foundation, which makes it a much safer choice for the executives who have to approve the budgets. That way they can say to their own superiors that someone else did it wrong, rather than that they approved a bad idea.

 

[Danger Ace]

SyFy just went space opera happy today, announcing the development of 5 series set in space out of a total of 7.

Reads to me that SyFy has adopted Paramount's old(?) philosophy of oversaturating the marketplace in hopes of keeping others out. Paramount employed that strategy with "Star Trek" which is why from 1987 to 2005 they always had a series on-air and in-production. The conventional wisdom being that the television landscape could only support one or two space-operas at a time. We'll see.

Any good space opera will ride Trek's recent success...

I think that if "Star Trek Into Darkness" has a boffo opening and demonstrates it has "legs" than we'll see new Trek on television.

I also believe TPTB would like to make an attempt at trying to beat SyFy and Disney into the marketplace.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

SyFy just went space opera happy today, announcing the development of 5 series set in space out of a total of 7.

Reads to me that SyFy has adopted Paramount's old(?) philosophy of oversaturating the marketplace in hopes of keeping others out. Paramount employed that strategy with "Star Trek" which is why from 1987 to 2005 they always had a series on-air and in-production. The conventional wisdom being that the television landscape could only support one or two space-operas at a time. We'll see.

Any good space opera will ride Trek's recent success...

I think that if "Star Trek Into Darkness" has a boffo opening and demonstrates it has "legs" than we'll see new Trek on television.

I also believe TPTB would like to make an attempt at trying to beat SyFy and Disney into the marketplace.

I also believe (and hope) that Paramount (when it launches it's new television division) can challenge CBS and let them know that they want to produce a Star Trek show with or without the sanction and help of CBS Studios, and that they can do it and sell it to a rival network, or get together with Sy Fy to produce it and show it (on Sy Fy).

 

[AviTrek]

SyFy just went space opera happy today, announcing the development of 5 series set in space out of a total of 7.

Reads to me that SyFy has adopted Paramount's old(?) philosophy of oversaturating the marketplace in hopes of keeping others out. Paramount employed that strategy with "Star Trek" which is why from 1987 to 2005 they always had a series on-air and in-production. The conventional wisdom being that the television landscape could only support one or two space-operas at a time. We'll see.

Any good space opera will ride Trek's recent success...

I think that if "Star Trek Into Darkness" has a boffo opening and demonstrates it has "legs" than we'll see new Trek on television.

I also believe TPTB would like to make an attempt at trying to beat SyFy and Disney into the marketplace.

I also believe (and hope) that Paramount (when it launches it's new television division) can challenge CBS and let them know that they want to produce a Star Trek show with or without the sanction and help of CBS Studios, and that they can do it and sell it to a rival network, or get together with Sy Fy to produce it and show it (on Sy Fy).

And Paramount would be met by a C&D notice so fast that they wouldn't even get a pilot script on paper. CBS owns Star Trek, you might not like it, but those are the facts. Paramount can't just decide to make a show CBS owns and take it away from CBS. In fact, Paramount would never even try it because it knows it will never succeed and will only risk losing their movie license. CBS owns Star Trek, and any new show will have to go through CBS to at least license the brand if not co-produce the show.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Funny, I fear the inverse, branding, "let's call it Trek and it will sell".

Luckily that doesn't seem like the case with CBS. Otherwise we would have had a Trek show immediately after the success of ST09.

We can still have one; an animated cartoon based on the current continuity, or one set in the distant future like this show(Star Trek: Final Frontier). Nobody said that both can't be done at the same time.

 

[Tribble puncher]

The thing is, a new series doesn't have to build off ENT. If anything it will either build off the movies (most likely) or off the TNG-era continuity (unlikely but possible). In either case it will be able to be connected to previous success rather than failure.

Remember, TOS was a network failure, but it still managed to spawn the rest of the franchise. The cancellation of ENT after four seasons, just like the cancellation of TOS after three, and TAS after two seasons is not enough to consider the franchise as a whole, a failure on TV. In fact, I would say that it's the most successful SF franchise in the history of TV.

The thing is... the TV networks don't care about what area of Trek continuity a new series is building off of. They care about ratings. The first thing they'll look at is the last series, Enterprise, and point out their abysmal ratings and ask why they should fund another expensive sci-fi show when they can bring in some college students, get them drunk, and make a new reality series for the fraction of the cost that's bound to get better ratings.

No, they really aren't going to care about Enterprise unless they're going to do a direct sequel (which I think is unlikely).

What they're far more likely to do is look at the existing franchise (movies, books, comics, secondary video market) and ask themselves, "how can we get more money out of this?"

That's what's going to trigger any new TV series, the desire to extract more money from the franchise. They already know that Star Trek is a perennial money maker, because people are still throwing down money for it. Pocket Books has been publishing TOS novels for the last 34 years!

Once they figure out the right financial formula, they'll jump on a new TV series because they know it has the potential to keep making money for decades if they do it right. There's nothing happening right now because they don't want to interfere with the current movies, but that doesn't mean there won't be in the future.

Enterprise's cancellation is not going to have any effect on the possibility of a future Trek series.

I just don't see a new series anytime soon, and IF there is a new series, I don't see it resembling anything that's been put out up to this point. I believe we will get one or two new Abrams films, and maybe 1080p remasters of all the existing series, repackaged a couple of more times before dvd's and blu rays go the way of the dodo bird, A few more books, a few more DST toys, and that's it really, it'll be like it was in the 70's again, kinda underground. We will credit Star Trek with things sure, but people's perception of what the future will be like is changing. I don't see these latest films as a resurgence that will power Star Trek for another 50 years. The masses will have forgotten these movies within five years (and that's if the next film is good). I believe that trek is at it's creative sunset, these next couple of movies I honestly believe will be it for new trek. Just my opinion.

 

[CoveTom]

I just don't see a new series anytime soon, and IF there is a new series, I don't see it resembling anything that's been put out up to this point. I believe we will get one or two new Abrams films, and maybe 1080p remasters of all the existing series, repackaged a couple of more times before dvd's and blu rays go the way of the dodo bird, A few more books, a few more DST toys, and that's it really, it'll be like it was in the 70's again, kinda underground. We will credit Star Trek with things sure, but people's perception of what the future will be like is changing. I don't see these latest films as a resurgence that will power Star Trek for another 50 years. The masses will have forgotten these movies within five years (and that's if the next film is good). I believe that trek is at it's creative sunset, these next couple of movies I honestly believe will be it for new trek. Just my opinion.

In the 1970's, Trek was seen as a failure. That's why there was a complete absence of new Trek, save for the animated series.

However, ST09 was an absolute blockbuster success. If Into Darkness provides similar results, and a third film does the same, there is simply no way we're going to see a repeat of the 70's. Film and TV studios simply do not see three major blockbuster successes in a row and then say "well, let's take a break for a while."

 

[Lenny Nurdbol]

I know if it happends a new star trek tv show is a coulple years away but concidering star trek into darkness does well why is there no more talk about it from orci? The last I remember reading about it was on trek movie where orci said they were curently in touch with CBS and were getting close to sitting down and actually talking about it. So why hasnt there been any new updates since last year?

As TPTB grow greedier and greedier, their stranglehold on all things Trek gets tighter and tighter...

It's no longer a fan-friendly field... They want to exploit the fans for every cent they've got... They'd sooner squeeze it out of us in massive overrated theatrical films than in a TV series...

As for Roberto Orci and friends... IMHO, I really, really think they should stay the hell away from all things Trek... Better yet, all things SF this side of Transformers...
His background: Hercules, Xena, Jack of All Trades(!!), Cowboys and Aliens, Fringe...

All mass-marketed junk aimed at the masses and juveniles...

But the same Pattern I see across Hollywood and more generally America... Image over Substance... Eye candy junk food to stimulate the senses through "rollercoaster ride" films...

Turn your brain off at the door... You won't need it!

 

[Greg Cox]

As for Roberto Orci and friends... IMHO, I really, really think they should stay the hell away from all things Trek... Better yet, all things SF this side of Transformers...
His background: Hercules, Xena, Jack of All Trades(!!), Cowboys and Aliens, Fringe...

All mass-marketed junk aimed at the masses and juveniles...

Hey, don't dis Xena! I loved that show.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Frankly, anyone who was responsible for Xena and Jack Of All Trades is more than welcome to take a whack at Star Trek for television.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VNsjjYRgjc[/yt]

And whatever happened to Angela Dotchin?

 

[Greg Cox]

I was always more of a Cleopatra 2525 man . . . .

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Both were sort of Short Attention Span Theatre...

 

[Lenny Nurdbol]

I was always more of a Cleopatra 2525 man . . . .

Me too... That show did a far better job of creating an original, futuristic world in half hour installments than most other shows did in hour-long time slots across multiple seasons...

 

[xortex]

Serious Trek can be done again in the style of 2001 but not by bad robot who really can't distinguish it from Galaxy Quest which is what it would be if they did it. That would be weird in a multi-infarc demensia kind of way. I.e. life imitating art.

 

[Greg Cox]

I was always more of a Cleopatra 2525 man . . . .

Me too... That show did a far better job of creating an original, futuristic world in half hour installments than most other shows did in hour-long time slots across multiple seasons...

I will go to my grave regretting that I never got to write a Cleopatra 2525 novel. Really.

 

[Tribble puncher]

I just don't see a new series anytime soon, and IF there is a new series, I don't see it resembling anything that's been put out up to this point. I believe we will get one or two new Abrams films, and maybe 1080p remasters of all the existing series, repackaged a couple of more times before dvd's and blu rays go the way of the dodo bird, A few more books, a few more DST toys, and that's it really, it'll be like it was in the 70's again, kinda underground. We will credit Star Trek with things sure, but people's perception of what the future will be like is changing. I don't see these latest films as a resurgence that will power Star Trek for another 50 years. The masses will have forgotten these movies within five years (and that's if the next film is good). I believe that trek is at it's creative sunset, these next couple of movies I honestly believe will be it for new trek. Just my opinion.

In the 1970's, Trek was seen as a failure. That's why there was a complete absence of new Trek, save for the animated series.

However, ST09 was an absolute blockbuster success. If Into Darkness provides similar results, and a third film does the same, there is simply no way we're going to see a repeat of the 70's. Film and TV studios simply do not see three major blockbuster successes in a row and then say "well, let's take a break for a while."

I just think audiences are vastly different now, too short attention spans, I agree with an above poster in that networks will resort to sleaze television, (Ghetto Drama Talk shows, Lets get some douchebags drunk in a house and see what happens shows, and American Idol type shows) but like I said, this is all my opinion, I could very easily be wrong. If a new trek series comes out and it is successful, I will happily live with my wrongness.

 

[Lenny Nurdbol]

Unfortunately, you're not wrong... It's this trend or pattern I've seen in TV and especially movies... Overuse of CGI, more emphasis on Visual rather than on, you know, Plot, Writing, Acting... It's all about chucking explosions in the audiences' faces every couple minutes to keep their brains alive... Over the past decade, I've seen some of the worst so-called Sci-Fi films and series; they're all pretty much kids flicks with over-the-top action scenes, one after another (and with frames apparently Missing to speed them up so you don't know who or what is fighting who or what!)... Science Fiction is becoming more aligned with cartoons and comic books than good stuff... I think the only half-decent "intelligent" SF film I've seen in the past decade was "Moon" and, being so low-budgeted, it hardly saw the light of day...

 

[C.E. Evans]

I just think audiences are vastly different now, too short attention spans, I agree with an above poster in that networks will resort to sleaze television, (Ghetto Drama Talk shows...)

Ghetto Drama Talk shows?