Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major characters?

[The Overlord]

A lot of people say we are in the golden age of television and a lot of the really great shows out there don't have character shields for the major characters, characters can die at any time. This can lead to a lot of surprises, characters who you think are major, suddenly die and where you thought the show was going is turned on its head.

Should a Star trek show be like that? In the past we knew the major characters would be okay, if there was an away team composed of the major characters and some nameless security guy, that was the guy who was going to die.

Now sure some characters like Tasha Yar and Jadiza Dax died, but they are the exception, not the rule and Yar's death didn't impact the entire story the way deaths in more modern shows do. Dax's death did impact the 7th season, but I do think modern shows are able to have deaths that really affect the course of the whole show. Spock dying in TWOK was one of those deaths that affected the next movie, but was quickly undone. Data's death was pretty lame and since that was the last TNG movie, there was no way to discuss its impact in the series.

Also when discussing deaths of characters on other shows, please use spoiler tags.

 

[CTGuyton]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

Absolutely they should! I advocated in another thread Aaron Sorkin writing the new ST series. His biggest claim to fame being The West Wing, which never killed off a major character, but Mid-Major ones. And major character left the show to run for congress.

Riker should've taken a promotion. I don't understand why there wasn't more death in Voyager. I would love to see some of these elements in a new series.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

Heavens, yes! No one should be safe in a new Star Trek series, not even the captain (if the actor wants to leave the show, he or she should have the character either written out of the series to return occasionally in a guest appearance or killed off entirely, IMO).

 

[T'Cal]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

I have to disagree about Data's death being lame in NEM. That B4 was there, cheaped the plot but Data's sacrice to save his ship and crewmates was nothing short of the most human thing he had ever done. NEM has many problems but it has a few great scenes, both on screen and in the cut scenes.

As for killing off main characters, if it moves the story along then yes, I like the idea that no one is safe, much like The Walking Dead. There were rumors that TNG writers had considered killing off Picard in BOBW or at least leaving him as Locutus. Riker would stay as captain and Shelby would be his XO, significantly changing the dynamic of the senior staff. Another rumor was that in Second Chances, Will Riker would either be killed off or he would leave for his own command and Tom Riker would stay on the ship with Deanna where they would restart their relationship. I don't know if those ideas were ever seriously considered but the changes would've breathed some new life into the main characters.

 

[bbjeg]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

I wish Paramount sold Star Trek to HBO and we get a Game of Thrones-like universe. I'd be cool with it being NuTrek or Prime.

 

[I am not Spock]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

Just because one show does one thing, doesn't mean all others of the same era have to follow suit. I don't think I'd like Trek to turn into Game of Thrones just because that is the flavour of the month.

 

[The Overlord]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

Just because one show does one thing, doesn't mean all others of the same era have to follow suit. I don't think I'd like Trek to turn into Game of Thrones just because that is the flavour of the month.

I would agree with to an extent, I don't think Star Trek should be R-rated or be Game of Thrones, that's a bit too far for Star Trek.

However Star Trek has got to get with the times, for something that is supposed to be progressive, later star Trek in the late 90s, early 2000s felt like it was playing things way too safe, some shows felt like they were stuck in the 80s in terms of TV story telling.

I don't think quality shows like the Wire, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, etc are flavors of the month, I think they are good shows that use the strengths of the TV medium to their advantage. I would say TV is way better then it was in the 60s or 80s.

In Descent Part 1, there is scene where Picard, Troi, Geordi La Forge and nameless gold shirt with a gun were wondering around and I instantly new the gold shirt guy was going to die and I was in no way surprised when he died. Having situations where anyone can die, creates more drama, then situations where some characters have character shields and are never in any real danger.

Star Trek doesn't have to be Game of Thrones to be part of the golden age of television, but it should adopt some more modern story telling ideas, rather then relying on old ideas from the 60s and 80s. Space is a dangerous place, so let's see some of that.

 

[HIjol]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

With all due respect, I say major characters should NOT be killed off in Star Trek...I respect the Vice Admiral and the Captain's positions! but we all know there is a "suspension of disbelief" line to all of this that isn't crossed, and I believe keeping the main cast corporeal and alive is part of that...

 

[I am not Spock]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

I think that is why ENT failed. It felt too old-school, too adherent to the past; and didn't update with the times, to what shows of the early 00s were doing.

 

[T'Girl]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

Contract Negotiations Time.

Actor:
"I feel I deserve a raise next season.

Executive:
"In next weeks episode, your character develops this nasty cough.

 

[bbjeg]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

Technically they do kill off characters, they just don't stay dead. Spock died and they brought him back, Dax died and they brought her back, Kim died, though they duplicated him before killing him (and Naomi if she counts as a main character), Data died though if they made another TNG movie, B4 would have replaced him, they even brought Tasha back (just to kill her again). They killed the entire Enterprises D crew in Cause and Effect and I lost count how many times Voyager was destroyed. Main characters die... kinda.

 

[HIjol]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

There you go...the reluctance of the franchise powers that be to truly and finally kill...though, it would be interesting to view an alternate timeline where main characters WERE killed off, how things unfolded from that point...oh!...wait!...if we were to just slingshot around the sun, and come out of warp at the exact...

<sigh>...next life...

 

[CTGuyton]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

They don't have to all die. Some could just be promoted or something. Picard could've taken the promotion or Admiral and taken over the academy. Riker could've taken one of the 400 promotions offered to him.

These would also be spinoff possibilities. Picard as the Patriarch of a CW produced Academy series. Or Riker taking Troi and Worf to a new ship. Changing both TNG and the new show and their Dynamics. The first season or so of The Riker Stories, would center around his frustration of no longer being on the flag ship. Getting the B list assignments. "Hey, Enterprise found this fairly unremarkable nebula but they were too busy doing important stuff that's actually interesting, so you're being order to go check it out for them."

I wish Paramount sold Star Trek to HBO and we get a Game of Thrones-like universe. I'd be cool with it being NuTrek or Prime.

CBS actually owns the TV rights not Paramount. And CBS owns Showtime, so this is actually something they could do.

 

[HIjol]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

They don't have to all die. Some could just be promoted or something. Picard could've taken the promotion or Admiral and taken over the academy. Riker could've taken one of the 400 promotions offered to him.

These would also be spinoff possibilities. Picard as the Patriarch of a CW produced Academy series. Or Riker taking Troi and Worf to a new ship. Changing both TNG and the new show and their Dynamics. The first season or so of The Riker Stories, would center around his frustration of no longer being on the flag ship. Getting the B list assignments. "Hey, Enterprise found this fairly unremarkable nebula but they were too busy doing important stuff that's actually interesting, so you're being order to go check it out for them."

I wish Paramount sold Star Trek to HBO and we get a Game of Thrones-like universe. I'd be cool with it being NuTrek or Prime.

CBS actually owns the TV rights not Paramount. And CBS owns Showtime, so this is actually something they could do.

Delighted to be with such a knowledgable site!!!...I thought CBS Paramount only had rights to NEW Star Trek productions...Star Trek truly Lives!!!...

 

[bbjeg]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

^So this thread can kill it.

 

[The Overlord]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

There you go...the reluctance of the franchise powers that be to truly and finally kill...though, it would be interesting to view an alternate timeline where main characters WERE killed off, how things unfolded from that point...oh!...wait!...if we were to just slingshot around the sun, and come out of warp at the exact...

<sigh>...next life...

That is why I am talking about a change in attitude, making Star Trek more akin to a modern show then some show from the 60s or 80s. We have shows on TV where death matters, characters die and that changes the entire direction of the show, those characters don't come back. So having Star Trek still be a show, where death will just be undone by the next episodes, makes it seem kinda out of touch by comparison.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

I remember reading that in B5 all the characters had a means of writing them out, I think the next series should have something similar, as actors will want to pursue other careers--whilst others will get so hacked off with the series that they phone in their performances, making fans wish they'd been killed off.

 

[HIjol]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

.

 

[HIjol]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

^So this thread can kill it.

...yeah, but there is that powerful letter-writing campaign that would just bring it back to life...again and again...'course, nowadays it would most likely be emails and mind-melds...wonder if it would have the same effect...

 

[2takesfrakes]

Re: Should a New Star Trek show be willing to kill off major character

The next STAR TREK series has to keep pushing not television's boundaries, so much, as its own. Traditionally, and this is even present in ENTERPRISE, everything is so obviously staged and acted, at times. And the padding of shows has absolutely got to stop. It's got to be more "realistic" looking, more interesting content-wise, particularly when it comes to the inevitable "econo-episodes," and it has to be exciting. Part of that can and probably should be seeing characters die whom we do not wish to see die.