10 Things a New Trek Series Must Have

[bullethead]

A WhatCulture article about the thread title:
http://whatculture.com/tv/star-trek-10-things-a-new-series-must-have.php

(Full disclosure: I wrote this article and posted the link here in hopes of getting critiques on it).

 

[Gojira]

Wow, very well written. I agree with what you have said. One of the things that you said that stood out for me was the notion of Serialization. Everything with a science-fiction theme has gone the serialization route. Even non sci-fi has gone that way. I would like to see me continuity in the form of Serialization in a new Trek show.

Well done!

 

[BillJ]

All of them seem like no-brainers except for serialization. If they go the serialization route, I want them to do it because they have a great story not simply because everyone else is doing it. Great stories can be told just as easily in an episodic format.

 

[HarryM]

I think you'd be looking at gradually ramping up the serialization over time, whereas the first couple of seasons would be mostly stand-alone with some nods at the overall developing series arc. That way you don't immediately lock out new viewers by jumping into full on serialization. There's a lot of shows I would have liked to watch but I didn't hear about them until well under way and I didn't feel like catching up on the story, so no viewership from me. "24" and "Lost" are two of these, pretty well liked by most but I've never scene a single episode. Same with "Walking Dead".

I'd also say artistic freedom for the writers would also be high, no "A+B story" type rubbish rules, or "Must be on a ship with a [Insert Race/Gender] Captain". You are bound by what is known about the Star Trek universe, but apart from that, it's all fair game. If it's a post DS9 series, maybe we'll destroy the Federation, or have Earth occupied by the Romulans, or something like that. Humanity might be a remnant like Guinan's people, but in the end will endure. Think big. Maybe a sleeper ship sent to the Andromeda galaxy, waking up after 300 years in intergalactic space, only to find that...

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Well yeah, in order to succeed, a new Star Trek series needs to be good.

 

[Tracer Bullet]

All of them seem like no-brainers except for serialization. If they go the serialization route, I want them to do it because they have a great story not simply because everyone else is doing it. Great stories can be told just as easily in an episodic format.

Any new Trek series is going to be serialized to some degree. It's just how you make dramatic television nowadays. The question is how much serialization. I'd like to see any new Trek series be less like Breaking Bad and more like Mad Men in that regard.

I'd also argue that any new Trek series should stay as far away from broadcast network television as possible. 22 episodes at $2 million dollars per episode, with the audience that network television attracts now, is a recipe for cancellation.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I'd also argue that any new Trek series should stay as far away from broadcast network television as possible. 22 episodes at $2 million dollars per episode, with the audience that network television attracts now, is a recipe for cancellation.

Don't make 22 of them, then.

 

[Tracer Bullet]

I'd also argue that any new Trek series should stay as far away from broadcast network television as possible. 22 episodes at $2 million dollars per episode, with the audience that network television attracts now, is a recipe for cancellation.

Don't make 22 of them, then.

Networks will want 22 episodes. Any new Trek series should be on cable television.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Networks will want 22 episodes.

Yeah. Networks should adapt or die.

 

[Tracer Bullet]

Networks will want 22 episodes.

Yeah. Networks should adapt or die.

I don't disagree, but we're talking about what will actually happen here.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Networks will want 22 episodes.

Yeah. Networks should adapt or die.

I don't disagree, but we're talking about what will actually happen here.

Oh. Alright. Networks will have to adapt or die.

 

[bullethead]

Cable channels seem to be okay with 20 episodes, but even then $2 million per episode is a lot. And sadly, it doesn't seem like greenscreen is capable of making speculative fiction any cheaper, if BSG: Blood and Chrome is any indication. It's good for stuff in mechanical settings, but once you get out into natural settings, it starts falling apart.

Then there's the whole VFX industry situation...

 

[BillJ]

Probably looking at $5 million an episode easily.

 

[LtChange]

Battlestar Galactica Blood and Chrome had a budget of 2 million. And that was considered a pilot. Once all virtual models are done the budget per episode should have been lower, as these virtual set could be reused from different virtual camera angles and so on so I think it is safe to talk about lower budgets per episode like .5-1 million range, with some exceptions like highlight episodes and season finales, and could be lower than .5 millions for bottle episodes.

 

[Sindatur]

Battlestar Galactica Blood and Chrome had a budget of 2 million. And that was considered a pilot. Once all virtual models are done the budget per episode should have been lower, as these virtual set could be reused from different virtual camera angles and so on so I think it is safe to talk about lower budgets per episode like .5-1 million range, with some exceptions like highlight episodes and season finales, and could be lower than .5 millions for bottle episodes.

Blood and Chrome was given a $2M budget initially, but, I'm pretty sure it actually cost in the neighborhood of $6M, because of overruns. But, many Pilots cost considerably more. I thnk Terra Nova was over $10M, as was LOST (In fact wasn't it over $20M?)

 

[bullethead]

Battlestar Galactica Blood and Chrome had a budget of 2 million. And that was considered a pilot. Once all virtual models are done the budget per episode should have been lower, as these virtual set could be reused from different virtual camera angles and so on so I think it is safe to talk about lower budgets per episode like .5-1 million range, with some exceptions like highlight episodes and season finales, and could be lower than .5 millions for bottle episodes.

I doubt Blood and Chrome could ever get into a submillion budget. From what I understand, CGI hasn't gotten cheaper. Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/Universe was still paying the same amount for CG of people walking though the gate. You can get a bit more out of it for the same amount of money, but the costs haven't gone down at all (which is a problem for Hollywood films and video games too).

Also, Blood and Chrome got lucky and managed to reuse the digitally scanned BSG sets for a lot of their stuff. While that would drive down the costs of their ship scenes over the long run, they would still have to spend lots of money on creating all the other locations. A new Trek show with greenscreen would have to create everything from scratch, which means the initial investment would be gargantuan.

 

[BillJ]

Battlestar Galactica Blood and Chrome had a budget of 2 million. And that was considered a pilot. Once all virtual models are done the budget per episode should have been lower, as these virtual set could be reused from different virtual camera angles and so on so I think it is safe to talk about lower budgets per episode like .5-1 million range, with some exceptions like highlight episodes and season finales, and could be lower than .5 millions for bottle episodes.

The Star Trek: Enterprise pilot cost twelve million dollars to make. I know reports had TNG at a budget of $1.3 million dollars an episode in 1987.

If they're going to make Trek look cheap I'd rather they not make it at all.

 

[M'Sharak]

A WhatCulture article about the thread title:
http://whatculture.com/tv/star-trek-10-things-a-new-series-must-have.php

(Full disclosure: I wrote this article and posted the link here in hopes of getting critiques on it).

That's a good piece. I especially agree with #3.

 

[James Pike]

The next series needs to continue the prime timeline from after the 09 movie.

Follow the established events in that movie. Romulus is destroyed. The Romulus people are leaderless and infighting amongst the surviving empire planets and military lead the Klingons to strike while the Romulus are weak. This would cause a rift between the federation and the Klingons because the federation would be rendering aid to the Romulans.
The series should run like DS9. Episodic where the majority of the episodes story is completed in the episode, but it ties in with a larger story arc.

Obviously the 1st episode will be expensive as it will require building of the major sets, props, ect and cgi work for ships (though I prefer model work).
I don't think the show should be special effects heavy. It needs to be story driven. Special effects should only be used to help tell the story. They don't need to be the story.


Please, please, please no over use of interpersonal drama. I absolutely hated SGU. Sure there will disagreements, but they should be at a minimum between the main cast. Bring in outside characters for that, like Cmdr. Maddox or Captain Jellico.
Having main cast members that the viewers hate makes viewers not watch.

Crew diversity is fine, but for cost reasons the vast majority have to be human, and its been stated that humans make up the majority of the federation.
Also, the aliens shown do usually have vast differences, it's just that the ones in Starfleet are mostly like humans because they've all gone through training and if they acted vastly different from their crew mates they won't be around for long.

 

[BillJ]

Prime universe is over.

No creative team is going to put themselves at a disadvantage by trying to adhere to the seven hundred plus hours of previously produced material.