Bob Orci: Spoke with CBS about returning Trek To TV

[SeerSGB]

I'm sure many made the same argument in 1986 that the new ST was not going to work simply because it didn't have any of the original cast, characters in TOS and the movies. They were wrong.

1) Trek had been off TV for 20 years.

2) They did and they were right in the end. It wasn't till Berman took over and made TNG into what we commonly think of TNG Trek that it took off. Even then by the time DS9 rolled around the numbers dropping off. DS9 was a entirely different creature and when they went back to Traditional Trek it struggled for years till it was put out its misery. TNG was a success cause of the novelty of it, the novelty had wore off. Look at were we're at now: Kirk and Spock back on the big screen, making bank.

3) Different television market and less competition against television in general

 

[OpenMaw]

If did Star Trek on TV now, it's got to be Kirk and Spock.

No. It does not. Nothing has fundamentally changed as far as television is concerned. Many genre heavy TV shows have managed to survive without this odd ball concept of a "Kirk and Spock."

You're wiping the slate clean and starting over as far as bringing Trek back to TV is concerned. You DO NOT need ANY ONE SPECIFIC THING. You don't even necessarily need the USS Enterprise in any of her incarnations.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Trek TV died not because of a lack of Kirk and Spock, but because of a lack of quality. When ENT started, the ratings were very impressive initially but gradually dropped because everything about that show at that time felt very tired. Heck, if Kirk and Spock are the only reasons a Trek show would have done well, you think TOS would have done better than three seasons.

 

[BillJ]

I'm sure many made the same argument in 1986 that the new ST was not going to work simply because it didn't have any of the original cast, characters in TOS and the movies (and this was right after the very successful TVH. They were wrong.

I've been a fan since 1975, I've watched all the various sequels as they happened and I'm not sure I'm interested in another variation on a theme. If they're going to do Star Trek, I want them to do Star Trek. For me Star Trek is Kirk, Spock and the Enterprise.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

I've been a fan since 1993, initially being big on the six TOS films before moving onto the other spin-offs, so I definitely grew up with the idea that there is more to Star Trek than Kirk and Spock. I still look at it that way. My favorite shows are TOS, TNG and DS9.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Very much disagree with this. You can do a Star Trek show without Kirk and Spock. That has been proven before.

That's the problem, though. Not only has it been done, it's been done into the ground. Trek needs to stick to its source material, at least for the foreseeable future, and that's Kirk and Spock.

 

[BillJ]

Very much disagree with this. You can do a Star Trek show without Kirk and Spock. That has been proven before.

That's the problem, though. Not only has it been done, it's been done into the ground. Trek needs to stick to its source material, at least for the foreseeable future, and that's Kirk and Spock.

Seriously.

There's over six-hundred episodes of non-Kirk and Spock material and well under a hundred episodes with them.

Kirk and Spock are definitely underrepresented in the franchise.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Just because ENT started off so crummy and turned off viewers doesn't mean everyone is not open to the idea of a Star Trek show without Kirk and Spock. It all depends on the timing, the characters, ect. After ENT, I actually would have been fine with a new show with Kirk and Spock, rather than a new film series. I think that's too bad that we're not getting that now, but have to settle with one film every few years. After that, should they really recast so soon for a TV show? I'd rather they wait on that for awhile before jumping into a new Kirk/Spock show.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Just because ENT started off so crummy and turned off viewers doesn't mean everyone is not open to the idea of a Star Trek show without Kirk and Spock. It all depends on the timing, the characters, ect. After ENT, I actually would have been fine with a new show with Kirk and Spock, rather than a new film series. I think that's too bad that we're not getting that now, but have to settle with one film every few years. After that, should they really recast so soon for a TV show? I'd rather they wait on that for awhile before jumping into a new Kirk/Spock show.

TPTB are probably asking those questions right now. I think if they do animation they could certainly run a Kirk and Spock series concurrent with the movie series. Maybe something like TRANSFORMERS PRIME, which takes elements from the original series as well as the Michael Bay movies. Now I'm personally not a fan of the Abrams movies, so I'd like as little Abramsverse influence as possible, but it would make sense to do something like that with the Abrams movies in the public consciousness right now.

 

[SeerSGB]

Just because ENT started off so crummy and turned off viewers doesn't mean everyone is not open to the idea of a Star Trek show without Kirk and Spock. It all depends on the timing, the characters, ect. After ENT, I actually would have been fine with a new show with Kirk and Spock, rather than a new film series. I think that's too bad that we're not getting that now, but have to settle with one film every few years. After that, should they really recast so soon for a TV show? I'd rather they wait on that for awhile before jumping into a new Kirk/Spock show.

TPTB are probably asking those questions right now. I think if they do animation they could certainly run a Kirk and Spock series concurrent with the movie series. Maybe something like TRANSFORMERS PRIME, which takes elements from the original series as well as the Michael Bay movies. Now I'm personally not a fan of the Abrams movies, so I'd like as little Abramsverse influence as possible, but it would make sense to do something like that with the Abrams movies in the public consciousness right now.

Prime pulls from the video games (War For Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron) not much so the movies. The whole "one single continuity, "Aligned" timeline BS that Hasbro tried to sell a couple years back. But, yeah, Orci and Co. could do the same thing with a Star Trek animated series: something that runs along side the live action stuff, but doesn't conflict with it.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Prime pulls from the video games (War For Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron) not much so the movies. The whole "one single continuity, "Aligned" timeline BS that Hasbro tried to sell a couple years back. But, yeah, Orci and Co. could do the same thing with a Star Trek animated series: something that runs along side the live action stuff, but doesn't conflict with it.

To tell the truth, I don't know much about Transformers, except that PRIME's Optimus and Megatron more resemble their Bay movie counterparts than the original G1 renditions.

 

[SeerSGB]

Prime pulls from the video games (War For Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron) not much so the movies. The whole "one single continuity, "Aligned" timeline BS that Hasbro tried to sell a couple years back. But, yeah, Orci and Co. could do the same thing with a Star Trek animated series: something that runs along side the live action stuff, but doesn't conflict with it.

To tell the truth, I don't know much about Transformers, except that PRIME's Optimus and Megatron more resemble their Bay movie counterparts than the original G1 renditions.

Trust me: Do not go down the rabbit hole that is TF Canon/Continuity. Star Trek isn't a 10th as a bad.

 

[Captain Jed R.]

For myself, not overly enthused by the notion of Orci doing a series but not overly unenthused. It depends on all sorts of things, like the concept, the characters, etc. it's all a case of "wait and see" really.

 

[CorporalClegg]

If the film franchise is to remain successful, then it must continue to be Kirk and Spock.

All any television series needs is the Starship Enterprise. Or rather, the intrepid crew of the Starship Enterprise seeking out new life and civilizations. It can be with Captain Kirk, Spock, Picard, Decker, April, Pike, Harriman, Garrett, or Inigo Mantoya. It really doesn't matter.

 

[Harbinger]

No cartoons or CGI only shows like Clone Wars, please. I want live action with real actors. Keep the CGI to effects such as ships and aliens.

 

[Mr Pointy Ears]

don't think chris pine would do the series,he doing a lot of movies since trek.if orci create a new trek series,and after the way he treating us the fans, I wont watch it.

 

[BillJ]

don't think chris pine would do the series,he doing a lot of movies since trek.if orci create a new trek series,and after the way he treating us the fans, I wont watch it.

But it's okay for Trek fans to treat the creators like shit and they're suppose to smile and take it?

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

You know who else lashed out against his fans?

HITLER!

 

[Balrog]

Hitler's stand-up sucked.

 

[Nerys Myk]

don't think chris pine would do the series,he doing a lot of movies since trek.if orci create a new trek series,and after the way he treating us the fans, I wont watch it.

He treated me to two movies I liked.