Bryan Fuller wants to make a new series

[Eric Cheung]

With a new Star Trek show, I hope it is as dark as Deep Space 9. Think it can get darker if it was on SCI-FI and with a darker show you do not need to have it reboot like Voyager was. What enjoyment Star Trek would be if it was as dark as BSG. They say Deep Space 9 is the darkest Star Trek series, but come on it was on network. Nope, if Star Trek was on network I think it would kill Star Trek. We do not need another Enterprise.

With BSG, it did break the benchmarks with the idea how a space war really feels like. With network Star Trek, lots of special effects that did draw viewers in the 1990’s but we also need a plot. Nope, if we go back to the 1990’s the series is dead. The series has to be on SCI-FI.

DS9 is by far my favorite Trek show, but to go too much darker than that would be to abandon what Trek's about. I'm for complex characters, ethical ambiguity, realism, and all that, but that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be The Dark Knight. I think the tone set in DS9 is a pretty solid limit. Though, I would still like to see a filmed Romulan War. If that were to happen, then I think it would be somewhere in between DS9 and BSG in terms of darkness. Even then though, I think Earth would be relatively united and only have to deal with fringe xenophobes.

Star Trek doesn't have the option to ape the canned formats. That's just not what it is. A police procedural Trek would be as absurd as a reality TV Trek. It has no choice but to try to figure out the same problem that Heroes is facing, namely when your audience is youthful, easily distracted, and wants to watch using less-remunerative methods like downloading, how can you still make the show a viable prospect?

Harlan Ellison once called Star Trek a cop show on a panel in an episode of The Tomorrow Show. I'm inclined to agree that TOS and TNG were basically cop shows. TNG was a little more like CSI or The X-Files in that there were some more arc-based character things going on there.

Splitting revenues or just getting more licensing from foreign broadcasts is a good idea. With a big international box-office haul for the movie, that would work for Star Trek better than most TV shows. 20 episodes per season isn't much different from the usual run, so that would be ok. Much less than that, though, you are taking the risk that viewers would forget the show between seasons.

Having short seasons seems to work for HBO, British television, and basic cable. I see no reason why it couldn't work for Trek. In fact, I think we'd get more bang for our buck if each episode was considered that much more special.

 

[ATimson]

Having short seasons seems to work for HBO, British television, and basic cable. I see no reason why it couldn't work for Trek. In fact, I think we'd get more bang for our buck if each episode was considered that much more special.

It works for HBO because their viewers are ponying up cash just to watch those shows. It works for the British because they're crazy (and also, from what I understand, have a lot less channels to choose from; I don't think they really have a selection equivalent to the US's basic cable). And basic cable networks like USA and Sci-Fi seem to be ordering 20-22 episode seasons.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

With a new Star Trek show, I hope it is as dark as Deep Space 9. Think it can get darker if it was on SCI-FI and with a darker show you do not need to have it reboot like Voyager was. What enjoyment Star Trek would be if it was as dark as BSG. They say Deep Space 9 is the darkest Star Trek series, but come on it was on network. Nope, if Star Trek was on network I think it would kill Star Trek. We do not need another Enterprise.

With BSG, it did break the benchmarks with the idea how a space war really feels like. With network Star Trek, lots of special effects that did draw viewers in the 1990’s but we also need a plot. Nope, if we go back to the 1990’s the series is dead. The series has to be on SCI-FI.

Making a show "Dark" arbitrarily is not going to help it on ANY level. It worked for BSG because it's in line with the premise... it's one big heaping pile of Schadenfreude Pie. Star Trek is better than that. "Dark and Gritty" is a trend, plain as that. Now, do we want Star Trek to be part of the pack, or once again a trendsetter? Now, I'm not saying we go to TNG/VOY/ENT blandness, but at the same time, going to the levels of suffering, conflict and drama portrayed in BSG would be an ill move. A writing faux pas, if you will.

Star Trek needs to think ahead. Don't make it a show for the 90s. But don't make it another generic 2000s show either. Star Trek needs to go back to its roots by getting ahead of the game.

Of course, that'll probably never happen.