The problem with a lot of fans is, before anything even happens, you've got your knives out. I was a fan long before i was writing this stuff but I've been a writer for a good long while now. Don't you think, just maybe, the fresh voices you all whine so much about are out there but, unlike myself, simply unwilling to grapple?
I agree. People complained Trek had become stale and wanted something new and fresh then when they get that they basically say they want more of the same--go figure
You would have loved this series. It's idiotic to com out against something you know nothing about.
Why not try pitching it because it really does sound interesting.
The truth is simple. There was a brief window when both Mr. Abrams and Mr. Singer had an equal shot at grabbing the franchise. Mr. Abrams got the nod before Mr. Singer could compete. Now the window's closed. The politics of getting a trek series on the air BEFORE the movie came out and smashed were like the Gordian Knot. Now? Good luck. If Mr. Abrams isn't doing it, I doubt anyone else will until he walks away. Last I heard, he's pretty good at making TV too.
Elements of this version of a Trek series will certainly pop up in my own work. I put too much of myself into it to let it just lay fallow.
The way this thing works is, CBS/PARAMOUNT holds every card. They have a long list of folks they would go to for a new Trek series if not to Abrams himself. Likely most of us don't know those names. Mine is not on that list. It was a privilege to be asked to do this by these people whose work I admire. I'm really sorry it won't ever happen because I actually do agree with most of the harsh criticisms of the Trek TV franchises over the years. TOS had teeth. TWILIGHT ZONE sized teeth. TNG had a great brain. DS9 showed us nuance and depth. Voyager was a hampered attempt to get back to basics but, to my mind, the wrong people were driving. They'd been in the saddle too long to create anything new with the franchise. Enterprise?
Poor little Enterprise. The things that hampered VGR crippled ENT.
I get it. I definitely get it. And I got it then. We all did.
Mr. Abrams chose to make Trek
movies. I actually love his version. I think it embraces nearly all the good stuff about the franchise as it can be applied to films.
But, to me, Star Trek is meant to be on a small screen, shown in weekly bits. The things that make a movie work won't work there. So we tried to do what would work, what would please most fans and, even more important than the existing fans, create new ones in the larger non-Trekkie audience.
THAT audience is the point. I know it sounds harsh to put it bluntly like that but trying to write for the tastes of diehard Trek fans is like herding rabid cats. Smart people don't play that game and Mrs Thorne didn't raise any dumb kids.
Trust me, the best of this pitch is already being worked into other materials. You'll see some of it soon. And, if you've been looking close, some of it has already shown up in the worlds beyond Trek.
