I'm starting to think that the undertone of sex and death were what made hit long running shows like Mash and Gilligan's island so popular. On the other hand Picard was dead already and bald and cold as ice. We didn't get another Captain with hair until Archer and he was too old too. What was he like 52 trying to squeeze into a thirty year old type. No wonder he looked so pained most of the time. Sex and death are what shows that are devoid of content rely on.
HBO/Showtime version of Star Trek
- Thread starter DarthTom
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And we all know it is much easier to put such things in a series instead of proper content.
Why just a sex scene, when you can finally show an entire Betazoid wedding on screen..
More nudity and sex won't make the series a success. Trek is not about that anyway.
Some nudity and sex are required for a premium cable series, just to prove its premium cable-ness. Other factors also offered/demanded by premium cable, such as creative freedom and the ability to appeal to an intelligent, grownup audience, are what would make the show a success. Don't confuse causation with causality.
True Premium Cable requires Violence, Nudity and Sex. And honestly Violence is pretty easy to come by. Nudity and Sex also not that hard Riker certainly got into several entanglements all u have to do is show them on screen now. But yeah your going to need Arcs and tight stories fortunately premium cable shows tend to have seasons in low to mid double digit episode so about 10-16 episodes a year which certainly make it easier to keep things tight and not need to stuff with crap episodes to fill out 26 episode season.
If a series broadcast on HBO/Showtime must have these things then I submit the series has ceased to be Star Trek. Pure and simple, down the line.
Somebody over there in Gen Trek came up with the best distillation I've seen yet of "what Star Trek is":
But economically, broadcast is not going to work for space opera. So that means Star Trek must fit the needs of basic or premium cable. It could be like Justified on FX - fairly intense violence (tho certainly not the worst on cable) and occasional moderate sex (with no particular focus on such things).
You could do a series on that theme with moderate violence and little sex. You could do it with lots of violence and lots of sex. So Star Trek can be crafted to fit the needs and expectations of broadcast, basic cable or premium cable. It could work on The Cartoon Network. It could fit almost anywhere, which is why it's especially frustrating to see it nowhere.
But economically, broadcast is not going to work for space opera. So that means Star Trek must fit the needs of basic or premium cable. It could be like Justified on FX - fairly intense violence (tho certainly not the worst on cable) and occasional moderate sex (with no particular focus on such things).
J
Jetfire
Guest
If someone came up with a space opera that was actually a good idea and could be done within a reasonable budget...there is no reason why one can't work on network TV...plus it probably won't be what most hardcore SF fans would want...it would need to appeal to a larger audience...that is okay to me. It takes vision to do any good TV series worth a damn anyway.
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Yeah that works well.
Just as a thought experiment, here's what might work (going by the recent relative success of Once Upon a Time and Grimm this year) - a show that spends a lot of time on a planet rather than in space, makes moderate use of SFX, and relies heavily on character interactions and a mix of serialized and episodic elements.
The planet is an Earth colony with both humans and a nonhuman native species that is a shapeshifter, so you can have actors playing the roles most of the time, and glitzy SFX when they show their "true" selves. The native species is divided on the topic of the human colonists; some have become friends with the colonists, others see them as convenient for various reasons (such as trade) and yet others are determined to rid their planet of the interlopers. Nobody can really be sure who is trustworthy, which provides automatic dramatic tension.
The lead character is a human who works in law enforcement for the colony, and there are some case-of-the-week elements to the show. There's a larger cast of characters who provide longer character and story arcs.
For variety's sake, let's have this be a desert planet and shoot the show in New Mexico. I'm so damn sick of pine trees.
So, the show would incorporate many elements that are familiar to the point of tedium to sci fi fans. But for the general public who knows nothing about Founders or V's, this would be fresh, exciting and new.
Chris Pine Trees.
Except for one thing: Star Trek was never meant to mimic what is already on mainstream television. It was meant to offer something more. Stories with purpose and morals, with the good guys winning with little or no frolicking, simple enough eh? We do not need to SEE sex to know it is a part of life in TV characters' backstories.
Oh is that why Roddenberry pitched it as Wagon Train to the stars?
You couldn't get more "mainstream TV" back then than a Western (and there was nothing on besides mainstream TV, given that there were only three channels).From the very start, Star Trek has had to live within the constraints of what was possible, expected and popular in the TV biz. Once it was safely on TV, it may have transcended those limits, but that's not how it got started. It got started because sci fi was a popular genre on TV in the early 60s.
I doubt NBC was expecting anything groundbreaking or radical - that kind of approach would be far more possible today, and in fact would be expected on all the channels where Star Trek could survive, except for SyFy, where it would probably be Stargate-level crap, so let's not root for that.
I think we have reached an agreement on this specific subject. Thank you for posting your thoughts after me.
I found them...fascinating.
I found them...fascinating.
We have? Okay.
I don't know what advantages it would bring, but if the writing was good then it wouldn't matter. At the least, it would certainly be a different version of Trek then we're used to.
J
Jetfire
Guest
Love triangle between 2 human brothers and an Orion slave girl? Vulcans pending. 
[edit] One brother is captain of a federation ship...the other a captain of merchant ship.
Also involved are wicked cool Borg witches and Romulan hunters. 
[edit] One brother is captain of a federation ship...the other a captain of merchant ship.
Also involved are wicked cool Borg witches and Romulan hunters.
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Making Showtime or HBO feel that they're not doing "free broadcast TV" so that they would greenlight it in the first place.
If nobody will show it, the show won't get made. depending on where it's being shown, there will be a different laundry list to check off. There's no telling what Star Trek will come out looking like until you know where it's being shown.
Now you've jumped over to the CW. I'd rather just keep hoping for cable.Love triangle between 2 human bothers and an Orion slave girl? Vulcans pending.
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