How should the franchise have been developed after TNG?
- Thread starter Captrek
- Start date
It is certainly the series that viewers began to abandon, almost immediately.
The initial version of "Yesterday's Enterprise" was pitched by Eric Stillwell and his writing partner; Eric had been an employee of TNG for years at that point.
There are all sorts of criticisms one can make about the premise of Voyager, the continuity and all sorts of things, but the writing was the most important thing. If Voyager had had writing that was as good as the writing on TNG it would have been a much better show.
To clarify that: better than it was, not better than TNG.
The one major change I'd have made to the premise would have been for the other crew to have been Romulans or Cardassians. Have the two actually BE enemies with real ideological and political differences beyond the DMZ dispute. Then it works better.
I would've held off on VOY, letting DS9 get at least to season 6 before I launched VOY. Also, I would've spaced out the TNG movies a little more. That two year thing, on top of DS9 and VOY on the air led to a glut of Trek.
For the movies I would've kept the focus more on the ensemble than Picard and Data. I also would've tried to have at least one movie apiece focusing on Q, Borg, Romulans, Dominion War (tie-in with DS9).
I would've looked more into the STV market, producing an Excelsior movie or miniseries. I also would've looked at putting Trek cartoons out there, like a Starfleet Academy cartoon that might bring more young viewers into Trek.
For the movies I would've kept the focus more on the ensemble than Picard and Data. I also would've tried to have at least one movie apiece focusing on Q, Borg, Romulans, Dominion War (tie-in with DS9).
I would've looked more into the STV market, producing an Excelsior movie or miniseries. I also would've looked at putting Trek cartoons out there, like a Starfleet Academy cartoon that might bring more young viewers into Trek.
More Original Series cast involvement in Generations. Cliffhanger between First Contact and Insurrection
Either no Voyager... or a curtailed run, that gets the crew home sooner.
Enterprise beginning in 2001 on schedule, but syndicated and absolutely not exclusive to UPN.
A final TNG movie in 2003, Nemesis after an extensive rewrite.
A traditional prequel movie with a solo big screen appearance for ENT, Scott Bakula et all in 2006. Connecting the dots to TOS with William Shatner in a crowd pleasing guest role.
JJ Abrams has a complete reboot without a script compromise to alternate universes... the sting softened because previous series got the endings they deserved.
Either no Voyager... or a curtailed run, that gets the crew home sooner.
Enterprise beginning in 2001 on schedule, but syndicated and absolutely not exclusive to UPN.
A final TNG movie in 2003, Nemesis after an extensive rewrite.
A traditional prequel movie with a solo big screen appearance for ENT, Scott Bakula et all in 2006. Connecting the dots to TOS with William Shatner in a crowd pleasing guest role.
JJ Abrams has a complete reboot without a script compromise to alternate universes... the sting softened because previous series got the endings they deserved.
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Honestly, the studio could probably have made more money by keeping the Franchise healthy on television and just folding the film series altogether after 1992. TNG in syndication as long as it kept up its ratings and was profitable, and somelike like DS9 on UPN in 1994.
And then Abrams relaunches TOS at the movies in 2009 after a seventeen-year hiatus.
And then Abrams relaunches TOS at the movies in 2009 after a seventeen-year hiatus.
You know, I think this actually does have the potential to work! As a comedy/drama at least. Of course there would probably be a strong temptation to ramp up the dramatic aspects as it progressed. On the other hand, it could end up as another "McBain: Let's Get Silly".
Worf & Jadzia?
Hey good topic! 
Why assume that TNG should go forward as planned? I'd jump right over TNG and start with DS9 (assuming that people like Alexander Siddig would still be old enough for their roles). Maybe I'd keep Data and the Borg (but no Queen and no credibility-destroying overuse). Possibly I'd keep Q because of DeLancie, as well as Worf, Gowran, K'eylar, and the Vulcan-Romulan unification concept but wow thinking it through, we could really lose almost all of TNG without much bother. That's a pretty scant list for seven seasons and several movies.
I'd either go right to DS9 or use the DS9 approach for a ship-based show - serialized, take consequences seriously, don't shy away from conflict within the main cast, do whatever it takes to avoid being vanilla and bland - but stop well short of the BSG level of darkness because that's outside the boundaries of Trek.
I'd keep as much or more from VOY as from TNG - the whole cast minus Barbie of Borg and Neelix, and the basic concept was fine. VOY really needed the DS9 approach. Really dig into the idea that they are lost on the far side of the galaxy, without Federation resources. Keep the notion that not all the cast even wants to return home. They're explorers - wouldn't their "predicament" be seen as a gift to the really intrepid people among them? Not everyone is going to have loved ones waiting for them back home, or at least loved ones that they wouldn't give up for the opportunity to really fulfill their destinies as explorers.
Use the DS9 approach and many premises could work, even the much derided or hashed-over ones like Federation Civil War, Fall of the Federation, Starfleet Academy, Navy SEALs (the Maco concept), Section 31-based series or Alien-Centric series.
More than the content, what ails Trek on TV is business oriented. Trek is pricey to produce and because it's a premium brand, the owners wouldn't want to relegate it to low-rent Skiffy or other basic cable. It really is best suited for a network, but networks aren't best suited for Trek - they are trending towards the lowest common denomenator while all the interesting and genre based stuff is migrating to basic and premium cable. Maybe an HBO-junior basic cable network like AMC or TNT would be "premium" enough for Trek.
Trek actually means a journey to a destination - a migration to a certain place with the intent of settling there, and without necessarily being interested in anything along the way. The one thing Star Trek has never been about is "trekking."
That's a chart of TV business trends during that time period. Network TV suffered a hemmorhage of viewers to cable (which continues today). It has a lot less to do with the actual content of the shows than everyone seems to assume, and would have happened regardless of the content, topic or approach.
The more relevant concern is, given that network TV is now inhospitable to anything but more-of-the-same doctor/lawyer/cop shows, sitcoms and reality TV - and the place for the likes of Trek, or anything creative or nichey, is now low-rated basic cable, which would have a hard time paying for a pricey sci fi show - how can the business model be devised that will allow Trek to return to TV?
And forget HBO and Showtime. Trek is too unmainstream for network TV but too mainstream for pay cable. Unfair, I know...
The only way content factors into the business situation is that the bland homoginized TNG approach would be the worst approach. The mass market won't watch Trek on TV. To survive, wherever it lands, Trek needs to take some degree of nichey approach.
Why assume that TNG should go forward as planned? I'd jump right over TNG and start with DS9 (assuming that people like Alexander Siddig would still be old enough for their roles). Maybe I'd keep Data and the Borg (but no Queen and no credibility-destroying overuse). Possibly I'd keep Q because of DeLancie, as well as Worf, Gowran, K'eylar, and the Vulcan-Romulan unification concept but wow thinking it through, we could really lose almost all of TNG without much bother. That's a pretty scant list for seven seasons and several movies.
I'd either go right to DS9 or use the DS9 approach for a ship-based show - serialized, take consequences seriously, don't shy away from conflict within the main cast, do whatever it takes to avoid being vanilla and bland - but stop well short of the BSG level of darkness because that's outside the boundaries of Trek.
I'd keep as much or more from VOY as from TNG - the whole cast minus Barbie of Borg and Neelix, and the basic concept was fine. VOY really needed the DS9 approach. Really dig into the idea that they are lost on the far side of the galaxy, without Federation resources. Keep the notion that not all the cast even wants to return home. They're explorers - wouldn't their "predicament" be seen as a gift to the really intrepid people among them? Not everyone is going to have loved ones waiting for them back home, or at least loved ones that they wouldn't give up for the opportunity to really fulfill their destinies as explorers.
Use the DS9 approach and many premises could work, even the much derided or hashed-over ones like Federation Civil War, Fall of the Federation, Starfleet Academy, Navy SEALs (the Maco concept), Section 31-based series or Alien-Centric series.
More than the content, what ails Trek on TV is business oriented. Trek is pricey to produce and because it's a premium brand, the owners wouldn't want to relegate it to low-rent Skiffy or other basic cable. It really is best suited for a network, but networks aren't best suited for Trek - they are trending towards the lowest common denomenator while all the interesting and genre based stuff is migrating to basic and premium cable. Maybe an HBO-junior basic cable network like AMC or TNT would be "premium" enough for Trek.
Trek actually means a journey to a destination - a migration to a certain place with the intent of settling there, and without necessarily being interested in anything along the way. The one thing Star Trek has never been about is "trekking."
It is certainly the series that viewers began to abandon, almost immediately.
The initial version of "Yesterday's Enterprise" was pitched by Eric Stillwell and his writing partner; Eric had been an employee of TNG for years at that point.
That's a chart of TV business trends during that time period. Network TV suffered a hemmorhage of viewers to cable (which continues today). It has a lot less to do with the actual content of the shows than everyone seems to assume, and would have happened regardless of the content, topic or approach.
The more relevant concern is, given that network TV is now inhospitable to anything but more-of-the-same doctor/lawyer/cop shows, sitcoms and reality TV - and the place for the likes of Trek, or anything creative or nichey, is now low-rated basic cable, which would have a hard time paying for a pricey sci fi show - how can the business model be devised that will allow Trek to return to TV?
And forget HBO and Showtime. Trek is too unmainstream for network TV but too mainstream for pay cable. Unfair, I know...
The only way content factors into the business situation is that the bland homoginized TNG approach would be the worst approach. The mass market won't watch Trek on TV. To survive, wherever it lands, Trek needs to take some degree of nichey approach.
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I really really really don't think that Trek would have been as successful if you started out with DS9. DS9 was a good show, don't get me wrong, but when you are trying to jump start a new spinoff in a new century you want it to be somewhat similar to the original so that you have that familiarity factor. While this would not happen with the hard core fans, I know many people who think of star trek as space ship plus space exploration. The idea of using a space station as the starting point would be just too foreign to re-introduce the franchise on TV.
You are absolutely correct......
No one would watch ANY of the half a dozen odd Law and Order Spin offs, CSI, Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy to name a few, heaven forbid those unknown forensics characters in 2 episodes of JAG back in the late 90's, you know those NCIS guys, not to mention several dozen others
Or we could list the many, many more spinoffs of shows that have failed and been forgotten. In fact we have gone over them repeatedly.
Anwar is Absolutely Right(TM).
And no, a sitcom or dramedy set in the Trek Universe wouldn't work because those things rely upon the audience relating to the minutiae and mores of the lives of the characters - and the biggest mistake that Trek's producers ever made was believing that more than a couple of million Trekkies care about the Federation or the world of the 23rd/24th century.
Most people who turn on something called Star Trek want and expect to see a colorful action series/fantasy about people on a spaceship, and they tune out quickly when that's not what they see.
Anwar is Absolutely Right(TM).
And no, a sitcom or dramedy set in the Trek Universe wouldn't work because those things rely upon the audience relating to the minutiae and mores of the lives of the characters - and the biggest mistake that Trek's producers ever made was believing that more than a couple of million Trekkies care about the Federation or the world of the 23rd/24th century.
Most people who turn on something called Star Trek want and expect to see a colorful action series/fantasy about people on a spaceship, and they tune out quickly when that's not what they see.
Or we could list the many, many more spinoffs of shows that have failed and been forgotten. In fact we have gone over them repeatedly.
Anwar is Absolutely Right(TM).
Um, no. Actually it means he's as likely to be right as he is to be wrong.
DS9 was very good, but I suspect what fans wanted in 1987 was a sequel to the original show, not something simply set in the same universe. I'm not at all one of the "spirit of Trek" people, but the franchise needed to be relaunched before they could start messing around with it.
Furtados_Feet
Lieutenant
People like to see ships exploring space and even though Voyager may not have executed all its ideas perfectly there were still a heap of great story ideas, who on earth wants to watch a show about a completely fictional government??
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