I think you underestimate the value of cross-promotional marketing. I don't think TPTB underestimate it. I would bet money any new series we see will be in the JJ-verse, animated or not.
And it will be animated.
If big budget/shiny SFX space opera is out of the question...
- Thread starter Mage
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I think you underestimate the value of cross-promotional marketing. I don't think TPTB underestimate it. I would bet money any new series we see will be in the JJ-verse, animated or not.
And it will be animated.
I think the next Trek series will be a reboot. If it's an animated one, it'll be set in it's own continuity, (less Star Wars: The Clone Wars and more like Transformers Prime, G.I Joe Renegades, or Green Lantern: The Animated Series), IMO.
Yes.
Definitely.
A lot of it has to do with money--sci-fi shows (especially space-oriented ones) have always been very expensive and difficult to produce in Hollywood since day one, and shows that don't have a big enough audience to justify their expense get cancelled fairly quickly (regardless of how loyal a cult following they may have). The same can be said for any TV show in any part of the world, really.
These days, a viewership between 12-15 million is ideal for a major US network, but smaller outlets can get away with less--but the shows they have tend to operate with smaller budgets as well.
A new TV series will be made based on CBS's interest in capitalizing on the brand-building work of Abrams et al. Since Bob Orci has said he's interested, he's going to be the one CBS gives the job to. Odds are strong that he's not going to suddenly turn his back on his own continuity.
So a new series isn't going to be anything odd like post-apocalyptic 22nd C Earth or an all-Klingon musical extravaganza. It will be something that the average person who liked Abrams movies will recognize as Star Trek.
The real open questions are: animated or live action? And what channel will it be on?
The climate for sci fi is strong, especially if you take a liberal view of the definition to include anything supernatural. I have a running thread for sf/f TV news and I see news about shows in development (most of which will never see the light of day of course) all the time.
Space opera in particular is a hard sell because it combines niche interest with pricey budget needs, but couldn't you say the same of Game of Thrones? (To put it into context, GoT gets about 4 million viewers, the same level that got ENT cancelled on UPN. Yet GoT is a solid hit for HBO. 4 million subscribers supports a much bigger budget than 4 million ad viewers.) And who would have predicted a violent zombie show would be artsy AMC's biggest hit?
I see this as a problem of matching Star Trek with the right channel. I could see Showtime rolling the dice on a Star Trek series, but it would have to be shaped to fit the Showtime audience expectations, and drop many elements that are more suited to broadcast but have become Trek traditions, such as the PG-13 approach and episodic structure.
Or, I could also see an animated series that appeals primarily to kids on The Cartoon Network. I also could see Netflix and CBS teaming up to do a revival for Netflix, that would most likely hit somewhere between the traditional TOS approach and what Showtime would do. The first question to answer is, where is it going to live? That will determine the details about content and format.
So a new series isn't going to be anything odd like post-apocalyptic 22nd C Earth or an all-Klingon musical extravaganza. It will be something that the average person who liked Abrams movies will recognize as Star Trek.
The real open questions are: animated or live action? And what channel will it be on?
The climate for sci fi is strong, especially if you take a liberal view of the definition to include anything supernatural. I have a running thread for sf/f TV news and I see news about shows in development (most of which will never see the light of day of course) all the time.
Space opera in particular is a hard sell because it combines niche interest with pricey budget needs, but couldn't you say the same of Game of Thrones? (To put it into context, GoT gets about 4 million viewers, the same level that got ENT cancelled on UPN. Yet GoT is a solid hit for HBO. 4 million subscribers supports a much bigger budget than 4 million ad viewers.) And who would have predicted a violent zombie show would be artsy AMC's biggest hit?
I see this as a problem of matching Star Trek with the right channel. I could see Showtime rolling the dice on a Star Trek series, but it would have to be shaped to fit the Showtime audience expectations, and drop many elements that are more suited to broadcast but have become Trek traditions, such as the PG-13 approach and episodic structure.
Or, I could also see an animated series that appeals primarily to kids on The Cartoon Network. I also could see Netflix and CBS teaming up to do a revival for Netflix, that would most likely hit somewhere between the traditional TOS approach and what Showtime would do. The first question to answer is, where is it going to live? That will determine the details about content and format.
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The OP's proposal is reasonably similar to the original concept for Enterprise.
Fan Films do 1 episode a year at best since they're all volunteers. Try to do even 13 episodes a year and you need to pay people and suddenly you now have a budget.
Unless you read the books. Which a lot of us do.
Enterprise was always about actually going out there, right? My idea is based more on something Earth centered. Not actually visiting other worlds, but seeing what First Contact did on Earth itself. You could start about 5 years after First Contact, and see what's happening on Earth.
The first season of ENT was supposed to be on earth before the ship left.
Really? I never knew that. Wished they did that, would have been very interesting IMO.
Bully for you. However book sales does not a television series make.
Nor has anything in any book written actually "happened".
Trade disputes.
An idea they dropped at some point. DS9 was original going to be based almost exclusively aboard the station, to continue producing interesting stories, they changed to the station being the "home-base."
"Earth slowly becoming a global community," it sounds overly political. So does "Vulcans guiding humanity." Star Trek has featured politics of course, but that has never been the core of any of the series. Too many story lines centered on "building the interstellar coalition" is one of the reasons ST: Enterprise's ratings simply died.
Usually Mage, when pitching a new idea to a network, you'd walking with a few sample script outlines (at least). Who would be your major characters? Where is the center of your story, the politics, the Vulcans, rebuilding the war torn areas, Cochrane? You can't have the story too segmented, can't jump around too much.
A nice work around for that would be ... I figure that just like "world wars" of the past, the third world war effected only certain geographical portions of the Earth and it's population.The major impact for the world in general would be the failure of international infrastructure and commerce.
Six and a half percent of Humans died, leaving over ninety-three percent alive, most of them physically removed from the direct effects of war and combat. The "post atomic horrors" would involve a fraction of the Human race. Perhaps only a handful of cities.
