If the new film is successful, is a new TV series possible?

[AnthonyE1778]

Hi, my name is Anthony (as you no doubt have guessed by now), but this is not my first post here. I used to post here a couple of years ago.

I have long wondered about a new Trek tv series and was curious as to how fans would respond and if a new series is even plausible if the film turns out to be the success it's looking to be. If so, what kind of series would you like it to be (prequel, farther into the future, etc...)?

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

check this out, my friend!

 

[Sector 7]

JJ Abrams has also been asked this question in a recent interview. The answer from him is, "Yes, it is possible."

 

[kythe]

I don't know how I feel about that possibility. Do they seriously believe they have material for another show, or are hoping to keep cashing in on the Star Trek franchise because it is a known money-maker?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Do they seriously believe they have material for another show

Why not? All it requires is imagination and effort.

or are hoping to keep cashing in on the Star Trek franchise because it is a known money-maker?

If there was no expectation of making money, there would be no chance of it happening - on TV or in theaters.

Here's my bet: within a few years, Trek will return to TV. It will key off the success of the movies, so it will take place in the 23rd C. It might even draw some of the movie actors to TV, as regulars or at the very least, guest stars.

Most likely there will be new characters as well. It will be a traditional Starfleet/starship-based going-boldly scenario, but without the re-tread episodes that made VOY and ENT so tiresome. It will be more serialized than TOS but not 100% serialized.

If there are any direct references to TNG, DS9, VOY or ENT, they will be minimal. Don't expect a lot of guest stars from those shows. The odds of the new series being any of the usual fan notions - Federation Civil War, post-Dominion War, Fall of the Federation, Birth of the Federation (but done right this time), Klingon-centric, Romulan-centric, based on novels, based on fan films, etc. - are nil. All those are too exotic and require too much previous knowledge of Trek, which at that point will have a vastly increased fanbase of people who haven't been following along all these years.

JJ Abrams' success with Trek will provide the clout that gets Trek on TV (if he wants it) so he'll at least nominally be in charge of it, tho he may hand it off to others, a la Lost.

The least predictable part of this equation is where it will air. CBS would have first dibs but it's the wrong audience. NBC or Fox would be more right - even so, can space opera survive on network TV anymore? Basic cable seems too puny, and premium cable is too adult in its expectations and image for family-friendly Star Trek.

 

[JustKate]

What's wrong with "both"?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

check this out, my friend!

Interesting. Fuller wants a series in the style of TOS, but in the Abramsverse? I wonder how that would be possible.

 

[Thor Damar]

Do they seriously believe they have material for another show

Why not? All it requires is imagination and effort.

or are hoping to keep cashing in on the Star Trek franchise because it is a known money-maker?

If there was no expectation of making money, there would be no chance of it happening - on TV or in theaters.

Here's my bet: within a few years, Trek will return to TV. It will key off the success of the movies, so it will take place in the 23rd C. It might even draw some of the movie actors to TV, as regulars or at the very least, guest stars.

Most likely there will be new characters as well. It will be a traditional Starfleet/starship-based going-boldly scenario, but without the re-tread episodes that made VOY and ENT so tiresome. It will be more serialized than TOS but not 100% serialized.

If there are any direct references to TNG, DS9, VOY or ENT, they will be minimal. Don't expect a lot of guest stars from those shows. The odds of the new series being any of the usual fan notions - Federation Civil War, post-Dominion War, Fall of the Federation, Birth of the Federation (but done right this time), Klingon-centric, Romulan-centric, based on novels, based on fan films, etc. - are nil. All those are too exotic and require too much previous knowledge of Trek, which at that point will have a vastly increased fanbase of people who haven't been following along all these years.

JJ Abrams' success with Trek will provide the clout that gets Trek on TV (if he wants it) so he'll at least nominally be in charge of it, tho he may hand it off to others, a la Lost.

The least predictable part of this equation is where it will air. CBS would have first dibs but it's the wrong audience. NBC or Fox would be more right - even so, can space opera survive on network TV anymore? Basic cable seems too puny, and premium cable is too adult in its expectations and image for family-friendly Star Trek.

I actually agree with the above to a huge extent, most of those fan favorite stories are already covered in the novels anyway so why not enjoy them there and lets see what new stuff they can come up with?

 

[Saga]

i like to think that there always are...possibilities.

 

[gorn_to_be_wild]

I wonder if a new series might go the syndication route,though that seems unlikely.

 

[miraclefan]

Unless we get the same actors from the movie, and the same background, don't expect any trek series to be a success! people want to see these actors in a series, but that will never happen!

 

[caisson2delta]

Most likely, a new series would be set in 23 century era. I'm sure that there will be a sequel to the new movie and the success or failure will determine what happens. If TPTB are smart, they should appease all fans involved; new and old.

If it were set in this era, they should probably steer clear of the established crews and ships and set it on an entirely different vessel. This way, they can do one of two things: either set it in this new fangled alternate universe with completely unique designs and characters, as well as stories; or they can use the updated props, equipment, and uniforms from the new movie but not set it in the alternate universe but make it set in the same timeline and universe as TOS.

 

[FlyingLemons]

If there is a new series, keep it away from FOX. I've observed that they have a habit of killing sci-fi series in favour of crap like America's Got Talent Dancing With The Stars Idol: Get Me Out of Here! so it probably wouldn't last long there. That said, if it had JJ Abrams' name attached to it then it might survive, as everything he touches seems to be turning to gold these days, and FOX appears to have left Fringe alone too (good, because I quite like that show), so it might be able to survive.

I'd bet CBS would want to grab it for themselves, anyway.

 

[skep155]

I'd leave series alone right now and concentrate on the films. By the looks of it the new movie is going to get really favourable ratings and will be very succesful. If we can produce two sequels of a similar standard people will be willing to throw money at a new series.

What i'd be concerned about with any new series is production standards dropping and falling back into a "forehead alien of the week" routine. If they make a series it needs to be epic, for that reason i'd seriously consider shorter seasons. Perhaps 14-16 episodes a season but spend more money and time on each episode. As i recall the last Enterprise episodes were only about 38 minutes in length with all the adverts added on and what have you. Perhaps a way forward could be to try for 45 minute episodes giving an extra seven minutes or so to flesh out the story and make sure the writers can fit everything in that they want to. It would also eliminate the need for filler "transporter accident" or "trapped in the holodeck" episodes that were usually pretty pointless.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think any new Trek series will either be a complete and total reboot with yet another new cast taking on the TOS characters or a series that continues the timeline from the TV shows.

But CBS may be content just to recycle repeats of all the TV shows in syndication and screw doing a sixth series...

 

[Warp Coil]

If the new Trek film is a success, I suspect that Paramount will want to keep the franchise exclusive to feature films - for a while. Rushing a new TV series to the air might dilute whatever buzz Trek is able to generate with the film. I think it would be smarter to keep Trek as a "summer event" that fans can look forward to every few years. After oversaturating the market with Trek on the big and small screen consistently between 1987-2005, it's time for them to take it slow.


Having said that, I could see a new series popping up several years down the road, set in the same Abramsverse that Trek XI will be in.

 

[chardman]

If the new Trek film is a success, I suspect that Paramount will want to keep the franchise exclusive to feature films - for a while. Rushing a new TV series to the air might dilute whatever buzz Trek is able to generate with the film.

And while Paramount may agree with you, they only control the movie rights to Star Trek, while CBS television owns the Television rights, and CBS simply isn't answerable to Paramount Pictures. Paramount has absolutely no say in what CBS does, or does not do. Each company has an independent duty to their own bottom line, and the profit of their own stockholders

If the film is very successful, you can bet that the execs at CBS aren't going to ignore the fact that they own the rights to a hot property, and simply sit on it, solely to benefit it's sister division. Particularly when not exploiting such a property would deprive their own stockholders of almost certain profits.

In such a case, CBS would not only exploit that fact to their own benefit, but would do so as quickly as possible, so as to ride the coattails of the film's success, while that success was still fresh in the mind of the viewing public. (I know that if I were a stockholder, I'd expect no less, or there'd be Hell to pay.)

I'm going to predict that if this film is even moderately successful, there will be a Trek related series of some kind, premiering no later than the 2010 fall television season.

 

[Starbreaker]

Anything is possible.

Another similar series? Boring. They need to do something radically different.

 

[nx1701g]

I don't see why they couldn't but, something tells me, if the new movie is a success we'll be getting movies and no TV for a while.

 

[Eddie Roth]

I'm going to predict that if this film is even moderately successful, there will be a Trek related series of some kind, premiering no later than the 2010 fall television season.

I'd bet you all the money I have that this will not happen. Not that soon. Especially if they would want to have JJ Abrams attached to a series and I doubt he would do it right now. And even CBS as a huge corporation out for all the profit it could possibly make would realize that the last Star Trek television show was cancelled for low ratings and that the same kind of reimagining that went into the new film must also be invested into any kind of new television project.