• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Kirsten (MFing) Beyer writing for the new Star Trek series!!!

I'm not going to tease you about the new series. There's nothing I am able to tell you apart from the fact that, as you might imagine, I am having the time of my life.
Congratulations Kirsten - it's well deserved and I'm sure we're all glad you're having a blast !

No, of course you can't tell us anything about the show, but can you tell us WHEN you (or anyone) will be able to tell us anything ?

;)
 
^I would like to add a bit to that question. Once the show is airing will you be able to talk about it on here, if you have to time?
 
I appreciate that. I certainly wouldn't mind contributing a freelance script or two -- TV pays really well compared to books -- but I decided long ago that I don't have the temperament or the energy to become a TV staff writer. And most TV these days is so heavily staff-driven that there's not as much room for freelancers as there used to be.
Oh man Christopher I would be so excited to see your name come up in the writing credits to a new Star Trek episode! I hope you are able to contribute a script!
 
Coincidentally I just read 'Full Circle' for the first time last week and really enjoyed it! If KB can bring that level of emotional connection to the characters in the show that will just be fantastic! And so lovely of her to write a response to us here on the BBS, I can only imagine how fun it would be to dream up new stories with Bryan Fuller. Best of luck to her and the new show.
 
No, of course you can't tell us anything about the show, but can you tell us WHEN you (or anyone) will be able to tell us anything ?
I get the feeling we're probably getting an info dump related on the show on September 8, to commemorate the 50th. Plus, since filming's going to begin in the fall anyway, it'd be the perfect time to make details public.
 
I just realized something while I was out on a walk today, two of the three people with past Trek writing experience wrote/write Voyager in one form or another. I'm not saying I expect this to be a sequel to or remake of Voy, but it is still interesting.
 
Congratulations Kirsten, this is amazing news & very well deserved. I can't wait to see what you do!
Also what is it to work with Meyer and Fuller?
 
I just realized something while I was out on a walk today, two of the three people with past Trek writing experience wrote/write Voyager in one form or another. I'm not saying I expect this to be a sequel to or remake of Voy, but it is still interesting.
The creators of the show have such a tightrope to walk, between 'fan service', (by which I mean finding a way to incorporate the old show, whether that is making it part of the same continuity, or tipping their hat to what came before through references, or what have you) and making a good, standalone show, that is quality in and of itself, that new fans can come to with no knowledge and enjoy, and is sci-fi that brings new ideas to the table and follows in the tradition of Trek using allegory to wrestle with contemporary, human issues (while still standing the test of time for future generations!). Phew!

But I think the balance should always be, and I'm sure the balance will always be, towards the latter. Never let Trek's history be the millstone around your neck, as a creator.

I think watching Hannibal can be very instructive for how Fuller might approach this. He basically used the source material (the Harris novels) as building blocks for his own show, moving pieces around, hitting certain 'notes' that the novels hit. Still telling the same 'primary' story, but doing it in a way that was novel, and deep, and entirely his own, but still being respectful to the source and still functioned, on some level, as a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs.

I think his Trek might do the same, and since there are so many fans among the creators, this style will lend itself to that. Same universe, same love for sci-fi allegory, same humanism, but putting their imprint on it through new characters and stories. I think it could really work, but I hope they don't make themselves beholden to the fans. I'd love to see more Voyager, but it would alienate new viewers. Let the new show stand on it's own.
 
I imagine Bryan Fuller got a hold of a Beyer novel, said "Wow, she did better with the Voyager characters than anything I ever did with them" and got her the job.

Actually, I gather that Kirsten pitched for Voyager on a number of occasions while the show was on the air, so if Fuller was on the show's staff at the time of her pitches, he would've probably become aware of her then. TV producers have very little time to spend reading books, but they hear plenty of pitches -- or certainly VGR's producers did, thanks to the open submissions policy they practiced.
 
Actually, I gather that Kirsten pitched for Voyager on a number of occasions while the show was on the air, so if Fuller was on the show's staff at the time of her pitches, he would've probably become aware of her then. TV producers have very little time to spend reading books, but they hear plenty of pitches -- or certainly VGR's producers did, thanks to the open submissions policy they practiced.
But HOW GOOD would it be if Fuller was a relaunch fan? I remember being very happy when Moffat said he listened to the 8th Doctor audiobooks.
 
But HOW GOOD would it be if Fuller was a relaunch fan? I remember being very happy when Moffat said he listened to the 8th Doctor audiobooks.

Might be nice, sure. I was pretty chuffed when Kurtzman & Orci listed my debut novel Ex Machina among their favorite Trek books. But I don't see it having much practical significance. For instance, it wouldn't protect the books from being overwritten by the show (if the show does turn out to be in the Prime universe, which is still only one rumor of many at this point). The show would be the new standard-bearer for the franchise, so it would have to set the course, and couldn't be held back by what one particular branch of tie-ins had done. (After all, being consistent with the books would just confuse the fans of the comics or Star Trek Online, which have taken the continuity in their own incompatible directions.) And it wouldn't necessarily lead to more novelists getting to write for the show, since TV shows these days are much more staff-driven than freelancer-driven. And it probably wouldn't lead to any novels being adapted, because the show would have its own story arc, probably rather tightly serialized, because that's how things are done these days.
 
So my dream of a Christopher-written book where the characters explain why things that seemed to make no sense in a Christopher-written TV show happened is still alive!
 
What's getting me so excited about having Fuller and Beyer on this show is that they both know what went wrong with Voyager. And when I say "wrong", I'm referring to the oft-discussed continuity problems, lack of grounding, poor depth in characters etc - as much as I love this particular show, I'm definitely much more invested in the idea of the characters than the way the show actually ran.

Fuller said in a really interesting interview [this Nerdist Writer's Panel podcast] that he was offered a job at both DS9 and Voyager, and while he loved both shows he desperately wanted the DS9 job because the room was so much more enthusiastic. He got Voyager, and said that the writers weren't fans and that obviously reflected in the show. I also highly recommended listening to that podcast, it 100% sold me on him and got me really excited for next year.

So I think having both him and the woman who breathed so much life back into said characters can only bode well for a new Trek show. We know we're getting a group of people who really love this universe and have a good idea of what works and what doesn't. I have every faith that they'll craft a crew with fantastic dynamic whom we will adore.

But honestly I'm just so looking forward to watching Star Trek every week. I've never done it before! :D
 
Wow, I'd never heard that about the Voyager writers before.

Didn't Ronald D. Moore leave Voyager after a handful of episodes because he thought the writing experience for it was shite compared to DS9 and TNG.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top