It didn't hurt The Force Awakens and look at what that did for Star Wars.
Nicholas Meyer to join writing staff of new series
- Thread starter Jedi_Master
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Does outbursts of joy count? Like in "This side of Paradise." or "Amok Time."?
Well the thing is
To be fair, just the core fans of star wars number enough to support it. I may be being a pessimist, but I don't know if there are enough core star trek fans that you could support just by pandering
The idea being it's pandering to the extremely vocal group who felt "alienated" by nuTrek--an olive branch, if you will.
This whole enterprise is a grand experiment, anyway. CBS is betting on a pop culture niche to give them a an early foothold in future of "network" streaming content. It's 50/50 whether or not it will succeed or not. They're simply placing all their best ducks in the most accommodating row possible. Kurtzman is a very talented guy, but (justified or not) his name alone ignites rancor with a certain set. Meyer's name is counterbalance.
And the extent of what his involvement will be is still rather vague. "Consulting producer" has notoriety as being one of those feel-good Hollywood buzzwords, more of a promotional tool than anything. And, being 70, it's rather unusual for someone to decide to jump strait into the daily grind of a writers' room, especially given that he's had very little previous experience working on television series.
Now, I could be totally wrong. A TV writing job might be something he's wanted to do for a long time, and he jumped at the offer. But until proven otherwise, I'm going to assume that this is one of those things were a person's "involvement" doesn't extend much beyond the credits.
I get the "pandering" a la Lawrence Kasdan, but this is a bit different scenario. Of course many believe Lawrence Kasdan was brought into TFA to reassure the fans that JJ would not kill their beloved franchise. Now I don't really buying that, but even if that were true, it's not the same situation with Star Trek. Fuller has received almost universal praise from Star Trek fans of all walks of life; from new and old alike. Which considering the petty arguments that go on here, that's pretty amazing when you think about it. There is no need to pander to the fan base and reassure them now that Fuller will be in charge. I could see TPTB doing this before Fuller was announced as show runner in order to alleviate the fears of all of the JJ haters who were scared of Kurtzman running the show.
just curious as to what you youngsters make of Trek III? - too trekish? a worthy sequel to II?
To go on a slight tangent about kurtzman I never understood the massive fear about him being a major player in this. His movies let's say...leave something to be desired but he did fringe, which i s a pretty damn good show. TV and film are two completely different worlds, its like saying that short stories and full novels are the same thing, everyone knows they're not. Whose to say maybe he isn't more suited to TV than film? God knows everyone has their strengths and weaknesses
He's connected to the JJ movies. That's more than enough for some people.
I don't get why everyone compares Star Trek to Star Wars.
Star Wars is the classic Hero's Journey, a space opera film franchise that everyone can relate to and enjoy for one reason or another.
Star Trek is a niche television show for geeks. It's sci-fi at its best (and, at times, its worst) and targets a very specific and loyal audience.
You can't expect or attempt to make anywhere near as much money with Star Trek as you can with Star Wars. Making films with dumb writing and KABOOMS! will do nothing but make you a quick buck in the short-term, with the side effect of alienating your loyal fanbase and therefore damaging you in the long-term.
Coming off of Star Trek Wars Into Reference, I don't care about the masses or what they think, fuck them, make a show for Star Trek fans, and if you're successful at it, you will introduce a NEW very specific group of loyal fans like TNG did. Now that we know Bryan Fuller is running the show and Nicholas Meyer is writing for it, I'm confident that's exactly what they're doing.
Star Wars is the classic Hero's Journey, a space opera film franchise that everyone can relate to and enjoy for one reason or another.
Star Trek is a niche television show for geeks. It's sci-fi at its best (and, at times, its worst) and targets a very specific and loyal audience.
You can't expect or attempt to make anywhere near as much money with Star Trek as you can with Star Wars. Making films with dumb writing and KABOOMS! will do nothing but make you a quick buck in the short-term, with the side effect of alienating your loyal fanbase and therefore damaging you in the long-term.
Coming off of Star Trek Wars Into Reference, I don't care about the masses or what they think, fuck them, make a show for Star Trek fans, and if you're successful at it, you will introduce a NEW very specific group of loyal fans like TNG did. Now that we know Bryan Fuller is running the show and Nicholas Meyer is writing for it, I'm confident that's exactly what they're doing.
They do it purely on the similar names. If Star Wars was called "In a Galaxy Far, Far Away," they would never be compared.
No, don't make a show for Star Trek fans. Make a good show set in the Star Trek universe that can be welcoming to new and old fans. That's what will make this show successful.
I agree.
I am very, very happy to see Meyer having some sort of involvement. I know that this guy's work with the franchise dates back to thirty years, but the man gets Star Trek, and did well with it.
We also don't know how extensive his role will be. CBS seem to be doing their best anyway, which is encouraging.
I definitly enjoyed it although I much preferred wrath of Khan to it. I mean...I would personally put it behind undiscovered country and voyage home. But I would actually suggest to someone to watch Khan, undiscovered country, and voyage home. I would never ever tell a non star trek fan to check Out a search for spock. For the record I also love first contact but it's more a really well done action movie to me than it is a star trek movie in the classic sense.
I understand that but to me it is definitely a double standard when for example people are in love with fuller but ignore Voyager (I was fine with Voyager to be honest) which is a star trek that is constantly shat upon. They say he was just a junior writter, which I COMPLETELY agree with. So why then are people running for the hills with kurtzman who actually to his credit what I would call a solidly above average sci-fi show under his belt. As a star trek fan I would kill for solidly above average and not have to actually say "errr, well you're going to need an episode guide for the two seasons...but then it's awesome!"
Because you failed to see the comparisons to how CBS is promoting their new series by garnering a writer who is beloved by fans for his major contributions to The Wrath of Khan, pandering for the masses, like you, for assurances. No different from Disney doing the exact same thing by announcing Lawrence Kasden on The Force Awakens.
If it worked for Star Wars, why can't it work for CBS's new Star Trek? With the large support for this series which hasn't been released yet, CBS could be confident or are counting on Trek fans will order this service blindly before a pilot is even streamed. No different than the flock of drones who went bat-crazy to buy out advanced Star Wars' ticket sales. This is what CBS is counting on. If it sucks, all the producers have to say is give it time, trust them they'll get it right until... 7 seasons later.
But we'll see, it might be good, but what I'm hoping for is something new; something which is different from TOS, & TNG or at least have Voyager's premise. Which to me was more faithful to the slogan: "To Boldly go... Where no man has gone before."
Meyer comeback in Star Trek!? Awesome news!!!
He's already working in TV. The last five writing gigs he's had were TV episodes.
To boldly go...home.
Note where I wrote "very little previous experience working on television series." Very little is not the same as none.
However, a smattering of freelance episodes of forgotten TV shows and a few made-for-TV movies is not anywhere near the same as working on a writing staff.
No, Star Trek on TV was much more than a "niche television show for geeks". TOS's success in syndication launched the franchise. TNG's success (#1 first run syndicated show) spawned three spin offs. Those spins off were what gave us the "specific and loyal audience" that ended Trek TV run.
It's hardly the best SF has to offer. I'm not even sure it was the best televised SF has to offer.
Done right, Star Trek could be popular again and repeat the success of TOS reruns and TN.
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CBS should give David Gerrold a call, he can Star Trek great again. 
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