Simon Goldfarb
Cadet
I would love to see a new TV series of TOS with the same sets and costumes.
Anyone else think they should?
Newbie
Anyone else think they should?
Newbie
Should Paramount make a new TV version of TOS?
- Thread starter Simon Goldfarb
- Start date
Speaking only for myself, I think Kirk/Spock trek is entertaining as a film series at the moment. TOS continues exist as historical and groundbreaking television. Star Wars is currently doing well on TV. Consider that 30 years ago, Star Trek was on TV and Star Wars was in cinemas and now the reverse is happening - proof of the cyclical nature of entertainment.
I'm guessing there will be some sort of animated ongoing series or live action miniseries tie in with the current cast of TOS after these films... and wouldn't have another full-on TOS reboot until around 2040 or so. If television still exists then, of course.
However... you should really look into this, maybe this is closer to the question in your post:
http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/
It's a great series with the original sets and costumes.
I'm guessing there will be some sort of animated ongoing series or live action miniseries tie in with the current cast of TOS after these films... and wouldn't have another full-on TOS reboot until around 2040 or so. If television still exists then, of course.
However... you should really look into this, maybe this is closer to the question in your post:
http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/
It's a great series with the original sets and costumes.
A technicality: Paramount only holds the movie rights to Trek, and that's under license from CBS Studios, who owns the property. So it would be CBS (the production company, not necessarily the network of the same name) that would make a new Trek TV series of any type.
And the same sets? Absolutely not. Roddenberry would not have wanted that. He wanted the show to look cutting-edge and futuristic. What we got in TOS was not his absolute ideal, it was just the closest approximation he could manage with the available budget and resources he had. That's why, when he produced Phase II and TMP, he revamped the entire look of the universe from top to bottom, taking advantage of the greater budget and technology he had available. And then put forth the idea, in his TMP novelization and comments to fans, that TOS had just been an imperfect approximation of the "real" thing, with TMP coming closer to the reality.
I'd be fine with a remake that approximated the general design sensibilities of TOS, but in an updated way that looked futuristic by today's standards. Something like the Kelvin in the '09 movie -- not exactly like it, since it was overly cluttered, but in the same vein of striking a compromise between the classic look and modern futurism. ST is supposed to evoke the future, not to be a nostalgic relic.
And the same sets? Absolutely not. Roddenberry would not have wanted that. He wanted the show to look cutting-edge and futuristic. What we got in TOS was not his absolute ideal, it was just the closest approximation he could manage with the available budget and resources he had. That's why, when he produced Phase II and TMP, he revamped the entire look of the universe from top to bottom, taking advantage of the greater budget and technology he had available. And then put forth the idea, in his TMP novelization and comments to fans, that TOS had just been an imperfect approximation of the "real" thing, with TMP coming closer to the reality.
I'd be fine with a remake that approximated the general design sensibilities of TOS, but in an updated way that looked futuristic by today's standards. Something like the Kelvin in the '09 movie -- not exactly like it, since it was overly cluttered, but in the same vein of striking a compromise between the classic look and modern futurism. ST is supposed to evoke the future, not to be a nostalgic relic.
I would love to see a new TV series of TOS with the same sets and costumes.
Anyone else think they should?
Newbie
1. CBS would be the one making a TV series, not Paramount.
2. Interestingly, I always thought that instead of creating ENT, UPN should have rebooted TOS with new actors playing Kirk, Spock, et. al instead of yet another new ship with new characters. Have the sets not be a carbon-copy of the original '60's sets as you propose, but a more updated look based on current tech. And having the show be a reboot, there would have been no need to adhere to 40+ years of ST canon.
I console myself with the fact that almost a decade later, we did indeed get what I just described, just not in the way I thought above.
I am curious, however, as to what Paramount is going to do with all the sets, props, costumes, etc. from the films after the third movie. Give them to CBS to use in a new show?
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doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
A rebooted Star Trek TV series could be grand. But remake the sets and costumes from the 60's? Nope. New Trek, modern look please.
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJf2ovQtI6w[/YT]
I much prefer Continues
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJf2ovQtI6w[/YT]
Paramount does produce a few fine TV series that are then distributed by CBS, NCIS and Criminal Minds are two examples. CBS doesn't seem to want to directly produce a Star Trek series, so if Paramount was interested in making Trek then so much the better.
I say go for it.
I suggested in another thread that they could reboot starting from the TOS movie era. That's what I'd like to see.
They're aired on the CBS television network, aka CBS Broadcasting. But Star Trek is owned by CBS Television Studios, a production company. It's easy to confuse them since they have the same name and the same owner, but they're separate entities, different subsidiaries of CBS Corporation -- one a creator of content, the other a distributor. It's the television studio, not the network, that owns Star Trek and has the rights to produce a Trek TV series.
See, when Viacom split in 2005, renaming itself CBS Corporation and creating a new spinoff corporation that inherited the Viacom name, they divided their TV and movie properties between the two, with Viacom getting the movie stuff, including Paramount Pictures, and CBS Corp getting the TV stuff, including the CBS studio and network and the rights to Star Trek. But because ST is a joint TV/movie franchise, there was a sort of joint custody worked out, with Paramount retaining a license to make Trek movies. But they only have a license for movies. The right to make Trek on TV belongs to CBS Television Studios, regardless of what network airs it. Paramount Pictures does have a television studio of its own, true, but that studio doesn't have a license to make Trek.
Ditto.
This is one of the reasons that nothing is any fun anymore. Your recently cited Superman vs. Hulk example, Christopher, is a good example of why. Once upon a time, that would have been of interest to readers. Now, in this blockbuster film era, it's "The Silver Surfer is owned by Fox, so they can't use him in a Fantastic Four movie until the rights expire" kind of conversation. I hear this stuff all the time, and it's so refreshing to still occasionally run into someone who simply says "Magneto is cool" without all the legalistic licensing commentary attached like barnacles to the conversation. (I'm not saying you're no fun, Christopherr: your well thought-out comments are always a treat ..I mean these topics leaking down to the level of the average viewer/reader!)
Imagine if this applied elsewhere. Think of eating your Frosted Flakes, knowing your enjoyment would be limited to the end of 2015, when Kellogg's will lose the rights to General Mills, who will then co-manufacture Frosted Flakes in conjunction with Post, in exchange for limited rights to produce Raisin Bran until 2018, when the rights revert back to Kellogg's, who will begin producing Frosted Flakes featuring Post Raisins. Meanwhile, I just want a bowl of cereal!
..I mean these topics leaking down to the level of the average viewer/reader!)Imagine if this applied elsewhere. Think of eating your Frosted Flakes, knowing your enjoyment would be limited to the end of 2015, when Kellogg's will lose the rights to General Mills, who will then co-manufacture Frosted Flakes in conjunction with Post, in exchange for limited rights to produce Raisin Bran until 2018, when the rights revert back to Kellogg's, who will begin producing Frosted Flakes featuring Post Raisins. Meanwhile, I just want a bowl of cereal!
Imagine if this applied elsewhere. Think of eating your Frosted Flakes, knowing your enjoyment would be limited to the end of 2015, when Kellogg's will lose the rights to General Mills, who will then co-manufacture Frosted Flakes in conjunction with Post, in exchange for limited rights to produce Raisin Bran until 2018, when the rights revert back to Kellogg's, who will begin producing Frosted Flakes featuring Post Raisins. Meanwhile, I just want a bowl of cereal!
But does it make the point of answering the question different if it's instead ``Should CBS make a new TV version of TOS?''
(And, yeah, if CBS Studios wanted to make a TV version of TOS that used the Paramount movies as a basis, they'd have to make a deal for that, but, that's OK. Corporations can make deals to do stuff, they're good at that.)
Yes.
They should.
But they need a good team to make it work for the 21st century audiences, without making it too old fashioned or losing what makes its so special.
They should.
But they need a good team to make it work for the 21st century audiences, without making it too old fashioned or losing what makes its so special.
I say no! Leave the show alone! It can't be bettered! The new films and peoples moaning about them prove that plus isn't TOS already being remade by Vic Mignona and the James Frawley companies?
They should never have made Enterprise, they should have gone with a Captain Sulu series and set it a few years after Undiscovered Country ad littered it with appearances from characters and enemies from TOS!
JB
They should never have made Enterprise, they should have gone with a Captain Sulu series and set it a few years after Undiscovered Country ad littered it with appearances from characters and enemies from TOS!
JB
Except that's not comparable. CBS owns all of Star Trek. If they want to make a Trek TV series, there's nothing to prevent them from doing that or from using any of its past elements that they want to. Paramount has a copyright on the material from the new movies, but CBS shares that copyright, and the two companies are on friendly terms (since they branched off from the same origin). So it's not like the Marvel movie rights situation. I wasn't saying that anyone was prohibited from making anything; I was just clarifying which studio it is that would actually be responsible for making a new Trek TV series. As Nebusj said, the title question of the thread should actually be "Should CBS make a new TV version of TOS?", because they're the ones who are in a position to do that and have been for the past 9 years. They are the owners of Star Trek, because they're actually the same company that used to be called Paramount Television but is now called CBS Television Studios. All the corporate name changes are confusing, and I'm just trying to clarify who the players are.
(Also, the Fantastic Four movie rights are owned by Fox too, so the example you cited doesn't work. They already made an FF/Silver Surfer movie, after all. Here's a handy chart showing who controls what movie rights, except it's a little inaccurate where Namor is concerned; apparently his rights are in some sort of complicated limbo state.)
As a fan I think Star Trek belongs on television simply because I think that's where you can get the most out of it from a storytelling perspective. As long as it's in a feature film form the pressure will be on to make it with a blockbuster approach and that will limit what will be done with it.
Should CBS launch a remake of TOS?
That's a loaded question because everyone will have a differnt take on it and it all depends on final execution. As much as I love TOS it would be pointless to remake TOS with only a slight updating of the visual aspects of it. It might be fun, but it will have limited appeal. CBS might as well just let the fan productions continue doing what they're doing to satisfy fans with that particular appetite. And it doesn't cost CBS a dime even as the product they own is being promoted.
But taking TOS' essential elements and ideas and updating them for today could be interesting, again if done right. It would also avoid the thorny issue of continuity. Envision it this way: take a page from TNG in terms of revamping the look and in some measure the content of the show while retaining familiar characters and certain references.
You avoid the issue of continuity cleanly because you can say TOS and the original continuity are its own things and the new is its own thing. You don't have to know the other shows and their continuity in detail to understand the new series because we're starting from scratch. This approach has been discussed periodically in the Future of Trek forum. You would basically be doing what is done with characters like Batman and James Bond--relaunching the character without connection to what came before. Chris Nolan's Batman is not connected in any way to Tim Burton's Batman or Adam West's Batman. They are each separate things and yet they are all Batman. Daniel Craig's Bond is not connected with Sean Connery's or Roger Moore's or Pierce Brosnan's Bond and they are all 007.
That would be the approach I would recommend to relaunch TOS rather than simply polish off a forty year old aesthetic.
Should CBS launch a remake of TOS?
That's a loaded question because everyone will have a differnt take on it and it all depends on final execution. As much as I love TOS it would be pointless to remake TOS with only a slight updating of the visual aspects of it. It might be fun, but it will have limited appeal. CBS might as well just let the fan productions continue doing what they're doing to satisfy fans with that particular appetite. And it doesn't cost CBS a dime even as the product they own is being promoted.
But taking TOS' essential elements and ideas and updating them for today could be interesting, again if done right. It would also avoid the thorny issue of continuity. Envision it this way: take a page from TNG in terms of revamping the look and in some measure the content of the show while retaining familiar characters and certain references.
You avoid the issue of continuity cleanly because you can say TOS and the original continuity are its own things and the new is its own thing. You don't have to know the other shows and their continuity in detail to understand the new series because we're starting from scratch. This approach has been discussed periodically in the Future of Trek forum. You would basically be doing what is done with characters like Batman and James Bond--relaunching the character without connection to what came before. Chris Nolan's Batman is not connected in any way to Tim Burton's Batman or Adam West's Batman. They are each separate things and yet they are all Batman. Daniel Craig's Bond is not connected with Sean Connery's or Roger Moore's or Pierce Brosnan's Bond and they are all 007.
That would be the approach I would recommend to relaunch TOS rather than simply polish off a forty year old aesthetic.
Definitely not. Cut ties from the films partially because that raises the whole stink of continuity again.
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