I actually think we could have a solid shot at seeing a Captain Robert April based Trek series. And not just because it would be kinda cool and fun for us Trekies. I think CBS has some valid reasons to go that way. Here's the path of logic as I see it:
First off - there's no doubt CBS wants to get Trek back on as a TV product. The Trek franchise is now shared between two companies - Paramount Studios and CBS Television. It's not like the old days when the cash was flowing through one big happy corporation. If CBS wants to cash in on their piece of the franchise, they're going to have to put something together for TV. I'm guessing the only reason they haven't already started development is because their franchise-cousins over at Paramount are kindly spending $150 million in franchise "R&D". So assuming the new film is even modestly successful, CBS is going to want to see a piece of that. And there's not going to be any sense in doing a series in a whole different era that doesn't play off the marketing engine and franchise-building that is generated by the new film.
So I think that's going to put CBS in a position of trying to connect their new series as much as possible to what's being done in the new film. Now with that said, I doubt very much if any of the new actors have any kind of contractual obligation to any Trek related TV projects - just this movie and a few potential sequels. And it's worth noting here that those sequels would most likely take place largely on/around the Enterprise - and during roughly the Kirk 5-year-mission era.
So CBS could set the series concurrent with this new film(s)'s era and make it about a different ship - another Abrams-style Constitution Class ship (like in the teaser) but with a different mission/crew, etc. But I would think CBS would also like to be able to capitalize on the name Enterprise™ - especially since they're not going to be able to use the characters of Kirk, Spock, etc (for practicle and financial reasons) without doing yet another impossible recast.
We know the Enterprise is about 20 years old when Kirk takes it over. So that leaves plenty of pre-Kirk Enterprise adventures. A Chris Pike series would be fantastic fun, but with an older Chris Pike already cast for the new film - they'd probably want to stay away from recasting that character so soon. And they'd need to avoid the issue of including Spock on Pike's crew. I'm sure Abrams has some protection against a "competing" group within the Trek franchise-holders directly working with "his" carefully rearchitected characters on screen.
That leaves good ol' Robert April. There's essentially a blank slate there. April is free of many tight cannon constraints since so little has been established. Yet almost every fan accepts that April did or could have existed even though he's never been mentioned on screen. And of course the ship would be recognizable as the Enterprise from the new films and CBS would cash in on whatever recognition the new film generates. They'd only need to modify the production design of the sets and props in a very minor way relative to the new film to say "this is slightly before the Kirk era Enterprise".
And here's the other great tie in - there's some other minor roles in the new film for which the actors are already cast for this EXACT time period. That includes two big ones - George Kirk and Sarek. In the novels, George is even a Starfleet officer who serves under April. And in the new film he's played by an actor that's relatively unknown and could possibly be available for a TV role like this. Same goes for Sarek. I can see a young Ambassador Sarek being worked in as a regularly recurring character. They'd both be great casting/marketing tie ins to the films and are great characters for a new Trek series in their own right. And their inclusion wouldn't likely step on Abram's creative space all that much with the film portion of the franchise.
Plus how cool would it be to have a series set on the brand spankin' new NCC 1701. There's all kinds of great possibilities with this series. I can even see one of those cheesy great Trek moments when George Kirk and Sarek meet and butt heads on something until they find one moment of common ground when they discover they both have sons.
Any thoughts?
First off - there's no doubt CBS wants to get Trek back on as a TV product. The Trek franchise is now shared between two companies - Paramount Studios and CBS Television. It's not like the old days when the cash was flowing through one big happy corporation. If CBS wants to cash in on their piece of the franchise, they're going to have to put something together for TV. I'm guessing the only reason they haven't already started development is because their franchise-cousins over at Paramount are kindly spending $150 million in franchise "R&D". So assuming the new film is even modestly successful, CBS is going to want to see a piece of that. And there's not going to be any sense in doing a series in a whole different era that doesn't play off the marketing engine and franchise-building that is generated by the new film.
So I think that's going to put CBS in a position of trying to connect their new series as much as possible to what's being done in the new film. Now with that said, I doubt very much if any of the new actors have any kind of contractual obligation to any Trek related TV projects - just this movie and a few potential sequels. And it's worth noting here that those sequels would most likely take place largely on/around the Enterprise - and during roughly the Kirk 5-year-mission era.
So CBS could set the series concurrent with this new film(s)'s era and make it about a different ship - another Abrams-style Constitution Class ship (like in the teaser) but with a different mission/crew, etc. But I would think CBS would also like to be able to capitalize on the name Enterprise™ - especially since they're not going to be able to use the characters of Kirk, Spock, etc (for practicle and financial reasons) without doing yet another impossible recast.
We know the Enterprise is about 20 years old when Kirk takes it over. So that leaves plenty of pre-Kirk Enterprise adventures. A Chris Pike series would be fantastic fun, but with an older Chris Pike already cast for the new film - they'd probably want to stay away from recasting that character so soon. And they'd need to avoid the issue of including Spock on Pike's crew. I'm sure Abrams has some protection against a "competing" group within the Trek franchise-holders directly working with "his" carefully rearchitected characters on screen.
That leaves good ol' Robert April. There's essentially a blank slate there. April is free of many tight cannon constraints since so little has been established. Yet almost every fan accepts that April did or could have existed even though he's never been mentioned on screen. And of course the ship would be recognizable as the Enterprise from the new films and CBS would cash in on whatever recognition the new film generates. They'd only need to modify the production design of the sets and props in a very minor way relative to the new film to say "this is slightly before the Kirk era Enterprise".
And here's the other great tie in - there's some other minor roles in the new film for which the actors are already cast for this EXACT time period. That includes two big ones - George Kirk and Sarek. In the novels, George is even a Starfleet officer who serves under April. And in the new film he's played by an actor that's relatively unknown and could possibly be available for a TV role like this. Same goes for Sarek. I can see a young Ambassador Sarek being worked in as a regularly recurring character. They'd both be great casting/marketing tie ins to the films and are great characters for a new Trek series in their own right. And their inclusion wouldn't likely step on Abram's creative space all that much with the film portion of the franchise.
Plus how cool would it be to have a series set on the brand spankin' new NCC 1701. There's all kinds of great possibilities with this series. I can even see one of those cheesy great Trek moments when George Kirk and Sarek meet and butt heads on something until they find one moment of common ground when they discover they both have sons.
Any thoughts?
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