Strange New Worlds' showrunners advise fans to write to Skydance and Paramount if they're interested in a "Year One" Kirk sequel series

[DigificWriter]

If Goldsman were to straight-up say that he wants to do a wholesale Prime Timeline Reboot of TOS, the Trek fandom would come for his head.

But if he can convince the fandom to support this Kirk: Year One thing, it's not that far of a step to backdooring it into a full-on multi-season series that covers the same Canonical time period of TOS but that overrides the events of TOS.

 

[Nerys Myk]

If Goldsman were to straight-up say that he wants to do a wholesale Prime Timeline Reboot of TOS, the Trek fandom would come for his head.

But if he can convince the fandom to support this Kirk: Year One thing, it's not that far of a step to backdooring it into a full-on multi-season series that covers the same Canonical time period of TOS but that overrides the events of TOS.

Some big ifs there. More than likely the new episodes will exist within the established framework of TOS.

 

[DigificWriter]

Some big ifs there. More than likely the new episodes will exist within the established framework of TOS.

You've got more faith in Goldsman than I do.

And I say that as someone who doesn't really have a 'dog in this fight' and who actually likes Goldsman's works generally.

 

[Nerys Myk]

You've got more faith in Goldsman than I do.

And I say that as someone who doesn't really have a 'dog in this fight' and who actually likes Goldsman's works generally.

I've been fine with his tweaks. Even his "remix" of BOT was respectful to the original.

You seem very much as someone with a dog.

 

[DigificWriter]

I've been fine with his tweaks. Even his "remix" of BOT was respectful to the original.

You seem very much as someone with a dog.

I guess it could seem like I'm against Goldsman and the idea of a Prime Timeline Reboot of TOS given the contents of my posts, but I really don't care one way or another, and wanted to say that explicitly.

 

[Christopher]

That's what I meant by "rebooted." There will be tweaks, but not wholesale deletion.

That's a confusing word choice, then, since laypeople generally use that word to mean a completely reinvented continuity. Maybe "revisionist" is better?

I think it's probably best to look at Star Trek less as a fictional future history and more as a mythology or a legendarium. The myths and legends of old are rife with contradictions and alternate takes on the same tale, why should modern myths be any different? Truth be told, Star Trek as a whole is far more consistent than those ancient myths are.

Roddenberry's own view, apparently, was that ST was a dramatic recreation of Kirk's logs, like how Dragnet, the show where he got his start as a screenwriter, was a dramatic recreation of real police cases (allegedly). In his foreword to the ST:TMP novelization, he pretended to be a 23rd-century producer who'd made an "inaccurately larger-than-life" series based on the Enterprise's missions, and that this time it would be more accurate since Admiral Kirk had approval. He advised fans to accept that Klingons had always had ridges and TOS just hadn't depicted them correctly.

 

[Mudd]

I've been fine with his tweaks. Even his "remix" of BOT was respectful to the original.

You seem very much as someone with a dog.

The pooch who's losing?

 

[Turtletrekker]

That's a confusing word choice, then, since laypeople generally use that word to mean a completely reinvented continuity. Maybe "revisionist" is better?

Roddenberry's own view, apparently, was that ST was a dramatic recreation of Kirk's logs, like how Dragnet, the show where he got his start as a screenwriter, was a dramatic recreation of real police cases (allegedly). In his foreword to the ST:TMP novelization, he pretended to be a 23rd-century producer who'd made an "inaccurately larger-than-life" series based on the Enterprise's missions, and that this time it would be more accurate since Admiral Kirk had approval. He advised fans to accept that Klingons had always had ridges and TOS just hadn't depicted them correctly.

That tracks with his attitude about the original series during the early TNG days according to an interview with Paula Block. Indeed, he admitted to her that his thinking had become "revisionist", but "so be it". It also helps reconcile little things like Kirk's line in Arena that implied that he didn't know what a Gorn was. Perhaps the party or parties behind the "dramatic recreation" included that line for Kirk just in case the in-universe (and real world) audience of the piece were the ones who didn't know what a Gorn was.

 

[Tuskin38]

Voyager did state Kirk's 5 year mission ended in 2270. So 2265 is the first year.

Nothing in the lore says Kirk's first year in command was also the first year of his 5YM.

 

[Christopher]

Indeed, he admitted to her that his thinking Happy come "revisionist", but "so be it".

Voice recognition error for "his thinking had become"?

But yeah, I gather that Roddenberry considered TNG a soft reboot of sorts, keeping only those parts of the continuity that he liked. If he'd stayed in charge longer, it might have evolved into a more unambiguous reboot and we'd be thinking of it today as a separate continuity from TOS/TAS.

 

[Paul755]

If Goldsman were to straight-up say that he wants to do a wholesale Prime Timeline Reboot of TOS, the Trek fandom would come for his head.

But if he can convince the fandom to support this Kirk: Year One thing, it's not that far of a step to backdooring it into a full-on multi-season series that covers the same Canonical time period of TOS but that overrides the events of TOS.

I think you would find that a lot of the fandom would be ok with a complete reboot of TOS.

 

[Mudd]

Yep.

 

[Christopher]

I think you would find that a lot of the fandom would be ok with a complete reboot of TOS.

I've long thought it would be liberating to do a complete continuity reboot and start the universe over from scratch, using modern science fiction concepts, inclusive casting, and so forth instead of trying to rationalize or tiptoe around all the dated 1960s elements the universe is built around and the historical background that's increasingly overwritten by the passage of time.

 

[DigificWriter]

I think you would find that a lot of the fandom would be ok with a complete reboot of TOS.

That's not been my experience with the Trek fandom... or any other fandom, for that matter.

I've long thought it would be liberating to do a complete continuity reboot and start the universe over from scratch, using modern science fiction concepts, inclusive casting, and so forth instead of trying to rationalize or tiptoe around all the dated 1960s elements the universe is built around and the historical background that's increasingly overwritten by the passage of time.

I once tried to map out my own Reboot universe for Star Trek, but abandoned it when I couldn't think of satisfactory new and content-specific titles for TOS and TNG.

 

[Starflight]

This'll probably be a comically unpopular view, but if they have to reboot TOS I'd prefer for them to change the crew. Keep Kirk and Spock as they're fundamental, but replace everyone else. Change McCoy to an alcoholic Chinese grandma or something. Go all-out and replace Scotty with a fish who can't leave Engineering because it operates from a special water tank.

Just something to freshen it and make it feel distinct - here's Kirk and Spock and the Enterprise, but here's also some all-new individuals for them to bounce off and bring out aspects of their characters that we didn't typically see in TOS, and who can drive stories in different and unexpected ways.

 

[The Wormhole]

This'll probably be a comically unpopular view, but if they have to reboot TOS I'd prefer for them to change the crew. Keep Kirk and Spock as they're fundamental, but replace everyone else. Change McCoy to an alcoholic Chinese grandma or something. Go all-out and replace Scotty with a fish who can't leave Engineering because it operates from a special water tank.

Just something to freshen it and make it feel distinct - here's Kirk and Spock and the Enterprise, but here's also some all-new individuals for them to bounce off and bring out aspects of their characters that we didn't typically see in TOS, and who can drive stories in different and unexpected ways.

Why not just use Alcoholic Chinese Grandma and Fishman Engineer in a new Trek or even an altogether original property? If you're going to do TOS, do TOS. Kirk, Spock, Bones and Scotty. Now, yes, they could be really ambitious with the reboot and gender swap or race swap some of them or even all of them, but there should still be those specific characters otherwise, why is it even TOS?

 

[Mudd]

This'll probably be a comically unpopular view, but if they have to reboot TOS I'd prefer for them to change the crew. Keep Kirk and Spock as they're fundamental, but replace everyone else. Change McCoy to an alcoholic Chinese grandma or something. Go all-out and replace Scotty with a fish who can't leave Engineering because it operates from a special water tank.

Just something to freshen it and make it feel distinct - here's Kirk and Spock and the Enterprise, but here's also some all-new individuals for them to bounce off and bring out aspects of their characters that we didn't typically see in TOS, and who can drive stories in different and unexpected ways.

 

[Starflight]

Why not just use Alcoholic Chinese Grandma and Fishman Engineer in a new Trek or even an altogether original property?

That's what I'd prefer by far, but it doesn't seem to be what the current showrunners are interested in.

 

[DigificWriter]

Any Prime Timeline Reboot of TOS would most likely use the characters people are familiar with as originally conceived or as people remember them, just with new actors, so the only characters they'd end up needing to add at this point would be Bones, Sulu, and Chekov.

If Goldsman were involved in a TOS Reboot, he'd probably also try to find a way to keep some of SNW's cast of new characters around in some capacity, and he might also find a way to introduce and keep Gary Mitchell.

 

[Christopher]

This'll probably be a comically unpopular view, but if they have to reboot TOS I'd prefer for them to change the crew. Keep Kirk and Spock as they're fundamental, but replace everyone else. Change McCoy to an alcoholic Chinese grandma or something. Go all-out and replace Scotty with a fish who can't leave Engineering because it operates from a special water tank.

As I mentioned, my preference would be to reinvent the overall universe with more up-to-date science fiction ideas, and keep the characters, but remix them in fresh ways, like reboots often do -- see Battlestar Galactica, for instance, or Elementary, or the Arrowverse. Variations on a theme with iconic characters and stories are a basic part of creativity.

If it were up to me, say, I'd push the time frame much further into the future, and have the humanoid species be genetically engineered human offshoots. My version of the Borg might be a cyborg subculture that's not demonized as an enemy but is just different. That sort of thing -- remix the core ideas and build new versions of the characters against that fresh setting. Maybe mix and match characters from different series and time frames. Characters and their interactions can be reinvented to the point that they feel fresh and new. It's the contrast of the familiar and novel elements that makes it interesting. (For instance, I find it interesting how the two CBS series based on modernizing Sherlock Holmes -- Elementary and Watson -- differ in how they reinterpret Dr. Watson. The former Watson was a Chinese-American woman who'd retired from being a surgeon years before she met Holmes and was inspired by him to become a detective, while the latter is an African-American geneticist who was Holmes's partner for a time but returned to medicine after Holmes apparently died at Reichenbach Falls, using his detective training to solve medical mysteries.)

That's what I'd prefer by far, but it doesn't seem to be what the current showrunners are interested in.

Depends on the show. Showrunners like Goldsman and Matalas are interested in revisiting the past, but there have been shows that focused more on creating new characters and moving forward, like later Discovery, Prodigy, and hopefully Starfleet Academy. (Although even they are a lot more dependent on past continuity than the TNG-era shows usually were.)