I wouldn't object to an animated series. I would think it would be less expensive to produce than live action, and the story possibilities are limitless.
The End of Star Trek on TV
- Thread starter EnriqueH
- Start date
An animated series would be marvelous, the possibilities for non-humanoid aliens and really exotic scenery would be endless!
Animated works with sophisticated storytelling are more common and much more feasible than they were during the 90s and animation aimed at teens/adults is becoming more accepted (and I don't mean the dirty kind, but as I said more serious storytelling and strogner characterizations)
With an animated series they really could do anything they wish. Even bring a diverse crew like the Titan finally to the screen.
Animated works with sophisticated storytelling are more common and much more feasible than they were during the 90s and animation aimed at teens/adults is becoming more accepted (and I don't mean the dirty kind, but as I said more serious storytelling and strogner characterizations)
With an animated series they really could do anything they wish. Even bring a diverse crew like the Titan finally to the screen.
That's more of a budgetary than technological thing, IMO.
^^Indeed. Enterprise's fourth season in particular had its budget dramatically slashed which resulted in really bad CG like the Nazi-occupied White House in the premiere and the terrible CG Gorn in the MU episodes.
The problem with having an animated Star Trek series is that Americans think animation is supposed to be for kids only, so it'd limit the maturity of the writing.
I'd rather see a new Star Trek series on a premium network, where they'd require mature themes and focus on writing rather than broad appeal.
I'd rather see a new Star Trek series on a premium network, where they'd require mature themes and focus on writing rather than broad appeal.
You'd be surprised how mature an animated series, even one with children for the target audience can be.
Granted, most of the examples that come to mind are from the 90s, but it can be done.
I would too, but would they really do it? I have feeling they want to, but they can't. Trek has too much of a reputation as a family show.
And maybe too many conservative elements, that wants the show to and stay away from the risque and non politically correct stuff.
Cable shows are being much smarter with content now. Characters sound like real people. Even when they sound or act way out there, it's interesting.
Trek's sci fi style had a fixed way of presenting characters and stories. How they spoke, acted etc. That was popular, but as everyone knows, it wore out its welcome by the early 2000's.
Even with animated show Star Wars broke newer ground. There was graphic violence on the show, character deaths and innuendos slipped here and there.
When SW was sold to Disney, by then it sort of waned, got canceled, and the new series seems like your standard animation fare.
Avatar: The Legend of Aaang had very good storytelling. The X-Men cartoons also tended to be good with that (with the first one probably the worst in both writing and hideous early 90s animation). Young Justice, Adventure Time in the sense that it's mind-boggling what they get away with AND having surprising deep moments and storylines every once in a while. Alien Force, Generator Rex and Avengers:EMH. Older examples include Gargoyles and the 90s Batman series (though I'm personally not a fan of the Batman series, or Batman for that matter). There's a lot of well written animation out there
There have been some successful examples of farming franchises out to Japanese producers and releasing straight to disc. Marvel did it, and there was also a Supernatural series. I think there was also a Batman, but I haven't seen it. Anime can be very mature, and I love the art style - but the story is the key thing to get right, regardless of how "mature" it is.
Anime can be very mature, but the anime that is very mature is only available in the US through mediocre fansubs in shady bittorrent sites. 
Monster didn't even get an official release beyond 15 episodes and the 8 episodes I saw are some of the best anime I've ever sen.
Here's the thing about the state of American television and political correctness. Either the show is family friendly, or it goes all the way to the other extreme and has random nudity and extreme violence. There's very little television in the middle ground that addresses mature subjects in a mature way, but without nudity and violence for nudity and violence's sake. I guess House did.
I would like to see a Star Trek show which has the exact amount of nudity that is demanded by the plot, but without throwing any nudity in just to titillate the audience.
Monster didn't even get an official release beyond 15 episodes and the 8 episodes I saw are some of the best anime I've ever sen.Here's the thing about the state of American television and political correctness. Either the show is family friendly, or it goes all the way to the other extreme and has random nudity and extreme violence. There's very little television in the middle ground that addresses mature subjects in a mature way, but without nudity and violence for nudity and violence's sake. I guess House did.
I would like to see a Star Trek show which has the exact amount of nudity that is demanded by the plot, but without throwing any nudity in just to titillate the audience.
The charts say it all. In retrospect, TNG is the only post-TOS show that grew more popular over time, and then finished off with a bang in All Good Things. All the other shows including DS9 that some people love to hold up as "mature Trek" just could not hold onto their initial audience. One could make the case that they should have just focused on TNG and not made any spinoffs at all. Hindsight is 20/20.
Hey, the mainstream audiences an have their predictable crap, us 3 million faithful will take our DS9.
I think DS9 actually has grown more popular since it ended. A lot of people who didn't give it a chance originally because it wasn't like TNG discovered it later.
I think DS9 actually has grown more popular since it ended. A lot of people who didn't give it a chance originally because it wasn't like TNG discovered it later.
Hey, the mainstream audiences an have their predictable crap, us 3 million faithful will take our DS9.
If you're a fan of one of the other shows, the upside is that despite the flagging ratings, all the spinoff shows save Enterprise got to pretty much run their course. I doubt shows with similar rating slides would have been given so many many season renewals these days.
Anime can be very mature, but the anime that is very mature is only available in the US through mediocre fansubs in shady bittorrent sites.
Monster didn't get a proper release for a bunch of reasons, including Japanese companies refusing to accept that we won't pay "premium" for anime. But we have seen releases of When They Cry (only the 1st series in US), Berserk, Gunslinger Girl, Wolf's Rain, Last Exile, Planetes, Paranoia Agent, Ghost Hound, Texhnolyze, Welcome to the NHK, Basilisk, Gantz, and Boogiepop Phantom. Of course, most of these were released during the big boom of the 2000s. Now US anime distributors won't release anything without a guaranteed paying market (so it's either a tit-fest or a toy commercial).
I wonder how big the anime/Trek fanbase crossover is?
Robotech did that in the '80s and Exo-Squad did that in the '90s, although "graphic violence" can vary depending on how one views it, but both featured the onscreen deaths of established characters in wartime situations. One even featured the demise of a great deal of the Human race in one fell swoop.Nightdiamond said:
It's also available directly from their official licensees in the US. Both Funimation and Sentai Filmworks have respective cable and video On Demand services, although not every cable or satellite provider carries them.
... Amen, Brother! Testify!
I'd like to see a future Trek on tv where the Federation is smashed, splintered, and will be for the foreseeable future. Actually I'd like to see that for all the AQ powers. Wasn't there a Borg book storyline where the Borg go all-out Dalek essentially on the AQ? (Exterminate! Exterminate!)...let's see that future, but make it even worse.
While the picture-perfect utopia TNG tried to sell the Federation as might have had its flaws as a concept, I'll gladly take it over this idea. A series about the Federation and other Alpha Quadrant powers having fallen is the last idea which should be considered for a Trek series. Star Trek does not work as a dreary dystopia.
There's the problem. Trek, in a nutshell, is about humans making it in a futuristic setting. That's what we're used to.
In some ways, human behavior has gotten progressively worse, or more honest as far as story telling goes.
Attempted genocide, cover ups, plots. By the the time we get to Voyager, you have the Maqui, former Fed citizens who come off almost mentally ill.
A broken down Federation--it actually sounds really interesting, but it would also seem like it's going a bit too far.
Put a weird taste in the viewer's mouth.
I would watch it, but if the story sucked, and it was another failure, it would literally go down as the show that destroyed the franchise.
A big risk.
In some ways, human behavior has gotten progressively worse, or more honest as far as story telling goes.
Attempted genocide, cover ups, plots. By the the time we get to Voyager, you have the Maqui, former Fed citizens who come off almost mentally ill.
A broken down Federation--it actually sounds really interesting, but it would also seem like it's going a bit too far.
Put a weird taste in the viewer's mouth.
I would watch it, but if the story sucked, and it was another failure, it would literally go down as the show that destroyed the franchise.
A big risk.
Similar threads
