ReadyAndWilling
Fleet Captain
i'm surprised this idea didn't get a bigger reception here.
Why not turn Star Trek into pay per view?
- Thread starter ReadyAndWilling
- Start date
One doesn't follow from the other.
I don't have any hope of seeing Trek with "Firefly-like" characterization - I hope that there will be new space opera type sf shows in the future, though, that continue to build on the style and content of series like Firefly, nuBSG and Farscape. I expect that Star Trek, however, will continue from now on to be an exercise in nostalgic, somewhat mannered adventure fantasy.
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Well, it's not a new idea. It's popped up around the internet for years in regards to a ton of series that have faded away or been cancelled. It just doesn't interest enough people.
If PPV is a viable business model for scripted TV, which I kinda doubt, I'd expect it to be tested out on a much more mass market genre than space opera (which is so un-mass-market that it hardly even exists on TV anymore).
We'd see a cop show, family sitcom or a soapy doctor drama created as PPV before we'd see this happen with the lower-profile genres like sf/f or historical drama. And before space opera, we'd see a higher-profile sf/f sub-genre, such as an sf/f-cop show hybrid or a supernatural teen show. If and when any of these types work on PPV, then maybe Star Trek will follow suit someday.
As for the idea that cable somehow requires sex & violence, that's silly. Just look at Big Love on HBO. Far less violence than your average cop show, and far less sex than they could get away with. Since it's all about Mormons, there's virtually no swearing (and it's hilarious to hear a character say "gosh darn it all to heck" when confronting a situation in which any normal person would swear a blue streak.) Starfleeters don't swear any more than Mormons do, so I wouldn't expect some odd cultural change to occur just because the show's on cable. The characters don't know they're on cable.
We'd see a cop show, family sitcom or a soapy doctor drama created as PPV before we'd see this happen with the lower-profile genres like sf/f or historical drama. And before space opera, we'd see a higher-profile sf/f sub-genre, such as an sf/f-cop show hybrid or a supernatural teen show. If and when any of these types work on PPV, then maybe Star Trek will follow suit someday.
As for the idea that cable somehow requires sex & violence, that's silly. Just look at Big Love on HBO. Far less violence than your average cop show, and far less sex than they could get away with. Since it's all about Mormons, there's virtually no swearing (and it's hilarious to hear a character say "gosh darn it all to heck" when confronting a situation in which any normal person would swear a blue streak.) Starfleeters don't swear any more than Mormons do, so I wouldn't expect some odd cultural change to occur just because the show's on cable. The characters don't know they're on cable.
I don't think this would ever be viable.
In its last season, Enterprise averaged about 3 million viewers. That's when they were giving the show away for free. Maybe you could argue that there are 5 million people who would watch a Trek show on TV for free, but how many of them would be willing to pay for the privilege?
Even if you got 1/5 of this potential Trek audience to buy the show, how would it work? Would the production company just take out a $100 million loan (or however much a season costs) and hope they made the money back?
Assuming that a season costs $100 million (I figured that $5mm/episode for 20 episodes was a nice round number), I really doubt you could find a million people to pay $100 to watch the show.
In its last season, Enterprise averaged about 3 million viewers. That's when they were giving the show away for free. Maybe you could argue that there are 5 million people who would watch a Trek show on TV for free, but how many of them would be willing to pay for the privilege?
Even if you got 1/5 of this potential Trek audience to buy the show, how would it work? Would the production company just take out a $100 million loan (or however much a season costs) and hope they made the money back?
Assuming that a season costs $100 million (I figured that $5mm/episode for 20 episodes was a nice round number), I really doubt you could find a million people to pay $100 to watch the show.
People didn't watch Star Trek in the 2000s for free... why bother with actually trying to get people to pay.
Why pay $50 to watch it on pay-per-view when I can wait a few months after release and pick up a blu-ray chock full o' goodies for $25?
If you were really determined to make this idea work, you'd have to come up with some sort of Star Trek that a) people could never get from regular TV and b) would appeal enormously to some subset of fans, so that they'd be willing to fork over actual cash money for it.
Right now I'm thinking...Kirk and Spock porn?
Any other ideas?
But even then, how do you avoid the problem of piracy? Star Trek fans are much more likely to pirate shows than boxing fans, due to greater technical prowess and the fact that a boxing match "expires" in value very shortly after airing, when everyone knows how it ends (gambling being a big factor - you don't want to wait to find out if you won or lost money).
So maybe we make Star Trek more like sports, or a video game, which is what you get when you try to make a story more like sports. If you could give viewers the you-are-there experience of a Starfleet vs. the Klingons big-ass battle, would people pay to experience that, as opposed to playing it as a video game?
Right now I'm thinking...Kirk and Spock porn?
Any other ideas?But even then, how do you avoid the problem of piracy? Star Trek fans are much more likely to pirate shows than boxing fans, due to greater technical prowess and the fact that a boxing match "expires" in value very shortly after airing, when everyone knows how it ends (gambling being a big factor - you don't want to wait to find out if you won or lost money).
So maybe we make Star Trek more like sports, or a video game, which is what you get when you try to make a story more like sports. If you could give viewers the you-are-there experience of a Starfleet vs. the Klingons big-ass battle, would people pay to experience that, as opposed to playing it as a video game?
ReadyAndWilling
Fleet Captain
that might be true, but Trek got into the position it's in now because of short term thinking like this. we need to be thinking about the long term.
PPV seems like the difficult way to go, wht not go Direct to DVD and then in 6 months or a year drop a edited version on Showtime, a CBS sister station or SyFy for extra money? Since most Trek fans buy DVD's of Trek episodes and movies, it's more likely fans would buy DVD's instead of paying for PPV. As someone else said then they own the DVD's and can watch them as many times as they like.
It's my fault that I'm looking for the best bang for my buck? This isn't the late 70's/early 80's where the home video market was non-existent and PPV and subscription movie channels were the only way to see big screen events at home. Paramount has to be able to make Star Trek for a profit using current economic models (or creating new ones). Or simply not make it at all...
ReadyAndWilling
Fleet Captain
It's my fault that I'm looking for the best bang for my buck? This isn't the late 70's/early 80's where the home video market was non-existent and PPV and subscription movie channels were the only way to see big screen events at home. Paramount has to be able to make Star Trek for a profit using current economic models (or creating new ones). Or simply not make it at all...
ok, use the words 'subscription' instead of PPV.
ReadyAndWilling
Fleet Captain
wouldn't the HC fans want to be the first to see it?
Bollocks. Star Trek should be about people in spaceships meeting monsters and shooting aliens whilst providing a moral subtext that just about everyone can get.
Implication is fine but Star Trek should at its core be a show for nerdy kids with a similar crossover appeal of Doctor Who.
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