Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek series?

[DS9forever]

I've often wondered if it was the fact DS9 was a Star Trek series that it didn't get a film version or if it just didn't have the viewers. I mean, Firefly received a film adaptation, yet it was cancelled for poor ratings.

Where do DS9's ratings stand compared to science fiction shows of its day and shows airing now?

 

[Cyke101]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

I've often wondered if it was the fact DS9 was a Star Trek series that it didn't get a film version or if it just didn't have the viewers. I mean, Firefly received a film adaptation, yet it was cancelled for poor ratings.

Where do DS9's ratings stand compared to science fiction shows of its day and shows airing now?

Firefly is unique in that it had the backing and power of its own creator, and the movie was aimed for a niche audience. It's not unlike Roddenberry and TMP in a sense, just that Paramount wanted to go for a larger audience and put more money into the product.


With that said, I would think that DS9's connection to Trek would have increased its chances of being made into a movie (for all the good that did in the end). DS9 didn't have the original creator or a single person in charge the whole time. Yeah, there was Berman but he delegated or allowed other producers that it was essentially a committee.


And then, on top of that, I *think* I recall some of DS9's heads disapproving the idea of a movie anyway b/c they felt the show ended properly, but I could be wrong about that one.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

If DS9 wasn't a Star Trek series, it would have been like the various other '90s syndicated action shows like Hercules, Xena, and Babylon 5. It would have a fairly successful run and then would have sailed off quietly into the television sunset. It might have come back in a series of direct-to-video movies (at best), and then that would have been it, IMO.

I think DS9 would have had to been more popular than it was to warrant a big screen treatment or made by a studio other than Paramount that believed that it could be remade into a viable movie franchise...

 

[sonak]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

Yeah, Trek or not, the ratings just weren't there for a movie series. Also, DS9 ended in '99 right after INS was released in theaters to pretty disappointing box office results.

You don't follow a weak performance from a movie based on a hugely popular show with a big gamble on a show that was much less popular.

 

[-Brett-]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

It's possible, but it would have been one of those "reboot 20 years later with a different cast, contemporary music and pop culture references" types of movie adaptations. Not the continuation that Star Trek and Firefly got.

 

[nightwind1]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

I've often wondered if it was the fact DS9 was a Star Trek series that it didn't get a film version or if it just didn't have the viewers. I mean, Firefly received a film adaptation, yet it was cancelled for poor ratings.

Where do DS9's ratings stand compared to science fiction shows of its day and shows airing now?

First: Firefly didn't get cancelled due to poor ratings, it got cancelled due to Fox bungling.

Second: Serenity got the greenlight due to outstanding sales of the Firefly DVD set. Sales on that set were through-the-roof good, and showed that there was probably a market for a movie.

Dong ma?

 

[indolover]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

The argument of poor ratings doesn't fly totally, IMO. Any film can be successful if promoted properly. I remember the Blair Witch Project many years ago, which IMO was the classic example of how marketing in itself can make high box office takings (the film stunk, but I'm digressing). The reason why films like Avatar got big is due to marketing and word of mouth.

That said, more often than not, for a big budget film (as any Trek film, nay sci-fi film, would be) the outlay has to be justified. If there is no big name star, or high TV ratings, or prior franchise/works to build on, then the outlay makes no sense. Most of the big films in recent years can build on at least one aspect, such as Transformers for instance.

All of the cast of DS9 were great actors, but neither were (or are now) A-list stars as such. And of course, it's ratings were never high and is not ingrained into pop culture as TNG is.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

I mean, Firefly received a film adaptation...

Firefly and how many others?

Movie adaptations of recent TV series are exceptions to the rule.

 

[timelord1010]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

I've often wondered if it was the fact DS9 was a Star Trek series that it didn't get a film version or if it just didn't have the viewers. I mean, Firefly received a film adaptation, yet it was cancelled for poor ratings.

Where do DS9's ratings stand compared to science fiction shows of its day and shows airing now?

First: Firefly didn't get cancelled due to poor ratings, it got cancelled due to Fox bungling.

Second: Serenity got the greenlight due to outstanding sales of the Firefly DVD set. Sales on that set were through-the-roof good, and showed that there was probably a market for a movie.

Dong ma?

I agree with you, FOX treated Firefly like crap. I was there when it originally aired and FOX kept changing the air date, then baseball bumped Firefly off the schedule or to a different day, then FOX cancelled the show and dumped a few of the episodes on Friday and that was it. During all of this FOX barely advertised the show and I had to go looking for it to watch it.
This is why I am amazed Fringe is still on the air, FOX has a terrible record with giving sci-fi shows a chance.

Also, as it was shown elsewhere on Trek BBS, both DS9 and Enterprise had good ratings in their final seasons but were not supported and advertised properly. I wonder why CBS even bothers if they are not going to support Trek on TV.
If I was spending money to make a show I would make sure everyone knew my show was on the air. I wouldn't care if it was a 10 second commercial, it would be running several times a week. DS9 could have made a series of movies, even if only Direct to DVD.
Some of the novels could have been easily adapted, but with Les Moonvies in charge of CBS it will never happen, since he hated Trek so much he ordered the Enterprise sets destroyed and they wouldn't even let Doug Drexler save them.

Your better off getting one of the fan film people like Mr. Crawley to make DS9 continuation stories than to hope for something official from CBS unless Hell is going to freeze over soon.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

I wonder why CBS even bothers if they are not going to support Trek on TV.

CBS didn't "officially" get Trek until 2006, after ENT had been cancelled by UPN and Nemesis stalled at the box office.

IMO, CBS looks at Star Trek not as a bunch of TV shows and movies, but more like a brand that creates revenue for them by being licensed off to various companies (one of them now being Paramount).

CBS apparently doesn't think the time is right for another Trek series, and since the only way one can be done is by CBS' permission, that's kind of the way things stand for now.

Some of the novels could have been easily adapted, but with Les Moonvies in charge of CBS it will never happen, since he hated Trek so much he ordered the Enterprise sets destroyed and they wouldn't even let Doug Drexler save them.

Moonves doesn't hate Trek, but he's a very "watch the bottom line" kind of guy, IMO. Television Trek wasn't pulling its weight financially. If Trek had been pulling in outstanding numbers, ENT would have continued (even after UPN's demise) and we'd probably in the middle of Series VI right now.

As far as the ENT sets were concerned, maintaining them in storage costs a ton of money, IIRC, and with no future Trek series planned--and with the Abrams movie folks building their own stuff--there was no need to shell out big cash to keep sets that weren't going to be used anymore.

 

[lurok]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

As a big fan of DS9, I'm not even sure it would have worked as movie. Not because of lack of writing or acting talent; quite the opposite. Because it had such a great but large ensemble cast of first and secondary talents, I just don't see how could have worked them all in (let alone the Prophets/Dominion) and still made it a bona fide DS9 movie. Feel part of its soul would have been lost and in some ways glad was never attempted. Happy to have the TV series

 

[JRoss]

Re: Would DS9 have gotten a film version if it wasn't a Star Trek seri

Well, the non-Trek DS9 show is called Battlestar Galactica. It is getting a movie, entitled Blood and Chrome.