Would you watch a Sulu/Excelsior series?
- Thread starter Clym
- Start date
Well, just as long as an Akiraprise makes an appearance, we're good, eh? 
Cranium flatus: If Demora Sulu's the captain, perhaps her 'been around the pike' science officer could be a Commander Peter Kirk, the nephew we know of...
Any other descendants out there? A young mostly-Vulcan lieutenant who is the child of STIII-katra-less Spock and Saavik, mayhaps?
Depending on the year, a brash kid named Kyle Riker?
Yecch. Star Trek: Family Reunion. This week's exciting episode: "The Search for Hikaru's False Teeth (He's Allergic to Dentalox 5)"
Cranium flatus: If Demora Sulu's the captain, perhaps her 'been around the pike' science officer could be a Commander Peter Kirk, the nephew we know of...
Any other descendants out there? A young mostly-Vulcan lieutenant who is the child of STIII-katra-less Spock and Saavik, mayhaps?
Depending on the year, a brash kid named Kyle Riker?
Yecch. Star Trek: Family Reunion. This week's exciting episode: "The Search for Hikaru's False Teeth (He's Allergic to Dentalox 5)"
trevanian
Rear Admiral
Somebody wrote in one of the BEST OF TREK articles that the actress on the GRISSOM in SFS did wonders with just 'aye sir' and a take when it is suggested Spock has been reincarnated. (and I agree)
The actress who played Sulu's daughter was really on her game for GEN (okay, I'm prejudiced, that e-b prologue is all I really like about GEN), and remains among the most memorable parts of the film for me. I was in favor of an e-b series before GEN even ended.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
Man do I disagree! I think that period (especially the last few years of century 23) is the ripest era for new episodes. I've put this notion forward before, but to recap:
an E-B (or I guess EXC) series could deal with what I personally find to be the most interesting stretch of trek, a time when everything changes.
We transition from the frontier/adventure aspect of TOS to the (largely) safer era of TNG. You go from a time when you could still run out of supplies to one where magic box tech seems omnipresent.
It is akin to the end of America's wild west era when cars were introduced. You've got culture and future shock (hinted at in TUC), you've on the verge of a new level or realism in virtual entertainment that is going to impact people (the holodeck stuff.)
And, to quote the ad from THE WILD BUNCH, you have (in the form of TOS era characters) , some 'unchanging men in a changing time.' There are probably enough retro rightwing types (sort of like the antagonist in Shat's ASHES OF EDEN) to do good old fashioned political paranoia stories as well as trek sf stuff.
You've really got something akin to the stuff hinted at in the GR TMP novelization, where the nature of people seems to be changing (TNG folks seem a lot more 'new human' to me), so the conflict between these mindsets is great drama. You'd probably have a lot of issues over the nature and purpose of Starfleet, too.
You don't NEED borg or superbeings to do Trek. If you're doing trek right, you'll get new memorable characters (alien or otherwise) as a part of expanding this universe. Don't think of it as 'fill in the blanks' between eras, but think of it as a great dramatic open stretch to tell all sorts of trek stories, like that ENTERPRISE show SHOULD have been.
It's all about the writing. It could be fantastic, or it could be an ill conceived flop.
I'd be for it, though.
Not as a TOS or TNG galaxy exploration type series, but something more serial, surrounding some great conflict of the time, and including at some high point, the death of Sulu himself. It could be awesome. But it's all in the story first. Writing Sulu in a way that plays to Takei's acting style. This seasoned old Captain, fierce yet warm.
I agree to stay carefully away from ancestors and relatives, except perhaps for Sulu's daughter. Let the rest of the bridge be completely new.
I'd be for it, though.
Not as a TOS or TNG galaxy exploration type series, but something more serial, surrounding some great conflict of the time, and including at some high point, the death of Sulu himself. It could be awesome. But it's all in the story first. Writing Sulu in a way that plays to Takei's acting style. This seasoned old Captain, fierce yet warm.
I agree to stay carefully away from ancestors and relatives, except perhaps for Sulu's daughter. Let the rest of the bridge be completely new.
Pocket Books did a number of novels called The Lost Era which were set between TOS and TNG and there's lots of material to use in that time period. Creative enough writers could do wonders with that era.
If they made it an animated series or series of movies, say using Jimmy Diggs' script with the Kzin, The Lions of the Night as the pilot, yes. A live-action might have been doable a decade ago, but not now.
Why? Is it a possibility?
Of course I would watch! I'm still upset that 'Enterprise' didn't get the chance to run it's course like 'DS9' and 'Voyager.' I'll watch anything Trek!
I would probably check it out, but I would go in not expecting much. Takei just doesn't strike me as being able to lead a series.
For my money, I'd like any new television series to be set 100-ish years after Voyager, and feature a new ship and crew. No gimmicks like Voyager, no large over-reaching arcs like DS9... just a show akin to TOS or TNG where every week is a new adventure, while there are subtle nods to continuity.
For my money, I'd like any new television series to be set 100-ish years after Voyager, and feature a new ship and crew. No gimmicks like Voyager, no large over-reaching arcs like DS9... just a show akin to TOS or TNG where every week is a new adventure, while there are subtle nods to continuity.
What would a Trek series set in the future (post VOY & NEM) necessarily have to offer that a series set in the "past" (TOS-era, or something bridging ENT and TOS) wouldn't?
Is George still lobbying for this?
Because going back to the 'ol nostalgic "big three" formula is about as antiquated as, oh, miniskirts, no women with commands and horizons that extend about ten feet behind people ending with an orange sky. Yeah, hardcore Trek fans might dig that, but for the rest of us, not so much.
Great shows know how to make ensembles work. The Sopranos, The Wire, Carnivale, and Rome are prime exmaples. When you say that Modern Trek tried too hard with the ensemble format, perhaps it wasn't because the ensemble format wasn't a right fit for Trek. Maybe it was because it was in the execution, in which you blame the writers and directors. Either that, or some Trek fans were taken out of their comfort zone due to the different approach of storytelling. In any case, going back to The Big Three format is definitely not "loooking forward" as many Trek stars and fans have suggested the franchise do.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
Drama is about the important events in a person's life, it gets diluted when you filter it through a whole committee of characters. I agree that some shows do the ensemble thing wonderfully, but even so, no matter how much I love DEADWOOD and CARNIVALE and various shows on FX network, I don't like any of the characters as much as I like Kirk Spock & McCoy. In part that may be due to the fact I've read novels that embellished on what the actors did with the writing on the series, but in the main it is because these were written as leads (or in McCoy's case, developed into one, as Coon & co saw how well it worked) and there was tremendous chemistry.
YOu can write for a big three (or 4 if you want to talk SEINFELD) and if they don't have the chemistry, it is going to be for naught, but if you cast it well, then you have the best of both, since you have a narrow focus on a few characters in depth rather than a sometimes superficial treatment of several.
There are shows where this is probably not relevant (there were almost no recurring characters in THE PRISONER), but for most episodics, focusing on a few rather than several seems to be playing to strengths.
I agree with the poster who wrote that something along the lines of The Lost Era novels could work. For me, something in the 23rd C. is fine whether it be Sulu and the Excelsior, or his daughter and the E-B, or a totally new crew/new ship in the same time frame. I don't want to offend anyone here me being a Cadet and all, but I was 'burnt out' on the TNG era halfway thru DS9. TOS and the first 6 movies seemed like everyone in Starfleet was flying by the seat of their pants, not talking things to death like NG did a lot IMO. I liked Trek when the CO made decisions without having to call a board meeting to discuss everything to death.
Again, this was just one Cadet's opinion.
Again, this was just one Cadet's opinion.
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