New Star Trek TV Series 2017

[Jennifer]

I had heard that before, Marc.  Roddenbury was very anti-inter personnel conflict with bridge characters.  IMHO, a little strife on the bridge saved Enterprise from being a total waste.  I actually kind of liked Enterprise.  Not all of it, but there were quite a few good episodes.  There was also the conflict between Paris and Janeway, Torres and everyone and that might be a bit of why I enjoyed Voyager.

[lexgreat]

any of you Star Trek fans ever came across startrekcontinues.com?

fan-made episodes 100% in sync with TOS, continuing where the show ended. James Doohans son playing Scotty, even. Its not action, but again is centered about human issues.

I just discovered it today and watched three episodes, its really really noce, with lots of ties to earlier episodes, or continuations of them.

Am I nostalgic? Damn, yes, but thats one kind of Star Trek I want to see. I also watched the prologue to Star Trek Axanar (think thats how it was spelled), a series or movie depixting the Klingon / Fed war a couple years before Kirk took over. Prologue was nicely done, featured Hertzler (Martok) and Todd (think that was Kurn) in fed roles, funny to hear. They are under legal fire now from CBS, not sure how it will end, but seems to have a lot of star power behind it. Looked good, more action-oriented, but made with the same love as StarTrek continues.

Sorry if that is old news and has been discussed already.

[LHoffman]

I am not into the fan-fiction stuff. Some of it may be well done, but in the end it feels more like an imitation rather than the real thing itself. I have heard of Anaxar Axanar though and what I have heard is positive. I wish something like that would be produced by CBS and put back on television, but I doubt that is what the new series will be like.

[lexgreat]

It is an imitation, oc you are right there. But it lacks a goofy look or such things. Its amazing how they captured TOS, music, way of acting, Sulus voice etc. The added things, Marina Sirtis is the computer voice now, they have a holodeck and a counselor. One simply doesnt notice its fan made, other than the (sometimes just slightly) different faces.

Lets hope for Axanar and any new and original CBS stuff. I cant stand another “Starkiller is in weaponsrange in 30 seconds…boom” moment.

[LHoffman]

Oh, I am not opposed to trying it out and watching it. I may even like it if it is well done. Typically the fan produced shows are more accurate and respectful than studio ones because it is being made by the nerds for the nerds. In that way, it is better than a studio show will be.

However, it still feels kinda like an exercise in futility because, even though Star Trek itself is not real, fan fiction is even less real. Not in the quality necessarily, but more in an absolute manner. It will never be referenced in books, movies or other shows because it never officially happened. I think I may find it hard to enjoy what Trek was and will be if I invested myself so much in what was an unsanctioned offshoot. It would be like living in an alternate universe; you just pretend the real universe doesn’t exist.

I grant you, JJ Abrams (and the studio execs) screwed everything up royally. They have basically forced real Trek fans to plug their ears and sing la-la-la-la-la so as not to accept the bungled mess that the franchise is in. If the studio can blow it all into alternate realities then I guess fans have every right to also.

[LHoffman]

@alexgreat:

It is an imitation, oc you are right there. But it lacks a goofy look or such things. Its amazing how they captured TOS, music, way of acting, Sulus voice etc. The added things, Marina Sirtis is the computer voice now, they have a holodeck and a counselor. One simply doesnt notice its fan made, other than the (sometimes just slightly) different faces.

Lets hope for Axanar and any new and original CBS stuff. I cant stand another “Starkiller is in weaponsrange in 30 seconds…boom” moment.

You must , PLEASE read this article… It is absolutely brilliant. It conveys to perfection exactly how I would feel about Star Trek fan-fiction and also pretty much how I regard JJ Abrams’ version of Star Trek. Happy because it is back, but sad because the real one is dead.

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/requiem-for-star-wars/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body&_r=1

[CWO Marc]

@LHoffman:

You must , PLEASE read this article… It is absolutely brilliant. It conveys to perfection exactly how I would feel about Star Trek fan-fiction and also pretty much how I regard JJ Abrams’ version of Star Trek. Happy because it is back, but sad because the real one is dead.

Excellent article – thanks for the link.

To draw and A&A analogy, one could say that fan fiction is the equivalent of house rules: unofficial, but sometimes (arguably) better than some elements of the official product line.

[lexgreat]

will read it, and eloquently put about screwing up royally :)

[lexgreat]

hm. Its a very good analysis, well written, but personally I dont agree entirely.

The most important thing right now seems to be the, whats the correct English translation, most common denominator? Screw people who want things to fit, who want at least a bone thrown how the whole new thing ties in and developed (I am talking about JJ Star Wars), lets just overload people with soundbits and iconic things they love, add the unavoidable action factor of a 201+ movie and, to play it totally safe, repeat what has been before. Cant fail with a squadron attack on a Death Star thing.

For JJ Star Trek, same thing. Yes, I found it appealing to a degree when the movie evolved and let, this time, Spock cry Khan while Kirk dies of radiation. But in the end its so cheap I could cry, and the (intended) side effect is blowing away the old canon. Vulcan? WTF, blow it away. The rest, just put it through a mirror or adapt slightly.

So some people are young and just discover those two franchises, others are consumers of an entertaining movie and dont bother about the “lore”, others live with it for decades, immerse themselves (yes, get enarmored with some things like, in my case, Mara Jade or the Romulans and are biased towards the movies already when those things are gone) and ask for a bit more. I dont feel the latter group is really served. Partly, I understand, because nowadays everything costs so much, they have to be successful. Without massive special effects nobody is coming, thats the fear they have, I guess. Not sure if thats true, but too a part it surely is.

In the end, as the author said, we get recreation, no development at all. Star Wars could have gone anywhere, not necessarily the great Thrawn Trilogy, but no, they went mostly nowhere. Star Trek, jumpstarting the franchise, they went simply back. Thats not bold, and certainly not where no man had gone before.

I agree with you entirely, watching something that is not “official” has not the right feel, and it wont matter in official compendia etc. But with the indiscriminate slashing of what has grown organically, what is official and whatnot can change so quickly (and for the worse, in my personal opinion), that any fan-created piece has the same legitimacy (correct word?) as the studio staff. All the ore enjoyable when its so well done. Even if the voice in the back of the head says “its not real”.

[LHoffman]

@alexgreat:

I agree with you entirely, watching something that is not “official” has not the right feel, and it wont matter in official compendia etc. But with the indiscriminate slashing of what has grown organically, what is official and whatnot can change so quickly (and for the worse, in my personal opinion), that any fan-created piece has the same legitimacy (correct word?) as the studio staff. All the ore enjoyable when its so well done. Even if the voice in the back of the head says “its not real”.

Ha! Very well said my friend. For apparently not speaking English as a first language you are quite eloquent in your wording.

And I agree with you. When I referenced the studio (being the source of all that is “Official”) willing to blow up everything in Trek and create alternate realities simply to re-invigorate their product… You appropriately rhetorically questioned if “any fan created piece has the same legitimacy?”

At that point, I think that fan-fiction could easily have the same level of legitimacy as the trademarked material. On an emotional level it certainly feels that way.

[lexgreat]

Thx :)

Always embarrassed when I confuse staff and stuff, though. I dont know why, this particular mistake hounds me for years now.

[CWO Marc]

http://www.startrek.com/article/bryan-fuller-named-co-creator-of-new-star-trek-tv-series

Bryan Fuller Named Co-Creator of New Star Trek TV Series

February 09, 2016

Bryan Fuller, who launched his career writing for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, will return to the television franchise as co-creator and executive producer of the new CBS Star Trek series.

Star Trek will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout. Kurtzman and Fuller will be joined by Heather Kadin as executive producers.

[LHoffman]

I saw the Brian Bryan Fuller add the other day. Didn’t know who he was until I read his resume. The more people they bring in from TNG, DS9 and VOY the better, IMO. I assume there is some particular style that they are framing the series as (like the reboot is framed as TOS slicked up for the 2000s), so I don’t know how much creative influence the old guard folks can really bring. But having them around cannot hurt. They at least know what Star Trek is.

[lexgreat]

absolutely agree.

[LHoffman]

http://trekcore.com/blog/2016/02/wrath-of-khans-nicholas-meyer-joins-cbss-2017-star-trek-tv-series-writing-staff/

Very, very good news in the Star Trek TV show world… Nick Meyer (Wrath of Khan, Voyage Home and Undiscovered Country) is on board for writing the new tv show.

That provides a lot of hope I think, since he has made some of the best Star Trek films ever. The mitigating issue is that his writing will have to bend to the creative will of Kurtzman.

Also, I don’t know if this indicates the era of the show. Far as I know, Nick Meyer was only ever involved in the original cast/TOS era films… therefore will the new show be placed in that era? A continuation of the new movies rather than a TNG/DS9 era show. To be honest I think that is most likely the situation.

[CWO Marc]

@LHoffman:

Also, I don’t know if this indicates the era of the show. Far as I know, Nick Meyer was only ever involved in the original cast/TOS era films… therefore will the new show be placed in that era? A continuation of the new movies rather than a TNG/DS9 era show. To be honest I think that is most likely the situation.

Perhaps it will be the case and perhaps it won’t…but either way, I’d argue that Nicolas Meyer’s involvement doesn’t in itself point towards either hypothesis.  As you say, he made some of the best films of the Trek canon – so it’s clear that he’s talented, that he’s knowledgeable about the subject and that he has a good feel for (and respect for) the Trek universe.  (Contrast this with Jonathan Frakes, who directed the Thunderbirds movie that came out a few years ago.  I loved the original TV puppet series – which was actually quite serious in its tone – but I disliked many things about his movie, which came across as a kind of “Spy Kids” semi-comedy film.  So I wasn’t surprised to hear that Frakes allegedly said that he’s never actually seen any of the original Thunderbirds episodes.)  Someone with Meyer’s qualifications should, in principle, be able to do good work in any Star Trek era.  To assume otherwise would amount to saying, “He’s great, but he’s a one-trick pony who can only work in the Kirk era,” which would actually be something of a put-down.

[General Veers]

Even if Kurtzman is in charge I’d like to imagine Meyer will be a vital and necessary voice in the room to question ideas and propose alternate one. It’s always dangerous to have a closed group of buddies/cronies produce a film or series.

[LHoffman]

@CWO:

Perhaps it will be the case and perhaps it won’t…but either way, I’d argue that Nicolas Meyer’s involvement doesn’t in itself point towards either hypothesis.

Someone with Meyer’s qualifications should, in principle, be able to do good work in any Star Trek era.  To assume otherwise would amount to saying, “He’s great, but he’s a one-trick pony who can only work in the Kirk era,” which would actually be something of a put-down.

That would be a put down, but I did not mean to imply that… only that that is the era in which he worked and found success and therefore may have been contracted for that reason; to bring legitimacy to a rebooted-level TOS. I think that is much more plausible.

Ultimately, no his hiring doesn’t explicitly mean anything. As posted a few months back, they also hired a DS9-VOY writer to do work… so that would perhaps imply the opposite of Nicholas Meyer. I don’t think both can be true. Ultimately, I think they are looking for a legacy of Star Trek people to add legitimacy and quality to a TV show which, God-willing, will have the time and breathing room to be a little more deliberate, contemplative and given time to grow naturally than the recent films.

[Flashman]

http://www.framerated.co.uk/bryan-fuller-star-trek-predictions/

I want something consciously different from the PC lecturing of TNG.

Running into alien, truly alien (not Russians with plastic nose ridges) civilizations would need decision making which could never be tidied up with neat solutions and platitudes.

Its a big, bad universe out there full of things that will want to kill/eat/enslave us and won’t join the United Nations however much money we spend persuading them that racism is “wrong”.

[LHoffman]

@Flashman:

http://www.framerated.co.uk/bryan-fuller-star-trek-predictions/

I want something consciously different from the PC lecturing of TNG.

Running into alien, truly alien (not Russians with plastic nose ridges) civilizations would need decision making which could never be tidied up with neat solutions and platitudes.

Its a big, bad universe out there full of things that will want to kill/eat/enslave us and won’t join the United Nations however much money we spend persuading them that racism is “wrong”.

This is a great article Flashman, thanks for posting.

Resolving conflicts in a realistic manner (particularly among very different groups of people/species) has never been something Star Trek has done particularly well. The Dominion War is one of the few major exceptions, but in general violence is eschewed for the ‘evolved solution’. Humans may one day get to that point, but the odds are that most other species in the universe would be less than accommodating. Gene Roddenberry can be lauded for his positive aspirations for the future, but more often than not it is not realistic and makes for less interesting TV. Not to mention the overtones of preachiness.

I have been wondering for some time how the next show or iteration of Trek, that is not simply a reboot of the old stuff, follows or bucks the formula set forth by TOS, built upon by TNG and then continued in reverse by Enterprise. Personally, I would love to see something grittier and more down to earth than a weekly morality play. I think that will certainly differentiate any new Trek from its predecessors. You can keep a lot of the hallmark elements of the show, making or breaking will happen in the writing and casting more than anywhere else. Speaking of casting, I am open to changes from the formula there too. It will be hard to do a token emotionless character like Spock or Data and have it come off as innovative this time around. Star Trek has the reputation of being on the cutting edge of pushing social boundaries, but it has never been panderingly obnoxious about it. Star Trek didn’t cast an Asian actor, a black actress and a Russian actor and trumpet to the world why they did it or write scripts about their marginalization. Their very presence as an unquestioned and normal part of the crew was all that was required to demonstrate human evolution; that is one thing they weren’t too preachy on. I guess I am just hoping that something similar happens in the new show. If they go out on a limb with characters or the cast… don’t politicize it. Just tell some great stories.

Back to the article… it is simultaneously exciting and heartening to hear the author make these predictions based on the best evidence we have to go on. At the same time, the facts he presents that this could be reboot-universe continuation is also disturbing. Seems like it could go either way. I will say that if Bryan Fuller wants to be his own man and play with the boundaries of what Trek is, I think the better way to do that is continue the Prime timeline and leave the JJ-crap behind without mention. Although, he may not have that much control over which timeline he gets to play in…

As for the show being on the Enterprise somehow… it would be interesting, but I don’t think it necessary. And given the multitude of possibilities in NOT being on the Enterprise, I would think that is the route they will take. It has already been said that the movie will have nothing to do with Star Trek Beyond, so hopefully that is a sign that the Enterprise and JJ-timeline are not involved together. That would be a disastrous letdown if they were.