New Star Trek TV series announced for January 2017:
http://trekcore.com/blog/2015/11/breaking-news-new-star-trek-series-coming-january-2017/
Few things to note:
Supposedly this is (at least in part) to commemorate Trek’s 50th Anniversary.
Alex Kurtzman (co-writer producer on the recent Star Trek films) will be exec producer for the show.
From what I can tell, the show will not be broadcast, initially anyway, on CBS network TV but rather on their paid subscription streaming service.
It is not explicitly stated that the show will be related to the first two JJ Abrams-era Star Trek films, but you would almost have to assume they will be. It is stated that the series will NOT be related to the upcoming third movie Star Trek Beyond.
Good news and bad news I guess. As much as I wish they would just continue the original timeline (do something post-Voyager/Nemesis), I cannot imagine that they will. Then again, with Kurtzman (and inevitably? Roberto Orci) in the mix, maybe it is best they leave the memory of the original timeline unblemished by their shallow and misguided ideas.
I saw the story a few minutes ago at the official Trek site (http://www.startrek.com/article/new-star-trek-series-premieres-january-2017). Very unexpected news. Exciting in principle, but too little information so far to draw any conclusions. The line “The new television series is not related to the upcoming feature film Star Trek Beyond which is scheduled to be distributed by Paramount Pictures in summer 2016” doesn’t definitively preclude that the series will be set in the rebooted JJ Abrams timeline, so I’m not opening any champagne bottles yet…but at least I like that sentence better than if it has said “The new television series IS related to the upcoming feature film Star Trek Beyond which is scheduled to be distributed by Paramount Pictures in summer 2016.”
@CWO:
but at least I like that sentence better than if it has said “The new television series IS related to the upcoming feature film Star Trek Beyond which is scheduled to be distributed by Paramount Pictures in summer 2016.”
Yes. I agree.
@CWO:
too little information so far to draw any conclusions.Â
If I’d thought of it at the time, I would have expressed it in TNG terms and said that we have “insufficient Data”. :-D
@CWO:
@CWO:
too little information so far to draw any conclusions.�
If I’d thought of it at the time, I would have expressed it in TNG terms and said that we have “insufficient Data”. :-D
We will never have enough of Data. Easily one of the top 5 best characters ever in Star Trek. Maybe top 3.
Kurtzman is as much to blame for the horrors of the most recent Trek feature films as that hack JJ. Unless I’m entirely wrong about where the awfulness originates I won’t be participating.
I also won’t be participating because these executives also seem to misunderstand how many streaming services/cable services I am willing to subscribe too.
Haha, well put on both points frimmel. The new Trek movies were a team effort, which gives some hope for TFA since there are some screenwriters there who have an idea as to what they’re doing.
Also not sure how many people will pay exclusively for this series.
I strongly urge them to let Nicholas Meyer step in for a third time and write and direct the first four episodes, if he’s up for it. He’s revived Trek on two occasions, don’t see why he can’t do it a third time.
I strongly urge them to let Nicholas Meyer step in for a third time and write and direct the first four episodes, if he’s up for it. He’s revived Trek on two occasions, don’t see why he can’t do it a third time.
It depends on how much of the series concept has already been nailed down and is non-negotiable. If Meyer were to be handed this job without being given any room to maneuver, he might not be able to salvage the show if the concept he’s given is a bad concept. Assuming he even agreed to take the job under those kinds of restrictions.
A new hope. ;)
Post Nemesis would be great, as suggested above. But anything is appreciated where Romulus is NOT destroyed in the future.
The Nick Meyer idea is great, but how old is that dude now? Is he even still in the business on a regular basis? I think he would be a great asset, if for nothing but the legacy he brings, however my question is more to whether it is even in the realm of remote possibility.
For that matter, I wouldn’t mind seeing Jonathan Frakes get back into things. I don’t really know how much he produced and wrote, though he directed quite a bit.
As for streaming services… I agree with Frimmel. I don’t subscribe to any streaming services (no internet at home) and don’t take issue with CBS making a new Star Trek show streaming-only. However, placing it on CBS proprietary streaming channel seems like hubris to me. It is annoying.
@alexgreat:
A new hope. ;)
Post Nemesis would be great, as suggested above. But anything is appreciated where Romulus is NOT destroyed in the future.
Or Vulcan in the past. I am just floored by how easy that was for them to do. In the first freaking movie too. Shows a complete lack of respect/awareness of previous Star Trek.
As for streaming services… I agree with Frimmel. I don’t subscribe to any streaming services (no internet at home) and don’t take issue with CBS making a new Star Trek show streaming-only. However, placing it on CBS proprietary streaming channel seems like hubris to me. It is annoying.
It is like they WANT me to pirate it.
As for streaming services… I agree with Frimmel. I don’t subscribe to any streaming services (no internet at home) and don’t take issue with CBS making a new Star Trek show streaming-only. However, placing it on CBS proprietary streaming channel seems like hubris to me. It is annoying.
I imagine that in due course – and perhaps very soon – after the initial broadcast season, each season of the show will be released on DVD, since that seems to be a common practice nowadays.
@CWO:
I imagine that in due course – and perhaps very soon – after the initial broadcast season, each season of the show will be released on DVD, since that seems to be a common practice nowadays.
Yeah, that is how my wife and I watch things nowadays. If it is a show we really want to watch or already do, we will wait until we can rent or buy the physical item. Not always as cheap or convenient as streaming, but overall it may be when you consider how much you are paying per month for internet also. And I don’t mind the waiting. There is very little that I watch network tv for these days other than live sports.
@alexgreat:
A new hope. ;)
Post Nemesis would be great, as suggested above. But anything is appreciated where Romulus is NOT destroyed in the future.
Or Vulcan in the past. I am just floored by how easy that was for them to do. In the first freaking movie too. Shows a complete lack of respect/awareness of previous Star Trek.
agree, no sensitivity. just so…I was totally staggered. they would not have dared with Qo’noS.
Interesting article on the new series:
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/nov/03/star-trek-can-prosper-netflix-and-chill-era
Star Trek Star Trek: can the franchise live long and prosper in the era of ‘Netflix and chill’?
@CWO:
Interesting article on the new series:
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/nov/03/star-trek-can-prosper-netflix-and-chill-era
Star Trek Star Trek: can the franchise live long and prosper in the era of ‘Netflix and chill’?
This is a great article. Explains the situation perfectly.
I agree with the writer’s train of thought: best indication of what Kurtzman is going to produce content-wise is what he has done in the past; be that Fringe, Alias or Sleepy Hollow. I have never seen Alias or Sleepy Hollow, but I watched most of Fringe. I thought Fringe was above average for a network TV show and had an interesting concept. Hard to determine how exactly such a thing would influence his new effort with Star Trek. I suppose it means he is well prepared for any Mirror Universe episodes???
I hope he is wrong about fans not being able to take the 1990s Next Gen era Trek anymore. I think the foundation is excellent, even if the show itself is in many respects dated by now (why wouldn’t it be). It will be interesting to see if this plays out like the Disney-buying-Star Wars scenario. The property hasn’t changed hands, but the recent tone and subject matter has… in short, I would not be surprised if they ignore ALL of the established canon and original Trek up to this point. They have pretty much done just that already in the new films.
No one in the studios or writing teams, it appears, cares much about continuity or established tradition. It is all about money, social media trending and making the next Game of Thrones/Breaking Bad level hit, as the writer implies. I cannot entirely fault them for trying to make the show popular and profitable, but I think a lot is going to be compromised in the process. Which is why I am not expecting much of anything good.
The part of the article which says…
“One of the most frequent comments we’ve seen are from those wondering why CBS didn’t just “put it on Netflix or Amazon!”, services to which many already subscribe. The answer, of course, should be no surprise; CBS wants to make their prized possession the cornerstone of their push into the streaming market on a service they control (and monetize) top-to-bottom.”
…has a familiar ring to it. When Paramount decided to launch its United Paramount Network service back around 1995, it did so by capitalizing on its valuable Star Trek properties – and more specifically by creating a new Star Trek series, Voyager, as UPN’s flagship program. So in a sense we’re dealing with the same kind of infinite-loop-rerun-of-history that we’ve seen a lot on sci-fi shows like…well, um, the various Star Trek series.
@CWO:
The part of the article which says…
“One of the most frequent comments we’ve seen are from those wondering why CBS didn’t just “put it on Netflix or Amazon!”, services to which many already subscribe. The answer, of course, should be no surprise; CBS wants to make their prized possession the cornerstone of their push into the streaming market on a service they control (and monetize) top-to-bottom.”
…has a familiar ring to it. When Paramount decided to launch its United Paramount Network service back around 1995, it did so by capitalizing on its valuable Star Trek properties – and more specifically by creating a new Star Trek series, Voyager, as UPN’s flagship program. So in a sense we’re dealing with the same kind of infinite-loop-rerun-of-history that we’ve seen a lot on sci-fi shows like…well, um, the various Star Trek series.
Hahaha…. very good point Marc.
