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New Star Trek Series Rumours
HashCode writes "The Star Trek franchise is about to take a warp speed trip down memory lane ... Star Trek: Birth of the Federation. It looks like its going to become a reality. " Free Advice to paramount trek producers: Go to farm. Find horse. Kill it. Beat it until fists hurt.
A related story from
Adam Juda confirms that Voyager will land in 2001.
Anyway . . .
I'm not a big StarTrek fan to begin with. I'll watch an episode every few months, but I don't even turn on the tube on a weekly basis, let alone to watch any of the various Star Trek versions.
The only StarTrek I really ever got into was The Next Generation. This seems to be a rather unpopular choice, but something about the characters and the interaction and the in-depth characters (but not too deep) made it compelling enough that I'll even watch an occasional re-run of it if it happens to be on late at night.
A lot of the success of each version of spin-off appears to sit with the cast of characters. It's a hit or miss operation and I don't think there's any way to really pre-define it. Everything since TNG has catered to a corny mix of some type of alien guy, some type of hot-but-not-human-female, some unemotional (or incapable of emotion, but attempting) form of life (such as Spock, Data, Otto), at least one minority (only a complaint because they seem to so painfully cater to the need for a minority character instead of really allowing them a full, rich, robust character of whatever race with a true purpose and utility to the show), a woman in power, a Klingon, a Vulcan and an overly intelligent kid.
I think the Federation idea is an interesting one. I've sort of grown tired of the tedious "ship out in space finding stuff" plot-lines and wouldn't mind seeing something sort of like "The West Wing" done StarTrek style.
By the way, you have to love 'The Doctor's pitches for potential series ideas in the end of the article.
All in all, you know that half of the known world is going to tune into the first episode, no matter what. Half of that will return for the next episode. Half of that will probably hang around for a year or two. And maybe, if the show is extremely well done, half of those people will stick around through the series.
I'll probably be one of the guys who catches a few episodes and then forgets what night the show is even on.
Heh. I like the Linux idea though. "Captain Tux, I have the Cardassian ship on hailing frequencies."
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
If Star Trek is science fiction, I can only say that it is bad science fiction. Entertaining yes, but still bad science fiction.
It has no consitency what so ever. In fact, there are books and websites about the blunders in Star Trek and how it contradicts itself.
Why don't ground troops have personal shields on them to stop them from being killed?
Why aren't transporters used in a million imaginative ways instead of merely moving people from place to place? At the very least I can think of a few episodes in which bad guys should have been beamed into the nearest boulder to get rid of them.
Why are all the star ships a single vessel and that's it? What happened to carrier groups, convoys, and escorts? Sure would make them a lot more powerful force to deal with.
Going into battle I better have about 30 Defiant style vessels around my Galaxy class star ship for offensive bang. At the very least, 30 shuttle craft with phasers. Think of the Argo from Starblazers.
Why do the vessels take so few hits to be destroyed? Hit one, shields to 60%, hit 2 down to 20%, hit three phasers out torpedo bays jammed, my multizillion dollar ship is now useless. Where is my convoy/escort/defiant ship to save me?
Why does every single freakin circuit have triple redundancy? Do you know how expensive that is? Not just in materials, but time, design, labor, maintenance, space, etc.
How can Geordi know everything about engineering? I mean, we have specialists now who are brilliant but only have the time to specialize. They can't know things about other fields. The world is only going to get more technologically complex. Geordi will know even less outside his area, and his area will be even more narror. Like warp coils for only a Galaxy class ship. That's it.
Yes, just a general rant about Star Trek and how implausible it is. I still enjoyed the heck out of it. Reason, because I enjoy seeing the human underdogs finding a way to win.
Best science fiction I've seen in years was Space: Above and Beyond. So much better because it had real military, real politics, real characters with real relationships and problems, and an actual background that made sense. The AI wars, the Invitros, etc. Very interesting stuff.
Babylon 5, from my understanding, was similar. I could never catch enough episodes of it to get it make sense to me.
The Matrix was great. There is a lot of depth there if you care to see it.
You raise a very interesting point. Pre-Federation implies pre-"Pax Galaxia". The Earth-allied and -opposed forces would probably be dealing on parallel military/"UN-type" lines. I'd like to see realistic portrayal of the military -- and the rest of society (a very weak point in all the previous series, where non-Federation life was sketchy at best!)
Since the founding of the Federation would be imminent, Earth and the known civilizations would probably be in a postwar or post cold-war state not dissimilar to the current world situation.
I believe that a strong reality-based comparison to current politics could be compelling (well, by ST standards, anyway). They would have their Balkan situation, their third world issues, their period of rapidly exploding technilogy, new open trade frontiers, etc. Among the good points of TOS was how it addressed the sentiments of the era. (I was a very precocious pre-schooler when the original series aired, and loved it. by the time I was 11-12, I thought it was boing geek-fodder. I liked SF, and this wasn't it! It was nicely mainstream "speculative" fiction in its original timeframe, and only the 'big issue' episodes retained their real appeal beyond the 60's)
Change #1: Centralize the Red Shirt
The unfamiliar face on the Bridge used to die by the opening credits. I hope the new series has the brains to make the Red Shirt the central character of many episodes, so they can explore the new world (and by reflection, our own) from many vantage points. Episodes might open with an unfamiliar face who was a political refugee, a restauranteur struggling against 'the new Mafia' after the demise of an authoritarian regime, a new-tech entrepreneur, etc.
I'd even go so far as to make the ensemble peripheral, so the show resembled Twilight Zone (to cite an example contemporary to TOS) more than the closed universe of TOS.
No, they'll never do it. It's too big a break from the original franchise. But I sure think that this could be a genuinely interesting show. I'd be surprised and pleased if they even went as far as JAG, Law and Order, or ER. (all of which I very much enjoy, but are admittedly rather insular)
I guess there is a tremendous appeal to the strong ensemble cast, and it might be a real risk to fight it, but I think even the myopic ST writers have been feeling the contraints of the "strong ensemble" since TOS. That's why they were so many 'breakaway' episodes (sometimes called showcase episodes) following one or two characters away from the 'main base' for the entire show.
If any ST:BoF writers are reading: don't showcase existing characters when you need a change of pace. The fact that you need to change is a sign that perhaps you've gone too far in the wrong direction. 'Showcases' have been among the weakest episodes.
Imagine you had to introduce a new 'major character' think of what you could say and do -- you'd never need a change of pace. The Federation is a very Big Place. Now subtract the 'excuse' -- the new character doesn't have to become a permanent character (semi-recurring might be a nice touch for continuity)
You promised us a universe. Show it to us. Follow a black marketeer, a young person oppressed by a regime (Taliban, Red Chinese, politics of your choice) that they don't hate (or didn't until now) and which is part of a culture they love, a corrupt official who is human not evil, a subsistence farmer looking for help with an irrigation project (or trying to get last century's flood-plain destroying eco-disaster of a mega-dam removed, so the land can return to its original cycles of renewal)
Show us real soldiers, real civilians. Steal from the best episodes in all of television history. there *were* some good points) but do it in a framework that is loose enough that it doesn't require gimmicks to justify the plot. No holodecks -- just thye multiplicity of life in a big universe where the pre-Federation is just the government, not the raison d'etre
Show us characters that are sincere enough to make us think, even if we decide they are wrong.
__________
If you can go to bed, knowing you did a valuable thing today, you're very lucky. If you can't... it's not bedtime
...is a Star Trek series about the Maquis. IMHO, they are a much cooler aspect because you have that whole "fighting uphill battle against impossible odds" things working for you. (A la Star Wars, rebels versus Empire).
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Plus, it would be a snap to enter major characters from previous Treks by having them either confront or join the Maquis. In fact, IIRC, the second Riker (Tom Riker or whatever his name way...the transporter clone) was already a member of the Maquis and stole a ship for them in the Deep Space 9 series. Riker would definitely be a big enough name to launch a series and it would be completely plausible (if you can overlook the whole cloning thing to begin with...heheheh).
Plus, having poorly equipt, poorly funded rebels fighting some big, big enemy would mean lots of ppl die in battle, so unpopular characters could die and popular characters could get promoted to the "behind the scenes" work back in the safety of the home bases.
The only question is who they would fight? Dominion would have been my first pick, maybe Maquis has evidence they lied at the end of DS9 and are fighting to prove they are planning a massive strike? Or the Federation is anxious to make friends with the Romulans, but the Maquis can't forgive past attrocities? It would be really cool if the Borg could come back and utterly wipe out the Federation, then all that would be left is the Maquis...but after the crap that Voyager has been handing us (Children of the Borg my f'ing ass) I don't know if I could stomach anything besides the kick-ass 99% unstoppable TNG-era Borg.
Just my wishes...who am I kidding? I'll end up watching it just the same. I just hope that they haven't yet invented holodeck techonology because if I see one more F'ing "Fairhaven" or "Dixon Hill" episode I'll hunt down Rick Berman and "deck" him myself.
- JoeShmoe
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-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
...it's rare enough that I've seen any Trek episode that I didn't find some way entertaining or at even had to resist the urge the urge to flip onto something else. The plots have varied over time between bland and phenomenal, but Trek at its best can be no less riveting than the X-Files, First Wave, Millenium or whatever. For the most part, the plots teeter on the bland edge but it's never bad TV and you don't feel your IQ going down the toilet as you watch it.
;-] ).
Granted, each of the latter series have their characters you just want to strangle (Wesley Crusher, Jake Sisko, Neelix...) but, by and large, there's a lot worse shit out there that I could be watching (This is beginning to sound very half-hearted
Having said all that, a fifth Trek might be pushing it. DS9's last episode was aired on this side of the Atlantic last Monday by Sky, and it left a huge hole open for the almost inevitable DS9 movie. Movies I could just about take; the series, no. Sorry lads...
The conclusion of your syllogism, I said lightly, is fallacious, being based on licensed premises
I wish they'd just admit that the Star Trek series is pretty much obsolete, and release the source code for their Starships' OS.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Star Trek has been in a steady decline ever since the end of TNG. Deep Space Nine, while entertaining, just didn't live up to the Star Trek legend. The thing I always loved most about Star Trek was that it was real science fiction. It wasn't the ray gun popsci that Star Wars, nor the '2 hour long music video' that The Matrix was. Instead, Star Trek chose to concentrate much more on the philosophical and human implications of a highly advanced future. Episodes like 'The City on the Edge of Forever' will never leave me. After all these years 'The Wrath of Kahn' still sends chills down my spine...
And here is the problem which Paramount is only exacerbating in a desperate attempt to save the franchise. DS9 was dying: solution throw in a huge war story arc and Ezri Dax. Voyager's always had problems, mostly because of poor beginning charachter development. Solution: Seven of Nine. Did Either of these solve the basic problem? My resounding answer is NO! They only upped ratings a bit, they did not attempt to fix the inherrent flaws.
If this new series is to succeed Paramount is going to have get back to the basics. They need to plan it well from the beginning to avoid the poor charachters which have plagued Voyager. And, most importantly, bring in some good writers. They need to search the sci-fi genre and pay good money to good writers. If they could bring together a group of some of the best writers of today (David Brin, Orson Scott Card, Neal Stephenson to name a few) to just start the series and get some good original ideas it would be much more likely to succeed. It might be too late, but Star Trek seems to be the only way to get good Sci-Fi into mainstream television these days.
Checkout taccom my worl war II simulator
Does this mean a return of the kewl origianl 60's style clothing? Or are we talking about earlier styles? Seem weird if we go from flash looking suits of "pre" federation outfits to the kookie outfits of the original Star Trek... Well anyways... my first post ever and my $2
Star Trek: Linux
My personal favorite, one that paramount apparently did not follow up on is as follows:
[ This was apparently pitched to paramount, who turned it down (I guess it had too much potential)]
The basic premise is a show based in the Star Trek Universe, set in the time period AFTER the fall of the Federation. And Everything has gone to HELL. (let your imagination run wild)
Enter one Star Ship, which has some how been a stasis for up to 500 to 1000 years - so that the Star Trek federation is a faint memory at best.
the goal is to rebuild what was lost, and which everyone now believes to be a fairy tale.
They do have superior technology, but they are all ALONE. If they blow it, that is it.
We as the audience, know what was lost, along with the Star ship crew. but no one else does.
This has potential. Too bad paramount threw it away.
Let me guess...
Captains Log, Stardate May 2001: Following seven years of dim-witted new age sentimentality, our crew is exhausted. The power crystals have run out, the incense is getting stale, and the spirit guides seem to be out of whack [memo to Chakotay, run a level 3 diagnostic on the spirit guides]. Torres can't keep the bullshit compensators running for more than five minutes at a time, and Paris' smarmy "I love the 20th century" schtick is wearing thin with even the dullest executives at Paramount.
There also seems to be a curious shortage of wormholes, Borg pods, energy readings, warp fields, or anything else interesting enough to merit further episodes. After seven years in the Delta quadrant, we can confirm our worst fears: Space is really fucking boring.
Neelix finally died from his own food poisoning, and we ejected him out the photon torpedo tubes into a primitive planet. The inhabitants are now suing us for flagrant violation of the Prime Directive, reckless endangerment, illegal dumping, and unlicensed disposal of toxic waste. Tuvok is heading up our defense, though we may have to plea bargain it down. There's no denying that Neelix, dead or alive, was toxic waste.
Seven of Nine has received several offers from other ships in the area. Apparently our "Borgorific" crewman was all that saved our ship from premature self-destruction, although I'd like to think that the mature, articulate and charming captain had something to do with it...
[Memo to self: put that buxom bitch in the brig. New standing order: no one with bigger tits than me is allowed on this ship!]
One of our crew, I believe his name is Harry Kim, though I admit I can barely remember him. Some officers are so... forgettable. Anyway, this guy Harry said that we might be able to extend the mission by dropping a "monkey wrench" [memo to self: Throw that bastard Paris and his damn 20th century idioms in the brig with the Borg] into the main deflector. He thinks that the disaster and suspense would be good for a few more episodes, at least. Frankly, I don't see how any monkey could save us now, unless we get a few more of them typing out our scripts. Sooner or later, they're bound to come up with a "Hamlet"- or at least a "Welcome Back Kotter"-quality episode. If only we had sixty-three more years before getting back to the Alpha-quadrant. Goddamn that Quantum Slipstream Drive. Goddamn it to hell....
The Delta Flyer is in the repair shop, and "Joe," an eight-legged slug beast (and mechanic) said, "Whoever put these stupid dials and switches in your 24th century space hot rod was an idiot. This'll take at least two weeks to set right." Briefly, we on the Voyager hoped this would grant a repreive from the producers' axe, but alas, the Delta Flyer, like so many other Voyager props, proved to be entirely disposable.
[memo to Tuvok: don't pay that alien anything. Goddamn invertebrate labor. Memo to self: next time find a humanoid repairman. There's plenty of them here in the Delta quadrant, 70 years at maximum warp from Earth. Plenty of humanoids...]
We've committed ourselves to running at maximum warp for as long as possible. The end of Voyager may be inevitable, but those producers aren't nearly as intelligent as those sentient smart bombs we outwitted. Hell, they put us on the air, didn't they? It seems that no matter how hard we try, we can't just push a little button and make the ending a happy one. Our situation is desperate, we must think of a way... any way... to survive...
On a lighter note, the EMH is up and running, and is giving the crew liberal doses of methamphetamines, to cheer them up after wasting seven years of their careers talking about verterons, antineutrinos, and species 8472.
[memo to Chakotay: that lizard spirit thingy is talking to me again, what's up with that? memo the the EMH: Screw the methamphetamines. Scoth, on the rocks. Make it a double....]
End of log.
- The galaxy is so full of space-time anomalies that you cannot really describe them as anomalous.
- The galaxy is full of beings that are somehow exempt from the laws of physics.
- The galaxy is full of beings that have evolved to eat starships. (One wonders what their ancestors ate.)
- The galaxy is full of beings that have evolved to seduce starship captains.
- The galaxy is full of intelligent species that are just like humans, except for strange growths on their heads and one dimensional personalities.
- The galaxy is full of bad fashion designers.
- The galaxy is remarkably devoid of life forms not mentioned above, such as plants and (especially) non-intelligent animals.
But Star Fleet is ready to take it on:--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Right now, Star Trek is at pretty much its lowest point since the 70s, when there was no series at all. The last movie was a disappointment, both critically and commercially, Voyager ratings are a pale shadow of what they were in early seasons (they're stable compared to last year, but that's only because they really can't go down very much more). Hell, today came the news that Kate Mulgrew's fan club has shut down. Granted this seems to be for personal reasons on the part of the founders, but the symbolism is profound. The fan club of the actress who plays the captain on a Star Trek show- noted for the dedication of its fans- is no longer. Pathetic.
Birth of the Federation sounds to me like an unbelievably stupid idea. Anybody who knows about Star Trek already has a pretty good idea of what happened back then. And frankly, we don't really care. Brannon Braga has never been noted for his dedication to consistency within the Star Trek universe, so now he's going to bring in a time-travel guy so he can fuck things up. We all know what this is going to mean- more weird-ass vortexes, more mindless fights, more anomalies-of-the-week, and probably more women in catsuits. The Baywatch-ization of Star Trek will be complete. But hell, even if they want more of an action focus, the Special Forces concept would be cooler than this.
I think it's time for Paramount to realize what alot of other people already have: the time has long since come for Braga and Berman to move on. The franchise needs a break. Finish Voyager, then just let it sit for a bit. Then call in some fresh blood, or some veteran blood that knows what it's doing. Ronald D. Moore's recent articles on Fandom show that he is a man who understands the franchise's problems and he has a pretty good idea how to fix them. He is one of the key people responsible for one of Star Trek's few recent successes, the final season of Deep Space Nine, which was brilliantly done. Moore would be the perfect candidate to resurrect Star Trek.
Obviously I haven't seen Birth of the Federation so I can't make any final judgments. But I'm definitely not optimistic. Having a Star Trek series cancelled in its first season would be a huge embarrasment and the biggest insult yet to a franchise that's already been largely stripped of its dignity. But having it die might be the only way to save it in the long run.
Interesting reading different people's comments. I especially love the ones that start: "They broke what made Star Trek great. What I really loved was..." The basic flaw in that line of reasoning is: a) most of you have no idea what it was about Star Trek that made it work for you, or you'd be writing your own series and b) what made it work for you is almost certainly the one thing that someone else hated.
e heads crowd happy.
Personally, I think it just doesn't matter. The basic problem that Star Trek has isn't acting or writing or special effects or evil execs. It's us.
The fans are really quite blood-thirsty at times, and that has to be difficult to deal with. Not in terms of ego, or hurt feelings, but in terms of audience. When the most vocal part of your audience decries everything you do, you can't assess what you should do.
This is why the series that succede in the fans eyes are always the new upstarts. They have no expectations, so the fans judge them, pretty much, at face value (as examples: Babylon 5, Farscape, X-Files). What Star Trek needs is to back off and wait a few years, but the franchise can't afford that, so they'll plow forward with what the focus groups tell them is hated least, and we'll get the blandest possible thing with a lot of things blowing up, and just enough skin to keep the football-aint-on-yet, channel-surfing, what-the-hell-is-this-shit-with-the-fucked-up-for
They could try being truely daring, and do something that will piss off half of the fans and galvenize the rest into advocates who will pull in the next generation of fans, but that won't fly with the shareholders.
In the end, Trek is dead because fans and studios can't work together. It's both of us that did it, but we'll keep pointing fingers until the last show spits up blood. Of course, then we'll just say: look what you did....
Jenette: Yes, that was the press release from six months ago when it was first annonced that Star Trek: Voyager was comming to an end. Who could have predicted the fan reaction, and outpouring of support. As yet, Paramount has not changed its mind on ending the series, but here at Multi-Mega Theater in Burbank California, a public simulcast of the finale has just finished airing, and folks are just starting to get out. Let's go chat with a few.
[pause while she manuevers over to a teenager with reddish hair poking out from under his Klingon skull-cap]
Jenette: Well young man, what did you think of the conclusion of Star Trek: Voyager?
[The boy looks a bit dazed as he slowly realizes that he's been asked a question]
Kid#1: Uh... woah. I really didn't expect the 328 product placements for modern products in a futuristic series.
Jenette: You counted?
Kid#1: [Starting to get his bearrings] Oh yeah, I got it all here on my padd [waves Palm VII] Some of the highlights were: Bill Gates making a personal appeal to the public to block the breakup of Microsoft (they snuck that in with Data's cameo when he's doing research on historical precidents for the Drakh Plague, er Borg Virus); 22 different sodas and 32 beers lined up in a long, slow pan during the holodeck sequence; 15
Jenette: Thanks, son. And you, miss? What did you think?
[A late teens, college girl walks up, wiping away a tear]
Girl#1: I... I can't believe it. I always knew that the captain and Chakotay had a thing going on, but I didn't think you could hide being pregnant that well. And, wow, for the little guy to be accepted into Star Fleet as soon as they returned, that was just... like... wow.
Jenette: [Looking a bit perplexed] Ok... thanks. Um, you sir! What did... Oh! Mr Nimoy, I didn't even know you were here. What did you think of the final episode of the third Star Trek series?
Nimoy: Actually, it's either the fourth or the fifth, depending on whether or not you count the animated series, but either way, I just want to say that any remaining chance that I would be willing to reprise my, now famous role as Mr. Spock, was just jettisoned with Voyager's trash.
Jenette: You mean you didn't like it?
Nimoy: No, my contract as director of Star Trek IV: Whales in Space restricts me from saying that, but I can say that Vulcans, as I understand them, have never had a propensity for walking around noting how everything has this or that historical connection to a 21st century web-site. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Gene had never envisioned a Vulcan easing the tension of Pan-Far by visiting www.hot-nekkid-chicks.com
Jenette: Well, there you have it. Mixed reviews, but clearly a Star Trek episode that will be talked about for years to come. Back to you, Harve.
Indeed. As much as I liked seeing the resident Borgess bounce around in her skin tight uniform, I'd have to say that It's About Time for the crew of the U.S.S. Politically Correct to get permanent shore leave. I'm not opposed to a series about the beginnings of the federation. I'm just curious if the guy in the off-color uniform will die and the ship's captain will wear a girdle. Just for christs sake don't make the captain a gay black female shaman.
OOG NEVER LIKE STAR TREK, BUT IF OOG DID LIKE IT AT ONE POINT HE COULDNT TELL ANYMORE!!! STUPID COMPANIES KEEP TRY MILK STAR TREK FOR ALL IT WORTH, WITHOUT FOCUSING ON QUALITY OR WHAT MADE IT POPULAR AND GREAT!!! NEXT GENERATION WAS TOLERABLE, BUT CRAP LIKE DEEP SPACE NINE AND VOYAGER WASTE OF TIME!!! ALL THOSE SHOWS RUIN ANY NAME STAR TREK HAD AND JUST SIMPLY TO MAKE QUICK BUCK WITHOUT ANYTHING ORIGINAL!!! ORIGINAL SERIES WAS BEST, JUST WATCH OLD EPISODES INSTEAD OF WASTING TIME WITH THIS!!! STAR TREK SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO DIE WITH DIGNITY, NOT LIVE ON IN BASTARDIZED FORM!!! OOG BREAK HEAD!!!
OOG THE OPEN SOURCE CAVEMAN!!! OOG BREAK HEAD WITH OPEN SOURCE CD!!!