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Star Trek's Next Series
Moogle writes "Trektoday has got photographs of the Series V cast up. They also explain about Paramount's announcement that the new series will be called "Enterprise" and have Scott Bakula in the lead role. for the full shebang" Every episode the captain and his crew will beam (surrounded by a blue light) to a new time and space where they will encounter strange new intelligence and fight them. Oh wait, that would be cool. They'll probably have touchy feely pseudo-philosophy crap and hardly any explosions.
Alas, I was wrong. I shouldn't be surprised, knowing the team that brought us seven years of Voyager time-travel/holodeck/alternate-reality/it-was-all- a-dream mindfuck idiocy.
I wish they'd give Trek a rest for about 10 years.
Meanwhile, it's high time for a Dr. Who revival...
Anyone who could play in the Quantum Leap series and pull it off with a credible character is a very good actor. I personally will be there and give the new Trek every possible chance. We didn't like TNG when it came out however for most of us the series eventually grew on us. So basically don't totally slam on this series till you have seen the first several episodes
:P
--
When I'm good I'm very good, when I'm bad I'm better, But when I'm evil you better run
"GET / HTTP/1.0" 200 51230 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; Setec Astronomy)"
Wasn't he in that bad 70's movie about a Soul Brother who gets bitten by a vampire?
Oooohhhh...I thought you said BLACKULA!
I'm a lifelong Star Trek fan, so I'll be watching, but if it ends up being crap like Voyager was I won't be watching long.
Okay, I just have to do it: "Cap'n, our servers canna take much more o' this" Damn Slashdot effect.
I am about tired of Malda smacking Startrek
samrolken
Scott Bakula's character will "possess" the body of a different Star Trek captain each week, trying to right some of the wrongs that have happened over the years.
First episode, he possesses Kirk's body and prevents him from obtaining an inappropriate hair weave.
Next episode has him entering Jean-Luc Picard's body and basically has a non-stop banging session with Beverly Crusher and Tasha Yar (pre-mortem of course).
There is a "very special" episode planned for when he becomes Janeway, but I'm not sure of the details. Possibly something to do with menstruation, but it could be anything.
Praying for the end of your wide-awake nightmare.
So far about every episode of voyager and DS9 has made me want to punch myself in the testicles until I pass out. Short of Scott Bakula in the lead role (which will be interesting, if nothing else) this new Star Trek series will undoubtadley carry the time honored torch of crappieness. Urge to punch...rising...
Its got to be bad when RD is better than a 'serious' science fiction show (I use both those terms very loosely). And yes, I think the general public considers ST and its progeny to be the height ot science fiction. That's why the genre is doomed....
Eric Aitala
www.f1m.com
GTRacer
- Good things come in 3's
Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
Anyone familiar with the WWWF grudge matches and the like? I think a better new Trek series would be a season of Trek versus (insert other show here) live action contests!
Think about it! 26 episodes per year of the Enterprise being squished on the Battlestar Galactica's hull like a bug against a car windshield! Lyta Alexander exploding Deanna Troi's head in with a thought! John MacLean hiding out in Jeffries tubes, waging a guerilla war against the crew!
Maybe even some anime crossovers, for the truly geeky. Xellos and Q collaborating together! The Enterprise encounters the SDF-1! Wesley Crusher gets a 5-second guest appearance in Fist of the North Star! And, of course, the ever-popular Starfleet Shuttle versus Taurus Mobile Doll contest!
And best of all, HORDES AND HORDES OF REDSHIRTS DYING AT THE HANDS OF THE EWOKS!
This could work.
SuperID
Free Database Hosting
Blasting Klingons
Blasting Romulans
Vulcan stuff (neck pinch, mind meld, ...)
"I kenna mek the engines go enna faster, Capn!"
"He's dead, Jim."
"It's life, Jim, but not as we know it."
Uhura/7 of 9 in those (gulp) tight uniforms!
Watching Kirk get hit by anybody!
CowboyNeal explaining the plot of each episode you've already seen 147 times.
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All your
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
For those of you who don't bother reading the linked article: the series premise stated by CmdrTaco in the Slashdot summary was a joke . Here's TrekToday on the subject:
to have one shot careers, to get bad hair pieces and expose our large guts by wearing tight spandex uniforms, to spend our retirement selling airplane tickets and selling autographs to the socially-starved pantheon of the great unwashed, and to promote a niave political punch of social commentary worthy of the Love Boat and yet firmly laced with the accademic socialist tripe that appeals to the unemployed, and finaly to boldy go were we've been for the past 30 years.
Someone you trust is one of us.
Okay... Give me a second to put all thoughts of 'Quantum Leap' and 'Unecessary Roughness' out of my head. Now I'm putting all thoughts of 'Voyager' out of my head. Okay...
Okay...
Bakula is a good TV actor, one that I'm afraid will never really manage the leap to the silver screen because he keeps taking CRAP roles. This could be a very good move for him. That said, from what I've heard, this has the potential to be tons better than Voyager.
What would be really cool would be if Paramount got their heads out of their asses and realized that they were writing science fiction rather than political commentary.
Yeah, there is room for the former in the latter, but I'd *really* like to see a non-PC Trek universe when the Prime Directive was more of a guideline, female starship personell all wore skirts that showed their asses, and starship captains weren't afraid to throw down and open up the occasional can of phaser-powered whupass.
I want to see racism. I want to see sexism. I want to see the captain of the show bag all the cute alien hotties. I want facepaint rather than creative nose ridges.
And... like a previous poster put it, I want explosions. Lots of explosions. This is supposed to be the Star Trek equivalent of the old west, so lets get some kick-ass space dogfights going on.
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I think one of the things that makes RD so good is that, since they're a comedy series, they don't take themselves so damn seriously. They can concentrate on telling good stories instead of trying to make "a very special episode" week after week after week...
positively dreadful.
I liked the original series, campy as it was (and when I was a preteen). Next Generation was good most of the time, even if the crew had a moral corn cob up their collective whatsis. Deep Space 9 bored me; Voyager is/was good sometimes, but is often too much of a soap opera for my taste.
Give me Farscape (although it's been rather dark recently), or the first four seasons of Babylon 5. Anything but forthright Federation/Earth folk seeking out new particles and human-like civilizations, going where countless episodes have gone before...
--
Scott Robert Ladd
Master of Complexity
Destroyer of Order and Chaos
All about me
Yeah, there is room for the former in the latter, but I'd *really* like to see a non-PC Trek universe when the Prime Directive was more of a guideline, female starship personell all wore skirts that showed their asses, and starship captains weren't afraid to throw down and open up the occasional can of phaser-powered whupass.
I want to see racism. I want to see sexism. I want to see the captain of the show bag all the cute alien hotties. I want facepaint rather than creative nose ridges.
And... like a previous poster put it, I want explosions. Lots of explosions. This is supposed to be the Star Trek equivalent of the old west, so lets get some kick-ass space dogfights going on.
You want 'Andromeda'. Yes, that show with Kevin Sorbo.
Seriously, 'Andromeda' is Roddenberry's view of the Star Trek universe 300 years after the fall of the Federation. It's not touchy-feelie, and it kicks some serious ass. It may not be as good as 'Farscape' (which is awe-inspiring), but it's a darn good show, and a lot better than anything done in years under the title of Star Trek.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
Okay, so Stargate SG-1 comes in a distant second.
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www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
The site is /.d, so here's the release's text, without links. And with slight variations in spacing. Thanks, lameness.
After years of speculation, Paramount Pictures yesterday officially announced that the next Star Trek series will be called Enterprise, and will star Scott Bakula in the lead role.
According to a press release sent out by the studio, Bakula will portray the physical and intensely curious Captain Jonathan Archer. "Obviously, I love the genre and am a long-time fan of Star Trek," Bakula commented. "I am also thrilled to be working on a TV series again with Kerry McCluggage and Garry Hart, a relationship that dates back to 1988 with Quantum Leap."
Star Trek producer Rick Berman, who co-created the series, agreed. "We couldn't be happier. Scott personifies the charm and intelligence that the role calls for."
Paramount's press release did not officially confirm the next series' setting, but this news makes it all but certain that the series will indeed be set aboard a 22nd-Century Enterprise. More information about the show's premise can be found in the casting sheet that was leaked to the internet two months ago, as well as recent pilot script review.
Enterprise is scheduled to start shooting on Monday the 14th of May. Paramount still has not reached an official agreement with UPN, but the network is widely expected to announce the series when it unveils its Fall schedule on Thursday.
Paramount also revealed the rest of the Series V cast, though it did not announce which roles these actors would be playing. Below is the full list of principal actors for Enterprise, as well as some info on which character they will likely be playing. Please note that the below character information is based on the assumption that the basics of the original casting sheet are still unchanged - Paramount may well have decided to change some characters during the casting process.
Scott Bakula - Bakula is best known for his five-year role as Dr. Sam Beckett on the Quantum Leap drama series, but he has also appeared in series such as The Invaders and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Most recently, he played the lead role in the CBS comedy pilot Late Boomers, but now that he has signed on to Enterprise that show will have to look for another star.
Bakula will be playing Captain Jonathan Archer, a character that was originally to be called Jackson Archer. The casting sheet described him as a physical, bold personality, who unlike the Starfleet captains of later centuries exhibits a sense of wonder and excitement about the strange things he will encounter. He is said to hold a grudge against the Vulcans, who he blames for impeding humanity's progress - but with his first officer a Vulcan, he will have to reconsider these preconceptions.
Jolene Blalock - Blalock previously had a starring role in the recent NBC miniseries Jason and the Argonauts, in which she starred as Medea opposite Jason London. In addition, she acted in the upcoming Diamond Hunters mini-series, and had a guest role in an episode of C.S.I.. The above photo comes courtesy of Jason London Online. Though not officially announced, it is likely Blalock will be playing Sub-Commander T'Pau, an "austere yet sensual" Vulcan female. She's the Enterprise's Science Officer, assigned to the ship to oversee humanity's progress. Although she's cautious and guarded around humans, whom she considers primitive and irrational, she'll come to develop a grudging respect for Captain Archer.
John Billingsley - Billingsley is a 20-year veteran of the stage, who has said his greatest joy comes from performing in front of live audiences. He appeared in such plays as 'The Seagull' and 'The Nerd' before moving to Los Angeles, where he had guest roles on a great number of televisions shows. Science fiction fans will best remember him as Prof. Miles Ballard on the short-lived NBC television series The Others. The above photo comes courtesy of the official NBC site for that show.
Billingsley will likely be playing Doctor Phlox, a character who appears to be in his mid-40s. Phlox speaks with an alien accent, has an eccentric sense of humour that no one quite understands, and thinks that humanity is fascinating. He has filled Sickbay with all sorts of bizarre medical instruments for his own particular brand of "Intergalactic Medicine," making even the most routine visit to Sickbay an unexpected adventure.
Linda Park - Parks appeared on an episode of the WB series Popular this March, playing an Asian woman named Anna Lin. The above Popular photo comes courtesy of B5LR.com's AntonyF. Parks will likely be playinng the Japanese Ensign Hoshi Sato. She's described as "striking and intelligent," as well as an expert in exo-linguistics. As Comm Officer, she's not only in charge of all communications aboard the Enterprise, but also serves as ship's Translator.
Anthony Montgomery - Generally credited as A.T. Montgomery, this actor is best known for his recurring role on Popular as George Austin. He had guest roles on shows such as Frasier and Charmed, and last year made his first film appearance in the horror comedy 'Leprechaun in the Hood.' The above photo comes courtesy of the Internet Movie Database.
Montgomery will almost certainly be playing Lieutenant Joe Mayweather, the African-American helmsman aboard the Enterprise. Mayweather was raised on cargo ships, and as a result is more "interstellar" than even the Captain. His closest friend is 'Spike' Tucker.
Dominic Keating - Keating is an experienced science-fiction actor, with credits on shows such as Poltergeist: The Legacy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and G vs E. He had a recurring role on The Immortal as Mallos, and has also had a regular role during the final season of the Teenage Health Freak television series. The above photo comes courtesy of the official 'The Immortals' web site.
Keating will likely be playing either Commander Charlie 'Spike' Tucker or Lt. Commander Malcolm Reed. Spike is described as a Southerner who enjoys using his "country" persona to disarm people. He was hand-picked by Captain Archer, who is something of a mentor to him. Though he is a brilliant officer, he has very little first-hand experience with alien cultures, and will often be a "fish out of water" on the series.
Connor Trinneer - Trinneer is probably best-known to the general public for his role as Zeus Zelenko on the long-running One Life to Live television series. However, he has also had guest roles on series such as Sliders, Touched by an Angel, FreakyLinks and Gideon's Crossing, and last year appeared in the TV adaptation of the 'Far East' play. Prior to appearing on television, Trinneer enjoyed a successful career on the stage. The above Sliders photo comes courtesy of B5LR.com's AntonyF.
Trinneer will likely be playing either Lt. Commander Malcolm Reed or Commander Charlie 'Spike' Tucker. Reed is the British Armoury Officer aboard the Enterprise, and a bit of a throwback in this new age of humanity's enlightenment. Reed is a 22nd Century soldier, "all spit and polish and by-the-book." He's also a man of contradictions - near-obsessed with munitions, but at the same time soft-spoken, shy and awkward around women.
According to a report that appeared on Ain't It Cool News this morning, Bakula reported to the Paramount lot yesterday for his first meeting with the rest of the cast.
As part of the meeting, the cast also took part in a "table reading" of the script. This reportedly went especially well for John Billingsley, who the site said will be playing a "distinctly alien" character, in all likelihood Dr. Phlox. There was immediate chemistry between Bakula and Billingsley, and the expectation was that the two actors will play off each other well on screen.
AICN stated that not only is Bakula being paid a "small forture" to star in Enterprise, but he has also apparently been given the level of creative involvement he requested. He reportedly gave significant input to the script and his character, all of which were used by the producers.
Apparently, the massively positive reaction of the fanbase when it was first announced Bakula was negotiating for the series was one of the reasons for his eventual hiring. Bakula himself is said to be very interested in Star Trek, and then especially its characterisation and emotion rather than mere technobabble.
Now that the series has been officially announced, we have created a new Enterprise Forum at the Trek BBS, where dozens of discussions are already going on about every aspect of Series V.
According to the official press release, Bakula will also continue to develop new projects for Paramount Network Television as part of this new deal. Together with partner Tom Spiroff and his production company Bakula Productions, he has already created TV films such as 'Bachelor's Baby' and 'Papa's Angels,' and the new deal gives him the opportunity to develop series, telefilms, features and specials.
For more on this, please check out the official press release sent out via PRNewsWire by Paramount yesterday evening, as well as this article by Variety's Michael Schneider.
This news item will be updated throughout the day as new information becomes available.
Brant
Brant
Argle. Bargle.
That would be my worst nightmare as well. But, consider this: the series takes place before holodeck technology (ahem, remember this series' time is before even Kirk's era). I highly doubt they will incorporate it. Thank the Creator.
The Internet Movie Database already has an entry for Star Trek: Enterprise with an interesting plot summary. They don't have any actors from the press release listed, though.
No self respecting business man would let a franchise like star trek end while it's on top. The marginal revenues generated are still far too substancial. With the introduction of new series' the producers expect to keep on the top of the revenue curve, and they've succeeded so far. It's just sad that they aren't as forward looking as to see that the residuals from continues syndication (if the shows go out on top) will be greater than if they drive the franchise into the ground with shows based on half baked story ideas, and one dimentional characters.
--CTH
--
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
I saw the Pilot, WAY COOL. Saw a few more episodes, also cool. But I can't for the life of me remember what it is on.
It started out cool, kinda what Trek would be after everything collapses.
My assessment: the show was a cheap production. The camera work was bad, most acting sucked, and the effects were worthless.
HOWEVER: the plot rocked, the characters were meaningful, etc. I really enjoyed what I saw... you've inspired me, I'm going to figure out when it is on.
Alex
Slashdot must be broke
Science fiction coverage
But not of Star Wars
They could get every big name actor involved, with a budget of $50 million per episode, and it will STILL suck.
Why? Rhymes with "Berman". The problem isn't the actors. Scott will do an amazing job, and his only hindrance will be the crappy scripts. Someone else mentioned that they need to actually write SciFi instead of Political Commentary. AGREED.
The problem, for a while, has been the writing. DS9, from what I gathered, finally had good writing in the last couple years.
Ditch Berman, get some real SciFi in there, and watch it grow. Hopefully, but I wouldn't bet on it. Anyone know how many writers from Voyager will be writing for Enterprise?
ObGoodSciFi: Babylon 5- Legend of the Rangers. This fall, hopefully, on SciFi. SciFi that DOESN'T suck.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
The basis of all truly cool technology is the recalibration of shield harmonics. Without that, Trek is nothing.
oh, wait...
This is the voice of World Control. I bring you Peace.
The keys to good sci-fi, as I see them (opinion):
1. Great battle scenes. LOTS of them. Explosions and death are *requirements*. Thats reality when you colide things.
2. Politics. Lying. Intrigue.
3. Sex, or at least the *distinct* impression and hint of it. Includes outfits (see Seven of Nine)
4. Flawed characters with growth. Who didnt love watching Han Solo grow to accept Princess Leia?
5. Villians we can fear instinctively. Klingons (TOS) were *plain mean*. Ferrengi (TNG) were greedy bastards that would sell you into slavery for a buck. The borg take over your BODY, and keep your mind hostage. Romulans were ALWAYS weak because there wasnt an instinctive fear attached to them.
--
Now, the question becomes what are they going to do that will work? Things they cant use:
1. Holodeck - occurs somewhere between TOS and TNG, definitely after the time period this is set in.
2. "Ablative Armor", "Quantum Torpedos", and other war tech - All came during or after TNG
3. Borg - If the show has *any* hope of keeping fans happy they WONT appear. Picard and his crew encountered them first, WELL after TOS, and the show canon says Borg *did not* get to our space before that.
4. Q - No. Just, no.
What can they do instead?
How about doing the things that geeks *love* and they havent done yet. That would be a change. Like oh, grabbing new technology, and making it a prominant part of the show in subsequent shows!
In Stargate SG-1, the asp handgun is *really* cool, and happened after the first episode, what a concept!
In ST:DSN, they added the cloak to the "nice little ship" worf loved so. In ST:VOY, they add ablative armor in the second (?) episode, but *never* mention it again.
The addition of new stuff to kick aliens butts with keeps the battles FRESH from week to week. Last time the klingons almost killed us! But THIS time we have technology-X!
I really have no idea what they could use instead of the borg. I really dont know if they can even have replicators, due to the time it is set at.
I just hope we get to see very HUMAN dialogue and reactions. I wanna see the ship get bigger, and badder. I wanna see the captain get plain PISSED OFF. I wanna see them actually stick to the canon timeline mostly.
But most of all, I want -- finally -- an explanation of the klingon head ridges. That was *such* a funny cop-out, and NOW is the time to address it and make fans VERY happy.
Explain the damned ridges!
GPL'd web-based tradewars themed space game
This would free up the creativity of the writers and let them come up with some actual science fiction , and get away from the gilligan's island/soap opera nonsense rut they've fallen into. If each episode took place on a different Federation starship bridge, it would also give the viewers the opportunity to see more of Federation space and move around without being stale or contrived.
Hate to tell you, but there can be a Q, because they have been around forever... there were several TNG shows that mentioned this, and also a book written that had Q and Kirk in it. Also, the reason why TOS didn't have cool technology like the later series did, is because they didn't have the budget. The studios thought it would be a waste of money and thats why it was cancelled after the second season. The original Star Trek didn't catch on until after they were done filming the series. I think that it's great that the Star Trek series will go on, and hopefully it will have a better plotline than Voyager.
remember this series' time is before even Kirk's era
Does that mean they'll go back to the old-style Klingons?
What about Rocky Fi...oh, wait...
My other
Has anyone else been waiting for the Voyager episode when this swashbuckling pirate, this petty dictator, this puffed-shirt Captain of a intragalatic garbage scow gets sent to the hoosgow? And whatever happened to the standards of Starfleet that they'd give Janeway a comission? E.g. Picard (due to the shenanigans of the Traveller) gets sent, crew and all, to another galaxy, and then to another universe entirely, and still makes it home in time for tea (Earl Grey Hot!) Kirk (why do all the temporal anomalies always send us back to 20th century earth) would violate the prime directive at the drop of a bra, and still managed to steal (a) a Bird of Prey, (b) a pair of Humpback whales, (c) Chekov, and (d) the heart of Catherine Hicks. Sisko, come on, Emissary of the Prophets, Captain of the most important piece of realestate in the Alpha quadrant, and single father. My fantasy: (Starfleet headquarters, New San Fran, Earth) Admiral: We've been reviewing your logs Ensign Janeway. Janeway: Err, that's Captain. A: As, I was saying, Ensign... Vulcan Admiral: Have you even heard of the Prime Directive? Jesus, I'm so pissed off. A: Did you not realize that the Maquis were are terorist organization? You gave these people battlefield comissions? Ensign, the Delta Quadrant is not a warzone. Couldn't you have made them, Jezz I don't know, passengers?
whoa nellie!
Jolene Blalock is in Maxim Online this week. Break out the spandex!
I am quite civilized, and I should be brought a beer immediately. -- Bruce Sterling
It's an allusion to Quantum Leap, also staring Scott Bakula. Kids today....
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
First, I think Star Trek should go on a 10-year sabbatical. The biggest changes and improvements to the series were between TOS and TNG, and after 13 years of very slow change, I think we aught to give the series a break for awhile.
Second, I think any new ST series aught to make blatantly non-human (CG) characters a major part of the show. Now that CG is cheap and that here in the real world we're starting to use genetic engineering to create new kinds of life, all future Treks aught to feature every kind of life form imaginable. Most good sci-fi books feature really awesome ideas (Heinlein's martians, Adams' Hoovulue), and Trek aught to do the same. If that means ditching the old Terra-centric canon, so be it.
So is the time master himself going to be in it? He's already been in a few Star Trek episodes -- would be a shame not to get the old team together.
How we know is more important than what we know.
qwk format: That would be totally sweet!
The fans want Sulu and the Excelsior, for crying out loud. Listen to them. Ultimately, it's the fans who pay your bills. Make them happy. Don't muck with Trek continuity.
If Berman wanted to kill Star Trek, he's doing a good job. ST:TNG was the last good Trek, though DS9 had its moments. I don't even consider Voyager to be Star Trek. Roddenberry created something of mythic proportions with ST:TOS, and these new producers are just screwing it up.
I have zero tolerance for zero-tolerance policies.
Constitutionally Correct
How did everyone get so politically backwards from one century to the next?
In the 60's, Star Trek had a very forward looking way of life for the time, but by todays standards the social structure in TOS is very reminscent of, well, 1960's America.
So in the 90's, they move it forward a century, and it makes more sense why things would be more inclusive and progressive.
But if this series continues the trend of making Star Trek more socially progessive with each new series, how are they going to explain how things are so much more progressive 100 years before Captain James T "good ol farm boy" Kirk?
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
Let's see, we have:
1) Dynamic man-of-action Captain
2) Young, hot, female communications officer
3) Young African American Helmsman
4) Enigmatic alien doctor (all right, 2 of them)
5) Generic action-figure lieutenant (or 2)
Is it just me, or does anyone else see "Galaxy Quest" here?
All we need is Tech Sergeant Chen, but they didn't announce a Chief Engineer yet...
Oh lordy! Somebody mod this guy up, please...
Of course, it begs the following speculation: If prime numbered trek series are good, and divisible treks are bad...
Trek 7: 'The Spacefight Club' - This series will be composed almost entirely of starship dogfights in space, with some minor plot thrown in to appease the critics. Alien hottie flesh will be in abudance.
Trek 9: 'What Starship Captains Want' - Female and 'sensitive' male starfleet officers will particpate in a romantic comedy set entirely inside Starfleet headquarters. There will occasionally be futuristic matte paintings in the background depicting a futuristic earth, but there won't be any action or fight scenes.
Trek 13: 'Starfleet Tactics' - Series written by Tom Clancy. This one will be a little more 'intellectual' than previous Treks, but will focus on political machinations, espionage, technical and scientific detail, and large-scale starship battles. Action will not be plentiful, but it will be frequent, and well written. Critics will hail it as a 'sleeper hit'.
Treks 14-16: Will nearly bankrupt Paramount due to the casting of David Spade, Tom Green, and Britney Spears as starship captains.
Trek 17: Will be filmed using a combination of live action, full-scale starship models that really explode, and state-of-the-art quantum computer-based animation. The series will depict a life-or-death struggle in space and on Earth for the future of humanity, with generous dashes of action, sex, comedy, and gratuitous explosions. Due to the damages incurred wiping out the City of San-Francisco with a neutron explosion for the grand finale of the series, Paramount will go bankrupt.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Paramount desperately needs a cast to make more Trek movies. The casts from DS9 and Voyager are totally unsuitable for this.
You can bet we'll see a string of new cast members in this outing untill Paramount feels they can make profitable films.
They won't be getting my money, that's for sure.
. But if the new series is set in the 22nd Centuy, there can be no Borg or Q, and the technology will be crappy!
On the other hand... this means no more fucking holodeck goes nuts and tries to kill crew episodes.
That'll make it interesting right there.
More serisously, the first half dozen or so episodes (with the exception of the Squire of Gothos, err, Q, and the smarmy introduction), were well done. After that, the series centered on the characters and the technologies, anc ceased being interesting.
Captain Kirk ran around the galaxy without adult supervision, and the messes he escaped from were of his own creation as often as not. He, McCoy, and SPock were not so much individuals, but different aspects of humanity. NOt only were the programs several minutes longer, but they didn' waste several of the remaining minutes on "character development," holo-adventures, or poker games. They just told the story.
hawk
p.s. The damned robot sucked too.
... and possible series (as mentioned in other posts):
0 3/20/15.20.sfc
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-sfc.html?2001-
There's also a fan site with more info (spoilers on the B5 character appearing, etc.):
http://www.b5lr.com/
Sci-Fi has said that the new series will launch if the movie looks/does well.
:wq
1) I agree. I didnt say it was realistic. However, it does entertain, and sell. I enjoy watching Seven, I enjoyed watching
2) I agree. Wholeheartedly. I didnt say get over-balanced. I said keep escalating, and keep getting new technology, which should be a key point of a early-time-frame show.
3) I disagree. I *loved* the all-out battle with some 30 different races near the end of the series. What a way to go out. That was a VERY sexy battle.
4) I didnt *ever* say less conflict. I mention sex ONCE and the rest of the post is technology and conflict, you just focus on it.
Yes, sex is a trek tradition, but it has been watered down, and under-emphasized. I wanna see stuff like farscape and other sci-fi chan shows where sex isnt just a thought, its a yummy plotline.
Just my opinion, which differs slightly from yours.
GPL'd web-based tradewars themed space game
...throw some money at some writers. You know, good writers. Hell, Ellison wrote for ST:TOS. I know you've saved a lot of money by having some sort of Eliza-esque computer program throw out scripts for Voyager for the past 6 years, so you should have plenty of cash sitting around from that.
Who wouldn't want to see some episodes written by say, Bear, or Stephenson, or Orsen Scott Card. Let them go nuts... you've got a whole universe to play with that people like (well, those people you haven't alienated away permanently). Let the writers in to play with it and leave them alone. Yes, it may cost you, and yes, they may actually come up with some scripts that don't fall in the normal 5 standard Star Trek plots, but hell, given what you all have churned out for the past few years, what do you have to lose (except your remaining fans?)
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Star Trekkin'
Across the Universe!
Boldly going forward,
'Cause we can't find reverse!
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"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
The new series will show a linux x86 cluster running the Enterprise (via a very customized cool Gnome desktop), and we will all grovel before the marketers like whipped dogs. But this need only be an incidental plot element.
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Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Don't tell that to the pentagon--we use on tanks today . . .
...I didn't think Trek could get any geekier...but Trek += Quantum Leap...?
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
ah, it ought to be before transporter technology too. Or at least before transporter technology was perfected.
(oops, turned another red-shirt inside out again. . . MEDIC!)
Or how about before artificial gravity?!
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Could they at least have gotten Scott Baio? Sheesh!
People shape laws. Not the other way around.
WTF? Am I the only one that appreciates all of the Star Trek series? Face it, no matter how much makeup or CGI you do or how cheesy the acting gets, Star Trek will only be as good as your suspension of disbelief. It's sci-fi, that's science fiction. You need to let your imagination go for a while and have some fun. So what if the continuity isn't perfect or the story seems stale, it's tv entertainment and if you can't enjoy that, then don't bitch about it. I do believe each Star Trek series has kept to Gene's spirit well, and I imagine the next one will also. If the next story doesn't progress with new technology, so be it, the ST story was never just about technology.
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Hecubas
Grr, As a loyal visitor to trektoday/bbs for over 2 years, I find it shocking I cant even get to the site beucause of all you stupid trolling fsckers that couldnt give a damn. There nothing new that hasnt been said about Enterprise here, and I cant talk to people on the ball because you have to click every link you can possibly find!
I didn't mean "dark" as a criticism -- one thing I love about Farscape is it's willingness to be down, dirty, and ugly. I almost lost faith when they brought Aeryn back to life -- but then they killed Zhaan... now that's ballsy, killing a major character.
Give me Farscape any day over the insipid Voyager...
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Scott Robert Ladd
Master of Complexity
Destroyer of Order and Chaos
All about me
Conventional fresh actor background (stage acting) is being substituted with pop culture crap. One of the big things that Paramount screwed up with this time around (Andromeda and Star Trek : Enterprise), is they took a couple established actors, and put them into Star Trek roles. Rehashing dead careers is NOT a Good Thing (TM). Yah, I've watched Andromeda. Lexa Doig is a good actor, attractive, and has a snappy sense of humor. She's about the only good thing in the series. I'm getting tired of predicting that Tyr is once again going to have everyone thinking that he's going to betray the crew, and then come back to their side at the last minute. Plus the adverts for the next show, showing half way through the middle of the first show is kind of annoying. Especially when it's at a climax point, the ship is about to blow up, and they show a preview of the next show and the ship is fine.
Lessons that should be learned by ST:VOY and Andromeda - rehashing old careers, especially into careers that geeks will watch - is a bad idea. Get some fresh actors in there, quit looking at the pop culture looking icons and get some new people with acting ability in.
Why did ST:TNG and ST:TOS kick ass? It brought in people that were not known for their old roles. They were people fresh in their acting career. Some never really got out of the Star Trek arena, some went on to do better things. However, you never hear someone say "Man, I can't look at Patrick Stewart and not think of Picard!" Anymore, I look at William Shatner and think of Priceline, not Kirk, but that's another story. Of course, who could forget Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar) in her Red Shoe Diaries playing a cop... but...
Only thing I have to say to Scott Bakula in ST:ENT is that if ANY "To be continued..." episode ends with him saying "Oh boy!" I'm going to shoot some script writer at Paramount. It was bad enough with Kevin Sorbo getting "He looks like some kind of greek god!" jokes.
I cannot confirm nor deny the allegation or allegations you may or may not have just made
I wouldn't mind a decent show in the Star Trek universe, but why is everyone so stuck on having the main characters in Starfleet? Even the guy up above who had a great idea about doing a short-story style of Star Trek ala Outer Limits limited his idea to "changing to different Federation bridges".
Screw Starfleet! I wanna merchant/smuggler/criminal Klingon/Romulan/whatever vessel, or even just a bunch of people who hitch rides all over the Star Trek universe. Maybe they'll have a mad-on for Starfleet due to bad experiences (or because they ARE criminals), and do their best to screw over Starfleet any chance they get.
The cast could be majorly disfunctional, unlike the goody-two-shoes Starfleet members, and major stories could be written about them getting themselves out of messes that they got themselves into. Instead of figuring out a good solution, their first response is to run like hell - and if they're cornered, they maim & destroy with lots of viciousness.
I have a mental image of a female Klingon "captain" who's drunk most of the time & regards the male members of the crew (of any race) as her personal harem (as they maneuver to avoid being left alone with her). (Maybe that's too much of a comedy...)
Prime Directive? When there's money to be made & peaceful civilizations to exploit? It is to laugh...
There are plenty of low-tech sci-fi settings that rock. Remember Aliens? Even Star Wars had a much lower level of technology that Star Trek. In fact, the tech is the WORST THING about Star Trek, aside from the characters and the stories... oh, wait... yeah, I guess all of Trek has sucked lately.
Anyway, the low-tech setting will force them into trying some new things. If we had a series set yet farther in the future, it would be all time-ships and glowing beings of pure energy, and who needs that crap? I want crudely-improvised antimatter weapons and women in miniskirts. I want robots to clean the floors, not paint pictures and own cats. I want ships are angular and dangerous-looking, not smooth and wimpy like some kind of alien suppository.
Naturally I am fearful, but the news of the setting gives me hope (though it has yet to be confirmed). To have any hope of regaining its status as quality entertainment, Trek needs to try something new. This is it.
I'm not a Trek fan, but I do know this: Scott Bakula is a horrible, horrible actor. He'll be perfect.
~Jeff
Casting, timeline, premise, story arc.
Just forget all of that.
The ONE thing Trek must do in order to regain what it once was is to remember this simple directive, if in fact it is the PRIME directive for writing for Star Trek:
Aliens either look completely human and act absolutely alien, or they look completely alien and act in a humane manner.
This is what Kirk meant by saying "We're all human." and what Spock played right into by taking that as an insult.
It's either that or take advantage of doing a prequel so that they can absolutely destroy everything that Trek is and in turn re-define it for truly the next generation.
IF.cmg
Anyone else remember the elder Vulcan T'pau from "Amok Time?" I wonder if the Trek folks are clever enough to make it the same person....
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
In one of the TNG movies (first contact?) Captain Picard was looking at a set of models of all the ships that had been named Enterprise. This included the tall wooden ship, the aircraft carier, the space shuttle, and one or two space ships before the USS Enterprise (NCC1701). So there is a precident for this I guess. But NCC1701 was the first STARSHIP. So this Enterprise can't be a STARSHIP.
Perhaps it's a reflection of current American introspection/narcissism, but I think there's more to it. There is definitely some influence from postmodern literature, but there is also a lack of current world issues that are well-suited to the treatment Star Trek has often given them (not a lack of world issues, but those that exist are either out of the public mind or not easily adaptable to ST). Star Trek has never really been a straight shoot-'em-up-blow-'em-up meaningless series.
All art draws from life, and Star Trek draws most heavily from world affairs. My high school history teacher would say that the Klingons in TOS were originally developed from our communist enemies of the time. TNG had the Borg at a time when the prospective invasive growth of technology appeared daunting and there was concern about humans tearing down and assimilating new areas into the urban landscape. In DS9, the entire plot thread regarding the shape-shifters and the Dominion shows heavy influence from the terrorist threat that had public awareness at the time. The highly spiritual society of Bajor was heavily involved, as Israel was at the time. Those episodes were written around the time when the U.S. was struggling with the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings. (was bin Laden in the public eye then?) The ST writers at that time were very lucky that they set the show up well at its beginning to tackle those issues as they developed late in the show's run.
So what happens now? We haven't had a significant military or security threat heavily in the public eye for a significant length of time during the past few years. World hunger, poverty, AIDS, and similar persistent issues have been the main obstacle in world affairs, and these issues just don't entertain in Star Trek for long.
Fortunately for us now in terms of possible Star Trek fuel (not that this is a good think for the world), relations with China are beginning to sour and missile defense is slowly grabbing public awareness. What would be interesting for series V is that the Romulans have always appeared to be the closest thing ST had to an analogue of the Chinese, and if I'm not mistaken the ST timeline dictates no contact with the Romulans until the TOS era. How the writers handle that if they do choose China relations as a focus would be interesting. If you introduce a new species to play such a prominent role in series V, you need to kill them off or reduce their role by the end of the series so people don't ask why they don't pop up in other series. Series V is better set up for dealing with an issue like missile defense or the growth of the European Union, neither of which is really exciting. Relations with the Vulcans also appear to be a key theme, but I've yet to figure out their real world analogue. They seem to be more of an arbitary parental race. (Perhaps an analogue for the Europeans?)
As for Voyager, it started off great for a TNG-type exploration series. Being cast into the Delta Quadrant where everything was new for exploring, the possibilites were wide open. We had public awareness of rapid technology growth, and, well, the writers must've just lost sight of opportunity. Or maybe they didn't want to deal with the Borg so much again and wear it out. The incidents with the Q were much more entertaining than the TNG Q episodes, but they wouldn't run with it (and probably shouldn't). As for all the subconscious issues and dream-games, I didn't think they used them that much. I missed a good bit of the series, but only the Year of Hell storyline and the episode about some weird temporary clones of them stick out in my mind as really "wasting time".
Ah, but don't forget, this series is set before Starfleet and the UFP even exist....think more or less right after First Contact.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
I realize that they are two different genres (B5 as an epic and Star Trek as essentially an anthology of short "stories" but there are some other meaningful differences as well.
1: Fight scenes: B5 has more brutal fight scenes with real casualties (Remember Marcus?). I miss the sort of realism that does not exist in Star Trek's clean fight scenes.
2: Moral lessons through story-telling not dialog. I cannot help but feel that read log entries don't teach the way that a plot does.
Granted season 1 of B5 sucks unless you have seen the rest of it, and then it makes sense. But I still think that it would be nice to see some of these aspects brought into Star Trek. Unfortuantely I don't think this is likely.
Disclaimer: I am a former trekie...
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Also on the same page, a little later, they posted UPN may get the new Battlestar Galactica series! That show was cool!
Gorkman
You say that as if it's a bad thing. But it's not a bug, it's a feature.
Q and the Borg have been done to death; it's time to try something different.
And the ultra-high tech in the 24th century version of the series actually limits the dramatic possibilities. How can anything threaten characters who have hand weapons powerful enough to vaporize a mountain? How can anyone be stranded on the surface of a hostile planet, when all you have to do is tap your comm badge, and say "Beam me up"?
You notice how many times Enterprise-D and Voyager encountered planets with funky atmospheres or force fields that made it impossible to use the transporters? They had to contrive to limit the tech, time after time until it got silly, in order to allow for some dramatic tension.
It might be nice to live in a time where your problems can be solved with the push of a button, but it makes for lousy drama.
If they're smart, the new (old?) Enterprise will have no transporter at all, or else it will be a finicky, emergencies-only, use-at-your-own-risk system.
Okay...so in the old series, they all looked like darker skinned people with fu-manchu mustaches.
;)
Start at the ST:TMP, they look like, well, I dunno...ridges, etc...
Someone once told me that Worf was asked about this and he muttered something about genetic tampering mishap under his breath.
So, what will they look like on the new series, since it is well before ST:ToS?
At least their going in the right direction with a Maxim babe!
Also, notice that they NEVER talk about how much it costs to send Wesley or anyone else to Starfleet Academy.
The premise of Star Trek is ANARCHY. It may be peaceful, and co-operative, and everythign was based on the abolution of government and money, and the advancement of culture and science where everyone was equal, but it all started with Anarchy.
-DW
~Donald / Just RTFM
I wrote a script when I was 16 or something where Sam leaps into Conner McCleod (ala Highlander) in the 80's and has to pull some hard core sword fighting out his ass ("oh that's right sam! You know akido! It must of just slipped my mind even though you're the one with amnesia and I'm the fsckin' hologram!" - Al) and because of the effects of the quickening he doesn't leap and so he just hangs around for 12 years and finally gets home (all they have to do is pull some acelerator shit to get the bodies swapped, but it's all good). This was before my Internet days and I dont think a copy ended up on the web -- thank god.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I agree, and would provide Larry Niven as a great example too. I just don't trust the pinheads at Paramount with that kind of power. :)
From the safety of my General products hull,
IronChef
Why? Because they started making Roddenberry Star Trek episodes. The original series was not what Roddenberry envisioned when he pitched the show. What we have now is, more or less, what he wanted: sort of a weekly review of the major political/philosophical issue of the day, but placed in a different environment, with some sort of solution generated in an hour.
Admittedly, the issues covered and the solutions generated lately have been...well...really syrupy and of a horribly socialistic vein.
Do you remember why we really liked the original series? Why we still like it today? Because it wasn't about technology, it wasn't about really cool special effects. It wasn't about aliens with weird noses.
It was about a few good friends and the adventures that they had. It was like a cross of swashbuckling and the wild west. It was a lot of fun with (usually) just a hint of a social message.
Fast forward to today: a ton of philosophy, a bit of Marxism, a social message with all the subtlety of a fist to the nose, and horrendous writing.
My feeling is that unless the franchise takes a dramatically different tack, this iteration of Star Trek will be the last. Or if not the last, it should be the last.
-h-