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William Shatner Pitches 'Starfleet Academy' Show
Tycoon Guy writes "TrekToday reports that William Shatner recently pitched an 'Academy' show to Paramount. The series would feature teen versions of the Classic Star Trek characters Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and be set at Starfleet Academy. The studio turned Shatner down, but he's not letting go of the idea: Pocket Books has asked him to write a two-novel series based on the 'Starfleet Academy' concept. Also, Shatner apparently went over the head of Trek head honcho Rick Berman to pitch his idea straight to the head of Paramount - maybe after Enterprise ends and Berman leaves the franchise, the studio will be more inclined to listen to Shatner?"
Beer me up Scotty!
I wonder if Shatner will use the same ghost writer this time?
Come on, get a life.
Um.. I read this and immediately had a disturbing vision
The series would feature teen versions of the Classic Star Trek characters Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and be set at Starfleet Academy.
Ah, not what I thought, but not exactly a thrilling concept.
The studio turned Shatner down, but he's not letting go of the idea: Pocket Books has asked him to write a two-novel series based on the 'Starfleet Academy' concept. Also, Shatner apparently went over the head of Trek head honcho Rick Berman to pitch his idea straight to the head of Paramount - maybe after Enterprise ends and Berman leaves the franchise, the studio will be more inclined to listen to Shatner?"
Maybe if he pitched it as a reality show, a la The Apprentice. That might be entertaining...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
That has to be the worst idea I've ever heard.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
Just let Kirk die already!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
good ol' bill shat.
You gotta give Shatner credit for totally dissing Berman like that. :-)
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
"They're tiny, they're toony,
they're all a little loony"
So who would write the books?
No, really, who would write them for Shatner?
That's all I wanted to say. Go Shatner!
I think Shatner is by far, by far, my favorite Trekker. He's got a sense of humor about himself and his work, yet he's not even remotely afraid to take chances.
Luck favors the prepared, darling.
Is that a FROSTY PISS you're drinking? Be sure to pour it on Berman's head for me.
The OC meets Star Trek. May God save us from such garbage.
(Its not like the women's starfleet uniforms are all that revealing anyways)
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
I thought they wanted to put the whole franchise to rest ?
Star Trek could be awesome again, pending the removal of Berman. I'm all for it. Bring back Kirk!!!
Which one of them will be doing all of the crazy sound effects? And what about the crazy gun nut? "Tackleberry!"
On a more sobering note, I find it deeply disturbing that I was able to remember this much about Police Academy, at a moment's notice.
concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
Can anyone really want to go with an idea from a guy that sings the song, "Girl with the colydoscope eyes"?
Come on, this guy is stealing money at this point. He really is a joke, a characture of himself.
BTW, did I get the first post?
I can't wait to see scenes of their youth, like Kirk giving Spock a wedgie in gym class as well as the true origin of McCoy's nickname (something about him and a knothole in a fence next to the soccer field).
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Since Priceline.com dropped him, is Shatner really in need of work? I thought he was doing that spoof of Star Trek Show... Idaho somethingorother.
Like Sweepstakes? Try out my service @ http://www.yourpowersweeps.com -- Free 21 day trial, no cc needed.
I think, as sad as it might be, that StarTrek has really come to an end. It has had a good 50 some odd years of episodes. Let it die with at least some dignity.
*Waits for the trekkie mod squad to shoot him to pieces, or more likely remodulate something or draw up a treatie, which somehow works*
"I may be full of crap about this game, and I may be wrong, and that's fine." -Jack Thompson
...the idea would be better served in the pre/post TNG/DS9 time frame and with new characters....perhaps with camio here or there from the established charaters.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
This is a horrible idea. Just what would be needed to completely kill off the franchise. How about a whole show full of Wesley Crusher teen angst in a Federation uniform.
Visually it would be hard to jive with the old series, and having actors who are trying to potray the old characters might lead to pure campiness.
Ok so now everyone can tell how it would be great if they did it right - but come on people, you KNOW they wouldn't do it right.
I'm just hoping whatever new series comes out has Shatner singing the theme song. Hell, just have him sing the lyrics to the orignal theme from the '60s series.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Maybe paramount would pick up the show if Shatner let them name their own price ...
Raise shields! Warp away! Warp away!
TekWars.
How will the children learn about the TechWars now?
I thought I detected the odor of hypocrisy.
Or Pebbles and Bam Bam.
Or Scrappy Doo?
Or how 'bout Looney Tunes, Extreme Makeover Edition ?
I'm surprised Paramount turned this down. Sure, it'll be 90210 set in space, and it will be crap to Trekkies. However this is the exact type of teenage soap opera drama they run on UPN all the time.
I think it'd be hilarious. Let's get a bunch of Star Trek addicted weirdos together in a trailer home or something like that and watch them interact and stuff. I think it'd be utterly memorable and hilarious. And when they start speaking in Klingon, there could always be subtitles right?
Maybe they could show a young Kirk in PE class learning how to run like a penguin....
This space intentionally left blank.
So now we get to see Kirk beat the Kobayashi Maru simulator?
The only memories I have of starfleet academy are the ones with Wil Wheaton, and they still haunt my nightmares.
Frat parties with green slave girls and rumulan ale.
I hear that Shatner was in talks with Steve Guttenberg and Bubba Smith to assist with the project.
Prequals - ughhh! No more! Enterprise is boring. I could care less about what happened BEFORE...give me BORG again. Give me NEW stuff...DO NOT give me "Starfleet Academy"!!!! I blame Lucas for his Star Wars sequels - planting the seed - everyone thinks it is somehow a good idea...
said in Shatner's lilting, flowing intonation we all so dearly love and pine after.
NOT!
Seriously. He had a lead role (poorly acted) in a very bad TV series that somehow turned into a cult classic. I'll give him that much. But what has he done SINCE then?
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
All these new teen shows on the alternative networks are the big ratings getters because of 'teen girls'. Purely a niche play.
I think he is putting money before the vision of Rodenberry.
Maybe he will have a ton of models be the crew. Should get good ratings for a while until teen girls viewers get bored by scifi which takes about a year for these demographic shows.
Instead, why not do it with new characters? The only problem there is getting all the horrible "Next Generation" style moralizing out of it and keeping every character from being a different version of Wesley Crusher (jock Wesley, flirt Wesley, misunderstood loner Wesley, etc.) Hell, if you did it right, you could even bring back Wesley as an Academy instructor... why not?
Not sure I'd actually watch such a show, mind you, but it certainly doesn't sound any worse than the crap that's been passing for Star Trek in recent years.
Breakfast served all day!
Also, Shatner apparently went over the head of Trek head honcho Rick Berman to pitch his idea straight to the head of Paramount
Dark Helmet: You went over my helmet!!!!!
While top officials at Paramount were unavailable for comment at press time, William Shatner has released this official statement in regards to Paramount's dismissal of his show concept:
"KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN"
What about the twinkie? - Dr. Peter Venkman, PHD
I heard that one of the futuristic features of the Starfleet Academy was that you could name your own price for tuition.
Read any good sonnets lately?
There was a game released by Interplay when the company was in its prime called "Starfleet Academy". I remember waiting months for it to come out. It was a great game with lots of movie quality cut-scenes featuring Kirk and a few other stars (game was 5 CDs long). It completely owned Wing Commander IV in every way. It was one of the best Star Trek games I've ever played.
After that, a few years later, Interplay went on to make Star Trek: New Worlds... Which, ironically, was the worse Star Trek game I've every played.
I can't get behind that.
see this as the Trek version of "Saved by the Bell"?
Skip the Kirk/Spock tie-in and stick with the major premise:
There are a number of coming-of-age shows on TV right now that are well accepted (if not well done). Hospital shows about young doctors in training, for example. So long as it is more like a military academy drama setting sans the militaristic feel, and not like "Police Academy", I think it could fly.
-- Scott
I get visions of Tom and Jerry Kids, Tiny Toon Adventures, Muppet Babies, Teen Titans and other tv shows re-hashed with the characters as younger versions of themselves when I picture this. Teen Trek maybe? :P
I seem to rember a comic book in late 70's where this was the plot.
Would be to have the show Star Fleet Academy feature new young characters and to have some of the old characters as instructors and guest lecturers/characters. (Picard, Spock, etc.)
It sounds like their kind of show.
There's one PC video game where Shatner did an actual appearance before a Starfleet Academy class, and there's one line I still remember him saying: "Space is boring."
While this is a true statement (no one cares about a probe getting there), I think it also describes the general state of the Star Trek franchise. Teen versions of Kirk, McCoy and Spock would like the animated TV series that came in 1970s, interesting but still boring.
A Starfleet Acadamy show doesn't sound so bad, but Shatner had to add teen vesions of TOS characters into the mix. The younger versions of popular characters is a dead horse. Case(s) in point? Smallville, Baby Loony Tunes, A Pup Named Scoobydoo, Flintstone Kids, ect.
...of doing a show based on teens adventures at Star Fleet Academy. If it is like the OC though to draw in new viewers, then my father, the consummate typical Trekkie, will have little to do with it. It's not about the relationships in Star Trek, it's about the story and how we can use a fantasy of the future to question the present.
Also, please, please, please, don't have it focus around Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Introduce some other characters and let the others teens guest star every now and then.
We will learn what captain kirk was like as a teenager growing up and his problems getting laid...
Let's face the sad truth that the original Kirk/Spock/Bones/Scotty Star Trek was the only cool Trek series. With the exception of 7/9 and that sexy Vulcan it's been totally downhill since then. Only Shatner can save the series from extinction, Berman certainly hasn't helped any. More space karate, more sexy aliens. "Captain, teh series can't take much more of this!"
It's like Muppet Babies. Only preachy and more farfetched.
Promote civility: mod down any post starting with 'ummm'.
Instead of another variation on the theme, how about just a show called "Star Trek." I'd watch that all day long.
Do NOT do a prequel to the TOS cast. If enterprise has taught us anything, it's that trying to write history to canon is full of pitfalls, and the nerds will never forgive even the smallest of errors. You'll also run into the problem that people had with enterprise in that the technology looked more advanced than TOS, simple because computer graphics were more advanced.
Also, it's a bit of a stretch to presume that all the TOS cast would be at the academy together. Kirk and Spock maybe, but all the junior officers are much younger than Kirk, Spock, and Bones (McCoy would have been at starfleet medical anyway).
An awesome show would be an academy show during the dominion war of an unknown group of cadets. So rather than being a futuristic "Saved by the Bell", you can follow these cadets in some of the extended duties they would have had to undertake during the war. We could even see how the attack on Starfleet Headquarters happened, since we only saw the aftermath in DS9.
Just mod me so He can see my sig ;).
I think if this is done right it could work. The series Smallville is pretty similar in that it filled in the teenage years of a character that is better known for his adult exploits. It's a pretty fun show and doesn't piss all over the Superman mythos like some of the nay-sayers thought it could.
I think it takes a lot of guts to completely change the formula like that and I have to give Shatner credit for it. With the end of Enterprise near (despite the improvement in season 4), maybe this bold move would breathe new life into the series.
god! die or disappear already you old, washed up, Miss Congeniality, Airplane 3, Priceline, useless waste of groceries...its no wonder you're Canadian...quit clinging to the past glory..
How about this for an idea...imagine this old (and terrible) actor's one time run of fame ends and seemingly fades into the abyss, and no one notices..or cares.....
Man, even Deforest Kelly had enough sense to stay out of the entertainment limelight these last few decades...William should take note and follow "Bone's" actions...
Rumour has it that Shatner is using the working title: "Starfleet Academy 90210"
This came as a last minute change to his previous title: "Starfleet High" (which network executives saw as "far too obvious a bid" to pot-smoking trek fans).
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
. . . for filling in the story line on the homoerotic tensions between McCoy and Spock.
"I worked hard for it. I deserve it. And I have it," Campbell said. "It's all mine."
Starfleet Academy
Wohoo! \o/
Maybe he got the idea out of some box at the Interplay chapter 11 clearence...
A.....teen.....version.....of.....kirk....should.. ..be.....interesting.
-Dracken
I can't think of anything more exciting than week after week of thrilling simulations and high tech hijinx...
dear... god... not... another... prequel.
Here's some quotes by the Original Series crew regarding this Star Trek idea:
Scottie: "She'll not take much more" (more regarding Star Trek franchise itself)
Bones: "He's dead, Jim"
Spocks: "Highly illogical"
Just promise me Shatner doesn't try to play Kirk...
"The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the pieces." --Aldo Leopold (Paraphrased)
The only idea I would be at least interested to see is maybe a Romulan based show. As far as major races, they are one of the few that have not actually been explored extensively. You could still have the flavor of ST with meetings with Starfleet and all that but the other side of the story. Of course it doesn't have to be Romulan. Just any other storyline. How many ways can we depict how wonderfully perfect the Human race is (/sarcasm off)
Considering the vast age differences and career paths (before joining on the Enterprise) between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, I seriously doubt they were in Starfleet Academy at the same time.
Also, I would think that Starfleet Academy would be like other military academies, which means most of the student population would not be teenagers, but that's just a nit.
I do believe, however, that this would make a great replacement show for Smallville, once that gets cancelled.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Must......study for.......midterm.
KHAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!
quote "Presumably, the Reeves-Stevenses are again co-writing these novels with Shatner."
:)
hum... interesting ain't it
...would see the casts of cancelled shows (both past and present) battling it out to win a new show with Paramount. ... in some foreign US-hating country like Iraq or N Korea (US-hating Europe would be exempt but UK's Manchester would not because they have guns). The show would then spawn multiple spin-offs following the fortunes and hilarious misfortunes of the various expelled casts as they struggle with the lack lustre material, lazy stage hands, and random assasination squads. Yes, I did say random.
Enterprise vs. TOS vs. B5 vs. etc; with a special bye for Futurama - naturally the whole thing would be rigged in favour of Futurama because we all know cartoons are so much better than real-actors.
The end of each show would see a team eliminated and sent to a community theatre for a year to act out classic plays such as Death of a Salesman or classic TV series such as Magnum and Tour of Duty
As an added bonus each cast memeber who ever tried to resurrect their original TV show will be required to accompany the local US ambassador where ever s/he goes but without a bullet proof vest.
It would be very funny and allow us to let go of cancelled TV shows that should be treated like sleeping dogs and stop old actors from trying to resurrect old TV shows.
I say this having just recovered from the first Ep. of the new Dr Who (I knew Billy Piper liked older men but this is getting ricockulous).
which will result in Teeny Star Trek getting produced and aired on SciFi Channel, then Shatner can play the role of the leader of the prisoners.
Um.. I read this and immediately had a disturbing vision
StarTrek Babies?
but... SIR i ... HAVEN'T WRITTEN (my)............(interminable pause).... PAPER! can'tigivemyreport... another... day....?
I hate shatner.... ST:TOS was good but it would have been uber without shitner.
I am ready to be flamed now by the 3 people who like shatner.
"A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
"d'Oh!" ~Homer
90210 meets Star Trek. Last thing the world needs is an angst ridden teenage Bones McCoy hanging out at the intergalactic Peach Pit trying to sort out his acne and possibly latent homosexuality.
O.K. I suck...but I want to see this show. Uhura in tight, booty-showing capri-pants. Nurse Chambers when she was just plain old Betty. Yum..
No...it's okay...I wasn't using my Civil Liberties anyway
No your not the only one to thinkof minority report as a horror flick. i saw all those personalized ads indentifingyou by retinal scanners, and I got chills down my spine.
I can't stand ads today, I would have to kill people to live in a place that way. That or move to the mountians, and jus order everything online.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Well shoot me, but it involves Sci-Fi characters, was pitched as a show to Bungie, and was has its own webcomic. If that isn't Slashdot, I don't know what is.
I personally think that J. Michael Straczynski should have a go, he pulled off B5 on a shoestring. See his comments here http://www.joeuser.com/Forums.aspx?ForumID=10&AID= 65211. Imagine what he could do with Paramounts financing and marketing muscle.
Like wise I would like to see Jose Whedon thoughts and Quentin Tarantino's ideas. Even Jonathan Frakes has demonstrated enough talent as a director and producer with Roswell to put together a good team.
Teen versions of McCoy and Kirk? Aren't their characters like, 20 years apart in age?
Now, I don't know the details, but isn't Spock like, older than all of those (using the "every race is longer lived and better than humans" rule that applied to all sci-fi fantasy since forever, especially those with pointy ears)?
Get around that crap, and the idea is actually pretty cool. Well, I think so. More tech gadgets, little to no combat, all people stories...
Or maybe we'd just watch as the group bravely runs around to bars after school hours, attempting to bravely go where no man has gone before...
Try something new. Rehashing old stories and endless prequals doesn't do you any favours. It makes everything boring and predictable. Enterprise suffered from this and so do the current Star wars films.
Look to the future, move forward and enhance the sci-fi populus as a whole. Don't keep rehashing the same 3 plot lines.
I like muppets.
Denny Krane!
Well, you can be sure at least one person would watch that show.
I think Shatner is by far, by far, my favorite Trekker. He's got a sense of humor about himself and his work, yet he's not even remotely afraid to take chances.
Really, I think that's a bit shortsighted. Shatner has only become that way in the last decade or so. Prior to that, he's tried to distance himself from the Trek fans as much as possible. Compared to how much he has benefited from Trek fandom, Shatner has given very little back. Contrast this with George Takei, Deforest Kelly, or Jimmy Doohan who have always been big supporters of Trek fandom. In a previous message, I talked about how Jimmy Doohan took it upon himself to use his fame to help a single fan back to health. Shatner would never do anything like this -- then or now. I'll admit that Shatner is likeable but that's been a recent thing. Read Takei's book sometime and listen to the shit that Shatner used to do. Shatner didn't even show up at Roddenberry's funeral, for chrissake!
You're entitled to your opinion but I'm baffled how you can consider him a Trekker at all, let alone your favorite.
GMD
watch this
For the non-gamers/non-historians in the crowd, the Starfleet Academy idea has been kicked around for quite a while now, not the least of which was rumors about it before Enterprise launched. The primary motivating factor for the idea however has been the series of games Interplay published in the 90's under the Starfleet Academy title, the first of which was a SNES title and the second a whopping 6 CD full-motion-video/space-sim game for the PC. Like most of Interplay's Star Trek games, they were poorly received, but the PC game amounted to an interesting prototype in how a Starfleet Academy series might pan out, and why it's a plausible idea in the first place.
Ah yes, the original series had no "camp" at all, just totally serious Science Fiction...
Although a lot of Wesley Crushers running around on teen homones does sound a bit over the top.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
they're all a little loony" And Sunday afternoony,
We're invading UPN!
Rick Berman's adventures,
Complying with the censors,
With schedule misadventures,
It's Starfleet Academy!
So here's UPN, where crappy bling bling makes for art,
Black sitcoms and reality shows - it's like FOX, but dark!
We're spitting invective, the phasers are defective,
The franchise isn't dead, Jim, but it's lost. it's. heart.
(Kirk's toupee's from Wal-mart.)
Both Spock and McCoy and Scotty are all significantly older than Kirk, so much that they can't all be teenagers at the same time. Uh-oh, I've opened the door to another time-travel episode. Somebody travel back in time and stop me from posting!
This message has been scanned for memes and dangerous content by MindScanner, and is believed to be unclean.
Spock was near the century mark. Bones was older than Kirk, who was the youngest Star Fleet captain until Riker. (per TNG, no idea what episode)
they were never in school together. The idea was that they grew into friendship while serving together on their beloved Enterprise. not having been busom buddies in the dorm back on earth. Now maybe Scotty and Bones were in the same age group, but completely different depts. Uhura, Sulu and Checkov were all younger than Kirk.
Denny Crane: You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter lets him in. Sees a guy in a suit making closing argument. Says "who's that?" St. Peter says "Oh, that God. Thinks he's Denny Crane." Sorry, I just love Shatner too much on Boston Legal.
What would really be fun is a show about the timeship relativity. They could cruise the timeline solving mysteries and the like! Also, with the inclusion of a dog looking alien, it could be like scoobie-doo in a spaceship!
if this show would tell how ohura got such a cushy job on the bridge. Or how all those blue-eyed, blond-haired ensigns kept showing up by Kirk's side. 2 words.... female-alien shower scenes....
Cliff Claven
K.E.G. Party Chairman
Founding Leader of: Koncerned for Egalitarin Governance
There were a *couple* of good episodes in the spinoffs, so it would be a little more than that :)
hawk
It's dead, Jim.
Denny Crane
You sly dog: you got me monologuing! - Syndrome
Really. It'd be interesting to see a non-federation ship as the primary vessel. Better yet, make it a klingon mercenary ship to give them more plot oppertunities. Less goodie goodie prime directive, more honor.
Lets just let the whole thing be done and do something new. The problem with the trek universe is the TREK UNIVERSE every time someone tries to do something new it conflicts with the history or the prime directive or what someone thinks aught to be done. I say start fresh and different.
You can legislate morally you can't legislate morality
Just lock up the two of them and tell them it is a fight to the death to decide whose "creative vision" will be used to create the next Star Trek series.
Can't wait to see Shatner with a "lirpa" in his hands again!
I can almost here the music now!
Maybe if Nimoy pitched the idea, it would fly.
--
make install -not war
Why would you waste jms on Star Trek? Trek is hobbled by years upon years of crufty retcon and ideas that sounded good at the time, but pile up to make an insane backlog of crap. Not to mention a pretty poorly done founding ideology.
jms can, and should, do better on his own. There's no reason for him to shackle himself to a sinking ship, not when he's proved that he can do the lion's share of making a kickass SF universe from scratch. It'd be a step down for him.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
One of my favorite Star Trek books, called The Kobayashi Maru, involved several of the main characters re-telling stories of their academy days. It is really a compelling little book and extremely well written.
Several of the stories focus on the Kobayashi Maru doomsday scenario that's referenced in one of the Star Trek movies, but several deal with other aspects of a Star Fleet Academy education.
If Shatner had this type of material in in mind then the project might actually be worth while. Anyway, it's a great read for any Star Trek fan -- the author really captures each character's own nuances.
Just remember, it can't be any worse than the first (and for me, last) episode of Enterprise.
Bring it!
"Now that, my friend, is a rabbit. Denny Crane."
If I weren't already a human being, that show would make me want to go out and sign up for lawyering school.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
I used to hate Superman. I liked Batman and human superheros better. What kind of a turtured soul can you have when you can't even be hurt? How about being uncorrupted by ultimate power? No, Smallville gets it right. Internal conflict between a evil destiny and being raised with a apple pie morality. Good stuff. It also helps explain his relationship with Lex Luthor.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
maybe the show will finally explain how he got that speech im[sleep(3)][2x fast]pediment
That said, I can't rule out the possibility that Shatner's concept might result in something worth watching. I'm not a fan of teen angst shows, which is another genre that's been done to death. But all genres you see on TV -- cop shows, medical shows, workplace comedies, household comedies -- have been done to death. TV doesn't have the courage to try anything really new. But if you get the right combination of good writing and good acting, you can actually do something good with even the most cliched material. As every Buffy fan knows.
Much as I'd like to see Star Trek just disappear and be replaced by something really original, I know that's not going to happen. Next best is to have Berman and his hack stories retired, replaced by somebody with some actual creativity. Which person is certainly not Joseph Michael Straczynski; aside from having too many names, he's even more of a cliche-monger than Berman.
William Shatner might not seem any better, since his occasional attempts at writing have been truely pathetic. But at least he knows that he's a bad writer, and knows how to hire good ones. And he seems to have some sense where the Trek franchise has gone wrong -- more so than anybody else connected with it.
Did Shatner play him or something in an obscure show and it's an "in" thing to bring it up? Kind of like bringing up Cat from Zero Wing?
I mean, come on! Shatner will always be known for one character and one character only: Denny Crane!
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Don't vulcans live a lot longer than humans? It was my understanding that Spock was older, and therefore wasn't a "teenage academy boy" at the same time as the other two.
NCC 90201
many involving puffy aging actors in toupees squeezing into tight uniforms and trying to relive their youth on camera. Shatner has taken all of those chances already.
A Starfleet Academy show or movie isn't such a bad idea. It is fertile ground for many sorts of story-telling, and could really re-vitalize the show.
Then again, so could any generic concept. Really. Let's try a few:
Star Trek: Trash Collectors -- A show focusing on a "grabage scow" that works in Federation space near the Klingon Empire between ST:ToS and ST:TNG. You could have stories that range from the discovery of ancient objects in the trash to slice-of-life stories that focus on what "normal people" do in the federation. The overall story arc should be a sort of behind-the-scenes story of the end of Klingon / Federation hostilies after movie 6.
Star Trek: Financial Planners -- Here's a story line I've always wanted. In a federation that says it doesn't have money, but in reality uses money in dozens of ways... how do you manage your financial security? This would be similar to your average legal show, with new cases each week and ongoing character drama. The catch is this: you get to bring in all of the folks from TNG and DS9 (perhaps even some Voyager people) as guest stars. I'd love to see Diana Troy angsting about how to deal with Worf's Klingon inheritance and shouting down Klingon reps who say that she can't be named an heir. There's good drama there.
Anything CAN work, the trick is telling good stories, and that's what Trek has been light on.
There are dozens of stories you could tell set in an Academy from the mystery sleuth ala Veronica Mars sorts of things to an Ender's Game like story-line. You could even do Top Gun: a bunch of hot-shots come from Federation training facilities all over to qualify for the Academy. You get to have a first season of intense character drama as the students vie for a fixed number of slots, and then the next four seasons are once they get in.
One thing that I think would be a huge mistake is this: don't use established characters in the lead roles. Bring in guests, sure, but don't have Star Trek: TOS characters show up as teen-agers. It's just too hard to pull off in a way that doesn't detract from the story you're telling.
What you MIGHT do is introduce several characters that are very similar to people we've known. Maybe even make some of them descendents of the people we know. But outright making them the same characters is a mistake.
Ideally, I think you want to set it after everything that we've seen in the main time-frame of the shows (that is, sometime between when Voyager leaves and when it comes back). This way, the story is wide-open and you can introduce any kind of intrigue you like.
I think the OP was indulging in some hyperbole, well-deserved at that. And yet thirty seasons of Star Trek is a tremendous library. (Counting each movie as two episodes for runtime, hell, let's call it thirty-one seasons.) Discounting daytime soaps, is there a single cohesive fictional universe which has received that much screentime?
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
The only issue is that it has to be story with a clear beginning and a clear end. Just like a novel.
The problem is that Hollywood isn't interested in that format for TV. They want it episodic so there's always room to wiggle and try to squeeze more money out of it.
Think of it as filming a movie, in 26 blocks.
Once was -- might again
Just found this: An endless loop of Shatner shouting you-know-what.
Just open it up in a separate window and let it play in the background all day long.
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
Spock was about 100 years old (or so?) when Kirk was a teen ager, right?
Raydude
The fight scene between Kirk and Academy-nemesis Finnegan will probably last the entire first season.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
Academy, yes.
Kirk, Spock, McCoy, no.
I think it would be fun, but it's entirely too self-indulgent (surprise!) of Shatner to base it on those three characters.
Education is the silver bullet.
Will the young Kirk wear a "The Enemies Gate is Down" T-Shirt? And will each episode feature the Star Trek
fight music from the original series?
"I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating. And in fourteen days, I had lost exactly two weeks. Joe E. Lewis
If Shatner's efforts at Star Trek V are any indication, he should stay far, far away from the creative process of any show.
My impression is that Kirk is the youngest of the three (youngest person ever to make captain, etc.) and Bones is quite a bit older. With the way Vulcans age, who can tell how old Spock is? (I'm sure someone here can...) The point being, I think the odds of them all being at the academy at the same time are slim to none. And yes, I know its just a TV show!
(Harry Potter + Smallville) * A whole cast of Wesley Crushers = Failure.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
who would be the guest actor that would die in each episode...
Or even better, a TV series based on David Weber's Honor Harrington character, possibly back at Saganami Island.
And maybe get Famke Jansen to play Honor Harrington.
Education is the silver bullet.
I hate having to explain comments that should be obvious to even the most remotely intelligent person. This is directed at all the responses, and those who saw fit to moderate me as a troll. I guess I have to really spell things out on Slashdot.
But you answered my question - he hasn't done much of anything of importance. Hence, why is this news? Why is it news that anyone, let alone Shatner, pitched a Star Trek prequel show that got turned down? I just don't understand why this is news, or why anyone cares? Now if it was approved, I could see why it might somehow be news, although I personally wouldn't give a rat's ass. The title might as well have been : "Shatner still yanking on the Star Trek teat". Did you notice his picture on IMDB? Why not an updated picture instead of one from the 60s?
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
....The Shatner spoken word diss track.
Kirk, Spock and McCoy never went to the academy at the same time and McCoy never went at all. He went to Starfleet Medical School. Also I dont know why pocket books is asking him to write boks about it as starfleet academy books have been being done by pocket books for years. They are done as kids books and I read most of the TNG ones years ago and still have one about Worf.
buried alive
Here is Shatner's monologue from the Just for Laughs festival in 2000. It is a parody of a famous Canadian beer commercial.
You sly dog: you got me monologuing! - Syndrome
I hope they include a teen version of KKKKKHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!
Ditch kirk, have it take place at the same time as ST:TNG in the academy about recruits. Don't use any pre-existing main characters from other series unless they are having cameos. (I.E. McCoy [who's still alive] makes a visit to the academy).
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Just what would be needed to completely kill off the franchise.
It can't die no matter how idiotic it gets. I still want to see a series shot in the 24 Series format from the Romulan perspective. Now that would be fucking awesome.
Enterprise already taught us that it's bad ju-ju to prequel TOS. Hopefully, Shatner won't fall in that same pit and lose whatever amount of dignity he has left.
GET FREE APPLE STUFF!
The "teenage version" of well-established characters has been done in comic books for decades (what do you think Superboy was?) to the point of being an unbearable cliche. So I'm guessing Paramount had already thrown this idea around, unless they really are truly brain dead over at Paramount.
Not saying it's not a great idea, I would definitely watch a Star Trek Academy show (unlike either Voyager or Enterprise, which I quickly lost interest in). This could clearly make a mint for Paramount too.
I'm not interested in Shatner being involved in it, except maybe as consultant.
Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're beautiful!
I for one welcome our new insect overlord. Oh wait, it's a man. Just a man with lots of plastic and no singing ability.
Of course one of Shatner's main conditions is that he would have to play the young Kirk.
Ep. 1: Young Kirk wins the Academy karaoke contest with a rousing rendition of a Beatles classic.
Shatner promoted the idea with "It'll be like 'Saved by the Bell,' but with phasers!"
For Greatest Slashdot Post of 2005. Well done man.
Forget the whales - save the babies.
That kind of thinking is how "The Simple Life" got put on the air.
"No beer until you finish your tequila!" -Leela's Dad
Well... Not a bad idea... But in the long run, will "StarBase 90210" work for seven years? Why not experiment a bit with the Star Trek universe and make a number of TV movies or miniseris rather than an all new series?
/Ter
I'd like to see a federation spy operating under cover in the Romulan empire. And after that story, wouldnt it be refreshing to an Murder She Wrote-ish tale. Then perhaps explore the Starfleet Academy. Or follow the tale of two rivaling federation test pilots that takes greater and greater risks to compete with eachother. Then hire the DS9 team for a special TV movie...
Sure, It sounds like a number of cheap stunts, but it would also be possible to return to the original trek concept with first contacts with new civilisation and cultural clashes.
Only trek would work better in the miniseries format as it could feature central characters that are "tailormade" for the plot. (Compare this to Final Fantasy series where they didnt have to make sure all characters survive to return in the next episode)
That's not really William Shatner, it's a Klingon!
Col. Green: "Now can you do Lincoln?"
Klingon: "Help me...Kirk! Help...me...Kirk!"
Col. Green: "Excellent. Now, can you do the Star Trek franchise?"
Klingon: "Help me...Mr. Shatner! For God's sake...Bill...please help me!"
"If god did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him" --Voltaire
"MISTER TAMBORINE MAN!"
Star Trek is a very large body of work encompassing many years, many cultures, and many interesting locales. Like Stargate, it's a framework that allows a writer to do whatever he wants.
Personally, I think the Star Trek still has a lot of potential left in it, but it's the writers, the actors, the directors, and the producers of any given project who will determine whether a new franchise is worth anything.
Sometimes that mixture has to age a bit before it matures enough for all of those ingredients to start working together. Star Trek TNG was embarrasingly overacted and rough in its first few episodes, perhaps even the first season or two -- but it eventually grew to be a favorite of mine. Enterprise was decent entertainment, and was getting better. I didn't like Kate Mulgrew, so I couldn't enjoy V-ger. DS9 was too political for me, but from all accounts it also matured with age and became something worth watching. However, the Trek movies are an exercise in nostalgia and CGI, and I despise them for their cheap tricks and bland plots. Although I really didn't care for the TOS-cast movies when they came out, they at least had character and substantial plot. The TNG-cast movies just seem to be blah excuses for a lot of CGI and routine plots.
I think a Starfleet Academy could be a great series if done well. It all depends on how the casting, writing, directing, etc work out. I don't think it's a good idea to feature the big characters from ST:TOS, however. Perhaps their younger selves, maybe even via CGI, can be featured in cameos or whatnot. If they went back and tried to put Kirk and Spock as major characters in a new series, it would be an exercise in nostalgic masturbation.
TV is the same as movies or music. When Janis Ian did her /. interview, she mentioned that music studios actually pay you less for songs you wrote than they do for "covers." The idea is that a known commodity is guaranteed to be at least recognizable. It's insane -- that approach carried to an extreme would result in zero new hits -- but that's the way they pay. (Janice Ian would know -- she's never recorded anything she didn't write herself.)
Even the cable networks are hardly adventurous about what they program. They need to give you something you recognize, only they're able to push the standards of what can get shown and they can afford the ratings that go with a niche audience -- so you get Larry David remaking Seinfeld without the straight man, or a mob series with more language and violence than would pass on broadcast. You still know exactly what you're getting: S & The City was a big hit for HBO, but it's basically a sit com with more language and some skin.
I used to work in bookstores during college. Most of the mass market stuff is completely canned Stephen King-level genre work. But man, is there ever more "space" for niche authors in the book industry. It doesn't seem like the big media companies properly develop books as a seeding ground for their other markets, though. Individual authors get big money deals when someone's interested in the film rights, but what they should be doing is signing young authors to modest contracts early on. What you need, to get to what we both want, is some kind of farm system for developing young talent that can cultivate an audience over time. Seems like that'd be okay for the sort of authors who get called "promising," and great for the studios -- assuming they could view the money as a modest investment and not stand over authors' shoulders giving committee advice.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Why would you waste jms on Star Trek? Trek is hobbled by years upon years of crufty retcon and ideas that sounded good at the time, but pile up to make an insane backlog of crap.
So; essentially you're saying that Star Trek is to sci-fi what the Intel x86 series is to CPU architecture? Sounds fair.
Ideas that sounded good at the time, but pile up to make an insane backlog of crap? Yep.
Especially the stuff Intel added (IIRC) around the 286 stage because they had loads of die space to play with, but weren't used much and subsequently deprecated; but they still had to be supported in every subsequent x86 processor.
I've long thought that the designers at Intel and AMD must have a nightmare job trying to improve the performance of their chips while *still* having to support decisions made 20 years ago that restrict their ability to improve (eg) pipelining.
(Although I don't understand why they can't say "Okay; we'll support the obselete stuff in the new chips, but we won't bother ensuring its performance is up to modern standards if doing so would create a problem with the rest of the chip." Of course, there's probably some obscure legacy code in Windows XP that still uses the old instructions and would run *horribly* on chips designed along those lines.... veering offtopic, sorry.)
I guess ST's popularity and public resistance to new sci-fi is like the popularity of the x86 because *that* works with what's gone before. For "available software" read "geek obsession and interest investment".
Of course, there are far fewer practical reasons for geeks to be resistant to new sci-fi, as opposed to computer buyers wanting to be able to run their existing software on a new machine.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
I like how you fail to post his follow up.
And it's based on the 1998 game "Starfleet Academy." In short, follow the adventures of a group of cadets in the book as you play the 5-cd game. IIRC, 230-something pages. The game/book take place during the Star Trek VI era.
Liked the book, liked the game's storyline, the gameplay was so-so (Otherwise generic starship flight simulator w/ Star Trek name attached). Why can't Paramount seem to license a good non-FPS game based on Star Trek? S.F. Academy the gameplay was half-baked, New Worlds the interface was off, Klingon Academy was pretty good.
Hmm... I oughta try those games with WINE...
The romulans are still as standoffish as ever.
The BORG have come around, they have been convinced to only assimilate willing subjects, and now serve on starships (usually in a BORG "ghetto" due to their specific environmental needs.) Borg actively evangelize now (hey you know you want to join us - never be alone!)
Most of the ship is actually holodeck which works correctly most of the time, when it fails hilarity ensues.
The Federation is still in a cold war with the Founders, with growing presences on both sides of the wormhole.
In other words the wife cleaned him out and he ran off planet.
I can't understand how Lex knows clark so much and later he might not know that he IS superman. After all, in smallville, Clark does NOT use glasses!
This has always intrigued me.
In the fine tradition of crapy ideas following on the heals of tinytoon. I'm glad to see it's made it to scifi. While the idea it's self don't entirely suck, why the old crew??? I'm sure they weren't all at school togeather.
Sheriff Officer T.J. Hooker!
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Starfleet Academy aka Star Trek : OC aka Star Trek : 90210 No thanks.
the studio will be more inclined to listen to Shatner?
n t somebody worse than Berman? It makes.......no......sense.
Why...on...Earth......would..........they......wa
Wishing I was a millionaire since 1969.
this might be interesting for this one reason only
this sig has been discontinued.
WFS should stick to his budding music career:
Has Been
I haven't heard the whole CD, but the song Common People is actually kinda good.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
The guy's name is Ron Goulart, and he's actually very good.
I'm pretty far from being a Trekker, but this sounds like a great premise. I'm all about backfilling legend (well, except for "Smallville"). And with Shatner at the helm, I'd definitely give up an hour a week for it.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Though this idea has the potential to bomb in a variety of ways, I for one think it would be cool to at least see the episode with Kirk's Kobayashi Maru test. Of course, since this is the most famous incident in starfleet academy history, the show would probably save it for the last episode finale (or two). Then again, if the show bombs, maybe I won't have to wait that long for it after all...
Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
The comedy just writes itself.
Muppet Babies
nuff said
Great, Star Trek meets The OC. Ryan - Kirk Cohen - Spock Julie - Q ....
You get the idea
If memory serves, the idea of a Star Trek series based on the Academy has come up a time or two. The concept has potential to not suck and is probably the best next step for the franchise.
HOWEVER, the idea of using existing characters is horrid, especially as students. Biographies for TOS are complete to the point that for this series to be interesting and entertaining, you'd either have to have no knowledge of the ST universe or be fed lithium until you don't notice the continuity errors and contradictions that will inevitably pop up every 10 seconds.
They should do ST: The Academy, but with all original characters. An exception can be made if CleverNickName wants to do a turn as a young prof. And of course Denise Crosby is always welcome. She makes me feel funny down there.
Whoa, sailor. Doctor Who ran for an incredibly variable per-series runtime. But let's say they averaged twenty, 25-minute eps per season (some look like they were around ten). For runtime, that's about a third of what Trek did. For episode numbers, that's about two-thirds.
Now, TOS had 55-minute episodes, because advertising was, I dunno, less popular back then. But still, they pushed through twenty-six episodes a season from TNG onwards.
Trek: 30*26*50 = 650 hours.
Doctor Who: 26*20*25 = 217 hours.
Not even close.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Pocket Books has asked him to write a two-novel series based on the 'Starfleet Academy' concept.
Ahh, more ghost work for Ron Goulart. Es muy fantastico.
I wonder if the young Kirk will have Shatner's singing skills Maybe "Common People" can be the theme song.....
You can fool some of the people all of the time
...maybe after Enterprise ends and Berman leaves the franchise, the studio will be more inclined to listen to Shatner?
Only... if they have... the patience... for it.
Given that T'Pau appears in two fourth season Enterprise episodes (I haven't seen them - they are still showing the third season down here), I would say that both the parent and grand-parent's theories are wrong.
Walter Koenig did a bangup job as Bester on Babylon 5. Completely convincing, completely unlike Chekov.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Does the show include a younger and hotter Uhura? Now THAT is something I would watch.
My only question is will Luke Perry be available to play the role of Kirk?
Knight37 - Once a Gamer, Always a Gamer
Short story format, like X-Files, etc. I don't mind less involvement, you know? Can't they do an off-base story every other episode, like X-files? I thought that was brilliant for episodal structure. Sometimes Voyager would really be different, but every time the writers were stuck (I know this is hard, but) they would do a ripoff of the TOS or TNG, etc. (that had been ripped off by DS9 already).
They don't necessarily need better writing, but some commitment to an overall theme or story arc- without following it doggedly and joylessly like DS9 in it's last days. Escapism needs a theme, not consistency.
Thing is, they just need to make up their mind. Soap Operas need linear stories to get you addicted, X-files/ Twilight Zone/ etc. went the other way to really thrill the audience every now and again. Sci-Fi'ers will watch both types of show. But Star Trek vacillates too much. It's basically been flirting with full soap opera, and it should just commit.
Or let's have Paramount roll out a 'Final Fantasy' weekly series and REALLY commit to a sci-fi soap opera format.
Shatner can barely speak the King's English,eloquently, let alone write a grammatically correct setence, to say nothing of a book. His "books" are ghost-written and his name as the "author" is what sells them. How many other ST actors have "written" SF books? LeVar Burton certainly has. I'm sure there are others.
It was his drinking. Finally got his medical degree at StarFleet: Bermuda.
Which is also a new series being pitched by 'Wild Bill' Shatner! lol.
Doesn't this seem to have "Episode 1" written all over it to you guys?
Our greatest enemy is neither a single man, nor is it a nation, it is, as it has always been, our own greed.
... fucking kids,and then the idiot comes und suggests a whole series with fucking StarTrack kids. :-(
Wasn't Wesley Crusher enough? Wasn't Jack Sisko enough? Can't they make a series for grownups with grownups? The got rid of Kese in Voyager, and they don't have fucking kids in Enterprise, and that's a good thing.
Spock is also much older and McCoy is somewhere in between them. Chekov goes to the academy to follow in his heroes footsteps.
So timewise they could not meet up as trainees and to do so would upset the fans to much wich has been shown with enterprise is not a good thing.
So could it work?
Well yeah. But make a drastic twist in how the story is told. Don't make the "hero" the crew but make the "hero" the academy. So do not have a central cast but rather a central supporting cast of teachers or old students coming back for training around wich fresh new characters have their story in each episode.
This allows you to kill characters central to the story and never really know how it is going to end.
Also the fear of teen drama doesn't have to happen. Teens do not go to the academy. They are a few years older and young adults instead. Wesley was a freak and admitted early. Don't repeat that mistake and you won't have snotty anoying kids.
It could work but paramount would most likely ruin it.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I have it on good authority that at the end of Star Trek II it wasn't Spock in that coffin they launched out into space. It was Rick Berman's self-respect.
The Chronic *WHAT* les of Narnia!
They should give up on milking it and maybe take a break and completely reinvent it...
Like the current king of all SciFi- Battlestar Galactica.
--Flame on!
Smithers: Sir, the actors are here to audition for the part of you.
Burns: Excellent.
[Anthony Hopkins is wheeled in restrained a la Hannibal Lecter]
Anthony Hopkins: Excellent. [hisses]
Burns: Next!
[William Shatner appears, dressed as Captain Kirk]
Shatner: Ex...cel-lent!
Burns: Next!
Homer: Exactly. Heh, heh...d'oh!
Burns: Next!
Bumble Bee Man: Exellente!
Spielbergo: Es muy bueno.
Burns: Oh, it's hopeless. I'll have to play myself.
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
WHOA, DUDE! I had the same freakin idea!! I was thinking of something else that would be cool, then WHAM! I was taking a shower when I thought of this.
Let your puns beging about me taking a shower while thinking this up.
You have the ability to not click on stories that you don't care about? That shows a level of self-control that's above and beyond the call of duty!
...the greatest SciFi story arc ever told. From the original series, to the Next Generation, to Voyager and Enterprise (Deep Space 9 kinda sucked), the Start Trek franchise is, bar none, the best SciFi series ever. Roddenbery had great ideas and really pushed the envelope of SciFi by sending out messages regarding social issues. This was obvious in the representation of the Communists as Klingons and the Americans as Star Fleet in the original series. It became even more obvious when the Klingons and the humans formed an alliance just as the former USSR and the US did during the 80s. And you can see bits of Israel in the Bajorans and the Islamics in the Cardassians now. Then they touched on social issue like race with the half black/half white men fighting with each other. And homosexuality/bisexuality with various stories during the Next Generation.
Star Trek has done more to show where humanity could go, if they would lay down the negative traits of greed and fear. To GO BOLDLY is exactly what Rodenberry meant. He meant to go without fear into the unknown. The unknown being the social issues of the day. Why are people racist, sexist or homophobic? Because they fear the unknown and refuse to go boldly into these new horizons. Rodenberry was a genius and a true American. Much more American than any idiot neocon today. And his legacy carries through all the series (except Deep Space 9) and even extends into Andromeda a bit. Even with the watered down quality of Enterprise, some of the original genius still shows through. Hopefully, Captain Kirk will be able to save the series with his new proposition. After all, he wrote the Tek book series which was phenomenal. (I only wish that Greg Evigan was not cast in the TV show. He's too much of a fucking hillbilly to be in a cyberpunk series. I hate hilljumpers or anyone from the south pretty much.)
To anyone who disagrees with me, grow a brain and learn something. Put away your Lord of the Rings, Matrix and Blade crap. Forget about the flawed and failed Star Wars franchises. Even the first Star Wars as cute as it was, was a piece of triteness when it premiered. The idea of the ordained and destined godman is a boring and loathsome device. It already sucked when it was used in the most well known fiction of all: the Christian Bible. The aspiration to perfection that characters like Data, 7 of 9, Spock, Tuvok and T'Pol espouse is much more realistic and attainable. If you need to believe in fairy stories, then stick with your pointless rubbish. But if you want to grow as a person, watch Trek.
Or even better, a TV series based on David Weber's Honor Harrington character, possibly back at Saganami Island.
Honestly, I think Honor Harrington would be best served by following the rather successful model of Horatio Hornblower from the series by C.S. Forester. With Battlestar Galactica doing well, I'd like to think that the SciFi channel would be willing to play the role of A&E.
maybe the entire cast from Scooby kids can join starfleet too.
they can fight scary space ghosts from romulus, no wait, it's just the Janitor Mr Skragg!
Let it go, already, folks, the franchise has nothing left to give except "a copy of a copy of a copy," to quote Roger Ebert.
What do you get when you cross Tiny Toons and Star Trek? Why Tiny Trek of course.... bad image, must - flush - brain (brain, brain - what is brain?)
Star Date: 902.1.0
Why, oh why, didn't I take the Blue Pill?
OK, that device works for maybe 1 or 2 episodes. Nevermind.
Why, oh why, didn't I take the Blue Pill?
shatner would just die already.
yeah he was kirk. big deal. hes a horrible actor and very annoying.
the damm commercial they keep showing on tbs makes me wanna scream
Some ideas are just too stupid to be heard. This one and "Can I get tasteloss from a foosball table" are but a few.
I would never watch it ...
But I would have when I was in grade school!
Cheers,
--The Dude
he convinces an entire town that he's filming a movie there.
A big name Hollywood actor with a bunch of cameras fooled people into thinking he was there to shoot a movie?
My, how incredibly clever.
You can't take the sky from me...
That's "The Emmy-Award Winning William Shatner" to you, bub...
If there's room on TV for a "Chasing Farrah" reality show, then it's only a question whether Shatner or Nimoy is next. Spock's got the big teeth, and I'm sure that Shatner's nipples are at least as large as Farrah's!
Oops, made myself barf...
actually his show idea is a good one. I wish that "Enterprise" though would have a) not been called the Enterprise in the first place and b)would have started even earlier much before warp drive like maybe 50 to 100 years from now. That could be interesting I think a show about where we go from here.
I'd watch it most likely. Would be interesting to see how they arranged the tech of that era using todays production qualities. And if they stuck to the timeline, just 20 years earlier, they could clear up a lot of stuff from the original, like bones' first still in his dorm room, kirk's hotrod, stuff like that there.....
And there would be a ton of academy babes, too.......
Maybe Kirk and Spock falsified Official Government Documents?
He could pitch that it is the "Mirror, Mirror" Star Fleet Academy. And if it is reality-based, base it on the current cabal in the white house. It could make for some interesting "manifest destiny/wagon trains and bibles and phaser cannons of the red, white and blue" in outer space.
Anyway, I attended an ST convention in San Jose around 1989 or 90 or so and wandered into a section that was labeled for "Adults Only". I wondered, "what in the HELL in Star Trek could be for 'adults only'?
Well, apparently, Kirk/Spock lover stories! Authors under pseudonyms (pen names) who I heard happen to be mostly women authors, took up the pen and the challenge to tell their take on Kirk and Spock and why they were so inseperable (other than what we saw on screen...). A sample (and, not I didn't buy, but I remember some lines that had me laughing my ass off...)...
Here, I a paraphrase:
"
Kirk rushes into the Transporter Room and dismisses the Chief. The door closes and Kirk rushes up to plead with Spock, holding his hand..." Spock, why do you have to go? Assign someone else."
Raspily/whatever, Spock points out the obvious, "Jim, this assignment is very dangerous. Someone could get killed, and I am the best-qualified to carry it out and the odds in my favor of coming back alive..."
"But, Spock, you always take the dangerous assignment..."
"Jim..."
"Spock, just be careeful." Affectionately, " I love you.... I'll be waiting for you in your quarters." ("...With my legs wide open...", I presume...)
"
Now, I thought "WHOA!" Never imagined THAT kinda shit, umm, "interaction" between Kirk and Spock, when I grew up watching Trek. But, it was funny, interesting, and kinda refreshing.
Too bad Uhura, Scotty, Chekov, Sulu, DeSalle, Rand and many others, despite all these pocket and bantam and schuster et al books the lines seem to go to the top 3. I am so sick of ensembles. I prefer the way some militaries work, where a captain might be there for 18 months, but where the camera cuts in, the CO is already into his/her 9th month, officers come and go... That's the kind of stuff I am into and working on, down-to-Earth stuff. Rotations and frustrations. Port-and-Starboard watch shifts that lead to drug or alcohol abuse, or sex in a fan room or cleaning gear area... Or, like on my ship, when the XO confiscate the pron mags of an augmentee crewman, the crewman went right into the XO's stateroom, looked around, and re-acquired is contraband. Since Trek (or mutations of it) has already shown that the "future" is not so rosy, after all (unless Enterprise is a holo-novel), then maybe we should return to stories more on terra firma...
However, as for Sci-Fi stuff or Trek, I am in favor of Voyager returning, with Harry Kim as a Captain (No, that take in the shuttle is only an appeasement mechanism, and doesn't really SAY he was a Captain. C'mon, Paris commited some big offenses, and got promoted, and Kim-chan was clean-nosed mostly, and innovative and to the very end NEVER got promoted above ENsign. Just scripting/marketing BS! NObody that good stays in a Navy that long without being promoted. Probably humans still are too stereotypical, racist or something, but it is patently inexplicable for Kim to not be field-promoted Lieutenant; Star Fleet surely would back it, but America, in 1995-2001 wouldn't...and today still can't (nevermind/disregard for the moment "24" and other shows...), Paris somewhere elsewhere, and minor crew members, such as Naomi Wildman in the crew. I like that serpentine vessel, and it was cool. I didn't any decked-out-cannnized versions, though. Dunno about the Doctor, but I feel that Harry Kim was in there only for demographics. If I had money to crank out a show such as Trek, I'd make sure the show was geared to a more globally diverse audience, not just the US audience with "syndication/reruns" on the offing.
But, I digress--a bit. OTOH, maybe, there could be a Tom and Ha
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Captain Kirk, the college years!!! Before he banged a female of every species in the galaxy, he was doin' the dorms at Star Fleet Academy!!
I agree with everything you said about Firefly (read the
You can't take the sky from me...
" Spock! ... I have to study"
"Dammit Jim! It is just a mid term"
Three words: Young Indiana Jones
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
And, for all we know, everybody then knew the Romulans were pointy-eared bastards, but there was a Vulcan cover-up in the Federation after the war.
;-)
So that's the secret to watching Enterprise: You make you OWN shit up, to cover up their snafus!
Everybody sing: Bounce the graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish!
You can't take the sky from me...
According to what was mentioned in the episodes of the original series, Kirk and Spock were at Starfleet Academy at different times and McCoy never went to the academy.
Sorry for being geeky.
Ok, slightly OT but can someone please explain to me the difference between a 'trekker' and 'trekkie'?
How about Law and Order:StarTrek, or CSI:Alpha Quadrant
This is an old idea by Harve Benett put forth after Star Trek V. It was, of course, shot down.
Shatner, just fucking go away. You SUCK.
...anthalogy series? In spite of the bastardization that Berman has made out of the Trek universe in recent years, I've always thought that the vast number of races and cultures touched upon during the TNG and DS9 years was enough "canon" fodder to last a lifetime of story-telling. So... Why not an anthology series, where the characters are never the same twice. (Think Twilight Zone or Outer Limits, only in Trek-space.) Each episode would tell a small story set somewhere -- hell, ANYwhere -- in the Trek universe, even at different time periods. The four-years war with the Romulans; the humanoid-possessing insectoids from the "Conspiracy" TNG episode (unfinished story!); what *really* happened to Guinen's race when the Borg attacked, and how'd she escape death/assimilation; hell, the potential war stories that could be told about the Cardassian occupation of Bajor are in themselves limitless -- think WWII mini-epics (Bajoran Dirty Dozen?? :)
I've always believed that there are far too many rich ideas in Trek to focus on just one ship or crew. Time to let the idea floodgates open...
Shhesh, go date a girl or something.
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The reason he was turned down is because Bill wanted to play his own teen character.
Better luck next time, Bill, you irrelevant old fart.
The way to make this idea work is to... do it as a cartoon! They won't have to worry about special effects or matching up actors.
Of course, you just know they'll put Berman in charge, schedule it for 9am Saturday mornings and target it for 10 year olds... I still wonder if that'd be better or worse than the recent Star Trek offerings though.
Ofcourse, about tastes...
But I personally, though I'm a fan of SF, I really thought firefly sucked. I've maybe seen one or two episodes that were not TOO bad, but most were...I dunno...bullocks. And I don't mean that in a technical sense (since most SF always has a large fiction-side), but just because it was like a cheap soap-themed thing. Nothing really happend much, I was never thrilled about the underlying story, and even the characters weren't all that great.
I know Star Trek had some less good episodes too, but overall it was pretty good, and a lot less soapy then firefly. But it's not that on its own; Farscape had much soap-tendencies too, yet, it was one of the more interesting series I ever watched. But that was mainly due to the strong character buildup, the special tension between the main characters, the strong performance of "Scorpio", etc. It was much less eclectic then Star Trek (especially NG), but within it's own style it was extremely good, and in some ways superior to every other SF series I've seen as yet.
None of this attractiveness comes out in firefly; the episodes are cheap wanna-be SF episodes with a weak cast and a weak story. I mean, if the spaceship wasn't shown for a minute every time, one could easily mistake the series for some amateurish western. Nothing really happend, and it was never enticing, nor did it have any other attributes of Farscape where the characters were complex and the sets simply amazing. Nor did it have the more intellectually orientated approach of Startrek.
Well, I know others will dispute this and give a lot of things why they think it was the best thing since sliced bread, but that's what it was for me, and I can't believe I'm the only one. Firefly was just weak and amateurish, and hardly worth the term "SF". Star Trek was much better (though this is comparing apples with oranges), but Farscape is more inline with the style of Firefly, and was still 100 times better.
So I think the parent poster was right.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
Spock is on Vulcan, and McCoy is considerably older than, oh, dammit Jim, you're sort of an actor, not a singer...
mark
Guess we just have to wait for them to clone the original cast.
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All the fun of college kids taking tests and studying combined with the bombastic dialogue of James T. Kirk. There is no way this show will be anything less than the greatest TV series of all time!
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I'm Klingon, you insensitive clod!
I think a general academy show would be good, but using young versions of Kirk and the gang has a high probability of disappointing fans. Starting fresh with new charachters is probably the best bet.
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