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?"

Comments

No no no no no!!!!

[MagicDude]

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.

"Kobayashi Maru" book did this very well.

[sampson7]

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.

Smallville better than Superman IMHO

[N8F8]

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.