New Animated Star Trek In The Works

Philias writes "A new web-based Star Trek Animated Series may be in the works. CBS is considering a pitch by veteran Trek producer Dave Rossi for a 'Clone Wars' style animated series for StarTrek.com. Like Clone Wars the episodes would be just a few minutes long. Unlike the old animated Trek show from the 70s, this one would be with a whole new crew set in a new time period. The setting is to be a war-torn post-9/11-like Trek universe 150 years after the time of Picard." From the post: "The Zero Room team felt that the time was right for a new approach to Trek. The setting is the year 2528 and the Federation is a different place after suffering through a devastating war with the Romulans 60 years earlier. The war was sparked off after a surprise attack of dozens of 'Omega particle' detonations throughout the Federation creating vast areas which become impassible to warp travel and essentially cut off almost half the Federation from the rest. During the war the Klingon homeworld was occupied by the Romulans, all of Andoria was destroyed and the Vulcans, who were negotiating reunification with the Romulans, pulled out of the Federation. The setting may seem bleak and not very Trek-like, but that is where the show's hero Captain Alexander Chase comes in."

Comments

"The franchise is dead, Jim."

[CheeseburgerBrown]

You know, if Viacom keeps pulling on those teats like that they're eventually just going to break right off. I mean, there's milking it and there's milking it.

Does new Trek content really have dominion over any part of our cultural consciousness anymore? Go on: quote me a well known line from Voyager. No, no -- the show. Remember? How could you forget? It not only featured the worst series finale of any TV show ever produced, it also made my ears bleed whenever the quavering caterwauling of that shifty-ass captain sounded.

And let's not forget Enterprise...no, wait -- let's.

Anyone who sat through Deanna and Riker's wedding in those waiter uniforms knows what I'm talking about: the whole idea has seen its day, and Star Trek should be buried alive...buried alive...buried alive...

The franchise peaked with "There are four lights!"

Re:And the first time travel episode will be...

[stfvon007]

Pilot episode, in the first few minutes. The captain and starship will be from the past and get stuck near a black hole. After escaping the black hole, they find it is the future, and the happy life they had and their precious federation is now gone and has become a rough and tumble place with enemies everywhere....

But what about mark twain

[KrazeeEyezKilla]

Why can't they make the Trek spinoff we really want to see: the late 19th century escapades of Mark Twain and Guinan.

Re:Omega particles, really?

[Timesprout]

Actually if they start monkeying about with the main deflector dish then for once I would like to see a star trek character say 'What?' instead of 'Yes, that might just work'. 'Run a reverse polarity inverse jellybaby through the main deflector dish!!! WTF are you babbling about???, is that even possible?????' seems like a much more natural response.

Why not any other series?

[metlin]

There are many other series out there, such as Stargate, Babylon 5, Firefly and so on.

So, is there a reason that we have to keep coming back to Star Trek - The Search for More Money every damn time?

The franchise is dead. People just don't seem to get it.

Racism in Star Trek continues apace

[Jerf]

Vulcans, who were negotiating reunification with the Romulans, pulled out of the Federation.

Well, at least they're getting the racist aspects of Star Trek correct. This has been predictable ever since it was revealed that Romulans and Vulcans were the same race.

Star Trek is dedicated to the idea that every species has one culture, one religion, one government, and they all belong together on the same planet (or at least the same star system). Anybody who dares to marry outside of their race, err, species, will have children that are horribly torn between their two distinct and apparently utterly immiscible heritages. "Oh, woe is me, shall I be Vulcan or Human because it isn't possible for me to forge my own distinct identity, I must only belong to one race, err, species!"

What other reasons would the Vulcans have for re-uniting with the Romulans? The Vulcans may be the same species but in almost every other way they are night and day; their culture, their philosophies, their approaches to problems, everything except maybe general arrogance. They're geographically separated so far apart that there was enough time before they re-discovered each other that they forgot they were related. They share few to no strategic interests.

But blood will out, apparently.

I bet Vulcan or Romulus ends up destroyed at some point (probably Vulcan) and all of the Vulcan refugees go live on Romulus, cause the post-TNG Star Trek mythos can't tolerate races living in two places.

Re:Racism in Star Trek continues apace

[imidan]

This is exactly the problem that I have with Star Trek. Captain Sisko pops down to Bajor, and stops at some peasant's house, and the ENTIRE design motif is the symbol of the planet Bajor. I mean, people have these things hanging all over the place. Their *windows* are bajor-symbol shaped, for God's sake. Where do you see anything like this on Earth? Where do you see this level of ultra-nationalism in our society? It's almost never a good sign. We've had some in the US since 2001, and I'm quite relieved that this blind "patriotism" is beginning to give way to reason. I'll cut that rant off there, but the point is, race is the defining characteristic of almost anybody on Star Trek these days, but the people of the Trek universe never seem to notice what a vast problem they have with racism.

The explanation for all of this is just that it makes a convenient shortcut for the writers: they don't have to spend any time on character development for minor characters in a given episode. Want a sneaky, conniving bad guy? Romulan. Want a greedy, selfish bad guy? Ferrengi. Want someone controlled by reason? Vulcan. Any race that you care to mention in Trek is characterized by a handful of primary traits that set them apart from everyone else. And almost every member of that race is an exemplar of their racial identity. I find it tiresome that so much of what happens in Trek is based entirely upon racial stereotypes. And I don't find it much of a consolation when they occasionally throw us a demented Vulcan or a noble Romulan.

The exception to this, of course, is the human race. Humans tend to be more realistic characters because they're not constrained by such narrow stereotypes. The stereotypes are still there, especially for people who are members of particular factions. But they're a little more tolerable.

There's already a post-911 Star Trek on TV

[elrous0]

It's called Battlestar Galactica.

-Eric

Re:And the first time travel episode will be...

[AKAImBatman]

Actually, it was Season 2 that the show really took off. They were just about ready to take the first step in putting the Commonwealth back together when they completely screwed it all up in Season 3. Suddenly and without warning, the Commonwealth is fully organized and funded, and Dylan is playing Hercules in Space with the assistence of a really bad cameraman. It was as if someone took the show and flushed it down the toilet.

Vedran homeworld plot? Gone.
Magog plot? Gone.
Abyss plot? Gone.
The really cool human technologists who became the Commonwealth's enemy? Gone.

I mean, is it even possible to do any more injustice to a show?

Bad reference

[spyrochaete]

"The setting is to be a war-torn post-9/11-like Trek universe 150 years after the time of Picard."

So there will be no liquids or gels allowed on starships? "Tea Earl Grey powdered"

I'm not even American and it still pains me to see how diluted 9/11 is becoming. Call it war-torn or whatever, but at least reference an event that occurred in a warzone.

Re:Alexander Chase?

[dgatwood]

Yeah, this does seem awfully close to re-pitching Andromeda (back in the Trek universe where it started)....