Is ST Finished Now?

Thargor

For TNG/DS9/Voyager style tv series I mean? I thought the 2 new films were absolute cack that just didnt seem to get what Trek is about, same for Enterprise. Are there any other plans for the licence now? I was sure the release of the last 2 films would have drawn something out but there doesnt seem to be much happening...

Kiith

Old school Trek kind of died after Nemesis (probably should have happened sooner), and it'll be a long time before we see anything Trek related on TV again i'd say. Would love to get another series, but it will be based on the new universe if/when it does happen.

While the new films were very different, i still quite enjoyed them.

helimachoptor

I know Michael Dorn is looking to get support/funding for a venture with him as Captain, i havent kept up to date but last i heard he was pitching to Paramount (i think)

Optimus Prime

If they do make a new TV show, which they will eventually because at the end of the day it all comes down to making money and they have a franchise there they wont let go, I hope they don't set it in the new continuity from the films.

Myrddin

Established Trek is most certainly dead I reckon. If a tv spin off comes along, it will in all probability be set in the new universe as established in the JJ movies. The folks behind the likes of TNG, DS9 & Voyager brought this on themselves really. I was watching "The Dauphin" last night, & Wesley Crusher commented that at that time, there was only 12% of the galaxy charter. Que DS9 & Voyager a few years later and we were more or less done exploring...they rushed through everything, instead of focusing on the exploration side of things & making the Galaxy seem as big as it really is. And in the end, material ran dry

Goldstein

Myrddin wrote: »

Established Trek is most certainly dead I reckon. If a tv spin off comes along, it will in all probability be set in the new universe as established in the JJ movies. The folks behind the likes of TNG, DS9 & Voyager brought this on themselves really. I was watching "The Dauphin" last night, & Wesley Crusher commented that at that time, there was only 12% of the galaxy charter. Que DS9 & Voyager a few years later and we were more or less done exploring...they rushed through everything, instead of focusing on the exploration side of things & making the Galaxy seem as big as it really is. And in the end, material ran dry

Plenty of galaxies left in the universe

Thargor

Theres a whole other quadrant they haven't touched yet, good for one more series at least, although I suppose the Dominion would have to be involved in any Gamma Quadrant stuff so probably a bit repetitive...

mr lee

it seems dead,but yet people watch repeats on tv and rewatch boxsets,myself included

nyarlothothep

Thargor wrote: »

Theres a whole other quadrant they haven't touched yet, good for one more series at least, although I suppose the Dominion would have to be involved in any Gamma Quadrant stuff so probably a bit repetitive...

They should probably open it up to the whole universe. I don't much about ftl, they can go 9 times the speed of light I'm presuming with warp drive but a new series could have more advanced warp drives where they can travel to other galaxies. They would need to ditch the new alien species of the week with putty on their heads angle.

Myrddin

Goldstein wrote: »

Plenty of galaxies left in the universe

And no way to get to them, short of introducing transwarp or some-such. How would it work though, send ships out to explore the local cluster? So far from home I think it's kinda just like Voyager. Sure they'd be able to return but Voyager took the concept of a brand new area of space, & on paper it sounded like a great idea...it just didn't work out that way though.

Thargor wrote: »

Theres a whole other quadrant they haven't touched yet, good for one more series at least, although I suppose the Dominion would have to be involved in any Gamma Quadrant stuff so probably a bit repetitive...

Alpha Quadrant done in TNG
Beta Quadrant was been actively explored since the TMP era
Gamma Quadrant done in DS9
Delta Quadrant done in Voyager

All quadrants don't have any big secrets or major plot points left anymore. Anything new would be just shoe-horned in.

Thargor

Of course there is, the galaxy is massive.

Also I thought thought the Q or someone put a big barrier around the Milky Way in the ST universe that stopped people leaving.

On a phone now so cant be bothered checking if that was canon.

Myrddin

Thargor wrote: »

Of course there is, the galaxy is massive.

Well yeah it is...but after the likes of the Dominion War, there's no major players left whom we don't already know. To introduce a new super power now would be shoe horning them in.

Also I thought thought the Q or someone put a big barrier around the Milky Way in the ST universe that stopped people leaving.

On a phone now so cant be bothered checking if that was canon.

Is that the great barrier, as mentioned in Star Trek V? The original Enterprise was able to leave the Milky Way in TOS when it was captured, & the Enterprise-D left it too when the Traveller helped it to, and when Barclay took over the ship via the holodeck too....so it's pretty meaningless even in canon.

Optimus Prime

They could jump forward another 100 years and change the whole landscape of the ST universe, mix it up a bit. I dunno, I seriously doubt its dead as a TV show though, there is just too much money involved.

Id like to see a future where the federation is destroyed by war or something and there are only a few ships left. Take a page from Babylon 5\Battlestar and build a series spanning story arc instead of one off eps, even if each ep was outside the overall story but all had building blocks included to the grander scheme.

Babylon 5 was great at that, you can watch the series through and not notice things until a second watch then phrases mentioned become more relevant.

Daith

keithgeo wrote: »

Take a page from Babylon 5\Battlestar and build a series spanning story arc instead of one off eps, even if each ep was outside the overall story but all had building blocks included to the grander scheme.

Babylon 5 was great at that, you can watch the series through and not notice things until a second watch then phrases mentioned become more relevant.

So pretty much DS9 then?

Prophet: We... are of Bajor.
Sisko: What does that mean? What does it have to do with me?
Prophet: You... are of Bajor.

ItHurtsWhenIP

keithgeo wrote: »

Id like to see a future where the federation is destroyed by war or something and there are only a few ships left.

Wasn't this what they did with Andromeda?

Fuzzytrooper

There was a potential animated series set in the future. Shame it never got off the ground:

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Final_Frontier

Thargor

That actually looks really good.

TheIrishGrover

I'd say they will probably come back to a series in another 6 or 7 years or so. Probably a reboot.

I always thought they missed an opportunity with Enterprise. I think I've said it on another thread but I always thought that DS9 should have ended on a downer (And, if any Trek series had the balls to do that it would have been DS9). I think it should have ended on a downer: The Dominion win the war. The Federation forced into a peace, thoroughly beaten and disbanded

The next series could have been set 100-150 years later. Following another ship. The ship would still have been at the level of Next Gen but there is no longer a mighty all-powerful Federation. Humans are a minor race, 100 years behind everyone else technologically. The series would focus on exploration again: New allies, surrounded by new races (allies of The Dominion brought over from The Delta Quadrant maybe), almost struggling to survive. On a mission to try to get back on top slowly but surely.

The problem for me became that The Federation became too big, too powerful, too boring. (Especially in voyager. Beating The Borg every second week, beating all others with one uber-advanced and seemingly instantly repairable ship). That scene with Quark giving Garak the ginger-ale and talking about the federation was spot on. Could have been talking about Trek in general.

The problem is that networks won't take a chance with a long-running storyline. They don't need to with Trek: If the movies rebooted an interest in the shows they just need to make a bog standard weekly show. Long time fans will watch it anyway, regardless of quality. New fans will just want something they can drop in and out of when it's repeated continuously on TV. They did long storylines with DS9 and it's the poorest rated of them in the US (Rated higher in UK and my favourite). They did one long storyline with Enterprise and then reverted to shorter stories (admittedly, normally 2-3 parters) before cancelling it.

Pity really. Would really love to see Star Trek Galactica

Goodshape

I remember an interview with Ronald D. Moore (writer Star Trek TNG/DS9/VOY, creator new-BSG), can't remember where though :-/, in which he discussed his reasons for leaving Star Trek early into Voyagers run.

Basically he'd hoped Voyager would be a new direction for Star Trek. Something more real, with more real – and lasting – danger. Specifically he mentioned the ship's damage building up and resources depleting as the show goes on, as opposed to the weekly reset of TOS and TNG. And totally new races with new, potentially unsteady, alliances and trade partners.

But nah, emulating TNG was easier. So they just did that; weekly resets, holodeck, Borg, Federation as the unsakable force for good. And so Moore schooled them all with Battlestar Galactica instead.


He also mentioned a reason the 'new direction' was shot down was Rick Berman's (et al) insistence on following Gene Roddenberry's "vision" of Star Trek – a positive look at humanity's future. Inner-conflict among the crew (such as you should find on a half-maquis / half-federation manned starship) and having to lower your values to survive (as you might in order to trade or form alliances on your own in deep space) weren't to be found on a Star Trek show.

And that's a pity.


And I don't hold much hope for a new Star Trek series being as good as it could be any time soon, were they to make one at all. It will either fail for the same reasons Voyager failed or be a 'reboot' with stories and ideas we've seen before, plus probably lens flair.

Matthew 5.11

how about a star trek and star wars crossover,could have the federation and the jedi taking on the borg and the sith.

Myrddin

Matthew 5.11 wrote: »

how about a star trek and star wars crossover,could have the federation and the jedi taking on the borg and the sith.

That'd make the time traveling Nazi story look like Shakespeare.

Kiith

Star Trek vs. Star Wars?

Daith

Kiith wrote: »

Star Trek vs. Star Wars?

That's Sisko or Janeway. Not Picard!

nyarlothothep

Although action movie Picard...

Something happened between Generations and First Contact. Picard must have had a nervous breakdown/mid life crisis and decided to reverse decades of diplomacy for out and out fighting.

In relation to ST being finished, it's fairly significant that there isn't any tv show atm. Any reinvention would have to require very high production standards, at GoT level. It's interesting that tv programs have increased in production sophistication so early 00s shows weren't as good looking as today's but vastly superior in aesthetic terms to 80s/90s shows, at least to my mind. It's also got to show a marked progression in technology, TNG showed this with the flatscreens compared to TOS's buttons and knobs. And it needs English/Shakespearean actors, not just generic American actors. Theme-wise, war/darkness seems passe, it's been done to death, I think something more complex needs to be explored, atm the theme of tv shows would seem to be dark and gritty/edgy so maybe a new star trek show could be the opposite of this in keeping with the spirit of the franchise. But this would not rule out darkness/character complexity, there would be free reign to explore ideas, just that there wouldn't need to be an imposed theme of darkness. It could be more human as well, the characters would swear, fart, burp, listen to heavy metal/rock, goof off on the job, display incompetence. As you can see this is fairly confused with Shakespearean actors playing slobs in space.

MilionMilesAway

I always thought a series based on the goings on on the "dark side" of the various races would be unreal. Section 31, the Tal Shiar, The Obsidian Order (oh wait, maybe not them).

A lot of scope for great storylines, more centrally based, like DS9.
Also could find out more about the inner workings of these organisations, tech, inter-relationships, histories. The kind of storyarcs that you cant do on a starship or, to a lesser extent a space station. The exploration story lines have been done to death, what, like 5 franchises of 7 series. Thats a lot of storylines. BSG type story arcs are the way forward. IMHO DS9 was the best of the bunch cause at least it tried something slightly left of center, before VOY came crashing back to middle ground.

I also think like what is happening in Game of Thrones at the moment with disposable main characters is going to bleed into more mainstream TV. With the main characters being much more fluid. I remember the shock when Tasha Yar died in TNG. That kind of thing never happened in those days and was really a WTF moment.

Witcher

Watching TNG again on Netflix atm, was made so long ago but it's still epic.

Dreading getting to the end of it. Never took to the later shows and the recent movies can go and fcuk:pac:

Don't think a show like ST would survive now. They had their heydey in simpler times really, people want shows like GoT and The Walking Dead now. A new show could incorporate elements from those shows..gritty action, deaths etc. but too much and it would become GoT/TWD in space.

Into Darkness was basically a standard terrorist film with Star Trek characters.

B.A._Baracus

I say there wont be any Star Trek TV show for a few years. You have to figure Paramount won't want to effect their big budget Trek movies every 3-4 years. Sucks really.

Sure look to the Terminator Franchise. As soon as Salvation was happening the Sarah Connor Chronicles tv show got axed. Even tho it was doing great ratings and it didnt even get an end. All because of the upcoming movie.