A new Trek series

[Flying Gremlin]

...yes, you read that right.

http://www.startrek.com/article/new-...s-january-2017

Is it too early to call dibs on the pilot?

[NAHTMMM]

This may well be the way "television" will go, from centralized cable and satellite access providers to each "channel" selling access individually online.

Not having been impressed with the franchise's direction since the turn of the millennium, I'm not really excited. (But then I'm not excited for the SW film either.) If something pretty good comes out of this, I'll be happy to get excited then.

[Zeke]

Heheheh. Nice try, Gremlin, but I called dibs on the pilot before it was announced.

(No, really.)

Anyway, I'm tentatively excited about this. As I've mentioned in newsposts, I'm baffled that Paramount didn't capitalize on the (equally baffling) success of the movie and make a new show five years ago.

Beyond "woo, Trek on TV again", however, it would be foolish to say anything at this point. We know literally nothing else. How excited I get will depend on things that won't be decided for a while yet. Above all, it depends on who's behind the new show. If they don't keep at least a little continuity with the Roddenberry era -- make Rick Berman a consultant or something -- I will go in with much less emotional investment.

[Nate the Great]

I reserve all further judgement until I get an answer for the "original universe or Abrams-verse" question.

[Zeke]

Agreed. We really don't know anything until we know that.

My guess is original, by the way. The announcement specifically mentions that there's no connection to the next movie, and while that could still be true of an Abramsverse show, I think stressing the point tells us something about Paramount's current feelings. They really expected better results from Into Darkness -- maybe they're just going to finish the trilogy and write it off.

(Also revealing: the planned line of Abramsverse novels was scrapped. Pocket Books has stuck with the original timeline.)

[Wowbagger]

Originally Posted by Zeke

They really expected better results from Into Darkness -- maybe they're just going to finish the trilogy and write it off.

They just a few weeks ago renegotiated the actors for a fourth movie. So we're getting at least another after Beyond.

[evay]

Originally Posted by Zeke

make Rick Berman a consultant or something

No, no, no.

Zeke, I know how fond you were of the Bs, but Berman and Braga are burned out on Trek. We need fresh blood. We need fresh minds, people who are not going to the same well of storytelling tricks (time travel paradoxes) over and over, people who can create a character and allow that character to grow and change in a realistic fashion, people who are not obsessed with big-breasted pouty-lipped wasp-waisted women. (Yes, Jeri Ryan can act, and quite well. Let's be honest; that's not why she was hired.)

I don't care if it's Roddenberryverse or Abramsverse or Cotoverse or "let's pick a well-written novel off AO3 every week and do that"-verse. But not the Bs.

[Wowbagger]

Traditionally, the way new producers of Trek show continuity with the Roddenberry era without arousing any of the Bermaga hatred is by hiring the Okudas.

Since Enterprise ended, hiring out the Okudas' aura of legitimacy has practically become a cottage industry.

[Flying Gremlin]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Heheheh. Nice try, Gremlin, but I called dibs on the pilot before it was announced.

(No, really.

Rats.

Hey, Zeke, does this chloroformed cloth smell funny to you?

[Flying Gremlin]

So I wonder how much hatred Zeke will have when I say that the announced show runner co-wrote the story that introduced "antimatter radiation"...

[evay]

Originally Posted by Flying Gremlin

So I wonder how much hatred Zeke will have when I say that the announced show runner co-wrote the story that introduced "antimatter radiation"...

and he also wrote...

Flesh and Blood
Workforce
Bride of Chaotica
Barge of the Dead
Course: Oblivion
Empok Nor

and "Company Man," widely acknowledged as the best episode of Season 1 of Heroes.

So, lots of funny, moving, powerful, character-driven episodes. I didn't watch Hannibal or Pushing Daisies but they've gotten a lot of love. He also noted in an older EW interview that he'd love to cast Captain Angela Basset and XO Rosario Dawson.

I'm happy with what I'm hearing so far. Who knows — we might even get a series regular who's gay and not stereotyped, who just has a normal life and it's not the focus of the person's characterization.

[Flying Gremlin]

I got to admit, he did write a lot of good episodes. I'm happy for this decision, don't get me wrong. An excuse to bring up "antimatter radiation" though does not come up often.

[Nate the Great]

More details were revealed back in April, apparently.

[Nate the Great]

First look at Star Trek: Discovery.

Yeah, I'm not enthused about the design of the ship. At all.

[NAHTMMM]

Apparently that was just a rough draft that the designers maybe didn't intend for public release?

[Nate the Great]

Star Trek: Discovery may use Majel Barrett sound clips for the voice of the main computer.

Yeah, I'm skeptical about the workability of this plan.

[Nate the Great]

The premiere has been pushed back to May 2017.

Uh, yeah.

[Nate the Great]

As of three weeks ago the female lead (who is NOT the captain, they keep emphasizing) wasn't cast.

PNQ: Does anybody else think that if CBS All Access wasn't in the cards the show would be pushed out to September 2017?

[NAHTMMM]

Getting that Access thing going might be causing them to hurry the schedule along, yeah.

[Nate the Great]

More plot details. A joint Starfleet/Klingon crew, plus we're focusing on people other than the senior staff? That hill is getting steeper all the time...

More info. The seasons will be much shorter than usual. The article reiterates that American viewers will need to pay for All Access. Yeah, that's gonna backfire on them when everybody else can just use Netflix.