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I hope you're right. I fear, in my cynical way, that a show that's just successful "for what it is" may not pass the muster of non-'Trek-thinking mucky-mucks way high up the network food chains.

Well...since the last two installments on television were Voyager and Enterprise..........let's just hope they don't fuck it up!

Atekimogus wrote:Well...since the last two installments on television were Voyager and Enterprise..........let's just hope they don't fuck it up!

Mikey wrote:I hope you're right. I fear, in my cynical way, that a show that's just successful "for what it is" may not pass the muster of non-'Trek-thinking mucky-mucks way high up the network food chains.

Well, there's plenty of room for cynicism. I've been poking around to see if I can find anything about what this new Trek is supposed to be and all I can find are bloggers with dubious sci-fi credentials saying that it should be "social justice warriors in space!" All I can find from the networks have been comments about how they hope a new Trek will propel their why-the-heck-would-you-pay-for-this streaming service up into the same category as Netflicks and Amazon Prime.

I suspect that's really all the further they've gotten with the concept.

Still though, they want to make viewers happy, and I have some optimism that we may like what comes out if they're trying to solve the riddle of how to get a million fans worldwide so excited they'll shell out three bucks an episode as opposed to trying to figure out how to get twenty million Americans on their couches at the same time.

Hurm. I don't envy them the pressure they're likely feeling between people saying that the series should attempt to be a challenge to their core demographics and the increased need to pander to them.

EDIT: I'm also a little worried about Kurtzman. I'm not sure he's capable of writing a character like O'Brian at all or really if he can do much with science/engineering types. I was interested in Scorpion, but then found out the premise was that these people were weirdoes who needed a waitress to translate the real world to them. His version of Scotty was more comedic relief than anything. That worked well enough in a movie where he was a secondary character overcome by the novelty and excitement of it all. But I think that would get old fast.

Does anybody else think they have no idea what the show will be yet, and they've just tossed this news out to see what the fan speculation is, so they can go with whatever seems most popular?

Graham Kennedy wrote:Does anybody else think they have no idea what the show will be yet, and they've just tossed this news out to see what the fan speculation is, so they can go with whatever seems most popular?

I get the distinct feeling they have no idea what the show will be. It'd be possible and interesting that they'd toss the news out early and occasionally check the buzz to see what might resonate.

Though to some extent we just want it to be "good" and something nobody expects might be their best choice. Well, just continuing where the movies leave off would be an obvious choice. I'm guessing that it isn't feasible for them to get the cast signed up.

I don't think they know what the show will be about either. I haven't even heard if it will be on a ship named Enterprise or a retelling of one TNG or TOS or something original.

Remember what the speculation about Enterprisexwas pre launch. That it was gonna be based at the academy and cadets, that it would be a Klingon ship. That it would be a cargo merchant ship. A hospital ship.

Graham Kennedy wrote:Does anybody else think they have no idea what the show will be yet, and they've just tossed this news out to see what the fan speculation is, so they can go with whatever seems most popular?

Let's hope not.


They shouldn't get too hung up on what they "show" is supposed to be about. They should focus on creating interesting, diverse and multi-dimensional characters who do not act stupid (Enterprise cough cough) and by god keep their continuity straight.


What was "Breaking Bad" about? Some teacher with cancer starting to produce and sell drugs. Doesn't sound all that exiting to be honest. And still.....look what they managed to do with that.


My point is...as long as it is character driven and makes sense...you don't need the show to BE ABOUT anything much really. You don't even need a space battle every episode to hide your lack of substance. That was imho the exact failure that Enterprise was commiting...they tried so hard to for the show to be about something that they completely forgot about compelling characters and how they would realistically handle situations.

Just ue the classic formula and toss them into a problem of the week...and let's see how interesting and intelligent characters will handle it, preverable with a positive outcome (since I am getting sick and tired of all the doom and gloom on TV).

That doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any character growth of overreaching storylines. But imho the problem of the week formula works best for show like that and in the long run they have FAR more rewatchability.

Atekimogus wrote:

Graham Kennedy wrote:Does anybody else think they have no idea what the show will be yet, and they've just tossed this news out to see what the fan speculation is, so they can go with whatever seems most popular?

Let's hope not.


They shouldn't get too hung up on what they "show" is supposed to be about. They should focus on creating interesting, diverse and multi-dimensional characters who do not act stupid (Enterprise cough cough) and by god keep their continuity straight.


What was "Breaking Bad" about? Some teacher with cancer starting to produce and sell drugs. Doesn't sound all that exiting to be honest. And still.....look what they managed to do with that.


My point is...as long as it is character driven and makes sense...you don't need the show to BE ABOUT anything much really. You don't even need a space battle every episode to hide your lack of substance. That was imho the exact failure that Enterprise was commiting...they tried so hard to for the show to be about something that they completely forgot about compelling characters and how they would realistically handle situations.

Just ue the classic formula and toss them into a problem of the week...and let's see how interesting and intelligent characters will handle it, preverable with a positive outcome (since I am getting sick and tired of all the doom and gloom on TV).

That doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any character growth of overreaching storylines. But imho the problem of the week formula works best for show like that and in the long run they have FAR more rewatchability.

I don't exactly disagree. Except that you presumably want to avoid rehashing things that have been done before, and a lot has been done before. So coming up with an original problem of the week may be increasingly challenging. Or maybe the reboot lets you get away from some of that, as well as the crushing weight of trying to maintain consistency with such a vast body of work. I'm a fan and I'd probably rack up a half dozen YATI an episode for the brothers Graham to pick on.

In any case I'd like them to maintain the Trek Milieu that differentiates it from all the other sci fi out there.

sunnyside wrote: I don't exactly disagree. Except that you presumably want to avoid rehashing things that have been done before, and a lot has been done before. So coming up with an original problem of the week may be increasingly challenging. Or maybe the reboot lets you get away from some of that, as well as the crushing weight of trying to maintain consistency with such a vast body of work. I'm a fan and I'd probably rack up a half dozen YATI an episode for the brothers Graham to pick on.

In any case I'd like them to maintain the Trek Milieu that differentiates it from all the other sci fi out there.

True..coming up with a problem of the week might seem challenging......but I really don't think it is that difficult if they just forget for a minute about technobabble and just keep it simple. True...if they come just across "another" anomalie in space which "again" does weird stuff....it will get boring fast.


That being said....my personal favourte setting would be a couple of years after the Dominion Wars mostly set in the gamma quadrant. The premise would be that now after the Dominion is beaten, the UFP is finally free to explore the Gamma Quadrant. It would provide a nice starting/sending off point to the series since whatever ship the show is based on will be starting from DS9. So we have the UFP in the gamme quadrant tossed into unkown space with a huge, milennia old empire slowly disintegrating, now they lost a major war.

That should provide enough mystery (unkown space) and action (dominion disintegrating and infighting) for at least 4 seasons, imho!:)

Atekimogus wrote: for at least 4 seasons, imho!:)

Actually on that note what I'd really like to see is a willingness to shift between things. Perhaps starting series out with an idea that you'll finish a series in seven seasons or less, and then kick off a different one.

Personally I'd do what TNG did - jump about 50-80 years after the end of Voyager. I'd fold the Romulans, Klingons and Cardassians into the Federation and make the Enterprise-G a transwarp ship, as big and impressive compared to the E-D as that was to the E-nil. The mission would be to set out to explore other galaxies. Maybe kick the pilot off with a "what ever happened to the Kelvan Empire" story.

Graham Kennedy wrote:Personally I'd do what TNG did - jump about 50-80 years after the end of Voyager. I'd fold the Romulans, Klingons and Cardassians into the Federation and make the Enterprise-G a transwarp ship, as big and impressive compared to the E-D as that was to the E-nil. The mission would be to set out to explore other galaxies. Maybe kick the pilot off with a "what ever happened to the Kelvan Empire" story.

I'd go for that.

Wouldn't it be fun to see Kelvans done properly via decent CGI? "Immense beings, a hundred limbs which resemble tentacles. Minds of such control and capacity that each limb is capable of performing a different function."

Graham Kennedy wrote:Wouldn't it be fun to see Kelvans done properly via decent CGI? "Immense beings, a hundred limbs which resemble tentacles. Minds of such control and capacity that each limb is capable of performing a different function."

We can almost certainly do something decent on a TV budget with that, methinks. It's a good idea, as long as their minds are as alien as their bodies.