http://www.latino-review.com/news/star-trek-exclusive-trek-is-going-to-return-to-tv

 

So, GREAT news, Trekkers, CBS is looking to bring Star Trek back to TV.

 

The last we heard of a Star Trek TV series, was around 2006 before the Abrams movie planted its flag and destroyed most of what we knew (except Spock and - presumably  the plot of Star Trek: Enterprise)  there were two competing versions: Bryce Zabel (writer, Dark Skies) and J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, but I like crediting him as the good writer on The Real Ghostbusters) pitched a version called “Star Trek: Reboot the Universe” that actually made it online in PDF form.

 

The second was developed closer to the JJ reboot and was written by producer Geoffrey Thorne, novelist and writer on things like Leverage and Criminal Intent and was called Star Trek: Federation and was conceptualized with producer Robert Burnett, Bryan Singer (the X-Men director and producer of TV’s House among others) and Christopher (director of Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation). This other series wouldn’t reboot the Star Trek universe, but would vault it forward past the DS9 and Voyager series timelines into a far flung future where the Utopia Federation that we knew from other TV series had become boring and complacent.

 

Federation would have seen the titular group reduced to a mere peacekeeping force as the old ways broke apart. Vulcans withdraw from the United Federation of Planets and reunify with the Romulans, the Bajorans of Deep Space Nine would have also withdrawn and become a planet full of religious monks, like a “Tibet in space.” The Klingons wouldn’t be as warrior-obsessed anymore, but would instead be warrior mystics. The Ferengi would have a female Nagus. The Cardassians would have abandoned war and become an artist/philosopher race.

In essence, Federation would have advanced the timeline of the Star Trek Universe far enough in the future to re-define some of the characters that had been the same since the original series’ inception.

 

We don’t have too many details about the new Star Trek series CBS is going to get working on, but I spent some time filling you in on Federation, because it seems like the same people who made that pitch could be involved. Bryan Singer's name has been mentioned for the new CBS Trek as a possible Executive Producer through his Bad Hat Harry productions. While "Star Trek: Reboot the Universe" was invalidated by 2008's movie Trek, Star Trek: Federation still has a trio of enthusiastic producers, a script and a writer ready to go should CBS decide to give Singer the ahead to develop this new series. 

 

Robert Burnett is rumored to be working on a non-Trek project with Skydance Productions (Skydance worked with Paramount, McQuarrie and Bad Robot on M:I 5) and simultaneously keeping one foot in the Trek world. He's currently producing (one of the producers) a project independent of all previously mentioned parties,  Star Trek: Axanar, a 90-minute fan-made feature film about "The Four Years War," as mentioned in the TOS episode "Whom Gods Destroy." The film has scraped up and impressive cast and released “Prelude to Axanar” last year to show how this great venture can be pulled off on a fan-donated budget:

 

That’s the sort of Star Trek product Brunett can use as an example of how producing a reasonably-budgeted TV series set in the Star Trek Universe this day and age should be a piece of cake.

 

Back to our Federation three:

 

CBS is interested in Bryan Singer developing (and Singer reportedly loves Prelude to Axanar) and Federation co-conspirator Chris McQuarrie was still game for the project as of last December, if Twitter is to be believed.

 

As far as when to expect some sort of official announcement about who snagged the NEW Trek production job, that’s a bit tougher to predict.

 

Star Trek 3 seems to be the Trek Paramount would like us to focus on (Elba for Mogh of the House of Martok, right Simon Pegg?), Singer is only tweeting about making the new X-Men movie and McQuarrie is wrapping up the edit on Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation for later this year. The Star Trek: Federation story document still exists, though, and I’m told Geoffrey Thorne might have taken that treatment all the way to a pilot script before the project cooled, which would allow this show to get off the ground much faster.

 

For the sharp-eye’d Trek fan, all eyes are on Star Trek: Axanar (official site here) to show off what Trek on a budget can look like. If that can work and CBS can see it work, then we might get a riff on Star Trek: Federation. Either way, CBS is convinced it's a good idea to probe the idea of a Star Trek TV show, so TV Trek’s likely on the way.

 

I’ve been saying it since summer of 2005…

 

...no, I’ve been saying it since summer of 1990: There should ALWAYS be Star Trek on TV

 

Edited November 23, 20196 yr by The Unknown Poster

The budget for TOS was so tight which explains why every alien was human or close & the sets were sooo bad. But they made up for it with writing.

To this day I just can't watch TOS.  I just find it boring, always have.  I've tried watching them, but I just can't.  Not sure if it's because it always seemed too somber or what.  But the movies with TOS cast, those I can watch (except number 1).  Maybe it's because they added a bit more humor into them?

24 minutes ago, Logan007 said:

To this day I just can't watch TOS.  I just find it boring, always have.  I've tried watching them, but I just can't.  Not sure if it's because it always seemed too somber or what.  But the movies with TOS cast, those I can watch (except number 1).  Maybe it's because they added a bit more humor into them?

There was humor in TOS.  I really like TOS.  I think it was the original pilot that was released into theaters a few years ago when CBS did the restoration and new SFX for TOS.  I went to see it.  Pretty cool.  But I could see how some wouldnt be able to get into a series from the 60's.

Also, re-watch The Motion Picture...its really, really good.  Yes, too serious, too overtly trying to be 2001, but there is a lot to like there.  Considering the only basis for anything was TOS, they really added depth to the Star Trek universe, to what Starfleet was, how things worked.  Its somewhat "boring" but still much to love with a nice twist ending.  And ofcourse, Captain Decker is the son of Commodore Decker from an original TOS episode so some continuity too.

Nick Meyer really had the most influence on the modern Star Trek universe when he made Wrath of Khan.  I know some fans dislike the "militarization" of Starfleet, but I think it was much needed as far as giving it an identity and template and structure, taking hints of the naval basis from TOS and really expanding on it.

When the Star Trek motion picture came out in 1978 it hit negative reviews & fan reaction.I went to that movie & did not like it. I still don't. There was a lot of reasons for that... making Kirk an Admiral & being out of touch commanding the ship was one for me. The other was the lack of action. It was a long & boring movie. They tried to make too much of the main characters aging when Kirk was in his mid 40's. Scotty & McCoy were in their 50's but Checkov was still in his 30's. If it wasn't for Wrath Of Khan there'd be no TNG, DS9, Voyager or Enterprise as tv series & certainly no more movies. That movie saved the entire Star Trek franchise.

Ever see the directors cut?

I think the theme of aging or progress was a good one.  Definitely Meyers' expanded on it.  But for TMP, it was sort of parallel to the new look of Starfleet that came with a much larger budget and better SFX.  It served the idea that Kirk's exploits had to be recognized with a promotion but in essence, it meant promoting him to a less useful role.  It played up flaws in all humans too as Kirk was very flawed in many ways.

Ofcourse some of the plots were hold overs from what TMP had originally been planned as, a new TV series.  So Decker was there to eventually take over as the star from Shatner.  Nimoy wasnt even in it at all.

Meyers' take on the aging aspect was pretty smart.  It gave meaning to everything and was an over-arching theme to the films from that point on.

One of the best scenes from TMP was the "Enterprise Fly By" which, if I recall was about 12 minutes...you'd never get that in a film now and yet it was breath taking back then.  And some great scenes from WoK and TSFS were the character moments in Kirk's apartment, scenes that the more recent films never slowed down long enough to mimic.

21 hours ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

Ever see the directors cut?

Don't need to. In 1978, I wasted 2 hours of my life watching that movie in the theatre.

3 hours ago, iso_55 said:

Don't need to. In 1978, I wasted 2 hours of my life watching that movie in the theatre.

If you haven't seen it since 1978 it's worth seeing again. I used to hate to too but have come to really appreciate it. In some ways it's very much Star Trek. 

I've seen it on television quite a bit since then... Watched in bits & pieces. Just not interested in the Motion Picture. Besides, how many deep space probes that we send up can be influenced by alien technology? #Veejer #IamNomad

 

Edited May 12, 20169 yr by iso_55

6 hours ago, iso_55 said:

I've seen it on television quite a bit since then... Watched in bits & pieces. Just not interested in the Motion Picture. Besides, how many deep space probes that we send up can be influenced by alien technology? #Veejer #IamNomad

 

Agreed.  I just can't watch this movie.  It feels like someone is trying to suck out my soul.

I like the premise of it, and a few parts of the movie, but then there are just parts that draaaaaag so long.  Like the part where Spock is in the space suit.  OMG, I want to stab parts of my body just to feel something during those scenes.  I also found a lot of the cast didn't really have a lot of emotion in that movie.  Maybe it was just the director.  I dunno.  But I just can't watch it.

Edited May 12, 20169 yr by Logan007

7 minutes ago, Logan007 said:

Agreed.  I just can't watch this movie.  It feels like someone is trying to suck out my soul.

I like the premise of it, and a few parts of the movie, but then there are just parts that draaaaaag so long.  Like the part where Spock is in the space suit.  OMG, I want to stab parts of my body just to feel something during those scenes.  I also found a lot of the cast didn't really have a lot of emotion in that movie.  Maybe it was just the director.  I dunno.  But I just can't watch it.

If I recall my TMP history correctly, that scene of Spock was supposed to be a huge CGI scene of him moving through V'Ger's memory banks containing images of all the data it had amassed.  So it *would* have been cool.  I like the character moments of the film.  Looking at it as the first time we see these characters since 1968, it was pretty cool.  And I always enjoyed the V'Ger twist.  When you look at with the idea of the non-canon twist from the Shatner books that v'ger was an early Borg probe and joining with Decker created the Borg we know today, its even more interesting.

2 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

When you look at with the idea of the non-canon twist from the Shatner books that v'ger was an early Borg probe and joining with Decker created the Borg we know today, its even more interesting.

How many non-canon birth of borg stories are there? I know the one you are referring to, and there is a 4 book story that covers TOS, TNG, DSP and Voy as the Borg birth from a crew of castaways.

But how could that have been the birth of the Borg when in Star Trek First Contact, the Borg went into the past and were going to call the Borg from the 21st century to come to Earth.  Which means they were around a long time before The Motion Picture.

Decker the first Borg? Interesting.

10 minutes ago, Logan007 said:

But how could that have been the birth of the Borg when in Star Trek First Contact, the Borg went into the past and were going to call the Borg from the 21st century to come to Earth.  Which means they were around a long time before The Motion Picture.

I dont recall specific wording from First Contact, but in the Enterprise episode "Regeneration", the Borg remnants from the past as depicted in First Contact were discovered frozen in the arctic in the time of Enterprise.  They sprung back to life, assimilated the scientists and took their ship, sending a distress call.  It was said it would take 200 years for the signal to reach the Delta Quadrant which provided for the Borg being on their way to Earth during the events of TNG episode "Q-Who".

Side note, the interesting part of Q-Who was demonstrating that Q was actually helping the humans in a way.  The Borg were already en route to Earth and Q, by placing the Enterprise in their path, allowed Starfleet to learn valuable intel, even though it resulted in deaths on the Enterprise. 

The idea of V'Ger as Borg isnt meant that the Borg didnt exist until TMP, but evolved.  The idea is the Voyager probe fell into a black hole (more likely a Worm Hole) and ended up in the Delta Quadrant where it was discovered by a machine race which added to Voyager and sent it back on a mission that somehow became scrambled.  V'Ger decided all carbon-based life forms needed to be wiped out.

Decker joining with V'Ger showed the machine the value of life and changed it's mission from destroying to assimilating.  If V'Ger's consciousness was connected to the home machine world and we accept that whatever changes or knowledge V'Ger under went would be immediately transferred throughout the entire race...then it's possible to accept. 

In TMP, Spock mentioned "Resistance would be Futile" and I believe V'Ger refers to Ilia as attempting to resist them but "Resistance is Futile".

Its a fun little origin story anyway.

7 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

Decker the first Borg? Interesting.

From Wiki:

At the center of the massive ship, V'Ger is revealed to be Voyager 6, a 20th-century Earth space probe believed lost. The damaged probe was found by an alien race of living machines that interpreted its programming as instructions to learn all that can be learned, and return that information to its creator. The machines upgraded the probe to fulfill its mission, and on its journey the probe gathered so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness. Spock realizes that V'Ger lacks the ability to give itself a focus other than its original mission; having learned what it could on its journey home, it finds its existence empty and without purpose. Before transmitting all its information, V'Ger insists that the Creator come in person to finish the sequence. Realizing that the machine wants to merge with its creator, Decker offers himself to V'Ger; he merges with the Ilia probe and V'Ger, creating a new form of life that disappears into another dimension.

There are similarities there for sure.  At the time of TMP, it probably wouldnt occur to the writers to have some sort of collective consciousness that was connected...but if we accept that as possible and that the moment Decker merged, the focus and motives of the "living machines" changed...then it could be the creation of the Borg as we know it.  The motivation of its programming to "learn all that can be learned" could easily evolve into "assimilate" everything.

Well, it's sci fi so anything is possible.

New Star Trek teaser already out for the new show. Do a search for it couldn't post it with my phone. 

7 minutes ago, Logan007 said:

New Star Trek teaser already out for the new show. Do a search for it couldn't post it with my phone. 

Posted it in the The Home Theatre Thread.

1 hour ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

Posted it in the The Home Theatre Thread.

Well that's not where it goes you weirdo. 

This goes here Frosty...HERE!  I mean COMON!  GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!!

 

Kind of gave me chills hearing the traditional Star Trek fanfare there.  Cool!

Hope it isn't another Voyager.

Some TV Series news for you trekkies.  Novelist Kirsten Beyer has been brought on board the 2017 series.  She has written several Voyager novels and is known for sprinkling in bits of Trek lore and cannon from the past.  I havent read any of her work but I'd suggest this is a good development.

Now...if they were to bring in Manny Coto...

DC Fontana must not be around anymore.