A new Trek series?

[sonofccn]

Not sure if this is the proper forum but...

Caught a link to this and I guess I was curious to see what everyone's thought was.

[Cocytus]

It describes the series as featuring new characters and states and the end it is not related to the upcoming third reboot installment.

I'm hoping like hell they return to the prime universe. There were so many storytelling opportunities there. They could show a Federation expanding into becoming a galactic power and struggling with all the issues that entails. 25th century, please.

[2046]

Blog preview:

My interest in the news of the new show peaked at "high curiosity" at seeing the headline about a new Trek series. Then I read the article itself. The NY Post has a great write-up that covers the problems.

nypost.com/2015/11/02/cbs-is-already-ruining-the-star-trek-tv-reboot/

Don't get me wrong ... I don't want to sound like the old curmudgeon who rejects anything new, because I'm not.

That said, though, I just don't trust modern Hollywood to get within light-years of correctly doing Trek. For that to be overcome you'd have to show me that it was somebody like Ron Moore, Ira Behr, Manny Coto, or some wanktastic alliance of the three running it. Instead we get part of the JJ-Trek writing team. Kurtzman has a fine-looking resume, sure, in the sense of making profitable Hollywood fluff, but all indications are that he's a fruit loop like his old pal Orci. I haven't seen most of his work, but titles like "Cowboys & Aliens" and his work with shallow blockbusters do not inspire. What little I have seen of Scorpion was only watchable because of the death stares of Robert Patrick and the eminently stare-at-the-TV-worthy Katharine McPhee. That's casting, not story. A good story can overcome bad casting ... Person of Interest caught my attention despite main dude Jim Caviezel (though the other nerdy dude and Amy Acker's spot-on psycho-hottie performance do counterbalance).

Back to the point, though, to borrow from not-Trek, I have a very bad feeling about this. Fortunately, though, the decision to put it on a subscription service that will fail (a la the UPN decision back in the day, but worse) probably means it will not trouble us for very long. Even though it is now cheaper and easier than ever to make sci-fi that looks like it has decent production values, a sci-fi show is a rather ambitious original series and flagship for such a service, especially with the bar having been set so high in the past.

This also pretty much guarantees no DS9 in HD for the foreseeable future, which is a huge loss, and I presume they'll want to strip Trek off of Netflix soon. I'd pay to see DS9 in HD, but CBS insists on not shutting up and taking my money. Instead, they want to waste it. They will do so without my support.

[Khas]

To be fair, though, Kurtzman and Orci HAVE done a pretty good job with "Sleepy Hollow" and "Fringe". Admittedly, they started off kinda slow, but picked up in their second seasons.

And hey, it's not like it can be worse than "Threshold", "Code of Honor", "Spock's Brain" or "A Night In Sickbay". Berman & Braga did a LOT more damage than Kurtzman & Orci have. (Okay, "Code of Honor" and "Spock's Brain" weren't made by those two, but you get the general idea.)

[Mr. Oragahn]

Is that CBS streaming service that bad?

[Mike DiCenso]

To be fair, though, Kurtzman and Orci HAVE done a pretty good job with "Sleepy Hollow" and "Fringe". Admittedly, they started off kinda slow, but picked up in their second seasons.

And hey, it's not like it can be worse than "Threshold", "Code of Honor", "Spock's Brain" or "A Night In Sickbay". Berman & Braga did a LOT more damage than Kurtzman & Orci have. (Okay, "Code of Honor" and "Spock's Brain" weren't made by those two, but you get the general idea.)

I have confidence that Kurtzman and Orci can write good Star Trek based on the Countdown comics for the ST 2009 movie and the prequel comics for Into Darkness. Those really felt like Star Trek and they went a long way towards setting up proper explanations as to what is seen in the movies. If they can do that for this new Trek series in writing episodes and giving other writers a good sense of direction, then I think it'll be very good.
-Mike

[Mr. Oragahn]

In other words they have the geekish and cultural background to succeed, assuming they actually get to work and manage to find a balance between the needs of a large audience and a product that it is choke full with clues and ties from and to the original and rich lore.
I wish it would be worth hoping. Trek movies have been no more than an excuse for lasers and dumb action for quite some time.

[Sideswipe]

I have confidence that Kurtzman and Orci can write good Star Trek based on the Countdown comics for the ST 2009 movie and the prequel comics for Into Darkness.
-Mike

They didn't actually write Countdown. They were involved in the plot, but who knows exactly to what extent...

[Mike DiCenso]

The script is credited to Mike Johnson and Tim Jones, but the plot is definitely Roberto Orci
Alex Kurtzman. Johnson and Jones were also a part of Orci and Kurtzman's production team for K/O Production:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Countdown

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Countdown

So while what you're saying is true, I stand by my original comment that Orci and Kurtzman can provide good direction for writers. Also in Countdown to Darkness, Orci has a clearly much larger role in directly writing for that mini-series:

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star ... o_Darkness

So Orci can write for Star Trek, if he wants to, and we'll have to see about Kurtzman.
-Mike

[Darth Spock]

Couple of thoughts.
I noticed the announcement said "first-run episodes" will be exclusive to CBS All Access. Sounds like more of an exclusivity perk, with TV viewers having to wait a few days or a week. I doubt they'll risk hobbling the new franchise by dumping it online only.

I've only recently started paying attention to specific writers/directors/producers, but from what I've seen so far, I doubt any one or few people will be able to single handedly screw up the whole show. I'd think the team of writers would have more control over the smaller details that'll make or break it. I mean really, the major "Trek" components are already established. A culturally diverse crew of humans and aliens, including at least one never before seen species, and one chick in a cat suit, will venture across the galaxy encountering deadly foes/environmental hazards, while solving cultural/moral dilemmas oddly paralleling those of our modern world.... The formula is set, it just needs writers with the right flair.

My biggest worry was that it would be in the Abramsverse, in an attempt to consolidate the IP. But if the information in this LINK is correct, the Prime universe looks like a shoe in.

[Mr. Oragahn]

The "next remastered version" I read in the last comment to that article.
Talks about using an updated yet classical model of the old Enterprise. I, for one, wouldn't mind.
I know some people would hate that, but CGI can help bridge the gaps between TOS and the rest in areas where TOS has badly aged, visually speaking, since for the scripts I've read, they are very good on paper.
Hell, a bit of CGI to freshen up some of the sets, when possible, wouldn't hurt either.

[Mike DiCenso]

That's already happened, to some extent. If you watch some of the FX comparisons between the original version of TOS and the remastered version, they changed some things, like the close ups of the time indicator from a mechanical analog device to something more like digital in nature.
-Mike