New Star Trek Series; you in or out?

[Takoren]

So there's this new Trek series in the works. It's gonna be on CBS All Access or some sh!t, where you gotta subscribe and it's only viewable online. Some people really hate this, but I don't give a rip since I pretty much wait until the BluRays come out, unless NetFlix gets it, and at some point NetFlix will get this.

Back in the 90's I don't think there was a kid who loved Star Trek more than me. I was the kind of person who knew every episode title and could literally watch a few minutes of an episode and figure out which one it was. I loved all things Trek, which meant I didn't even decide one series was better than the others; it was all Star Trek and I loved all of it.

So what changed? Voyager. I couldn't handle it, and after five disastrous seasons I voluntarily quit watching. I started watching Babylon 5 in reruns (and later on DVD) and - GASP - thought in many ways it was BETTER, if you can imagine such heresy. Battlestar Galactica (the new series, not the old one) is better still. In fact, while I wanted nothing more than a new military-esque space opera (once BSG was over) I did not necessarily think highly of a new Star Trek series. After all, Enterprise wasn't very good, either, and while the JJ Abrams movies have been good as movies, they weren't really Star Trek.

But as the years have gone on and my anger at Voyager and Enterprise has cooled, I realize I do kinda miss it. And to be honest I don't think there could be a better show-runner than Bryan Fuller, who always makes something amazing, and why shouldn't he do it again, considering he's a major Trekkie?

Some people don't like the way the new ship looks. I'm a bit on the fence. It's not by any stretch the "ugliest thing I've ever seen", as some have put it, but it's not very inspired either. I like the name, but I keep hearing rumors that it's going to be set just after Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and I'm not really a huge fan of going backward. I'd like to see something post-Voyager, even something set in the 25th century. But I will still give it a chance, no matter when it's set.

I hear Bryan Fuller wants the captain to be a black woman. I'm all for that, and I've already thought about a few black actresses I'd like to see in the role. What I am not looking forward to is the flurry of articles we're pretty much guaranteed to see about how such an actress in the central role is a "bold" move, or one that's likely to anger people, because racism is so prevalent, blah, blah, blah. Trek has had a black lead before, they've had a female lead before, so a lead actress who's both would be embraced just as the others were. I'm just a bit miffed that apparently Fuller's first choice, Angela Bassett, has already said she doesn't think she'd be available, as she would be excellent. I'd also be okay with Vanessa Williams or Vivica Fox. If Viola Davis didn't already have a series of her own, I'd love to see her in the role. Alfre Woodard would be great as well, but I have this thing about Trek captains; I feel like the performer should be a Trek virgin. I dunno.

What do you guys think? Excited to see this? Bored with the concept of more Trek? Indifferent? Excited but think it's gonna suck?

 

[Jussslic]

I'm 100% in. Aside from the fact that it's new Star Trek, everything Bryan Fuller has led has ranged from excellent to sublime... Dead Like Me is honestly one of my favorite shows ever, so I don't think there's anything that could stop me from being excited about Fuller running a Trek show.

 

[jason10mm]

Cautiously optimistic. If anything, the weird streaming model CBS wants us to use will kill it for me. Netflix will have this show everywhere else so I guess I'll just let it run for a while to see if it is worth subscribing and binge watching. I'm HIGHLY resistant to any attempts to create a separate pay streaming model for every production house.

We'll see where the narrative goes. Seems odd that they want a specific ethnicity/gender for the captain. Unless that is some sort of critical backstory element, I would FAR prefer they get a cast that all works well together and assign the roles that way. Arbitrarily limiting roles like this means they run a significant risk of having cast incompatibilities because they are drawing from small pools of talent. I don't watch Star Trek because I see myself in the captain, I watch Star Trek because I want to see cool sci-fi episodes or, failing that, at least engaging bridge crew interactions. From what I've seen of sci-fi space shows over the past decade or so, the "Science fiction" aspect has almost totally been trampled by "edgy gritty angsty emo crew who distrusts each other but they gotta find a way to make their relationships work". What happened to competence, professionalism, idealism? I don't need a captain to be a closet drunk, a first officer who feels guilty because he once slept with the science officers husband and she doesn't know it caused her divorce, and an engineer whose spunky attitude hides a deep pit of insecurity that she actually doesn't know jack about engineering and only got the job 'cause her dad was a hot shot admiral.

I want the best and brightest who go out, espouse the ideals of Star Fleet, explore strange new things, bang the occasional anthropomorphic alien, and kick in the teeth of space bullies who deserve it.

 

[Av Demeisen]

If this is set in the old Star Trek continuity, I'll definitely watch the first (few) episode(s), but they'd better hit the ground running. I didn't much care for Voyager and Enterprise, and hated the Abrams movies.

 

[BAYLOR]

It supposed to be another Prequel series , takes place before Kirk and Spock time but after Archers time. I have no interest in this series . I would have preferred a series based on the e timeline in the Abrams films which I liked.

 

[majawe13]

I'm a tad late to the party, having just marathon'd Voyager & Enterprise... Loved them both! Can't wait for the new series! I just wish it carried on after Voyager... But oh well I'm still in.

As I've said elsewhere, would be nice to see the Federation taking baby steps outside the galaxy for the first time... maybe encountering such a monstrous terrifying alien presence that all the Milky Way species (incl Borg & Species 8472, Cardassians, Romulans, Klingons etc etc) have to team up to figh them!

 

[jason10mm]

Baylor, that already exists in Star Trek, the Andromedians.

Problem with bad guys that require a team up to defeat is that, over time, the bad guys tend to get nerfed down. The BOrg were like this. Mysterious and unstoppable, but now sorta cute and cuddly. The stakes tend to be soooo high from the get go (planet destroying capabilities and the like) that there isn't much room to escalate over the course of a TV season. For some reason the fantasy genre deals better with ominous bad guys with lots of sub lieutenants and minions to defeat.

 

[Daddy Darth]

I love Trek and have watched pretty much every episode ever made - rewatching TNG with my 11 yo son right now. But if it is only available as a sub I call BS. I hate that.

 

[BAYLOR]

I love Trek and have watched pretty much every episode ever made - rewatching TNG with my 11 yo son right now. But if it is only available as a sub I call BS. I hate that.

The biggest problems I had with Next generation is that the characters were well adjusted boring an predictable .The writing after the 4th years also got rather stale and predictable.

 

[Takoren]

It supposed to be another Prequel series , takes place before Kirk and Spock time but after Archers time.

No, this is not certain.

I've heard various things, but the latest is that it takes place shortly after Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which doesn't thrill me much, either, but I'm willing to give it a fair shake. However, the show-runners have not confirmed the time frame, just that it's the prime timeline, not the Abramsverse.

 

[Takoren]

The biggest problems I had with Next generation is that the characters were well adjusted boring an predictable .The writing after the 4th years also got rather stale and predictable.

Yes, I agree whole-heartedly. What I love about shows like Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica is that the characters are real, flawed, allowed to disagree with each other and even dislike/hate each other.

 

[BAYLOR]

No, this is not certain.

I've heard various things, but the latest is that it takes place shortly after Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which doesn't thrill me much, either, but I'm willing to give it a fair shake. However, the show-runners have not confirmed the time frame, just that it's the prime timeline, not the Abramsverse.

I would have preferred a series in the Abrams universe, but that's never happening because the studio owns the movie rights and CBS owns the tv series rights.

I was unhappy when they killed off Admiral Pike in Star Trek into Darkness.

 

[BAYLOR]

Yes, I agree whole-heartedly. What I love about shows like Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica is that the characters are real, flawed, allowed to disagree with each other and even dislike/hate each other.

Babylon 5 is my favorite science fiction tv series of all. It really raised the bar on science fiction television as did Ron Moore's version of Battlestar Galatica.

 

[BAYLOR]

Yes, I agree whole-heartedly. What I love about shows like Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica is that the characters are real, flawed, allowed to disagree with each other and even dislike/hate each other.

DS9 was the best trek series of all and one the top science fiction shows of all time. Benjamin Sisko is my favorite Star Trek Captain more so after the episode In a Pale Moonlight. I love that trek episode .

 

[Jennifer P]

I'm waiting for disc on this because I did the math and subscribing to All Access for one show would cost me $6 an episode. I can get a better deal than that.

But still cautiously optimistic.

 

[BAYLOR]

I'm waiting for disc on this because I did the math and subscribing to All Access for one show would cost me $6 an episode. I can get a better deal than that.

But still cautiously optimistic.

Why don't they just make it for regular broadcast tv?

 

[Jennifer P]

To get subscribers. And if you're a cord cutter, it's not a bad deal. If you aren't yet, though...

 

[BAYLOR]

Im not crazy about the design of the USS Discovery.

 

[Takoren]

Im not crazy about the design of the USS Discovery.

Not many are, and according to Fuller and company, that's not the final design, nor is that the level of CGI the series will have.

We now know that the series will be set around the same era as The Cage, which mostly doesn't bother me except one facet; the uniforms. You just can't get away with those uniforms in 2017. And since it's definitely set in the prime Trek 'verse, you can't just make new uniforms and pretend the old ones don't exist.

I'm excited about most of the other aspects, though. Apparently it's going to deal with an event that was mentioned on TOS but has never been depicted, and will be covered in a season-long arc. Fuller is coy about which event that is, but there has to be some event Kirk and company mentioned that no real time frame was given to. I need to re-watch TOS and get some clues.

The captain will not be the central character; instead the lead will be a lieutenant commander, and I find this very intriguing. I like the idea of the captain being sort of "the chief", who stays on the ship and acts in the same sort of role as, say, the lieutenant in the squad room all the detectives answer to.

There will be more aliens in the cast than we're used to seeing (again, probably a good thing) and it will be a mix of races we know and races that are "new" (as in, we've never seen them). There will be at least one gay character.

All in all, I'll be tuning in. I will likely watch the entire first season. We'll see what I think when it's over.

 

[BAYLOR]

Not many are, and according to Fuller and company, that's not the final design, nor is that the level of CGI the series will have.

We now know that the series will be set around the same era as The Cage, which mostly doesn't bother me except one facet; the uniforms. You just can't get away with those uniforms in 2017. And since it's definitely set in the prime Trek 'verse, you can't just make new uniforms and pretend the old ones don't exist.

I'm excited about most of the other aspects, though. Apparently it's going to deal with an event that was mentioned on TOS but has never been depicted, and will be covered in a season-long arc. Fuller is coy about which event that is, but there has to be some event Kirk and company mentioned that no real time frame was given to. I need to re-watch TOS and get some clues.

The captain will not be the central character; instead the lead will be a lieutenant commander, and I find this very intriguing. I like the idea of the captain being sort of "the chief", who stays on the ship and acts in the same sort of role as, say, the lieutenant in the squad room all the detectives answer to.

There will be more aliens in the cast than we're used to seeing (again, probably a good thing) and it will be a mix of races we know and races that are "new" (as in, we've never seen them). There will be at least one gay character.

All in all, I'll be tuning in. I will likely watch the entire first season. We'll see what I think when it's over.

The event in question , could it be about Governor Kodos perhaps ?