1901 replies to this topic

[1701D]

There's only so many strange new worlds a single ship can visit before that formula becomes stale.

for me Star Trek isn't necessarily just about a certain group of people onboard the Enterprise, it may have been at the beginning but 50 years on from TOS and Star Trek is bigger than that. Some of the best Star Trek out there is without the Enterprise playing a big part in the story.

Regardless, I think the Enterprise will be involved in the show, I just think it'll be a part of a larger universe. I think we're going into a Star Trek series that is as big and has much scope as Game of Thrones.

I think we will see the Enterprise, other starships, alien ships, Klingon ships, romulan ships, the Federation, Starfleet, the Klingon Empire, The Romulan Star Empire and a variety of cool new characters spread across those and other races around the Galaxy...

[Alex]

My Star Trek is about the "voyages of the starship Enterprise." I'm not picky about when it takes place but the original mission statement shouldn't change. Swap out the characters as needed but this time keep it going. Don't stop after so many seasons to rebrand and completely change the cast.

 

For example, the first season of VOY should have been the 8th season of TNG set aboard the 1701-D lost in space. Lose or kill off anyone who's too expensive in favor of fresh and more affordable faces. Forget the whole, "Hey, let's make a movie!" nonsense. Concentrate on making a decent, ongoing TV series.

 

That said, DS9 is my favorite of all the series but it's arguably anti-Trek. It started with no captain, no starship, and a fraction of a Starfleet crew boldly waiting where no one had waited before. 

 

So I'm not saying not having an Enterprise is a deal-breaker but it is disappointing. Fortunately that disappointment continues to be mitigated by the talent involved so far. 

I was originally holding my favorite idea close to my chest in case I ever had the chance to pitch it, but at least part of this is so close to it that I might as well spill the beans since I'm apparently not the only person thinking this way. While I disagree that VOY should have been TNG S8, I do think Trek is long overdue for a series that runs continuously and moves forward from the furthest point in the timeline where the last major series was set, in the case sometime after the late 24th century, ideally the 25th century in my view. My idea was to skip a letter and head to the next Enterprise ending in a letter than ends with an "e" sound, just to get far enough from TNG–VOY to avoid being bogged down by earlier plots and to allow for some events to happen that weren't already covered. The idea was to focus primarily on the Enterprise, with the majority of the cast changing every five years or so, consistent with the idea of a "five–year mission." (TNG understandably avoided referencing the specific length of the mission, which was understandable when the previous five–year mission was more of a three–year mission, but you could get away with a specific mission length now that Trek has been around so long.) The show would start with a new ship, and at the very least, an experienced Captain who would be a bit older and experienced. The second five–year mission would hand the ship off to a younger Captain and crew that wasn't as experienced, with several crewmembers being fresh out of the academy. The third or fourth five–year mission would attempt to retain most of the crew from the previous mission, but would see a slightly older ship in the hands of someone who might have grown up fully aware of the ship that he or she is now commanding and its various voyages under previous captains, well aware of the expectations he or she has to live up too. If the show ended after 20 seasons, I'd hope to do five movies, but realize that likely wouldn't happen now that the movies and TV shows appear to be diverging further than before. Either way, the show would end with the ship becoming part of an orbital museum where tourists would see the next starship Enterprise under construction. Additionally, each five–year mission would have a different tone, so one might be a bit darker with a focus on something like the aftermath of the Hobus Supernova, (before 2009 I'd thought about the aftermath of the Dominion War for this example,) while another might have the Enterprise as part of a small fleet attempting to find a shortcut back to the Delta Quadrant as a result of Voyager's time there, and another might focus on a more traditional style of Trek exploration. Ideally there would be one character who'd start on the show very young, possibly as a Cadet or Ensign and work his or her way up the ranks throughout the course of the entire series, sort of the way Spock was to Pike and Kirk's crew, or the way Worf evolved throughout TNG, DS9, and the movies. Basically the concept could be described as telling the story from the ship's point of view; the walls might not literally talk, (at least not unless the computer was speaking,) but you'd definitely be witnessing the series in a way that would span multiple crews of a single ship in the 25th Century.

 

Having said that, if it's true that this new show's first season is post–TUC/pre–TNG, I'm honestly not that upset about not seeing the Enterprise, as I honestly think in that particular setting she'd potentially be more of a hindrance than a help. The Enterprise–B and Enterprise–C are already both iconic in their own right, even if they're not as iconic as some other Enterprises, so it makes more sense to focus on a ship we're not as familiar with.

 

There's only so many strange new worlds a single ship can visit before that formula becomes stale.

for me Star Trek isn't necessarily just about a certain group of people onboard the Enterprise, it may have been at the beginning but 50 years on from TOS and Star Trek is bigger than that. Some of the best Star Trek out there is without the Enterprise playing a big part in the story.

Regardless, I think the Enterprise will be involved in the show, I just think it'll be a part of a larger universe. I think we're going into a Star Trek series that is as big and has much scope as Game of Thrones.

I think we will see the Enterprise, other starships, alien ships, Klingon ships, romulan ships, the Federation, Starfleet, the Klingon Empire, The Romulan Star Empire and a variety of cool new characters spread across those and other races around the Galaxy...

1701D, I kind of disagree with you on the formula; there are plenty of strange new worlds that could be interesting for years to come, but given the setting, the Enterprise just isn't a necessity, and might actually be more of a distraction than anything else. If there's a season or future series set post–VOY in the 24th or 25th century, than yes, I'd definitely want to see the Enterprise again at some point, but for the 23rd Century, it definitely wouldn't hurt to focus on another ship. To me Trek is about exploring strange new worlds, whether or not they're explored on a ship named "Enterprise" or by a crew we're familiar with or one we've never seen before; and about morality and ethical decisions, regardless of the crew that's making them.

 

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if we only see the Enterprise in passing, maybe in a battle or on route to some diplomatic event, and that's fine. The Federation consists of many species, and Starfleet has many ships that we've likely never even seen before. As you've sort of alluded too, that's not even getting into ships from other species that have radically different crews associated with them, which we'll likely see pretty frequently as well. Even by DS9 it wasn't uncommon to see life on a Klingon ship courtesy of General Martok's crew, so not having an Enterprise isn't necessarily a deal–breaker for me, especially not when the Enterprise we'd have would constantly be in the shadow of the two before it, and the fact that Kirk was (presumed) lost on it.

[1701D]

I think we will see a lot more than just one ship. I think we will see Romulus, Qo-Nos, Earth, Kitomer and ships such as the Enterprise and Excelsior with the story taking place across the galaxy rather than just on one ship and on one strange new world.

 

I think there's a lot of opinion out there on what is and what isn't Star Trek and whilst there are certain elements any Star Trek series has to have to be considered faithful to the original concept, I don't think the setting is one of them and I don't think that "to seek out strange new worlds..." is necessarily something we need or want in the literal sense anymore. There are only so many ways a writer can create a strange new world without it feeling like a rehash of an episode we've seen before. Enterprise was a prime example of new worlds yet a sense of we've already been here and done this. I don't think it really matters if the alien race is different, it's still the same format. 

 

Any new Star Trek show is without question going to follow the serialised format we've come to love from shows like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. A Star Trek show that has the scope (if not the tone) of Game of Thrones, would clearly be one epic piece of TV. 

[Alex]

1701D, I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you on this one; the setting is extremely important, although I just don't happen to think it has to be a ship named "Enterprise" to work. Failing "to seek out strange new worlds" is also part of what ruined Enterprise for me and many others; it relied too heavily on trying to seek out strange old worlds, and that created a myriad of problems. A rehash of old episodes is fine if it comes with a twist or is something we haven't seen in quite some time; the problem with rehashes comes when they're blatant rip–offs of things that we saw just a few years earlier with no real attempt to differentiate between the old and the new. Look at the Kazon on VOY for a perfect example of this; the problem wasn't that they were a warrior culture that had funky foreheads; it was that they were a warrior culture that had funky foreheads and absolutely nothing to distinguish them from the Klingons they'd carbon–copied. The Hirogen on the other hand were also a warrior species, but they worked precisely because they didn't focus on a code of honor, and focused instead on "the hunt." Likewise, you could argue that the organ–harvesting Vidiians were comparable in some ways to the Borg and even the aforementioned Hirogen, but they were also different enough to be interesting. Enterprise's problems was that it introduced new species that we'd never heard from again, and never explained why we didn't see them in TOS–VOY like it kept promising that it would. ENT's problem had little to do with its format and more to do with wooden acting, trying to make Trek "trendy," and trampling on continuity with its TNG retro–future aesthetic that clashed horribly with what should have been a series in the run up to TOS.

 

While it's obvious that the episodes will be serialized, I don't think spreading the scenes across the Galaxy GoT–style is a wise thing to do, especially for an anthology series that could basically go to entirely different parts of the timeline in each subsequent season. Spread your post–TUC season across the entire Alpha Quadrant and you'll easily wind up with a mess that lacks any focus. As much as I hate to admit it, this series could actually take a cue from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens in the sense that TFA was described by its production crew as being a "Sci–Fi Period Drama" in the sense that it was written and fleshed out specifically to look and feel like '70s sci–fi so that it wouldn't break the aesthetic or storytelling style of the original trilogy. Season one of this new Trek should take that same approach, looking like it's straight out of '91 following TUC, and following in the storytelling style of the material that preceded it.

 

As for how the show could be anthologized, I'm hesitant to suggest this since it didn't quite work the first time, but it could be interesting if each season focused on a front in the Temporal Cold War from ENT as a way to tie everything together. This would give the series the scope of a GoT without making it seem cluttered or worse, having it move glacially with nothing significant happening from episode to episode. Spreading a season across all of the locations you've suggested without focusing on a single ship that travels to those locations would make the pacing more schizophrenic than a Michael Bay Transformers movie, which is exactly what I think this series should be actively trying to avoid. ENT S3 proved that you could serialize a season of Trek by focusing mostly on one specific mission, and I think that's probably the route that should be taken here. Actually, I think a better route would be the one taken by Grimm on NBC where the show is heavily serialized with some standalone content mixed in as well, but this is more likely to be hyper–serialized from what we've seen without any room for some standalone episodes that are largely self–encapsulated. What I like about the format Grimm uses is that even though there are some standalone episodes, they don't just "forget" the serialized material so much as they treat it as if there's just nothing happening on that front at that specific moment. (The serialized material may be referenced in the standalone episodes briefly, but if you weren't following the show it wouldn't keep you from being able to jump into a standalone episode to check it out without being wildly lost.) Trek has always been rooted in the style of a procedural, and Grimm has basically grafted serialized fantasy elements onto that format, which actually makes it a great blueprint for what modern Trek should look like; serialized enough to fit in with modern TV, but also with enough standalone material to keep things interesting, experiment with new ideas, and to avoid having a plot that gets stale because it can't take a break from the serialized material. I'm honestly most interested in seeing how the anthlology concept is going to play out; if done correctly it could be amazing, but if done poorly, it could also be an unmitigated disaster. Of course, the production crew we have so far seems like they should be capable of making it amazing, so I'm not too worried given the hands that the show is in.

 

Also, while it's not too unexpected, the show won't be filming in LA, opting instead for filming to take place in Toronto. I have mixed feelings about this; on one hand filming in LA costs a fortune, and no sane producer would want to deal with the excessive costs and paperwork associated with shooting something in LA. On the other hand, Trek spent 50 years being filmed on the Desilu/Paramount lot, and stage 9 and stage 8 are effectively synnonymous with Trek, so it feels kind of lame to see that the show won't be returning to one of the stages that the shows and movies have been filmed on for 50 years. However, on the plus side, Toronto allows for strange new worlds with scenery we wouldn't get out of LA, but if this show squanders those locations, it'll truly be a wasted opportunity that could justify moving production for more than just financial reasons.

[Alex]

Okay, so I was originally going to add this to my previous post, but felt it was big enough to warrant more than an "update" to my post from yesterday. I'm too tired to dig up the link right now, but 1701News recently defended their decision not to cover the post–TUC/pre–TNG rumors, citing the lack of corroboration in the blog post that originally reported them, and the lack of a reason for running with the story without being able to corroborate it as reasons why they've made the aforementioned decision. Although they noted that the rumors we've been presented with might be true while justifying their decision, they may have provided contradictory rumors that effectively contradict the earlier rumors. Specifically, 1701News notes that while it's been virtually impossible to come across any information about the new series, let alone any information that could be corroborated, what little information exists that has been corroborated actually points to a likely post–Nemesis setting rather than a post–TUC setting, which would be more consistent with the setting we were initially expecting. Additionally, the article goes on to note that while an anthology series might also be true, without corroboration from a second source or even a reason for running it without corrboration too, it's essentially baseless speculation as well, and that 1701News has been unable to corroborate either story.

 

As for the new rumor that some sources have supposedly corroborated the idea of a post–Nemesis series, make of that what you will; it could be true, but at such an early pre–production stage it could also have changed. Another report erroneously suggested that the series would take place quote, "50 years after TNG," before later updating it to simply be "after TNG," so at this point, it's entirely possible that the post–TUC/pre–TNG idea is out the window, the anthology concept might or might not be true, or that everything we've heard so far could be true in some capacity if the anthology concept is indeed true. Again, it's also worth pointing out that at this stage in pre–production, everything is subject to wild changes before the show begins filming. Personally, I like the post–Nemesis idea even better than the post–TUC/pre–TNG concept, but at this point who knows which rumor is true. (It's also worth pointing out that 1701News mentioned that all of the coverage of the rumors are still circularly sourced from the same blog that lacked corroboration, so we can't just go to a well–known site like IGN and take their information as gospel on this either.) Again, this is just a reminder to take the post–TUC/pre–TNG rumors with a giant dumptruck of salt, and even moreso for the anthology rumors. I'm hesitant to place too much stock into either idea, but the fact that post–Nemesis rumors have been corroborated in some capacity as being under consideration definitely has my interest, as that's pretty much uncharted territory for Trek.

[Alteran195]

So CBS has confirmed that the new series will be releasing weekly versus all at once. This means no subscribing for a month and binge watching it all when it first releases.

Its also still on track for a January premiere.

http://trekmovie.com...-premiere-date/

[Alex]

To quote a certain pointy–eared Vulcan, "fascinating." I honestly wasn't surprised in the slightest earlier today when I read that the series would be released weekly rather than all at once, but I am kind of surprised that the show is still on track for a January premiere given that it won't begin filming until the fall, and that Les Moonves has said they have to wait six months after Star Trek Beyond before releasing the series, although I suppose if that means six months after "Beyond's" premiere date, technically January 23rd, 2017 would be an acceptable premiere date for the new series. (Granted, I would have thought that it would be six months from Beyond's wide release ending, not from when it began.)

 

As far as the weekly release schedule goes, I'm going to take what will probably be a somewhat unpopular stance here and say that it's something that I'm happy about. If CBS released the whole thing at once, I can guarantee that people would have subscribed for a month, binge–watched the show, and then cancelled their All–Access subscriptions before the second month; as Alteran195 pointed out above, this is no longer possible. Additionally, had CBS released the entire series at once, I can also guarantee that the entire thing would have been pirated and made available illegaly worldwide before CBS ever had a chance to get the international masters to international distributors. While the series will still likely be pirated, CBS at least has a chance to get international masters to international distributors before having to worry about fans overseas grabbing pirated copies of episodes that haven't aired yet. Furthermore, I'm happy that I won't have to keep up with people who would have just binge–watched the whole thing on day one, and subsequently been discussing it with other fans for a week before potentially forgetting about it until the second season. With one episode a week, the new series will remain relevant longer, as people will have to keep coming back for more of it instead of just binge–watching it and forgetting about it until a year later. I'll also gladly be buying the show on Blu–Ray, (ideally 4K UHD Blu–Ray if possible,) so a traditional release schedule doesn't bother me, as it should shorten the time between seeing the show on All–Access in low–bitrate streaming and being able to really enjoy it on Blu–Ray Disc.

 

The January premiere date on the other hand is a bit concerning. Everything I'm seeing says that filming will begin this fall, which basically means that CBS would have four months (assuming "fall" means September) or less in which to film the show and actually begin completing episodes. While it's certainly possible to film most or even all of the show in that timeframe, anything as FX–intensive as Trek is definitely going to be pushing things in terms of having completed masters ready by January. VFX need to be created and rotoscoped into various scenes, footage needs to be color–graded once the final edit is locked down, music and FX need to be added to the audio track, and the dialogue tracks will likely require at least some level of ADR for various scenes as well. All of that takes up time in post–production, and cramming production and post–production into a four month timeframe is just asking for trouble on a post–production intensive series. Actually, this may be another reason for the decision to release one episode a week; if CBS knows that they only need to have one episode ready each week, they can focus post–production on episodes 1–3 and have them in the can before moving on to something like episodes 4–6 and so on. I can't think of any modern scripted TV show that doesn't shoot in clusters, ("clusters" are blocks of footage all set in the same location across multiple episodes,) and I can't imagine Trek being any exception, but by releasing one episode a week, CBS is effectively ensuring that the crew doesn't have to have all of the post–production work for the season finished before the first episode is released. Still, I think CBS is really cutting things close by pushing for a January release date, and think they might be making a mistake by trying to stick to said release date. One of ENT's problems was that Paramount practically forced it out the door so that there was no gap after VOY ended, and the end result was a series that definitely wasn't fully fleshed out when it was released. I completely "get" CBS not wanting to miss out on the 50th Anniversary of Trek, but TNG's 30th anniversary is still huge, gives the crew a bit of breathing room to ensure that the show is the best it can be, and wouldn't overshadow everything else that CBS and Paramount are already doing for Trek's 50th anniversary. Don't get me wrong, I want a new Trek series five years worth of yesterdays ago, but I'd rather this show not be rushed just for the sake of being out the door by January. Hopefully the one episode per–week release method will work in the show's favor, and this won't be jammed out the door like ENT was just for the sake of hitting an arbitrary January release date.

[Alteran195]

I'm perfectly fine with them doing a weekly release scheduled. You can't have good discussions or theories, and there is no anticipation if everyone just binge watches the show in a day or two. 

 

Whether I'll be subscribing to watch the show or not is still up in the air until I see the pilot. 

[Jay K]

As a random thing, there's rumours that some shooting will start 'very, very soon', so whether that's true or not, I'd like to recommend that we make a 'spoiler' thread to compliment this one. Basically, in this thread here, we'll close our eyes to any leaks, etc, and in the spoiler thread, we'll be forcing them open with matchsticks, hoovering up every morsel of information we can find.

No need to make one until something comes out, but as an example of what would fit the bill as leaked content, I'm talking about casting, aliens and ships. Story spoilers would be incredibly unlikely, but I'd suggest posting them with spoiler tags in the spoiler thread, as that's something I'd personally want to avoid, even though I'd be cool with seeing the rest. Here's how to use spoiler tags:

 

That should then look like this:

Spoiler

Captain Picard gets assimilated!

[Alex]

Alteran195, I completely agree with you about being unable to have good discussions or theories if everyone binge–watches the show over the course of a couple of days. Also, I would think that binge–watching would be similar to "cramming" for an exam in the sense that trying to shove as much information into one's brain at once might actually yield less of the aforementioned information sinking in, which could be detrimental for a show like Trek.

 

Jay K, I have mixed feelings on creating separate threads. On one hand, I feel that it could be a good idea, but if it's done, any spoilers should be fair game, so if for example, story spoilers show up, that's part of the risk of going in there. On the other hand, I feel like it could be entirely possible to spoiler tag anything that could really ruin the show and keep it in this thread. Casting, aliens, and ships don't seem to be any different than the kind of thing we've been discussing here already, but anything that could give away plot points probably should be spoiler–tagged regardless of where it's posted.

 

As for the rumors of filming starting "very, very soon," it's certainly possible, but it doesn't seem entirely plausible for a couple of reasons. First, we haven't seen any cast announcements yet, and no casting sides seem to have leaked, and while casting sides don't usually indicate squat about a show, in this day and age it's virtually impossible to keep them a secret, so we should at least be seeing something like "new Star Trek TV series using casting sides from TWOK scenes" popping up online just to indicate that they're out there. Additionally, the lack of casting announcements is odd, because if filming is supposed to begin soon, CBS should be making them beforehand to avoid the opportunity for leaks to reveal the cast before CBS does. Assuming the early shoots are location shots, (which is entirely plausible given that the studio space is booked for September,) even if CBS locks the actual filming area down like Fort Knox, actors heading to and from the set can and will be photographed, and those photos will be leaked relatively quickly. (Even Paramount revealed the cast of the JJ–verse before filming of each movie began since failing to do so would have had leaks inevitably reveal various cast members.) The second reason it doesn't seem too plausible that filming will begin very soon is that even if CBS is close to assembling a cast, I would think that they'd want to immediately have that cast doing press events like SDCC and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to build up hype for the show, and to give them time to get the sets built and the soundstages ready for filming. Speaking of the soundstages, shows that are filming their first season typically tend to shoot material that requires a soundstage before moving to location–based shooting. While this isn't always the case, it's usually done so that the cast can find their footing without having to deal with the variables of a location–based shoot, and so that the main crew can get used to working with the cast before the various Production Units wind up taking over for the location–based shoots. Granted, this isn't always the case, and it's entirely possible that this series could do location shooting before moving to a soundstage, but it seems to fly in the face of how most TV shows are produced. (Films are a different beast; there's so much location–based shooting in those that they tend to start shooting with whatever location was locked down first and may even end with material that requires a soundstage, but that's not typically the case for episodic television, especially episodic television that's shot in a traditional "network" format.) I could definitely see location scouting being underway though, or some principal photography, but that's not "shooting" in the traditional sense, so much as it's picking places to shoot and then taking some stills to show that they'll work for the scenes in question. Again, I'm not saying it's impossible for the show to start filming very soon, I'm just saying that without more information, I find it to be a somewhat unlikely scenario.

[Jay K]

Regarding spoilers, okay fair enough; but I've seen some other places (like Game of Thrones sites) do it the way I suggested though, as people are cool with seeing what characters and props look like but don't necessarily want to know the story. I'm definitely in this latter group, as I'd be more than fine with seeing the actors in costume/make up, ship/s and props (Tricorders and Phasers) before it airs, but I don't want to be spoiled of any story details whatsoever. A word of warning before you post story stuff at the very least then, as a head's up for people like me?

Also, I disagree in regards to the separate thread suggestion. Keeping everything in this thread, will result in a lot of black posts (spoiler tagged), and entirely separate conversions between different people. When the first leak happens, a new thread for spoilers would be the best course in my opinion. It's not like it'll halve the community or anything. Unless everyone is cool with seeing leaked things (which I doubt), but if there's even just one person who isn't, then I feel it's only fair to make a separate thread.

[Alteran195]

Having a separate thread for story spoilers and trailers is a very good idea. I don't want any of that spoiled, and I don't even watch trailers anymore since half the time they ruin some of the best moments.

Hell I'd even say have another separate thread for props, costumes, and ship discussions so conversations are easier to follow.

Having two separate, clearly defined threads could ensure people who don't want spoilers don't see them.

[BadBunnyMike]

Just because "Shooting begins in the fall" doesnt mean they dont have the CG team already working on ships and so forth right now and getting some of the visual effects going early. They already know when and where the series is set so 10 to one they are toiling away already on it

[Alex]

Jay K, I definitely think there should be a warning above anything spoiler–tagged that contains story spoilers, and wouldn't necessarily be opposed to sticking those in their own thread. My worry would be about having this thread, a separate thread for spoilers about props and ships, and then a third thread for actual story spoilers, or mixing story spoilers with props and ships. Another board I visit has a lot of blacked out posts for its show when a new season is in pre–production, but the way it handles spoilers are slightly different than the way Invision handles them. (Blacked out instead of in a separate box entirely.) I wouldn't mind sticking story spoilers in a separate thread, but feel that props, ships, etc. should probably be confined to this one. Other boards I've been to have threads that are hundreds of pages long with ten active discussions going on at once just for a pre–release overall "series" discussion thread, and they have far more members than we do throwing everything imaginable into that thread. One thing they also do, which might be beneficial here, is a general spoiler disclaimer in "episode discussion" threads once something is actually released, that basically says "expect spoilers; they're going to happen, this is a discussion thread," which sort of lets everyone know that if you go into a thread about an episode, expect to be spoiled on what's on the episode being discussed. When the time comes, I wouldn't mind something like that for the new Trek series to be created here, as it allows everyone to discuss each week's episode without potentially spoiling an episode that they haven't seen yet.

 

BadBunnyMike, I have no doubt that the CG team may already be working on ships and basic VFX, although given that those won't be needed until the show is in post–production, I also wouldn't be surprised if those weren't created until around the same time that filming is scheduled to begin as the VFX team has no reason to be involved directly with the filming process, and it's not uncommon for FX that don't involve actual filmed footage (e.g. ships, planets, basic transporter effects, etc.) to be developed while a show is shooting. Some stuff like hand–phaser beams that requires actual filmed footage to be developed accurately might be added later on, but at least some FX will likely be done before filming begins. What Jay K was suggesting is that filming would begin soon, which is what I found unlikely; I don't find early FX work or even just rough tests of FX works to be as unlikely though. However, having said that, I would think that if we're already at the stage where some FX work is being done, we'd likely be seeing it leak already given that Paramount couldn't even keep the U.S.S. Franklin's concept design for "Beyond" from leaking, and it's a lot easier for material from a weekly TV series to leak. (I'm aware that CBS is a different entity, but I'm saying that in general it's more difficult to keep material from a TV series from leaking.)

 

Also, even though things have advanced dramatically in the past 24 years, I wouldn't expect what's being developed now to necessarily be final so long as filming won't begin until September. Just look at these DS9 promos from '92; they utilize an unfinalized logo in one early trailer, and several unfinalized VFX, and I wouldn't be surprised if the new series take a similar route, as I've seen things like logos for modern TV shows changed as recently as a month before they actually premiere in some cases. (In one situation I saw a logo change three times within the space of a month before it premiered; it was kind of obvious that the marketing team couldn't settle on a final design for that series.)

 

[Alteran195]

I'd say give us a whole new forum for just the series when it gets closer to release. But I don't know how feasible that is.

If we did that we could have individual episode discussion threads, and separate topics for props and story stuff without cluttering up the news forum.

[Morgan]

Oh man, this post-TUC pre-TNG rumor is sooo early in the production, I'm taking it with big pinch of Whole Foods Organic Sea Salt.

 

But here's the thing; given the people who are confirmed to be helming this series, they are all fanboys of that specific Trek era. They all basically want a series in the TOS movies universe. Since they only get one shot in life to start a Trek series from scratch, what other time period would they go to?

 

As far as crowd-pleasing goes, that time period is about as crowd-pleasing as it gets and I think objectively the studio would back them on this. Like with Star Wars now, a big contingent of viewers would want a retro feel and a return to the "feel" of that era. I don't think I'm going out on a limb with that statement.

[djc242]

Oh man, this post-TUC pre-TNG rumor is sooo early in the production, I'm taking it with big pinch of Whole Foods Organic Sea Salt.

 

But here's the thing; given the people who are confirmed to be helming this series, they are all fanboys of that specific Trek era. They all basically want a series in the TOS movies universe. Since they only get one shot in life to start a Trek series from scratch, what other time period would they go to?

 

As far as crowd-pleasing goes, that time period is about as crowd-pleasing as it gets and I think objectively the studio would back them on this. Like with Star Wars now, a big contingent of viewers would want a retro feel and a return to the "feel" of that era. I don't think I'm going out on a limb with that statement.

 

From your mouth to Spock's ears.

[Alex]

Oh man, this post-TUC pre-TNG rumor is sooo early in the production, I'm taking it with big pinch of Whole Foods Organic Sea Salt.

This is exactly the approach that I'm taking as well, and that I've been encouraging everyone to take, primarily because the rumor is so sketchy and from a site that isn't readily known with an established track record (reliable, mixed, poor, or otherwise,) regarding such rumors. This could have been one possibility that was pitched and shot down, and idea that was pitched and intentionally leaked to fans to judge their reaction, (this happens more than you might think when a studio is playing with a handful of ideas and just wants to see what the initial reaction would be,) or even an idea that was just willed into existence by a random blog. It's not something that I would put my money on yet by any means, even though it might be true.

 

But here's the thing; given the people who are confirmed to be helming this series, they are all fanboys of that specific Trek era. They all basically want a series in the TOS movies universe. Since they only get one shot in life to start a Trek series from scratch, what other time period would they go to?

While I understand this line of reasoning, and while I realize that it's an easy conclusion for fans to draw, I don't necessarily think that this is as straightforward as it initially appears. Bryan Fuller cut his teeth on DS9 and VOY, and CBS pretty much admitted that they made him showrunner to create something that would appeal to the DS9 and VOY viewers, which would indicate something that would take place in a post–NEM setting rather than a pre–TNG/post–TUC one. Bryan Fuller might be a fanboy of the TOS movie era, but that doesn't mean that CBS wants a show set in the TOS movie era, or that that's what he's creating. It's quite possible that concepts from the TOS movie era could be incorporated into something set well after it, but that's a case of appreciating a specific narrative style and working it into something new and unique. While it's true that Nicholas Meyer is involved as a consultant, that only lends credence to the concept that Bryan Fuller could be attempting to apply elements of the TOS movies that worked to something set further into the future, and that Nicholas Meyer is there to guide the production crew through the process that the TOS movies took in terms of their style of storytelling. (Remember, as a consultant, Nicholas Meyer's ideas could be used in their entirety, but they could also be ignored in their entirety much in the way that J.J. Abrams supposedly ignored George Lucas's ideas for TFA when he was involved as a consultant.)

 

Everyone else involved in the production doesn't seem to have a huge interest one way or another in where it might be set. While a lot of people like to suggest a 24th Century post–Dominion War setting, and while that could definitely work, Bryan Fuller could easily make his mark by creating a Trek series set in the 25th Century as many of us have suggested, and he could take the elements from DS9 and VOY that worked when he was involved in those shows, and wed them with the elements that everyone loves from the TOS movie era for something entirely unique and different, but still familiar and enjoyable. I can easily see the concept of "villainous Klingons" working in a setting after the Hobus Supernova given that the destruction of Romulus would be a great catylst for de–stabilizing the Alpha Quadrant's various powers.

 

As far as crowd-pleasing goes, that time period is about as crowd-pleasing as it gets and I think objectively the studio would back them on this. Like with Star Wars now, a big contingent of viewers would want a retro feel and a return to the "feel" of that era. I don't think I'm going out on a limb with that statement.

I wouldn't necessarily say that the TOS movie era is the most crowd–pleasing era of Trek that's out there. It's definitely pretty high up, but the adults that are making up the target audience for this new show are effectively the kids who grew up on DS9 and VOY, and not the kids who grew up on the TOS movie era and TNG. (They're definitely going to be making up the secondary portion of the target audience though, so they can't just be ignored either.) The hunger seems to be mostly for a post–Dominion War series, with a setting either in the late 24th Century (NEM was in the 2370s,) or sometime in the 25th Century, but not too close to the events of TNG–VOY and NEM, as there's a desire for that "gap" that TNG had between it and TOS. The obvious way to combine these two eras that aren't exactly identical is to move into an entirely new era, (the 25th Century being a good choice,) and to mix the elements as I suggested above in a way that would bring in the DS9/VOY audience along with the TOS movie era audience, and to do so without positioning the series to be able to easily retread either the TOS movies or TNG–VOY and NEM.

 

Star Wars is a bit of a different kettle of fish when it comes to returning to the "feel" of an era. A lot of people including extremely casual fans never bought the "feel" of the prequels, and there really was only one direction for a movie franchise that had films numbered I–VI to go, and that was forward, whether it was to episode VII or skipping a trilogy to move to episode X; one way or another Star Wars had to move forward, and episode VII just made sense since the cast was still alive to do it, and most fans felt that Lucas should have done it in '99 and then worried about the prequels that were going to need to be recast anyway later on. Star Wars also only had one timeline that was truly crowd–pleasing, and that was the aesthetic of the original trilogy; Star Trek on the other hand has two different eras within the Prime Universe that are extremely crowd–pleasing, which makes the decision more difficult. The desire with Trek isn't a return to something "retro," but more of a return to something that feels like a natural continuation of where Trek's move forward initially stopped. Also, J.J. Abrams of all people would be the first to tell the TOS Movie era fans–turned–crew on the new Trek series to reign their interest in that timeline in. Abrams himself knew that his fans were looking for a continuation of their franchise, and not a reboot or something that would force earlier movies to be renumbered, and the same concept applies to Trek fans; they want something that goes forward, not backwards or sideways, not for the first new Trek in a decade, but they also want something that's still somewhat familiar, which makes a new setting where you can meld those concepts like the one that I mentioned above highly desirable.

 

Also, there are a couple more issues with the TOS movie era that weren't issues for Star Wars doing sequels to the original trilogy. First, we know what happens after the TOS movie era; this is the same issue that the Star Wars prequels ran into; when you have fans who know what's going to happen, there are specific things that they want to see which may or may not work with the creative vision for your show, or may be entirely unfeasible and ultimately more of a headache than they're worth. Second, and this ties into the first point, the TOS movie era is a minefield of cans of worms. While it could work well for a miniseries or something else, a full series is much more difficult to pull off. If it's truly post–TUC, you basically have to avoid the Enterprise entirely, because you're going to be dealing with the Enterprise–B, and even if you replace the entire crew, you still have to address the 800lbs gorilla in the room, which is the fact that James T. Kirk was thought dead on the ship, and not addressing that would seem odd given that it would basically be the kind of thing that had just happened given when the show would supposedly be set. The Excelsior also poses problems because trying to make George Takei look 20 years younger wouldn't really work, and having him randomly age overnight would shatter any suspension of disbelief viewers had, so you're basically confined to never showing the Captain if you show the ship. Speaking of ships, you can't introduce any new classes of them without immediately raising the question of why they weren't everywhere in the 24th Century when the Excelsior, Miranda, and even Oberth classes seemed to pop up pretty frequently. (The Constitution–class is old enough that it could reasonably be seen as a design that was being retired whereas the other designs were new, hence why it wasn't seen in the 24th Century.) While you could theoretically take concept art for another 23rd century design and just create a "new" class of older ships, that opens another can of worms, because it leaves people wondering why it wasn't retired alongside the Constitution–class. If you go too far into the future, then you start getting into the space between TOS and TNG and wind up having to address things that happened offscreen between the two, and that presents another set of unnecessary challeneges.

 

Also the proximity of the TOS movie era to TOS isn't necessarily a good thing when you've also got a movie franchise going on that's trying to be a retelling of TOS in some capacity, and the chance for confusing newcomers is far greater. On the other hand, if you set the new series after everything we've seen before, you can take elements of the TOS movie era and elements of 24th Century Trek, and mix them together for something that's familiar, but completely unique, and that doesn't run the risk of running into all sorts of cans of worms. You can have a modern aesthetic that feels like it progressed from the TOS movie era and TNG–VOY and NEM to something very modern that still looks familiar. You can have all sorts of new ships without anyone batting an eye. You can have new uniforms that use "movie–jacket" style designs with TNG rank colorings, or have deep blue jackets inspired by the movie era trimmed in the colors of TOS or TNG, or some variation thereof. (For example, maybe security wears blue, medical wears red, and command wears gold again.) You can have "villanous Klingons," who might not be happy with how things went for them after the Dominion War, or with the amount of power the Federation has after the Hobus Supernova. You can have a series that nobody can even remotely mistake for being tied to the new movies, and you can have something that's both new and fresh, but simultaneously familiar to the audience. Above all else though, you can combine both storytelling styles unencumbered, and without the need to explain anything away or just avoid referencing it, and you can please both the TNG–VOY/NEM fans and the TOS movie era fans, and you can leave your mark on Trek while doing it without looking like you're just aping earlier material right down to the setting. I think post–TUC could work for a different kind of Trek project, but for a full–blown series, I think it's just asking for unnecessary trouble, which Trek doesn't need right now. I'm not saying that the crew isn't going to do the post–TUC idea, but I think it might make more sense to treat the effects of the Hobus Supernova similarly to what happened on Praxis in TUC, and to work in an entirely new era of the Prime Universe, unencumbered, and able to answer Nimoy's question about "what if the wall came down in space" yet again, but without being forced to work in an already established setting. To me, this makes more sense than intentionally sticking a whole series in an era where one wrong move could be disastrous. Now if we're tallking about some sort of six–episode miniseries concept as an additional project, than yes, post–TUC would be a wonderful setting, but for a series, going forward makes more sense. To go back to the Star Wars analogy, there's a reason why Rogue One isn't a numbered film, and that's because it's the kind of story that needs to be told in a standalone film to avoid trampling on elements of episode IV, but as a standalone film, it's an awesome idea. That's sort of how I view the post–TUC idea; for something short, it's really wonderful, but for a new series, I think moving forward makes a lot more sense.

[djc242]

The first teaser for the new show is out:

 

 

 

Bryan Fuller tweeted that there are easter eggs.

 

Spoiler

Is that Praxis or Romulus?

[Alteran195]

The first teaser for the new show is out:

 

 

 

Bryan Fuller tweeted that there are easter eggs.

 

Spoiler

Is that Praxis or Romulus?

Spoiler

Romulus was hit by a massive supernova, I can't imagine there being that much left.

 

Pretty good teaser. I find it interesting that everything was plural, maybe we are getting an anthology type show, or something Game of Thrones like where we see the world from different perspectives.