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Star Trek Lower Decks Animated Series Announced


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#1 Alteran195

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Posted 25 October 2018 - 10:27 AM

From head writer of Rick and Morty comes Star Trek Lower Decks:

https://deadline.com...ess-1202489207/

 

 

Hopefully this wont be terrible, and the comedy will be closer to what we get on The Orville then what we get on Rick and Morty. I like that show, but I don't think it'd jive well with Trek. 

 

We'll see. 



#2 MisterPL

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Posted 25 October 2018 - 10:42 AM

Execs have toyed with the idea of a half-hour, Trek-based comedy since DS9, haven't they? If this isn't a shot across Fox's bow, I don't know what is. I'm looking forward to it.



#3 Alteran195

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Posted 25 October 2018 - 10:50 AM

Definitely looking forward to it.

Cant wait for Orville fans to start talking about how Trek copying them now.

#4 MisterPL

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Posted 25 October 2018 - 11:01 AM

Crap. I forgot to say, "It's not real Trek! I'm not paying for this! I'll stick to Orville!"

 

Seriously, if this show doesn't match the visual aesthetic of the original animated series, it's just laziness on CBS' part. 



#5 JMW326

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Posted 25 October 2018 - 05:21 PM

I guess the execs don't realize a lot of the old "hard core" fans of Star Trek have no real sense of humor. Lol
Looks like they are trying to get some new young blood into the franchise. I for one am looking forward to it.
Im hoping it has a cool animation style. Something like Clone Wars or Rebels would be great. Hopefully they don't do like the new Thundercats or Teen Titans Go.

#6 Gothneo

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Posted 25 October 2018 - 05:58 PM

The more options they provide the better... I don't have to end up liking it all!



#7 Whirlygig

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Posted 26 October 2018 - 04:16 AM

This just strikes me as weird all around. I worry that they are taking too many stabs in the dark at once... Not only did it call it a comedy, it called it an "adult comedy".... I am not into the idea of doing what passes for "adult comedy" in the Trek universe. I'm not a prude, I love Rick & Morty, but that could easily wind up feeling like a cheapening of Trek. Maybe that word "comedy" was a mistake or assumption in some of these writeups?

Also ... not really impressed with the pitch being quoted everywhere. A series "about the guy who puts the yellow cartridge in the replicator so a banana can come out the other side"? I'm failing to see how an actual Trekkie would conceptualize how replicators work (and how Starfleet works) such as to be able to form such a sentence...

Yeah I know I sound like "that guy". We'll see. But they sure seem to think they should just throw money at X projects named Star Trek and see which stick, all of which kinda sucks for those of us who like cohesiveness in the universe. They don't have a good recent track record for upholding canon like Star Wars tries to maintain...yeah Star Wars just woke up one day and said "EU was all a dream" which isn't a strategy I favored but at least it was a strategy. What's the strategy here?

#8 Alteran195

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Posted 26 October 2018 - 09:01 AM

Comedy can mean a lot of different things. 

 

The Orville is technically a sci fi comedy, but the humor is pretty mellow. A lot of people made the assumption that the show would just end up being Family Guy in space simply because Macfarlane was involved with it. That definitely isn't the case, and as the series went on the humor got a lot better than it was initially. 

 

Assuming Lower Decks will be like Rick and Morty in Starfleet just because the head writer is involved is the same flawed reasoning that happened with The Orville. 

 

One of the other executive producers also worked on King of the Hill, which was a fairly serious animated show with a good mix of humor. If Lower Decks is a mix of that show and some toned down clever Rick and Morty humor, it could be pretty good. 



#9 Gothneo

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Posted 26 October 2018 - 03:34 PM

they sure seem to think they should just throw money at X projects named Star Trek and see which stick, 

 

 

Yeah I get that... but this happens a lot... Trek is brand... it it used to mean basically one thing (TOS TV)... then it became TOS TV and TOS movies... then they added TNG... then DS9... etc etc... so at some point they are just sticking the "Star Trek" brand on just about anything... just to make cash from it.

 

Material Brands are the same... WestingHouse and GE don't actually make.. or even design any of the consumer goods their brands are on anymore. 

 

Maybe Trek is going that route too... 



#10 Damon1984

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Posted 27 October 2018 - 02:54 AM

Animation would have been perfect to go where live-action shows can't because of budged restrictions. You could have done some really cool stuff here, shown some really strange new worlds - a DTI show, or a show about Starfleet Academy. What they choose instead feels - at least at this early point - incredible unimaginative.... again!

 

I'm not sure if I have become an old grumpy fart, or if the ip holders really have no creativity left.



#11 VulcanFanatic

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Posted 27 October 2018 - 06:51 AM

It's like they are searching for that "lightning in a bottle" again, as TOS was described as, but it's they themselves that keep diluting Star Trek to a point where they can't even "Static cling" anymore. They need to return to the formula that worked from TOS that worked, as it did with TNG, and have a show set in the proper universe aboard an Enterprise after the Enterprise E, shortly after Nemesis. They don't need Spock and Kirk, they need the formula, without the SJW crap from Discovery, without the Kelvin universe crap, just get the formula right and the lightning will return.

#12 Gothneo

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Posted 27 October 2018 - 07:14 PM

I get the TOS / TNg connection. Roddenberry was offended when they said he had to make a pilot for TNG as he just pointed to TOS. 

 

But it did take some time for it to find its footing... so even TNG trying to follow the TOS formula wasn't a sure bet.

 

If they never took chances... they would never have done DS9... and I love DS9. All these shows just make the point that there are a lot of moving parts that need to come together... a cast that gels and the audience likes... writing... imaginative producing... and time to tweak and make new ideas work.



#13 Morgan

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Posted 27 October 2018 - 08:24 PM

Yeesh, I dunno guise, with Orville and now this, however it ends up coming across, there is a risk of too many send-ups and parodies effectively mocking those who watch Disco and the future Picard project seriously.

 

I'm surprised to begin with that network execs felt that the Orville is a joke that can be done every week.

 

I get that Trek is susceptible to riffs, but... not whole multiple series of that sort of thing. There has to be demand out there for that too -- there is an assumption that a comedy Trek animate series is something Trekkies will watch every week or so.



#14 Whirlygig

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Posted 27 October 2018 - 09:11 PM

I don't expect it will be like Rick and Morty. I didn't expect Orville would be like Family Guy either. I knew MacFarlane had a reverence for Trek.

I'm just not sure that was the right move at this point for the brand and I'm a little worried by his pitch statement that we are looking at another JJ Abramsesque false-reverence situation.

If they want to make a toon they should make a kids toon to rope in a new generation early. We adults will now have 2 live action shows to watch and Discovery has it's funny moments so I guess it is a comedy too, right? :P

#15 Gothneo

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Posted 28 October 2018 - 04:42 AM

I think some may be reading too much into this. Remember its gonna be behind the AA paywall... so at its core its simply more exclusive content for the sub.

 

It'll be AA's first attempt of an animated show... and Trek is their flagship brand. Yes its an experiment... yes its a risk... maybe it'll be a disaster... but maybe just maybe it won't...   and folks that aren't subbing don't have to worry about it... but the great thing about a streaming service... is you can watch them anytime you like... or don't... its not aimed at a weekly kids show... or even a weekly show to get you to tune... or at least it doesn't have to be. 



#16 Whirlygig

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Posted 30 October 2018 - 08:38 AM

Well you gotta look at the whole picture.

Hey let's set a show pre-TOS and have it be weird.
Hey let's have a fourth JJ movie.
Hey let's have a Tarantino movie, too...somewhere in there.
Hey let's bring Picard back.
Hey let's get that Rick and Morty guy and make a cartoon.

Next I expect they will pitch a reality show about Trek fans on an island hosted by Neelix, an improv game show called "Who's Command Is It, Anyway?", the home Trek shopping network, variety programming like "America's Got Trekkies", and finally "American Ninja Klingons".

#17 Gothneo

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Posted 30 October 2018 - 04:52 PM

I think if they think they could make money on any of those ventures they would do it. 

 

I think the big picture may be more like... CBS execs: "We need content for our streaming site... people are still interested in producing Trek content... full steam ahead!"

 

meanwhile over at Paramount....

 

"All our tentpole productions crapped out... what can we make... Indiana Jones.. Nope screwed that up... Mission Impossible... played out... transformers... screwed that up... what about Star Trek... People still want to produce it even though we screwed it up... yeah lets do some of those!"



#18 MisterPL

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Posted 01 November 2018 - 02:48 PM

meanwhile over at Paramount....

 

"All our tentpole productions crapped out... what can we make... Indiana Jones.. Nope screwed that up... Mission Impossible... played out... transformers... screwed that up... what about Star Trek... People still want to produce it even though we screwed it up... yeah lets do some of those!"

 

Those are all terrible examples.

 

Lucasfilm had far more creative control over the Indiana Jones franchise than Paramount, if any at all at that point. I'm pretty sure The Powers That Be were just happy to distribute another installment that ended up grossing over $786 million worldwide.

 

The last Mission: Impossible movie was the highest grossing film of the franchise. The last three installments have also continued to garner higher ratings per RottenTomatoes.

 

Transformers has been inexplicably huge with the exception of The Last Knight, which barely made a profit. Bumblebee will likely turn that around based on early buzz and a production budget half that of most previous films in the franchise.

 

Star Trek has had three films recently that all dwarfed the first ten films at the box office. The biggest crime is how much they cost and how poorly they were marketed. Still, they managed to renew enough interest in the brand to warrant two seasons of a new Trek show with at least two other streaming series in active development as well as another film or two on the way. That's more action than the IP has had in a very long time.

 

I'd argue Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a brand that's been "screwed up" but that's as much Nickelodeon's fault.



#19 Gothneo

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Posted 01 November 2018 - 04:25 PM

Well... ok... they were all commercial successes... but most real fans weren't that impressed with most of those last attempts.... which I guess is my bigger point... if they can make money on it they don't really care about the quality.... and theres no coherent plan.



#20 Whirlygig

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Posted 01 November 2018 - 09:03 PM

When people say that the JJTrek movies renewed interest and that translated into Discovery I wonder where the proof for this assertion is. It seems to start from an assumption that Discovery's audience needed their interest renewed and I don't buy it.




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