A New ‘Star Trek’ TV Series Will Debut in 2017

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/arts/television/a-new-star-trek-tv-series-will-debut-in-2017.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

by Bud • 11 years ago

152 83 11 years ago

nytimes.com

ecopoesis• 11 years ago

Strange that CBS is going to be putting this only on streaming (CBS All Access). I'm not sure if that's a brilliant bet on the future or a foolhardy miscalculation.

gkoberger• 11 years ago

You wouldn't like Star Trek on CBS proper. Shows on TV need to be mainstream to work, given how advertisement works. By putting it online, they're changing the expectations: it doesn't have to appeal to everyone. Rather, it can be made for a niche audience, which is good for Star Trek.

That's why Arrested Development (in theory) can work on Netflix but not FOX.

WorldMaker3• 11 years ago

Yeah, I don't think Star Trek meshes with CBS demographics right now. They'd likely end up with NCIS: Star Trek Edition. That said, I probably wouldn't mind a young adult soap opera Star Trek for the CW network.

The issue with CBS' digital efforts is that they are a strange island unto themselves and Star Trek alone is unlikely to get too many more visitors to their island. They really need to consider a partnership with Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, or something left field like Vudu or HBO Now. But of course they are stubborn and probably won't.

(Does it make financial sense to anyone right now to spend $5/month on just CBS shows when the same could go to most of a Netflix or Hulu subscription with a much broader content base?)

voidlogic• 11 years ago

Shows on TV need to be mainstream to work, given how advertisement works.

Counter point, the extremely strong viewing numbers of ST TNG...

yk2• 11 years ago

Hopefully but I am a lot more cynical. I guess they want to start with what they believe is their strongest franchise. The job of the new Star Trek is to draw the audience to streaming, and the series needs mass appeal for that.

untog2• 11 years ago

CBS has a rich history of using Star Trek to promote new methods of giving viewers content. The track record is... spotty.

rhino369• 11 years ago

It's the perfect way to capture revenue from a somewhat niche audience that has a strong demand for the content. 72 bucks a year for Star Trek is a no brainer compared to other star trek fan spending.

It's how sports leagues fund their streaming: you pay a lot for the content. Sure not many sign up, but the real fans more than make up for it.

The real problem I foresee is the large overlap in star trek fandom and internet pirates.

kanzure• 11 years ago

other thread fell off the frontpage already? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10492824

gre• 11 years ago

Someone killed it. Don't want hn to become slashdot /s

s5edvvddd2• 11 years ago

Produced by Alex Kurtzman who was also the producer of Michael Bay's Transformers , Star Trek remakes which are basically the lowest common denominator action movies, and Scorpion the series about incredibly incorrect portrayal of hacking and hackers.

This is going to be action schlock, a series like TNG will never be made again.

I don't want too sound too depressing, just letting you know to adjust your expectations.

untog2• 11 years ago

I'll be the contrarian optimist: Star Trek movies are, on average, bad. Compare Star Trek: Nemesis to an episode of TNG - it's guilty of everything you attribute to the new Star Trek movies. The only reason it got a pass was because of the goodwill that the TNG show garnered for its characters.

So I choose to believe/hope that a TV show isn't doomed to have the same outlook as the movie. I expect I may well be wrong, but...

Jtsummers2• 11 years ago

Nemesis didn't get a pass with any fans I know. It's pretty much considered the worst of the first ten movies excluding possibly 5, depending on the fan.

malgb2• 11 years ago

Insurrection was the closest film to a TV episode.

InclinedPlane3• 11 years ago

Star Trek movies are, for the most part, action focused instead of story or plot focused. But there have still been some movies that exemplified Star Trek fairly well. The Motion Picture, though much maligned, is a good example, as is Star Trek IV, though it's a bit campy. In Star Trek VI the values of Star Trek come through pretty well.

The movies were different than the TV show but there was still a shadow of the values and intellectualism from the show in the movies. For the modern remakes that's simply completely absent. And imagining that a show made by people who don't understand Star Trek will somehow begin to embody its values and qualities is, frankly, magical thinking.

It'll be fast-paced, it'll be gritty, it'll be dark, it'll be chock full of action and "intrigue" but it'll be brain-dead.

amalcon3• 11 years ago

Nemesis was rather poorly received among fans of the series. Though honestly, so were most of the other Star Trek films.

Out of the pre-Abrams Star Trek films, four were generally well received (2, 4, 6, 8). The first and third films have a few people who like them, but are broadly disliked. The fifth, seventh, ninth, and tenth are almost universally disliked.

Even among the four generally well received films, only #2 (The Wrath of Khan) and #4 (The Voyage Home) are generally considered as good as the best television episodes from the first two series. Maybe #6 fits in there -- that one's actually my favorite, though I might be biased because it's the only TOS one I've seen in theaters.

kaonashi2• 11 years ago

The Trek movies were all bad, and I think the only ones to get a pass were the even-numbered TOS movies.

res0nat0r• 11 years ago

CBS said on Monday, in a new series that will be introduced on the network but will be shown primarily on its digital subscription video service.

I'd love a new series, but CBS showing it mainly on their streaming service and not even on network TV doesn't bode very well.

Inthenameofmine• 11 years ago

Yeah this isn't going to be about the core of what Star Trek is about: Humanistic ideas, science, and exploration.

a series like TNG will never be made again

I have higher hopes than ever actually. With Netflix creating their own TV shows, crowdfunding booming, as well as cheap alternative movie and CGI studios popping up worldwide, we might some day see something even better than TNG.

Edit: I mean, look at Stargate Universe, that how had incredible potential, and fit pretty much with the above "new economy / new audience" description.

I wouldn't be surprised that once the equity crowdfunding JOBS act passes properly, we'll see independent Netflix style TV series be funded, at higher per-episode funding than current TV.

ajtaylor• 11 years ago

I loved Stargate Universe! It was just getting really good when the series was cancelled. :(

agumonkey• 11 years ago

Interesting, as a kid, all I saw in ST was ... bureaucracy. It looked like my father's office, except post modern.

Touche• 11 years ago

we might some day see something even better than TNG.

We already saw that. http://www.startrek.com/page/star-trek-deep-space-nine

Keyframe• 11 years ago

Movies and TV shows will not get (much) cheaper. It's not equipment that's expensive. It's people. I mean, equipment is expensive, but that can be mitigated. People can't. You need highly skilled labour in-front and behind cameras as well as material and (again, skilled) labour to build sets. Lots of people for lots of hours. Skilled people. Hours. Lots!

WorldMaker3• 11 years ago

To be fair, some of the movie issues could be a question of the influence of the other "Bad Robot" collaborators. I've come to the decision to never pay to watch anything ever again that Damon Lindelof has been given the last writing pass on, for instance. Certainly, it seemed to be JJ Abrams pushing the heavy action "Wish-It-Were-Star-Wars" schlock of the films and on the flipside it sounded like Kurtzman was the only actual Star Trek fan and the voice of Trek reason in the first film (and too busy with the end of Fringe to do so for the second).

Fringe too is a possible reason for hope, but the science still seems out on how well Kurtzman works alone without frequent collaborator and fellow Fringe showrunner Orci.

(That said, I'm running on huge cynicism for this Star Trek project and my expectations right now are indeed rather low.)

ansible• 11 years ago

I've come to the decision to never pay to watch anything ever again that Damon Lindelof has been given the last writing pass on...

After watching Prometheus, DL is right there with Uwe Boll on my list of people to avoid.

robotkilla• 11 years ago

Sometimes the truth is depressing - thanks for the research

orionblastar• 11 years ago

It won't be your father's Star Trek of 1966 or TNG that we grew up on, or Voyager or Enterprise.

It will most likely be targeted at the youth and have a more diverse market to have more minority characters and more female ones. Remember it is not just the USA but the world they are selling the series to.

Each new Star Trek is marketed towards the young, TOS in 1966 was for my father, TNG was for me, Voyager and Enterprise was for Generation-Y, this new one is for the younger generation world wide.

It will sort of be like that Battlestar Galactica reboot Syfy did. Original fans won't like it but new fans will.

canjobear• 11 years ago

While I share your concerns there is cause for hope in the article. First, the third Abrams-verse Star Trek movie is "not related" to the new series---hopefully all JJ Abrams movies are unrelated to the new series. Second, the show "will focus on 'new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations'", so it won't be Kirk and Spock. If their goal were to put some Star Trek IP wallpaper over action shlock, then it would probably be Kirk & Spock.

So I'm cautiously optimistic.

yk2• 11 years ago

Sadly I agree. In modern TV it is unthinkable to have a character like Picard who tries to pursue a diplomatic solution instead of the shoot first, might makes right attitude so prevalent in modern newspapers and other fictions.

On a somewhat related note, CBS apparently tries to get a good start for their streaming site, this means that they will try to limit risk. So they will probably go for a darker tone and something like Game of Thrones in space.

dbcooper2• 11 years ago

If only we could have Bryan Fuller as show-runner, with Mads Mikkelsen as Captain.

kaonashi2• 11 years ago

Officer's mess would be interesting.

dbcooper2• 11 years ago

Lets get some Rick and Morty writers in there too.

InclinedPlane3• 11 years ago

No thanks, I'll pass.

I adore Star Trek, but this ain't it. It's just action crap dressed up in Star Trek's clothes. Which is a shame because too much of Sci-Fi on television and in the theater is just action, we need more thoughtful and interesting science fiction, the sort of stuff that made Star Trek a cult hit and transformed it into a cultural phenomenon despite running for less than three seasons originally.

elif• 11 years ago

Wow, it was nice of them to send you a review copy of season 1.

ZanyProgrammer• 11 years ago

After the last decade of TV, what a lot of people refer to as the Golden Age of Television, I'm not placing my hope in something that CBS is producing. I have a feeling it'll be a dash of the Abrams-verse, mixed in with Voyager and Enterprise writing and style. I'm hoping that's not the case, but I worry that whatever debuts on CBS will appear incredibly underwhelming compared to the last 10 years or so of television drama.

Nimsical• 11 years ago

Silicon Valley's productivity will fall by a few percentage points during that week. So excited :P

pmontra• 11 years ago

Am I the only one who doesn't like those links to the NYTimes requiring registration or social login? Here's the news from another source http://www.startrek.com/article/new-star-trek-series-premier... (courtesy of the other thread)

Bud3• 11 years ago

Easy to dodge the paywall:

1) copy the part of the url containing the story's title 2) paste just that part into the URL bar (to do a Google search) 3) the story will come up as the first hit, click on it, boom, no more paywall

This works for quite a few major sites. (WSJ, New Yorker, etc.)

InclinedPlane3• 11 years ago

Or, just click the link that says "web" for the story, then click the top link.

gajomi2• 11 years ago

I am only somewhat familiar with Star Trek (mostly by way of TNG), but I think it would be cool to see a conflict with a re-imagined version of the Ferengi.

I never heard any exposition on the details, but the Federation is supposedly an essentially egalitarian post-scarcity economy with a religion of space exploration. In contrast, the Ferengi always seemed much closer to our own society: they are cold blooded capitalists with misogynistic tendencies, but still manage to maintain a vibrant civilization in space, in which they uphold contracts and maintain infrastructure. And so it would seem that at the hypothetical interface between the Ferengi and the Federation there would be not just a huge culture clash, but moral and political scandals of the highest order, mostly concentrated around (1) the exploitation of Federation members by Ferengi (2) incidental macroeconomic chaos within Ferengi society due to the Federation sending free aid, setting artificial price restrictions within their markets, etc.

If one redesigned the Ferengi with a non-goofy appearance and a cool demeanor they could be made relatable, in the same way that one can relate to the various capitalist villain archetypes: wall street narcissists, oil tycoons, drug kingpins and so on.

dnautics• 11 years ago

I think it's star trek canon that the Ferengi never had any internal problems with slavery (of other Ferengi) or genocide.

I think it would be much more interesting to explore the creepier side of this supposedly egalitarian post-scarcity economy... I mean think of how wierd it is that a military organization is in charge of scientific exploration, that all the individuals on the starship are tracked at all times, etc...

serge2k2• 11 years ago

that all the individuals on the starship are tracked at all times

don't we already do that on our spaceships?

boxy310• 11 years ago

The timeline changes from the new Star Trek movies imply that the Vulcans (pacifist science beatniks driven by cold logic) hold dramatically less sway over Starfleet Command, which is why Admiral Marcus almost succeeded in a coup.

Kirk always had a mixed-bag relationship with Starfleet and had to go to bat up against them in Spock's favor. Picard also foiled a number of infiltrations on Earth during the early seasons of TNG. Dr. Bashir and Chief O'Brien repeatedly tussled with agents of Section 31 on DS9. Tom Riker ended up fleeing Starfleet so he could fight with the Maquis, who were betrayed by the Federation and tortured by Cardassian overlords. Sisko himself murdered an ambassador and implicated the Dominion in a diplomatic plot to get Romulans to join the war.

There's a hell of a lot of well-intentioned extremists, even in Star Trek's utopia. Now what happens when you take away the biggest voice of reason? Sends shivers down my spine to think about what kind of darkness in the hearts of men the crew of the Possibly-Enterprise will wrestle with.

krapp4• 11 years ago

that all the individuals on the starship are tracked at all times

The tracking as such seems to be pretty passive most of the time - the computer has to be asked before telling the bridge crew where someone is (for dramatic effect), even if they've been confined to quarters, or sucked into a parallel universe. It could be that the computer is constantly monitoring the crew, or that while it has the capability to track anyone on the ship at any time (which is plausible) this is only used when necessary.

Edit: now that I think about it, the latter would make sense on a ship which would be expected to occasionally house diplomats or dignitaries, who might expect some degree of privacy. Also, we can infer from episodes like The Ultimate Computer that there is kind of a mistrust of strong AI among the Federation, which would justify the computer defaulting to privacy unless explicitly being commanded to do otherwise.

gajomi2• 11 years ago

Yeah a look into the Federation society could be interesting.

One thing that always bothered me was why people weren't basically just spending their time hanging around the food replicators and fornicating in the hologram machine. I can buy that the crew of a starship would be chosen for a strange combination of discipline and risk-aversion (not to mention Starfleet adding something to the water), but it seemed to me that there would have to be all kinds of exotic hedonism, resource intensive "art" projects and crazy philosophies on the surface of the planets.

argumont• 11 years ago

I'm picturing a Federation that stumbles ever deeper into a dystopian nightmare while still maintaining a "we're the good guys and the end justifies the means"-vibe. And finally Kirk and bearded Spock meet their counterparts from the good mirror universe.

ElComradio2• 11 years ago

You are correct; Quark goes on a few rants about this in DS9. Also since the Ferengi are so terrible with fighting, considering it a waste of resources (excluding the marauders in TNG but those are later implied to be a minority) that we can safely assume they never had any world wars of their own.

BHSPitMonkey• 11 years ago

The Ferengi and their culture are a focus of Deep Space 9; You should give it a watch.

transfire• 11 years ago

Another three seasoner? This time written for action where the only "moral" around is "death to the terrorists". I hope not, but I do worry.

pasbesoin• 11 years ago

Didn't think it would happen, but in private conversation I've been hoping/advocating for giving Whedon and his associates the opportunity to do the next series, if he/they were interested.

It would probably be a bit different -- I don't know where he would take it -- but there would likely be interesting characters and character development.

As it is, I want something that returns to the kind of quality I found in the middle and later seasons of TNG, once it really caught its stride.

I also thought some of the Voyager episodes were quite engaging, particularly those involving Seven of Nine and some of the other... "trans"-human characters.

Star Trek, whatever series, has always been particularly good when it comes to exploring what it means to be... "sentient", to choose a word perhaps less open to misinterpretation that "human", though I would choose to define "human" as something other than our specific species. And characters at the boundary of "human" (I guess that is the word that really speaks to me) have often been very interesting and effective vehicles in this regard.

P.S. Perhaps it is in part that some of the other series became more interesting to me when some of the TNG writers migrated to them. I don't or no longer know the series timelines (in this world, as television shows) sufficiently to consider this more closely, off the cuff.

erickhill• 11 years ago

A similar story like this one was posted this morning. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10492824

Within one hour it had nearly 200 up-votes, and over 120 comments. Then, suddenly, it was flagged and buried into the archives of Hacker News.

While this may not be "Hacker News" it is obviously content that resonates with a large percentage of the HN community. I hope the mods just let it be this time.

Bud3• 11 years ago

They didn't; it dropped from #2 to out of the top 200 or so instantly. I emailed the mods to ask if I had done something wrong, and was informed that this post was "off-topic", because it was not "deeply interesing" and/or did not satisfy intellectual curiosity.

Very aggressive modding, and very silly modding.

krapp4• 11 years ago

The truth is, the only intellects that matter here are those of the mods. If they don't find a subject interesting, it's objectively uninteresting.

RevRal• 11 years ago

Chiming in with a slightly relevant blog post from Peter Watts about a re-imagined "Spock's Brain": http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=4335

kingmanaz• 11 years ago

The "dark" fetish in television, particularly in sci-fi, is growing increasingly tired. Shows like TNG, which would take one on a voyage to a positive, better future, are being replaced by blue-tinted melodramas filled with beige characters. Trek's downward spiral began with DS9, and the trip to the future has gotten progressively dingier with every subsequent effort.

I'll be hoping for a Trek with new worlds filled with new solutions to current problems, but expecting another dreary Breaking Bad tinged with Walking Dead, this time--yawn--amidst the stars.

leepowers• 11 years ago

It's just an announcement - it's way too early to tell how the series is going to turn out. That being said, I would be surprised if the reboot becomes a cultural landmark like TOS. I just hope it's at least good, compelling television. At best I hope it captures the genius of good Star Trek: exploring new ideas, concepts, and perspectives, with clever & humane writing, capable acting, and good special effects.

I hope it's not too heavy on the action/drama, like _The Walking Dead_ or _Game of Thrones_. These are both excellent series that are highly entertaining to watch. But they make me _feel_ first and _think_ second.

Good Star Trek episodes are like puzzles. You're thinking "what the heck is going on?", "what strange phenomena is this?", etc. The best ones draw you in and then delight you with the reveal. They almost have a Twilight Zone quality to them.

Bud3• 11 years ago

I've just heard from the HN powers that be that this post was flagged for being "off-topic".

That's right: Star Trek is off-topic in a techie geek forum.

I have officially seen everything.

I'd be very mildly ticked about this, if it weren't so amusing. :)

A New ‘Star Trek’ TV Series Will Debut in 2017

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