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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

I've been looking through a lot of speculation regarding the mythic fifth series. What should it be about, when should it start, etc. One idea that gets tossed out every now and then is to do a miniseries or TV movie. This has started me thinking. Could such a thing be done? Should it?

The primary argument behind the concept, as I see it, is that such a setting would be cheaper than a series and would allow for the exploration of themes not suited to a weekly show. But is this true? How many cutting edge made-for-TV movies have you seen lately? And could a Trek production get picked up by anyone other than UPN?

I can only think of a handful of similar shows/movies. There was the V miniseries, of course. (Both of them.) There were the various Alien Nation movies. How well did these do?

I guess my question is, can television support this sort of science fiction? If so, can Trek fit into the format?

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Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

The Star Trek movie 2, 3 and 4 trilogy thingy worked out pretty well. In a TV movie series it might even do better than that.

A miniseries might just be an even better idea! It would mean that we might just not see episodes that are copies of earlier seasons just put into different coating. And, when worked out right, it would mean more story in less time. I like it!

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Well, yes. But can television as it currently stands support such a program without relegating it to cable or UPN?

Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

Hmmmm... I really don't know.

I know some of our local channels do show miniseries (of TV movies). But I don't think this is the case in all countries.

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Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :

Of course, Paramount/Viacom only cares about the $$$$$, and a miniseries is probably not profitable enough.

*If* they make TV-movies, I hope they don't think the same thing as with some other ST-movies: "Let's use less technobabble and treknology in a movie, so we don't confuse the non-Trekkie public."

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Why wouldn't we want less technobabble?

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Oh, right. "Dumbed-down" Trek. Just what we need... :-�

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Actually, I think my intelligence is insulted when they talk about planets with tachyon cores.

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Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

I suppose it all comes down to whether you think Trek is about drama, plotlines, characterization, and moral and ethical dilemmas, or about dimutonic phlogiston generators, biradial axion depolarizers, and muonic gluxifrication assemblages.

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Yes, well, that's a point, Frank. However, a complete removal of technobabble would be laughable. Every time there's a spatial anomaly, it'll be like on Red Dwarf when the Cat reports that there's a "big swirly thing" coming... *L*

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Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :

D'you know they originally planned DS9 "Emissary I & II" to be a TV-movie?

Posted by Dat (Member # 302) on :

IIRC, it was a TV movie. Well, where I was it was aired as such.

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

TSN: Haven't we had enough spatial anomolies anyway, though? There's even enough real astronomical phenomona to deal with without resorting to made-up nonsense.

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Frank: What makes you think they'd stop at the made-up stuff? They'll probably tell the writers not to use any word that's more than three syllables or eight letters, or something...

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Well, I'm assuming a best-case scenario here.

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

All very interesting, of course. But what I'm curious about isn't so much the quality of such a movie, but whether it is even possible. It seems to me that the TV movie/miniseries is now almost exclusively the domain of sweeps events carefully designed to appeal to the largest possible demographic. I have my doubts as to whether Trek qualifies.

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Oh, and the pilot of every syndicated series is a made-for-television movie, the success of which determines whether the show will be picked up or not.