posted
...A la Clone Wars, meaning serialized short films with online distribution in mind. CBS is looking at the options, and has commissioned sample scripts and artwork. Details and pics here:
The whole thing reeks of fanwank, but at the same time has a glimmer of feasibility. Key ideas:
-150 years post-TNG; 60 years post-Romulan War II
-While not a post-apocalyptic Federation, the place is certainly more paranoid and less idealistic than it used to be. The parallel is supposed to be the post-9/11 world, or at least the one some politicians would like to maintain.
-The Bismarck-class USS Enterprise; a warship left over from the war now relegated to long-range patrol.
-Captain Chase, who wants to restore the Federation to the old glory days of coolness and exploration.
-Commander Holden, who doesn't, and who sorta resents Chase being assigned as CO instead of him.
-Lt. Donal, leader of the ass-kicking, Borg-ish-implanted security force, who moderates the first two viewpoints.
The project is being considered, but is in long-term development limbo pending solidified plans for the Abrams Trek movie. This is probably why such a detailed article is being released. The show will likely never be made IMO, but demonstrates some non-franchise thinking which I beleive will be crucial to Trek's return.
posted
I'm glad they're taking the idea of moving forward to heart by setting it 150 years past TNG et al, but I don't like the post-apocalyptic setting. The Federation's been ripped in half by Omega particle explosions (you can't warp from one side to the other), Andoria's been destroyed, and the Vulcans have pulled out of the Federation.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Well, that doesn't sound like Andromeda at all...
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
You're right - it's Genesis II! Dylan Hunt, the scientist in cryogenics, freezes himself and wakes up in a post-apocalyptic sciety where only one colony of survivors is nice, and everyone else is mean to each other. Hilarity ensues!
I can see the parallels to the Time Machine / Buck Rogers / Genesis II / Andromeda concept, but here it's not about a relic of a bygone age waking up in the future, but rather the population OF that future struggling to return to a better state of affairs. I can get on board with that. Plus, this 26th century Federation is not post-apocalyptic per se, but simply a darker version of what we're familiar with. Done before, yes, but not neceassarily quite like this.
posted
It certainly sounds promising, and like you say, it's good to see some fresh thinking(okay, TAS exists, but that was a while back..). There are finally people in charge of Trek who are willing to be bold and do something a bit different.
My only gripe would be the name of the ship. MUST it be another bloody Enterprise? I know they go up to J now, but that doesn't mean we have to find out about all of them. Learning about a different ship again would be nice.
posted
This sounds craptacular! Nothing against the idea of another animated series or a series set further into the future, but the concept is nothing more than a fanwank worse than some of the crapest fanfics out there! Please, if they're going to use an animated basis for the series don't turn the series into a generic kids-show...which is exactly what this sounds like to me! If this is the best they can come up with for the future of Trek, frankly I'd rather they not bother and let the franchise die.
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
So...another century will have passed with very little real changes to humanity.
Bleah.
Really, the story is not too farfetched but should probably be less than 50 years post-Voyager to work.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
nice idea, but it's been done before. And why must everything be a post 9/11 star spangled banner waving show these days?
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by The Ginger Beacon: And why must everything be a post 9/11 star spangled banner waving show these days?
Fashion. Producers have no imagine and parasitise each other. As soon as one of them fortuitously hits on a formula that appears to sell, they all leap on it like a feeding frenzy of invertebrates.
I am very often amused by the gaping void that is the disparity between what the public seem to be thinking or feeling about the world and what movie and TV producers think the public are thinking and feeling. Of course, the minimum of two years time lag between the start of a project and the first air date often doesn't help.
Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: [QB] So...another century will have passed with very little real changes to humanity. /QB]
The eternal problem is getting the audience to relate. If they don't relate, they cease to care.
Someone once wrote that the science fiction author introduces interplay of character at his peril. I have always viewed this comment as stemming very much from the Asimov school of literature. Asimov used characters only as a means to an end, that end being the resolution of a plot built on a fascinating technical problem or mystery. As a result, calling Asimov's characters "characters" is stretching a point. I've seen more charismatic tree bark.
Returning to my point: I completey disagree with that anonymous statement (I think it was in an editorial on a collection of shorts, possibly for Analogue). Good science fiction addresses the future of technology, science, understanding of the universe and so on, but does it through the prism of human experience and perception. Like everything else, naturally. We're all humans so how else can we perceive? I'm all for portraying advanced, future humans who will no doubt benefit from advanced prosthetics, deeply integrated neural interfaces with advanced AI, germline gene therapies which will eliminate many multifactorial diseases and bring with them a host of beneficial physiological side effects... but only the depth and breadth of a well written novel can take you inside the head of such an individual. That's why Trek folk are so, well, incredibly unimpressive when taken in the context of the magical technology they surround themselves with. The only explanation appears to be that they're all squeamish prudes, but that doesn't track and never did. But hang on... when one starts criticising Trek for being inconsistent it's time to stop rambling. That would be like criticising white paint for being white. Or something.
Yes folks, I'm feeling verbose again. It's that time of the month.
Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Mark Nguyen: I can see the parallels to the Time Machine / Buck Rogers / Genesis II / Andromeda concept,
Gah, that's not all. There is the Battlestar Galactica overtones, the whole 'machine-type' 2nd officer - Data/Spock who resolves conflict between the top two... Kirk/McCoy/Spock... Archer/T'Pol/Trip.
GAH! Why are ALL their ideas for trek so DERIVATIVE of every other thing out there. The beauty of TOS then TNG and DS9 is that they were ORIGINAL. Voyager and Enterprise were not.
ONE thing I think they can do right with any NEW TREK is to actually listen to their fans for once. And I don't mean the 'fan-boys'.
A Tech sidenote - why after another 150 years would weapons again become bulky items that seem to have a Rube Goldberg Machine feel about them?
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
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