Should Star Trek Come Back to TV? An Objective Evaluation

Op-Ed guy Joseph Dickerson joins us again, this time to talk about Trek’s role on the small screen. Fans were informally surveyed by Larry Nemeck at the official Star Trek convention in Las Vegas last August as to what they wanted from Trek. The overwhelming response was that the fans want Star Trek back on TV. “Star Trek started on TV, and Star Trek is best suited to be a TV show,” one fan said. But does the idea of a new Star Trek TV series make sense for CBS-Paramount? Joe gives us a bit of perspective on how to answer this question from both a business and creative perspective.

 

Does the idea of a new Star Trek TV series make sense for CBS-Paramount to bring
Trek back to the small screen?

There are two ways to look at this question: From a business perspective, and from a creative perspective.

From a business perspective, you have to start by looking at the recent history of the franchise and the current marketplace. Star Trek on TV was losing more and more viewers as time went by, until the final series Enterprise was canceled. Was this an indication of declining interest, quality, or both? I won’t debate the quality question, but will say that viewership for almost ALL shows was declining in the last years of Enterprise, and has continued to decline since (even hit shows have less “eyeballs” than even five years ago).

So, you have declining viewership to deal with. Home video sales of TV seasons, once a fat profit center for studios, has become far less so as well (with the advent of streaming and a weak economy, many fans skip buying the series of DVD or bluray). Star Trek as a licensed property (for books, games, toys, T-shirts, etc.) is still pulling in a nice “annuity” for Paramount… would a new series provide for additional licensing opportunities? Sure, but licensing fees won’t cover the production cost of a show (unless it’s incredibly popular or the show is very cheap to produce).


Licensing alone isn’t enough to support a new TV show

That last point is key: Even if you take advantage of standing sets, costumes, and props, a Star Trek show is very expensive show to make, and requires a big investment… and because of the many reasons cited above, Hollywood is in a very “risk averse” phase right now. If a TV producer has to choose between an expensive SF show or a three-camera sitcom, a cop show, or a reality show… they’ll pick the cheap show. One can make an
argument that Star Trek has a built-in audience, one that will show up week after week… but the counter argument is a very blunt one: when Enterprise was on the air, the ratings weren’t there… and the ratings have not been there for other SF shows such as Fringe or Terra Nova.

And not just ratings, but demographics: Are Star Trek fans in that desirable 18 to 35 demographic? Based on my research, the JJ Abrams 2009 Trek movie brought a LOT of new fans to the franchise… and many of them are in that coveted group. Will they tune in to a TV show every week, though? That’s a big question.

So, is there a business reason for Star Trek to be on TV again? Maybe, if the numbers work out. How can they? The obvious solution is an animated series, a la Star Wars The Clone Wars. It would be cheaper to produce, it would allow the producers the opportunity to do scenes and aliens that would be difficult to do in live action, and if it strikes the right tone it could appeal to adults and kids alike. And the upside to an animated series is it would help grow the fan base in a different way than a new film does. It wouldn’t be prime time Star Trek like we’ve had before, but it would still be Trek on TV again.

Let’s assume business is good. Can we have Trek on TV now?
Now, the creative question: Are there any more stories to be told? Can a new Star Trek series again take us to where no one has gone before? It depends on the talent involved. A good example when it comes to this is the other famous SF TV franchise, Doctor Who. The show has had various show runners over the years, and many episodes were really bad… But even some of the best creative people can have a bad day. The deeper problem occurs when you have bad SEASONS, not just the occasional episode. This happened on Doctor Who, and this decline in quality led to declining viewers and the halt in production for several years.

I bring this up as a case study of what to avoid. If you get the wrong show runner and writing staff behind a new Star Trek show, then you will sabotage the notion before it even begins. There are always possibilities, Spock said… possibilities to tell good stories with interesting characters in the Star Trek universe. Go forward thousands of years past Kirk and Spock, do an anthology show with different ships and crews on different missions, do a Starfleet Academy show, do a Starfleet Black Ops show… There’s lots of “space” to play in.

If you don’t have the talent to tell such stories, though… then you shouldn’t even try.


Right now Trek belongs to JJ, but who is right to take the reigns for Trek on TV?

 

More Joseph!

Like these posts by Joe? Then check out (and support!) the Kickstarter for his new book, UX101: A Primer on User Experience Design

 

Joseph Dickerson is a writer, User Experience Architect (and Star Trek fan) focused on designing effective and innovative on-line and mobile applications. For more from Joseph visit josephdickerson.com or follow him on twitter: @josephdickerson.

 


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I’m up for a Next Generation reboot. With TOS on the big screen, and the next successful branch of the franchise on TV will be good.

Set the Next Gen in the Abrams Universe and make a lot of creative changes. Christina Hendricks for Beverley Crusher!

I hope to see a new Star Trek series on the TV soon, but is difficult due to the crisis we are involved now, producers likes to embarc on a cheaper action, romance, drama series. Bad times for Sci-Fi.

But for every failure there is a success – just look at the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica which did very well

But for every failure there is a success – just look at the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica which did very well

Animated series would be the best platform to tell interesting stories, probably best set in the new universe, and if you could have it set on Enterprise with the movie cast’s voices fantastic – if that’s not an option I’m sure there’s another ship and crew with stories to tell, and the movie cast could make the odd cameo for continuity with the new movie universe.

Orci and Kurtzman have done well overseeing Transformers Prime, and it’s a great show that’s gone places the movies simply could not go. Whilst aimed at kids it has great writing, action, humour and character development that hold up with an older audience.

Other than that, a live action option would be to utilise the movie sets (if they’re standing unused between Into Darkness and Movie Number 3) to tell an Academy based youth-oriented Star Trek show that could be less effects-heavy and capture the 18-35 demographic needed for a successful show.

Kayla rules!

I certainly think it’s possible for Trek to come back to television. It will all come down to story … if the story lacks, ratings lack, and the series will not live long (by and large…).

If Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who can get updated for a modern television audience, and both of which are great series with devout fanbases, the sky is the limit, so to speak, for Star Trek.

The one key aspect to doing, though … it cannot be niche marketed. It HAS to be accessible to a broad audience. That can only happen through well-developed story telling.

I’m excited to see what happens!

Great article. I don’t think the time is right for a new tv show, but I would go with an animated series in the JJ verse with the current cast voicing. I’d even try to get nimoy to reprise his Spock prime role and Shatner as George Kirks father Tiberius.

Its an interesting time for Star Trek.

I think it’s too early to tell whether or not new Star Trek on the TV would work.

I think first and foremost Star Trek Into Darkness has to do big box office to prove that the franchise has legs and is a viable business for Paramount/CBS to invest in other areas of production (TV, online, gaming etc..)

My take on this is that an animated series would be better to begin with. Paramount CBS seem to want Star Trek to appeal to a younger generation, what better way than to appeal to that demographic as well as keep the long-time fans is to do an animated series.

This would work just as the article said, A Star Trek animated series done like Star Wars The Clone Wars would hopefully appeal to the younger market as well as the fans, keeping the Trek alive between movies.

Live action in my opinion will work but not yet. I’d like to see JJ Abrams direct a third and final movie tying up loose ends and seeing the movie crew out. From where Abrams decides to leave Star Trek, Paramount/CBS can then start discussing the opportunity of bringing Star Trek back to TV.

I do agree though, Star Trek’s home is on TV. More time to tell complex and in-depth stories, building each character slowly and over the course of a year than just in a 2 hour movie. Whilst I do believe that the best place for Star Trek at the moment is in the cinema, when Star Trek does return to the TV it won’t just be a new Star Trek series, it’ll be pioneering as the first, space-based, true Sci-Fi series since Battlestar Galactica.

History is definitely repeating itself though, After several TOS big-screen adventures in the 80’s Trek returned to TV rejuvinated and refreshed and did amazingly well. Time will tell whether or not Star Trek Into Darkness launches the long term aspirations of a franchise still with much to prove.

Clearly, Joseph reaffirms the big problems with bringing Trek back to tv. The biggest problem, as usual, is the almighty $. Everything pretty much takes a back seat when it comes to $. That’s just the world we live in.
Creatively, I agree with him. What stories haven’t been told yet, in terms of a weekly show? Stories about enemy aliens, dangerous space anomalies, life-threatening viruses, Nazis and gangsters… all told. I could go on.
I think Star Trek on the big screen is an entirely different animal than a weekly series. There’s more time, there’s more money, etc. doing a film. A weekly series is a fast-paced, short-on-money endeavor.
I do like the idea of an animated Trek — one using the very latest in CG technology, staying far away from the typical cartoon look of TAS.
It will be interesting to see what happens to Trek after the next film. It seems there are a number of people who are interested in getting Trek back on tv. I’d be interested to hear what Bob Orci thinks about Joseph’s comments as he is one of the people who would like to see Trek return to tv. Oh, and I am talking about the REAL Bob Orci, not one of those wannabe frauds.

I would rather not see Trek on TV for the soul sake of putting Trek on TV for a few disgruntled fans who need their weekly TV fix to make it thru the week.
Be it an off shoot of the original, a continuation of current movies or re mage of any of the series it’ll all boil down to ben there, done that again.
I rather have a good solid movie appeal to a wider range of the population every few years presented as an event film rather then go back to the same old rehashing of spent ideas, stand still drama and stagnate characters to which most of the spins off are extremely guilty of.

LEAVE IT ALONE ALREADY.

I would rather not see Trek on TV for the soul sake of putting Trek on TV for a few disgruntled fans who need their weekly TV fix to make it thru the week.
Be it an off shoot of the original, a continuation of current movies or re mage of any of the series it’ll all boil down to ben there, done that again.
I rather have a good solid movie appeal to a wider range of the population every few years presented as an event film rather then go back to the same old rehashing of spent ideas, stand still drama and stagnate characters to which most of the spins off are extremely guilty of.

LEAVE IT ALONE ALREADY.

Also speaking business wise, if Star Trek Into Darkness is a huge success, I think that will prety much convince Paramount/CBS that if JJ Abrams wanted it, Star Trek is his to take on a TV series. All this talk of Bryan Fuller, Ronnald D. Moore, Brian Singer et al. Is moot, the keys to the franchise are with Abrams and his team at Bad Robot – I can’t imagine with the track record Abrams has on TV as well as movies, Paramount/CBS wouldn’t offer him the gig first.

And even if Abrams declines, there’s nothing from stopping Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman creating a TV show – possibly then I’d look at bringing in Ron Moore but personally speaking, even if Abrams role is just as executive producer, or just producer, I hope Bad Robot do Star Trek on TV.

I think #12 has a point.

There are only so many stories out there to tell. Even for a show set in space where possibilites seem endless, every story has to be grounded in something relatable to the audience. A new Star Trek TV series would have to do more than any of the previous TV Trek’s but how you’d do that and in what form a new Star Trek series would take is anyones guess.

Certainly the point of Star Trek is to go where no one has gone before but is there anywhere left to go where dosens of other episodes of Star Trek have already been before? And if you were to take Star Trek, where would you take it that a) it shows something original and b) remains at it’s core, Star Trek and all that those two words mean beyond the litteral.

The creative problem seems huge but no one thought that reimagining Captain Kirk and Mr Spock would work either, how wrong were they.

I think whatever the future holds for Star Trek it is important that it continues to develop stories that inspire the young rather than the old.

Star Trek on TV is a must. Star Trek as a regular web series is also something that should be discussed seriously. And I do not buy the argument any longer that cost is a factor.

Look at what Star Trek Phase II has done. And there is another one on the way with Star Trek Continues. These shows are done on shoe string budgets and while some of the acting is in question, from a story and special effects standpoint they are as good as anything on TV today.

Why couldn’t CBS financially sponsor one or two of these productions to product a good 13 episodes per year for either TV or paid for web series? The cost would be minimal, and the advertising revenue I believe very profitable.

CBS along with other media outlets have to understand that their monitization of productions are changing and it is not all about being produced in Hollywood at multi-million dollar budgets any longer.

Star Trek is about the future. Let Star Trek lead the future in changing the way quality entertainment is produced at reasonable costs with strong profits.

I think one of the biggest issues with a new ‘Trek TV show, is the fact that audiences today are less likely to take the “perfect world” view of the future that ‘Trek has always put forward. The reason BSG worked so well was because, IMHO, the environment it portrayed was “real”. It was flawed, it was imperfect, it had reality in it, which is saying something for a sci-fi show. What is Star Trek without the values that the Great Bird of the Galaxy imagined back in the 60s.

If you then bend ‘Trek to conform to today’s audiences’ preferences, then it won’t really be Star Trek anymore. Even tho Star Trek down through the ages had some very compelling story-lines, it never REALLY took itself too seriously. I don’t think there is a market for “light” sci-fi. Not without some VERY skilled ideas and writing.

I think of it as the first attempt The Machines made of The Matrix. They built a perfect world, but human’s wouldn’t except it. Entire crops were lost!!

I find it frustrating that he doesn’t consider that Voyager & Enterprise were not on a real station with an audiance like CBS.
Instead it was on UPN which never had viewers in general.
Dispite this Enterprises ratings stayed fairly consistant- it was canceled more because upn lost the merchandising dollars once the companies split & CBS got the rights to Star Trek on tv & Paramount only had the rights to the films.

Oh By The Way- DR WHO!
That was supposedly dead till someone did it right.

JJTrek works on the big screen but it’ll never work in TV format. An SFX heavy action movie every 3 years is great, but a TV series needs solid plots and character development. Personally, I’d love to see Manny Coto be the showrunner on a series based in the early 24th century on the Ent-B with Harriman’s successor. For Trek to work on TV, it has to be real Trek. But with the state of Hollywood today, we’ll be lucky to get Star Wars in Trek clothing.

As a personal opinion, to me “Star Trek: The Animated Series” would have about as much appeal as “Star Trek: The Hand Puppet Show” or “Star Trek: The Collectible Lunch Box Set”.

Unless of course it’s a cheesy and poorly executed animation like the one I made at goanimate a few years ago…… http://goanimate.com/videos/0uell3qbprj8/1

Love to see Joss Whedon and/or Eric Kripke involved somehow.

“Go forward thousands of years past Kirk and Spock,”

That’s an interesting idea, but the problem lies in figuring out how to present a technological society that far into the future and still have your audience be able to relate to it. If they don’t, the show fails.

“do an anthology show with different ships and crews on different missions,”

By FAR the best idea so far. If a Trek show were done ala Twilight Zone style with self contained stories featuring new characters and situations each week, you could keep it fresh for the audience and it would be exciting each and every week to see where the next story takes you. We wouldn’t be getting to know any characters and watch them grow, but we didn’t with Twilight Zone either and that worked great….plus, there really wasn’t much growth in the last years of Trek on TV, so perhaps a new take like this one would work out best for both viewers and the show’s creators. Stories could be done by sci-fi authors just as the Original Series had, as well.

“do a Starfleet Academy show,”

Do the words ‘miserable failure’ mean anything to you? Personally, I can’t see this working. It may have worked (ratings-wise) for Superman (which I never watched, even as a comic fan), but that doesn’t mean it would work for Trek. J.J. may have pulled off a decent Starfleet Academy sequence in the 2009 film, but for years fans rejected, overall, the concept of a Starfleet Academy dedicated film and, in my opinion, would do the same for a series. Writing for it would be a chore since fans would also expect certain things from any series with “Star Trek” in the title and one based on this idea would suffer in that department.

“do a Starfleet Black Ops show”

Interesting concept….and I think that’s about as far as it gets with that one as well. It would bring an interesting perspective to Trek, but we’ve had that with the various ‘Section 31′ episodes, so one would have to look at the ratings of those episodes to get an idea of how well a full series of them would do. Personally, I believe with this concept, one would be limiting the series’ potential. Sure, you could have covert missions into the various ‘factions’ of the Trek universe which would be interesting, but how many times could you tell that story and get away with it? I think both this idea and the Academy idea would end up canceled by season 3, if not sooner.

Excelsior!!! (or something post ST VI that picks up before TNG but after K/S and fills in the gaps. And no “new” JJ timeline, please…cause that would suck buttermilk.

An animated show, properly done, would usher in a new generation of fans, and keep the property valid for a long time.

JJ and company would keep a TV show so secret, we wouldn’t know it when it was on, no one ( not even the stars ) would know they are cast, and no actual filming would be done..

We would just see endless quote after quote of how great JJ is to work with.

Viewership is declining because of the Flouride in the water!

IQs are down 15%

And if you don’t believe me, then I’ve probably proved my point!

: 0

: )

3. Jim… The relaunched Battlestar Galactica did not do well. It was a media darling and a critical favorite, but aside from the first season it didn’t do particularly well in the ratings.

@19 YES!!! Would love to see 1701-B Excelsior Class sans Ferris Buller’s buddy as Captain.

No desire for an animated series. I love the old one but feel weve moved passed that.

My only thought with a series is that while ST can survive a bad movie I fear a television cancellation would be a death knell. Probaly the worst best case scenario would be a under performing film and Paramount deciding to go back to the tv route.

On a side note; are the Enterprise sets still in storage? I seem to remember they were dismantled and shipped to canada ?

No desire for an animated series. I love the old one but feel weve moved passed that.

My only thought with a series is that while ST can survive a bad movie I fear a television cancellation would be a death knell. Probaly the worst best case scenario would be a under performing film and Paramount deciding to go back to the tv route.

On a side note; are the Enterprise sets still in storage? I seem to remember they were dismantled and shipped to canada ?

My hope is for an animated series with all of the opportunities it offers its creators. I wouldn’t mind if it took place in the Abramsverse although I would prefer it took place in the “real” one instead. I doesn’t have to be CGI but I wouldn’t tune it out if it was made in that medium. I’ve been watching Batman:TAS reruns the last couple of weeks and I’m still impressed 20 years later. Intelligent stories, excellent character development, and a unique look make for a show that appeals to a broad market including children, which manifested itself in huge sales of toys and games. Trek needs to appeal to such a broad audience or risk losing the next generation.

At the core of its soul, STAR TREK is a TV series. TREK benefits from the TV format in telling philosophical, experimental stories that bring out character and ideas that have made it so beloved. What other show could give us CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER or THE INNER LIGHT? Yes, the movies have their place in TREK lore, but we don’t get thoughtful science fiction at that level. TREK needs to spread out again and tell stories about exploration again, and that will only happen on TV.

:”Right now Trek belongs to JJ, but who is right to take the reigns for Trek on TV?”

ME!!!!! Pick ME!!!!

My concept of the new Trek.

Just freakin’ redo the ohe original series!

Perhaps use the new timepline as an excuse to redo all the old shows. The old Trek had all the class of any of the other series combined. It was written as well as any Greek play. Add to the fact that if you take the $s earned from the original investment you will see that the show has earned 100xs its orignal cost.

Think of it, we redo every popular movie to make a buck off of it. Why not remake all the Trek classic episodes!? Only more perfect (and way better than the Total Recall remakes and the like)

Just redo the series and fix the little things that really brought the production down at times. Eliminate some of the poorly written episodes and give the whole show that new look it needs!

The fans will go wild! And everyone else will finally have a chance to see the greatness of Star Trek!

Anyhow, if you all need any inspiration, just give me an email at: startrekthemovie@gmail.com

Star Trek – YES. JJ-Trek – NO.

I am sorry. I am not watching an animated version of Star Trek. I fall within the specified demographic and I have watched syndicated Trek, TNG, etc, since I can remember. But, I cannot agree to just throw something out there just to have Trek on the screen again. If Trek needs its core audience more now than ever before, don’t alienate us by changing its format. After a long day at work, I am not going to plop down and watch a cartoon. Really? I want grit and thought provoking allegories about the human condition. That message gets lost in translation when I am watching something that slightly resembles the Backyardigans.

If you are going to do Trek and want to keep its core audience, do it correctly and with the upmost respect for its original format. The animated series should serve as a companion piece to the franchise not its only lifeline.

Personally, I was deeply offended by JJ’s movie. I think it was an entire failure as far as Star Trek goes, copping out by using time travel and alternate universes. So you travel back in time and destroy a single scout ship that just so happens to have the fetus of a galactic savior aboard. So what? He survived. That doesn’t automatically give you rights to turn Star Trek in to Star Wars. I’ve never been a fan of reboots, I think they’re insanely stupid, uncreative, and a good ol’ kick in the crotch to the original writers and staff as a whiw

Great article Kayla, thanks very much.

@36

How does an attempt to breathe life back into a franchise that was in a downward spiral constitute an “entire failure”? JJ and his team put Trek back on the map. The team has opened a door to create new adventures utilizing the original characters that made Star Trek special to begin with. Just because you don’t like a story line does not mean that a movie was a failure. Bottom line, people went to see it, people liked it, people will come back. Also, this now opens doors to discuss things like the thread we are on now. What about the idea of a tv series. Before this reboot, this was not even in consideration. If you don’t like a story, fine. But call it what it really is, you just don’t like a story. Not “entire failure”.

I’ll be honest I’m glancing at these posts but its beggers belief in how some fans think….

David Moss: Sta Trek Phase II is a fan-boy show, hardly professional and so so irrelevant to anyone but the die-hard fans. It by no means is in the same league as a PROPER Star Trek TV series.

If your going to do Star Trek do it right and done right, professionally, it’s going to cost a mint.

Whilst I wouldn’t watch an animated Star Trek series, I can see the benefit from having one done.

I think fan boys tend to be very selfish in how they want the thing they love the way they’d like to see it but ultimately Star Trek is much more than a show for the fans. What comes next needs to continue appealing to that broad audience, just as Doctor Who does, as Star Wars does, as all the other franchises do it.

Now…. Redo the Original? The trouble with that is its a show of it’s time. The messages and ideas promoted in TOS have, in part due to TOS, become reality… Ok i’m generalising but the taboos played with on TOS just don’t have the same impact that they would to a modern audience.

Any new Star Trek would need to be commenting on the taboos of today, the issues of today and the events of today. Star Trek today if done the way Roddenberry did the original back in the 60’s, would look more like Battlestar Galactica than TOS.

The thing is for Star Trek to get back to basics, it would have to be a riskier show, commenting on delicatesocial and political topics of the day that would perhaps be a little too risky for CBS or Paramount to green-light.

If it comes back to TV it should be on AMC. AMC clearly commits to shows of a wide variety of themes and styles. An entire show about zombies, anyone! That’s awesome. I’m not sure Trek would thrive on one of the major broadcast networks. They cancel great shows constantly, especially genre shows. Trek deserves better than that!

So this sounds like a shot in the dark…but why can’t Dr. David Marcus be alive and well as David Kirk in the new timeline? Why can’t he follow in his father’s footsteps and be the main character in a new Star Trek TV series as Captain of an Enterprise or some other ship? Why can’t James T Kirk be alive and well as an 82 year old admiral? We all know that William Shatner brings in viewers…and he’s expressed interest in still being a part of Star Trek in some way shape or form. With Spock Prime interfering in the timeline…James T. Kirk can be well aware that he died in a different timeline and the Enterprise B accident is avoided…The possiblities are endless in the new timeline…and can have repercussions on the Next Generation era.

Example; Spock says: “I agree with #11, however, I disagree with #12.”

12 says: “But I’m identical in every way with #11!”

Spock says: “Yes, of course. That is exactly why I disagree with you. Because you are identical.”

*12 goes offline*

Spock says: “Fascinating.” /:-)

QED: Even though you’ve seen this before in ‘I Mudd’, it’s still funny. So bring back Trek!

I’m up for Star Trek Chronicles, where each episode (or 2-ep arc story) involves different casts. Any era. Any character, well-known or not. Can have Riker and Troi in one Titan episode, a Maquis story the next, a mirror universe peek, or a story in Kronos in another ep. If they want a regular character, they can have a temporal agent be the protagonist and the rest of the cast per ep can be anyone (ala Slider or Quantum Leap).

But most importantly the stories should be good.

36. David

I agree. But it WAS fun to watch a few times. That’s entertainment, but not pure Trek.

36. David

I agree. But it WAS fun to watch a few times. That’s entertainment, but not pure Trek.

Captain David Kirk takes over for Captain (now Admiral) Harriman as the Captain of Enterprise B…the Federation is a completely different entity with Vulcan being destroyed. New adventures…newand same allies and enemies…but still based on the essence of what Star Trek is about…exploration and to boldly go…. but with a lot more action involved. This would bring in old school viewers and younger viewers. You can even bring back original old series characters occasionally.

43 – I agree, I think that would be fun as an animated series.

Only potential problem it, it wouldn’t afford continuity for the kids/gen audience to really get into the characters…. Then again with attention spans the way their are, might be the perfect format.

Bring on Star Trek Chronicles!

As a practical matter, Trek has spent its “reboots.” I just don’t think there’s enough underlying clamoring to have a retelling of Capt Picard et al in the same vein…unless, of course, we could have an episode where Picard just says “to heck with this,” and shoves Wesley out an airlock.

The idea of an animated Trek just does nothing for me personally. I remember that nasty animated Trek from the 70’s and wishing, “gee, why couldn’t they just get all those guys together and make REAL new shows.” If there’s skepticism about the potential core audience for a new TV show, I can’t see there being confidence in the notion of an even *larger* audience for an animated version.

I guess part of me will always wonder how Trek would have evolved had Paramount’s *original* fourth-network concept, with Trek II at its core, come to fruition. Success there would likely have meant a Trek “alternate reality” all its own, with few or no movies, but a pretty decent TV legacy. Obviously, we’ll never know.

As for me, I just wish we could have had *one* scene in a Trek movie where strategy is hashed out in the old briefing room. That “thinkers element” to Trek has been conspicuously absent, but I guess that doesn’t make for scintillating sci-fi….alas…

While an animated series could be used as a ‘filler’ of sorts in between the movies, it would lack that critical human element that a cartoon simply cannot offer. Star Trek is about watching people in dramatic and amazing situations.

In my opinion, Joseph comes across as too negative about the possibilites of such a series. If there are interesting characters and good writing, people will watch.

How about an an anthologly series set in different Eras of Trek History ?
It could cover the entire gamut of Federation history,
Including its future .
Just a thought.