The Future of Star Trek on Television

Greetings, fellow officers and friends of Starfleet.

I'm Mike the Birdman Dodd, and this is Future

Imperfect. And I realize it's been a little while

since our last show, but trust me, guys, you're

going to love this one. But I'm joined with the

co -creator of the GeekCast Radio Network, Steve

Megatron Phillips. And I love how we get a chance

to work with these two. These guys are some of

my favorite series over at ThatGuyAtTheGlasses

.com. We are joined by that sci -fi guy and his

associate number one officer, Uh, Nick Wright.

How's it going, guys? It is going well. It is

nice to get everyone back together once again

with not having huge power losses, being trapped

with a transporter, or simply gorging myself

on replicator rations. It is nice to be back

here on the show. So last time, guys, we looked

at the captains of Star Trek and then the ships

of Star Trek. This episode is going to be more

of a roundtable, just because, well... It's a

topic that's worth discussing simply because,

well, we're getting near another movie year with

J .J. Abrams, and I think they're wrapping principal

photography quite soon on Star Trek 2. And that

brings up a question that seems to happen every

couple of years. Why is there no new Star Trek

on television? So we're here to talk about why

there needs to be a Star Trek or maybe why there

doesn't need to be a Star Trek on TV right now.

But first, a couple of housekeeping notes. As

you guys know, we are sponsored by Starfleet,

SFI .org, the world's largest Star Trek online

fan club for all their wonderful support. Actually,

I need to get back into my Starfleet Academy

courses. I've kind of slacked off in the last

month or two and I was taking Borg 101 and I

think something on warp drive. And I'm actually

not kidding when I say this. They actually have

a really cool section where you can take courses.

They'll send you certificates that can help you

rank up. I think I'm still crewman Dodd on the

USS Hadfield, which is the flagship of the fleet.

So I got a really cool posting right out of the

gate. And I have heard back from our friends,

excuse me, over at thinkgeek .com. We're having

some border issues. Evidently, trying to import

Romulan Ale is not a good thing, and people are

pissy, so I have to deal with the Canadian -US

borders and customs people before we can get

some more stuff here on the replicator. So we

do apologize for that and finally before we get

into our discussion. We will not have an L car

segment this week as As Steve put it and I think

this is quite accurate. This conversation is

gonna be pretty much self -sustaining anyway,

and Kind of the genesis for this show. I guess

we'll start off the the conversation now is About

a couple of months ago, back in April, there

was an article over on thehuffingtonpost .com,

where our very own Steve Saylor does some writing

over there, and it was by Chris Lopesto, and

he wrote, 53 reasons why we need a new Star Trek

TV series. And it got me and Steve talking off

everything, and why the hell isn't there a new

Star Trek? I mean, the J .J. Abrams... Movie

went went over. Well, so I guess let's start

going around the circle. We'll start with Steve

go to Leo and then we'll go to Nick Why does

there need to be a new Star Trek series on television

and we'll see what the conversation evolved Steve

start us away Well, I think that well, especially

today. I mean, there's not that many sci -fi

shows on TV I mean, it's it's mostly the reality

or it's mostly like some kind of a stupid drama

that is ultimately nothing intelligent. And I

think that part of the problem is, and it's done

best for sci -fi anyway, having a Star Trek television

show. I think that the reason why no other sci

-fi show lasts as long is because it's kind of

hard to compare with the Star Trek franchise,

which... you know from the 80s kind of kept on

going through the the mid 2000s before finally

getting a the shaft yeah and that ended with

enterprise i think back in 2004 if i'm not mistaken

right guys it was like 2004 2005 but um to to

say the least i mean it's Star Trek it had nothing

to do with Enterprise I mean everybody gives

it the rap of the one that killed the franchise,

but it's not actually not that it's just Things

get stagnant Paramount got done with it their

last movie bombed. I mean it was just they were

they were done with it, so I mean There is also

a change of regime in Paramount at the time and

They looked at it, and you know kind of just

coming in with fresh eyes going. Oh that show

is expensive Like any side Yeah, like you know

it cost a bit. Yes, so they're they were just

looking Just to kind of give it the axe so to

speak Yeah, and that's part of the way like the

the fourth season of that show was able to Still

be made was they found corner cutting techniques

like in the fourth season instead of doing green

screen for the stars on the flyby They just did

projections Wow, we can save money that way,

you know I think halfway through the props. They

started using the art asylum toys for the phasers

because they looked better So there's yet another

cost -cutting move. And hell, actually, even

Doctor Who for a while was using the toys were

so good, they could use the Sonic Screwdriver

on screen. And if it wanted to be the toy, it

was the same scale. Right. So there's another

little bit of random trivia there for you. So

we're thinking cost -cutting is probably a reason

why there is no Trek on TV now. Leo, you said

that's going to... Sorry, go ahead. I wanna say

that's the fate of a lot of sci -fi on television.

Now, so you don't think it has so much to do

with there being fan support? You think it just

comes down to money? I think a lot of times it

does. I mean, that and studio politics and et

cetera, et cetera. You know, and it kind of blows

my mind because you have stations that are dedicated.

towards sci -fi television such as the sci -fi

network and and yet anything that nobody picks

it up yeah it looks like crap or yeah no one

picks it up or for whatever reason the good sci

-fi shows get a really big budget and then they

just drop off i mean good examples for this year

fox they had uh... what was it out alcatraz interesting

idea cool idea uh... terra nova somehow that

got a full season and fringe Barely managed to

get renewed for a fifth and final season I think

it's only because the fans Got so much to say

and I I don't I find there's less anti Fox bullshit

nowadays I think they're finally starting to

listen but then again they do have cancelled

some good shows Fox is an anomaly to me the amount

of science fiction shows that they green light

and let run And then cancel like there's somewhat

like this. There's two people at Fox that hate

each other And the one guy's going I'm gonna

get this show. It looks awesome. The other guy's

like I'm gonna kill it I'm waiting. I see you

coming. You know, it really wouldn't surprise

me and I it's it really takes the the piss out

of me, that Fox gets so many good sci -fi properties.

For example, say what you will, I think Terminator

the Sarah Connor Chronicles was fantastic. It

just needed a solid ending. Some of the best

television on the period. It has some episodes

that are not that great, mostly mid -season too,

but the episodes that are good are amazing. absolutely

and then they um they also are infamous for canceling

firefly yeah and then Buffy got moved off their

or Buffy went to their station to continue after

having a stint over on another network whose

name escapes me at the current moment and they

had angel so it's not like they it's not like

they're not friendly towards weirder shows I

mean I remember I mean these are these these

are the guys that i think made sci -fi considered

legitimate for a long time in the fact that they

had a show like say um the x -files and um uh

although the lone gunman was cut tragically short

of 13 episodes but that's a story for a different

day um i was interesting They actually even seem

like they learned their lesson about Firefly

because they brought back. They brought Dollhouse

back and, you know, they they didn't even know

if they're going to have another season or not.

So they didn't really do much planning. And then,

oh, well, we got another season. And then I guess

that's all we get. And I think that show ended

on kind of a lackluster note, too, didn't it?

Right. Yeah, it did. Which I guess that seems

to be the fate of a lot of sci fi. I mean, I

remember a show I used to watch on Fox. I think

it was called Space 1999 Above and Beyond. Yeah.

And that ended lame. And we look at sci -fi nowadays,

and I think one of the best examples of a fantastic

sci -fi show, the great cast, it doesn't necessarily

have to have a huge budget, but it looks huge

budget, was Battlestar Galactica. Because it

had just... The strength of the characters carried

the series. And I think that showed a shift in

towards television where you could tell legitimate

stories without getting caught on the high tech.

I think where Star Trek maybe had some problems.

I mean, you got a lot more character development

in Battlestar than you ever did in Star Trek.

And I'll fight that point to the death. I kind

of agree with that. Yeah. I mean, you got more.

Mean you felt I honestly I think you feel more

for Admiral Adama as opposed to Captain Picard

with with exception I mean for a lot of times

Star Trek you have that the end of the episode

resets the zeros because you got multiple writers

working on it and you can't have this person's

episode mess up this person's episode and it

works better when you've got like a team of writers

working towards a a common goal, so to speak.

So I think that's one thing that Star Trek could

definitely take advantage of now, because people,

I think, are ready for that more mature, story

-driven... Basically that medium of television

and to refer back to the to the article that

we're talking about from the Huffington Post

which Steve will link in the artwork or sorry

in the actual episode post to know what we're

actually Talking about one of the things that

I like about it is I think I'm just trying to

find the the the reason here number 15 out of

53 reasons is because Star Wars is officially

embarrassing. Star Trek finally has the chance

to become hip. And the Abrams reboot definitely

proved that. That's true. I'll go with that.

Yeah, I mean, they really could. I mean, there's

so many directions I could go with it. I mean

a lot of times like I said studios get worried

about oh we have we can't have this one franchise

mess up this other franchise is because you know

and that happened with the Smallville being about

Superman like they wanted that show to be about

Batman and they were like oh no we got these

Batman movies that's really successful and they're

like okay well then we'll do Superman I guess

and they always try to get Bruce on the show

but they're like oh no we don't want to mess

up these movies So I almost wonder if they would

have the same kind of opinion like oh these movies

I don't know that first movie did really good

a series couldn't mess it up So but I mean so

go come go completely different go in the far

future where the Federation is collapsed and

there's a civil war or I don't know. Yeah, there's

some there's so much you could do with it Yeah,

and the fact that the Star Trek The most recent

movie gave us a logical way out. It's split the

timeline Now, I had an interesting conversation

with someone about that recently. I agree, it

was a split timeline, but when has that ever

happened in Star Trek? Whenever time travel or

any kind of thing is, it alters the prime timeline.

Like yesterday's Enterprise, something happened,

everything changed. When has Star Trek ever followed

a split timeline? It's happened numerous times

in the series and that's it's it's always left

something kind of different and Yet somehow it's

kind of resetted by the end, but it's still it's

still an alternate Yeah, so it'd be the same,

but it's you know guiding would have a different

colored hat I mean it erased the old timeline

and became the new there was no split alternate

thing like that's how Star Trek operates and

the name it name and I anyone in the comments

I name and An example of when it didn't because

that's interesting to me. Yeah, cuz oh man Yeah,

I never even considered the fact that they could

just say nope didn't happen or whatever So with

the new Star Trek movie, the only thing that

is now canon is Enterprise Yeah, because in first

contact I guess and with with like enterprise

they even had their problems because I remember

my friend Justin from who's worked with us before

for our PAX episodes, was telling me in Enterprise,

they come to a point where someone says, this

timeline isn't right, because there is no giant

scar across Earth from the Zindi. And that still

exists. And like, what the hell? So I think a

new Star Trek could very well take place within

its own continuity. I think it would be best

if they stayed in the Abrams verse. because that's

what's doing well right now and it'd be interesting

just to see other characters because they've

already talked about Klingons they talked about

Romulans in it so we have there's a chance to

flesh out that universe and build a new fan base

because like like number 15 says Star Wars is

officially embarrassing now Star Trek is at a

unique point where it has an established fan

base and they're open to read interpretations

we didn't boycott the movie or anything Do we

think that the logical point would be, you know,

since the original series crew members are all

cast now, obviously you can't get them for a

TV show, would we go into next gen? I think we

could stay within the old enterprise or within

that era and simply mention them every so often,

or maybe if they have the time, film one episode

where they have significant cameos or maybe like

a television movie. Perhaps a different crew

that could interact. Maybe on a space station

where they stop by. You're such a DS9 fanboy.

The thing is, there's so many possibilities open

to it that I don't understand why television

executives have not tried. Now, before the new

Abrams movie came out, Jonathan Frakes, who we

know as Commander Riker, he's produced a number

of television shows and even directed a lot on

TNG and did some stuff for the Roswell. television

show think of that what you will um but Paramount

said no and CBS said no well and they've continuously

said no um because there's been multiple people

like Freaks wanted to do something with it um

they've had Brian Singer and Brian Fuller wanting

to come in and make a new Star Trek and you know

they've told him you know hell no and then see

Michael Dorn actually wants to make a he said

a low -budget Star Trek movie either a direct

-to -video or direct -to -cable was it a movie

or a series movie with with wharf as captain

on the frontier fighting people like that could

be really awesome could be depending on good

luck yeah Kickstarter man come on it seems to

work for everybody else It also kind of sounds

like I Was gonna say as far as that list is concerned

with the top 53 most of those are just BS anyway

But some of them do have some very good points

for example good points However, I do think what

killed the the series initially is the fact that

it got too technical for people yeah, and was

less about the story in the cast as You know

it pretty much you can kind of equate that to

after Roddenberry left, you know, left us. I

mean, it's, he was the driving force to start,

and that's when you could kind of think that

things went more technical and more into, you

know, tech drip, and storyboard, and I think

that... For the years of passing between all

the multiple hands, I think that's what killed

the series and the interest in it, and that's

probably why they don't want to get back in that

rut again. Well, it's almost like each series

has its own theme, and I can't remember whether

we talked about this on one of our past episodes,

but it's like certain series follow a formula,

and the only really concrete example I can think

of this is in Voyager, technology solves every

problem. And you look at something like TNG diplomacy

solves every problem in the original war Yeah,

war solves problems and I and I guess you saw

the fallacies of Captain Archer willing to learn

solves problems Seems like it's all driven by

the captain because Jamie was a scientist before

she became a captain and Picard was you know

He's always had his great hand at diplomacy And

Cisco was just really pissed off. Angry black

man in space, but I love that show. And, you

know, it's just... I think that a new Star Trek

show now, especially now, looking at the world

that we live in, seeing all the good and horrible

things that are happening out there, there's

a chance to tell some new interesting stories.

And the fact that Star Trek is such a respected

name in bringing people... Up to speed on things

or telling stories that other shows won't like

thinking back to the 60s with Star Trek how they

had the the black and white First interracial

kiss. Yeah, they had that they had the black

and white people episode where that was more

or less about racism and stuff like that. So

thinking about this, there's one on this list,

and I would really like to see this. I'm a big

supporter of the community. The first openly

gay Starfleet captain. Sure. That would be a

wonderful risk, and I think you'd bring in a

whole new realm of viewers. I'm not saying do

it for the same reasons that say Marvel and DC

are doing it right now, but it could be a legitimately

good story hook. Because we've seen males, we've

seen females. Why not have a guy who's openly

gay? I always thought the next step would be

alien, but you know, that works too. That brings

it home. Yeah, he could be a gay alien for all

we know. But yeah, I mean, there's so many possibilities

out there. And if you want to hit a younger crowd,

and I almost wonder what this would do. I think

this would be more akin to a web series. Starfleet

Academy. Ah. Which once again could be a cool

idea for a franchise, but you look at all these

teeny bopper shows I would fear Starfleet Academy

may go down the realm of Say Smallville probably

but they're the ones who like, you know, they're

making their money on so Nothing to complain

about as long as they work in some decent stuff.

Yeah and I guess that's a question to the panel

here. What kind of stories does a new Star Trek

series need to tell to remain relevant and to

draw people in? Well, I think that I mean, it

definitely helps. Like like you said, doing it

in Abrams first, because part of the reason the

old show got stale really was like they kind

of felt tied, like they had to cross reference

everything and make sure they didn't mess up

continuity this way. And like they still did.

But like they spent so much time. Worrying about

that that they kind of are free to tell more

like, you know tell the the basic, you know the

base stories You know the the seven base stories

really At some point we're going to have to explore

other parts of the Star Trek universe and just

kind of take the chance of having a different

type of show set in that universe. Like I was

thinking, you know, I liked House. I would like

to see, you know, maybe a Star Trek medical show,

something different. Give it some different options.

The Starfleet Academy thing, be like what, Degrassi

in space? I want to see something like Band of

Brothers in space. Like a fleet of Starfleet

Marines. Or how about this, Section 31. There

you go. I like Section 31 a lot. I really like

the books of that. So, I mean, I could get behind

that whole way because it's like a, you know.

Like an almost 24 Star Trek. Now, now with that

in mind, do you think they could update that

to the Abrams verse to still draw new fans and

old fans alike? Oh, yeah, I think the concepts

are pretty basic. I mean, you know, the idea

of a Luma Dottie. is present within, you know,

all of... It's lingering beneath the surface

everywhere. Yeah, so it doesn't necessarily have

to be the Romulans as the bad guys every week,

or the Folians or whatever. No, it could be anything.

Which, I think that's something else about Star

Trek that I think part of the show got stale

to, is it would depend... lot on the aliens and

me and Steve just did a show with our other friend

Mike Blanchard and we were talking about Star

Trek and Star Wars versus and One of the points

that means Steve brought up is Star Trek has

more capable villains But they're not as memorable

as Star Wars For example who looks cooler con

or Darth Vader? It's not a hard comparison unfortunately,

but Star Trek villains get shit done. I mean

say what you well about nemesis Nero Trash the

enter or not Nero Shins on trash the Enterprise

Nero took a fucking Vulcan and the entire Starfleet

other than the Enterprise So, you know, what

did Vader do? Well, okay. He killed the Jedi

kind of with a million stormtroopers I could

do the exact same friggin thing, you know, you

fire a million shots a few are bound to hit Throw

the stormtroopers at them a stormtrooper cannon

It's simple numbers people but But like as far

as the the show concepts, I mean, there's many

different ways they could take this I honestly

would like to see them kind of you know, I I

wouldn't have a problem if they they based it

off of like the the Abrams formula of the film

Because that would give it the the nice kind

of blend and meshing of of story character and

tech But not too tech heavy to where the general

audience won't watch it because it's you know

focusing on that 30 % fewer lens flares Like

I'm okay with that, but they wouldn't be able

to afford that on TV budget, but um, but I could

see them doing like a section 31 or focusing

on a different crew because I mean, let's face

it, we've gotten pretty much the enterprise jammed

on our throat since the 60s. You know, so not

that I have a problem with that. I do love the

fact that they keep going back to that. But I

do think that they need to take it in somewhat

of a different direction rather than just the

enterprise lineage. And I mean, hell, they could

jump massively in the future or they could do,

you know, You know jump it somewhere in the Abrams

verse or I mean they there's plenty of directions

they can take it I really like the idea that

Nick had of the medical show That could be that

could be really cool that you could go all kinds

of directions with that like But I mean you got

to think about it this way, too There's so many

medical shows on TV right now that it would get

washed out. I mean, but alien medical House with

phasers. People have a hard time watching, you

know, shows with, like, supernaturalistic stuff

with doctor shows. I mean, that Gifted Man got

canned. I mean, that's... I mean, granted, it's

kind of a different concept altogether, but it's

still... It's something different than the typical

medical show, and it didn't last because of it.

I think you could... blend it blend the medical

thing with another concept for example i can't

remember who mentioned this but if we did a civil

war set in the far future have that again yeah

have the doctor be a lead character much like

on voyager because voyager told a number of different

medical stories That's true. So there's no reason

why we couldn't do that and still incorporate

elements of, say, Section 31. I mean, I think

Civil War gives you a chance to really explore

things, because you don't have to have the peace

and calm that you more or less had in TNG. Because

when you think about it, the Federation was at

war a few times there, but you never saw anything

super large scale, instead of the Battle of Wolf

3 -3 -5 -9, and maybe one or two encounters with

the Borg. Or yesterday's Enterprise. Yeah. really

anything huge there with setting it in the far

future you can I guess you can kind of take it

along the same lines as they're doing with Star

Trek online and Just saying things are fucked

up guys Yeah, we need to fix this as far as I

understood and this is one of those violations

to that rule kind of was Star Trek online Supposedly

as far like before it came out. I don't know

if it's held true to this said that it was taking

place in the original timeline where Romulus

had been destroyed but in that future well what

happened yeah I mean it was after Spock left

after data yeah came back and he's on the enterprise

as captain now I mean it's it's it's in the early

25th century so I mean there's still all different

kinds of hell breaking loose and just from what

little bit i've read here or there but i mean

it's still um i i wouldn't mind them going to

that because then that would give a chance for

the the older trek actors to jump back in and

have a chance at the series just as guest cameo

roles And then they could still do something

with section 31 in medical and you know all that

different kind of stuff because You got that

much Warren strife going on you're gonna need

you know like maybe episodes on engineers of

Starfleet and you know Just different facets

of Starfleet command Yeah Now we've talked a

fair chunk about why there should be a new Star

Trek show We've got a kind of established what

our premise would be Now let's flip the coin

Let's turn things over. Let's play the role of

evil television executives And people that hate

sci -fi and all that's good and kick puppies

on their way down the street Why shouldn't there

be a new Star Trek on television? Well, like

like you said you got a good film franchise going

right now, you don't want to mess that up But

Could a television show survive that, for example,

look at the X -Files and fight the future? Well,

let's put it this way. Think about it. Every

time... Let's just use Transformers or G .I.

Joe, for example. Every time a movie comes out

and there's a television series, they shaft the

television series in favor of the film. Basically

just make it a long commercial for the film.

And then when the film goes out... Well, I mean,

they're not even related. They're not even directly

related. Oh, okay. Transformers had, and I know

this is off topic, but it's still the same concept.

They had Transformers animated, went three seasons,

they shafted it, even though there was still

room for a season four, in order to have Revenge

of the Fallen. Then they, after that film was

over, they, you know, proceeded to, into Transformers

Prime, but, I mean, that's still going, but G

.I. Joe, they canceled the new series, didn't

even make it past a season. in favor of the film

that got delayed till next year, so. They've

got this weird paranoid thing about you can't

have this and this at the same time. But it confuses

people. But it's a studio thing. It's just that's

just the way they are. It's like it's really

weird in comic book movies because it's like,

oh, I've never heard of two versions of a character

existing at the same time. That's that's crazy

talk. And they're doing that with all the Marvel

stuff now. They're doing it with, you know, the

DC stuff. They're starting to. If it's not directly

related to the film series, then they're just

like, oh no, we can't have anything to do with

this because people get confused Well, no, it's

like comparing apples to oranges of the same,

you know franchise but it's you know, it's I

could see it going either way as far as the having

a new Star Trek show and the film But also the

the budget is going to have to be monumental

And most the time these stupid television series

or television stations They don't want to spend

money, so that's why we have all these stupid

reality shows. Right, they're cheap to produce.

Yeah, which is funny. I posted something on my

Facebook today and it was comparing Firefly and

the Jersey Shore. Quite a juxtaposition, I'm

sure. Firefly gets cancelled after one season

or not even. Somehow Jersey Shore is five and

still going. But it's my stupidity. And that's

what boggles my mind is why society would, you

know, I mean, granted, They do nothing but watch

TV anymore, but they'd rather watch something

mindless and stupid. I think they would rather

see people who are more stupid than them versus

people who are smarter than them, which is why

they can't stand the Technobabble. Well, personally,

my wife freaking hates Star Trek, and she loves

Star Wars, but she liked the new Abrams Star

Trek. Yeah, my wife is the same way, which is

kind of weird. Which speaks volumes? I mean if

if we could get a series that was and as my wife

puts it They're always in that damn room, which

you know to me means the bridge right um Which

you know that's true because of budgetary issues

But if they could focus less of yeah, I mean

look at the Abrams Star Trek Yeah, it was on

the bridge, but most of it didn't take place

there So I mean if they could get that kind of

dynamic into a show it it would probably help

more in terms of viewers because Like somebody

that doesn't like Star Trek that's not gonna

attract them to a new show Definitely the idea

of a show that maybe doesn't even take place

on a ship I mean, yeah, I'm a dspace 9 fan, but

I mean, you know do something Different on a

planet maybe maybe a Star Trek colony. Yeah sure

You could be like the Maquis and shit. Hey there

once again plays into the Civil War aspect. Yeah,

you know definitely a new angle and something

that the studios can make cheap If they did it

on a planet like I mean think kind of Terra Nova

but with Star Trek I think if you mix the concept

of you know that that homeworld thing I think

that that could work probably better than what

I think another reason, and this may be just

me thinking strange media, whatever. I think

another reason why a Star Trek show might be

hard to put on air is it's hard to have sponsored.

Think about how many product drops you see in

television shows these days. And that's a very

important thing, because if Coke says, hey, we'll

give you $2 million, you put this in your movie.

Mm -hmm, right in Star Trek. I'm not sure the

Federation has Pepsi. I'm just saying Well Kirk's

card that he stole had that Nokia. So yeah, but

that but admittedly that's probably pretty hard

to squeeze in Oh, yeah. Yeah, and it looked like

it was shoehorned in anyway, so we're like or

like Battleship in the Hasbro thing. Oh, and

Coke Zero? Suddenly I want a Coke Zero. I forgot

about that. But yeah, there's just, I wonder

if maybe people aren't ready for a Star Trek

now, because I think part of the thing is, like

I said, the Abrams meet was very successful,

but the toy sold like shit. So, and that's another

thing, too. You have to remember, Star Trek,

as much as we love it and it's an intellectual

show and we love the stories it tells, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, it's a marketing tool,

too. And if we've noticed it doesn't sell well

in terms of toys, Star Trek Online is free to

play now. That's not a good sign either. So you

have to look at it from those angles. But so

is so is wow. So is DC Universe. I mean, wow,

it's only free to play to for the first 20 levels

and 10 years old. It's still it's free up until

that point. And you have DC Universe and they

have a bunch of, you know, DC shows and they

still market well. And they've also DC has theirs

sectioned off into like people who spend money

and people who don't levels of right. What you

can do with your account. Yeah, because, like,

you can buy, like, everybody gets the game free

basic, but you don't get access to the Green

Lantern stuff or the Last Laugh stuff. So if

you want it to be really awesome, you have to

pay for it. Is Star Trek, do they have, like,

that kind of model? You can buy additional stuff,

too, as well, but it's, you still have to be

leveled up a fair chunk to even use them. Right

which means you have to invest the time so but

if you're somebody that doesn't play like to

pay to play games That's not gonna bother you.

Yeah, it's not really gonna bother. I mean you

can earn most things in that game normally But

they just give you extra slots mostly and that's

you know extra slots Maybe some crew or some

cooler shit for your shipper whatever Yeah, but

what I'm saying is I think the I think the reason

why DC has such a greater latitude the Dark Knight

and Batman begins Just think about it, Superman

Returns sucked, Catwoman sucked, DC was a hurting

brand for an awful long time. And it's only in

the last five, six years, I think they've really

come back. I mean, Superman Doomsday was, not

a lot of people like that, but a lot of people

like everything that's followed past that. DC

animated has been solid for a long time. I mean,

Mask of the Phantasm, I mean, you know, it's,

for whatever reason, you know, Bruce Tim. Paul

Dini You know DC animated it's been great for

a long time But at the same time it but it's

there hasn't been a theatrical release since

mask of the phantasm No, no, no the the last

one that was supposed to get theatrical release

was return of the Joker and that got shafted

because of the 9 -eleven event they didn't want

anything kind of gory because it was like oh

we kill them, you know, even though it had nothing

to do with the event, so they just Directed DVDed

But those are the DC animated universe and the

other ones are the DC original movies, which

are completely different but You're mentioning

like the Abrams toys not selling very well That's

that's part of the reason why Green Lantern is

not completely off the table Green Lantern the

movie may not have done all that well But the

toys were selling like hotcakes Which is really

sad because those toys were not well made Well,

I mean there was all I mean they made a lot of

different toys and it wasn't just the action

figures But I mean like all the Green Lantern

stuff was selling like crazy So I mean I spent

a lot of money like in in brand awareness on

that franchise and selling selling the merchandise

So well, I think is DC had a plan to make their

stuff because they knew they got people's attention

with Batman. Hey guys, don't forget We're doing

this thing too. And with Star Trek A lot of people

that are fans of the show, we've seen the older

stuff. I mean, I think what they want to do is

capture the new 18 to 35 crowd. Like we're talking

past, like let's say they want to attract people

born 1990 and up. That's, I think, because they

have the most disposable income, at least as

far as I understand. Whereas people like us,

I mean, we're all probably around the age of

like 30, right? Yeah. And we just have to remember

that, well, we're not the target audience anymore,

which is kind of unfortunate. But what are you

going to do about it? And I understand we lost

Steve, so we'll give him a minute to come back.

Otherwise, we'll figure it out. Moving on with

the show, so to speak. I don't know. I mean,

where do you think... We need like if if someone

were to pitch a project to you, okay, actually

hold on Here's how we're gonna play this game.

We're gonna call this the pitch game So it's

gonna be Nick you and Steve you guys are gonna

pitch a Star Trek series to me right now and

I'm gonna tell you why it may not Succeed and

we'll think well, we'll see if this is a logical

assumption Okay, well apparently we from our

discussion earlier we came up with a Star Trek

show that's set in the far future when the Federation

is at civil war and we're following a medical

group that's being shadowed by section 31 so

we'll call it mash mash NCC four zero seven seven

and It's behind enemy lines I mean, if I was

to pitch one, I mean, I think I basically, for

a while there, I was kind of holding out hope

in my geeky heart of hearts that we might be

able to see some kind of Star Trek plus Joss

Whedon project. And I just don't think that's

going to happen anymore because he is way too

big now. Well, and like I mentioned earlier,

Bryan Singer, Bryan Fuller, I'm not behind them

having it, but Seth MacFarlane's also expressed

interest. Fuck that guy! Really? I would have

to see a treatment before I You know, I probably

the only only family guy fan among the four of

us. It sounds like but He's only good for animation.

She's not good for I I would like to see them

use Some previously, you know, like freaks or

you know something that had to do with Star Trek

and you know new Roddenberry's vision you know

somebody like that should take on take it on

not you know vermin or any of these other you

know douches like uh fuller or you know some

like farlin said ted comes out soon that'll be

the that'll be the tail of the tape right there

but uh now he's also he's also rebooting cosmos

so keep that in mind and the flint stones He

has his fingers in many nefarious pies. I'm just

gonna say, if I receive a treatment from Seth

MacFarlane, hey, look, it's new free toilet paper.

Fuck that guy. I am so sick of Family Guy, and

it's an atrocity on television, the fact that

The Cleveland Show is still on. That's a war

crime against broadcast, I'm just saying. I haven't

watched it. That's a walking racist joke. Pretty

much. It's like being... I don't know. It's it's

terrible. I'll say something horribly offensive

moving on. Okay, so your pitch me playing evil

TV executive I Like the idea that it's medical

house was really good people seemed like Grey's

Anatomy Okay, how do we appeal to the women demographic?

hot doctor hot doctor, okay Lieutenant Commander

McDreamy Okay, there you go, you might get that

okay, so now you've kind of got your like female

audience hooked Okay, but I'm not sure I like

this idea of traveling around that sounds like

it's gonna cost me a lot of money What are you

gonna? What are you guys gonna do about that?

They're working on a space station That sounds

like I have to build a lot of stuff Did they

save any of those props from that big auction?

Maybe I'll I will have to call somebody. Okay,

I Think that I honestly think what I just said

I think these are conversations that are gonna

come up to because I Honestly believe Star Trek

is a very male dominated show Well, they have

had some very strong female leads characters,

etc and some very good female directors on episodes

I think depending because I think women have

a lot more power in how television is marketed

now than they ever have in history Like I'm surprised

a terribly written show like fucking Grey's Anatomy

can last as long as it has. Yeah. And I think

trying to get women into a sci -fi thing is gonna

be a thing. I really think it's gonna become

more... I've just got this feeling they're gonna

try and market it more towards women because

it's a bunch of men on a ship. So their chances

for sex appeal come up so much more often. And

because we're seeing a lot more sex in... television

shows at least the things that you see on cable

like like Game of Thrones Breaking Bad, etc.

And even The Walking Dead, you know, they're

gonna try and shoehorn that in there So a Star

Trek series on HBO see They have the budget they

can do the violence Will they do the sex and

what would that take away from Star Trek? Basically,

I think how far is your with green women? That

was hot and awesome. But there comes a question.

How far is your reboot willing to go? And that's

going to be another question that would come

up to a television executive. Because the idea

of doing the medical thing is cool. But think

about this. The medicine we see on television

now is pretty graphic. I mean, you see them actually

operating. In the future, we have laser scalpels.

It's not going to be that graphic to begin with.

Didn't they cut back on that a bit like they

started on I know on house like towards the beginning

of the show's run They should you know, they

spent a lot of money on that But I think that

they cut back on it because people get kind of

squeamish about it Is that I don't remember that

actually having been decided but I can you know

looking back on it as yeah I watched all the

all the episodes as they came out. It does seem

like there was a lessening of them So they basically

found like other stuff for the CG team to do

occasionally I Mean you still have things like

you know the yellow eyes because their kidneys

are failing and that kind of stuff That's uh

that's easier to do, but you didn't have like

the you know Exploding organs and eyeballs popping

out and that kind of thing as much though There

was that that just made me think of the one episode

of TNG where the guy blew up You guys know where

he had the like parasite in him and they shot

him with the feet. Yeah, it's like the end of

season one Yeah, yeah, he blew up like scanner

style Yeah, yeah, that was like the most doctor

who like Star Trek episode See, that's also gonna

bring up another thing, too. They're gonna look

at contemporary sci -fi, and they are gonna look

at Doctor Who and Stark and, to a lesser extent,

stuff like, say, Torchwood. If they look at Doctor

Who, they're going to see that one of the ways

that they were able to reboot Doctor Who was

to get him out of the room. I mean, if you go

back and you look at old Doctor Who, you see

that a lot of it was like, there's like a 60

minute show and there's 52 minutes of it. They're

standing around the TARDIS controls and it's

like, oh my God, this is so slow. Once they got

them out for the reboot, that's when it started

to really take off again. Yeah. So hopefully...

People will take the risk and like I said, I

think that's gonna be something that's gonna

go in Star Trek's may go against them is people

like the ship They like the static location and

I I think I think a lot of television is they're

gonna be very squeamish and I wonder if that's

why CBS is saying no The but now we have examples

of shows that that that have worked I'll tell

you that, you know, I know that there's probably

the main reason that Fox didn't offer up any

new science fiction shows this time around is

because they did spend a heck of a lot of money

on Terra Nova, and they actually, instead of

canceling it after the first two episodes or

so, like they've been doing, they let it run

the whole season, and I guess they just weren't,

still weren't satisfied with it at the end. Which

is unfortunate, because I think the show had

a lot of promise. And it had some Star Trek people

involved in it, in the production. Robert Moore,

I believe. So maybe that's another reason why.

That's another reason that they're going to be

like, I don't know about Star Trek. I mean, we

had that one guy, we gave him a shot. So I guess,

gentlemen, as we start to wind down our conversation

here, where does Star Trek need to go to become

relevant again or to become back on television?

What does it need? I mean, we've all talked about

what we want it to be. But what does it need?

As much as I don't want to see it change from

the formula that we're used to, like myself personally,

if it were just a basic medical show, I wouldn't

give a crap. I wouldn't watch it. I'm very much

a fan of the current style and formula before,

like from the 90s. But in any case, I think that

there needs to be something that kind of has

a hook for each generational age group. Like

you guys were mentioning, like some of what the

article has, maybe start them out in Starfleet

Academy, but not spend 10 years doing it like

Smallville. Yeah. And follow that class. Well,

and follow that class. And then maybe some of

them go to Starships. And you don't focus on

just one. set ship you focus on those select

people like maybe seven people that kind of um

like friends in space almost but is better so

and you can follow you can have you follow them

and like one of them could be you know a medical

ship and you know you you don't have to focus

on the other characters one episode and then

maybe one of them got drafted into section 31

one of them uh you know met up with gary seven

or or you know to You know something like that

or an engineering core, you know something to

kind of Mix it up a bit but not stay on the same

ship, but keep it all kind of in one centrally

intertwined in the story Like maybe they have

to you know get certain people, you know together

for certain missions, you know that kind of thing

but Much like Game of Thrones. You're following

these, you know central characters that the whole

story is going somewhere Yeah, and they all play

a little piece in the puzzle for the entire plot,

but that's the only way I could see doing it.

They would have to not do it with the Enterprise

or any of that kind of stuff. Do like the USS

Challenger or Picard the Ancestor. They need

to do something fresh. I could see the need to

kind of attach to some of the old stuff, at least

for fan purposes, to kind of flesh. Us old -time

fans of the series But I think that's pretty

much the only way they can go with it to kind

of to loop the current generation All right So

you two what does it's to what the Star Trek

need I? Think more than anything I mean regardless

of when you said it what's going on what the

characters are about you just really need to

tell good stories Mm -hmm you tell good stories

and people will watch them Yeah, it's gonna have

to be more than just Monster of the Week. You

definitely, I mean, people are becoming accustomed,

I think, to more intricate plots and following

casts of characters through these interesting,

challenging moments in their lives. Yeah, I mean,

I think one thing Star Trek needs, and I think

you hit it right there on the head, is it needs

more serialized stuff that is not episodic so

much. I'm not saying so much to the point where

if you miss one episode, you're fucked. No, I

mean, Doctor Who is a beautiful example of that.

You can watch several Doctor Who episodes in

a row and enjoy that episode entirely for what

it is, but if you're watching the whole season,

you're going to pick up on these weird little

things that are all connected and in the season

finale or so, everything kind of comes back around

and, you know, that... That formula works really

well, I think. Yeah, I mean, that's one thing

that works. Or if you take a show like, say,

Breaking Bad, you need to see everything to see

how it all gets together. While an individual

episode is enjoyable, you get more of knowing

what's happened previously. I think character

development is something that really needs to

be focused on to make these people real. Well,

part of the problem is we don't have good sci

-fi writers out there anymore. I mean... Yeah,

you have the ones that were in in the series

before but they're kind of, you know They burn

out all the ideas and everything. They need some

fresh blood into it You know, maybe get Orsi

and Kurtzman behind it as the writing staff Because

they're doing For instance, they were doing Transformers

Prime and that's you know, great the first Star

Trek film. That was great You know just get people

like that as the the showrunners and then get

other like -minded people in there, too script,

not only good sci -fi stories, but along with

a nice overarching plot and in characters that

actually matter. Yeah. So here's my final question

to the group. What network does this? HBO! That

sounds great! I like that idea. They don't have

any sci -fi, so there you go. That's their next

for and I think HBO could actually and I kind

of agree with that other than the fact that I

don't have HBO You will get it sir. I probably

wouldn't um I would just Yeah, so um I can see

that because that not only would bring that demographic

to HBO But it would also give them more of a

budget whereas if you're on Fox CBS NBC see a

view. They're gonna limit it. They're gonna not

give it a chance. It'll make it two episodes

and they're gonna shit can it. So, I mean, it's...

I can definitely see HBO taking it on. Not to

say that HBO hasn't canceled shows before they're

over, you know. No, but those stations are notorious

for letting shows go on two, three episodes and

saying, okay, you're done. And not even giving

it a chance to even really open up. I agree.

I think HBO would give it a good college effort.

I really hope, I think, yeah, it has to be a

cable station like an HBO or Showtime. A premium.

Yeah, a premium. Or maybe, look at what AMC's

accomplished. AMC has no sci -fi. AMC. Yeah?

They have, I mean, they have comic book men,

they have stuff for comic geeks, they have -

Yeah, they're dipping their toe in the water

of geekdom, so. Yeah, so I mean, I could I could

definitely see Star Trek going there. I mean,

you know, it could be owned by one one station

or one, you know, station or organization studio,

whatever, and be sold to another one to be played

on. So I mean, I could see either HBO or AMC

doing it. I just can't really see the other stations

get behind it. Yeah, I don't think any of the

traditional big ones like ABC, CBS, NBC, even

the CW. They're not going to pick up on this.

They've tried it. They did it and it worked under

the old broadcast medium. But I think we've grown

to a point where I think it has to go that I

mean, I think episodes of this would sell so

well on iTunes. You could support it partially

through that alone. Well, I mean, maybe have

Netflix help produce it. Yeah. Well, they're

doing their own original content now as well.

Unfortunately, a lot of it's crap, and it sucks.

But if they could bring it into the Star Trek

series, you know. Kick it up a notch, that's

their opportunity to save face. Something to

keep in mind, too, is that Star Trek is owned

by Paramount. Which is CBS. Which is CBS, which

is also, you know, WB, or the CW, which is, you

know, so that, but it's Viacom, more than anything.

Viacom and all of them, pretty much. So as long

as I think if they kept it within the Viacom

reach, which I believe HBO is within the Viacom

reach. Well, I mean, the CW zone by. Yeah. Oh,

they they are. So I mean, they could throw it

on there, too, because they've got all different

kinds of shows. And if they had the appeal for

women in younger generation, you know. Teens

or whatever in there somewhat, then I think that

they can throw that at CW pretty well, too. Well,

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what

happens I think the big the big telling point

will be what happens after Star Trek 2 So I just

have to wait another year and probably another

two years in development So I'm predicting 2015

the return to the final frontier I could definitely

see that just to the fact that I think that they

might want to weigh it just after like you said

the next film just to kind of see how it goes

yeah because they want to see how strong the

brand is not just through the movie ticket sales

but through other things i mean it'll have been

four years since the last film so i mean that

if if this gets the you know estimates that they're

they're hoping for then that might help cement

in their brain that yes it is relevant I think

the video game might play a big part into that

as well. Yeah, the one that's coming out by Namco.

I think we're supposed to see it this year, aren't

we? Sounds right. I just know that it's tied

in very closely to the development of the movie.

I love Namco. I love Namco. I really do. They

have produced some quality titles. I don't know

if that's the publisher I would have went with.

Yeah, we'll see. Activision would have been my

first choice. Truthfully, and I know you can

say what you will about their Call of Duty Bullshit,

but look at Transformers Fall of Cybertron What

a great revival of a brand and Activision Yeah,

but Activision held the publishing rights to

the Star Trek games for so long But look at their

track record with them so far. Yeah it's And

I think Atari had them, but obviously it reverted

after Cryptic Studios went, okay, we're done

with this, with like Star Trek Online, which

I guess, I think that's gonna be a telling point,

too. They're gonna say, are the young hip nerds

into this? And they're gonna look at subscriber

numbers. or they're going to see how many active

players there are, because that's another metric

you use to measure something. But that's the

PR speed coming in there. But anyway, guys, we're

going to wrap up this conversation. So big thanks

to that sci -fi guy and Nick for coming over.

When's your next episode coming out, guys? Soon.

Very, very soon. Putting the finishing touches

on it right now, so. I am excited for this. So

if people want to follow your work, where do

they have to go? Well, you can find me at WWW

dot that sci -fi guy calm Or you can find me

on that guy with the glasses calm exciting stuff

now guys One of the things I did want to pimp

out to this and I forgot to do this in the beginning

of the episode I'd love to hear your thoughts

on this, and we'll play a few of your call -ins

during our next show. We actually do have a call

-in line, which I also use for This Week in Geek

and the Game Heroes, and that call -in number

is 817 -717 -7202. We do want to hear from you,

from our fellow Starfleet members, whether...

Whether you think it's a good idea for the next

Star Trek TV series, like with our ideas, is

it too soon, is it too late, or has that ship

simply sailed? Also, me and Steve, next show,

we're going to be talking about the tech of Trek.

The things that we actually have now that maybe

existed in the minds of sci -fi writers, such

as cell phones, tricorders, and even the Tupac

hologram is one step towards photonic life form

rights. Oh god. The black bags from the dead.

It'll be exciting to see. So for Future Imperfect,

we have been Steve Megatron Phillips. That sci

-fi guy. Nick Wright. And I've been Mike the

Birdman Dodd saying, live long and prosper. We'll

catch you guys again next time right here on

This Week in Geek .net brought to you by SFI

.org. Starfleet, the world's largest Star Trek

online fan club.