Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1707
Yes, absolutely. This could so easily be a win-win for them by giving it their blessing and a little money, then they have three productions to derive income from in the next two years, instead of two.

There's been a lot of speculation that CBS and Paramount are or should be trying to develop a Star Trek cinematic universe across multiple platforms, the way Disney has with Marvel. I've got to say, they're really going at it bass-ackwards with this heavy-handed move.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1712
http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/star-tr ... 201700606/

“Hannibal” creator Bryan Fuller has found his next mission: showrunner and co-creator of CBS’ new “Star Trek” series.

He’ll serve as executive producer alongside Alex Kurtzman on the reboot of the sci-fi classic, Variety has learned.

A longtime fan of science fiction, Fuller began his career writing for “Star Trek: Voyager” (1997-2001) and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1997).

“My very first experience of ‘Star Trek’ is my oldest brother turning off all the lights in the house and flying his model of a D7 Class Klingon Battle Cruiser through the darkened halls. Before seeing a frame of the television series, the ‘Star Trek’ universe lit my imagination on fire,” said Fuller. “It is without exaggeration a dream come true to be crafting a brand new iteration of ‘Star Trek’ with fellow franchise alum Alex Kurtzman and boldly going where no ‘Star Trek’ series has gone before.”

See More:New ‘Star Trek’ Series to Air on CBS All Access in 2017

The new series is set to bow on CBS in January 2017, then move to CBS’ All Access digital subscription service. It will be the first original series to launch on a broadcast network but air primarily on an SVOD service.

“Bringing ‘Star Trek’ back to television means returning it to its roots, and for years those roots flourished under Bryan’s devoted care,” said Kurtzman. “His encyclopedic knowledge of ‘Trek’ canon is surpassed only by his love for Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic future, a vision that continues to guide us as we explore strange new worlds.”

The creative plan is for the series to introduce new characters and civilizations, existing outside of the mythology charted by previous series and the current movie franchises.

“Star Trek” will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout banner. Kurtzman, Fuller and Heather Kadin will serve as executive producers.



A glimmer of good news??
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1714
From TrekMovie:
According to Variety, “The creative plan is for the series to introduce new characters and civilizations, existing outside of the mythology charted by previous series and the current movie franchise.”

Does this mean yet another timeline for our new show?
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1715
Hmmm, I dont think I'd want ANOTHER timeline... and it would be hard to think of Trek without the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet, but I could see them not focusing on the Enterprise and do another uncharted location type situation, or deep exploration, maybe like the Titan series (not necessarily the Titan). So it would be far enough away from Earth that it would seem completely different? Perhaps?
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1716
Voyager was about as far from Earth as Trek has every gone but it was not very different at all, except in quality. It generally wasn't as good as DS9 or TNG.

I certainly don't need another timeline. As cowardly as it was for the Abrams crew to create a new timeline for the 2009 flick because they were afraid of continuity from 10 movies and hundreds of episodes, it would be beyond absurd to create a new timeline to avoid the continuity of 2 (ok 3) movies.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1717
I wouldn't put it past them to rewrite history once again (literally) but I'm fervently hoping they don't cop out yet again. We've heard this spiel before, where someone claims to fully grasp and be in touch with the subject matter at hand, and then the final product couldn't be more offensive to loyal fans if they had deliberately set out to make it that way.

Reading between the lines of what was said, I think they are aiming for something along the lines of Enterprise, which sought to break free of all the pre-established Trek stuff by exploring a period of time about which not a lot was known, while remaining inside a familiar universe. The problem with Enterprise and the notion of a prequel is that you already know certain things have to happen and end up in a particular way. While there is a degree of freedom, there is also a lot of constraint. What this new show needs to do is not attempt to divorce itself from the parent to which it owes its existence, but rather to show that it can chart a course on its own yet still be a part of the family. I think where the new Trek movies fail is that they pretend to be new while being horribly crippled by unoriginality, pandering, and lack of respect for the source material and its fans in the driving quest to be sleek and sexy.
This Space for Rent

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1719
That is a bit sad. As a fan I want o believe all of our favorite characters and trek actors are BFFs in real life, but from what you hear about the Shat, he seems like he could be hard to get along with.


In other Trek news. I attended Dallas Comic Con Fan Days yesterday and got to attend Brent Spiner's Q&A. He is HILARIOUS! They even ran a clip of him on Night Court, before he was on TNG.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1724
In all honesty, I'm of several minds about this.

I'm impressed that they brought on Nick Meyer, who is one of the biggest names in Trek history, and credited with saving it after the artistic flops that ST:TMP and ST V were.

I'm wondering how hard up Meyer is for money, that he's going to work on a TV show that isn't even going to be broadcast. And he's 70 years old.

I'm also hoping he'll curb some of his bad instincts, such as were on display in ST VI: excruciatingly bad humor, a concept that the Enterprise is a submarine, so cramped that the Captain of the ship has a support beam running through his quarters, and a tendency to salvage electronics garbage from the recycle pile at Best Buy to represent futuristic equipment. Who knows, maybe none of those things were his fault, but it's hard for me not to lay at least partial blame on his doorstep, since he co-wrote the movie and directed it.

In any case, between him and Fuller, CBS has certainly brought on board two people who have serious Trek cred. I'd trade them both for Ron Moore, but they're who we got and that's a lot better than we could have hoped for.

I'm wondering how long it will be before they start to give us some information, like what year is the show set in and what timeline is it in? I've got to think with Fuller and Meyer, they won't have a new timeline, and they probably won't use the Abrams timeline. Fingers crossed for the prime universe!
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1725
By the way, the Axanar production has filed a response to CBS/Paramount suit: http://trekmovie.com/2016/02/25/axanar- ... t-lawsuit/

Personally, I think it sounds like they're trying to throw a Hail Mary, but we'll see. I think if CBS/Paramount were smart, they'd ask for a look at the Axanar script and assuming it's decent, give them permission and money to make it. If Disney can pump out a Star Wars movie every year, there's no reason why we couldn't have the Abrams movie this summer and Axanar at the end of the year or early next year. Disney certainly isn't afraid of diluting the Star Wars or Marvel brands and the fans are not reacting like they're being overloaded, so there's no reason for CBS/Paramount to fear that for Star Trek, as long as they've got good stories. It was the lack of quality of a lot of the later TV episodes and later TNG movies that did Star Trek in, not the number of them per se.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1729
OK, big news on the Star Trek front from the Digital Bits, the pre-eminent home video fansite.
Finally today, the part you’ve all been waiting for: I’m here to tell you something about Paramount Home Entertainment’s plans for celebrating Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary this year. A little bit of background before I continue… many of you will no doubt recall that, back when Star Trek Into Darkness was first released on Blu-ray, I was critical of the way all of the special features content was split up and given away as exclusives to different retail partners (see my column here), making it nearly impossible for fans to get all of the extras. A few weeks after our posts (in September 2013), I was invited up to Paramount to meet with the studio’s home video team to talk about the issue. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. They were honest, acknowledged that they’d made mistakes with the title (with the best of intentions, believe it or not – new people were in charge and they really didn’t expect the fan backlash) and they wanted my opinion on how they could make it up to Trek fans. So I told them: First I explained how to fix the Star Trek Into Darkness release, which they ultimately did with the Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray release (reviewed here).

I also told them what they could do to really make Star Trek fans happy with new Blu-ray releases. I gave them a list of things that included properly remastering ALL of the theatrical films (since only Star Trek II had gotten properly remastered for the previous Blu-ray release, and all the other films looked terrible on disc). I suggested that they finally include not just the theatrical cuts, but the various Director’s and Extended Cuts of the films and listed them. I suggested that an easy TV Blu-ray release would be The Animated Series, since those episodes had already been scanned in HD. And I also suggested that not only was it time to finally give Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition a proper VFX remastering in full HD, there was an easy and obvious way to do so. The VFX team at CBS Digital (at the time) was just wrapping up work on Star Trek: The Next Generation and they needed something to do. Paramount could bring the guys who supervised the original effort on The Director’s Edition in (who I said I could point them to if need be) to work with the experienced CBS Digital team and the work could be done quickly and much more affordably than if they had to build a team and facility from scratch. And if that project worked, you could even keep them busy by creating a new Director’s Edition of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (which had cut-rate visual effects) with all-new CG VFX. Paramount listened to all this and seemed to give my input serious consideration.

Fast forward a year: It’s October 2015. I’m contacted again by Paramount Home Entertainment to advise more new people at the studio about what Trek fans want from Blu-ray and what fans would consider a great way to celebrate Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary. And I told them all the same things again. So far so good.

Now we’re here and I’ve got a few details for you on what Paramount is actually doing with their Trek Blu-rays this year. I don’t have all the details, but I have the important ones for you. As is so often the case, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the studio did actually take my advice. The bad news is... they only took some of it.

Here’s what’s great: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is getting remastered again in full 4K. That remaster will be released on Blu-ray this year and it will include both the Theatrical Cut and the Extended Cut of the film. Director Nicholas Meyer has been involved, as you know from his recent press statements, and there may also be a 4K Ultra HD release this year, though that plan is not yet set in stone. Star Trek: The Animated Series is also coming to Blu-ray in time for the holidays. As you’ve also probably heard, both Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness are getting released this Summer on 4K Ultra HD format, and likely Star Trek Beyond will too later this year. There will also be a variety of Trek Blu-ray and DVD combo packs and box sets, in various configurations, all branded to the Star Trek: 50th Anniversary. Some may have new bonus content and might include new swag.

Here’s what’s not happening: None of the other Trek films have been (or are being) remastered. To the extent that those other films are getting re-released on Blu-ray and DVD, it will be the existing discs/transfers repackaged. No work has been done to Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition and, on the TV front, there are no plans currently to move on with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Voyager Remastered. HOWEVER... my hope is that if the remastered Blu-ray and 4K release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is successful, that might provide the business incentive for Paramount to at least continue on with future remastering projects on all the other films.

So again, good news and bad news. I know some of you will be thrilled by the good and incensed by the bad. For my own part, I find it a bit frustrating, but I’m willing to take the good for now and hope for more later. Paramount’s Star Trek 50th Anniversary Blu-ray plans are certainly not what I would have hoped, nor what I advised them to do, but there’s still some good things in there to appreciate.

I know there will probably be a lot of questions, and I’ll try to answer what I can (via this link) on The Bits Facebook page later this evening (I’ll be out of the office until then), allowing that there are still a number of things I can’t talk about yet. So that’s where things stand at the moment.
So as they say, both good and bad. I'm thrilled that STII is getting the proper treatment for BD. I never bought the previous BD collection of the TOS movies, as knowing how poor they generally looked on DVD, I figured the BDs would look atrocious. So I'm glad to get a new BD of STII. I'm not pleased they're not doing the other TOS movies, and I won't be pleased a few years down the road when they finally do them and put out a box, which will cause me to have to buy STII again.

I'm pleased the animated series will come out on BD, and will undoubtedly get it (though the DVDs were sufficient).

As for the rest, missed opportunity! Paramount obviously respects Bill Hunt...but was too cheap to pony up properly for the 50th anniversary. Honestly, what bigger incentive to do these other releases could there have been? Sigh.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1734
So the Shat is still doing conventions. That's pretty amazing, when you think about it. At his age, most people are either dead, nearly dead, or kicking back trying to enjoy themselves while hoping not to be dead in the near future. But the Shat is still flogging his various wares all over the place.

On another note, here's an update on the Axanar situation.

http://trekmovie.com/2016/03/22/everyth ... more-41466

While I often think that Wil Wheaton has said some pretty respectable things in his relatively brief time in the world, here I would say he is a douchcanoe such as he accuses the Axanar production of being. Why? Because he is trying to sound like a profound legal authority when in fact, he's a relatively washed up former child actor whose high water mark occurred decades ago.

Conversely, Beyond director Justin Lin speaks great sense. Too bad his comments just doomed him from ever working on Star Trek again, unless Beyond makes an absolute ton of money.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1735
The Shat, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig still appear regularly at conventions, especially Shatner and Takei. Shatner is on the Wizard World circuit and tours the con trail all the time. All but Koenig are scheduled for Dallas comic con, but he's scheduled for a Houston con soon.

I'd love to get a group pic.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1736
BladeCollector wrote:The Shat, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig still appear regularly at conventions, especially Shatner and Takei. Shatner is on the Wizard World circuit and tours the con trail all the time. All but Koenig are scheduled for Dallas comic con, but he's scheduled for a Houston con soon.

I'd love to get a group pic.
The rest of them hate the Shat. So good luck with that! ;-)
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1739
Fingolfin wrote:So Takei doesn't get along with Shat? As a young Trek fan, I'm not in on all the cast's past drama. :huh:
OMG, yes. The TOS cast is a very dysfunctional family. Essentially, at least as told by the majority of the cast, Shatner very badly suffered from "I'm the big star here" syndrome, even while the show was still in first run and they were all relative unknowns. They all resented him to one degree or another, except for DeForrest Kelley, who was too much the Southern Gentlemen to dislike anybody (or at least too tactful to let on that he did) and Leonard Nimoy. And apparently even Nimoy grew cool to Shatner late in his life, as Shatner recently reviewed in his book about Nimoy, that Nimoy quit speaking to Shatner in the last months of his life.

Shatner was either too oblivious to realize that most of the cast always resented him, or at least wouldn't publicly admit it (which would be admitting people didn't like him, something he couldn't countenance). But anyway, Shatner's principal detractor was always Jimmy Doohan. After he died, that mantle fell onto Takei, who in recent years accepted it with gusto. Part of it is that Shatner snubbed Takei and his partner when they got married (at least from Takei's perspective). Shatner claims not to understand what Takei's beef is, thinks it's some tiny thing from 50 years ago versus a long-standing pattern of behavior, and thinks Takei just needs to get over it.

So anyway, that's the sad story of the TOS cast. Very dysfunctional, like I said. Take solace that the other Star Trek casts all got along well, and all admired their respective lead actors.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1741
I rarely post in here because I'm not a super trekkie like the rest of you, but I do watch the shows and the films.

I recently came across a video about bullet proof glass and found the newest and best happens to be, Star Trek IV The Voyage Home, transparent Aluminum.
Pretty amazing when sci-fi becomes sci-fact.
"and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood, and engage in all kinds of craftsmanship"

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