"Will Star Trek make a comeback?" Topic

Do you think that any future Star Trek series or films will be as successful as the originals?

No.

Probably not.

No, it's hard to beat the nostalgia in my head.

TOS wasn't that successful to begin with. It only caught momentum after it went into syndication. TNG is the most successful of all of them, and even so it's more of a cult show than anything that passes for mainstream.

If we go by ratings, only four types of shows can be deemed successful on television. If a show isn't about cops, lawyers, doctors or a sitcom then its prospects are already low. I'll add a fifth type, reality competition shows, to that list. While there are examples of genre shows being successful (GoT, TWD, Lost, X-Files) they're few and far in between and typically can't be successfully replicated like the procedural cop, lawyer and doctor shows.

Thankfully, due to subscription VOD streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, shows don't have to have nearly as many viewers to be successful. The ST saga continues on CBS All Access and in the space comedy 'The Orville.'

No.

Don't really care.

Not even with this …

Of course, why do you think the designed this …

… er … I can't decide …

Creatively successful? No. Not many shows are, and they've about painted themselves into a corner.

Commercially successful? Maybe. The name recognition and the loyal followers mean it keeps being there for some other talented newbie to try. Someone may get lucky.

Not the present batch, of course. But someone.

robert piepenbrink's comments are going in a useful direction, specifically toward the question, "what does success mean in this discussion?"

The original series was a huge influence on popular culture, and no subsequent series is likely to achieve that because of timing. The late 1960s was the time for Roddenberry's vision to have an impact on the culture. The times have changed.

I don't see how any new breath can be breathed into it.
It was ground breaking when it came on, in spite of recycling old Wagon Train scripts, and filming on the Desilu back lot.

Another movie or series would have the same multi ethnic cast, having the same adventures, with the latest CGI. It will be comfortable for those used to it.

I doubt it – all these shows have a definite shelf life.

These days I like "The Orville" better

etotheipi, that's a rather nice design! Do you have a link or credits for it?

I'm somewhat in agreement with robert piepenbrink, though I'm slightly more positive; "The Orville" has shown that the "Grimdark" direction the Trek franchise moved in itself is not what the casual viewer or even the less committed general SF viewer is looking for these days ( Not that "The Orville" is all light and fluffy either ), so much so that even ST:Discovery ( I'm averse to saying ST:Disco as many do :/ ) is looking to brighten up and move back closer to TOS canon in style.

Then again, TNG was a hell of a gamble, even with the popularity of the movies. And with news this last week that the "JJVerse" seems on the rocks if not sinking, then it's a sure bet that something radical has to be done. Maybe a series following what happens to Picard after the "All Good Things" timeline shakeup . . . Wait.

TOS is the only real Star trek IMHO

I would hope someone would adapt the star trek vanguard series for TV. it gave a great over view of the events and movies in the TOS series really tied every thing together. even gave back stories for a lot of the minor characters from both movies and series

No

I was talking T2 the other day. How it's the same as T1, but with more of a budget and loads of "cool stuff" and was a great success. T3 only did it again, and make silly in jokes, thus, not so good. The next two films changed formula and were worse. Now T6 is ignoring the last 3.

Trek seems the same with TNG being a clone of TOS, but with more "cool stuff". Ds9 and voy were really spin offs, yet mixed with TNG, so are hard to separate here. Even so they were also clones, ds9 staying put, voy going further. Then Ent did it again, but stalled. You can only use the same story it formula so many times for a single franchise, however, if you mess with it, you also fail.

etotheipi, I kind of like it.

Grimm

The fan based episodes were the best we were going to get, until the powers that be didn't want them to steal their thunder. Star Trek Continues.

No – I think it's time to start something new.

Some thoughts:

•TNG was the most successful of the TV series. DS9 & Voyager were spin-offs that required TNG to serve as a launching platform.

•TNG was successful because it offered a deliberate counterpoint to the greed is good culture of the 1980s. That was part of Roddenberry's original intention in creating the series. The crew of the Enterprise D were awfully altruistic, representing what is best in humanity.

•to a lesser extent TOS, because of it's multinational/multi-ethnic crew, offered a counterpoint to the hostility of the Cold War.

•Enterprise, Discovery, and the "Kelvinverse" do not (or did not) serve as a counterpoint. They follow (or followed) the same dominant themes seen in other programs and movies.

• For a new iteration of Trek to be successful it needs to serve as a deliberate counterpoint to the pessimistic aspects of our culture, as seen by the current generation. So the crew might go around preventing environmental tragedies instead of ignoring them, facing hard scientific facts and acting on them, striving to avoid violent confrontations and viewing war as a horror (as was generally done in TNG) and not glorifying violence (as the Kelvin-verse movies have done).

•TNG a few episodes about how greed was no longer a motivating factor for (most) humans. Today's generation lacks steady employment and is afraid of debt and financial insecurity (and the fear of homeless and loss of possessions that goes with it).

•A few episodes where a crew member mentions being fearful of a bad performance review and is reminded that Starfleet doesn't "fire" bad officers, it reforms them, and that even if they leave the fleet poverty and homelessness are not problems anyone in the Federation faces would resonate with millions of people 40-ish and under.

•more anti-heroes holding aliens hostage (Discovery I'm looking at you) will not help Trek. Nor will more special-effects-extravaganza-action movies that have only a thin veneer of Trek (Kelvin-verse). We already have both those things in abundance these days. Trek succeeds by being different.

Not sure. Dr. Who ran its course until the 80's, died, and was successfully resurrected. ST came back, with varied success. TNG became too political, IMO; DS9 was among the very best because it wasn't so PC (fresh air!); Voyager was a mixed bag; have not watched the others. (Love the Orville! Love the YouTube series, ST Continues.) Cheers!

Option Field – VERY well put!

I think Optional Field is spot on with this analysis. Trek has always been best (IMHO) when it adhered to its soft SF roots & engaged in social commentary. Sometimes this can be heavy handed admittedly, but it still pushed the right SF buttons that I think the reboot movies have lost sight of. I haven't been watching Discovery so I can't comment on whether they are upholding this tradition.

Damon.

Disco – as best as I can tell (having not watched anything since the horrid pilot) – doesn't not hold to core of classic Trek.

It's dark and far too many Federation/Starfleet characters are either flat-out evil or morally ambivalent.

Far too much death and destruction…

Disco was garbage with a ST wrapper. I liked TOS, TNG & later DS9. Voyager went on too long.

Nice wrap up Option Feld.

And the canon changes with each new director's "vision"…

Again the main problem is like terminator and other large franchises.

You like the show for the formula. So you have to keep it. Mess with formula and your in trouble.

On the other hand, if you stick to formula, any differences or changes are very apparent, this can also cause a problem, as you are reusing an old formula.

Nope. Pity too.

Don't know if it ever really left ? Even The Orville is an ST "clone" !