Paramount+ Star Trek: Discovery - Official Thread (1 Viewer)

[Rick Thompson]

First Rule of Remakes: They suck. (see The Night Stalker)

Second Rule of Remakes: They suck. (see The Fugitive)

Third Rule of Remakes: They suck. (see The Odd Couple)

Rules Four through Ten of Remakes: See above.

 

[Wayne_j]

TVGuide is reporting that Alex Kurtzman wrote the pilot.

 

[zoetmb]

I bet the strategy changes. Star Trek has too much appeal to be relegated to a paid streaming service that isn't going to gain much traction. And by the time this is broadcast, there's a good chance that CBS is going to have a new owner.

As for the universe, I don't think it matters because my bet is that this will have all new characters and take place decades after anything we've already seen.

 

[Carabimero]

If I were running Star Trek at CBS, I'd use Disney as a model and do a staple show, then spinoffs. You could do a show on what it's like to build, start and command a starbase. You could do a show on what it's like to build a starship at the ship yards. You could do the politics of it all. The finances of it all. The dreamers. The schemers. The lovers. You could do top-down stories and bottom-up stories. They could all connect. You could break down society by having a separate ST TV series about each level of society. In ten years you could create a true vision of the Star Trek universe and own the small screen.


Sadly it seems they are content with loud and fast roller coaster rides.


Write it well and audiences will watch almost anything. Alas, I fear it will be JJVerse for the rest of my years.

 

[MishaLauenstein]

My guess is it would be easier to write scripts in the rebooted JJVerse, than in the original prime universe of the previous movies + shows. At this point, the JJVerse is relatively a blank slate (ie. the two reboot movies, several YA novels, and a comic book series).


With so much history and canon in the original prime universe, it would require a Star Trek expert to check whether scripts are consistent with the previous Star Trek prime universe canon.


With all the old canon thrown away, it would be easier to write new episode scripts starting from a blank slate. (This may also be the same reasons why Disney rebooted and invalidated all the old Star Wars canon of the Expanded Universe from the novels, comics, etc ...).

It's the same universe, just a different timeline, so all of the same things still have to happen.

 

[Carabimero]

I kinda lose interest in a different timeline. I was watching the new Terminator and it wasn't bad by any stretch, but it had nothing to do with the people and places I've been emotionally invested in for thirty years, so I really didn't care. It's kinda the same with this new timeline in Star Trek.

 

[DaveF]

I'm interested in a new Star Trek series. I don't care if it's new or old per se. I care if it's good. If I get Deep Space 9 quality in the new universe, I'll be thrilled. If I get Out of Darkness in the old universe, or just Enterprise, I'll skip the pilot.

I'm not highly interested in paying a streaming service for a specific show. But that can change.

 

[Sam Favate]

The pay service thing really bothers me, and casts a cloud over the whole thing.



From today's NYP:

http://nypost.com/2015/11/02/cbs-is-already-ruining-the-star-trek-tv-reboot/

CBS is already ruining the ‘Star Trek’ TV reboot

 

[DaveF]

I'm not opposed to it being on a pay service specifically. If it were on Netflix, that could be ok. Netflix has a lot of content I can't get from cable / broadcast. But I don't know why I'd pay for CBS when I'm already paying for CBS in my cable bill.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

On one hand..being on a streaming service means it might not be completely dependent on live ratings. As a fan of science fiction, it's been enormously frustrating to continually fall in love with a show, see it go off the air well before its time with low ratings cited as the cause, but then see that it's become a huge seller on disc and knowing that if that audience had been there in the first place, the show might still be on.

So eliminating that part of the dance is okay by me.

On the other hand...if they were to do a normal 22 episode season, that's what, six months at $6 each, $36 to watch the season? That's a lot of money for a "rental". I'd pay $36 for a Blu-ray loaded with special features but probably not $36 to watch it once. More likely, i might wait until a bunch of episodes have been put up and then spend $6 to binge them all.

I'm trying to cut back on the things I subscribe to, not add to the pile. And there aren't any shows that I currently watch on CBS to begin with, so subscribing to their service doesn't seem like it would be a good value for me personally.

I'm afraid I'm already too cynical but this all seems like a great way of letting the show fail and then blaming it on fans.

 

[Carabimero]

I'm gonna wait for the BDs. It's Star Trek. Cool discs will eventually be forthcoming.

 

[joshEH]

 

[joshEH]

I'm gonna wait for the BDs. It's Star Trek. Cool discs will eventually be forthcoming.

...Unless we're talking about the ST:TMP Director's Edition.

 

[Carabimero]

...Unless we're talking about the ST:TMP Director's Edition.

Don't remind me.


I've never been into streaming because what is available for me to watch today can be removed tomorrow. I want discs. The picture and sound is better--and I can watch any time I want to, whether it's available for streaming or not.


Same thing with the cloud. I refuse to back up in the cloud.

 

[Sam Favate]

Leslie Moonves Explains Why 'Star Trek' Went to CBS All Access


http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/why-star-trek-went-cbs-836710


BTW, the $6.99 fee is for content with ads; CBS is considering a $9.99 fee without ads.


He's very blunt in his comments. CBS wants the passionate Star Trek fans to pay for this service so CBS All Access can become viable.


Once again we see the parent company of Star Trek abusing its fandom.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

I sense a backlash against CBS brewing in the blogosphere. One tech site, Engadget, has an article from a Star Trek fan who is refusing to get another streaming service just to watch it. I think there will be more of those types of statements leading up to this show premiering.


Will it be enough to change Moonves' mind? Maybe not. I hope he does, because he's causing a lot of Trekkie/Trekker grief right now. I don't know if he understands that yet. It does reek of Voyager/UPN all over again. At least you didn't have to pay for UPN. Instead, you were at the mercy of availability.


As to the show itself, it is a new set of characters and situations. It's obvious they can't just make it with the current "Nu-Trek" crew. And, they can't just basically re-create TOS Trek stories with new people even if they do go into the new timeline. They could reference a few things along the way, but not directly copy them.


I liked the 2009 Trek. I'm even okay with Into Darkness as long as I see Khan as just some random bad guy who is simply not related to TOS Khan in the least. But, a television format would let them slow things down. It would be a wait and see for me. Unless it does actually make it to streaming. Then I may just not watch it at all.

 

[Nelson Au]

Interesting, I never thought in the past that Paramount was abusing fandom. I know some felt the constant reissues of the film's and charging $100 a season for the early DVD sets for each series was seen as abuse. I always felt that Paramount in the past just wasn't that seemingly caring of the fans. It's more about business and the lack of a release of Star Trek The Motion Picture DC is an example. ( I knew he would, quoting Sulu, bring up that film. [emoji4] ).

This new streaming exclusive for All Access now does feel like abuse the way Les Moonves explained it in that report linked above, I'm very ambivalent of this whole situation. Of Kurtzman and Moonves, it just feels wrong. But then this could just not be Star Trek for me and could be for the next generation of fans. It feels bad now. Maybe it will be a good thing. I keep imagining a cast like CSI Cyber or Scorpion which would be bad in my mind. Nothing wrong with those shows, just not what I think of as Star Trek. Charging for All Access I'm not that opposed to, but the content has to be really something worthy. In the past, I never paid for cable and still don't nor have I paid for any streaming services. I'd rather buy the series on blu ray, or even buy it from iTunes and download if I liked it that much. The way Moonves says he can see there's millions of new subscribers does sound like callous abuse instead of saying that he hoes that the new series will be an attractive offering. What I didn't know as I own all the Star Trek series on disc is that Star Trek does very well on All Access. That's great to hear about the series and enduring popularity of the franchise. They should harvest the talent behind those series, Manny Coto for example, to whip Kurtzman into the right direction.

It will be interesting if Rod Roddenberry makes any statements. I think he's the only person still from the Roddenberry family, yet he wasn't really involved in the original Star Trek.

 

[NeilO]

I'm not opposed to it being on a pay service specifically. If it were on Netflix, that could be ok. Netflix has a lot of content I can't get from cable / broadcast. But I don't know why I'd pay for CBS when I'm already paying for CBS in my cable bill.

I agree with this. No need to get another pay service on top of all the other ones to essentially watch one show with advertisements no less. Les Moonves is hoping Star Trek will make CBS All Access a success.


I will watch the premiere and then if the show is any good I'll watch the show via some method other than CBS All Access when it is available.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

$6.99 a month and I still have to watch commercials? No thanks!

I tried and quickly canceled Hulu years ago when I discovered that it had commercials. I'm not paying a premium rate for what's essentially free broadcast content if I have to be forced to sit through ads. It's one or the other - I'll pay a fee to not watch commercials, or I'll watch commercials to not pay a fee, but I won't pay a fee to watch commercials.

 

[Chip_HT]

As well as the mid-21st Century stuff from Star Trek: First Contact. So technically Picard et al do exist in the Prime universe, since the point of departure was after their intervention in the past. Which would seem to create a paradox. But whatever.

As well as Shatner-Kirk and the Voyager crew from their trips to the 20th century.