View from the Cheap Seats is kind of an extension of the newsroom. Whenever our three regular reporters, Calvin Daniels, Thom Barker and Randy Brenzen are in the building together, it is frequently a site of heated debate. This week: Is Tiger Woods finished as a professional golfer.
Not soon enough
About the only negative thing I can say about a new Star Trek television series is it is not coming soon enough.
When the news first appeared on Facebook, my first reaction was to verify it was not a hoax. Sure enough, CBS Television has announced there is a new series in the offing, but not until January 2017. That’s a lot of anticipation and opportunity to backfire as expectations build up in the imaginations of Trekkers—I’m told that’s what we now like to be called, so I guess I am not really one because I could not care less. I also do not go in for any of the spin-off crap like comics, novels and you would not catch me dead in costume at a convention.
Nevertheless, I have been a fan since the original series first went into syndication in Canada in the early 1970s. And, I saw every feature film in the theatre on opening day up until the reboot series started in 2009.
So, yes, I am excited, only there really isn’t much to be excited about. All CBS is saying at this point is that it will feature new characters who will continue the mission of “seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966.”
I had kind of hoped it would be a spin-off of the new franchise, but getting Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto to do a TV version was probably wishful thinking.
The good news is that since Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the franchise has not produced a small-screen series that, in my opinion, was worth watching so the bar is not that high for Star Trek: 2017. Yes, I know that is sacrilege to Star Trek: Voyager fans, but meh.
And it has to be better than Star Trek: Enterprise, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I will be tuning in for sure. Here’s hoping!
- Thom Barker
High time
You are never quite sure about the validity of many posts on Facebook, so when I first read one proclaiming a new Star Trek television series I was leery.
There have been delightful rumours floating around before, including one where Michael Dorn would reprise his role as Worf and Captain a ship.
But this time it looks as though it is indeed full speed ahead.
CBS Television Studios announced it will launch a totally new Star Trek television series in January 2017.
“The new series will blast off with a special preview broadcast on the CBS Television Network. The premiere episode and all subsequent first-run episodes will then be available exclusively in the United States on CBS All Access, the Network’s digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service,” detailed a report at www.startrek.com
“The next chapter of the Star Trek franchise will also be distributed concurrently for television and multiple platforms around the world by CBS Studios International.”
The latter news is big as it means a network in Canada is almost certainly going to air the show.
As a Trek fan this is big news. There has not been new live action TV content in the Star Trek universe since the series Enterprise came to an end in 2005. The prequel series with Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer never really found the love of fans of earlier series, and when the series was cancelled it seemed the high-cost of production universe of Star Trek might never return.
That was a sad day given I was a fan from the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, until the Enterprise went into dry dock.
The new Trek will introduce new characters seeking out yet more new worlds and new civilizations.
That means they will get back to the roots of what has always made Gene Roddenbury’s universe so intriguing, exploring space and using that process as a platform to explore contemporary themes.
Alex Kurtzman will serve as executive producer for the new Star Trek TV series. Kurtzman co-wrote and produced the blockbuster films Star Trek (2009) with Roberto Orci, and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) with Orci and Damon Lindelof.
With Star Trek celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2016, the launch of a new series is timely, if not overdue, and with a devoted Trek fan base already in place ratings are ensured, at least for the opening few episodes. Then it will be up to CBS to make sure the product meets the exacting tastes of Trekkers.
Fifteen-months away, and count me excited already. There are lots of intriguing series on the horizon for fans of comics and all things geek; the soon to debut Legends of Tomorrow and Preacher as examples, but a new Trek offering trumps all. It will be can’t miss TV for me.
- Calvin Daniels
Not too excited
Star Trek is coming out with a new series, set to hit television screens in 2017 and I couldn’t be more excited.
Also, I’ve been known to lie on occasion.
This, well, this is one of those occasions.
In reality, I really couldn’t care less about a new Star Trek series. I didn’t watch any of the other series episodes, I didn’t watch the movies and I don’t plan to ever watch any of it. Not even if there’s a fire (Step Brother reference, anyone?).
I can see the interest that the television show (and movies) would hold for people in the 1960’s to 1980’s. A show about space travel and fighting, etc., would take advantage of all of the space and astronaut hype from before and after the 1969 moon landing, but now that same show would, most likely, be boring, lame and altogether horrible.
The only thing that I can see that will keep the 2017 edition of the series alive would be if it’s successful with the old Trekkies; the people who loved the original series as well as the majority of the other versions of the show.
I don’t see the new Star Trek grasping hold of any new fans and quite frankly, I think it will be a bigger flop than a sumo wrestler off a high diving board.
- Randy Brenzen
