Dr. Lecter, you are needed in Sickbay!

February 10, 2016 1:34 AM

Bryan Fuller to Run New Star Trek Television Series!

Fuller teased his ideas about a Trek show back in 2013, saying that he loved the idea of possibly setting a show on the U.S.S. Reliant and also “I want Angela Bassett to be the captain, that’s who I would love to have, you know Captain Angela Bassett and First Officer Rosario Dawson. I would love to do that version of the show and but that’s in the future to be told.”

posted by aldurtregi (154 comments total)

I can get behind that casting. Ideally Dawson should play it as if she is channelling Riker, sleazy without meaning to be, and definitely with the weird chair step over thing.
posted by biffa at 1:51 AM on February 10, 2016 [19 favorites]

Isn't this the guy who only contributed two stories to DS9 and yet managed to have them both be serial killer episodes? Hope several years of Hannibal have got that out of his system by now.
posted by thetortoise at 1:51 AM on February 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

I can't see either of those actors signing up for this now, but at least it gives a good insight into his intentions. This could be very interesting depending on the direction they take. Looking forward to hearing what writers they attract.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 2:24 AM on February 10, 2016

More discouraging is executive producer Alex Kurtzman who wrote Cowboys & Aliens and worse, Star Trek Into Darkness.
posted by fairmettle at 3:02 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Equally, Alex Kurtzman also wrote for Alias and co-created Fringe. It's always easy to cherry pick someone's worst credits. I mean, Fuller wrote for Voyager FFS, but he's still a singular creator of memorable TV shows when he's allowed some freedom. Now, of course, Trek is a franchise that CBS isn't going to allow to become as twisted as Fuller's other fairytales. But I'm at least excited he'll probably cast a woman of colour as the Captain and we'll get an LGBT character or three in the cast.

I have so many questions about this, but I guess we'll have to just wait and see.
posted by crossoverman at 3:16 AM on February 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

Fuller's Star Trek cred can be seen at Memory Alpha.
posted by bryon at 3:18 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

I am very glad to hear this is going to somebody who was involved with the Trek that was. I haven't seen Hannibal or Pushing Daisies or any of his stuff really beyond Trek, but people seem to think he's pretty good.

I guess it's probably pretty inevitable at this point that he'll set it in the reboot-verse. He's also said that he thought TNG-Voyager era Trek lost the fun of the original series, and he wants to make something more colorful and old school. That makes me worry it will (like the Abrams stuff) totally miss the Trek flavor and be all about explosions and banging green babes. He doesn't sound like the sort to do that, but I had hopes for Abrams too.

I thought Enterprise would have worked a lot better if everybody had worn colorful uniforms and it had all been just a little more wild and campy and sexy and 1966. Maybe that's what Fuller was imagining too. I hope so. I want something that actually feels like Star Trek, damn it. I'm sick of being told that Trek's not for me anymore, it's for the kids. I'm OK with Trek for kids, I have the freaking animated series on DVD! I just want to see Trek made by somebody who really loves and understands Trek.

Please be that guy, Bryan Fuller. The Trekkies need you.

(I just hope I live long enough to see the day when 80s-90s Trek is cool again. I want to see the elderly yet still kickass Picard stride out of his ready room to welcome the Rikers aboard for a mission of such importance it requires bringing the old gang back together. Data should be back, and his supposed death in that last movie should be dealt with in a tossed-off line. Ideally they'll stop at DS9, and at least get a subspace message from Janeway. If there are a couple of lines making fun of that reboot crap, I'll laugh a little too loud.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:19 AM on February 10, 2016 [23 favorites]

He wrote some pretty good Voyagers, including Bride of Chaotica. So that's reason for hope. (And can we please not turn this into people competing with each other to see who can hate on Voyager worse?)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:25 AM on February 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

More discouraging is executive producer Alex Kurtzman who wrote Cowboys & Aliens and worse, Star Trek Into Darkness.

Ahem: Lindelof.
posted by logicpunk at 3:50 AM on February 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

I just hope I live long enough to see the day when 80s-90s Trek is cool again.

Ha! Either it never stopped being cool, or I was never cool to begin with. Or, I mean, I guess both are possible.

My sister has the Star Trek Interactive Board Game.
posted by teponaztli at 4:00 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

Hope several years of Hannibal have got that out of his system by now.

I think it would be a substantial mistake to think that the person responsible for Pushing Daisies is only capable of grimdarkdespair television. I'm cautiously optimistic.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:24 AM on February 10, 2016 [11 favorites]

I do hope it's more like ST:TOS and less like TNG/DS9/Voyager/Enterprise. More color, less beige.
posted by octothorpe at 4:32 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

None of you can hate on voyager more than a friend of mine. He was a huge NASA and Stars Trek buff growing up. On BBSes (and subsequently the internet) he used 'Voyager' as his handle. He had a framed picture of it (the probe) next to his framed picture of the original Enterprise. He devoured every technical manual, series, movie what have you - which meant he also put up a hand drawn poster of the USS Voyager before the series was announced. When Voyager was finally announced he went bonkers with excitement.

Athe first his excitement was unbridled as he read everything he could about the series. Then it became more subdued, but still excited as he found out some of the things they were going to do with it. Then he saw the first episode (he even held a viewing party for it, which I was obliged to attend).

And then, he stopped talking about it. Stopped being as excited about it... and you could just see that this monumental build up of this Star Trek show that had seemingly been created just for him had just crashed and burned around him.

I'mean pretty certain he watched the whole thing anyway, but I am certain it was a painful and bittersweet slog for him where he watched the show out of a dying obligation.

Anyway, of all the people to hate Voyager - I'm pretty certain that while he might not tell you he hated it, he did recognize that it killed his dream of it.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:42 AM on February 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

I think that maybe the more important question than whether it's going to be Hannibal Fuller or Pushing Daisies Fuller or whatever is how much freedom he's going to be given by the network. Something that I don't see acknowledged much in discussions of Voyager and Enterprise is the influence of UPN, the network that was formed under the theory that the Star Trek franchise would act as a sort of anchor for the rest of their programming and bring new viewers in. This didn't really happen, and the desire of the network to re-run Trek episodes as often as they could, in whatever order they wanted, was a pernicious influence on the producers--they were under a lot of pressure to not make any big changes from episode to episode, which meant that this starship, which had been yanked to the other side of the galaxy and was far away from any Starfleet drydock or port facility, looked as cherry on the last day of its voyage as it did on the first, and forget any long-term story or character arcs. Same thing for Enterprise, at least in the first two seasons, and by the time it was clear that this wasn't really going to work, it was too late, either for the show or for the network.

So now you've got CBS wanting to get into the streaming game, and pinning their hopes onto a new Star Trek show to get people to pony up for yet another VOD service. That makes me a lot more nervous than whether it's Fuller or Kurtzman or whomever is calling the shots.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:51 AM on February 10, 2016 [15 favorites]

Part of me is upset that Fuller isn't doing something new of his own creation, as Pushing Daises, Dead Like Me, and Wonderfalls are unique. I miss watching things like that.

But I also thought that before watching Hannibal, which was great. I didn't love it the way I loved Pushing Daisies, but I did love what it did with those very well established characters and themes.
posted by JustKeepSwimming at 4:52 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I never thought it was a stretch to just say the TOS era of Trek looks the way it does because that's what humanity was into culturally. Tactile controls, clacking computers, bulky portable devices, super short hemlines, quasi-regressive conservative social norms, all of it fed from what people thought was pleasing at the time. Sort of how the pre-war era of Fallout is what the 50's thought the future would look like.

Then Enterprise comes along and they're like "No, the future looks like a submarine, but not a Real Submarine, a pop culture submarine that looks like a boring futuristic vision. Actually, now that I think about it a prequel to 60's TOS should have had a WWII dieselpunk look which just further cements how badly Enterprise missed the mark (although they did have space Nazis which is something I guess).
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:55 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me four times, yeah—no thanks.
posted by sonascope at 4:59 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

And can we please not turn this into people competing with each other to see who can hate on Voyager worse?

"Voyager" is a secret favorite of the various series., I saw it as being about people making their own decisions what makes a family, gender roles, who is a real friend, and how to find meaning in life that has the context ripped away. It was far from perfect, and it's debatable how well they balanced the pressure to be re-runnablly episodic vs a story arc... But it was endearing and hopeful about the future and people, and that's very Trek to me. Oh and yeah, Arachnea deserves her own series, for real!
posted by Stoatfarm at 5:12 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I can't really say if I hated Voyager as I only saw the first few episodes and never went back. It just seemed like more of the same from Rick Berman.
posted by octothorpe at 5:17 AM on February 10, 2016

I can imagine a Section 31 series under Bryan Fuller that would be both as whimsical as Pushing Daisies and as dark as Hannibal.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 5:22 AM on February 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

I just hope that Fuller acknowledges his roots, and at least one character gets killed by a de-orbiting toilet seat.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 5:23 AM on February 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

I found Star Trek in reruns on TV-55 on a portable 3-inch black-and-white TV sometime late in the run of TNG. I devoured TOS and, eventually, TNG. I've said this before on Metafilter, but TNG has 100% shaped my idea of what the future can and should look like. I realize that this makes me a PC Police 90s ninny. I'm completely okay with that.

I never really watched DS9 for some reason, and bailed on Voyager early on, but will I watch a new series? Shit yes. Bring it on. So long as it's not all explodey. Less explodey more talky.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:23 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

"Voyager" is one of those shows that always makes me think what a small, strange world it is. Voyager gave us Jeri Ryan's rise to fame, which led to her meeting and marrying Goldman Sachs banker and Republican politician Jack Ryan (who rose to prominence partly because of his "super-hot wife") then eventually divorcing him in 1999. He ran for US Senate in 2004 to replace the retiring Republican Peter Fitzgerald. His opponent was little-known and under-financed Illinois State Senator Barack Obama. Ryan was forced to drop out after the press (and some of his Republican primary opponents) secured the release of his sealed divorce records which contained ugly, ugly allegations that he forced Jeri Ryan to engage in various non-consensual sexual activities, which forced Ryan to drop out, which led to his replacement by (crazification factor inspirer) Alan Keyes, which led to Obama heading to the US Senate in a walk, and to the White House four years later.

Which is to say that if Voyager had never happened, Barack Obama may very well have never happened. And we also owe it the crazification factor.

The world is a strange, small place. What comes out of the next Trek?
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:27 AM on February 10, 2016 [93 favorites]

I can imagine a Section 31 series under Bryan Fuller that would be both as whimsical as Pushing Daisies and as dark as Hannibal.

- Ever see Vulcan blood under the moonlight, Captain? It appears quite grey.
- I don't remember adding you to the away team, Counselor Lecter.
posted by permafrost at 5:29 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Eyebrows McGee: "Which is to say that if Voyager had never happened"

Continuing this derail, MoveOn.org more or less organically grew out of the company that made the After Dark (Flying Toasters) screensaver collection. It really is a small, weird world.
posted by schmod at 5:42 AM on February 10, 2016 [11 favorites]

Voyager gave us Jeri Ryan's rise to fame, which led to her meeting and marrying Goldman Sachs banker and Republican politician Jack Ryan

I have had a similar thought before but you have that part of the timeline backwards; they were married before she started doing tv.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:44 AM on February 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

This is his design.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:53 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have the freaking animated series on DVD!

Highly illogical.
posted by thelonius at 6:11 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'd love to see a Section 31 series that takes as its premise that the organization are genuinely interested in protecting the federation: Not becoming a shadow government, not becoming a state security apparatus, not secretly working to overthrow its values. Because, one, I'd love to see a "The Sandbaggers" style paranoia and mostly talking spy series in the Star Trek universe. Two, I think it'd be interesting to try and imagine how a secret intelligence organization would operate and construct itself so as not to become uselessly or dangerously inward facing. Finally I think there's a lot of room for interesting story-lines there. What do these people do in the background most of the time? It can't all be engineered diseases and assassinations.
posted by Grimgrin at 6:13 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

I have the freaking animated series on DVD!

Highly illogical.

Oh please, my husband has the animated series on Laser Disc.
posted by Sophie1 at 6:36 AM on February 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

Yeah, the Jeri/Jack Ryan thing gets bandied about quite a lot, but I think that it's exaggerated at best--Jeri Ryan may have given the story some legs, but Voyager had already been over for a few years by the time the '04 election rolled around, and it really wasn't even that they'd toured a few sex clubs that was really damaging so much as that Jack was an utter dick to his wife about it; it probably would have been just as bad if she'd been a non-celebrity. Plus, he really didn't have anything in particular going for him save for the Tom Clancy protagonist name and quitting his Goldman Sachs gig a few years before running for office for a suspiciously-timed schoolteaching job.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:50 AM on February 10, 2016

I'm excited, but also kind of pained. I don't know if I'm willing to pay CBS extra cash for their web/app service for the new Trek, especially as they put it there entirely to try and get people like me to fork over said funds for the opportunity to watch new Trek again.

I can't blame them from a moneymaking point, but gosh, kind of a jerk move.
posted by Atreides at 6:53 AM on February 10, 2016

Ohh dream Bryan Fuller Casting time

Captain- Lee Pace (although I can definitely work with Angela Bassett)
Science Officer- Caroline Dhavernas
Doctor- Mandy Patinkin or Mads Mikkelsen
Communication Officer- Kristin Chenoweth
Security Officer - Chi McBride
Helmsman- Callum Blue
Narrator- Jim Dale
posted by vuron at 7:03 AM on February 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

I loved Janeway and liked Seven and hated most of the rest of Voyager so I tended to watch it while gritting my teeth. From the first shrieking bar of Enterprise's hair-metal intro, I began to cringe. I never made it to the third episode. And I had a huge crush on Bakula before that! But despite his very tight pants, he could not save it.

Loved DS9 and TNG; meh on TOS.

Having said all that, the time is pretty ripe for a new series that:

a. Looks at this universe from an interesting perspective/expands its possibilities
b. Acknowledges the complications that would really arise from a bunch of different colonies/species having to get along
c. Discards all the sexist/homophobic baggage that dogged every ST series to some degree
d. Doesn't spend much time kissing the ass of the previous series characters. So, set after TNG/DS9/Voyager folks are dead and gone. I think Enterprise and the movies have pretty well stomped all over the early Federation history, at least the part involving Earth, and also it gets bogged down in canon arguments. Let's move on, do new things, have new issues. Be less Earth-centric and have great characters.
posted by emjaybee at 7:04 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

I would adore seeing Caroline Dhavernas as a Vulcan. A Vulcan who enjoys beer.
posted by tel3path at 7:06 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

I want these things in a new Star Trek show: strong, engaging (but flawed) characters, a sense of wonder, and lots of natural humor. Don't want: flat drama, "space opera" done as a money-saving measure, CGI monster of the week.
posted by jabah at 7:13 AM on February 10, 2016

This is the first exciting news about this new Trek show. I love most of Bryan Fuller's work, so even though this probably won't be Pushing Daisies... IN SPACE!, I'm still down for whatever direction he takes this in.

(Spoken as someone who admittedly thinks TNG is the only watchable Trek. Though I haven't really gone very far into DS9, which I know is highly regarded.)
posted by tobascodagama at 7:13 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

As long as we get Kirk jumping an explosion in his BMX I'm in
posted by Existential Dread at 7:13 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Bride of Chaotica!, The Haunting of Deck Twelve, Empok Nor, Mortal Coil, Barge of the Dead, Drone.

Not exactly my favourite episodes, but there's definitely a theme there.

I think we're in for a space goth Trek, all haunted spaceships, unrealised afterlives and Frankenstein's Monsters. I'm happy to give that a shot.
posted by Leon at 7:14 AM on February 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

Instead of having a fancy bar/eating area lots of the show should have booths patterned off of Der Waffle House (that also serves really nice pies).
posted by vuron at 7:15 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Also, Star Wars and comic-book culture has had the effect of making everything good guy vs. bad guy. Star Trek approached things from a broader perspective where the drama came from having to make choices where there was not necessarily a win-win outcome (example: City on the Edge of Forever). I want to see more of that.
posted by jabah at 7:18 AM on February 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

Scott Thompson and Aaron Abrams can just play the exact same characters they did on Hannibal without skipping a beat.
posted by The Whelk at 7:30 AM on February 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

Mads Mikkelsen can play the updated version of Q, now known as R. He can specialize in turning every conversation into a weighty existential debate, and of course he will excel at betting on statistical probability.
posted by tel3path at 7:36 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Hugh Dancy can play the genderflipped, and unexpectedly irritable, version of Deanna Troi.
posted by tel3path at 7:38 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

And! Best of all!!!1!!! ABIGAIL HOBBS CAN LIVE! in this new parallel world.

She can be the ensign that may or may not have this dark secret in her past. Nobody asks her about it though, because they're all too polite. She and the ship's empath go holofishing a lot.
posted by tel3path at 7:40 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hugh still has to wear a unitard with a plunging neckline however.
posted by The Whelk at 7:41 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Gawd, I really really really hope he does the crossover casting thing again. It could potentially be like having our show back, if only for a moment!

Also I think Hugh should wear the unitard back to front.

Gillian Anderson could play Caroline Dhavernas' highly overemotional, impulsive, winebibbing, ingenue opposite number from some kind of rival situation. Whenever her character appears, it's 20s screwball comedy time. Maybe she's the security officer on another ship, who somehow never engages in any kind of adversarial thinking at all, and invites the Reavers (I know they're from Firefly but let's just say they have Reavers here) in for a nice cup of tea and some shortbread cookies. And they're so surprised that they just drink the tea and eat the cookies and leave without doing any damage. The conflict arises when one of the Reavers says the chief Reaver has to write a thank you note.
posted by tel3path at 7:56 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Y'know I really wanted Fuller's Doctor Who, with whimsy and existential dread and maybe some lovecraftian monsters, but I am also so down for this.
posted by dogheart at 7:57 AM on February 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

tel3path: "Mads Mikkelsen can play the updated version of Q, now known as R. He can specialize in turning every conversation into a weighty existential debate, and of course he will excel at betting on statistical probability."

Please no Q-like character. There's a lot of things I didn't like about TNG but Q was easily the biggest. He's basically the Flintstone's Great Gazoo in human form.
posted by octothorpe at 8:01 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

Well, that's a relief. What with Moffat being available.

A new series of grown-up Trek would make me as happy as a tribble being stroked by Uhura...
posted by Devonian at 8:09 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I still love the idea of a new Star Trek series that does a different ship and crew every season, all tied into parts of a much larger overreaching arc. Give us something where we don't have any "safe" crew or ships. People can die, move on to new assignments, and so on. There's so much that can be done - dig in to it!
posted by evilangela at 8:29 AM on February 10, 2016 [9 favorites]

My only real quibble: would it be too much to ask for a space-based series that acknowledges that no, Earth's gravitational field doesn't exist everywhere in space and on every spaceship's deck? I know you'd have to do some wire work and CGI, but dammit it drives me bonkers that everyone is constantly walking naturally and falling etc. Europa Report wasn't a great movie, but it at least got this aspect right!
posted by Existential Dread at 8:30 AM on February 10, 2016

JMS still not involved eh
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:32 AM on February 10, 2016

I still love the idea of a new Star Trek series that does a different ship and crew every season, all tied into parts of a much larger overreaching arc. Give us something where we don't have any "safe" crew or ships. People can die, move on to new assignments, and so on.

Game of Stars?
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:33 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think we're all missing the big obvious thing.

Fuller being in charge means very high potential for GAYS IN SPACE.

I am excite.
posted by The Whelk at 8:42 AM on February 10, 2016 [8 favorites]

Existential Dread... it's called The Expanse and it's pretty damn good.
posted by Laura Palmer's Cold Dead Kiss at 8:43 AM on February 10, 2016 [8 favorites]

My only real quibble: would it be too much to ask for a space-based series that acknowledges that no, Earth's gravitational field doesn't exist everywhere in space and on every spaceship's deck? I know you'd have to do some wire work and CGI, but dammit it drives me bonkers that everyone is constantly walking naturally and falling etc. Europa Report wasn't a great movie, but it at least got this aspect right!

Superluminal flight doesn't strain your suspension of disbelief, but artificial gravity does? In all seriousness, I don't think that wire work and CGI are really practical for SFX on a weekly show (or whatever it works out to). The transporter--that 23rd-century convenience with inexplicable Heisenberg Principle-defying technology and disturbing philosophical implications--arose because the effect was cheaper than filming a new shuttle landing every week in TOS.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:43 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'd suggest that Fuller at the helm guarantees GAYS in SPACE or at least enough homoeroticism that the slashfic writers will have material for the rest of eternity.
posted by vuron at 8:48 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

They have to have proper gays or he'll get in trouble for queerbaiting.
posted by tel3path at 8:49 AM on February 10, 2016

CAMPAIGN FOR REAL GAYS IN SPACE
posted by tel3path at 8:50 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Superluminal flight doesn't strain your suspension of disbelief, but artificial gravity does?

Trek-style warp drive literally relies on creating artificial gravity effects, so it's really not a stretch to suggest that the ships use it for crew convenience as well. This is honestly one of the most bizarre complaints about Star Trek that I've ever seen.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:55 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

You can't accelerate at the rates that Star Trek ships do without having artificial gravity to counteract the inertia internally or the crew would be all pulverized against the back walls of the ship. Yes, that's all totally hand-wavy but you can't have the Star Trek universe without it.
posted by octothorpe at 9:15 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

(To the tune of the space balls theme )

SPACE GAYS

Watch out!
posted by The Whelk at 9:16 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

What comes out of the next Trek?

I have said before that one of the most staggering things to me about Star Trek is that when TOS began, a moon landing was still years away. By the time Enterprise aired, the opening credits had footage shot on a different planet, and no one found it remarkable.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:25 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

In all seriousness, I don't think that wire work and CGI are really practical for SFX on a weekly show (or whatever it works out to).

I dunno, plenty of series use it now. The cost has gone way down since TNG or TOS. And the per-episode spending on high quality shows has gone way way up.

The point about artificial gravity on the ship...okay, I'll grant that. But I hardly think every planet on which they land would have the same gravitational pull, and I'd presume there would be areas on the ship on which it wouldn't be necessary to have gravitation. Just some acknowledgment that yes, we really are in space, not just a series of hotel conference rooms; there's differences in gravity, there's vacuum, there's hazardous radiation, etc.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:25 AM on February 10, 2016

I'll take my gays-in-space in a less clapped-out, absurdly overmarketed, and exhaustively fanwanked McFranchise, thank you. They had plenty of chances and blew it.
posted by sonascope at 9:27 AM on February 10, 2016

Uh, the inertial dampeners have nothing to do with the artificial gravity system on Federation starships, the inertial dampeners are tied into the structural integrity field and work by generating a series of forcefields, okay guys
posted by Automocar at 9:28 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Also, I think we have enough Star Trekkery in gay porn, where everyone loudly announces what they're going to do, loudly announces what they're doing, and loudly announces what they've just done [in bed/on the bridge].
posted by sonascope at 9:30 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

If they want to go sideways, why not remain in canon with a series on the exploits of a smuggling/merc trio, Adrien Dareau, Roga Danar, and Captain Thadiun Okona? It's spacefaring adventures in an established universe without the Starfleet overhead (except on a rare occasion) - the best bits of Firefly and NG Star Trek combined.
posted by eclectist at 9:34 AM on February 10, 2016

Gays in space should be a given, not unusual or remarked upon.

"Ensign Chambers is getting married to her girlfriend, Number One. They want me to officiate."

"Are they writing their own vows?"

"Oh, god, I hope not."
posted by emjaybee at 9:35 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

And, bonus points if the Vulcan, as played by Caroline Dhavernas, thinks of and talks about herself as being a slave to her emotions, when she observably isn't.
posted by tel3path at 9:36 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh also, many societies (human or not) with more-than-two-people-and-two-genders should be A Thing.

"Dr. Kizhk relies on the obstetric hologram program a lot to deal with human patients, I notice."

"Well, yeah. People on zir planet hatch from eggs and have 4 parents!"
posted by emjaybee at 9:37 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

I am 100% down for Captain Basset and First Officer Dawson.

I would also put forward that Lee Pace would make a wonderful Chief Medical Officer, in full Awkward Dreamboat Pushing Daisies mode: despite being 1000% less gruff than McCoy, his patients never ever disregard his recommendations because the thought of disappointing him (god, the FACE he makes when he's SAD!) is too much to bear.

If Caroline Dhavernas belongs anywhere, it's in Engineering, which she rules with an iron fist; everyone is scared of her, and her realm is a dark place full of sparks and yelling.

Also: Science Officer Aisha Tyler. Romulan Science Officer Aisha Tyler. All the pointy ears, none of the blank-faced catsuit wearing.
posted by nonasuch at 9:41 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

I would like a majority female and majority racial minority cast.

That was poorly phrased but you know what I mean.

That said, I will bet anyone that this show will be called, simply, Star Trek and will be set on a starship named Enterprise.
posted by Automocar at 9:43 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Yes, Vulcan Chief Engineer Caroline Dhavernas, whose realm is a dark place where only her red lipstick betrays her presence because you can't see a damn thing because she says the light bill is a waste of money. After a long night of yelling at her underlings (it is always night where she is) she retreats to Ten-Forward where she nurses a beer and talks about how she is too soft on people and too easily swayed by emotion.
posted by tel3path at 9:48 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

New species, Ravenstag wendigo men from the planet Clashing Atonal Wails
posted by The Whelk at 9:53 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have just one wish. Please, please, please.. No holodecks.
posted by anti social order at 10:02 AM on February 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

I would like a majority female and majority racial minority cast.

Seconded (though I would also accept male/female parity).

I'd like to see the majority of the cast be playing non-human characters, too. For the exploration wing of the United Federation of Planets, there sure aren't a lot of non-human officers. At the very least, I'd like them to regularly come across Star Fleet ships that are crewed predominantly by other species (there was the Vulcan-crewed Federation ship in "Take Me Out to the Holosuite"--that should happen more often). And are there any admirals in the TNG era that aren't human?

On preview: Holodecks are fine; Holodeck episodes are not.
posted by thecaddy at 10:05 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I am super super excited about this and hope the next Trek is hella full of massively sexual smoldering glances

Seconding, but also when the smoldering is directed at Lee Pace he blushes and starts talking loudly about viruses.

Also, guest appearance from Anna Friel as her planet's first representative in Starfleet. She was chosen because she is one of the tallest people of her species. Kristen Chenoweth plays the planet's reigning monarch.
posted by nonasuch at 10:21 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

It's a musical planet that developed warp speed in pursuit of tickets to Hamilton.
posted by tel3path at 10:23 AM on February 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

I'm very optimistic about this!
posted by cazoo at 10:24 AM on February 10, 2016

anti social order: "I have just one wish. Please, please, please.. No holodecks."

If only I had more than one favorite to give a comment.
posted by octothorpe at 10:25 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

okay, yeah, I have more ideas about casting.
posted by nonasuch at 10:47 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Kristen Chenoweth plays the planet's reigning monarch.

Is there any possible universe in which Kristen Chenoweth appears on Star Trek as anything other than a member of the Q Continuum? I mean, whatever your personal feelings on Q in TNG, it just seems obvious to me that Kristen Chenoweth is a Q.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:52 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Fuller seems like an odd choice for a series so inherently conservative and resistant to taking chances. Maybe it signals a much needed willingness to change.

This is going to be an incredible triumph or a massive trainwreck. Either way it will be interesting.
posted by Justinian at 10:53 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Expanse was mentioned upthread, but it does have differing gravity fields, casual gay marriage that isn't even remarked upon but just is, the main character the result of communal marriage with eight parents, radiation and vacuum hazards. The show has it's faults, but it's based off of a decent book series and has a lot of the features y'all seem to be asking for.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 10:53 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Justinian, you put your finger on what worries me about this.

Maybe he'll crash and burn the whole in one series full of actual infinite diversity in actual infinite combinations. Wendigo mind-meld fivesome? You ain't seen nothing yet.
posted by tel3path at 10:59 AM on February 10, 2016

Star Trek right now definitely needs an ambitious failure more than it needs a safe success.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:04 AM on February 10, 2016 [10 favorites]

Is there any possible universe in which Kristen Chenoweth appears on Star Trek as anything other than a member of the Q Continuum?

I mean, I feel like 'queen of the pocket-sized Klingons' is also a valid choice. Mandy Patinkin was my secretly-a-Q-pick.
posted by nonasuch at 11:04 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

itty bitty as head of security
digby as morale officer
posted by entropicamericana at 11:28 AM on February 10, 2016

I think Clinical Empath Hugh Dancy would make an excellent morale officer, in the manner of Disappointing Gay Best Friend.
posted by tel3path at 11:34 AM on February 10, 2016

Fuller seems like an odd choice for a series so inherently conservative and resistant to taking chances.

This seems like an odd criticism of a franchise that gave us The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and the feminist Voyager.
posted by Automocar at 12:00 PM on February 10, 2016

Really dislike Voyager and DS9.
Really like Hannibal.
Really conflicted.
posted by ethansr at 12:54 PM on February 10, 2016

nonasuch: okay, yeah, I have more ideas about casting.

Missi Pyle just plays her character from Galaxy Quest. Just exactly that character.

Oh hell yes.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:58 PM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

{This comment contains spoilers in links and in text for Voyager and Enterprise.}

I really quite liked Voyager. And Enterprise.

There, I said it.

The highlight of Voyager, for me, was Counterpoint (link contains spoilers). Without giving too much away, there's a line towards the end of the episode that is delivered perfectly by Mulgrew. If this Janeway had been Janeway from the start, the series would have been very different. I really missed Seska when she departed the show. She was smart and determined and made an interesting enemy for Janeway.

The highlight of Enterprise was Desert Crossing (link contains spoilers). Scott Bakula and Connor Trineer getting all athletic and sweaty, with their shirts off. The show as a whole did go to some interesting places and pushed the envelope a bit. See Cogenitor.
posted by Solomon at 1:31 PM on February 10, 2016

The best episodes of Enterprise were quite clearly the Mirror Universe ones and theyqite easily justify the entire rest of that wretched show.
posted by Artw at 3:13 PM on February 10, 2016

Look, it's the future. Everyone better be pansexual.

As for whether the show will need to be "safe" Trek, I think in this world of streaming services and niche programming, I think CBS's safest bet it to let Fuller do his thing and get people talking. If they want people to pay for their service, they need something people will talk about. They could do this by making it like the reboot movies, by blowing things up every week - but then why hire Fuller for that? Why would Fuller make that show?

Yes, it will be CBS's flagship streaming show, but it's still Trek. It's never going to be mainstream. Let it appeal to the vast Trek audience that already exists from the 90s and let Fuller bring all his tumblr and twitter followers in with his own unique take on the Trekverse.

I'm hoping it's set far in the future, beyond Voyager.
posted by crossoverman at 6:15 PM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Am all for taking bisexual space future as a given.
posted by Artw at 6:16 PM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

I am tentatively excited.

I disagree that Star Trek is conservative. I think the universe's concept is highly leftist and utopian. It's a civilization without scarcity struggling to balance it's relationship with the outside world between helping those in need and avoiding paternal colonialism. If the world is working as intended, there's fairly little action and adventure that makes up the movies.

I think this could work because Fuller loves his characters, and he loves seeing them play out against a gorgeous backdrop. He doesn't want to throw the universe into chaos and have a big bad each season that ends with a satisfying dick swinging fight. Hannibal wasn't about chasing a serial killer. It was about the serial killer, and the mayhem was simply the realistic actions of Hannibal and the people he would surround himself with.

I think he'd care enough about the people in the world, he doesn't need to reinvent the next Borg. He could probably deal with other people in the room who worry about the social commentary that defines Star Trek. But I was equally skeptical he could switch from the infectious optimism of Wonderfalls to the ugly characters in Hannibal. If he isn't that versatile, he's smart enough to know to surround himself with people who are.
posted by politikitty at 6:23 PM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Another factor - Fuller has shown he can pull in extremely ambitious, stylish TV on a MINASCULE budget. Hannibal was one of the chepest scripted dramas on TV, so it's not as big a risk as it seems.

Also the streaming service is probably includes access to CBS' archives ...which are huuuuuuge. So Cleolina Jones thinks this is an attempt to hit Boomer nostalgia, big show from thier childhood back and access to the ands of hours of TV from then two.
posted by The Whelk at 7:04 PM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

I am now interested in the garbage CBS streaming service, which is a small miracle.
posted by Artw at 7:06 PM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Really dislike Voyager and DS9.

I'm not gonna argue with you about Voyager, I'm in the minority when I say that was a really good show and I'm tired of hearing people tell me I'm wrong. But if you didn't think DS9 was great, you weren't paying attention.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 8:05 PM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

I disagree that Star Trek is conservative.

Assuming this is in response to what I wrote, I didn't mean that the universe is conservative but that the showrunners vision and willingness to experiment has been conservative since Piller and Berman. Trek became very formulaic and unwilling to take chances, aspects of DS9 excepted.

Roddenberry's original vision is obviously not conservative but his vision has not been served well by Trek's curators over the past decades.

Also the technobabble made me want to pull my brain out my ear with a fishhook.
posted by Justinian at 9:33 PM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Tech the tech, tech tech.
posted by Artw at 9:43 PM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Just no.
posted by Justinian at 11:48 PM on February 10, 2016

I didn't mean that the universe is conservative but that the showrunners vision and willingness to experiment has been conservative since Piller and Berman.

DS9 had a sympathetic sexually ambiguous torturer and one of the lead characters was a former terrorist. Voyager suggested that there is straight up no afterlife, deal with it. (In an episode I now see was written by Bryan Fuller, so good show, Bryan.) DS9 did a couple of episodes suggesting that the entire franchise was a desperate wish-fulfillment fantasy imagined by an African American pulp sci-fi writer who was losing his mind as he struggled to cope with the racism of the 1950s. Voyager got a lot shit for being too wacky and experimental, with Janeway's gothic romance holodeck adventures and the black and white Chaotica stuff. I'm not even bringing TNG into this because that entire show was a big, weird risk that started shaky and ultimately won big. People expected something a lot closer to the original series than what they got, and it took time before the show found itself and people realized there was something awesome going on there. We take it for granted now, but good guy Klingons and the Borg and even stuff like the holodeck and Geordi's VISOR, that was all really surprising to audiences of the era.

TOS rocks. The follow-up shows all rock in their own ways, with the exception (I would say) of Enterprise, which was made by people who were doing their best but were clearly very, very tired. I honestly don't regret watching an episode of Trek in my life. Even when it's bad, Trek is fun.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me four times, yeah—no thanks.

Star Trek didn't "fool" you. If you somehow sat through the runs of four entire series you hated, I think maybe you need to find some new hobbies.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:26 AM on February 11, 2016 [7 favorites]

Star Trek didn't "fool" you. If you somehow sat through the runs of four entire series you hated, I think maybe you need to find some new hobbies.

TNG: I was young a stupid and had low standards and didn't notice that everything was beige, the writing sucked, the characters were one-dimensional, and yeah—they might have a gay character next season...but I still loved science fiction, Who was on its long hiatus, and it was the only game in town.

VOY: Ooh ooh, female captain, maybe less beige, maybe the writing will be better...oh, wait Berman/Braga hate us...but still liked science fiction...and hope springs eternal...wait—time travel reset holodeck endless nonsensical Borg eeergh this isn't looking good, but maybe Seven will be a lesbian oh no wait it's over.

DS9: Maybe this will be okay...Avery Brooks and such...oh, wait? No gays ever? Oh, well maybe in another universe where everyone's evil. Yep, queers are only welcome in the evil universe. Oh, and now it's just a war show. War war war. So much weird vaguely antisemitic Ferengi stuff. Oh, and now here's my least favorite character from the next beige generation. I give up. Maybe I'll watch the ending...yeah, didn't miss much.

ENT: Fresh start, maybe it'll work out and...WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT WRETCHED SONG? Watched an episode here or there because (a) the captain was hot and has a hot and (b) where's the damn remote, oh fuck it. Would watch a couple episodes in each season to see if maybe I was wrong and it was actually written well and more than just a substrate on which to sell gimcracks to newly-minted IT millionaires...nope. Awful.

So basically, I went in as a hope-filled teen, learned that treasured chestnuts of nostalgia can come to suck, watched Berman/Braga piss away everything great, trailed off, and watched just enough of ENT to feel like I wasn't missing anything...and here's the thing—pre-Internet, when there weren't many other options, we did what you did without options, and settled for sci-fi cotton candy after a long day of drone work at our shitty nineties jobs. Hell, people even watched Andromeda and Earth: Final Conflict, FFS.

In 2016, you don't have to settle.

Was I naive when I watched and hoped things would get better, and that some of Roddenberry's original vision would be returned, following the scuttlebutt on BBS forums, then AOL, then Usenet and so on? Yeah. Did I realize only after watching all of TNG and almost all of VOY that they really weren't very good at all? Yeah. Did I burn out on DS9 after watching the writers and B/B squander every good idea? Yeah. Did I bail on ENT the second I could smell the stink of dead franchise on it? Damn right I did. Star Trek didn't owe me anything, but I owed it no loyalty after a while, either.

And yeah, I have great hobbies, none of which will involve holding out hope for a dead franchise to do anything but be revived whenever StarTreCorp needs more toy revenue.
posted by sonascope at 6:14 AM on February 11, 2016 [3 favorites]

Voyager suggested that there is straight up no afterlife, deal with it.

Plot synopsis: In this episode, written by Bryan Fuller, Neelix(Ethan Phillips) is killed

See? Good man.
posted by Artw at 6:27 AM on February 11, 2016 [5 favorites]

I regularly inflict genre TV viewing projects upon myself. After watching the "worst of TNG" watch (which was surprisingly not that bad if a little too Deanna Troi heavy) I decided to watch a "best of" Voyager. I hadn't watched more than a couple episodes in its initial run so it was largely new to me.

While I didn't hate the show, and I’d say it definitely gets better after the 4th season (with the introduction of 7 of 9 along with other tweaks), it is remarkable how many missed story opportunities there are in that series. Voyager often would tackle more interesting and sometimes darker themes then say TNG did but frequently they don't go far enough. For instance, the episode exploring the creative rights of the holographic Doctor (an interesting topic to begin with) has as an epilogue a scene which shows that the Federation using copies of the holographic doctor as slaves to mine asteroids! When I watched that I literally rewound it to see if I understood what I was seeing. Another throwaway bit implies that the holographic doctor fathered a child! WTF? The Harry Kim for much of the series was actually the Harry Kim from ANOTHER UNIVERSE! It’s never really dealt with. Voyager had a lot of moments like this for me. If the new series can push even a little bit more with less episodes about technology I'm there.

As far as pansexuality goes I always thought of Janeway and Picard as being “open minded” sexually. I know they are generally shown to be “straight” and likely there’s a boat load of evidence that disproves my point that some Trek-xpert will gladly ram down my throat. But in my viewing, Janeway was attracted to 7 of 9 (making their mother / daughter thing creepy) and I'm sure Picard’s heart fluttered when Riker showed off his carpet when he wore a space blouse. And Riker was straight up into group sex and Geordi preferred his women to remain online. I was ok with all that because FFS it is a big universe.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:38 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Riker showed off his carpet when he wore a space blouse

This phrase delights me more than I thought possible.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:48 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

The Harry Kim for much of the series was actually the Harry Kim from ANOTHER UNIVERSE!

Harry Kim is so boring that he dies and is replaced by his alt timeline clone and nobody remarks on it or cares whatsoever.
posted by Artw at 9:25 AM on February 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Is conceded that Season 4 onwards of Viyager has some pretty good Trek in it... The need to constantly mash the reset button any time it might get a bit interesting remains though. Also TBH I could do without about half the crew and wince when it's their time to have a B or C plot.
posted by Artw at 9:28 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Sonoscope, that's pretty close to my experiences and feelings toward the later Trek shows. The pilot of TNG was sort of my generation's Phantom Menace; my college friends and I were so hyped about "NEW TREK" after twenty years, so we had a viewing party of the two hour premier and half-way through the show we all turned to each other and said "this sucks". By the end we were just laughing and drunkenly yelling stuff at the TV.
posted by octothorpe at 9:28 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also TBH I could do without about half the crew and wince when it's their time to have a B or C plot.

Preaching to the choir... Though Harry Kim deserved better. I am convinced the writers' must have hated that character. He was better than Chakotay who is right out of an instant coffee commercial. The most bland pirate captain ever created.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:35 AM on February 11, 2016 [5 favorites]

Oh god, any time him or Janeway had a "spiritual" episode.
posted by Artw at 9:44 AM on February 11, 2016

The concept of incorporating a terrorist into the command of the ship could have been pretty cool, though. And face tattoos are neat.
posted by Think_Long at 10:12 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

See? Good man.

He brought him back.
posted by zarq at 10:25 AM on February 11, 2016

You can turn it off before then.
posted by Artw at 11:59 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

While we're ranting about Voyager's wasted opportunities, Neelix's easy resolution always pissed me off. Decades from his home, we just happen to run into a Talaxian colony where he gets the insta-family mega happy ending of his dreams.

The Voyager-family was about to break up, and return to their real families. Neelix, so far away from home, was the only one who wasn't coming home to a real family. Watching the dissolution of the crew through his eyes would have been a lot more emotional than a shot of some fireworks.

Neelix should have suffered.
posted by Leon at 12:48 PM on February 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Neelix should have suffered.

I agree, but for different reasons.
posted by Existential Dread at 1:47 PM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

The failure of Berman/Braga to somehow get Odo and Neelix together for a Benson reunion?

Another wasted opportunity.
posted by sonascope at 2:04 PM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

And yeah, I have great hobbies, none of which will involve holding out hope for a dead franchise to do anything but be revived whenever StarTreCorp needs more toy revenue.

Well, this franchise means a lot to me, and you obviously detest it and aren't budging, and hopefully we've both got better things to do than argue about it.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:39 PM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

you obviously detest it and aren't budging, and hopefully we've both got better things to do than argue about it.

I detest it so much I put hundred of hours in over a twenty-year span hoping for it to get better, and to live up to what its creator intended that it would be, even when Captain Janeway was turning into a space salamander, fucking space salamander Tom Paris, and then abandoning their space salamander babies on another planet. I detested it that much. Hell, I detested it so much that, even when I refused to honor what Berman/Braga had done to something wonderful by putting in hundreds more hours watching Enterprise, I still read the synopses to see if maybe the storylines were getting any better.

There's a nice, broad middle ground between being a complete apologist for the worst excesses and steady decline of a thing and hating a thing, and that's where you'll find people like me, hoping that things will be better, but eventually getting the gist that it's going to be awfully hard to get things right again. Maybe Fuller will sort it out, but enthusiasm is hard to come by after thirty years of diminishing returns.

Or, more precisely, "detest" is probably the wrong word.
posted by sonascope at 6:52 PM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

I would add that, in Fuller's favor, he is purportedly a huge fan of Trek, unlike the wretched Abrams, who stamped his snotty disdain of what Trek was all about on every single excruciating minute of Into Darkness. So there's some hope.
posted by sonascope at 7:01 PM on February 11, 2016

Now I need to dig up the podcast I first heard him talk about Trek on, in which he turned out to be a huge trek nerd. No purportedly about it.
posted by Artw at 7:03 PM on February 11, 2016

This one, I think.
posted by Artw at 7:04 PM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Looking back at his Trek episodes, they are some I thought were really special... but a lot of other fans either didn't appreciate them much, or hated them. (He mostly wrote for Voyager, so he could have been banging out an occasional City on the Edge of Forever over there and the fans still would have crabbed.) I do get the impression he's a true Trekkie, which is great. But I also get the impression he's never really appealed to a mainstream audience, which is worrisome with a big franchise like Trek. He seems to have a long line of cult favorites behind him. Here's hoping he doesn't craft another show that only a handful of devotees are into. At this point I don't think Paramount will settle for a cult hit. (Besides, DS9 is already "the cult within the cult"!)

(Sonascope, we're not changing each other's minds. IDIC, and all that.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 8:54 PM on February 11, 2016

Maybe Fuller will sort it out, but enthusiasm is hard to come by after thirty years of diminishing returns.

Watch other things and stop thread-shitting in a discussion about a forthcoming TV series that is yet to air that a lot of us are excited for.
posted by crossoverman at 9:22 PM on February 11, 2016 [3 favorites]

Earlier tonight my housemate and I dreamed up the version of Trek we'd most want to see Fuller in charge of. Here's what we got:

Start with at least a 100-year time jump from the end of Voyager. Somewhere in that century, shit got fucked. The Federation foundered. There were some serious Dark Times. People found out what happens when a post-scarcity society falls apart, and there's no way to run out of ammo.

But all that's behind our new crew, now. Sure, some of them had to grow up in the aftermath. But the Federation's been piecing itself back together for a generation, now, and they've reestablished a Starfleet with the old ideals, the ones that seemed antiquated and naive when the whole quadrant was falling to pieces. There's a flagship, finally, and they're dusting off a name that used to mean something: Enterprise.

So they're boldly going, out into the dark, seeking strange new worlds. While they're at it, they're finding out what happened to some of the worlds that aren't so new, the places that the fragile Federation hasn't been able to bring back into the fold. And the lines are all drawn in different places, now: old enemies are allies, old allies have pulled back into insular xenophobia. Conquerors have been conquered. Some places are trying to bring back the old ways, and some places are just beginning to forge a new path.

After decades of collapse and chaos, those old Starfleet ideals don't always sit right. But sometimes that faded, tattered code of honor is the only guide they have left. Then again, sometimes it just doesn't apply any more, if it ever did at all. What's the Prime Directive worth, in a galaxy like this one?

So that's the mission: sift through the wreckage of a century, and try to piece a better world together.

Now housemate and I are both bummed that this is not a real show that we can watch. Sigh.
posted by nonasuch at 10:05 PM on February 11, 2016 [8 favorites]

So that's the mission: sift through the wreckage of a century, and try to piece a better world together.

Isn't that the premise of Andromeda?

The post-Voyager Trek universe is irrevocably broken. Within 20 years of the end of that series, time travel is more-or-less at will, and the "Timefleet" era is only a few decades away. You've got transphasic torpedoes and impenetrable ablative armor and the ability to wipe out a Borg cube with a single shot. You can't have realistic threats in that universe unless you're willing to go with Dragon Ball levels of expanding powers (which would be ridiculous), follow around a Section 31 crew doing dirty work on the fringes, or throwing away the Prime Directive entirely--and with the last two you may as well make a Culture series instead of doing Trek.

I'd much rather just retcon out Into Darkness and follow around the USS Intrepid for a few years, either parallel to the movie period, or in the years between the original series and Next Generation.
posted by thecaddy at 6:53 AM on February 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

And there needs to be a blanket ban on time travel plots, for the love of V'ger.
posted by thecaddy at 6:54 AM on February 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

Plots I would see banned:
Time travel plots
God like being plots
Neelix exists plots
posted by Artw at 7:03 AM on February 12, 2016 [6 favorites]

Isn't that the premise of Andromeda?

Eh, I guess it would be if we threw in a time traveler from the Federation's glory days, which would definitely not be a good idea. We were thinking of it as set after all the really bad chaos is over, but when the rebuilding's still fragile-- more like post-occupation Bajor, on a much vaster scale. There's a Federation, and it functions, but it's much smaller and more of an underdog; there's a Starfleet, and it functions, but its authority is a lot less respected outside its sphere of influence.

That makes the post-Voyager power-ups less of a problem: you can write off the story-breaking tech as having been lost to the bad years. And a Federation that fell apart, then consciously chose to put itself back together with its old utopian ideals, would have some more interesting internal conflicts to work with-- none of that 'it's easy to be a saint in paradise' thing, if they had to work for it within living memory.

Obviously, no one is putting my housemate and me in charge of Star Trek, and Bryan Fuller is unlikely to consult us. But it was a fun worldbuilding exercise.
posted by nonasuch at 7:25 AM on February 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

Plots I would see banned:

The problem with the omnipotent being & time travelling plots are that they have been there since the days of TOS. I think they are almost impossible to excise them from that universe. But you're right they are a drag -- at the very least, less of them would be nice. Personally, I'd like to see less children (Alexander was the worst) & comic relief characters (NEELIX!). If we're gonna follow a Federation vessel I'd like more compelling missions rather than the busy work the Enterprise always seemed to be doing in TNG.

For me my ideal show would be the archaeology / anthropology show I mentioned last time we talked about this. Crew of mixed races, genders, etc. exploring the far reaches of the known universe, relying on their wits more than their weapons. But I could be content with a TNG of the Abrams Trekverse if they'd modernise the concept and make it less middle of the road. Variety of genders & races, compelling characters, less technobabble, good ensemble casting with a good chemistry, stories willing to take chances. Like anything it is all in the execution.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:27 AM on February 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

Godlike time traveling child...
posted by Artw at 11:22 AM on February 12, 2016

So a show about Weslley Chrusher post TNG?
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:16 PM on February 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'll never get why people hated Neelix so much. They talk about him as this annoying comic relief character, but I don't think he was supposed to be comic, really. (At least, I don't think he was meant to be quite as comic as Quark on DS9, for example.) He was an optimist and kind of a flattering salesman type, but he came from real tragedy (he was one of the few survivors of a planet-wide genocide) and he sure had a dark side. A lot of his plots were really dark, like when he had his lungs stolen, or when he got fused with Tuvok and they had to decide whether to kill the resulting entity in hopes of bringing Neelix and Tuvok back, or when he found out there's no freaking afterlife and very nearly killed himself because his faith was shattered. Yeah, he read stories to Naomi Wildman. Yeah, he was the ship's cook and he was a little over-eager to find his place on the ship. But come on, the guy was a refugee who had clawed his way up from ghastly desperation. Cut Neelix some slack, Trekkies!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:33 PM on February 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

That's kind of the problem though, he makes genocide seem good.
posted by Artw at 4:36 PM on February 12, 2016

Cut Neelix some slack, Trekkies!

Ok, ok... I will concede that he became a better character after Kes moved on. But I think a lot of the secondary characters were written inconsistently, Neelix being top of that list.
posted by Ashwagandha at 5:02 PM on February 12, 2016

he makes genocide seem good.

Wow. That's nasty.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:59 PM on February 12, 2016

TOS can be the bedrock of the franchise or a dated, hackneyed, sexist show. TNG is either the resurrection or the smarmy cloying abasement of the dream. DS9 is called the pinnacle or the grimdark version. Fans love time travel episodes or hate them. Q is a detested character, but episodes involving him are among the most popular. 7of9 is either a complex interesting take on humanity or a pathetic injection of sex appeal. Bringing back original characters is a wonderful homage that ties together the whole franchise or an inability to let go of the past and forge new ground. The show gets high marks for being groundbreaking and low marks for reinforcing orthodoxy.

No matter what the new producers come up with, a significant group of fans is going to be deeply disappointed that it just doesn't represent the real Trek or fulfill its potential in every conceivable way at once.

I can't think of a fandom that hates the object of its affection quite as much as Star Trek's.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 4:53 AM on February 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

I can't think of a fandom that hates the object of its affection quite as much as Star Trek

Doctor Who.
posted by crossoverman at 1:29 PM on February 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

I don't think anything in Trek comes close to the unhinged hatred displayed by vocal Doctor Who fans.
posted by Artw at 1:32 PM on February 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

Actually I'm pretty sure Hannibal fans hate their show, except that if they were still watching by the end they probably didn't?

But the volatile relationship people had with that show was like, every week it was "oh MAN I am just not able to BELIEVE they would do this, I am offended beyond endurance, I'm just DONE that is IT" - and not even over the overtly "offensive" stuff like having Hannibal eat female characters we liked. [1] Or even the more obvious and recurring complaints. Just... over nebulous and poorly defined stuff. "I can't stand any more of this aquamarine flocked wallpaper!" or "this complete misrepresentation of the Lacanian mirror stage is where the show jumps the shark. I'm out."

And then they'd be back next week saying "hooray! the show is back on form!" how? nobody knows.

And then there was the substantial faction who registered their dislike of the show by ceasing to watch it and never mentioning it again. Pretty sure those viewers actually didn't like it.




[1] i mean who could have seen that coming on a show about a cannibalistic serial killer renowned for emotionally torturing everyone who comes into contact with him and physically torturing a substantial subset thereof
posted by tel3path at 2:01 PM on February 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't know, I'm not on Tumblr.
posted by Artw at 2:05 PM on February 13, 2016

Anywhere the show was discussed - not just on Tumblr - there would be a whole bunch of "man that's it I'm so disappointed with this week's episode that it's over for me" followed by "the show has redeemed itself, hurrah".

If nothing else, Fuller should continue the grand tradition of eliciting strong emotional reactions from the viewers. It might be better to have viewers on a constant rollercoaster of depression and elation than have them saying "yeah, it's OK" week in and week out.
posted by tel3path at 2:12 PM on February 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Anywhere the show was discussed

I think everyone was pretty happy in Fanfare. But, honestly, while there were controversial elements in the show, I really don't think the Hannibal fandom was a polarised as Doctor Who fandom.
posted by crossoverman at 9:54 PM on February 13, 2016

I can only think of two times during Hannibal when my experience was that people were expressing any sort of real disappointment, actually. After a certain S2 death, and at the beginning of S3 when things got snail-y, both of which I had some sympathy with. To me it had one of the more solidly loving fan bases I can remember seeing, even before I went all rabidly fanatic for it myself.

I don't know from Trek (but intend to learn), but I'm fairly up close and personal with the Doctor Who fandom and I just don't think there's any comparison in the hatred/polarization levels.

I imagine it all looks different depending on where / with whom you discuss any given show, though.
posted by Stacey at 6:48 PM on February 14, 2016

Hot damn, Bryan Fuller just got Wrath of Khan's Nicholas Meyer onboard as a writer/producer!
posted by aldurtregi at 1:13 PM on February 26, 2016 [7 favorites]

The Nicholas Meyer announcement has upped my excitement level, which I pretty much didn't think was possible, given Bryan Fuller is already running the show.
posted by crossoverman at 2:41 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

I got my bonus today.

I am waaaay more excited about this, especially having rewatched Star Trek VI last night for the dozenth time (the Christian Slater cameo is always surprising, no matter how many times you've seen it).
posted by thecaddy at 3:47 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

And now Bryan has hired Gene Roddenberry's son as a producer. Is this real life?
posted by crossoverman at 1:00 AM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]

I interviewed Rod Roddenberry years ago, when he was trying to put together that documentary about his sometimes difficult relationship with his father. I have no idea what sort of creative skills he may bring to the show, but based on the conversation we had he struck me as a very decent and intelligent guy who had grappled with his father's legacy but had come to really respect and love Trek. I'm rather surprised to hear he's involved with the new show, but I suspect it's a good move and not just something done for the sake of the Roddenberry name value. I'm betting he'll do everything he can to make sure this is a show worthy of the Trek franchise.

Meyer's involvement also surprises me. On the one hand, he's been out of Trek since before Clinton's first term, and he hasn't exactly been setting the multiplexes afire since then. On the other hand, KHAAAAAAN!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:16 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

They should hire all the actors from Firefly and make that the new crew.
posted by LarryC at 9:20 PM on March 4, 2016