J. Michael Straczinski (creator of Babylon 5) has said he wants to make a new Star Trek and want fans to let Paramount know about it .
I know that last year he and Bryce Zabel had done a work up for a series and sent it to Paramount, but I think they basically ditched it.
JMSnews (http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17286)
Post Edited (02-17-05 07:23)
Oh man, that would be great. Paramount and Sci-fi Channel: I would watch. I would give it time to get going, not just one or two episodes, but at least a full season.
The hardest thing about any new approach to Star Trek (imo) is going to be the underlying story. I mean, the premise of Voyager was on it's face not a bad idea, but the execution was horrible.
DS9 was a departure (and an interesting one) from the typical 'per episode' approach. Voyager tried it (again, failing) and Enterprise got there in later season(s). Maybe the fresh blood (ie, no B&B involvement) could do something similar - long plot arcs, for example, as B5 had, but interesting ones (as opposed to the feeble attemps in Voyager).
Also, they don't need SO MUCH in Fx. Every single character does not have to be in make-up for 20 hours; Fx and character make-up cannot compensate for poor writing.
Finally, imo, B&B's 'flaw' was that EVERYHING in EVERY story had to have some major social commentary. Now, I realize SciFi has this in general, but good grief. Sometimes, it's just about an interesting story.
All this said, I'd love to see a fresh approach.
Just my $0.02.
If anyone could, i put my Latinum on Joe.
The easy going, steady building of character, and the willingness to throw a character a life curve ( G-Kar as a "Savior", who knew?")
And of corse, imagin what he could do with Chekov!
My problem with the B&B years (Voyager, first 3 seasons of Enterprise) is that they had a bad habit of making the characters fit into the story of the week instead of building the story around established characters.
I was watching Voyager for about the first 2 1/2 years it was on, but when Janeway started being the loving mother figure one week and the psychotic b***h from hell the next I just lost interest. That show had a real bad tendency to start an episode with a good premise and then they would never deliver on it., like they were afraid to take a chance. Toward the end I know Robert Beltran was quite vocal about how his character had not grown one iota since the show started, then they threw in a romance between him and Seven in the last episode. Even he was asking 'Where the hell did that come from?'.
I still think DS9 was the best of the modern Treks because they took chances. I remember reading an interview with Ira Steven Behr where they asked him about rating and he said they didn't pay any attention to them, they wrote what they wanted to see. I think this is what JMS would do.
I think if he did get a chance at a new one he should keep Manny Coto (Enterprise show runner this season) around. He has done a good job of bringing the show into continuity with the Trek universe. Hey, this week they are starting a two episode story explaining how the Klingons in TOS came to have the smooth foreheads.
Very true comments on Voyager. It had the makings of a good show, but they failed to develop the characters. And after all, the basic attraction was that you cared for these people and wanted them to get home. Once you started hoping that something would finally get Neelix, it all became rather pointless.
You'd need a good basic team and an interesting universe to pose a long term problem, rather than the gimmick of the week.
I got word from my brother about this. I guess we are going to have to wait a couple of years. Read his statement : jmsnews (http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17287)
You gotta love a guy who believes in keeping in touch with the fans. Maybe he'll get his chance at Star Trek when they decide to ressurect it.
>DS9 was a departure (and an interesting one) from the typical 'per episode'
>approach.
The irony is that there's a very strong chance that DS9 is really just Paramount's take on Babylon 5. From what I've read, JMS pitched the idea for B5 to Paramount, but they rejected it. A couple years down the road, B5 is close to getting made and Paramount suddenly comes out with DS9.
A couple years down the road, B5 is close to getting made and Paramount suddenly comes out with DS9.
Wasn't there a lawsuit about this?
I don't know if a lawsuit actually got filed, but JMS certainly let everyone know about it. The main similarity was the space station located near the wormhole/jump-gate.
I thought both shows had some actors in them that deserved to get some credit for the excellent jobs they did. Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas on B5 and Armin Shimmerman and Andrew Robinson on DS9 should have all been getting nominated for Emmies.