Babylon 5 Creator pushes to do new Star Trek series.

[Shadow]

J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of the Babylon 5 tv series, posted this response regarding possibly doing a new Star Trek series. Here is an excerp:

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17286&query (http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17286&query)

Last year, Bryce and I sat down and, on our own, out of a sheer love of
Trek as it was and should be, wrote a series bible/treatment for a
return to the roots of Trek. To re-boot the Trek universe.
Understand: writer/producers in TV just don't do that sort of thing on
their own, everybody always insists on doing it for vast sums of money.
We did it entirely on our own, setting aside other, paying deadlines
out of our passion for the series. We set out a full five-year arc.

But when it came time to bring it to Paramount, despite my track record
and Bryce's enormous and skillful record as a writer/producer, the
effort stalled out because of "political considerations," which was
explained to us as not wishing to offend the powers that be.

So on behalf of myself and Bryce, I'm taking the unusual step of going
right to the source...right to you guys, fueled in part by a number of
recent articles and polls, including one at www.scifi.com/scifiwire in
which nearly 18,000 fans voted their preference for a new Trek series,
and 48% of that figure called for a jms take on Trek. (The other
choices polled at about 18% or thereabouts.)

See, if somebody doesn't like a story, doesn't want to buy it, that's
all well and good, that's terrific, that's the way it's supposed to be.
But when "political considerations" are the basis...that just doesn't
parse.

Continued at http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17286&query (http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17286&query)

[UnkHiram]

re-boot the Trek universe.



This part bothers me. Their is currently a "Re-Boot" of the Battlestar Galactica TV series showing on the Science Fiction channel. The New version is mean-spirited, sexualy active and overall lousy SciFi.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

http://www.freeconservatives.com/vb/images/icons/whine.gif

JMSNews (http://jmsnews.com/thread.aspx?id=_UPN%20Cancels%20Enterprise!)

Actually...belay everything I just said.

In the 24 hours between the time I composed the prior note, and sent
it, and it made its way through the moderation software, two things
happened:

1) I heard from a trusted source that Paramount is giving the Trek TV
world a rest for maybe one to two years, depending on circumstances, no
matter who would come along to run it. So it's not right to have folks
putting in time doing something that ultimately would be pointless, I
don't think that's a proper use of anybody's time.

2) At the same time as the above, an offer came in to run a new TV
series for fall of '06, and since there's no way anything Trek can
happen in the interim, I've said yes (now we have to negotiate the
deal, but that should be fairly straightforward).

So on two counts, the whole thing is kind of moot.

We can reconvene a year or two down the road to see where this takes
us, but in the interim...my apologies for waking everybody up in the
middle of the night.

As you were.

Thanks and with great chagrinedness --

[Shadow]

:eek: How did I miss that?

[ThomasMore]

I used to be a moderate fan of the Trek series (in recent years, I haven't seen much fiction). I also had a friend who was a big B5 fan, and I sat down to watch about a dozen episodes.

Straczynski's vision is a bit different than Roddenberry's, and B5 was a bit more of a soap opera. But Straczynski wrote well and his characters were more nuanced than those in Trek (both TOS and the newer series (TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT)). The good guys had bad qualities, and the bad guys often had good qualities.

Time permitting, I would give Straczynski's vision of Trek a good look. I might like his version better than the Rick Berman / Brannon Braga version seen in the newer series.

[Rink]

But when it came time to bring it to Paramount, despite my track record
and Bryce's enormous and skillful record as a writer/producer, the
effort stalled out because of "political considerations," which was
explained to us as not wishing to offend the powers that be.


you know what this means dont you?

Strazynski is not 'Liberal' enough for em.

[UnkHiram]

Rink

Actually in this case it means that Rodenberry's widow (Who owns the ultimate say on this subject) cant stand Bryce and Strac----. Bergman pretty much has her convinced that Star Trek needs to rest a few years. Personally, I think Bergman needs to rest a few years and let someone else take over production of the franchise.

[Un Con Troll Able]

Yes, I can see it now...

"Star Trek: The Legend Continues (to be milked for every dime)"

[Elgalad]

I was a fan of the Original Series way back when. The original series broke ground by adding 'political' content such as Kirk and Uhura's kiss, but at no time was the story, the fantasy, lost in the shuffle. It remains today one of the true classics of science fiction.

I initially hated ST:TNG, but slowly got into it; never to the extent of the original though. Each successive Trek series has left me more jaded and less interested in the Star Trek Universe. For some reason, the writers and producers seem to believe they have a moral duty to 'teach' us how good socialism and liberalism can make our future. I very much resent having that sort of indoctrination with my sci-fi, but I guess it's really not unusual.. many sf authors and screenwriters do likewise.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is, that I just do not understand why Hollywood (lumping them all together here) forgets that we, I, the consumer just want to be entertained sometimes. I got that from Firefly and Serenity. I got that from the Aliens Saga. I got that from the Chronicles of Riddick and Starship Troopers. And I got that from the Matrix Trilogy. And while each of those did have a little 'preachy' in them, it was never the focus. The action and adventure were.

If Star Trek has become such a gigantic business that it really doesn't matter What serious sci fi fans might prefer.. the powers that be will do what they wish in the end. And I guess there'll always be Someone who likes it. But I'll keep my fingers crossed that Someday, someone will listen to the rest of us.

(grumble)


-Elgalad

[Eagle1]

making another would be a bad idea.

my favorite was TNG followed by TOS, but all the others are crap. DS9 is less crap than voyager and voyager is less crap than enterprise. each one (save TNG) has been worse than the one before it.

i have seen babylon 5, i had a roommate that had all the seasons and we plowed through them in 2 weeks or so. it was alright, could be interesting to see what that creator would have in mind for a star trek. but i dont know if i could bring myself to watch another trek travesty