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Thursday, June 02, 2016

Which Star Trek Universe Shall We Explore Next?

Which one are "we," the fans, permitted access to?

Katherine Trendacosta writes, "Would it be that bad if the new Star Trek TV series was set in the reboot universe?"

This question never occurred to me, because the possibility the TV show might be set in a non-reboot universe never occurred to me. We've got a familiar-yet-strange tableaux on which to write alternate histories, a buffed-up aesthetic, and one or two buffed-up stars of the silver screen keen to participate in the home-screen fun, including (I'm sure) Simon Pegg. Why wouldn't the series take place in reboot-land?

Answer: "There are hilariously complicated rights issues between CBS, which controls Trek on TV, and Paramount, which controls the movies."

"Your use of 'hilarious' is ... baffling."
Shutting down production on a crowdfunded fanfic movie; locking down the rights to Klingonese ... by now it's obvious this particular SF franchise is even more fraught to navigate than the one that formerly belonged to Lucas. We shall have to see how this all shakes down.
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3 comments:

  1. Joel Swagman8:37 pm

    As for the Star Trek Universe: i could happily go either universe. I'm more concerned about the chronology than the universe. I think another prequel series would be a really-really bad idea. There are rumors that the new series will be set between TOS and TNG, making it a prequel to TNG.

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  2. Joel Swagman8:39 pm

    As for the whole copyright thing:

    My opinion changed slightly after reading this article:

    http://www.newsweek.com/star-trek-fan-fiction-451320

    Which pointed out that Paramount has done a good job of being pretty cool about everything, but this Axanar film really pushed the envelope, with a huge budget and with the production crew paying themselves salaries.

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  3. dpreimer6:08 am

    Trendacosta mentions the pre-TNG scenario. Don't know why, but I'm lukewarm to the idea, and strangely stoked to further flesh out the "Abramsverse". I suppose I have to follow Trendacosta's lead and remind myself that there's great potential in either direction.

    That's a good article re: the Axanar debacle -- thanks, Joel. I'm still inclined to thinking Paramount et al are getting way too tetchy. $1.2m is a lot of money to a guy like me, but it barely qualifies as lunch money to the suits who filed. And claiming a salary of $38,000? Paramount is targeting a guy who's two months away from food stamps. Both Star Wars and Star Trek should go "open source," IMO.

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