According to The Hollywood Reporter, producer Alex Kurtzman is developing a new Star Trek series for CBS! The show will premiere in January 2017 on CBS before more episodes come out on a digital and the CBS All Access VOD platform. Apparently Kurtzman, who is a writer and producer on J.J. Abrams’ Trek films, is looking for a writer for the show, which “will introduce new characters 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.” This is so exciting! A show that gets back to Star Trek’s roots of celebrating optimism and exploration will make for a welcome addition to the television landscape, and we cannot wait to engage learn more.
YES.
Also – fantastic picture to go with.
Yes!!!!! New Star Trek on TV!!!!!
Alan Kurtzman is running it? Crap.
I’m guessing it’ll be on the new timeline, but I can live with that. Also, great picture, but where’s Sulu? :)
I hope that despite the producer they won’t go for the dumb blockbuster mentality Kurtzman stands for and Star Trek can successfully attach itself to the new trends of TV series productions.
Let’s also hope all involved have carefully studied the reasons for the decline of the franchise and will draw the correct conclusions.
This is probably going to suck more than Firefly and be cancelled even faster, that is how bad this sounds. RIP Star Trek, you were great once.
Alex Kurtzman? That’s all I need to hear.
No thanks.
it’s gonna be Star trek in name only
I don’t care what anybody else says. It’s new Star Trek. That’s all I need to know.
I like all Star Trek, in every form. I am not picky. Some of it is better than others, sure. But I am totally in for this. Gimme.
I’m with Meredith on this one.
SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!
Well, count me excited. This day has been a long time coming. I will watch, and likely highly enjoy, this series in whatever form it takes.
And sure, I’m one of those people who am hoping that this series takes place in the Prime universe — which I don’t think is unlikely. The JJ reboot stuff is all the continuing purview of Paramount, and so CBS may not even be able to use it if they wanted to. And it’s not clear they want to. Kurtzman was ejected from the Trek 3 movie and may be happy not to go back there. And the press release explicitly says this series is not connected with the new movie.
In short, we don’t really have any reason to think this is going to be a continuation of J.J. Trek, so I wish people would stop haranguing about that possibility. And even if this does continue in that vein, while I would find it disappointing I’m sure I would come around. I wasn’t too excited about Enterprise once upon a time, but that turned out just fine.
So yeah, excited. The possibilities seem endless.
With Kurtzman helming there’s simply no reason to be remotely optimistic. He’s the gimp who gave us the awfulness that is Transformers, and the incoherence that are The Amazing Spiderman 2, Eagle Eye, Now You See Me, and Cowboys and Aliens. He’s one of the few producers, in fact, who are known for their inability to come up with scripts that aren’t nonsensical.
There just isn’t any intelligence at all to Kurtzman’s work, and he’ll be producing a series that calls for more brains, skill, and heart than most. Think of it this way–can you think of anyone who would be a worse fit for a Star Trek tv series than the man who perpetrated Star Trek into Darkness, the film invariably, justly voted at conventions the worst Trek film of all time, worse than even Insurrection?
I’m with all the people who have either no desire or interest in this due to Kurtzman overarching role in control, but hopefully he will settle for just collecting an EP paycheck. I simply doubt that will be the case, based on his previous history. To be slightly fair to the man, Orci deserves just as much of the blame as does JJ, but I don’t think the CBS/Paramount division is any cause for celebration. This division, which has more to do with whom controls the rights to produce on which medium than whom controls the rights to say which ST universe or which characters, didn’t keep Orci/Kurtzman/Abrams from using the names Kirk, Spock, McCoy or the ship named Enterprise, or the race called Klingons/Romulans.
The only distinction is whether Paramount could produce a TV show based on any of these characters or if CBS could, and who could make a feature film. Both companies were initially owned by National Amusement, it’s a purely corporate personality BTS drama most of you couldn’t and shouldn’t care about other than how, in this circumstances, it has a Trek impact.
My bigger beef is that it is not on free TV. If CBS wanted to go this route, they should have gone with a mixed package, say a mini-series to re-establish what this universe is, launch it in the summer on traditional CBS TV – say a four hour block, which can then be packaged to re-use on their web only All Access platform, and rebroadcast a year later on Netflix, Hulu, etc. (as ABC/Marvel do with Agent Carter, AoS, OuaT, the CW has done with Arrow and the Flash, etc.) while creating exclusive content for their All Access platform, including an ongoing series, and extended and other scenes for same, which they would eventually do anyways for DVD sales.
This is essentially a plot to create content for something which is as equally absurd as all the other broadcast content/basic cable content providers trying to sell a stand alone app akin to Netflix. HBO, at least, has a variety of material you cannot get easily for free, and Netflix likewise has something to offer.
I would watch this. I would just NEVER pay for it (and I don’t mean I would pirate it, I mean I wouldn’t bother at all) and would simply wait for the DVD or Netflix, and if neither of those options ever became available – which I somehow doubt, I would just frankly suffer without.
I understand #8 and #9, I just don’t see paying $XYZ a month for what, a small amount of original ST programming produced by someone I consider a talent-less hack and over the air broadcast episodes of Chuck Lorre’s brand of comedy and NCIS whatever?
Thank you, no.
Two predictions: it will take place in the new universe, thanks to execs being certain the average viewer will become totally lost and confused if the two things (tv and movies) explore different versions. And it will not feature the Enterprise.
It’s pretty obvious that it won’t feature the Enterprise, because either they set it in the nuTrek verse, and they won’t want people to confuse it with the movie (even if it’s a different era, a different crew), or because they set it in the prime universe, they won’t want to use Enterprise to generate more publicity for the films.
You know what’s scary? If they decide to set it in a completely new continuity, a true reboot…
Mirror Universe! Lets see what Evil Spock can do.
I think it’s good news! Unlike a film, a TV series consists of many small stories. Chances are much higher that at least some of them will be good.
And the universe doesn’t matter that much. Intelligent, thoughtful stories about nice, competent people can take place in any universe. So can mindless action plots featuring self-centered jerks. Or anything in between.
Of course the universe matters. :)
@18/lordmagnusen: I’d rather see some good stories about nice people set in the new universe (or any other one) than bad stories about annoying characters in the old one. Even though the old one has more Vulcans and better uniforms. But it’s not what it used to be since Data got killed anyway.
@11
“In short, we don’t really have any reason to think this is going to be a continuation of J.J. Trek, so I wish people would stop haranguing about that possibility. And even if this does continue in that vein, while I would find it disappointing I’m sure I would come around. I wasn’t too excited about Enterprise once upon a time, but that turned out just fine.”
Yes, but Enterprise was written by Berman and Bragga, who – despite their short-comings – have already proven that they are able to write quality stories worthy of Star Trek.
Not that I’m a big fan of B&B, but I’ve never heard of Kurtzman involved in anything remotely on par with “Cause and Effect [TNG]” or “Equinox [VOY]”. The guy practically majored in producing brain-dead entertainment, so why should we be optimistic?
I actually hope that this new series would be set in the Abramsverse, because – quite frankly – that is where anything that Kurtzman produces belongs.
Jana, I prefer good trek in whatever universe, but as I’ve got a deeper attachment to the original setting, I would prefer if it was in that universe… after making sure it’s good.
@21/lordmagnusen: I feel the same way!
@20: According to the post, he is looking for a writer, so he won’t write it all himself. Maybe it’ll be fine.
I’m a writer… just sayin’…
I anticipate every new Trek iteration until the premiere, at which time it had better prove to be at least watchable. Abrams’ Star Trek movies aren’t even good movies, so I have anticipation but little hope.
And a new pay channel? How many must we subscribe to? This will seriously constrain your audience numbers.