If there was a Series 6... (After Enterprise)

[Dave]

Oh Dear! He's gone again!

This is just a rumour (the Scifi Wire site was down but that's where it was copied from originally) but I heard that just a day after he called for a letter-writing campaign by fans who wanted to see his version of Star Trek produced, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski posted a follow-up message to the same newsgroup retracting his earlier statement.

"Actually... belay everything I just said," Straczynski wrote. "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."

The two things that changed Straczynski's mind were a tip from a trusted source at Paramount, which owns the rights to the Star Trek franchise, that the studio is "giving the Trek TV world a rest" for a year or two, and an offer to run a series premiering in the fall of 2006, which Straczynski has accepted. In Straczynski's words, the Trek campaign is now "kind of moot."

The writer/producer apologized to fans and assured them that he hasn't abandoned the project completely. "We can reconvene a year or two down the road to see where this takes us," he said. "But in the interim ... my apologies for waking everybody up in the middle of the night."

Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have also been working on a new non-trek top-secret series for Paramount that would be expected to premier around that time. Are they connected? Who knows?

Are we being told everything that is going on behind the scenes here? Undoubtedly not!

Paramount can give Trek a rest if they want, that's actually fine by me, but they should be very careful that they don't kill that golden goose Rick Berman talked about. It's already not very well and I don't see a Doctor around that can help it.

edit: Strangely TrekToday is also down today and predictably the official site has nothing on this. But TrekWeb has a full transcript of both messages from JMS here:
http://trekweb.com/stories.php?aid=421215b6445e5

Also, Brannon Braga has a pilot for a new non-trek series for CBS already in production. According to the FutonCritic it is called 'Threshold' and concerns a female government contingency analyst who leads a team of scientists and military personnel in response to the threat of a mysterious alien lifeform. Knowing BB's idea of alien lifeforms already I'm skeptical.

This cartoon has some Trek ideas that are sure to raise the ratings:
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050206

 

[ray gower]

I think the line here are relatively easy to read between.

First Paramount are not going to start a new Trek immediately.
This is good news for the Trek world as the series does need a break. Though I suspect that P/mounts moratorium has more to do with legal complexities of easing one or more of the B3's out the way than major concern for the health of the franchise parse. Enterprise has failed, so undoubtedly somebody's head must roll, preferably cheaply.
Only question is whose?

I suppose, as Berman/Bragga are being allowed to test a new series, then the logical target is Bremman, though we will have to see if the Secret Project flies. (Must say I will be grateful when they get rid of a few of those B surnames!)

Braga is still shacked up with Ms Ryan, so I guess he is trying to revive Dark Skies for her with his new private project. Shame for Ms Ryan, she is a better actress than he is writer, with or without sensor dishes. Still....

As for our Russian gent, who I will never be able to spell. It looks as if he has been warned off on a promise.
Whether he could be the saviour of Star Trek I wouldn't like to guess.
He did produce a remarkable show with Babylon 5. He also makes the right public promises to win a few votes from the viewers to support his hostile bid to take over Trek.
But the downside is there is going to be a lot of political manoeuvring going on.

 

[McHorde-Trooper]

1. A Federation ship

DS9 was cool, but not as adventurous
until they got there own ship.

Also Trek doesn't do fictional politics well so a planet based (or station based) Trek might be pretty bad.
Those situations require politics in my opinion.
If they actually found people who could some how change Trek's sweeping generalization of political entities. And do politics right then you would be changing the format.
And changing the format would mean a whole new target audience.


4. On another species' ship

Although I vote 1, but if 4 is done right would be pretty cool too. Almost better than another Federation ship.

Time?
D. Other

Story wise I think it should take place maybe 20 to 50 years after The Next Generation.

This would give us familiar canon, but wouldn't tie the show so tightly to it that it would suffocate the writers.
Pulse new events and arrangements could be made.

This would also let us learn what happened to some of our favorite and not so favorite characters and aliens.

BUT, I hope a new series doesn't come out for another few years.
I really want the next Trek to be well planned.

It should have a balance like TNG of Episodic and Story Arch.
It should have real believable but lovable characters.
I'm tired of Shake-N-Bake characters that don't even follow their own recipe.
By that I mean characters who's back story doesn't really show in their character.