Would it be possible to make a TV show set in space that is not Star Wars or Star Trek that would be a hit with the mainstream?

[Danny McG]

Bring back and expand Firefly, I say.

That's what we really want!

 

[BAYLOR]

That's what we really want!

If Firefly had been on the CW Network, instead of FOX , it would run for a few seasons.

 

[Dave]

Firefly would either need to be recast, re-imagined and remade, or as a sequel or "next generation" to continue from the film Serenity, or a prequel about the civil war and more immediate aftermath. The Firefly Universe still holds unanswered questions, and there is a set of graphic novels with stand alone stories that could be adapted, but I'm doubtful you could ever catch the same spark again now (unfortunately).

 

[Rodders]

I agree with Dave. It’s too late for Firefly to pick up where it was left off.

I’d like to see them go and finish the Dark Matter story. Good show, that.

 

[Vladd67]

I agree with Dave. It’s too late for Firefly to pick up where it was left off.

I’d like to see them go and finish the Dark Matter story. Good show, that.

or a continuation of Threshold, Prey, Dark Skies, and American Gothic. But that is wandering off topic.

 

[alexvss]

Maybe an adaptation of Valerian and Laureline?

 

[BAYLOR]

Maybe an adaptation of Valerian and Laureline?

With good actors.

 

[robertheerlein]

Scotty had to complain about something! I like that tv-level acting of the time--people spoke clearly-they never mumbled their lines.
They wanted to recast Khan for Star Trek 2 because they felt Montalban was too "tv" an actor but come on--would Robert DeNiro have been a better choice?
Just because they did a lot of tv doesn't mean they didn't have traditional acting skills.



I think a crew going through space on exploration is just too boring. You would need a cast that is really appealing.
It's not impossible--SPACE 1999 did something different. Wasn't my favorite but it was different.

I wasn't into Doctor Who but it seems to me that all you need is a really interesting actor for the role and you can breath new life into it.
It seems less restricted than a Star Trek show because they have to be on this ship flying through space.


Imagine if every OS Star Trek episode had the budget of a 2001 Space Odyssey!
How much more fancy the ships and the environments would have been.

Thank god they didn't recast Ricardo Mantelban as Khan for the second movie. I thought he was amazing back then and still think he did a great job even now.

 

[robertheerlein]

I may be alone in this and if so, I apologize for bashing a favorite show. I Think the Star trek Universe spends way too much effort going back than it does going forward. The last show they had that continued the future was Voyager. After that "Enterprise" went back to pre kirk times, Then Discovery went back to pre kirk times. The various Movies with Chris Pine, all focused on Kirk era technology. While some of these shows were good, if not very good, I would like to see a new show that went FORWARD not back. The same could be said for the Star Wars universe. Again, just one man's opinion.

 

[KGeo777]

Thank god they didn't recast Ricardo Mantelban as Khan for the second movie. I thought he was amazing back then and still think he did a great job even now.

They must have thought they could get a box office boost with someone more famous but fortunately they didn't do that. He was versatile-he could do good guys as well but Khan was such a memorable character.

Which reminds me-how about a space series about a futuristic restaurant?

Funny that Kevin Nealon's Spock sounds more like Data-and this was a year before TNG premiered.

 

[Dave]

I've never seen this before. Before the internet no one saw SNL in the UK. It's excellent.

 

[KGeo777]

I had never seen that particular skit until recently, only photos of it. I think it was funnier than the most notorious Star Trek skit from that episode, which is the "Get A Life" one where he is at a convention and they ask him so many minute trivia questions, he bitterly harangues them for obsessing about the show. These days, conventions have become huge social events.

There's a commercial he did which I really like:

 

[AstroZon]

I may be alone in this and if so, I apologize for bashing a favorite show. I Think the Star trek Universe spends way too much effort going back than it does going forward. The last show they had that continued the future was Voyager. After that "Enterprise" went back to pre kirk times, Then Discovery went back to pre kirk times. The various Movies with Chris Pine, all focused on Kirk era technology. While some of these shows were good, if not very good, I would like to see a new show that went FORWARD not back. The same could be said for the Star Wars universe. Again, just one man's opinion.

You're not alone. I think both franchises need to drop the past and move forward. Don't get me wrong - I am a big fan of both, but they need to just go somewhere else completely.

 

[KGeo777]

Yeah, doing the past is safer since they don't have to spend money on design or new ideas.

I think a new show on something totally unrelated to Star Trek or Star Wars would be more exciting-in theory. It is getting soap opera banal.
I can't believe anyone working on these things have any enthusiasm for them.
I liked the idea of a bounty hunter show but they didn't do what one expects which is something harder-edged. Not a bounty hunter carrying around a child for the season.
Ditto, I expect the Kenobi show to be far less than the potential it has.
Ewan McGregor was wasted in the movies--he showed more spirit in the Jack the Giant Slayer. That's how a young Kenobi could have been.
You just know Disneeze is not going to mine them for their full potential.

A show about a space restaurant has more potential to excite at this point.

They have to bring out the CGI tricks with actor doubles to get some boost from it. They did it with the Mandalorian final and I am sure Star Trek may well do the same.
The DS9 episode where they go to the station and encounter the tribbles was clever but you can't do that often.
One problem TNG had was the original cast was so boring. The only actors who had a lot of charisma were Brent Spiner, Levar Burton (covered in unflattering eyeglasses) and Michael Dorn, until Colm Meaney, Dwight Schultz, and Michelle Forbes came on the show--it picked up when they were present.
I think the later shows were better with the casts--DS9 had a few good ones and Voyager too, but TNG, they sure had some boring leads.

I like Patrick Stewart but he was never leading man material. And I much preferred Diane Muldaur as the doctor-she did remind one of McCoy but she was more interesting to watch than Crusher and her unfortunate son.

 

[Wayne Mack]

They must have thought they could get a box office boost with someone more famous but fortunately they didn't do that. He was versatile-he could do good guys as well but Khan was such a memorable character.

Which reminds me-how about a space series about a futuristic restaurant?

Funny that Kevin Nealon's Spock sounds more like Data-and this was a year before TNG premiered.

I think it is telling that even after 50+ years, the original Star Trek characters are so memorable. I can barely remember any of the plot lines nor very much of the settings, but the characters out shone any who followed. It is also interesting that Star Trek is far easier to recall than any of the other, more popular TV shows of the time.

This may be a hint to the original question. Create a series with an interesting cast and set it in space and it is likely to succeed. Putting an uninteresting cast into space or any other setting will just lead to cancellation.

 

[KGeo777]

The thing about the original cast was that everyone was charming-even the supporting people were interesting in their own way. They could have done a Captain Sulu show instead of Enterprise.
If the cast is interesting--it could be a western and still be watchable.
Babylon 5 worked well I thought-it had better characters than the average Star Trek spin-off show.
There was one writer for TOS-John Meredith Lucas I think- he was asked to write for TNG and he said the characters were too boring to do conflict-driven drama.

 

[robertheerlein]

Avenue 5 on HBO was about as close as you could come these days to a restaurant in space. It was a cruise ship I believe. It was watchable but I thought it could have been way funnier since it was supposed to be a comedy.

Some of the Sci-Fi shows on Netflix have tried to make a new idea but just seemed to fall flat. Away comes to mind. I just couldn't get into it.
Lost in space had some luster at first but that seems to have faded. I'll continue to wait for the new Orville season, Seth McFarlane never lets me down