Star Trek Discussion

Rumor has it that they have been working on another Trek series since May or June, if not earlier.

It seems that some at CBS felt that Discovery was going to fail, due to the behind the scenes drama, irritation from Netflix, Fan Guidelines, the CEO outright stating that the only reason for sticking the series on All Access was to milk the fans of their hard earned money and that those actually making the series didn't understand anything about Trek.

If the rumor is correct this series would be written by the guy who made Wrath Of Khan (I forget his name), and would be much more in keeping with classic Trek and have no connection to Discovery at all. This series would replace Discovery entirely, with CBS taking the 'we told the story we intended to' line regarding the effective cancellation of Discovery.

Of course even if this IS true it may well be too late for CBS to salvage Trek. They have damaged the Trek franchise and alienated the fanbase to the point that it would take a major effort, and most likely most of the upper brass at CBS being shown the door, for another new series to get much traction.
At this point they might even have serious problems finding funding. Shareholders would not exactly be delighted at the idea of throwing a lot of money into a new series if the old one was clearly not the hit everyone hoped it would be. Netflix is probably going to refuse to have anything to do with Trek for a while. And Paramount is probably steaming mad at their only major franchise being dragged through the mud by greedy executives from another company. This latter point might actually be rather important, as one of the reasons the visual styles of Discovery are so different is that they couldn't use certain designs Paramount holds the rights for. If CBS played nice it is likely that they would been able to come to an agreement that would have allowed them to use some of the classic designs, which would help make it at least look like Trek. As it is I doubt Paramount would be open to this right now, and probably not until or unless CBS shows it understands the franchise. This in turn means that any new CBS Trek series might have real problems 'fitting in' with existing Trek.

The ideal situation here would be for CBS to basically hand the full Trek rights back to Paramount in return for a percentage of any profits made on the franchise and first call on airing any new Trek series that is produced. I say Paramount should get the rights more than CBS as, say what you like about the recent films, they clearly understand Trek better and have not actually angered the fanbase as CBS has, and seems is intent of doing.
Either way having only one studio holding the rights seems to be a prerequisite for making a good Trek series or film. Rather than the restrictive mess that the current Trek rights are in.

"so... if you wanted to make a TV show that tanked, what would you do?"

That's the guy.

He was reported to be working on developing a series earlier this year, although this was rumor and not any official statement (which is understandable considering they were trying to downplay problems while promoting Discovery)

Note that nothing has been confirmed, and even if he was/is working on his own series that doesn't mean it would either get picked up or remained unsullied by network execs*. If I had to guess, assuming the rumor was true, they will probably not announce anything until early next year. After Discovery has finished its run, but not so close it comes over as admitting that Discovery was not the success they wanted/needed it to be. I'd expect something official around March 2018, with an intended airdate of 2019 unless they've really pushed ahead with pre-production to the point they could start filming around April or May, which might allow a late 2018 airdate.

As to if this new series would be on CBS of CBS AA...If Netflix is willing to take part probably AA, although that seems unlikely right now. Without Netflix it would have to be in CBS as otherwise that means everyone who isn't in the US would basically get the series for free or not at all; Which would cause a bigger backlash than Discovery had with Netflix for everyone outside the USA.

(*Note that Studio input is not always a bad thing, in fact its probably a good thing in the majority of cases we never get to hear about. Creators of shows need someone fairly impartial to stop them from getting carried away, and when they do their job correctly Network Execs are there to do just that; "Yeah, that's nice but we have to make money on this remember?". The problems occur when the Execs try to do the creators jobs for them, as evidenced by Batman vs Superman, Suicide Squad and Fantastic Four. But in other cases it is the Execs who've helped make films better than they might have otherwise been; Star Trek Beyond is a good example, even if the film didn't do that well at the box office this seems to be less to do with its quality and more due to other factors *cough* cbs *cough* Star Trek Into Darkness *cough*)

I don't think Netflix would be interested in a new Trek series unless they had full creative control, which CBS isn't going to give them. According to rumor they are already deeply unhappy that the Trek they got was not the Trek they had paid for - they wanted something lighter, not dark and humorless as Discovery seems to be. I doubt Netflix would want to make the same mistake twice, and would probably require a heck of a lot of convincing to put any money into such a series; and then probably nothing close to what they handed over for Discovery.

Ironically Star Trek was originally created by Desulu Studios, which was owned by Lucile Ball....

Desulu made the first two seasons of Star Trek until the studio was bought by Paramount, with all of the creative aspects being done in house; GR used to be writing scripts for episodes as they were filming other scenes, causing delays on occasion when they had to send someone up to his office to get the next scene from him.
The effects were also done in house. The story goes that the effects guys at Desulu were given the choice of working on Trek or Mission Impossible (both started in the same year at Desulu). Most wanted to work on Mission, thinking that Trek as a sci-show would involve far too much hard work. It turned out that after the two pilots most of the really intensive effects shots on Trek had been done, since they used most of the shots of the ship as stock footage. Where as on Mission they were being asked to come up with gadgets every week. So halfway through the first season of the two shows the Mission guys would stagger into the canteen after four hours sleep to find the Trek guys sitting there having finished all their work three days earlier.

The two Trek pilots are probably a good example as to how network input can be a very good thing. The Cage is an interesting episode in its own right, but in many ways is a slow-paced and rather dull story on which to base a series. I can actually understand why the execs called it 'Too cerebral', a comment that could justifiably be made about The Motion Picture as well. Actually thinking on it now The Cage is rather typical of high-brow Sci-Fi from the 50's through to the 70's. It has a point to make, moves slowly and you have to be in the right mindset to really enjoy it. Not the best basis for a popular TV series, or at least not with 24 episodes per season.
At the same time I can understand why they did something studios almost never do; asked for a second pilot episode. They could clearly see the potential of the series, and it seems that their issues were with the nature of the storytelling rather than the story in and of itself. (A comment you could actually level at some of the Early TNG episodes as well. The story was decent, but the way that story was told left a lot to be desired...the ability to remain awake being one of them).
I can also maybe understand their concerns about the character of Number One. Leaving out the sexist nature of the time The Cage was made, the character herself just didn't work for me. I'm also wondering if the Execs were hearing any rumors about Majel and Gene, and were of the opinion that she was only cast because of her involvement with him rather than having any actual ability. Or enough ability to carry what would have been a revolutionary and controversial role into a full series. I can't, naturally, answer that. But some comments I've read about Majel made from others involved in the original series do leave me with the impression that many felt she was only being cast because she was involved with Gene and not because she was a particularly good as an actress.

The second pilot is a lot better. It's still a 'highbrow' story concept when you look at it. But the story is told at a faster pace and in a more entertaining way. A much better base on which to build a TV series, as seen by the fact that Trek was able to go on to do thrillers, horror and outright comedy and still fit into the same universe. Although still written by Gene, all of these changes were brought about by the network execs doing their job and reminding him that at the end of the day he was being paid to make an entertaining TV series.

Majel Barrett was recast as Nurse Chapel, a much more emotional character. And Spock's love interest, to boot.

Anyone continuing to watch Discovery (legal or...otherwise) here? If so, any more feedback?

That Majel ended up being double cast in the original series is not surprising. James Dohan (sp?) not only played Scotty but also provided several voices during the run of the show. He'd also go on to provide a remarkable number of voices for the animated series as well.

Such double casting is fairly common if one of the main cast members has a talent for voices. Even if it costs just as much to get them to do it, you don't have to waste time and money finding someone else who can.

at least YOU caught it... I was beginning to wonder about everybody's powers of observation.