William Shatner Pitches 'Starfleet Academy' Show 564
Tycoon Guy writes "TrekToday reports that William Shatner recently pitched an 'Academy' show to Paramount. The series would feature teen versions of the Classic Star Trek characters Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and be set at Starfleet Academy. The studio turned Shatner down, but he's not letting go of the idea: Pocket Books has asked him to write a two-novel series based on the 'Starfleet Academy' concept. Also, Shatner apparently went over the head of Trek head honcho Rick Berman to pitch his idea straight to the head of Paramount - maybe after Enterprise ends and Berman leaves the franchise, the studio will be more inclined to listen to Shatner?"
I can just imagine (Score:5, Funny)
Tekwars (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tekwars (Score:5, Insightful)
So long as he doesn't sing the theme song.
Seriously though, I'm glad he went over that douchebag's head.
Re:Tekwars - Read the article!!! (Score:3, Informative)
hum... interesting ain't it
Who's this "Kirk" guy people talk about? (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, come on! Shatner will always be known for one character and one character only: Denny Crane!
Re:Who's this "Kirk" guy people talk about? (Score:3, Funny)
"The same thing happened to me!"
Dick Soloman (John Lithgow) and the Big Giant Head (Bill Shatner) comparing flights into Ohio.
Re:Tekwars (Score:2)
Re:Tekwars (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Tekwars (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Tekwars (Score:4, Insightful)
Making the show is not the challenge. It's getting people to watch it that's hard. Branding power and all that. It's like Nintendo and Tetris.
Not impossible, very very simple. (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem is that Hollywood isn't interested in that format for TV. They want it episodic so there's always room to wiggle and try to squeeze more money out of it.
Think of it as filming a movie, in 26 blocks.
Re:Not impossible, very very simple. (Score:3, Funny)
Actually, no. The reason that Hollywood doesn't do that is that they want TV show audiences to grow. If episode 5 requires watching Episode 2 to understand, they've alienated new people to their audience. A novel-like beginning and end forces that scenario. Who'd want to catch it in the middle?
Re:Tekwars (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, the problem seems to be with the perceived risk. Star Trek has an established fan base, so even a very sucky new series is guaranteed at least SOME measure of support. People spending several tens of millions on a new show don't want to take risks on something unproven. It's the same reason Miss Congeniality 2 is playing down the street from me. Sequels are (perceived as) safer than originality.
Re:Tekwars (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow. We must not have been watching the same show. At first blush I disliked Firefly due to the "Space Western" theme as I thought it sounded rather contrived. Why would we unlock tech in space flight and colonization and yet regress technologically?
Fortunately my friends convinced me to watch the show, and I was hooked. After I understood the story, it made perfect sense. I enjoyed how they accepted the advanced technologies of space travel but did not let them dominate the story. I enjoyed how the story stayed focused on the characters, and I especially enjoyed watching the characters and their relationships develop.
I'm not sure why you felt Firefly seemed like a space comedy. There were certainly some very funny moments but the thrust of the series seemed to focus on the serious morale issues of working within the grey areas of the law and surviving between those groups that considered the laws absolute and the criminal elements that would rather ignore the laws completely. If anything I would think you would take exception of the melodrama, considering how you cite that grievance against the Star Trek franchise. I also agree that Star Trek was too melodramatic for my tastes, which is why I considered Firefly a welcome change. I didn't feel like the script was talking down to me and appreciate how they directly tackled hard issues like religion ("You don't 'fix' the Bible, River.") and didn't make me feel like I was being preached too.
Re:Tekwars (Score:3, Insightful)
Stargate (both shows), Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars: Clone Wars... these are just the good shows that I know something about.
Just how many space-based shows do there have to be to convince you?
Re:Tekwars (Score:4, Interesting)
And along the way Star Trek became more and more about the characters, whereas in the original series, the crew were basically an ensemble cast that acted out new stories every episode. I.e., they were short stories, not parts of a novel. The great thing about this kind of ensemble acting is you don't have to get to know the characters over again. You can cut right to the chase and tell a story. This is why the idea of a Star Fleet Academy series is such a horrendously bad idea. It gets even farther away from the short story format and turns the franchise into even more of a soap opera. And I, for one, cannot abide soap operas pretending to science fiction.
Re:Tekwars (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd have to say that Battlestar Galactica definitely does not fit into that category, and while in Stargate, there are races that have been out there building civilizations since before humans were on the scene, this compares favorbably to ST:ToS where humans were just starting to explore the galaxy which many older races called home for millenia or even MUCH mo
Re:Tekwars (Score:3, Insightful)
Academy.. (Score:4, Funny)
Um.. I read this and immediately had a disturbing vision
The series would feature teen versions of the Classic Star Trek characters Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and be set at Starfleet Academy.
Ah, not what I thought, but not exactly a thrilling concept.
The studio turned Shatner down, but he's not letting go of the idea: Pocket Books has asked him to write a two-novel series based on the 'Starfleet Academy' concept. Also, Shatner apparently went over the head of Trek head honcho Rick Berman to pitch his idea straight to the head of Paramount - maybe after Enterprise ends and Berman leaves the franchise, the studio will be more inclined to listen to Shatner?"
Maybe if he pitched it as a reality show, a la The Apprentice. That might be entertaining...
Re:Academy.. (Score:2, Insightful)
But isn't Spock like x00 years old? So when the humans are teens, say 30 years younger then Mr. Spock would still be x00 - 30 and still not a teen. But this is crazy. As much as I like the StarTrek universe I think the series should be put on hold (remember in the 80's) to allow our minds to become interested in the shows again.
Re:Academy.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Academy.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Whoever plays Gary Mitchell *needs* to come across as a TopGun pilot.
Re:Academy.. (Score:3, Informative)
The Iowa town is the town the Captain Kirk is supposedly from...
Re:Academy.. (Score:5, Funny)
Nowthat qualifies as a disturbing vision. What would a bunch of trekkies be fighting for the chance to be? Captain of an imaginary starship? Chance to date a woman? A shower? Associate producer of the next doomed Trek series?
Re:Academy.. (Score:4, Funny)
Transporter test subjects, of course . .
think of it as evolution in action . .
hawk
But wait, there's more (Score:3, Insightful)
That said, I can't rule out the possibility that Shatner's concept might result in something worth watching. I'm not a fan of teen angst shows, which is another genre that's been done to death. But all genres you see on TV -- cop shows, medical shows, workplace comedies, household comedies -- have been done to death. TV doesn't have the courage to try anything really
yea!!! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:yea!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Shatner = bad ideas
sounds like we should keep these guys together not separate. mebbe trek can be killed once and for all.
Re:yea!!! (Score:2)
Re:yea!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:yea!!! (Score:2)
So they'll listen to crap like this, and not even let J. Michael Straczynski pitch? I really hope the next Trek series is the one he already planned out on his own. He's proven and has done fantastic work with B5 and Jeremiah (and more), and understands how to tell character driven stories (which was a major strength of the original Trek, even if the characters were overdrawn). It'd be nice if they let real writers like him run the show.
(Okay, so they let Manny Coto run Enterprise for one seaso
Hey Bill? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hey Bill? (Score:5, Informative)
The series would feature teen versions of the Classic Star Trek characters Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and be set at Starfleet Academy.
This doesn't make much sense. From the series,we have a very strong impression that Spock and Kirk met for the first time on the Enterprise. (Note the use of "the". That "other show" sounds stupid without it.) The episode that firmly established Pike's command before Kirk's only bolsters the feeling that Kirk inherited Spock instead of hand picking him as he probably did with Bones.
In short, this sounds like a very fanboyish concept. Let JMZ take the helm and we'll see if the old girl still has any antimatter left in the ol' warp engines.
Re:Hey Bill? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Hey Bill? (Score:4, Funny)
Bones is ~20 years older than Kirk. Maybe he got held back alot at SF academy?
Love his style (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Love his style (Score:3, Interesting)
first thing that came to mind (Score:3, Funny)
they're all a little loony"
Tiny Toon Adventures! (Score:5, Funny)
they're all a little loony" And Sunday afternoony,
We're invading UPN!
Rick Berman's adventures,
Complying with the censors,
With schedule misadventures,
It's Starfleet Academy!
So here's UPN, where crappy bling bling makes for art,
Black sitcoms and reality shows - it's like FOX, but dark!
We're spitting invective, the phasers are defective,
The franchise isn't dead, Jim, but it's lost. it's. heart.
(Kirk's toupee's from Wal-mart.)
Re:Tiny Toon Adventures! (Score:3, Funny)
Incidentally - was it Animaniacs or Tiny Toons that introduced Pinky and the Brain? I'd think the Brain would make an acceptable Trek villain. Hell, look at "Nemesis" and "Insurrection" - compared to that tripe, he'd make a *superb* villain.
Books? (Score:2)
No, really, who would write them for Shatner?
God love that manwhore! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:God love that manwhore! (Score:5, Funny)
Based on some of the things he's done I think thats more complete lack of an embarassment gene rather than lack of fear.
Re:God love that manwhore! (Score:4, Insightful)
hawk
Re:God love that manwhore! (Score:5, Insightful)
You're thinking "New Shatner" (Score:5, Insightful)
I think Shatner is by far, by far, my favorite Trekker. He's got a sense of humor about himself and his work, yet he's not even remotely afraid to take chances.
Really, I think that's a bit shortsighted. Shatner has only become that way in the last decade or so. Prior to that, he's tried to distance himself from the Trek fans as much as possible. Compared to how much he has benefited from Trek fandom, Shatner has given very little back. Contrast this with George Takei, Deforest Kelly, or Jimmy Doohan who have always been big supporters of Trek fandom. In a previous message [slashdot.org], I talked about how Jimmy Doohan took it upon himself to use his fame to help a single fan back to health. Shatner would never do anything like this -- then or now. I'll admit that Shatner is likeable but that's been a recent thing. Read Takei's book sometime and listen to the shit that Shatner used to do. Shatner didn't even show up at Roddenberry's funeral, for chrissake!
You're entitled to your opinion but I'm baffled how you can consider him a Trekker at all, let alone your favorite.
GMD
Re:You're thinking "New Shatner" (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, star trek actors dont owe anyone anything. Being famous is not that great, trust me. Everyone wants to tell you what they love you, that you suck, or bask in your reflected glory. It gets OLD. You just wanna be a normal person who can goto pizza hut without a love fest from pimply teenagers.
About ~20 years ago I was (a kid) at the San Diego wild animal park. And Richard Pryor happened to be there. Everyone was nuts over him. He was in the gift shop looking at some mugs or something and everyone was running outside telling their friends to come gawk at richard pryor buying gifts. I felt so sorry for him and I was 8 at the time.
Re:You're thinking "New Shatner" (Score:4, Informative)
Doohan refused to appear on Futurama reprising his role as Scotty, which is why he got replaced by the fake character Welshie. [gotfuturama.com]*
On the other hand, Shatner was willing to poke fun at his own hubris:
Nimoy: Melllvar, you have to respect your actors. When I was directing Star Trek IV, I got a magnificent performance out of Bill because I respected him so much.
Shatner: And when I directed Star Trek V, I got a magnificent performance out of me, because I respected me so much!
(* Site has anti-deep-linking measures in place - copy and paste link)
Re:You're thinking "New Shatner" (Score:3, Informative)
You forgot Walter Koenig as Bester on B5 (Score:3, Insightful)
Jon Acheson
Oh God.. (Score:5, Funny)
(Its not like the women's starfleet uniforms are all that revealing anyways)
Re:Oh God.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Oh God.. (Score:5, Informative)
You forget: If we're going back to the early days of Jim & Co, we're going back to the days of miniskirts and green slave women.
Re:Oh God.. (Score:3, Funny)
Fortunately, WFS got turned down...someone at Paramount must have had a sudden onset of senile sanity.
So (Score:5, Funny)
On a more sobering note, I find it deeply disturbing that I was able to remember this much about Police Academy, at a moment's notice.
Oh boy! (Score:2, Funny)
Let it die. (Score:5, Insightful)
I like the idea...not the setting.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Star Trek 90210 (Score:5, Insightful)
Visually it would be hard to jive with the old series, and having actors who are trying to potray the old characters might lead to pure campiness.
Ok so now everyone can tell how it would be great if they did it right - but come on people, you KNOW they wouldn't do it right.
I'm just hoping whatever new series comes out has Shatner singing the theme song. Hell, just have him sing the lyrics to the orignal theme from the '60s series.
Re:Star Trek 90210 (Score:3, Insightful)
Bah. Just think about all those hot teenage girls in those tiny little skirts...
Re:Star Trek 90210 (Score:3, Funny)
They don't let Orion slave girls into the Federation.
Re:Star Trek 90210 (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree that trying to make the old characters synch up would be hard. Star Trek is never about the 22nd/23rd/24th centuries; it's always about today. So having "young" Kirk have more mature attitudes (by our standards) than "old" Kirk would be disconcerting.
Besides, they'd have the same problem that they did on Enterprise: you can't place a character in real jeopardy if you already know that they survive. That's supposedly why they renamed T'Pau to T'Pol. Personally, I'd have loved to have seen the great leader of Vulcan as a young woman, to see what made her great, and screw the suspense factor, but they saw it otherwise. And then wrote absolutely nothing interesting for her to do.
Still, I like the idea of setting a series at Star Fleet Academy. There are a billion ways to do it wrong, and only a few to do it right, but there are some good opportunities there. Just like both Voyager and Enterprise had good opportunities that rotted behind unimaginative plotting, ratings-grabbing, and a failure to understand what Trek really is.
So, sadly, as a Trek fan from before the proliferation, I gotta agree: let it rest.
Hmm (Score:2)
A Train Wreck, but... (Score:2, Funny)
I'd like to see a "Star Trek" reality show (Score:3, Funny)
Romulan Ale. (Score:5, Funny)
You... Paramount bastards! (Score:2)
Shatner is copying Smallville (Score:4, Interesting)
I think he is putting money before the vision of Rodenberry.
Maybe he will have a ton of models be the crew. Should get good ratings for a while until teen girls viewers get bored by scifi which takes about a year for these demographic shows.
Re:Shatner is copying Smallville (Score:2, Funny)
Smallville better than Superman IMHO (Score:5, Interesting)
Not a bad idea (Score:4, Interesting)
Instead, why not do it with new characters? The only problem there is getting all the horrible "Next Generation" style moralizing out of it and keeping every character from being a different version of Wesley Crusher (jock Wesley, flirt Wesley, misunderstood loner Wesley, etc.) Hell, if you did it right, you could even bring back Wesley as an Academy instructor... why not?
Not sure I'd actually watch such a show, mind you, but it certainly doesn't sound any worse than the crap that's been passing for Star Trek in recent years.
SpaceBalls? (Score:2, Funny)
Dark Helmet: You went over my helmet!!!!!
Official Statements (Score:3, Funny)
"KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN"
Pitch Man (Score:3, Funny)
Shatner wants MORE Trek? (Score:5, Funny)
Academy good; Kirk, Spock bad (Score:2, Interesting)
There are a number of coming-of-age shows on TV right now that are well accepted (if not well done). Hospital shows about young doctors in training, for example. So long as it is more like a military academy drama setting sans the militaristic feel, and not like "Police Academy", I think it could fly.
-- Scott
Add to the list: (Score:2)
A much better idea.... (Score:2)
call Cartoon Network (Score:2)
Interesting... (Score:2)
While this is a true statement (no one cares about a probe getting there), I think it also describes the general state of the Star Trek franchise. Teen versions of Kirk, McCoy and Spock would like the animated TV series that came in 1970s, interesting but still boring.
It's like Muppet Babies. (Score:5, Funny)
No no no no no!!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, it's a bit of a stretch to presume that all the TOS cast would be at the academy together. Kirk and Spock maybe, but all the junior officers are much younger than Kirk, Spock, and Bones (McCoy would have been at starfleet medical anyway).
An awesome show would be an academy show during the dominion war of an unknown group of cadets. So rather than being a futuristic "Saved by the Bell", you can follow these cadets in some of the extended duties they would have had to undertake during the war. We could even see how the attack on Starfleet Headquarters happened, since we only saw the aftermath in DS9.
Working Title (Score:2)
Rumour has it that Shatner is using the working title: "Starfleet Academy 90210"
This came as a last minute change to his previous title: "Starfleet High" (which network executives saw as "far too obvious a bid" to pot-smoking trek fans).
teen versions? (Score:3, Insightful)
Considering the vast age differences and career paths (before joining on the Enterprise) between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, I seriously doubt they were in Starfleet Academy at the same time.
Also, I would think that Starfleet Academy would be like other military academies, which means most of the student population would not be teenagers, but that's just a nit.
I do believe, however, that this would make a great replacement show for Smallville, once that gets cancelled.
Let J. Michael Straczynski (B5) have a go (Score:5, Informative)
Like wise I would like to see Jose Whedon thoughts and Quentin Tarantino's ideas. Even Jonathan Frakes has demonstrated enough talent as a director and producer with Roswell to put together a good team.
Re:Let J. Michael Straczynski (B5) have a go (Score:3, Funny)
Is that the Mexican non-union equivalent of Joss Whedon?
Re:Let J. Michael Straczynski (B5) have a go (Score:3, Insightful)
There was a reason B5 was cancelled... Ugh
Yeah, and that reason was that it finished it's plotline. Now I realize that plotline was an alien concept in US sci-fi series until B5, and is again an alien concept afterward, but really, it can be a good thing, trust me.
Re:Let J. Michael Straczynski (B5) have a go (Score:3, Interesting)
Agreed. The plotline was the reason that you could watch B5 week after week. It made up for the occasional bad episode or cringe inducing incident. It also led to rabid fans who kept the show going an extra two years. The reason year 5 wasn't the best is that it was uncertain that there was to be a year 5 so JMS sped up the plotline in year 4 leading to... the last season being kind of weak.
Age differences (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, I don't know the details, but isn't Spock like, older than all of those (using the "every race is longer lived and better than humans" rule that applied to all sci-fi fantasy since forever, especially those with pointy ears)?
Get around that crap, and the idea is actually pretty cool. Well, I think so. More tech gadgets, little to no combat, all people stories...
Or maybe we'd just watch as the group bravely runs around to bars after school hours, attempting to bravely go where no man has gone before...
Bah, just do a klingon ship and be done with it. (Score:3, Interesting)
I like trek but... (Score:3, Interesting)
"Kobayashi Maru" book did this very well. (Score:5, Interesting)
Several of the stories focus on the Kobayashi Maru doomsday scenario that's referenced in one of the Star Trek movies, but several deal with other aspects of a Star Fleet Academy education.
If Shatner had this type of material in in mind then the project might actually be worth while. Anyway, it's a great read for any Star Trek fan -- the author really captures each character's own nuances.
Just remember, it can't be any worse than the first (and for me, last) episode of Enterprise.
Off topic (Score:4, Funny)
Just open it up in a separate window and let it play in the background all day long.
Anyone seen Star Trek V lately? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Anyone seen Star Trek V lately? (Score:3, Insightful)
Star Trek as a TV series has just about exhaused all possibilites and just needs to take a break. I've actually been afraid of where Star Trek has been going, s
Branding doesn't mean anything to story (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, I think the Star Trek still has a lot of potential left in it, but it's the writers, the actors, the directors, and the producers of any given project who will determine whether a new franchise is worth anything.
Sometimes that mixture has to age a bit before it matures enough for all of those ingredients to start working together. Star Trek TNG was embarrasingly overacted and rough in its first few episodes, perhaps even the first season or two -- but it eventually grew to be a favorite of mine. Enterprise was decent entertainment, and was getting better. I didn't like Kate Mulgrew, so I couldn't enjoy V-ger. DS9 was too political for me, but from all accounts it also matured with age and became something worth watching. However, the Trek movies are an exercise in nostalgia and CGI, and I despise them for their cheap tricks and bland plots. Although I really didn't care for the TOS-cast movies when they came out, they at least had character and substantial plot. The TNG-cast movies just seem to be blah excuses for a lot of CGI and routine plots.
I think a Starfleet Academy could be a great series if done well. It all depends on how the casting, writing, directing, etc work out. I don't think it's a good idea to feature the big characters from ST:TOS, however. Perhaps their younger selves, maybe even via CGI, can be featured in cameos or whatnot. If they went back and tried to put Kirk and Spock as major characters in a new series, it would be an exercise in nostalgic masturbation.
Re:Prequels are just plain HORRIBLE (Score:3, Interesting)
Who cares what you want, I wanna see the Earth-Romulus War already! I wanna see the humans take all their anti-Vulcan aggression out on the other green-blooded, pointy-ear bastards!
In the episode where the Romulans were first introduced in TOS, they show a map of the Neutral Zone and it has Romulus on it, and yet Earth is nowhere on the map, as if the Neutral Zone is a whole lot closer to Romulus than it is to Earth. I wanna see that happen.
"give me BO
Re:Prequels are just plain HORRIBLE (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, no. The Borg were supposed to be the end-of-season villian for ST:TNG season 2. If you remember the (second to last?) episode of that season, the Enterprise and the Romulan were investigating planets along the Neutral Zone that had been destroyed. The last episode was supposed to be Best of Both Worlds, but the show ran out of money. As a result, we got that stupid flashback episode instead and BoBW waited
Denny Crane! (Score:3, Funny)
If I weren't already a human being, that show would make me want to go out and sign up for lawyering school.
--grendel drago
I am not a Starfleet Commander... (Score:3, Interesting)