SergioWebster
New Member
It sounds strange to me. I will be glad if they manage to make a good series, but I doubt that everything will be OK
Star Trek comedy series in development
- Thread starter NakedMoleRat
- Start date
Robot Monster
Sr Member
Why make a comedy series.... because they don't seem to be able to consistently write a serious one. It's like everyone has to be a Marvel wise ass line..
Yeah, self-parody is often the last gasp of failure.
In all fairness, we already have a Star Trek comedy series....Below Decks. And it's not half bad once you get past the typical "early-first-season-itis" that plagues most new shows.
Also, The Orville is a Star Trek-styled comedy, much of which is also quite good, IMO.
Black Mirror's "The Callister" is Trek-style, and funny and horrific at the same time...it's possible to do!
"The Trouble With Tribbles" and "Q-pid" are still hilarious...have we forgotten?
These examples have demonstrated that there is a way to find balance between serious and comedic, and still give us something compelling.
I'm all for negative when something is really bad (I'm looking at you, The Acolyte), but come on guys, are we just getting off on hate for the not-yet-aired? Even when it's not really new?
Also, The Orville is a Star Trek-styled comedy, much of which is also quite good, IMO.
Black Mirror's "The Callister" is Trek-style, and funny and horrific at the same time...it's possible to do!
"The Trouble With Tribbles" and "Q-pid" are still hilarious...have we forgotten?
These examples have demonstrated that there is a way to find balance between serious and comedic, and still give us something compelling.
I'm all for negative when something is really bad (I'm looking at you, The Acolyte), but come on guys, are we just getting off on hate for the not-yet-aired? Even when it's not really new?
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Starganderfish
Active Member
Comedy can be much harder to pull off than drama - especially with an IP like Trek, which is grounded in serious, thought-provoking social commentary, high-brow ethical concepts and a solid underpinning of semi-scientific rigour.
I know Lower Decks gets a lot of praise but to me, it felt like someone trying to do Rick & Morty style confrontational humour without having the guts to actually be confrontational. Plus, to create a cast of fan-favourite characters in comedy you need a willingness to be self-deprectaing and poke a little fun at yourself and your franchise. That's VERY rare in this era.
Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu "perfection" becomes grating really quick, which doesn't bode well in the current era of lacklustre writers who produce what often feel like bad fan-fic. And given that's where the Mary-Sue term originated, it's pretty telling.
This fumbling with protagonist relatability was my biggest gripe with Lower Decks. The main female character felt like not only a classic "Miss Perfect" Mary Sue, trying unsuccessfully to hide behind a comedic lens, she was also objectively mean and even abusive to her crewmates. I just found her utterly unlikable and that tainted the entire show.
Producing a good Sci-Fi comedy takes solid writing chops. Heavy parody like Red Dwarf or Galaxy Quest still needs to be engaging and pull the viewer in. A semi-serious "dramedy" effort like the Orville is something else again. Seth McFarlane, whether you like him or not, has an undeniable resume, and successfully walked the fine line between humour and drama stakes throughout the Orville, something that I myself was unsure he could do, given his previous projects.
The complete nobody that Paramount has hired? I'm not holding my breath.
The other telling point is that Trek is now one of those "made by a committee" shows. I think I counted somewhere between 20 and 30 Producer and Executive Produce credits in the opening of an episode of Discovey, and they're just the people with enough clout to get their names in the credits. Good luck writing homour under those circumstances.
I know Lower Decks gets a lot of praise but to me, it felt like someone trying to do Rick & Morty style confrontational humour without having the guts to actually be confrontational. Plus, to create a cast of fan-favourite characters in comedy you need a willingness to be self-deprectaing and poke a little fun at yourself and your franchise. That's VERY rare in this era.
Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu "perfection" becomes grating really quick, which doesn't bode well in the current era of lacklustre writers who produce what often feel like bad fan-fic. And given that's where the Mary-Sue term originated, it's pretty telling.
This fumbling with protagonist relatability was my biggest gripe with Lower Decks. The main female character felt like not only a classic "Miss Perfect" Mary Sue, trying unsuccessfully to hide behind a comedic lens, she was also objectively mean and even abusive to her crewmates. I just found her utterly unlikable and that tainted the entire show.
Producing a good Sci-Fi comedy takes solid writing chops. Heavy parody like Red Dwarf or Galaxy Quest still needs to be engaging and pull the viewer in. A semi-serious "dramedy" effort like the Orville is something else again. Seth McFarlane, whether you like him or not, has an undeniable resume, and successfully walked the fine line between humour and drama stakes throughout the Orville, something that I myself was unsure he could do, given his previous projects.
The complete nobody that Paramount has hired? I'm not holding my breath.
The other telling point is that Trek is now one of those "made by a committee" shows. I think I counted somewhere between 20 and 30 Producer and Executive Produce credits in the opening of an episode of Discovey, and they're just the people with enough clout to get their names in the credits. Good luck writing homour under those circumstances.
Yeah, I’m no fan of “Tribbles”, “”I, Mudd”, “A Piece of the Action”, “The Voyage Home”, etc..
I’m basically one of those insufferable cerebral types that prefers “the serious stuff” like “The Motion Picture”.
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Totally agree, which is why I originally never made it past the first 3-4 episodes. Took me 2 years to give it another shot. But they started to explain, develop and grow her character late in season 1, as well as the other characters, that I was finally won over. She is arguably the most flawed of them all. She is the way she is because she is seriously broken and maladjusted. That is explored.
BB43MAN
Sr Member
It just seems to me at this point that Paramount/CBS has reached the bottom of the Star Trek barrel and is now throwing anything they can at the wall to see what sticks.............which isn't much at this point. They need to just let it lay quiet for a while, and concentrate on making SNW the best it can be. If they keep it up, failing as they constantly are, they're going to have an "Acolyte" on their hands.
Starganderfish
Active Member
I'm skeptical that even if they could improve SNW it wuld be enough to keep things going.
It and Lower Decks have tended to get more positive reviews than other recent Trek, but neither of them really blow up (good or bad) the way that Star Wars and Marvel stuff does for Disney, Rings of Power or Wheel of Time did for Prime etc.
Good Disney get's rave reviews, bad Disney gets frothing rage... Trek just kind of get's "meh"... whether it good OR bad.
Star Trek has never had the same broad level of appeal as Star Wars, but it was at least a part of the cultural zeitgeist. Now it feels like Trek's place in the wider viewing audience, is that people seem fatigued and uninterested. I don't think Nu-Trek has enough enthusiasm or audience left to even get an "Acolyte" style situation.
Locking their shows down to Paramount's faltering Streaming platform sure doesn't hep with that.
Starganderfish
Active Member
An interesting idea. Would you want a real version of the Galaxy Quest TV show from within the movie or more of the adventures of the actors ? A large part of the charm of Galaxy Quest was the dichotomy of the washed-up actors, doing the convention scene, and getting drawn into a zany space adventure. That could be tough to pull off in an ongoing series, and there aren't too many TV writers and producers these days with the ability to pull that off.
In contrast, just recreating the in-movie Galaxy Quest show, runs the risk of a studio just pumping out another mediocre sci-fi show.
Galaxy Quest is a uniquely charming and enjoyable movie, a product of it's time and an appeal directly to the Trek fan community. Be tough to pull that off again, especially in an ongoing series.
Be awesome to see someone actually competent try it though!!
NakedMoleRat
Master Member
Even The Orville lost it’s initial charm halfway through the second season.
Galaxy Quest worked because it was a parody of itself. But to pretend it was a ‘real’ space show wouldn’t have worked as well.
Galaxy Quest worked because it was a parody of itself. But to pretend it was a ‘real’ space show wouldn’t have worked as well.
Callister fits in that discussion as well, a little more Galaxy Quest-like.
I loved that it could be both funny and horrific. That's the right tone, IMO.
drusselmeyer
Master Member
I don't know why you complain about ANYTHING they do. They were so genius in the past as to keep st from falling into public domain by retroactively copyrighting the entire property!
You should bow down to them and pay extra to watch commercials happily.
Shame on all of you critics.
You should bow down to them and pay extra to watch commercials happily.
Shame on all of you critics.
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