Star Trek Could Return To The Small Screen
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For many fans, Star Trek belongs on the small screen, rather than spread across a movie theater. After all, the franchise started on television in 1966, so it seems fitting that there should be some iteration of Star Trek on TV. Now that Marvel has found success on the boob tube with Agents of SHIELD, and Lucasfilm is looking to branch out into the business with Star Wars, will Paramount and CBS bring the series back to television?
While J.J. Abrams downplays the possibilities of Star Trek returning to TV, one of the writers and producers of the reboot film series is taking meetings with the broadcast network that could make this dream a reality. Roberto Orci recently told reporters, namely Joe Michalczuk of Sky News in England, that Star Trek on TV is at least a possibility with “America’s Most Watched Network.”
Bob Orci just told me they've had a meeting with CBS to revive @StarTrek on TV…This made me v excited
— Joe Michalczuk (@joemichalczuk) October 8, 2013
While Orci is saying one thing, Abrams is saying something completely different. A few weeks ago, the future Star Wars director talked about the possibilities of Star Trek returning to television. He had this to say on the matter: “What I’ve been told from the powers that be [at CBS] is that they’re not interested.” So who do we believe in this situation?
The high ratings for Agents of SHIELD on ABC might have changed the tune for the network types. While they might not want to get burned again with a Star Trek series (Enterprise didn’t exactly blow minds), they might want to reconsider given the current state of television. Genre TV is just as big as genre movies when you consider the popularity of The Walking Dead, SHIELD, and all the other horror and sci-fi-themed shows on the airwaves. The network might not want to sully the Star Trek reboots with a spin-off series, but the opportunity for high ratings may prove too hard to resist.
Popular television producer Bryan Fuller opened up about the possibilities of bringing Star Trek back to TV. Fuller spent four years as a writer on Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager, before launching his own shows like Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies, and Hannibal. For Fuller, Trek is “very near and dear property to my heart, and also a philosophy. I would love to create a Star Trek show, so that’s on my dream docket.
While it’s unlikely that Fuller and Abrams would team-up, there is some interest from within producers’ circles. Star Trek got its start on TV and it was almost 10 years between the original series and the first feature film in 1979. There is a big universe out there, and it’s a shame that it’s only on the big screen. Hopefully, CBS and Paramount will change their minds about a new Star Trek TV series, but until then, fans will just have to wait for Star Trek 3 in 2016.
