random star trek thought
i wonder what would the history of star trek movies & shows had been like if they had the star trek phase II series in the late '70s.
for those who don't know or remember;
Star Trek: Phase II was the initial working title for what officially became titled Star Trek II, an unproduced American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as a sequel to and continuation of the original Star Trek, which had run from 1966 to 1969. The plans for the series were first developed after several failed attempts to create a feature film based on the property, coupled with plans for a Paramount Television Service (PTS) as a fourth broadcast television network in the United States.
the whole history is at the wikipedia article.
everyone was supposed to return, but spock was out due to nimoy's dispute with paramount & roddenberry over payment for his likeness on merchandise. he was going to be replace by lt. xon, a young vulcan who decides the best way to work with humans is to get in touch with his feelings, and 2 new characters; commander decker & lt. ilia.
now if things had all come together & the Paramount Television Service (PTS) had happened, and if the show was a success, then it could've gone 4-5 years which was (& is) typical for a successful series. now assuming a fall of 1978 premier would have the series ending in '82-83.
how soon after, or at all would they have a movie? '85? '86?
and since the original movie's plot would've been the plot of the first episode of the series, the first movie might have been the wrath of kahn. and the movies might have gone from there, depending on the success of that first movie. and would nimoy have been involved in the movies? maybe, if he resolved his issues with roddenberry & paramount, or maybe he would've just directed? would it have been the search for xon? would saavik have been a love interest instead of a protégé?
so, in this imagined timeline, we're right up on the era of TNG in our timeline. 1987 is only 4 years since the end of our proposed series. would there be any interest in a new series? remember, this is before CBC & NBC had a bunch of sister series (CSI, law & order, NCIS, the chicago series) going on at the same time. and TNG & DS9 were in syndication a.k.a no network (VOY & ENT were on UPN) but presuming that the Paramount Television Service (PTS) was still going, any future series would run on there.
so maybe a 1992-93 premier for TNG (at this point 9-10 years after phase 2), with a season or 2 overlap with the start of DS9, assuming that TNG would be a hit & go for 7 years. even with a 4-5 season run, the same kind of overlap could happen.
so far the timeline continues in a similar way to ours, but 4-5 years later. the only unknowns are the plot of the movies, the length of the series runs & a couple of TNG episodes would be different (reused plots from the late'70s series that never happened).
things might get tricky with the reboot era (2009 in our timeline) assuming a later start date for ENT (2005 instead of 2001 & only going 4 seasons) would anyone be interested in a young kirk & co. movie? would it be a series set at the academy like was rumored?
and would the success/failure of this possible series impact discovery & picard? assuming a failure, would anyone be interested in new series. or at this point in the imagined timeline would there be a series burnout like after ENT & there wouldn't be a new series for at least 12 years like in our timeline?
who knows, but it's interesting to speculate.
thank your for coming to my TED talk on the history of star trek in an alternate timeline.
This entry was originally posted at https://archersangel.dreamwidth.org/296921.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
for those who don't know or remember;
Star Trek: Phase II was the initial working title for what officially became titled Star Trek II, an unproduced American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as a sequel to and continuation of the original Star Trek, which had run from 1966 to 1969. The plans for the series were first developed after several failed attempts to create a feature film based on the property, coupled with plans for a Paramount Television Service (PTS) as a fourth broadcast television network in the United States.
the whole history is at the wikipedia article.
everyone was supposed to return, but spock was out due to nimoy's dispute with paramount & roddenberry over payment for his likeness on merchandise. he was going to be replace by lt. xon, a young vulcan who decides the best way to work with humans is to get in touch with his feelings, and 2 new characters; commander decker & lt. ilia.
now if things had all come together & the Paramount Television Service (PTS) had happened, and if the show was a success, then it could've gone 4-5 years which was (& is) typical for a successful series. now assuming a fall of 1978 premier would have the series ending in '82-83.
how soon after, or at all would they have a movie? '85? '86?
and since the original movie's plot would've been the plot of the first episode of the series, the first movie might have been the wrath of kahn. and the movies might have gone from there, depending on the success of that first movie. and would nimoy have been involved in the movies? maybe, if he resolved his issues with roddenberry & paramount, or maybe he would've just directed? would it have been the search for xon? would saavik have been a love interest instead of a protégé?
so, in this imagined timeline, we're right up on the era of TNG in our timeline. 1987 is only 4 years since the end of our proposed series. would there be any interest in a new series? remember, this is before CBC & NBC had a bunch of sister series (CSI, law & order, NCIS, the chicago series) going on at the same time. and TNG & DS9 were in syndication a.k.a no network (VOY & ENT were on UPN) but presuming that the Paramount Television Service (PTS) was still going, any future series would run on there.
so maybe a 1992-93 premier for TNG (at this point 9-10 years after phase 2), with a season or 2 overlap with the start of DS9, assuming that TNG would be a hit & go for 7 years. even with a 4-5 season run, the same kind of overlap could happen.
so far the timeline continues in a similar way to ours, but 4-5 years later. the only unknowns are the plot of the movies, the length of the series runs & a couple of TNG episodes would be different (reused plots from the late'70s series that never happened).
things might get tricky with the reboot era (2009 in our timeline) assuming a later start date for ENT (2005 instead of 2001 & only going 4 seasons) would anyone be interested in a young kirk & co. movie? would it be a series set at the academy like was rumored?
and would the success/failure of this possible series impact discovery & picard? assuming a failure, would anyone be interested in new series. or at this point in the imagined timeline would there be a series burnout like after ENT & there wouldn't be a new series for at least 12 years like in our timeline?
who knows, but it's interesting to speculate.
thank your for coming to my TED talk on the history of star trek in an alternate timeline.
This entry was originally posted at https://archersangel.dreamwidth.org/296921.html. Please comment there using OpenID.