by Larry Brody

New Star Trek TV show could be an animated series
by Charlie Jane Anders (io9)A new Star Trek TV show is looking slightly more likely than it was a little while ago, judging from the slightly cryptic interview movie producer Roberto Orci gave TrekMovie the other day. Orci says the talks over a Trek television show aren’t real yet, but “they are almost real.” Adds Orci, “The relevant parties haven’t sat down in a room together, but they have sent messages through intermediaries.”
In other words, any TV show is probably a long way off, since the “relevant parties” haven’t even spoken face to face yet, including CBS. There may have been some semaphore action.
And it sounds like Orci, at least, is most excited about the idea of an animated Trek series — given that an animated show would have the least risk of “cannibalizing” demand for a third Trek movie, assuming it starts right before or after J.J. Abrams’ second movie. (Much like the way Tron: Uprising isn’t seen as killing the demand for a third Tron movie — probably the reverse, if anything.) And Orci seems to think it could involve the cast of the movies, having adventures in between the films. So, similar to the 1970s animated series, in other words.
The only question now is, will we finally get to see Lt. M’Ress again? And will there be a sequel to “The Magicks of Megas-Tu”?
TVWriter™ doesn’t often quote an entire article from another site, but I’m happy to make an exception in this case because:
- I love io9 because they’ve consistently shown their excellent taste by saying nice things about me. (By consistent I mean that as far as I know they’re 1 for 1.)
- I also love STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES because not only was it every bit as adult as The Original ST, I also worked on the show as a writer back when I was just starting out. (Want to know more about that?)
- Charlie Jane Anders seems to have a thing for The Magicks of Megas-Tu. Which I just happened to have written. Which means I also love Charlie Jane.
But as much as I enjoyed both the content of this article and the way it was written, I’ve got to tell the truth: I would hate to see another animated STAR TREK TV series overseen by Roberto Orci and his partner, Alex Kurtzman (who, although he shares the same last name as all-time genius writer/editor/artist Harvey Kurtzman judging from his work sure as hell ain’t no such genius). I’d also hate to see the rebooted trekosphere get its foot in the TV door because – sorry, gang – I think it’s immature and inane.
I’ll say this though: If the real STAR TREK came back to TV, animated or otherwise, I’d sharpen my pencils and get cracking in a jiff.
(“Pencils? “Get cracking? “Jiff?” Yep. When it comes to ST, my future’s kind of a retro one. Gotta live with that.)