Star Trek 2017 TV Series - Set After 'Star Trek VI'

Star Trek 2017 TV Series - Set After 'Star Trek VI'

The latest educated rumours claim the series will not be set in the Abramsverse. Thumbs up from me. What is nowhere close to being confirmed is whether this will be in the Prime Universe of all previous Treks, or a third timeline, which would be a thumbs down from me! The chosen period appears to have been confirmed as The Lost Era (as the novel series coined it), three quarters of a century between the final 'TOS' film, 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,' and the first TV spinoff, 'The Next Generation.' I can't deny that this no man's land of largely unexplored and unexplained chunk of time is one area of the timeline that has always intrigued me, though I'm much more interested in the latter years (when the Enterprise-C roamed the stars), than the former (the Enterprise-B's stomping ground), although at the same time I'd be wary of leading in to 'TNG' as I don't want to see young versions of famous 24th Century characters, just as I was far from keen to see new actors play the roles in the current film series: give us new characters or bring back the occasional old face in their role (I read a suggestion of Michael Dorn as Colonel Worf again, the Grandfather of his more famous Klingon of the same name, first seen in 'Star Trek VI'). I wouldn't be that interested in a USS Excelsior series, either, although it might be fun to have George Takei do a James Kirk in 'Generations,' boarding her for a cameo to send her off under a new Captain. While none of this is officially confirmed we may as well be talking about a completely unknown starship and crew, which I think is more likely, given the greater creative freedoms.

At the same time, the last Trek series, 'Enterprise,' was a prequel, and that was the first series that failed to run for its full expected length. And as much as I enjoy it, it remains the weakest entry in the canon, and I'm not even coming from the point of view that concerned many: complaints that they changed the timeline by introducing familiar concepts, characters or races before they were supposed to be known, because in every case there were extenuating circumstances that may have bent canon, but never broke it (the fantastic Borg episode might be the best example). But putting it after the original film series, yet before the TV spinoffs could be a mire of complex canon conundrums the like of which could make 'Enterprise' seem like a walk in the park. Would they keep to the technology of the time or do what the Abramsverse films did to 'modernise' and update the look for people that didn't know or care what the old look looked like? 'Enterprise,' 'DS9' and 'TNG' all showed that the original sets of the first 'Star Trek' could still look good and were a real historical era. The film series, with its bigger budget made them more detailed, but if they were to make it appeal to today's audiences could they use the same level of tech that that time period is supposed to have?

It's a big question, and is tied substantially to what universe we're in - if they were to continue the timeline and fill in the gaps as it sounds like they are, then they would be hard pressed to change things too much, which might prompt them to be 'freed' from canon by creating a third universe, but would push us down the road of comic book continuity, full of meaningless, empty 'history' that can be changed any time and has no solid base of reality, and what's more, getting too complicated for the average viewer that might be able to accept two timelines (if they were drawn in by the films they could go back and watch the originals), but three? And what would be the point of setting it in a recognisable era if not to deal with history and fill in a hazy time ripe for examination and exposure? I'm in two minds on the setting: I'd have preferred to go further into the future, post-'Voyager' and the 'TNG' films, where there was much more freedom in which to create, yet easily tie into any past character or race they wanted to (which is what each spinoff did to varying degrees, even 'Enterprise' - with time travel anything's possible, of course). And yet I always come back to the idea of constraint breeding creativity, and it's not like there are that many data points we know about the era, and what little there is could be fascinating, especially if they went back to doing Vulcans right!

Another issue that I haven't even mentioned yet is the suggestion that this may not be the typical Trek series: that we may not follow one cast of characters over multiple seasons across an overarching setup on one ship. Instead, it could be an anthology, which is both mindbogglingly exciting, and a little worrying. Because it's wonderful to dive into Trek's universe and wallow in familiarity, whether that be characters we like or a ship we want to examine in minute detail, that's one of the main draws to watch week after week, to have time to get to know the characters and how they react to each new problem or situation, where a serialised format tends to be less rewatchable and satisfying. At the same time, the potential rewards are almost too exciting to contemplate: a chance to revisit any favourite era of Trek! Imagine returning to Deep Space Nine for a Season, or following the USS Defiant during the Dominion War (or even the Enterprise-E!). It means we could have a season set in the post-'TNG' galaxy, we could have the chance to see what ramifications Romulus' destruction in the 24th Century had on the Federation and other major powers, or we could dip back to the just-missed-out-on Earth/Romulan War. The possibilities are tremendous, not to mention the ability to bring back old actors as their characters. But it would also mean that if you loved one setting and group of characters you'd be disappointed you weren't getting more of them, warping off to some other time and crew.

However, these are all mere speculations, and they don't really change my anticipation either positively or negatively because nothing is tied down (that's why this period of waiting is probably the most enjoyable time for a new Trek production, anticipation and imagination allowed to run riot, despite it probably having very little chance of living up to that), but it's hard not to comment on even the suggestion of such things. The best news I take from it is the avoidance of the Abramsverse, but I still wait for confirmation that Trek's chronology will be treated with respect. They've won me over by the list of those involved (even the Roddenberry name lives on with his son Rod's involvement, even if the name is likely all he'll be supplying), but I still await full disclosure on the big questions. But so far, things continue to look bright! One last thing to say: while it's such fun to speculate about old characters and settings, we should remember that one of the earliest press releases stated this would be about new characters exploring strange new worlds, so we're unlikely to see the familiar cultures or planets we care about so much. My excitement is tempered by this back to basics approach, but not extinguished.

Anticipation Rating: ****