Transporter Room 3: The Star Trek Podcast

Beam in to TR3 for fun, incisive, and sometimes deep (space nine) conversations about all things Star Trek -- from the Original Series to the movies, Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds... and beyond!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Episode 75: How to Bring Star Trek Back to TV

And just like that, Transporter Room 3 hits a milestone -- our 75th episode! That means we’re just four shows away from logging more episodes than The Original Series. Herbert!

Transporter Room 3, Episode 75

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Actually, not Herbert. Because we did things in style for this special episode, starting with a visit from our friend and Star Trek guru Jordan Hoffman. Renowned throughout the quadrant for his Trek knowledge -- but mostly his ability to sling puns -- Jordan regales us with tales from the Trek convention circuit and that time he heckled J.J. Abrams…

not-herbert

But our main focus this week is a discussion of how Star Trek could, should and might return to TV. Which cast would feature in a new show? Would it be the Abramsverse or the old continuity? Is Trek’s best chance at being reborn on TV to actually bypass traditional broadcast and cable and go the Netflix route? We dive deep on this one!

And of course we have a Red Shirt of the Week, and a very unconventional one at that for this doomed crewman somehow lived again. Plus, we have a very special giveaway for our listeners: a chance to win the NX-2000 Excelsior from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock from Diamond Select Toys. This 18-inch long piece features button-activated lights and all-new sound effects and dialogue taken from the film, including lines by the ship's douchey Captain Styles!

nx-2000

Click over to DiamondSelectToys.com to purchase the Excelsior or any of the other ships coming from Diamond this year, including a revamped Enterprise-A, a re-issue of the NX-01 from Enterprise and a TOS Romulan Bird of Prey. They also have the Wrath of Khan Enterprise, the Battle-Damaged Enterprise-B, the Nemesis Enterprise-E, the “All Good Things” Enterprise-D and regular and cloaking Klingon Bird of Preys. But don’t forget to listen to the podcast for your chance to win the NX-2000.

Please subscribe (click the icon) to get all the latest episodes of our podcast automatically. Friend us on Facebook, star-rate us on iTunes, and e-mail us at Transporter Room 3 at Gmail dot com. Also, stalk us on Twitter:

Scott Collura: twitter.com/ScottIGN


Jordan Hoffman: twitter.com/jhoffman

Listen to Episode 75 of Transporter Room 3 right here:

Transporter Room 3, Episode 75

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9 comments:

  1. One thing not mentioned is that being on premium cable means the show doesn't have to be structured around commercial breaks or meet an exact run time; I truly believe this freedom is a significant reason why premium cable has so many hit shows. AMC gave later episodes of Breaking Bad a decent amount of freedom when it came to episode length and the placement of commercial breaks, so a regular cable network would still be better then CBS. If Trek was a prime time network show (besides needing higher ratings to survive) every episode would need 5 artificial cliff hangers before commercial breaks and would have to be exactly 42 minutes long-- that's all at the expense of creative freedom.
    TV has changed so much since Trek was on the air and if a new show wants to be relevant cable (or even better Netflix) is where it needs to be.
    On meeting Patrick Stewart:
    Last year Stewart and Ian McKellen were doing Waiting For Godot and No Man's Land in rep on Broadway. After the show, on the way from the theater to his limo, Stewart went to both sides of the barricade and greeted every single person who was waiting in the cold to see him and he couldn't have been kinder or more gracious. It was cold outside and it was late at night and the few words we exchanged is something I'll never forget. (I also went more then one night and should add his greeting of the fans happened both times)
    Anyway if the story and creative team were right then I'd actually be very surprised if he turned down the chance to 'be' Picard one more time. Conversely unlike some other TNG actors I don't think he'd take the job just because the money was good if the material wasn't.

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  2. Hey Jay -- good point about running times. And yes, TV has changed so much in the past 10 years. The possibilities are endless!

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  3. Hey guys, love the podcast! Just some points about bringing Trek back to TV-
    1) No more Kirk, Spock and McCoy!! There is so much richness and depth within the Universe of Trek to explore, we do NOT need to revisit these guys again!
    2) Ron Moore (no further explanation necessary)
    3) I know this may be unrealistic (commercially), but seriously no JJverse. kthx.
    4) There does NOT, I repeat NOT need to be a starship "Enterprise" ( No bloody A, B, C, or D! ). Again, we have a big wide Universe with lots of ships, people and stories to tell. The Enterprise is NOT a required part of Trek anymore - especially since VOY and DS9 never had their own Enterprises and the space time continuum did not implode.
    5) I love the idea of a True Detective style structure- each season is a 10 episode arc with a particular setting, cast, timeframe, (ship/station/planet). And, like True Detective, the next season will be an all new cast, setting, (timeframe) and story. This would work GREAT in Trek. Remember the terribad "Aquiel" episode in TNG? It sucked, but I was always fascinated by the possibilities of other stories and people in Starfleet. What adventures are the rest of Starfleet having while Archer, Kirk, Picard, Sisko and Janeway boldly go? I know it would be weird having a new cast/Starfleet crew/ship/time period each season but surely this would prevent some of the stagnation in story telling that we have seen especially in TNG S7, VOY and ENT. It would also allow telling some untold stories- e.g. one season could be on the Enterprise-C leading up to their meeting with the EntD. Or be set on Earth during the Breen attack on San Fran. Or be set in the middle years between ENT and TOS. There is SO MUCH awesome that could come from this. Having a "reboot" (kinda) at the start of each season may also attract more casual viewers who will tune in knowing they do not need to have watched previous seasons to get into the show.

    Ok, rant over! Keep up the good work!

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  4. Hey Guys, Loved the podcast! Close to the end you guys asked yourselves about a darker more risqué show if thats something you wanted to see. For a while now I've been wanting a new Star Trek series for television, a series that would be like something you'd see on HBO or AMC but with a bigger twist. It wouldn't be about a Federation ship or crew but a Klingon ship and a Klingon crew. A mature episodic show, 15 episodes telling a story from the Klingon perspective character driven with epic battles. All I know is that a lot of my favourite Star Trek episodes were the ones that featured the Klingons, I love the culture their sense of honour, loyalty and their dynamic relationships with each other which I think would make for great tv. Curious of what other people think, would this be something other Star Trek fans would be interested in seeing? And thanks for the great shows

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    1. I think it could be great if done correctly. Ron Moore, perhaps...?

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  5. Once again another great podcast. (Thank you for saving me during the traffic jams on the Jackie Robinson). I agree with you gentlemen that the Star Trek series must have a story arc. It made Deep Space 9 last season great.

    However, I would like to see a season, just one, similar on the TNG episode "Lower Decks" and Voyager's "Good shepherd".
    I do not want to see a bridge crew and a captain as the main focus of the story, I want to see the low ranked crew.

    I would like to see how the normal (non-bridge) crew handles situations that they are in. I want them to be given orders for a reason they do not know why, and how they handle those situations. I want them not to know all the information that a Captain and Bridge officers would have known. I want the viewers of this show be as much in suspense as the crew members are in.

    I want to see how a new crew member would react, a seasoned crew member.

    It will be character driven, we will see Crew persons fail and succeed. I want them to learn from their mistakes and grow, and maybe just maybe one of them will become first officer in the next season?

    It would not matter what Quantum Reality they would be in, Bad robots or the right one.

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  6. Looks like the show is not about a captain, but a subordinate. Got my wish!

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