New 'Star Trek' TV show will go where no network program has gone before
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Strange new worlds, new life, and new civilizations will be found again. A 鈥淪tar Trek鈥� TV series is reportedly moving forward at CBS.聽
A new 鈥淭rek鈥� series has been given a straight-to-series order and the network plans to debut it at the beginning of 2017. The twist? A preview of the show will air on CBS but episodes will then be available on CBS All Access, the network鈥檚 streaming subscription service.
Various 鈥淪tar Trek鈥� stories have appeared on television, including the original series starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy and 鈥淪tar Trek: The Next Generation,鈥� which stars Patrick Stewart. The characters on the original TV series, including Captain James T. Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and others, and their stories were recently adapted as a new movie, which imagined the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise in their younger days. Two movies, 2009鈥檚 鈥淪tar Trek鈥� and 2013鈥檚 鈥淪tar Trek Into Darkness,鈥� have been released and a new film is scheduled to debut in the summer of 2016.
It doesn鈥檛 sound like Kirk, Spock, or any other old characters will be at the center of this new adaptation, though 鈥� according to CBS, the show will be about 鈥渘ew characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations.鈥�
The network is no doubt hoping that the popularity of the 鈥淪tar Trek鈥� story will be enough to bring viewers over to its CBS All Access service, which is $5.99 per month. This is essentially a TV experiment, as networks have so far mostly stuck to airing their TV shows and then having them be available online after the fact. One exception was NBC, which this summer debuted a new show, 鈥淎quarius,鈥� and also made the entire first season available online. 鈥淎quarius鈥� was renewed for a second season, though its TV ratings were low. The debut of the program became the most-viewed premiere for a summer show on NBC鈥檚 website and the network app.聽
TV scheduling and air dates continue to be far from a fixed model as some streaming services have moved in the reverse direction, veering away from the Netflix model of debuting an entire season. Such shows as Hulu鈥檚 鈥淭he Mindy Project鈥� and Yahoo Screen鈥檚 鈥淐ommunity鈥� kept the network schedule of debuting an episode per week, though both shows aired on network television before moving to streaming services and this may have played a role in that decision.聽
The plan for the new 鈥淭rek鈥� series comes as fantasy and science fiction continue to be a popular genre. Comic book stories are ruling both movies and TV and Fox is reviving its sci-fi show, 鈥淭he X-Files,鈥� this January. HBO is planning a science fiction show titled 鈥淲estworld鈥� and a key part of the plot in the Starz hit show, 鈥淥utlander,鈥� involves people being able to travel through time.
