login: password: LAST UPDATED: 26 September 2000 VZSciFi Datafile: Star Trek Series V Series premise: Undecided. Internet talk has the new show centred either on the Starfleet Academy or as a prequel set before the classic Star Trek series of the 1960s, all dismissed outright by Star Trek Executive Producer Rick Berman and Star Trek: Voyager producer Brannon Braga on several occasions. This Just In: Announcements about the fifth series of Star Trek were expected in the coming weeks, as of 1 September 2000. Rick berman and Brannon Braga are busy at work on the new series, intended to bring Star Trek kicking and screaming into the 21st century but remaining true to the show's universal ethos. Recently: Variety reported mid-July 2000 that a new Star Trek TV series is set for lift-off sometime next year. Writer/producer Brannon Braga said he and Star Trek Executive producer Rick Berman were still in "the early conceptual stages" of forming a concept. "We want it to be Star Trek at its core, but we also want it to ... change the concept to a radical degree," Braga said. "It's not enough to plop another captain in a starship. Not to sound pretentious, but it's got to be something that takes Star Trek into the 21st century." The project is set up at Paramount Television, but it is not yet clear whether it will end up in broadcast or syndication, especially with the uncertainty that still surrounds the future of UPN. Braga is still executive producer Star Trek: Voyager, which begins its final season this autumn. He will work on the new show under a three-year deal worth an estimated high-seven figures. Talking with my sources in Los Angeles, the premise for the new show remains the sticking point, and the potential audience for any new Trek series is a major consideration for any new series. The ratings for Star Trek: Voyager are considered by some as low in comparison to the substantial investment required for setting up a new show. Previously: Harry Knowles' enjoyable Ain't it Cool News site scored yet another media coup with a report in January 2000 that Paramount had recently run a focus group in Glendale, California where they floated three "possible ideas" for a new Star Trek series.  The focus group -- and there may have been more than one, judging by the accounts Knowles received -- consisted of about 10 people, representing all demographics (male, female, young, old, all races.) (One poster to AICN, calling himself Thomas Paine, revealed he too had been part of the group and added later: "Basically, they braught (sic) us in, they had a standard VCR setup where they would show us all some CGI animations of ships little virtual people running around the decks, things like that. With a woman talking over the animations with an explanation of each show. Then they left us alone and we debated which one's we'd watch if they were on the air. I tell you I was pretty disappointed for the most part, that they have had like a year to think up a new series and this is all they came up with." According to the initial AICN source who was one of those in the group, the three premise were presented using very crude animatics representing what was stressed as eventually being live action. The premise were as follows:   Starfleet Academy: No surprises that this idea raised its head, especially as this is one format allegedly favoured by Berman. It's a common tactic for every organisation to re-present things that have been mooted before, especially if someone spent money on it at some point. The focus group felt the pitch was too much "Beverly Hills: 90210 in Space" and shot it down in flames. Thomas Paine added: "The CG was less inspiring than the first, consisting of some kind of 24th century 'aircraft carrier', a huge tub ship with a long hull about the shape of Voyager's. The opening scene showed these long bays along the side opening up and these almost boomerang-shaped fighters flying out one by one. The uniforms on the CG characters looked like what we saw in the episode Valiant I kinda was receptive to it, then they started explaining what the show would be like -- a total barrage of cliches. The old scolding captain trying to keep in line the wild top gun cadets. "It just got worse from there. The lady who was standing with her clipboard by the screen said it would focus on their adolescent problems, they might have trouble at school, one of the guys might fall for one of the girl characters who likes someone else. I wanted to gag. However, I'm wondering if maybe the guy who first reported was in an earlier focus group, because as far as I can recall no one called it a "90210 in space." That's actually a perfect way to put it, but no one said it then. It's an intriguing premise, I mean I remember reading Heinlein's original Starship TroopersÖ but the wrong direction to take it."Section 31 spin-off: Rumours of a Section 31 series, spinning off from the clandestine organisation seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, have been thrown up before. But my LA contacts, but tell me the feeling expressed by members of the current Star Trek production team is that such a series would be just too dark and run counter to the Roddenberry 'vision' all Trek series are suppo0sed to reflect. But it's a strong premise, focusing on an elite band of trouble-shooters that travelled throughout the galaxy, utilising several methods - undercover operations, sneak attacks - to deal with volatile situations and galactic hot-spots, much like the SAS for the British government. Perhaps it was pitched as "Mission: Impossible, but in space with big guns."Following Harry Knowles' original posting, another source sent him additional information on the Section 31 premise. Make of it what you will, but it would seem to indicate that this idea has done the rounds:   "After a Federation think tank predicted the loss of the war with the Dominion, Section 31 embarked on several ambitious projects to change the course of the war. One of them is euphemistically called "The Final Solution". It involves assimilating the Jem Hadar by curing their addiction to Ketracel White using Borg technology. "As plans are being drawn, a chance encounter with the prototype Federation starship Prometheus brings Voyager's holographic Doctor briefly to the Alpha Quadrant. While on the Prometheus, a "copy" is made of the Doctor's program. The holographic Doctor's experience with Borg biotechnology entices Sloan to acquire the program and put the Doctor to work on the Final Solution. "The result is a Federation Assault team (a la Navy Seals) that operates like a Borg collective cell. They are heavily armed with overpowering weapons and able to assimilate people, technology and ships to suit their needs. The team has the ability to act as a collective in battle mode to improve efficiency, and also to "switch off" their link and operate as individuals (much like the former Borg colony that Voyager found.) "The group had passed their first trial and successful captured and assimilated a Jem Haddar soldier when a crisis occurred the death of their benefactor, Sloan. With very few people having knowledge and control of Section 31 projects, and an abrupt and unpredicted end to the war with the Dominion, Section 31 begins a slash and burn campaign of some most of it's more controversial operations. "The cell become aware of their impending death sentence and make an escape. Their Jem Hadar prisoner, who is now free of his addiction, knows he cannot go back to the Dominion. He and the Doctor's program are brought along. They assimilate a Federation ship and make a break for it. Now a hunted group, the cell makes its way to Borg space and commandeers a Borg sphere, which gives them the ability to travel through time and space with ease. "The show proceeds to unravel the story of this band of super soldiers who are looking for a safe haven. They travel through different areas and eras of the Star Trek Universe (opening up the possibilities of exploring the early Federation and Kirk/Spock Starfleet academy storylines). Everywhere they go, they are perceived as a threat and violently turned away. But they are still Federation soldiers, however unwanted they may be. "An overriding theme of the show is racial co-existence. With similarities being drawn to the exodus of the Jews and the attempt to establish a homeland and find security in it. The show is intended to be action intensive and mostly like DS9 during its final season." Thomas Paine said of the pitch: "The first one was, from what I could gather from the ships and story outline, pretty much a Deep Space Nine spin-off. Nothing new. Which takes place at the same time period and everythingÖ I wasn't suprised when discussion time came around and about five of the 11 people there loved this one. The animations were balls-to-the-walls KICKASS, no doubt. Again, very Deep Space Nine-ish. They had God-knows-how-many battle sequences with ships gratiutously blowing up, even when they didn't appear to be hit, looking a lot like the ones we saw in the opening battle of Star Trek: First Contact." The pitch ended with what may have been the Greek letter Omega flying towards the screen. "The ships were very militaristic, not typical "one saucer, two nacelles" design of ship that we are used to," added Paine. "About the size of the Defiant, but different configurations, much sleeker like they were made out of metal. There was also a sequence of CG characters storming some new alien ship with what looked like "breaching pods" (which is stupid when they could've just beamed over.) All in all, this was the worst of the options presented in my opinion. Absolutely no story, but plenty of cloak and dagger, spy and shoot. I was probably the only one that really hated it. Every one else had dumb comments, invoking Star Wars to say something like 'this is what space shows are supposed to be.' Yeah right. Sometimes what looks great in a five minute clip won't cut it in a seven-year-run." Star Trek: The Original Series Prequel: Described as the least developed pitch of the three alleged to have been presented. (Again, I've heard about this idea before, too. Like Voyager, it means the series producers would be able to pretty much ignore established continuity -- although of course it's a shame the Voyager team do ignore their own established continuity, too). This pitch is set in the early, pre-Enterprise days of the Federation, back when Klingons were bad, Romulans were yet to be discovered, "and young James T. Kirk was just a gleam in his father's eye," says one AICN source. No original series characters would be featured. Thomas Paine added and corrected Knowles' original poster: "The 22nd century one I'd have to say was the one that sat with me the best. Unlike the other two it had very little CGI, and no video, just screen shots. The ships kinda looked like a cross between [the original series] and 2001: A Space Odyssey, having kind of a rugged gracefulness to the ships. (They kept the "orange nacelle lights from TOS unfortunately. However, just a correction: The series as it was explained to us would take place very far pre-TOS and would even be pre-Federation. It would focus on a ship, the USS Enterprise  from an Earth space probe administration or something, and would focus on the exploits that led up to the establishment of the Federation, and the havoc that occurred after the disastrous first contact with the Klingons. A 'the people who were behind it all that you never knew of' story pretty much. It looked to have taken a little of the feel from the original series, but leaving all the Sixties decor out, and leaving in an Apollo 13 kinda motif. "I'd have to say without a doubt in the end this was my fav, as from my years watching The Next Generation, this seemed the only one to capture that spirit." Previously: In an article in the 15 January 2000 edition of Plain Dealer, television & radio critic Mark Dawidziak interviews Kate Mulgrew, her husband Tim Hagan, and Star Trek Executive Producer Brannon Braga. Braga is quoted as saying, "that Paramount has given the green light to the development of both a fifth "Star Trek" series and a 10th film." Sashi Alexandra German, posting the information to rec.arts.startrek.misc, says this contradicts earlier comments from various places saying, at the very least, the tenth Trek film has been placed on indefinite hold. The May 29 1999 issue of TV Guide, Star Trek Executive Rick Berman revealed he was developing "... other [Trek] TV projects." While denying that these include the rumoured Starfleet Academy TV series, Berman adds, "I find it hard to believe we've seen the last of all the Deep Space Nine cast." In an interview with the LA Times in mid-1999, Berman also revealed the next Star Trek show could premiere as soon as September 2000 (this now seems unlikely). More likely is a premiere by September 2002 but the series could be  put on a fast track, he said. He subsequently told USA Today  "I don't expect the hiatus to be more than a year," Berman has not as yet revealed the series premise (see ideas reported above) or whether the new show would be developed for UPN or for syndication and declined to reveal the new show's premise. Production Notes Main Cast: Ooh, let's make it all up, shall we? Copyright Holder: Paramount Production Team: Depends which premise, if any, gets picked up US Broadcast details: Shooting for 2001, according to Brannon Braga in July 2000. UK Broadcast Details: Far too early... 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