10 Moments That Almost Killed Star Trek

hello there marcus bronzy here reporting for trek culture now star trek is one of the world's most beloved franchises not only that it's one of the longest running and most diverse both in terms of cultural representation and the sheer volume of entries in the franchise this series is going through a hell of a renaissance now with the launch of picard discovery short treks and the up and coming animated series from the california class support ship called lower decks [Music] it's fair to say star trek has gathered some serious momentum and is flying into the 2020s at maximum warp but it hasn't always maintained a course towards success in its almost 55 year run star trek has had its fair share of ups and downs it's hardly surprising that across six decades nine different tv series including the anticipated lower decks 13 movies and a web series not to mention a vast expanded universe including fan fiction entries star trek has had its wobbles along the way so here we go 10 moments that almost killed star trek number 10 the first pilot it was almost over before it even began in 1965 gene roddenberry completed the cage the pilot episode for star trek problem was the network wasn't interested at all and rejected it a fairly standard occurrence in those days like many pilots before it just didn't find its place and star trek wasn't to be unbelievably in a practically unheard move nbc who funded the pilot decided to pay for another one the story and the cast were overhauled it was in this second pilot that we were introduced to kirk the only remaining central cast member from the original pilot was spock gene roddenberry was so enamored with him that he fought with the studio to retain the character and of course roddenberry was right because spock well he's a cultural icon there is no trek without spock the network loved the new crew and the new pilot and star trek was a go ready to maneuver around a certain demise time and time again in years to come as i'm about to explain in our next few entries before i get to that though most of the original pilot was retconned into the first episode of star trek but fans didn't see this original episode in its entirety until 1988. it took a long time but the characters and events from that ill-fated cage pilot finally made their way into the center stage of star trek with the kelvin timeline movies and discovery expanding on them to great effect i mean captain pike after season two of discovery who doesn't love him give that man a series i say number nine near cancellation after season two that's right the original series season two star trek almost got its net cut again throughout its first season star trek's ratings were never really enough to fill the studio's execs with beaming confidence anyway then in season two the rating slipped even more rumors of cancellation were inevitable and most of the casts were so convinced that they weren't getting a third season they even started looking for other work thankfully though not enough in number to bolster those ratings the fans were vocal enough to swing the series fortunes on hearing rumors that the show was in line for cancellation fans supported by the press launched a massive letter writing campaign inundating the studio with pleas to renew the series the studio received so many letters that they basically had to ask fans to stop by putting an actual announcement at the closing credits of one of the final season 2 episodes which stated that star trek would be returning just to shut everyone up now star trek fans have been a determined bunch since the start and i love you guys for that because that is when the fans get involved and save a series and in this case you save star trek man [Music] number eight cancelled but for real this time after just one more season which some would deem as dubious in quality well i mean we saw kurt being ridden like a horse anyway after the third season the show was cancelled and star trek was over but in its short three season run it had been enough star trek hadn't made mega bucks but it had a lasting impact on the minds and hearts of the fans more importantly enough episodes had been made to allow the studio to sell star trek into syndication to local tv stations now that it was syndicated reruns found more and more fans as family sat down and tuned in to see the ongoing missions of captain kirk and his crew over the next decade those fans developed an unprecedented dedication to the show communities of trekkies founded conventions and fan clubs across the world this was the beginning of what we now call fandom and we have star trek to thank for that thank you due to syndication and the fans star trek never fully left the limelight remaining in the popular consciousness while gene roddenberry plotted new voyages it would be 10 years before star trek did offer anything new but in that time its fanbrace grew and grew and though the franchise was essentially dormant its influence was rocketing number seven a decade in development gray thor thankfully for all of us gene roddenberry really bloody loved star trek and just could not let it lie by the early 70s with some backing from paramount he was working on a star trek movie not the kind of star trek movie that i think you're aware of though the studio's confidence was bolstered by the show's success and syndication they weren't gonna bet the farm on star trek the support they were willing to provide was of the low budget tv movie kind a couple of scripts were developed one concerning a godlike race of artificial beans and the other revolving around a god-like creature trapped on a planet sound familiar i think so they ultimately made their way into star trek movies anyway but this time around paramount rejected them the studio then decided that it didn't want a movie and asked for a new tv show instead once a new ship had been designed and scripts written as well as roles cast and sets built for this new show called star trek phase 2 paramount changed their minds back and decided well they wanted it to be a movie again number six movie misfire in 1977 paramount execs saw star wars and said hot dang that's good thank you so much star wars because star trek the motion picture was greenly and this one was no low budget tv movie star wars changed everything suddenly sci-fi projects commanded big budgets and big releases unfortunately the motion picture was so plodding that it felt like it was happening in real time i mean technically some of it did happen in real time like that solid four or five minute sequence of kirk and scotty taking the slowest ever shuttle ugh i'm in two minds in some ways i think it's kind of cute and other times i just want to get to the damn story fans have a real soft spot for the motion picture these days but for years it was amongst the least love entries to the star trek canon mockingly dubbed the motionless picture the slow pace and lengthy run time and beige color palette left audiences anaesthetised and once again the future of star trek was uncertain paramount had to think carefully about what to do next number five the death of a legend that's the second time they've had to keep the fans at bay with credits i love this star trek fans always seem to get what they want i mean are we that scary are we number four mean gene star trek was really precious to gene roddenberry and this sometimes led to him being aggressively protective of what it should be and what it should represent when he didn't like something he let everyone know it he openly slated any element of the property that he didn't approve of roddenberry wanted his own way and when he didn't get it he kicked off he created star trek and understandably thought it was his as star trek grew naturally more and more people were involved and more and more people were making the decisions at the same time due partly to misfires like the motion picture roddenberry was edged slowly out of the captain's chair and despite this he always managed to maintain significant influence over the franchise number three the unwanted next generation i can't believe i'm saying this now it's hard to imagine but when tng was announced people were pissed off the fans were fiercely loyal to kirk spock bones and the rest of the crew and they just didn't want to see anyone else attempt to fill their shoes once again the fans had to take things into their own hands they rushed to their writing desks they poured their grave concerns onto paper the post office worked around the clock to make sure the studio got these letters and the almighty voice of the fans had spoken kirk's shoes could not be filled the studio who had bowed to the needs and wants of trekkies in the past listen to the objections then ignored them because they were wrong the audience was wrong this time and thus the golden age of star trek dawned what followed in the wake of tng cemented star trek as a pop cultural powerhouse suddenly there was a vast shared universe of concurrent running shows and movies and the 24th century had never seemed more tangible as it did during the years that followed the pilot of tng in the 90s star trek kicked arse number two fatigue and the end in the first half of the naughties audiences have begun to tire of a market that had been kind of saturated by trek at the time in 2002 nemesis the last of the tng era movies got a thrashing from critics and more importantly from the studio's point of view it only just edged into profit at the box office and then in 2005 enterprise aired its final episode which also got a thrashing from critics and fans like the next generation ds9 and voyager enterprise kicked off with a couple of shaky seasons but unlike the next generation deep space nine and voyager it didn't really manage to shake the wobbliness and the fans were less forgiving people just weren't watching them anymore so in 2005 it was over and star trek was off the air for the first time in its history there were no plans to bring it back party done the party was finished and thus began the dark times number one discovery now it seems the writers of discovery set themselves up for a hard job right from the start now with a franchise of such breadth and complexity and fans so forensic in their attention to detail it was always going to be impossible to protect and respect the continuity in the time period that discovery is set the first season was plays from the start there were problems with constant production delays and issues with casting and also rewrites and the co-creator and showrunner brian fuller a man of fine star trek pedigree having worked on deep space nine and voyager was mysteriously fired before filming was completed the next hurdle came after it was released the fans bloody hated it and true to form they were extremely vocal about their distaste this time on the internet rather than a letter which meant it took way less effort to curse out trek and there were way more chances of people seeing it being cursed out their grievances were numerous but the most resounding issue was that the show just didn't feel like star trek it was dark it was gritty and many of the characters were outright nasty not at all starfleet now like i said the internet amplifies the hatred so rumors were rife that the show wouldn't make it past the first series really though this should have been expected because like i said first few episodes or the first few seasons of a new trek franchise always have a wobbly start it's a strong tradition perhaps a franchise curse that most star trek shows get off to a rocky start is true of tng it's true of ds9 and voyager and even enterprise well history repeats itself and just like in decades past the studio took on board all of that negative feedback and then ignored the fans that wanted it cancelled series 2 of discovery acted like a soft reboot which addressed many of the fans concerns we had hairy klingons again yes and the tone of the show changed notably and writers went into some effort to offer an in-universe explanation for the previous darker tones that we experienced in season two discovery became star trek and that's not bad going when it comes to trex seeing as it took all the others two seasons to get into the swing of things so there you go ten moments that almost killed star trek what did we miss let us know in the comments below and also make sure you subscribe and give us a follow on twitter at trekculture i'm on all social medias marcus bronzy that's spelt m-a-r-c-u-s-b-r-o-n-z-y peace you

Channel: TrekCulture

Views: 133,656

Keywords: Star, Trek, Picard, Discovery, Enterprise, Next, Generation, Voyager, Deep, Space, Nine, DS9, Defiant, Original, Series, Next Generation, red shirt, security, universal translator, english, klingons, gene l. coon, geen lee coon, gene roddenberry, kirk, spock, studios, studio, paramount, cbs, Saratoga, first, april, captain, uss enterprise, vulcan, emotion, emotional, d.c fontana, behind the scenes, cancelled, network, nbc, draft spock, save star trek, nemesis, harlan ellison, starfleet, pilot

Id: uYcoTk4H8iU

Length: 12min 40sec (760 seconds)

Published: Thu May 14 2020