In another recent interview, JJ Abrams was asked when Star Trek will be on TV again. His reply: "CBS said they were not interested."
The statement reminds me of when, Mr. Les Moonves stated, "Star Trek needs to be put out to pasture."
If true, why in the world would CBS not want Star Trek back on TV when bringing back the most powerful science fiction icons in modern times HAS brought the audiences back out, has brought in record profits and has rejuvenated the franchise?
How is it that CBS still seemingly has no clue that Star Trek:Online exists despite wanting to micro-manage all content that would appear in the MMO?
Why do I bring up, Star Trek:Online with regards to the CBS statement? Folks constantly tell me "It's all about the money." Yet they must not see the potential profit in leveraging the primary psychological needs of the Star Trek fan base with a TV Show and MMO to make more money than the franchise has ever seen.
A number of psychologists including ones from M.I.T. have studied and reported on the (at one time) 'unique' sub-culture that is the Star Trek fan base and had concluded that there does exist some primary psychological needs this fan base has.
Interestingly one of the primary psychological needs of the Star Trek fan is to connect with the canon content by creating their own content: Fan fiction, music, art, game content, etc. etc.
The one vehicle that potentially allows viewers to connect with AND help shape canon content is STAR TREK:ONLINE.
Star Trek on TV has always been good about providing 'open-ended' story-lines. These open-ended story-lines are the perfect content for Star Trek:Online missions and episodes that would allow the viewers and subscribers to help determine the outcomes or help shape the course of canon story-line. How the majority of the fan base reacts to or how the majority solves the problems could then be fictionalized in future episodes of Star Trek on TV.
The MMO solves the problem of: "How do you allow every fan a way to directly connect with, shape and help create canon content?"
I began pushing the idea of TV Show/MMO to Harry Lang (then, the Executive Producer of ALL Star Trek games at Paramount) in 2004. When SYFY/TRION got wind of this they claimed it was "The HOLY GRAIL of ideas." and wanted to do it with Battlestar Galactica and Stargate. Yet at that time there were too many technical and many legal problems that prevented this and it was stated that it would take, at least till 2010 to begin getting something off the ground. I also felt this idea would ONLY work for the most well established properties and especially for Star Trek.
In an interview I did with Perpetual Studios around 2006, I presented the idea of TV Show/MMO to the Executive Producer Daron Stinnet who stated. "That is a good idea! Let me write that down!" Over the following years as they began to work with CBS I continued to ask about the development of this idea and was told it was gaining ground.
Perpetual Studios went bankrupt and when I did the world's first interview with the next developer of Star Trek:Online in 2008 I continued to follow up on this idea with them. They assured me, "The relationship between us (Cryptic/CBS and JJ Abrams) is strong."
Yet now Mr. Abrams tells us, "CBS is not interested." Not interested in leveraging the primary psychological needs of the world-wide fan base through a new TV show and the MMO to see more profit than the franchise has seen in it's entire operating history?
The legal and technological roadblocks that had prevented this from being a reality have almost all been cleared. CBS is now well positioned around the world New FFC laws allow a North American broadcast to been seen simultaneously world-wide, keeping all viewers 'on the same page'.
CBS recently asked: "Is the the Golden Age of TV?" Until CBS and Abrams move to help the Star Trek fan base AND themselves in this matter, the answer remains, "NO!"
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