Trek Superfan Asked to Pitch Trek Show
2 min read
A fan who has worked on a Star Trek series concept for two decades has been asked to pitch said show to Paramount.
The fan is Michael Gummelt, and the series is Star Trek Uncharted.
Paramount has invited Gummelt to pitch his series, according to Gummelt, speaking with TrekMovie.com. “I can now officially announce that I do, indeed, have an invitation to come pitch Star Trek Uncharted at Paramount this summer,” he said. “As far as I know, this is the first time a fan (not an established industry insider) has been invited to pitch a Star Trek TV series. This is, obviously, extremely exciting and I’m doing my best to get support for it from industry professionals. One of my concept cast members has read the script and expressed interest in supporting it, which is fantastic!”
Gummelt’s series will contain, “interesting, diverse characters who interact and grow.” He wants his Trek series to have a “progressive, optimistic view of the future,” while letting fans see the “thrill of discovery” and “the adventure of the unknown” in space exploration. The series would contain “high concept sci-fi…with a respect for and grounding in real science,” and would feature “cutting-edge technology.”
What should fans expect from Gummelt’s series? “It should, first and foremost, be a show that can stand on its own,” he said. “It shouldn’t rely too heavily on any deep, intimate knowledge of every past Trek show and movie. It would be very tempting to put in all sorts of references and trivia that only fans like me would get. But for Trek to return to TV after so long, it needs to be reinvented for a new generation. Not a reboot, that’s already being done in the movies.
“What I want for this series is for it to be the future – a Star Trek TV series that feels modern and feels futuristic relative to our current times. So, as I see it, Star Trek Uncharted is set sometime in the future, distant enough that it doesn’t really matter which universe it takes place in. It’s universe-agnostic. In my fantasy world where the series actually gets made, it would need to establish itself as its own show, with its own identity. Only once it’s accomplished that would it need to establish its place in the lore. In any case, I imagine it would be up to Paramount, CBS and Bad Robot to decide if they wanted to use it as a ‘shared universe’ show along the lines of Agents of SHIELD.”
To learn more about Star Trek Uncharted, head to the link located here.
About The Author
Very unexpected! It sounds interesting.
There’s also a bridge I can sell you in Brooklyn…slightly used, but dirt cheap.
Paramount? Doesn’t it need to be pitched to CBS, owner of TV rights? What does Paramount have to do with it?
> It should, first and foremost, be a show that can stand on its own,”
[…]
> distant enough that it doesn’t really matter which universe it takes place in. It’s universe-agnostic
[…]
> it would need to establish itself as its own show, with its own identity
Great…but why call it Star Trek at all then? Sci-fi enthusiasts are starving these days for a good sci-fi show, why saddle it with the “Star Trek” name? Create your own universe with its own rules, and you’re completely free to do whatever you want with it. If it’s any good, I’ll watch.
I agree. I thought the same of the JJ movies. Had those been called ”Angry Teens in Outer Space”, I would have sit back and enjoyed the the action packed ride for what it was. Instead, I felt upset for being baited into watching something that had little to do with Trek.
Yeah. I agree with
some of the user comments on the trekmovie page. Star Trek Uncharted was previously named Star Trek Beyond. It wouldn’t be
surprising if the real story here is about getting the ”Star Trek Beyond” url for the upcoming movie, a url held by this ”superfan” dude.
What a joke.
Think of it more like what TNG was at first. Other than a cameo from McCoy and the name Enterprise, that was a show that took place a hundred years after Kirk’s time and didn’t rely too heavily on intimate knowledge of every TOS show and movie. And it was hugely successful and inspired a whole new generation of fans who had never even seen TOS. That’s my aim with Star Trek Uncharted.
I agree. What’s the point of calling it Star Trek if you’re not going to reference the deep history and lore of Trek. I want cameos from past characters and threads picked up from previous iterations. What this person proposes would be better off just naming it another sci-fi show and leave Star Trek out of it. I want a new Trek show that builds on the history already established, not ignores it. I hope this proposal goes nowhere.
Instead make a new Trek TV show set 20-30 years after the Voy/Nemesis timeline ends with a new Enterprise and crew facing ongoing and topical allegorical challenges such as the disintegration of the Klingon Empire (a la Middle East and ISIL), space environmental issues caused by warp engines, and surveillance/freedom tension.
Good luck. Between the studio(s) and the fans expectations and the challenge of even an industry pro pitching a new idea, let alone a newbie, good luck! However, should you further win the lottery McG and do what William Shattner, Michael Dorn and Johnathon Frakes couldn’t get done, I hope you have a thick skin, you’ll need it. Also, don’t screw it up! 😀
Oof, read the pilot script. Agreed, I don’t believe for one second that anyone at Paramount/CBS is taking this proposal seriously. I’m certain this was merely a ploy to sweet talk the creator, Mr. Gummelt, into quietly giving up his registered url domain of “startrekbeyond.com”.
For people who want Star Trek, an optimistic vision for our future, and not something else.
If you’ll read the literature, it will have it roots and references to the Federation. It will visit Earth or the Federation from time to time. It wants to stand on its own before it brings in the cameos or whatever, and they are not ruled out. It’s not Gilligan’s Island, like Voyager. It’s not a bottle show, like DS9. The expedition has Federation and Starfleet support. It’s exploration of uncharted space, like TOS was and like what a lot of fans want in the next JJ-verse film.
I agree, McG, but I also think you need to include a single thread here and there that connects, if not grounds, the new series somehow into “canon.” Perhaps it’s Jake Sisko reporting events via the “Federation News Network” or something. Or maybe a Capt. (shocking, I know) Wesley Crusher pops in for a cameo or Worf’s now-adult son Alexander leads the Klingon Empire. It doesn’t have to be too overt but just covert enough as a cherry to long-time fans.
Interesting POV. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that some hacks at Paramount/CBS is going to try something like this. Of course, it only will motivate others to come out of the woodwork with pseudo-clever ideas that have a chance to translate into some sweetheart deal.
You have to go through Chris Christie, first.
Because there’s still the love of the Star Trek universe. Yes, it may be set further in the future so past series might not be too relevant or even referenced, but it would be cool to see where the Federation and the other well known groups are in the future, right?
I agree, I’d watch any good sci-fi show. Though I imagine it would be easier to get a larger audience if he could come up with something that appeals to existing fans while attracting new fans.
That would be great for us more serious Star Trek fans but it doesn’t appeal to the larger audience of casual or new viewers. I’d love to find out where the Dominion is, how the Borg have progressed since Voyager’s end, what’s going on in the Q Continuum, etc. but those storylines wouldn’t appeal that much to viewers who haven’t been watching the shows. It’s unfortunate but Paramount/CBS or whoever needs a show that’s going to appeal to a general audience. Without good numbers, a new series is just going to fizzle out like Enterprise did.
Actually one of the reasons why Enterprise failed is it tried to appeal to a general audience by going with a clean slate, and left behind the Trek fans who had followed the previous series. Paramount and the showrunners failed to realize that TV audiences had gotten much more sophisticated in watching dramas since the 1980s (starting with Hill Street Blue, Miami Vice, etc.). If you want a successful TV drama today, you better plan out a complex and intricate storyline, and this is where Trek could be great. The writers can go back to the aftermath of the Dominion War, the Borg since Voy, Q Continuum news, without alienating new viewers, who on the contrary would eat up all the back story and details. TV audiences have become much more sophisticated in the last two decades wanting shows with large casts of characters to follow and super multi-threaded storylines. Just look at the success of Game of Thrones, Lost and so many others as examples. One of the reasons that Enterprise failed is its storylines were just too simple and predictable. Viewers want meaty TV shows that reward them for having to go deep into the story’s universe onscreen and off-screen as well. The proposal in this post and what you’re proposing both sound like Enterprise Part 2, which would most likely fail to find an audience today.
The Fan’s story/script sounds like he has simply ripped off loads of other shows and not even tried to hide it?! Star Trek (obviously), Stargate, Andromeda, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Babylon 5, etc., etc….
I think it would be a legal minefield to make it!
Also the internal continuity is all over the place, and in places contradicts both the existing Trekverse and itself!
If this is all he can come up with after 20 years then he doesn’t stand a snow flakes chance in hell and doesn’t deserve to!
Not too mention, ‘Star Trek’ not overly talky or self-righteous like TNG. It’s about adventure.
One thing I did like about DS9 was that it was able to mix the action with the drama and have nods to the classic series. Too, while it did focus on the various plots happening on a space station, it did venture out to various ‘star treks.’
Nothing at all, except to be the distributor of the movies.